April 18, 2056

<<Пиро! Пиро!>>

Nik and his unit barely have enough time to disperse from the stream of fire. Diving towards the nearest cover, Nik winces as the air around him becomes hot and heavy. It's not enough to stop him however as he and his men begin firing upon the enraged Pyromancer.

"There's our chance! Head for the exit!"

A voice in the distance catches Nik's attention as he turns to see silhouettes through the smoke moving away from the building and towards the outer perimeter wall. The unknown group of soldiers he had encountered were about to escape. Reacting swiftly, he turns to take aim at them but before he can pull the trigger, an explosion makes him glance away as the exit doorway becomes engulfed with bright flames.

With no signs of the mysterious soldiers reappearing, Nik focuses his attention back towards the main threat.

While their mission is to annihilate any Federation separatists in the area, they were also given a task specifically meant for the Sentinels that involved in the destruction of any and all UnHoly anomalies they encountered during the raid. It's still all new to Nik but he remembers very clearly that any individual that produced silver rays is to be eliminated with the highest priority. And this Pyromancer has found himself on that list.

With the barrage of fire being ineffective, a Heli approaches to provide assistance but is shortly decimated as it spirals out of control and crashes into a set of barracks.

"Cука!" Nik curses as the Pyro begins yelling louder while emitting an even denser aura of Divinity.

With the true scope of the situation dawning on him, Nik now realizes that the only person who could possibly take him on would be Josh, but he's on the other end of the base and there's no telling when we would arrive. Even just letting the Pyromancer continue his rampage for a couple of minutes would cause massive amounts of destruction. Not unless someone kept him busy for that time being.

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Without wasting another second, Nik moves away from his cover with his team and advance on the Pyro while opening fire once again. They get his attention as he veers his body towards the attackers.

"Выходи вперед и умри!"

The Pyro's call is answered as Nik raises his hand and cast an Enhancement.

"Divine Pierce!"

A golden stream shoots forward but vanishes as it nears the Pyromancer. More Enhancements come with no avail and bullets begin to pepper his armor as the tank on his back is shortly riddled with holes, taking his weapon out of the fight. This does little to actually stop him as the first Sentinel is set ablaze by a cast as another is instantly turned to a crisp. Behind him, another sentinel rushes him and plunges their blade into his lower back. Unfortunately, it gets stuck in his Kevlar as the Pyro turns around and strikes him, catapulting the soldier into a burning building.

For the next couple of minutes, the Sentinels and Rams continue their assault as walls of fires erect all around them. It's getting hard to breath and it's now impossible to get anywhere near the Pyromancer less you instantly ignite. Bullets become useless as they melt way before reaching their target. It's at this point Nik orders any remaining Rams to start retreating.

Along with the Sentinels, only a small strike force of airborne forces was deployed in via helicopter during the initial hour of the raid. Reinforcements are on their way with armored vehicles but due to the isolated position of the Fed HQ it would still be a while until they arrive. It's best that he tries to keep as many people as possible alive until then.

Taking a cover behind a pillar, Nik grabs hold of his radio again just as another helicopter is hit above him.

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This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

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With no other options, Nik orders his team to fall back and have the Pyromancer follow.

"Hey! Steamer! Come and get us!" Nik taunts him before breaking through the wall of fire with a cast.

Behind him, the Pyro huffs heavily and begins to trudge forward.

Once a good distance away, Nik and his Unit turn to unleash a volley of gunfire in order to keep the Pyro agitated before moving onward and repeating the cycle over again. Every now and then they would run into lingering Feds but they were more concerned with escaping rather than fighting back. It didn't matter which side you were on; the Pyro was targeting anyone that he came across.

After a little while, the Sentinels reach the entrance where other airborne troops are positioned. There are considerably less of them now. Josh, however, is yet to be seen anywhere.

"Where is that damn mute at?"

Nik scans around for him but is caught by surprise when he notices a MRAP barreling towards him with a Heli giving chase closely behind. His men open fire and after it continues to approach it deploys smoke before whizzing past the group of soldiers that just barely manage to get out of the way.

