The battle raged across the fortress. The Ohm forces did not focus on slaughtering the drunken Hydarians, even when there were plenty of opportunities to do so. They held back their lust for personal revenge and set their attention on setting more explosives and destroying the rest of the buildings. The Ohm hunters were organized and one could tell that each team had very specific goals. There was also a clear line of communication that was facilitated with the usage of the wireless communication device on their ears, allowing them to know what was happening across the battlefield and make split-second decisions that were attuned to what the other squads were doing.
Truth be told, the Hydarians were truly caught with their pants down. If they were slightly more prepared than this and were actively guarding the walls and fortress, a drawn-out siege battle would have occurred if the Ohms used this same strategy. It would have been a battle that unless Manusya gave the Ohms more advanced weaponry, they would have certainly lost. But as if dictated by a universal rule of causality, the nefarious deeds of the Hydarians were being repaid in full today.
Manusya was seeing the battlefield from the air, still invisible as he needed to dodge the incoming arrows that were shot at him.
It's time I join the crossfire once more. This is my debut, and it must be unforgettable. Manusya thought.
Manusya lowered himself to the ground with his hover jetpack. He descended to the centre of it all, where many Hydarians were shouting at one another and hastily picking up their weapons.
"Squad Delta, I will begin the distraction. Take all the children out in the meantime. And don't harm that man Gavrin." Manusya said over the wireless comm.
"Affirmative, Commander Aksha!" A voice replied to him in his ear.
Manusya turned off his invisibility once more. All the RNI nanobots—the visual effects of the space age—gathered around Manusya and morphed into living thunder swirling around him. The Aksha became the god of thunder of eld, an incarnation of Thor and Zeus. The real nano imagery exaggerated his light exosuit's ability to emit electrical shock with each attack he made, creating the illusion that he controlled lightning itself.
"Hydarians!" Manusya shouted.
All the Hydarians surrounding him turned to him. They were mostly low-ranking common soldiers, but they reacted faster than one would think a drunken soldier would react and charged at him while shouting something in Hydarian.
Manusya prepared his CQC stance. When the first soldier met his range, Manusya rushed forward and took him down with an electrical jolt and a Judo throw into the ground. Manusya rotated his right leg for a kick to stop the next soldier from approaching, instantly knocking him out with an exosuit-enhanced kick. Two soldiers rushed at the same time after that, and he manoeuvred his body to handle them with ease. With such rhythmic fighting, Manusya took down around ten low-ranked soldiers.
The rest of the soldiers stared him down, unsure if they should rush at him knowing their fate would lie on the ground as well. While they thought the mysterious hooded man in front of them was strong, they also noticed that he did not kill a single soldier.
As Manusya was busy dealing with these soldiers, a sudden voice shouted in accented Osmanian, "Twas you who did this!"
Manusya choked out a soldier as he turned to look at the source of the booming voice. A high-ranking Hydarian knight. That knight was wearing intricate black, gold and red armour with engravings etched onto it. A large greatsword was at his back, and his helmet was decorated with the signature Hydarian red feathers.
The soldiers around Manusya started to shout something at the man who appeared. Manusya did not even have the minimum amount of language acquisition in his universal chip to understand any Hydarian, but he did recognise the word that the soldiers spoke. 'Captain', or its Hydarian equivalent, was what they called the man who approached.
Manusya's AR interface in his eye also told an interesting story. The man in front of him showed signs of alcohol intoxication, like the rest of the soldiers. Yet, he seemed...confident. He did not seem as unprepared as the rest. He was certainly more trained.
"My name is Esteban q'Saul. A Baron of Hydaria. You have transgressed into our kingdom's territory and defiled the honour of our fatherland. In the name of our King, you will all be judged harshly!" Esteban, the Hydarian Captain shouted. He took out his greatsword, red aura started to surround his body and the sword.
Manusya and the man were quite a distance from each other. And yet, within what felt like three seconds, Esteban was already in front of Manusya.
Manusya was shocked to see such speed, but he took out a dagger in preparation for the clash. But that would never arrive, as suddenly, five Osmanian hunters appeared in front of Manusya and blocked Esteban's path. Esteban swung his greatsword and hit one of the hunters that tried to block the incoming attack. The hunter was pushed into the ground, his carbon-fibre light armour was almost cut through.
"Impressive material! I will send to Hydarian scholars to study." Esteban muttered in somewhat broken Osmanian.
The remaining four Ohm soldiers turned to Manusya. "Commander! We are Team 2 of Squad Echo. We saw you getting attacked! We will protect you, Aksha!" one of them shouted.
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Manusya's face underneath his hood was dire. Esteban's speed and strength to cut through an Osmanian in one swing told him that he was no ordinary aether user.
"No! Go!" Manusya shouted in a hurry.
"We will protect our Commander!" The four shouted, seemingly not hearing Manusya amid all the noise and explosions surrounding them.
"Brave savages! Ashamed you are enemies of Hydaria. Brave attack, this ambush, but your retribution will be great!!!" Esteban smiled sinisterly underneath his helmet and rushed towards them.
One, two, three. Within a second, three of Team 2 were beheaded by the greatsword.
"NO!" Manusya shouted as he rushed forward.
No! No! No! Manusya screamed further in his mind.
"The leader finally comes to play!" Esteban rushed to Manusya and swung his greatsword.
Manusya dodged several attacks but his human reaction time was simply no match for aether-infused attacks. Esteban was beyond Ahmi's level in terms of his proficiency in using aether to enhance their body. Manusya did not have any choice but to take some of the attacks. His strong light exosuit held through the attacks, although they were starting to show signs of damage after several barrages.
