Frank, Smash, People, Clash
The sky hung heavy with dark, churning clouds, a foreboding curtain that seemed to press down on the gathered warriors. They stood in tense silence, their steady breathing belying the rapid cacophony of their hearts beating against their chests while they smelled the death that had been wrought in the cool, damp air. The assembled group, a mix of chosen fighters and determined novices, adjusted their grips on weapons, their eyes fixed on the distant horizon where their enemy would soon appear. Armor clinked softly as they shifted, the sound almost swallowed by the oppressive atmosphere. The scent of impending rain mingled with the metallic tang of anticipation, creating an almost palpable tension.
A sudden flash of lightning split the sky, illuminating the determined faces, and casting stark shadows across the city that now lay before them after having left the gates of the guild. The brief brilliance was followed by a low rumble of thunder, a portentous drumroll heralding the coming conflict. As the first drops of rain began to fall, their splatters on the ground sounded like the prelude to a symphony of chaos. Each raindrop seemed to amplify the electric charge in the air, heightening the sense of imminent action. The warriors' expressions hardened, their resolve steeling in the face of the approaching storm, both natural and martial. The battle was about to begin.
Each of the men and women present understood there was a possibility that they would not return from the coming fight, but none showed their trepidation in the face of protecting their home, their friends, their world. As they stood resolute behind their leader, he turned to them, staring across the sea of faces that had answered his call. Pride swelled in each of their hearts that they had lived to see this moment. Through all of the trials they had overcome to reach this moment, one thing held true: no one would take what they had built, what they had fought for, what they had bled and died for.
"People of Vanguard, today we put to rest our fears. We end our constant search for the promised threat in the skies. All of our preparations have led to this moment, to this battle. We may not have met before this terrible time, but we are united as humanity's defenders. As those who would look at this threat and not shrink from the duty of destroying any who would take what we have built.
They looked at us as nothing but weaklings—a fledgling planet without the means to defend itself and a target to steal from. We have shown that we are a force to be reckoned with. We stand on the precipice of the final push to victory against these creatures, and we will stand resolute. The phrase freedom isn't free was thrown around with careless regard for its actual meaning here in the U.S. before the System integration. Standing here today, we know what that truly means.
Each of us has experienced the heartache of a loss so deep that we felt the empty, broken feeling of true sorrow and despair. Feeling as though the darkness around us had grown so thick as to wrap us in the cold embrace of hopelessness as it tried to smother us. We have felt that moment of weakness and experienced the thoughts that giving up might just be easier. Yet we rose above with the idea that humanity was resilient. While my heart breaks for those who are no longer with us, I know that each one of them would want us to continue. To ensure that their sacrifices were not in vain. They are the symbol that we will hold high as our banners for the future."
Tom equipped his greatsword as he continued to speak to those who were assembled. He gripped the handle tighter as he hefted it into the air.
"Who are we?" Tom shouted the question as he stared at the crowd.
"Vanguard!" They shouted back.
"Who are we?"
"Vanguard!"
"Who are we?"
"VANGUARD!!!!" This final call rang out through the city, the echoes resounding off the remaining buildings and the walls of their base.
Sounds of scuttling and the screeching of terrible monsters none had dared dream would exist on their world reached their ears in the moments of silence that followed their cries of unity and outrage.
"Let us show them why we still stand! Let us be the warning to all others who would come that mankind is not to be taken so lightly! We stand for something greater than ourselves! We stand for all of humanity and the determined spirit that has been a part of us since we became the dominant species of this planet! Show me that you will not back down! SHOW ME YOUR INDOMITABLE SPIRITS!" Tom shouted as he stabbed his sword into the air again.
The crowd erupted in shouts, releasing their rage and pain into a force that kindled a fire in each person present until their spirits roared like a conflagration that could not be quenched except by vengeance. Turning to face the city as the cries continued behind him, Tom grasped his communication orb and offered up a silent prayer to anyone who might be listening. He gave James the signal and let the orb fall to bounce against his chest.
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A roar echoed out from the city, reaching the cries of those who had gathered and mixed with their own shouts in a dark harmony that told of retribution for their loss. Every pirate in the city froze at that moment as though the final voice had been the one that shattered their confidence and gripped their hearts with a new feeling: fear.
Leaping into the air, Frank descended toward the first of his victims. Landing with a crash that shattered the pavement, an unlucky lobster was splattered on the ground like a cockroach under his fists. Unleashing his Berserk skill, Frank's abilities skyrocketed, and the world went from a pinkish hue from the rage ability he had used before to fully red. His mind devolved into something primal, something animalistic. His sense of self fell away and was replaced with a bloodlust that could never be quenched.
