(I know it's been FOREVER since you last read the previous chapter, so I highly suggest you do a recap. Sorry. Read Volume 01 and the previous chapters of this volume.)

DIA'S POV

We saw it. A glimpse of a giant shadow as the moon shined brightly for a moment at the horizon.

There was no doubt about it. The giant shadow we saw overhead can only mean one thing - the Colossal Alpaca has returned! And it seems to be moving somewhere slowly.

This is bad. REALLY BAD!! I can't believe our first mission is this!! The three of us wanted a mission so badly many hours ago, but not like this!! Facing the Colossal? We're totally unprepared for that!

"This is bad! Right now, it's too risky to face that thing! We have to notify the rest of the Corps! Sergeant Shun! Take those newbies with you! No matter what happens, protect them even if it kills you!!", another sergeant said as he took off with two other soldiers.

"Roger! You guys, follow me!!", she said as our group divides into two. While the other group seperates to notify the other Legionnaires in the west, our group rides off towards the east.

"Alright guys, I'm taking responsibility now! Listen, our mission now is to notify the rest of the Corps of the attack. We'll be heading towards various outposts to signal the alarms! Let's go quickly!"

Without any other choice, Kanan, Mari, I and the other recruits followed her. As we rode, the Colossal walked away, without paying us any attention.

As the moon started to fade away into the clouds, we could barely see anything. We had torches to light up our way, but I am a bit nervous that the light from our torches could attract attention. Still, we need it to see through this darkness. Argh, I hope we don't get attacked along the way.

We kept moving until we reached our first outpost. Once we got there, we hurriedly got down from our horses and got moving.

"Man that cannon tower! Not only can we shoot down Alpacas with it, the noise it emits will be enough to alert nearby camps!", said Sergeant Shun.

One of the most critical advantages of the Expeditionary Road are the cannon towers. Just as Shun said, their actual purpose was to send noise signals throughout nearby camps of approaching Alpacas, thereby alerting the Legionnaires where the attack was coming from and where to send reinforcements. Shooting Alpacas was just their secondary purpose.

If one has a map of the entire Road, every area has at least one cannon tower positioned. The gap between one tower to another is about 30-40 meters, thus it is easy for you to hear them if you were there. Besides that, the camp which has these towers have sign posts which tell you where the nearest cannon tower is, making logistics, travels, and emergency escapes a lot easier. This is one of the main reason why the Road is so successful - Legionnaires can easily track down Alpacas and take them down before they got too close to the safer zones.

Kanan went up the tower sonner than us and prepared the tower - but something was wrong.

"Ma'm! There are no cannonballs here!", said Kanan.

"What?!! Check again!"

Kanan rechecked. Seconds later...

"Sergeant Shun, there's nothing in here! I've checked countless times!"

"What? That can't be right - "

"Sergeant! I've searched everywhere in this outpost. Not a single cannonball has been sighted!", said Mari.

"Darn it! Everyone, we will move on to the next tower! The sign post here says the next one is southeast of us! Let's head there!"

We moved out again. We travelled to another nearby station. Luckily, we haven't encountered any Alpacas.

"You three! Inspect this tower if it has ammo! The rest move to inspect the rest of this outpost!", under Shun's orders Kanan, Mari, and myself inspected for more ammo. Heading towards the tower's bottom side, Mari found something.

"Good news, ma'm! We have cannonballs ready to fire here!!", she said. What a relief!

"Great! Fire it now so we can - "

"Four alpacas are coming from the north!!", said another soldier. On the horizon, she wasn't joking. Alpacas have begun to pick up on our scent!

"Mari! Fire the cannon!"

"Got that!"

As Mari prepared to fire, our squad readied for our defensive positions. Even though we're not going to stay here long, there's no telling that those four beasts might be Abnormals - the Sprinter type. Hopefully they weren't. I held my blades, prepared to unsheathe them under Shun's orders.

"Newbies, don't worry! We'll be fine!", she said. I believed her for a while until...

"Oy! What's wrong, you two?! Fire the cannon!", Shun said as she noticed Mari and Kanan seemed to be responding too slowly.

"Hold on a sec, ma'm!", shouted Kanan whilst frantically whispering to Mari.

"Mari, are you serious?!"

"Yes I am! This cannon isn't firing!", Mari whispered anxiously.

"What?!!"

"There's nothing wrong with the gunpowder! I put the right amount of it inside the barrel!", Mari explained as Kanan soon intervened to investigate. She noticed something.

"Hold on...Mari, get a torch.", said Kanan. Mari immediately complied and went downstairs to get a torch and lit it up. Shun noticed her as she went about her business.

"Oy! What's going on?!"

