Helena

I had important things to focus on like coming up with the best way to distribute the vanguard and normal human defenders for the defense of the city, this something I had done many times before.

The issue was that I couldn’t get a certain black winged girl off my mind. As soon as Freya had heard about the incursion she had been excited, and where the hell had that sudden boldness come from? Floating off the ground and kissing me without even a hint of a blush and then flying off, when she had been flustered by hand holding a few minutes before!

One thing is for sure I was not going to complain, but it had definitely caught me off guard and now I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Also if I managed to stop thinking that it was her singing there was no way I already had it this bad for someone after one date.

My train of thought got interrupted by the first few vanguard arriving, which let me focus enough to finish my plans.

Due to the size of the city we had a relatively large amount of vanguard at sixteen in total. We didn’t have any class ones, we had two class twos, seven class threes, four class fours, and now that we had Freya we had three class fives.

Soon all the vanguard had gathered except for Freya. Her absence was noted by Sentinel, the other class five who was a giant man standing at seven feet tall yet was basically a human teddy bear he was a bit older too, well into his forties and provided a father figure or mentor for many of the vanguard. He was almost solely focused on defense, so when he spoke his booming voice was tinged with concern

“Does our new member know to come here, do you think we need to send someone to let them know?”

To which I simply replied

“They were informed but have elected to work alone.”

I could tell he was still worried. I knew he viewed it as his job to keep the other vanguard safe as a defensive class five. Truth be told I was also a bit worried about Freya, she may be a class five but was still new to this. I shook the thought from my head that I had a job to do Freya would just have to take care of herself.

I drew everyone's attention by standing and saying

“Thank you all for coming. I am going to keep this short as the first probing force will be here in half an hour.”

As soon as I said that I noticed that that force and another two in between the city and the main force were suddenly no longer showing up and that the closest force wouldn’t be here until at least two hours from now. So my brow narrowed in confusion and I stopped my briefing and instead asked

“Game Master, you have a drone tailing all the Antithesis forces. Can you show me the last known location for these three hoards.”

And sent him the information on the hoards, Game Master was a class four who specialized in commanding drones which made him excellent at recon.

A moment later he used a holographic projector to display what had once been the hoards, now though they were simply piles of dead. All three hoards had been killed to the last. Despite the fact that, given a little time to prepare, I could have done the same. It was still an impressive site.

The bottom line was both Sentinel and I specialized in defending. I would prepare a ground with traps and he would build and fortify. Freya, and I had no doubt that this was Freya’s work, was clearly not, she was built for offense.

So I cleared my throat and said

“It would appear that Fallen Angel has already engaged the enemy. Which gives us more time to build up our defenses for the main force.”

Which drew everyone's attention back to me so I continued

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“Our plan will be to at first meet them in a line and hold against the probing forces this way, but when the main force gets here the center will perform a fighting fall back to prepared positions while the flanks stand strong, we will then create a U formation to funnel the Antithesis into a prepared kill zone which is where we shall crush them.”

Plans always needed to be simple when dealing with vanguard as at the end of the day we are a collection of individuals not a true force, unlike Freya most were willing to follow a basic strategy though.

I continued with the briefing

“Our biggest priority target is the three Model Sixty-twos. Game Master could you please bring up the feed of them.”

He nodded then projected a live feed of the Model Sixty-twos, they were large and almost blimp like beetles in design they were slow and had almost no offensive capabilities, what made them dangerous was what their cargo. Inside them waited hundreds of Model Thirty-Twos which were fast and moth-like with bladed limbs. The Model Sixty-twos would shelter the lightly armored Model Thirty-Twos until over our defenses then the Model Thirty-Twos would spill forth and wreak havoc.

As we looked at the feed however there was suddenly a black and purple blur shooting straight toward the lead Model Sixty-two. Then it collided shooting through the Model Sixty-two’s head before erupting in an explosion of gore from the other side. Leaving the Model Sixty-two falling to the earth with a thunderous crash. We watched as it made two more passes killing the other two. Even when the Model Sixty-two’s Model Thirty-Twos deployed to protect their carriers from this attacker a black cloud of objects flew from the attacker cutting them down.

