The balance shifted the moment the man with the spear appeared in the air. He didn't jump. At one point, a swarm of drones was firing lasers and rockets at Soultakers, and then a man in plain clothes appeared among them. His massive sword spear moved, slicing through dozens of drones and using air pressure to swap others around. The UAVs immediately tried to adjust, tried to change trajectory, and fired at the new foe, but he disappeared. He reappeared atop one of the tanks, piercing the tank hatch with his spear and killing two soldiers inside. Aranea was looking directly at him and yet, once again, failed to see any movement. He simply disappeared again, reappearing in the trenches. This time he walked for some time, killing anyone in his path. The man vanished before taking a turn in the trenches, reappearing among the flying UAVs.
His involvement was small at first, but it was piling up as he killed and destroyed everything in his erratic path. The offensive of the Soultakers was resuming once again, approaching the level of front forces before the mountain range.
And then, it came to a grinding halt once again. The black form leaped from the eastern mountain range, landing on the ground in an explosion of sand. Then she charged forward, leaping over trenches and allied soldiers until she reached the front lines of the enemy. Warlord Martyshkina appeared among the enemy ranks. Unlike Janine, she wore full armor. She was standing between two hover tanks, her revolvers left holes in the massive armor of both vehicles. With just a single shot for each machine, she destroyed their engines, forcing them to lower to the ground. She charged forward, taking two more shots at the enemies before her. Unlucky members of the enemy infantry in her path simply fell apart as shots cleaved through them, killing people behind them. No shamans were with Martyshkina, aside from soldiers of the state in trenches around her, she was all alone. And yet, even alone, she was too much for the countless enemies around her. The warlord moved too fast for normal soldiers to take aim. Hover tanks were seemingly worried about hitting their own troops. This cost them when Martyshkina reached one of the shield carriers and shot away its hatch, breaking inside. The shield around enemy troops blinked and disappeared. The warlord charged back to her side of the mountains, while the artillery was already pummeling the enemy forces that were left in the open. Martyshkina slowed down her retreat, helping soldiers of the state retreat to a position further south.
It was at this moment that the man armed with the spear appeared behind her. It was a perfect strike. He appeared right behind her, his spear was already thrusting forward, aiming at the right side of the warlord, his blade was aiming to slice through the lung of the warlord.
Martyshkina once boasted that only friends could sneak up on her. On this day, her boast came to the test. And she passed this test. She ducked to the left, allowing the blade to pass between her right side and right arm. Then she pressed her right arm toward her body, locking the tip of the spear in place and aiming with her left hand behind herself. Before the warlord could even press a trigger, her foe disappeared. She turned around, seemingly relaxed, and the foe reappeared in the air behind her, slashing down with an overhead strike. Martyshkina bent backward and took the blow on the barrel of her revolver. The blade that sliced through the armor of the tank failed to pierce the weapon of the warlord and was blocked. The warlord's revolvers, unlike Janine or Jekaterina's weapons, were not from a bygone era. No, they were cutting-edge weapons designed by the state's top engineers.
The reason why they looked so outdated and only held six shots in them was quite simple. It was because of the vanity of the warlord. The second revolver went up, aiming at the enemy, only for him to disappear again, reappearing on the ground behind the warlord and making a thrust with his weapon. Aranea was sure that Martyshkina could not dodge from such a position, but the warlord proved her wrong when she jumped forward, evading the enemy's strike. The man smiled, and then his face changed into scorn when several laser beams were shot from the eastern mountain range. Most of them missed, but one hit the strange man in the shoulder, leaving a small, scorched mark on his skin. A weapon that could melt steel was not sufficient to pierce the muscles of this strange foe. The man disappeared, reappearing behind the warlord while she was still in the air. He moved faster. Anger and annoyance were in his movements now. His slash was blocked, but the force of the blow sent the warlord face-down into the ground. She rolled around and blocked another hit from behind. The two ended up going against each other in desperate combat, where a single mistake could end the lives of either of the fighters.