The pirates saw their comrade fall and began to swarm on him, claws clacking and their own screeches of defiance lifting to meet the cries of the people. Equipping his maul with unconscious thought, Frank swung it at an approaching lobster, smashing its carapace and sending it flying into the side of a building. The wall crumbled beneath it, leaving a gaping hole. Again and again, he swung his hammer faster and faster until he was a blur of movement accentuated by the growls of exertion from each deadly attack.
A claw clamped onto his calf, but his skin had hardened to steel with the activation of his ultimate and blinding ability. He lifted his leg and stomped on the offending creature, caving its head in. Grabbing it by the claw that had dared to touch him, he swung the body of his enemy as a makeshift weapon into other pirates. Still, they came, attempting to use numbers to overwhelm him.
Dropping the dead pirate, Frank equipped a greataxe. Swinging both with near-wild abandon, he began to step forward as he carved a path of death and destruction amongst the lobsters. Blood and guts splattered across his face, painting him in the fluids of his enemies, creating a visage of war that would have made his ancestors swell with pride. The crunch of the armor of his enemies sounded with every swing, a staccato of destruction that mimicked that of a typewriter as he continued to leave a trail of bodies in his wake.
Wounds began to slowly show on his skin as he fought without thought of his own well-being. Though his skin was hardened to resist most attacks, he was still made of flesh, and his blood flowed from the wounds, covering him in rivulets of crimson. He had made this choice. Offered to utilize his abilities to help ensure that the greater good could actually be achieved. That others would live through his sacrifice.
The sting of the attacks, no more than the feeling of mosquito bites in his current state, still served to increase his rage to new heights. As he bellowed his rage to the world, he fought on, killing pirate after pirate as they continued to amass on his location.
A single tear fell from James' eye and rolled down his cheek as he watched from a distance. Frank's body began to be covered by the creatures as they swarmed him. Many were tossed aside, and the splatter of their blueish blood was flung into the air with each of his strikes, but it wouldn't be long now. Holding the orb up to his mouth, he uttered two words before letting it fall.
"It's time."
Tom received the message and began marching through the shield, the mass of guild members following closely behind. The sounds of their feet soon drowned out every other sound except the sound of his own beating heart, which thudded in his ears as he pushed all thoughts of doubt and regret aside. Singularly focused now, Tom activated his Tattoo of Strength again and equipped his second sword.
As the mass of lobsters came into view, he saw a mass of them, taller than the rest, moving in an odd pattern. He heard the cry of rage and knew it was Frank. The pile stopped swaying and lowered, the sounds of his bellows going quiet. All that remained was the screeching of the pirates.
"FOR VANGUARD! FOR EARTH! FOR FRANK!!!!!!" Tom shouted at the top of his lungs, holding one sword in the air, and then he charged.
Every eyestalk turned on him at once as he shouted his defiance at them. Perhaps it was a trick of the light as lightning flashed in the sky or something to do with the rain that fell, but Tom thought he saw looks of shock run through the lobsters' eyes as they took in the sight of the guild members charging with righteous fury at them.
The clash when Tom and his followers, led by the Mastadonians at the forefront, shook the very ground with its force. Three pirates died instantly to Tom's first strike, the top halves of their heads carved off from the force of his cross-body blow, his swords acting like a pair of scissors cutting through paper. Chaos erupted as the forces met in a bloody clash of weapons, armor, claws, and bodies.
Continuing with his momentum and getting lost in the primal feeling of the bloodlust he was experiencing, Tom slashed, stabbed, and kicked at anything in his path as he continued forward, trusting that his friends would have his back. A wedge began to be formed with Tom as the spearpoint, pushing through the mass of crustaceans in his path. As he drove through the center, he saw a light at the far end of the battle; then, a concussive force exploded from the point of light, sending pirates flying into the air.
Mark had stepped out from his hiding place, pointed his staff at the mass of lobsters, and with tears streaming down his face, began firing explosive spells at the creatures. Boom, Boom, Boom, BOOM! Mark unleashed spell after spell at the creatures in his rage. James stepped out from the corner of the building and began firing into their midst as well. As some of the lobsters broke off and ran toward them, Lacey stepped out and placed a barrier over them all for protection. Susie sat on the ground, still behind the corner of the building, a sobbing mess, quivering in fear and grief.
As more of the Vanguard forces began to engage the pirates, losses began to pile up on both sides. Soon, the battlefield was no longer a line of one force meeting the other but a full-scale battle of intermingled forces trying with all their might to destroy the other. No matter what side came out victorious, this battle would decide the final outcome of this invasion.