The Legendary F Rank

They set out for the city centre immediately while following the lead of the Chinese soldiers. It took them a while to make their way there as they dodged enemy soldiers and sneak past tanks and other heavy weaponry that they didn't stand a chance of defeating on their own. 

Once they arrived at the centre, the gunfire only became louder and more frequent to the point where they weren't even sure if the enemy were shooting at the Chinese soldiers or shooting toward them until a voice called out from one of the buildings ahead of them.

"Sergeant Lan! Where have you been? We called for backup an hour ago!" The soldier shouted from a window as the man Haru had rescued looked up to see him. 

"Where have I been!? Our unit radioed back to you guys around four hours ago to let you know that we were under fire. Only two of us made it back alive, and even that was only thanks to the Japanese forces." The soldier, now known as Sergeant Lan, shouted back as he was rightfully upset that his calls for help went unheard.

"Shit… Then that means they are jamming our communications. We need to get word back to the outpost immediately." The man shouted back from the window but then stopped as he noticed that the soldiers standing beside Sergeant Lan were wearing foreign uniforms. But as he looked again, he recognised them instantly as the Japanese army who had come to help. 

"Holy shit, there are so many of you guys… Are you really here to help? We just might be able to make it out of this place alive if we have you guys with us." The soldier said with a hopeful look in his eyes as Haru's unit all looked at him since they didn't understand what was being said.

"What did he say?" Captain Liegan asked Haru as both the Japanese soldiers looked at them with hope. 

"They said if we fight beside them, they might be able to make it out alive. It seems as though they are on a suicide mission to hold off the enemies forces long enough for the civilians to escape." Haru said as he felt bad for them. 

"That makes sense… Their forces have been spread thin since the enemy has managed to invade every country that borders China. They had to assign only a few units to each border, so they didn't have enough power to win this fight. That's awful, but there's nothing we can do about it. They have their orders, and we have ours. 

We have to keep on moving to the evacuation point. Let's just hope that luck is on their side and they all manage to make it back alive." Captain Liegan said as she seemed set on following the orders that were given to them.

The gunfire became more rampant as it soon started to fly over their heads, causing everyone to get down to their knees to avoid being shot. 

The Chinese soldiers continued to look at Haru and expected an answer, but he wasn't sure how he was going to say it. 

"Sergeant Lan. I'm sorry I have to tell you this, but our orders aren't to help you. They were to help the civilians evacuate, and that's it." Haru tried to explain as the bullets continued to shoot overhead until the blast of a tank cannon rang out and the stream of gunfire stopped. 

"Woo! We got 'em!" A voice called out from the other side of the building, followed by a cheer as Haru explained the bad news to three of the Chinese soldiers.

"You're not here to help? Then why did you rescue us earlier?" Sergeant Lan asked with confusion as it would have made more sense to let them die and complete their orders without wasting time on them. 

"That was my decision. I'm not in command here. I can't order our forces to do anything, but that doesn't mean that I can't do anything at all." Haru said as he began to walk forwards towards Sergeant Lan. 

"Give me your gun," Haru said and held out his hands.

"Huh?" Sergeant Lan asked with his brows raised as it came to a surprise that Haru would ask for his gun. 

"Give me your gun. Don't worry. I will return it to you. I just want to do something to help out, that's all." Haru said with his hands still out as Sergeant Lan reluctantly handed him his rifle.

'A plasma rifle… It seems like the ones used when I was attacked in the mountains that day. I guess the soldiers really didn't want to be discovered if they went as far as to use Chinese weapons.' Haru thought as he examined it for a few moments.

It was unlike anything he had used in the previous war since technology had advanced a lot, but it was similar to what he had to use back at the base during target practice.

"Haru, what are you doing? We don't have time to fool around. We need to go." Captain Liegan said with an unsure tone as she tried to figure out what he was planning to do. 

"Don't worry. It will only take a couple of seconds. I just want to leave them a gift." Haru said as he crouched down and channelled a mix of mana and Qi into his legs before jumping up onto the roof of the building that the Chinese soldiers were held down in and then began to fire the rifle.

His first shot missed the target, but as he corrected his aim, he managed to hit one of the enemy soldiers in the face. The fact that he had gone out into the open confused the enemy for a few moments as they were unsure how to react. But for Haru, after he hit his first target, he performed a movement technique, and everything around him seemed to slow down.

He aimed again and shot once more, causing another enemy to fall as he hit them in the chest. And then shot another ten times, wiping out a total of twelve enemies before he saw the barrel of an enemy tank begin to turn.

Haru raised the gun one more time and aimed directly at the barrel of the gun before firing another shot into the explosive shell that rested at the end of the barrel of the tank. 

Haru stopped releasing his Qi, and everything returned to its normal speed as the tank erupted into flames before exploding from the inside.

Although it seemed like a couple of minutes for Haru, for the others who had watched him, what Haru had done was over in an instant as the sound of fourteen shots rang out for a moment, followed by a huge explosion. 

Haru then jumped down to the ground and handed the gun back to Sergeant Lan.

"I hope that helps you guys out a little bit. But we really must get going now. Our captain said we need to go now. If you guys manage to defeat the guys here, make sure you come back to the evacuation point." Haru said as he looked up at the window to where the Chinese soldier was looking down in shock.

He nodded his head instinctively, but he was in disbelief as more gunfire resumed behind him. 

"Lieutenant!? What was that just now? An enemy tank just exploded, and a few of them were shot dead. Come take a look at this!" One of the soldiers who was fighting shouted out to the man who was at the window looking down at Haru, awestruck.

"Th-thank you, sir…." The man said as he looked at Haru with admiration as he didn't know that the Japanese forces would be so strong.

"Haru, what was that just now!? Why would you go and do something like that? Especially after I just told you that we need to go. Are you trying to question my authority in front of everyone here?!" Captain Liegan shouted as she didn't want any of the other soldiers to think it was acceptable to step out of line and do whatever they pleased.

She thought that it would inspire them to ignore her commands, but as she turned back and looked at the soldiers, she saw them all smiling.

'They're smiling? Why are they smiling on the battlefield? This is their first time in war, and they have the guts to smile? What's going on?' Captain Liegan thought as she didn't understand why they were smiling, but Haru knew immediately what was going on. 

"Sorry, captain! I just wanted to take the opportunity to show the rest of our troops what we have been training them to do for the past couple of months. Since they have all worked hard and come so far, I thought it was time to show them that even without long-range magic, you can still fight a war. You just have to practise!" Haru called out as the rest of the soldiers began to cheer.

They were now motivated to go to battle and test out just how much stronger they had become. 

"Ma'am, I have a selfish request," Haru said as he bowed his head slightly to Captain Liegan.

Everyone stopped cheering and looked back at Haru with confusion. For as long as he had been stationed at the base for them, no one had ever seen him bow his head to someone. It came as a shock to even Jake as he had also never seen Haru do such a thing before.

"Uh,  Well, what is it?" Captain Liegan asked as she felt slightly embarrassed that he was bowing to her.

"I was wondering if we manage to get all the civilians to safety, we could come back here and help these guys out? I used to live in Shenzhen up until a few years ago. I don't feel right knowing that there are enemy forces here. I want to wipe them out, down to the last man." Haru said as he shared his thoughts with the rest of the soldiers.

Captain Liegan went silent for a few moments as she thought about how to reply while Haru looked up at her awaiting her response.