Meanwhile, the front line was crumbling. Flames raged across the front lines that led to the western mountain range, as the figure in the red cloak stepped forward, revealing a huge man in a crimson-colored power armor underneath it. He gestured with his arms, and a raging flame spread to the positions of the Reclaimers. Aranea thought that she saw how his body was torn asunder by shells and gunfire, yet each time he came seemingly unharmed from the raging fire across the plains. The forces of the Regulators charged after him, almost uncaring about their own safety. And yet they paid a terrible toll when drones were sent to the aid of defenders. Unlike Soultakers or the Bento tribe, regulators lacked effective weapons against drones. Most of the UAVs even managed to return to crawlers for resupply.
For almost an hour, the front line held, but eventually Jekaterina pushed Janine all the way back to the pass. Four shamans were dead, two more suffered grievous wounds and had to retreat. The cyborgs were gradually but steadily eliminating Janine's elite guards.
The warlord herself took a step back. Neither she nor Jekaterina were injured, yet the armor of the warlord was covered in slashes, while the armor of her opponent was still pristine blue. Gunfire, shells, and laser fire were fired all across the battlefield by both sides, yet these two were mysteriously fine, during their impossible duel, each of them dodged just in time to evade being hit by the chaos of battle around them.
Jekaterina threw her weapon up, grabbing it at the lowest point of the scythe’s shaft, and made a long slash, aiming to bisect her opponent. Janine took another step back, the slash missed the warlord's body by an inch, burying the scythe's blade in the ground. The warlord stepped on the scythe, holding it in place while leaving a cleaving blow against the armor on Jekaterina's left shoulder. Aranea was looking at the battle through the cameras on the warlord’s armor. To her eyes, the expression on Jekaterina’s face remained the same, as she made a backward hit that was blocked by the left hand of Janine, while the warlord left another slash across the armor of her opponent. Scythe's shaft hit the armor on the warlord’s left hand, leaving a dent, yet through the torn armor on Jekaterina’s right shoulder, a trickle of blood showed up. The leader of the Soultakers pushed forward, forcing Janine to step back. Despite the metallic jaw, it was clear that there was a smile on Janine’s face, the warlord was confident that she read her opponent.
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Aranea thought so as well, before she saw something strange happen. Veins became visible on the temples of Jekaterina. The expression on her face still reeked of pride and boredom, but Aranea was sure that the enemy of Janine was now in a quiet rage, as much as it was possible for someone like Jekaterina. The Soultakers' leader struck once more. Her strike was not more elegant, there was no hidden technique behind it. Nonetheless, the strike was effective, leaving a cleaving slash across Janine's front armor, slicing through the skin beneath. The quality of Jekaterina’s attack was the same, she still used only one hand. And yet the following attack hit the mark, pushing Janine's axe back. Jekaterina simply put in more effort. With fear, Aranea understood. Up until now, Jekaterina never considered Janine to be a threat. She held back, wanting to kill the enemy with minimum effort. No more. A silent rage was now unleashed.
Janine was pushed all the way back to the defenses, coming to a halt just before the first trench in the pass. There was movement in the trenches, but both opponents ignored it. The giant cyborgs nearly reached the trench. Countless wounds covered the hide of Janine as she desperately tried to match the deadly ice storm of fury before her with her own attacks. Her skills, honed over centuries, were not enough on this day. Despite the fact that blood was splashing from Jekaterina's injured shoulder with each slash, she was stronger, and each strike was aimed to kill, slice, and maim. Janine tried her best to stay alive. But finally, Jekaterina pushed Janine's weapon aside, and the warlord fell on one knee, evading the hit that was supposed to slice her head off. With calmness on her face, Jekaterina raised her weapon over her head, aiming to slice Janine in two.
It was at this moment that seven forms of X-015 suits charged from the trench behind Janine. These things were lethal at such close range. Disruptors on their shoulders activated, unleashing wave after wave of sound into Jekaterina. She stepped back as soon as she saw them, but even she was not fast enough to outrun the weaponry of her new opponents. Her eyes exploded, and she reached for her face with her left hand, trying to shield her face in vain. The skin on her face cracked, her white teeth shattered into dust, blood poured from her nostrils and ears like a fountain. The suits charged at the cyborgs, closing in and engaging in melee before unleashing waves of sound at the enemy, cracking their armor and soft brains within.