"Crazy son of bitch almost hit us!"

"Whoever they are, they have balls; I'll give them that," Nik says as he picks himself up from the ground.

With white smoke in the air, Nik struggles even more to take in the surroundings but has just enough time to spot the silhouette of the Pyro approaching. A second later a ring of fire forms around him before shooting outwards like an oncoming wave.

Casting quick, the Sentinels produce Barriers that withstand the flames whereas the airborne troops are unable to do so and are instantly charred when the wave passes through them. The pressure is immense as their barriers begin to crack under the stress. Just when it seems like the flames are going to get through, it subsides as the Sentinels falls to their knees from exhaustion.

Nik still manages to stay on his feet but he's at the brink of collapsing. The heat is unbearable, and he has to keep blinking in order to keep moisture in his eyes.

"Perish... Perish..." The Pyro steps closer and readies another wave of fire but stops in his tracks when two shots ring out and hit their mark on the Pyromancer's helmet.

He grunts and tilts his head behind to see the Sentinel Captain standing before him.

"About time..." Nik wheezes before turning back to his cadre, "Sentinels, see no evil."

With a nod, they pull down the visor on their Altyn helmets as a screen appears with a timer that begins to count up. The Pyromancer has been marked for death.

Josh tosses his gun aside and begins approaching as the Pyro throws a ball of fire his way. It makes contact with his barrier but does nothing as he continues without being affected. The Pyro yells are muffled by his mask as he casts another Enhancement that spews an endless stream of flames at him. Again, Josh ignores the attack and unsheathes his sword before surging forward in high speed and slicing him across his mask.

He stumbles backwards, holding onto his face where silver light discharges violently into the air.

Josh keeps up the attack with an onslaught of slashes as the Pyromancer aimlessly swing at the air. On the last strike, he falls to his knees, covered in cuts with streams of bloods soaking his body. Finally beaten, he looks up at Josh standing over him, with his silent and dull eyes showing no remorse for him, as he brings his sword back and plunges it through the Pyro's torso.

With a gasp, the Pyro's body convulses before eventually going limp. Unsatisfied yet, Josh begins retracting his blade to behead the anomaly before he can do so, he's suddenly grab by the wrist as the Pyro's masks falls off to reveal a devilish smile.

"UnHoly Detonation."

A second later an Enhancement detonates that engulfs the entire base with heat and a blinding light. The ground beneath quakes violently as the shockwave sends debris and shards of metal flying in all directions like deadly shrapnel. Any helicopters still in the air are flung like rocks as nearby trees are ripped straight out of the ground and sent flying.

Only after a couple of minutes does Nik open his eyes to realization that he isn't dead. Looking around, his Sentinels are also alive somehow and in shock to what just happened. Then, from the corner of his eye, he notices the slight glimmer of gold that stretches over him and his men. A Protection Barrier. He doesn't remember casting one before the detonation.

Still in a daze, Nik looks around even further and sees that nothing left is standing. Buildings have vanished completely from their foundation not a single tree remains standing for hundreds of meters. Pockets of fires still burn, and a crater now sits just a few feet away from his position. Josh is nowhere to be found either.

Getting back to his feet, Nik staggers out of the Barrier and makes his way to the edge of the crater. Peering inside, he's unable to see anything due to the smoke but soon enough a hand reaches out of the void and Nik grabs hold of it.

"Ah. There you are." Nik pulls him out as Josh emerges from the hole and onto flat land.

"All good?" Nik asks.

Josh gives him a thumbs up and releases the barrier he erected over his Unit of Underhands.

"One of these days you're going to die for real you know?" Nik pats him on the shoulder.

"I'm not dying before you..." he signs.

"Is that the only joke you can say?" Nik laughs before checking the timer on his screen. "Anyways, make sure you tell us about the fight. I'd love to hear what happened."

Josh nods and a few moments later the Sentinels' screens flash for an instant.

"So... what happened?" Nik asks, pulling his visor back up.

"Alot..."