Soon they were all dead and the black blur slowed enough as it surveyed its handy work, to become visible it was revealed to be Freya covered from head to toe in gore, with a manic smile on her face while she laughed with pure delight. She was only still for a moment however and was soon moving toward more Antithesis.

I chuckled then said

“It would appear they are no longer an issue.”

Freya

When I made it to the main force I began making fast passes to different parts of the hoard so it couldn't prepare a counter to me all the while I targeted the strongest Antithesis.

I kept this up until the Antithesis reached the city’s defense’s which were very impressive. There was an entire fortress that hadn’t been there the day before. it made a U shape that lured the Antithesis into a kill zone .

There were many traps doing off that I assumed were Helena’s, they proved very effective and started to thin the Antithesis’s numbers, and due to my removal of the stronger Antithesis they had no answer to the rest of the Vanguards attacks and fort's guns so did the only thing they could, die.

I held mostly to the opening of the U acting as a cap and corralling the Antithesis to their death, I would swoop in and attack any groups of Antithesis that started to form up and recover.

I kept this up for three days, I would go out and crush a few of the probing hoards then I would target the main hoard where I would search for any strong Antithesis.

The entire time though I was looking for something though, every incursion in its last wave would bring a champion and I wanted to fight it badly, I just hoped it was a truly strong foe.

Finally on the fourth day I saw it, it had somehow avoided my notice on the way in, as its hoard fell into the kill zone. It effortlessly avoided the traps and fire from the walls, and to me it was absolutely beautiful

It was more than I could have hoped for. It was a Model 129 I looked spider-like with chitin armor but the reason it was feared was because of its speed and skill it moved on its back for legs. Its front four legs were sword-like. It was a known Vanguard slayer and was without a doubt the most dangerous Antithesis that could be a part of a D-tier incursion.

I forgot all about the group I had been fighting as they were now insignificant. I immediately flew straight toward it and as it spotted me I could see the intelligence behind its eyes which just made me smile all the wider. I then said the words coming unbidden to my lips

“Prepare yourselves, for I shall be your conductor this evening!”

To which Titania responded sounding almost choked up with emotion

It is time for the symphony to begin!

The oddness of this exchange quickly never even occurred to me as I landed before it, my feathers clearing the area around us, it took up a true fighting stance not simply charging at me like a beast.

We sized each other up and then as if a starting gun went off we charged each other. When we met my thrust was turned aside with true skill it then slashed down at me but I was no longer there.

I had the edge when it came to speed but it had four weapons which let it make up for that its sword limbs were so strong even with their warp fire my swords couldn’t cut through theirs.

It fainted with one of its blades but I saw through its ploy and went to capitalize but found another of its blades slashing at me so quickly even as I pulled back it managed to mark my arm. The cut was quickly repaired but the fact it had been able to mark me filled me with such joy causing me to let out a laugh of sheer elation.

I went back on the offensive this time it was the Model 129 that was pushed back, a thrust of mine almost finding its way through the Model 129’s defenses. We continued our duel, both dodging fire from both sides. Blades meeting blades in a dance of death, the entire time I had a smile on my face and a chuckle in my throat.

I will admit I was enjoying our dance so much that I allowed a few opportunities at victory pass me by, but eventually, I became worried that another vanguard might decide to aid me and I decided it was time for the crescendo.

I charged it for what I knew would be the last time in our duel and baited it using a move I had seen it try twice before. I let it believe I had come too close and it tried to entrap me in a deadly embrace by swinging its bottom two blades in a hug like motion, but I had been waiting for that.

I dropped beneath its blades, slashing an arc above my head with my left sword catching not on its blades but on its vulnerable arms cutting them off. Then before it could react with its two remaining arms, I rose and slashed with my right catching its neck and loping off its head.

The Model 129 fell dead at my feet and I raised one of my blades in a salute to its skill and out of thanks for the fun it gave me. I heard the defenders manning the fort cheer, but as I looked upon its defeated corpse I began to feel the hunger for a stronger foe growing in me.

I returned and aided in the slaughter of the last of the Antithesis; the last one's fall signaled the end of the incursion and I hoped with all my heart that the next one would bring stronger foes.