It was a normal day for the citizens of Osma. To them, this was just another day of breakfast, receiving a basic education, commuting to work and leisure time afterwards. The kids have become more active and cheerful since the traumatic experiences they had to endure in the Hydarian fortress. They have also gotten much more clever ever since they started going to school in the time-dilated virtual reality. Many of them have already started to decide on their dream occupations for when they become adults.
Prana was busy with their next megaproject, 'The Integration’ was what the Convocation called it, under the guidance of The Aksha. Osma was not going to repeat the mistakes of industrialization and urbanization of the past humans. With the Osmanians' indigenous beliefs of the environment being a part of themselves and knowledge on how to build green cities of the past humans, they were going to replant various plant life inside the cities themselves and around the buildings to create an equilibrium and coexistence between the inhabitants and the natural world around them. The Osmanians needed to cut down some trees and parts of the natural world surrounding them to properly build the cities, but they were not going to let it stay that way for the betterment of future generations.
It was currently still winter, and snow was still precipitating from the skies above. With the project beginning now and aided with technology beyond anything this planet had ever seen, the upcoming spring season would see plants and flowers blooming on buildings and streets, fulfilling the goal of the project.
Indeed, the inhabitants of Osma were focused on this megaproject. On television, the new product that allowed them to broadcast news visually to the Osma population, the reports were focused on the progress of the city-building and happenings around the country. Surprisingly, a big event that was supposed to occur today just outside of Osmanian territory was not given any highlight. It spoke to the changing mindset and behaviour of the Osma population, and the faith they had in the institution to protect them.
The new invasion and retaliation of the Hydarian army was coming, and it only received passing attention from the public. Of course, the Aksha meant for this to happen, he downplayed their coming so the citizens were not worried. No one knew, not the Aksha and not the Hydarians, how this day was going to forever change the history of this planet.
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"Sir, the Galasts have all been taken cared of!" A Hydarian soldier of the Serpent Legion reported to the Naga Squad. The Galasts were large wolves covered with aether tendrils that attacked the Fazquez shadow retainers when they were on their way to Osma.
"Good. Any signs of the Laputans yet?" The Naga squad officer replied.
"Nothing yet, Sir!"
"It seems that they are going to play this dirty..." General Vaius said with a sinister curve of his lips.
"Dirty, General?" The officer next to him asked.
"Oh my. I suppose you are our newest member, a bit wet behind your ears, are you?" General Vaius said.
The officer did not seem angry but rather nodded right away. "My apologies, General!"
"You might have been too.,comfortable with the warmth that an open, 'no man's land' all-out warfare brought you here on the mainland. Two sides simply giving their all, arrows flying left and right, cannons incinerating your allies. How exhilarating!" General Vaius said.
"Indeed, General!" The relatively young Naga squad officer replied.
"Oh, such comfort did not exist when we fought the rebellion in the Southern Islands a decade ago or so. We had to fight in blisteringly hot jungles, our armour melting our very skin. Insects of unknown origins were the top assassins of the enemies. And the rebels? They shot at us from the canopies, installed traps everywhere we walked and pop out of the soil to kill a whole squad only to disappear the next second again." General Vaius explained.
The young officer was stunned hearing this. Indeed, the battle against the rebellion was infamous, but not a lot of records existed of it.
"It brought us to shame! So I do not blame your ignorance, the reports were sealed. But I admired the tenacity of rats, it's the only way they could hope to stand a chance against us. It makes the hunt a little more thrilling, perhaps!" The General said and laughed.
"Are you saying that's what the Laputans are going to do? General?"
As soon as those words left his mouth, a blast of smoke exploded near the front of the convoy before engulfing all of the legion.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
"It's a trap!" someone screamed.
"We can't see anything!"
Sounds of gun fires could be heard and flashes of yellow pierced through the smoke. Sprays of blood briefly illuminated the obscured vision as men fell like flies.
General Vaius's eyes bulged open. "This is...different." But his surprise turned into delight."I see that we finally have a real challenge."
"General Vaius, what are we going to do?" A Naga squad officer asked.
"Those damn city nobles underestimated the rats." General Vaius said displeased as he saw the legion falling left and right from the hail of bullets in the smoke. "Just one legion will not be enough for this, hahahahaha!" He laughed maniacally despite realizing their blunder. Despite only seeing this display for a short time, his veteran bones knew right away the fates of the legion that he led, and all the calculations in his mind that he could think of could not get them out of this predicament. The formation was lost, and the enemies could kill them from afar with projectiles faster, deadlier and with a much higher rate of fire than mere arrows. Coupled with the fact that the Naga Squad were the only aether wielders in the entire legion and the enemies had the capabilities to conjure these obscuring smoke freely, it would not end well for them.