Is this the might of a single aether user!? Manusya thought. An army of them, I understand why the Osmanians were quickly conquered!
But such thoughts distracted him. Manusya raised his dagger to parry some of the attacks and tried to use his electric shock-induced punches. Those punches did the damage, and Esteban winced in pain.
"Hah! A strong one. But I must say, you were too distracted by underling's deaths! Those filthy Laputans! A soft leader, you are." Esteban said and raised a greatsword at him.
The Hydarian knight rushed forward—but not at Manusya—he rushed towards the remaining standing Ohm hunter and within a single arc of his greatsword, made his head go flying.
Manusya turned his head and his mind nearly went blank.
Manusya did not go to the front lines. He had been to some smaller skirmishes with the Despair and had seen how gruesome a battle can be, especially with a nearly unbeatable alien race. Yet, his mindset then was different. He had thought that those soldiers died for humanity and did an honourable thing by giving their lives. But now, as he took responsibility for single-handedly ushering this era of suffering and mistakes once more, he truly realised how senseless it could be. He had trained these fledgling soldiers himself. He hunted with them, sat on bonfires with them, and saw the hope in their eyes for liberation from the Hydarians. He knew he could not protect everyone, yet Manusya knew he was the cause of all of this. All of it.
Manusya stood in silence for a few seconds.
"You are soft! For their death to affect a leader this much. Die!" Esteban rushed at Manusya.
Manusya snapped his finger. The nanobots around him swirled around his right hand, enveloping it with an illusion of fire. His right hand was reaching for a handgun, an older model that still used bullets. With an aim of his fiery right hand, he took several shots at the approaching Esteban. First, both of Esteban's legs. It took several shots for the bullets to penetrate the aether body strengthening.
"W-what is this!" Esteban fell to his knees as both his legs ceased functioning.
Manusya did not let go of his aim and shot both of his arms, which made Esteban drop the sword sat on the ground on his knees, unable to move his limbs.
"Y-you! What sorcery is this!? I have never seen such magus arts!" Esteban shouted.
Manusya walked slowly towards Esteban and aimed at his head. The nearby Hydarian soldiers were about to rescue their Captain but as Manusya aimed for his head and after they saw what Aksha's fire hand could do, they refrained from rushing forward lest their Captain was executed in front of them.
"Tell all of your men to return to Hydaria," Manusya said coldly, his face not visible underneath the hood.
"You savage dare try to spare me? Kill me now!" Esteban looked up at Manusya and spat on him.
"Final warning. Tell your men to return to Hydaria and you can report to your commander yourself. Have your vengeance yourself at a later date, this is my mercy." Manusya said as he looked down.
"Why don't you tell it to your moth—"
BANG!
Silence. The Hydarian knight fell to the ground lifeless with a hole in his head. All of the soldiers nearby were shocked to see their captain dying.
"I do not care if you understand Osmanian. I assume some of you do, even when you can't even speak it, you dirty colonisers." Manusya pointed his 'fire hand' at the soldiers.
"Leave! If you want to see your wives and children again, leave! The Osma people will be retaking their lands, tell that to your commander in your captain's stead." He said.
While none replied, Manusya was right when he said that some of the men understood some Osmanian. One of them carried a horn, took it out and blew on it.
The signal to retreat was sounded. The Hydarians began their desperate escape.
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The warmth of the sun returned to the forest. The dawn of a new day had begun. But it did not only mark a spin of the planet, but rather a new beginning for the Osma people.
Manusya and the hunters were currently salvaging whatever supplies survived the fire of the Hydarian fortress. Hydarian armour, weapons, and some food supplies remained. Some Hydarian soldiers also did not make it out with the others, whether they surrendered or were too injured to escape. Manusya had ordered them to be kept in custody with dignity and to treat them as 'prisoners of war', a foreign concept to the Ohm people but they obliged their Aksha's request.
Manusya and Ahmi surveyed the courtyard as they looked at the burnt buildings inside the fortress.
"Are the children safe?" Manusya asked Ahmi.
Manusya had taken off his hood and his long hair was drenched in sweat.
"Affirmative, Commander. They are now in the temporary outpost we built." Ahmi said as he nursed the injuries in his body. "We lost thirty men, Commander," he said with a grimace.
Thirty lives I could not save. Manusya thought as he looked down at the ground with melancholy. Thirty out of millions more in the future if I continue my mission. I am a monster.
Manusya walked ahead and was leaving Ahmi behind. His face showed indescribable sadness.
"Wait, Commander Aksha. What do we do now? The plan you gave us only took us this far. Do we return to the village?" Ahmi asked.
Manusya stopped and turned his head to partially looked at Ahmi.
"We march to the capital," Manusya replied.
"The capital?" Ahmi asked with a bewildered face.
"Yes. We take all of the children to the capital, including the Ohm children. Send messengers to the Ohm village to send representatives to the capital. I will request a meeting with the representatives of all the villages in the capital with the children we rescued and proof that we drove away the Hydarians. I will also have my word with the Druids." Manusya replied.
"A-Aksha! Your promise....?" Ahmi's eyes popped open, his face showed elation.
Manusya nodded. "A proud nation we shall create. We cannot waste a single second with the Hydarians on our tail. We must reunite the Osma people and develop ourselves quickly. There is no sense in waiting. Let us depart!"
Manusya ordered his men to march with him to the capital of Osma. A new nation was on the edge of creation.