A One-Sided Battle

12:15.

Spencer Family Castle.

The castle stood on a high ridge in a ravine amid the mountains. Cliffs surrounded three sides, dense woods ringed the grounds, and a swift river rushed below.

With only one road leading out, it would have been an easily defended, difficult-to-assault fortress a century ago.

A large number of identical black SUVs were parked in front of the castle gate. Behind it, four black Sikorsky S-76Cs sat on the helipad.

More than a hundred Men in Black had gathered inside and outside the castle, along its walls, and in the courtyard.

They wore similar black suits and earpieces with white coiled tubes, and patrolled with various submachine guns and rifles in hand.

The security was fit for a meeting of national leaders.

In fact, every member of Umbrella's board of directors had gathered inside the castle, except for Sui Bian, the "fake director."

The Men in Black were the directors' personal bodyguards. They weren't part of Umbrella's armed forces, and each was fiercely loyal to the director he served.

In the woods west of the road leading to the castle.

"Caw~ caw~..." Unfamiliar birds called out.

"Chirp~ chirp~..." Various insects joined them.

"Rustle, rustle." Mixed in with their calls was the faint sound of footsteps on soft soil.

A fully armed soldier in forest camouflage moved through the woods.

The soldier wore a Kevlar helmet, face mask, and tactical gear in matching camouflage. He was also equipped with a Mechanical Exoskeleton and a MA5B Rifle—technology far ahead of its time.

More soldiers with similar equipment advanced through the woods. They were Omicron of the USS.

Hunk led Alpha through the woods on the east side of the road, about four hundred meters from Omicron. The two USS teams were preparing to assault the castle from opposite directions.

Sui Bian was dressed like the USS as well, moving alongside Omicron.

From June through August, Sui Bian had learned not only how to manage a company from Red Queen and White Queen, but also spent three or four hours each day training with the USS.

His physical abilities and reflexes were at the human limit, but he had never received proper military training. He couldn't fight like Captain America, with his mastery of every kind of martial art, or...

Throw a "flying disc"—a Vibranium shield—with incredible skill.

After two months of formal training, Sui Bian had gained the ability to defend himself with confidence.

There wasn't much to say about his marksmanship.

After only three days at the range, he'd found his rhythm. Combined with his reflexes and eyesight, his accuracy surpassed that of most combat personnel,

After making thorough preparations, Sui Bian had followed the route planned by Red Queen and secretly made his way to Europe with four members of Alpha. He'd also experienced smuggling himself across a border firsthand.

He'd tried both overland and maritime routes. They were actually pretty thrilling.

After all, this battle would decide who owned Umbrella, so Sui Bian had to take it seriously.

Now he and Omicron had reached the woods beside the road. Looking into the distance, they could just make out the castle's main entrance, about four hundred meters away in a straight line.

As they continued forward, the woods grew thinner, and the castle on the high ground came into clearer view.

About two hundred and seventy meters away.

Sui Bian and the members of Omicron stopped and spread out to check their equipment and firearms.

Hunk and the others were already in position on the east side.

12:26.

In the plaza before the castle's main entrance, the bodyguards didn't bunch up and chat like movie villains' hired thugs. Instead, they patrolled in pairs or kept watch from different positions.

The bodyguards posted along the walls were equipped with rifles fitted with optical sights or small-caliber sniper rifles.

Suddenly...

"Pong—!" A tremendous report shattered the silence.

Before the sound could send the birds and animals fleeing from the woods, one of the guards on the wall had already been "blown" in half.

Blood, guts, bone, and other human remains sprayed everywhere. The two halves of the guard's body still twitched, but his pupils had already dilated and his expression was frozen.

He was well and truly dead.

The guard had met his end thanks to a .50-caliber Barrett M82A1. The shot had come from Alpha's sniper.

The snipers and spotters from Alpha and Omicron had taken up positions on the mountainside, six hundred and eight hundred meters from the castle. Their job was to mark enemy targets and eliminate dangerous ones.

With the main force about to attack, the two snipers had received orders from Sui Bian. Naturally, they were ready to slaughter the bodyguards.

Then...

"Pong—!"

The second shot followed right after. The guard hit in the head burst apart like a watermelon smashed on the ground, spraying red and white brain matter onto another guard.

!!!

"Snipers! There's more than one!"

"Take cover! Take cover!"

The two sudden shots sent the bodyguards scrambling for cover.

At that very moment, the main forces of Alpha and Omicron launched their assault.

"Bang, bang, bang~!" The distinctive reports of MA5B rifles rang out.

The guards who hadn't found cover in time, along with those caught in the open, were torn apart by a hail of AP-FMJ rounds.

In an instant, limbs were severed, and screams rang out through the castle grounds.

Equipped with Mechanical Exoskeletons, Alpha and Omicron charged the castle while maintaining pinpoint accuracy.

Sui Bian, meanwhile, "stayed put" in the woods and watched. He'd come along, but that didn't mean he would fight alongside the USS.

With the Mechanical Exoskeletons' assistance, the two hundred meters vanished in the blink of an eye.

The USS hadn't suffered a single casualty. The MA5B's sustained sixty-round firepower, combined with the Mechanical Exoskeletons and electronic components' "auto-aim cheat," as well as the two snipers' precise shots, left the bodyguards unable to even raise their heads.

Before long, the USS reached the castle's main entrance and began exchanging fire with the bodyguards at close range.

The USS, however, had two teams of snipers and spotters holding the high ground. They could pinpoint the enemy's positions and take out high-threat targets for the main force.

By contrast, the bodyguards wore only soft body armor. Against armor-piercing AP-FMJ rounds at close range, they were still torn to pieces.

Of course, the battle went so smoothly partly because the USS had Mechanical Exoskeletons and MA5B Rifles, and partly because they'd struck first.

Before the bodyguards even realized what was happening, more than half of them had already been wiped out.

12:35.

In less than ten minutes, the low-intensity battle ended in a complete victory for the Hive forces. The USS had fully secured the castle's helipad, front courtyard, and main entrance.

There were no fatalities, but two members of Alpha had been unlucky. One had taken a 9mm round to the left shoulder, while another had been hit by a ricochet on the left side of his backside.

Neither injury was fatal, and both men would return to duty after some time to recover. But the Alpha soldier who'd been shot in the backside was destined to be teased about it for years.