"The Serpent Legion is lost. Naga Squad, follow me. Let's have actual fun ourselves and find their leaders." General Vaius said.
All the Naga squad performed the Hydarian salute before disappearing into the smoke.
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"I see that you do not have any reservations about honour, General Ahmi," Manusya said to his captain in the war room. He was already in his Aksha uniform and wearing a hood to cover his face.
"The Hydarians lost their right to an honourable fight after they colonized us and others like us. And for them to return after we drove them away, it's unforgivable. I will find my wife and daughter in their homeland, and once their return, I want a prosperous Osma for them to live in. These Hydarians are in the way of that future." General Ahmi said seriously.
I did expect some form of guerilla tactics, but using smoke bombs and depriving them of their sight and equipping our soldiers with infrared goggles were indeed smart. And well, it will certainly send them a message. Manusya thought.
Just a while ago, the Osmanian troops were stationed in the forest on the edges of the rudimentary road the Hydarians built. Each of them had turned on the camouflage ability of their suits, and coupled with the snow piling up on the ground, they blended with the environment seamlessly like chameleons. After the Hydarian convoy had passed a certain threshold, smoke bombs were ignited and the Hydarians began picking off the Serpent Legion one by one.
"After hearing about the cruelty of the Serpent Legion in their war, I do not want to take any chances in having them take even a single step inside Osmanian soil, either." CaptainGroma, the long-haired muscular man and rival to Ahmi said from the side.
"We will never be invaded again." Captain Groma said as he opened the map of the region on the screen in front of them. "With our current capabilities and the natural protection that the 'forbidden forest'—as the Hydarians called it—brings us and unless they withdraw all their troops in their war to invade us, they will not break through our defences."
The screen was showing an infrared vision of the obscured battlefield. It showed the convoy formation completely collapsing and Osmanian troops firing from the forest and driving the Serpent Legion into the forest and their domain. One by one, the confused Hydarians were picked off without a chance to retaliate.
"This will be over soon." Captain Groma scoffed and said.
"You are forgetting one more variable." General Ahmi pointed at the screen where several dots could be seen moving rapidly with inhuman speed.
The Naga Squad. Manusya thought.
"It seems it is my turn," Manusya said.
"While it is in our best interest to keep you safe, I know I cannot persuade you from this, Aksha," Ahmi replied.
"No," Manusya said. "It is my role."
Manusya looked to the side of the room, where the smiling corpse of Esteban q'Saul, the Hydarian baron who yet haunted him peered at his soul.
Laugh at me if you must. I will not let that stand in the way of my creed. He thought as he left the room.
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It had been around thirty minutes since the start of the attack. Most of the Hydarian forces had been driven into the forest individually, broken from their formation. Many of them managed to find their allies and stuck close to each other, even if they were not a part of the same squad. But the lack of any leadership or order guaranteed their loss. The Osmanian soldiers climbed from tree to tree or travelled through the secret tunnels they created, only to reveal the barrels of their guns from the opening of a boulder whenever enemies were near.
"Situation report, we cleared out five Hydarians here, over." An Osmanian soldier said as she sat on a tall tree branch. The rest of her squad members were nearby in the branches.
A voice replied through her earpiece. "Roger that, more enemies are heading your way, east, three hundred meters. Have caution, they seem to be moving faster than the others. Could be the Naga Squad, over."
The soldier looked at her squad members. "Prepare to engage." She said as she trained her rifle on the approaching figures.
"T-they are moving too fast! They're almost here!" Her squad member shouted. "Aether wielders! Caution!"
Before they could even react, all of them fell from the trees and to the ground lifeless. One of the bodies landed near the feet of a Naga squad member.
"Oh, this is fun!" That soldier said. "It's certainly a new experience, fishing out rats from their holes or making them drop like flies like this. General Vaius, where are their leaders? You said we are going to find them, but they don't seem to have any base nearby."
General Vaius stepped forward and crouched down to the corpse of the Osmanian. He took out the earpiece that they were wearing.
"They're not like rats, they're more like crows! Vermins, nonetheless. But they can call on their buddies from afar, you see here. " General Vaius examined the earpiece. "He will be here soon. I can feel it. A man who would associate himself with vermins is empathetical to a fault."
He smiled, imagining the beautiful battle that awaited him.