Janine charged forward. Jekaterina somehow sensed her approach and made a swing, but lacking eyesight and hearing, she missed the moment, and the scythe harmlessly sliced through the air. Janine never allowed the enemy to launch another attack, her deadly axe crushed through the chest plate of the enemy's power armor, breaking through it and slashing through the vulnerable skin and muscles underneath. The weapon smashed through bones, and the body of Jekaterina was sent flying several dozen steps backward, crushing into the ground with the sound and force of an artillery shell. Her cloak was torn and left in tatters on the ground, as her body in heavy power armor slid across the stone ground, leaving cracked ground in its wake. The leader of the Soultakers was dead, no one could have survived this cruel strike. It was at this moment that Aranea understood something. The warlords were the ultimate warriors of the Wolf Tribe. But despite this, they were also leaders. And Janine won this battle as leader, she planned this sudden attack on her foe and trusted the forces of the state to carry it out.
Janine raised her left hand, pointing at the remains of her enemy. A torrent of searing white heat came from the flamecaster. The fire charged forward, eager to swallow everything in its path, the sand was turning into glass in its wake as it closed on the dead body…
The fire never reached the body. The torrent of flame was cut in two as Jekaterina stood up and sliced with her scythe. The wind from her slice split the torrent of fire in two for a brief moment. At this moment, Jekaterina used her scythe as a pole and leaped over the fire, landing among the X-015 suits. She took her weapon in both hands, turning into a blurring image as she hit suits around her, the blade of her scythe was slicing through both the metal shells of suits and the people within. When Janine finally attacked her, five out of seven suits had already crashed. Two warriors clashed again, and Aranea saw that Jekaterina’s black eyes were open and fully healed. No more blood was coming from the wounds on her chest and shoulders. With a tingle of fear, she remembered Kate’s words about how the priests failed to sacrifice Jekaterina. This was the power of the leader of the Soultakers.
A loud explosion was heard in the eastern mountain range, when the man with the sword spear abandoned his fight with Martyshkina and appeared near one of the artillery vehicles, slamming his spear into the engine, somehow detonating the whole vehicle. He turned around, slicing through soldiers. A wolfkin warrior nearby tried to open fire at him, but he simply grabbed her and bit off her head, biting through the steel of the power with incredible ease..
A cannibal. The Resistance allied themselves with cannibals. Aranea was filled with disgust and fear. She wanted nothing more than to appear in the eastern mountain range and help her friend. But there was no way now.
Martyshkina looked up in anger and placed her weapons into holsters, then jumped up and climbed atop the stone with incredible speed. Some of the Soultakers used jetpacks to join their commander, while others tried to storm underground tunnels below the mountain range.
Regulators reached the edge of the western mountain range. Despite heavy losses and despite the fact that Blaguna and her forces were still in the rear, their numbers were impressive. The figure in the green cloak stepped forward, reaching for something underneath the cloak. The man threw something forward, and large metal stairs appeared before the forces of Regulators, wide and long enough that they reached all the way to the cliffs. Enemy forces began to move forward.
It was at this moment that tunnels beneath the eastern and western mountain ranges were opened, unleashing fresh reinforcements supported by X-015 mechanical suits. The mechanical suits tore into enemy ranks, leaving a bloody mist around them as disruptors sang their deadly song of death. Steel, flesh, and bones were all reduced to dust, and lives were ending so quickly that enemies sometimes failed to recognize the attack.
Yasen rose in the air, the very air underneath his legs was trembling as he used his power. Kinetic blasts were unleashed from his fists, killing his own soldiers along with the X-015 suits. Drones tried to swarm him, lasers left burning marks on his armor, but a massive wave of force spread from all sides from Yasen when he spread his arms, simply swapping aside the drones from the air with his power. Despite this success, the Regulators' assault was slowing, however a large number of their forces were still climbing. The cliff-side towers were set on fire, but lieutenant Marveni Ursico had already recalled soldiers from them deeper into defensive lines the moment the strange stairs appeared.
The Regulators’ forces appeared on the cliffs. The shield station was about to test the assault of the enemy. And still, Aranea could sense mysterious tremors. But this time, she ignored them. The battle was coming to her.