The Outpost was about to enter a moment of rest as people slept, but with Nikolai’s sudden orders, it woke up once again.

Rain lashed the reinforced walls and ran in silver sheets down the watchtowers, while floodlights swept the outer grounds with sharp white beams.

The eastern wall, once just another section of the perimeter, had become the beating heart of the entire fortress. Men ran along its inner platforms carrying crates of ammunition, resin canisters, steel braces and extra lanterns.

Fenrir warriors stood in staggered lines behind the first gate, while riflemen waited above the narrow inner lanes that Selene had ordered prepared.

Everyone felt tense, and waiting just made things worse.

’This should be okay for now...’

Nikolai stood at the centre of the changes.

He had moved from the command room to the eastern interior platform, coat hanging over his shoulders, one hand resting against the damp stone wall as he stared through the rain at the black distance beyond it.

"You two must be careful, understood?"

Nikita scoffed at his words, standing to his right with her tail fluffed up and slapping against the wall. She wasn’t pleased with what he told them. Yet, to see him so angry might’ve been quite nice.

"As if we would make trouble..."

Unlike the hyperactive werewolf, Selene stood to his left. She remained calm with one hand resting near the hilt at her hip. Though her blood arts could summon fire and ice, when facing monsters, the silver bullets did the most damage.

"I understand."

Neither woman left his side.

Even when he asked if they would return, neither of them listened.

Below them, soldiers shifted in place, whispering to each other as they checked magazines, blessed bullets, sharpened silver-edged blades, and glanced toward the great wall with nervous eyes.

They all knew something was coming.

To avoid making the soldiers too nervous or affecting morale, it was said that scouts and information from the man outposts revealed the sudden attack when their guard was lowered.

’I still don’t know how long it’ll take...’

Nikolai looked at the clock tower visible across the courtyard. Rain blurred the face, but he had already memorised the time. In that shattered future, when the eastern wall had blown moments after the second watch signal.

The men at the front had died before they understood what hit them.

A sharp whistle cut through the storm.

One of the upper sentries leaned over the parapet and shouted, "Movement!"

The atmosphere transformed almost instantly, with dozens of lights flicking on, shining into the darkness.

"Where?"

"Outer ditch! East by northeast!"

Selene stepped forward and looked through the rain. Her crimson gaze narrowed.

"I don’t see any vehicles."

Nikolai’s fingers tightened around his gun, preparing to fight.

"How many can you tell?"

The sentry adjusted the mounted night optic, rainwater dripping from his helmet as the lens clicked through several modes.

"I-I can’t get a clean count!

Nikita sniffed the air, but her expression became strange.

"I can smell Rika... but, it’s not her.... damn cats."

The words spread along the platform faster than any official order, and the closest riflemen shifted their grips with ugly understanding. Nobody lowered their weapons, yet several men swallowed hard as the floodlights dragged across the outer ditch and revealed the first black-haired figure racing through the mud on all fours.

Then another appeared beside her.

Then five more.

Then dozens.

Their movements were clearly modelled on Rika’s, along with having her speed and shape; their bodies remained low against the soaked ground, rain plastering their black hair to their cheeks as countless green eyes gleamed in the darkness.

The sight alone made the soldiers hesitate for half a breath, because even knowing the truth did not make seeing an ally’s face multiplied across the battlefield any less grotesque.

Nikolai raised his gun.

"That’s not Rika, do not mistake my cute nekomata wife for fakes."

"These things only have two tails," he said, his voice carrying across the platform. "The real Rika cannot be here right now, so don’t hold back!"

The reminder snapped several men out of their panic.

Selene lifted one hand, and the forward lamps narrowed their focus, pinning the charging clones beneath a brighter glare.

Nikita flicked the safety switch of her rifle before grumbling.

"They even smell like her when they sweat," she muttered. "That bastard really needs to die."

"He will," Nikolai answered. "Fire."

The eastern wall erupted at once.

Rifles cracked through the rain in controlled bursts, silver rounds cutting pale lines into the darkness.

The heavier mounted guns above the gate followed with deeper, hammering shots that tore through the muddy ditch and shredded the first line of clones before they reached the concrete slope.