"Hold on a sec, ma'm. There seems to be a problem!", Mari said as she rushed up the ladder and gave the torch to Kanan. I already had a worried look on my face.

"Here Kanan. Is something wrong?"

"I want to be sure if this is actually gunpowder.", said Kanan in a very serious tone.

"What?!!"

"This powder isn't firing. Furthermore, I smell no odor that reminds me of gunpowder. This might be a different powder...or maybe powdered charcoal?"

"Oy!! What are you two doing!? Alpacas are coming!", shouted an impatient Shun.

"We can't ma'm! The cannon won't fire. There's no gunpowder in here, it seems to be charcoal according to Kanan!"

"The fuck?!"

"MEEEEHHHHH!!!", the sound of Alpacas draw ever louder. They're approaching fast!

"SERGEANT! MORE ALPACAS ARE COMING!"

"Fuck! Alright, we have no time! Let's leave that useless cannon there! We need to leave now!"

Immediately, everyone in our squad is ordered to hop back on our horses and leave together! We rode ahead before the four Alpacas got to us.

"Guys, what's up!? Why are our cannons undersupplied?!", I said as we rode through the dark fields, frustrated with what happened. The rest of our fellow teammates were eager to hear.

"I have no idea either. I never expected them. Sergeant, were those two outposts inspected earlier?", Kanan asked Sergeant Shun.

"That's what bothers me. It was I and my squad who inspected those two towers. We even trained other newbies there on how to operate it. Furthermore, I doubt any of our members would be too lazy to fix things. I am puzzled how on earth did they become like that.", she said curiously.

"Should we check another outpost, ma'm?", said a fellow recruit.

"No. If the outposts in these frontlines don't work, there's no point in visiting them! Therefore, I am ordering the rest of the squad to head towards the Central Road! We must spread news of the attack as soon as we can!", she said as we rushed to get to HQ.

I'm nervous with the current situation. Mari is too. But Kanan looked more concerned than the two of us. She seemed to be in deep thought.

"Mari, did you notice anything before the attack?", whispered Kanan.

"No...I was looking at the stars...well...I noticed a horse was missing at our stables a while ago. It seemed someone left our area recently.", Mari said as Kanan is drove into further thought.

ERI'S POV

"Kotori, we will never agree to that. Capturing an Alpaca is like trying to put your hand inside a snake pot."

It's midnight. I am bothered by the fact that I am summoned here to find myself talking with this idiot - no, sorry - this crazy friend of mine. I would rather stay back at camp to tutor that Dia girl about fighting outside the Walls.

"You clearly don't understand the value of a specimen to be experimented on, Eri-heichou! We can learn so much from them! Until now, we've been killing off potential subjects! We need alive cuties! Not dead corpses!"

"Oy, stop rambling the same idea over and over again. Love Live Corps cannot spare the risk of capturing an Alpaca. We're talking about human lives here!", I argued.

It's rough having everyone under my charge right now. Our commander-in-chief, Kimi Minami, Kotori's mom, is away inside the Walls talking with the government. As her second-in-command, I am automatically responsible for the lives of every Legionnaire here outside the Walls.

We further debated this issue when -

"Captains! Emergency! Alpacas have attacked! They are being led by the Colossal!", said a soldier as he knocked open the door. His news shocked us.

"What! Did you just say Colossal - ", Kotori said.

"Soldiers from the south are reporting sightings of a large shadow coming out of a lightning strike! Some report hearing a loud roar!"

"What? Are you sure it's the Colossal?"

"We're pretty sure it is. We've seen it ourselves!"

"Wait, has there been any sighting of the Armored Alpaca?"

"None as of the moment, however, we will report immediately should it pop up!"

Looks like it's gonna be a busy night tonight.

"Everyone, get into defensive stations! Protect the Roads at all costs!", I said.

"Yes, Captain Eri Ayase!"

Everyone moved out. We readied ourselves for a dangerous mission.

Our plan is to divide our forces in two: the first group will deal with the Colossal, locating and then fighting it before it gets too deep into our lines. The second group will take defensive posts and, alongside the Uranohoshi Garrison, engage in defensive maneuvers against any incoming wave of Alpacas.

"This is so interesting. The Colossal is out to play!", Kotory gleefully said we we walked down the hall together.

"Oy, this is a serious situation, Kotori!"

"I know right! For it to come right now to mess up our plans. Guess our Road seemed to be big of a threat for that fella after all! Otherwise, there's no need for it to attack."

"It's an Abnormal, Kotori. Abnormals are attracted to huge groups of people. Our Road has a lot of soldiers, right?"

"Yep, that's right! That must be the case why it came out...they're hungry to eat a lot tonight!", Kotori replied. Walking together, she seemed too focused on thinking about the Colossal. I am bothered by it.

