The nice thing about catapults and other siege equipment was that they had to be greased to ensure they worked properly. Purgatory didn't typically make use of material stress as it worked in the real world - machines and structures had HP, like we did - but that didn't mean they weren't weak against certain things. Wood was still flammable and metal and ore were still meltable, as Kaban had shown us at Ironside. And grease and oil still went up in flames to dramatic effect, especially when triggered by an explosion.
Angel and I found the berms she knew had to be there - big ramps that flanked the city gates to either side. The soldiers were mostly stationed on the ground and in watch posts. They patrolled the walls, but they weren't manning the big siege weapons. Each catapult required teams of eight, and they just didn't have the manpower. Half of them were watching the smoke rising to the east, from the mines, and not paying attention to the single girl - dressed in her best Centurions Elite armor - as she deftly laid packed jelly explosives in and around the catapults that loomed over the southern gate complex. Lulu and I weren't up there with her. We had to wait and seethe, because if we were spotted, the alarm would go up. But I worried. It was dark up on the wall. And Angel couldn't hear if someone came up behind her.
Nearly twenty minutes passed before a small, slim figure jogged down the ramp, her armor clacking on every step. She paused to a halt and saluted as a patrol of four elites rolled on by, staying there until they passed. Then she swung away from the gates and into the shadows, running with nervous speed back toward us.
"All good?" The tension in my gut didn't stop until she crept in beside me and crouched down.
"I think so,” she signed. “I set a five-minute timer to give us a head start. I don't know... maybe that was too long-"
BOOOOMMM.
The ground bucked as an explosion rocked the gate, sending shrapnel in all directions. The darkened walkway lit up with a blinding flash, fire roaring out toward the road. Cries of alarm filled the air. And smoke, lots of it.
"No fucking way. I was sure I set all the timers!" Angel vaulted up onto my back as we broke out of the nest of crates, barrels, and junk I'd been hiding behind.
"It's fine. We just have to book it." I didn't bother wasting the energy to cloak us, just took off at a sprint through the city. Other than the Anzu and maybe a Whiphorse, I was the fastest thing on four legs in Malae. We passed platoons of elites and what looked like city militia, so fast they didn't have time to process the greyish blur and its pale rider as we streaked by. A grim sense of determination grew in my chest as I ran, ignoring cries and even the occasional pot-shot taken at us from behind.
"I don't know if I'm gonna be able to get that EXP," I thought to Angel. "If we get bogged down by multiple Legions..."
She couldn't reply, but Lulu groaned agreement as we broke out into the Temple Plaza and saw the line of Centurions Elites still holding their posts. Maybe two dozen of them had responded, heading for the East Gate as the sound of explosions continued to rocket through the city. The others had formed a shifting, nervous line in front of the entry to the temple. There were at least half a dozen brutes: even another Tondrothaw.
"Fuck it. We don't have time for this. We need to be fresh for Rachini. Levels don't restore HP, and evolutions won't, either. We'll end up burning all our heals before the fight." I veered to the side like a motorcycle, heading for the garden terraces. Soldiers spotted us as I shot toward the retaining wall and bounded up, up... over the heads of several soldiers, and almost into the door of the temple itself. Which was closed. I yelped and scrambled to avoid crashing right into the towering bronze double doors. Even so, I ended up nudging them - and they might as well have been another wall.
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"How do we open it?!" I spun around, tentacles bristling.
"I don't know!" Angel leaned out to push on them. Centurions Elites, barking at each other in Russian, ran up the stairs toward us. "Grrr... open, dammit!"
"Coowoo!" Lulu squeaked.
"Coowoo?" I turned on the incoming guards and roared, plunging the tentas down. They shot out in all directions from the floor, impaling the first soldiers who closed in on us and making the others halt and withdraw to firing range. "What the fuck is a... oh, shit."
There was a glyph emblazoned on the door that looked similar to the alchemical triangle each legion had on their character information tab, except instead of elemental symbols, it had a human skull at the top, a sun within a circle to the right, and a moon within a circle to the left. The circles had little locks on them, to drive the point that they were collars. To get into the temple, you needed a collared team of three.
"Fuck! I can't take Lulu's collar off without killing her." Of all the stupid fucking mechanics they could have picked... "I can put on Angel's collar, but..."
A thought occurred to me. A thought I immediately dismissed.
Angel pulled both her guns and hit her Gunsaint duel-wield as I ran around the corner of the temple, drifted the corner to the internal Eurobeat track pounding between my ears, and led the Centurions on a merry racetrack ride underneath the columned porch of the temple. Angel twisted back to fire, but not even she could get a whole lot of accuracy while we were having to dodge and weave.
"Noodles!" She called out aloud. "Take your collar off and try to equip it on me! It's our only way into the temple!"
Oh.
She'd had the same thought.
"Uhh-" my mind did a blank as a soldier bounced up over the edge of the nearest terrace, aiming a rifle at us. I slapped him away with a tentacle. "ARE YOU SURE?"
"Just do it! Unequip your Greater Legion collar and pass it to me!"
It felt more than a little surreal to unequip my collar and hand it over, in a manner of speaking. I pulled it into my inventory and set up a trade while we dodged bullets and a fireball spat at us from the Pyromaw. The collar left my inventory and went into Angel's. Without a word, she pulled it out and locked it around her own neck.
[Well then.]
[This has never happened before, outside of certain consensual adult scenarios. In theory, this is impossible. But there is no precedent, because you are different species. And by the rules, a bonded team must consist of a human, a greater legion, and a lesser legion. The order and composition of this arrangement is not defined. Thus I rule this a legitimate team.]
[Gladiator His Radiance M.T Noodles the 4th, PhD has claimed an... umm... Angel.]
[You have gained a new achievement: The Trinity Formed. You have attained a full Legion team. In a manner of speaking.]
[You gain a new achievement: Definitely Not a Pet-Play Kink.]
Angel groaned. And even though I couldn't see her, I could somehow FEEL her blushing as the empathic link to her surged.
"Hey, at least you gain the benefits of the mandalas like this!" We were close to lapping around the building. I threw my ass around another corner to drift it, claws screeching on marble. A firing line of soldiers had formed ahead, standing their ground as they aimed at us. NOW I used Shadow Cloak, obscuring us in a sphere of darkness as I focused and sent a screeching pulse of white noise at the soldiers aiming at us. Their shots went wild, but a bullet clipped Angel's thigh. She gasped as we thundered forward. Whipping tentacles found purchase around a man's neck and tore his head off on the way past.
[You gain 10 EXP. Amazing.]
"I'm too high a level to get experience from these assholes." I snarled aloud with frustration. We were so close to max level. But just as I resolved to sacrifice the extra time and maybe some heals to fight the Pyro, every single Centurion at the temple suddenly turned tail, and ran.
"Hah! Yeah! You know death when you see it, sukas! Run away!" Confused, but victorious, I turned to the big bronze doors. As I reached out with a foreclaw and touched them, the sigil glowed. They cracked down the middle and swung inward.
"Wait. Why are they all running?" Angel was just as bewildered, panting, her guns braced against her thighs. "...Holy shit. Look to the south."
The southern horizon was lit up with a baleful red glow. Fires burning in the plantations. A broad, toothy grin split my muzzle.
"It's the god damned Hell Pigs," I thought to them. "Come on! Let's finish this."