Several collapsed instantly, their bodies rolling beneath the feet of those behind them, but the rest used the fallen as stepping stones and continued forward with the same predatory rhythm.

’This isn’t good...’

Nikolai watched carefully, forcing himself not to chase every movement with his eyes. In the future, the soldiers had panicked when the clones reached the wall, shooting wildly and missing the nekomata.

This time, the firing lines were split across three levels, and the men at the centre had already been ordered to keep a distance from the marked weak point.

"It seems things won’t be changed so easily..." Nikolai muttered as he watched the clones quickly adjust their tactics and change their formations and methods.

Instead of swarming the centre directly, several broke toward the left support column while another cluster sprinted toward the right drainage trench. They were searching for a softer opening, or perhaps following instincts stolen from Rika’s body. Either way, they were fast enough to punish hesitation.

While Nikolai observed, Selene took action as her voice cut through the silence.

"Central units, send support to the left! We need more guns at the right trench, be aware of their attacks."

The order passed down the line, and the soldiers adjusted before the clones could complete their split. Riflemen on the second level shifted left, forcing the first group into a rain of silver rounds. At the same time, two men below kicked open another resin canister, flooding the entrance to the drainage trench.

The thick liquid seeped into the water, turning the whole passage into a sucking trap. Thanks to information from the future, the clones noticed everything a step too late.

Three of them plunged into the trench and lost speed instantly, claws scraping against stone as they tried to drag themselves free. A fourth leapt over them, only for Nikita to fire from the platform and blow its knee apart midair.

"Stay down, fake bitch."

Nikolai glanced at her.

Nikita just whistled and pretended to aim down her sights. That’s when the clock tower began to ring, reminding him of his vision.

Once.

Twice.

The second watch signal.

The sound rolled across the courtyard, low and heavy, and Nikolai’s stomach tightened as the memory replayed in his mind. The eastern wall fell to a sudden blast. Bodies flying before anyone had time to scream.

He raised his voice before fear could settle.

"Centre line, brace!"

The soldiers nearest the marked section dropped behind the reinforced plates. Others pulled back into the second position exactly as ordered, leaving the centre strangely empty compared to the rest of the wall.

For half a breath, nothing happened.

Then the wall exploded.

A brutal roar swallowed the rain.

tone, steel, and concrete burst inward from the centre, hurling dust and broken braces across the platform. The shockwave slammed into the inner barricades, throwing several soldiers off their feet.

One man screamed as a chunk of metal tore through his thigh.

Another vanished beneath falling rubble at the edge of the lower stairs. But the wall did not collapse completely. Thanks to the last-minute reinforcements, large chunks were spared from being decimated by the bombs.

"Second line!"

Fenrir warriors surged into position below, shields raised and pistols drawn. The riflemen above resumed firing before the dust cleared, shooting into the smoke where the clones were already pouring through the broken centre.

Nikita jumped down before anyone could stop her.

She landed near the centre lane and drove her rifle stock into the face of the nearest clone, smashing its nose flat before firing once through its skull.

"Don’t copy my squire’s face if you’re gonna look that ugly!"

Selene descended more cleanly, stepping from the platform to the lower ledge before landing beside Nikolai.

Her pistol lifted, crimson light briefly threading through the silver round before she fired. The bullet punched through one clone’s eye, curved through the rain, and buried itself in the throat of another, trying to flank Nikita.

Nikolai stepped into the broken approach.

A clone rushed him from the smoke, claws spread wide and mouth open in a familiar hiss.

He caught her by the throat.

"You’re not her."

He hesitated for a moment before pressing the Desert Eagle to her throat and pulling the trigger.

Deng!

"Do not chase them," Nikolai shouted. "Hold the lanes. Make them come through the kill zones."

The soldiers obeyed.

That alone made the battlefield feel different from the future burned into Nikolai’s mind. The clones still poured through the broken walls, but each one was dragged into the lanes, slowed by resin, shredded by gunfire, or cut apart by Fenrir before they could scatter into the courtyard.

It wasn’t clean or without casualties... men still screamed as their blood poured into the resin and murky water.

Yet the outpost still stood.

For now, that was the only important objective for Nikolai.

He raised his gun toward the smoke-filled breach, watching the remaining Rika clones suddenly retreat in perfect silence.

"This time, we won’t lose!"