"Still, it bothers me that it appeared somewhere far away. Based on reports of the attack on Akihabara years ago, the Colossal appeared out of nowhere at the very gates of that city. The Military expected the same thing to happen - we already have a contingency plan for such a scenario. However, the Colossal's appearance tonight is nowhere near Seiren's gate. It's strange...", Kotori reasoned in a more serious tone. Her analysis does raise a question...

"What if...the Colossal is after something else...", she asked herself. I didn't think too deeply on that as I said:

"...it's an Abnormal though. Perhaps it does, since we can hardly predict their behaviors anyway..."

"Then...that means...I GOTTA GET CLOSE TO THAT COLOSSAL! I MUST SEE IT AND TOUCH IT! Oooohhh, I'm fascinated!"

"Are you a fool, Kotori? You'll get killed. Besides, I believe that killing that Colossal now is the priority. Do not forget that we can't let it reach Seiren."

"Ah, but if we ride to it as soon as possible, we can make it! Just a little touch will do!"

"Maki will beat the crap out of you before you do that though..."

As we got into our horses...

"Oh yeah...by the way, where's Maki-chan?", she asked.

"I sent her away near the gates of Seiren to await new recruits. Sorry, I never expected we'd be attacked so soon. We definitely need her now."

"Oh! Leave that to me! I'm gonna call her!", said Kotori as she split off to another direction. Meanwhile, I carried an entire brigade with me to prepare defenses. We rode off into the darkness with only torches guiding our path.

I hope I am cut out for this. I have doubts about my leadership.

----- IMPORTANT: READ BELOW and bear with me -----

A/N: Hey guys, I'm back. Sorry for not updating FOREVER. The past months I had had been sort of depressing and aimless in the sense that I dunno what to do in my spare time. Not only have I lost ideas to come up with new stories, my interest for this franchise has disintegrated dramatically due to the realisation that, based on view counts, few people seem to be interested in this franchise. Specifically, the idea still interests me so much (and the story I have built up which you guys have yet to see is too good for me to give up on), but it's more like HOW I will show that is the problem.

For example, for those who have been waiting for Episode 02 of my "animated" Attack on Love Live videos in Youtube (yeah they're out, you should check them), I wanna announce that as of now, I AM POSTPHONING MY ANIMATION PROJECT. The reason is because my episodes became more visual novel-like than I planned. I wanted Episode 02 to be VERY ACTION-ORIENTED (It explores the First Expedition and the struggles of young Kanan - read Volume 01), however what truly made me stop making it is because GODDAMN I AM ALONE WORKING ON IT! It's frustrating! Imagine struggling to "animate" one scene every 7 hours or so. One episode taking me six weeks to work on! Too slow for my taste. And worse, my electric bills rising due to them. The thing is I AM ABSOLUTELY DESPERATE TO FIND SOMEONE TO HELP ME WORK ON IT! I have been searching for assistants online and in real life FOR THE PAST 4 YEARS and I still fail.

Because of all that, I have decided to take a different strategy - by focusing on GETTING MORE AUDIENCES who know this project. To actually focus on getting people WHO DON'T KNOW LOVE LIVE interested in this. And I have an idea - MAKING A MANGA/COMIC AND PUBLISH IT ON WEBTOON! A comic which will continue where was left off in the Youtube episodes. The main purpose of that comic is HOPEFULLY FIND SOMEONE WHO WILL HELP ME ANIMATE FOR REAL!

But for now, I haven't started it yet. I'm not ready. After thinking over my next steps, I have decided that before I actually do that, I gotta give people a reason to read it. Perhaps...letting people know more about this story, expanding it, and only then I might finally get the audience I needed.

Which is why now I am here! I WILL RETURN TO WRITING AND CONTINUiNG THE CHAPTERS OF THIS NOVEL! YEP! I AM BACK! With my spare time, I decided to just continue this story even though no one might be reading it. I will keep writing and publishing volume after volume. I have gained a new motivation!

For those wondering, will I return back to writing? Will I return writing Love Live and NicoMaki ships again? That I cannot guarantee, I might even just work on an ORIGINAL STORY which I have planned all these years to be the story I will create once I become a professional animator (or director) in Japan. I might even not uptate consistently BECAUSE NO INTERNET. What I will guarantee is that I am back to write again!

(Btw, if you guys want me to skip timelines in this novel, say so.)

So, with all things said and done, expect to see ya in the next chapters GUARANTEED. Expect to see You, Hanamaru, Nozomi, Kotori, and more characters in the next chapters and volumes for real. For those who are tuned into Season 3 of Attack on Titan, expect me to try my best to carry this novel all the way to that arc! If you wanna talk to me, whatever topic it is, do so.

See ya guys!

~ Rhythm1997, September 2018