OFS Admiral Andersen, Berngen, Kingdom of Topa — October 25, 2019/1639
Listen up, people: the Kingdom of Topa’s called for IUN help in repelling a long-anticipated invasion of demonic armies from their northern borders. In return for us blowing up whatever eldritch abominations are currently making their way through their lands, Topa will be formally admitted to the IUN as well as providing whatever information they may have regarding Elysia’s history prior to our arrival—Oured’s kept a tight lid as to what exactly they’re looking for, but they have confirmed that it’s important enough for us to be here to guarantee nothing less than total victory.
Now, for your actual mission: you will be deployed to the town of Tormis, where an advance force of the OMDF has joined up with the local garrison and are now actively engaging over ten thousand demons and some kind of being by the name of Nosgorath. Free engagement is authorised for the entire lot: both satellite imagery and local eyewitness accounts have more or less confirmed these boys are nasty enough to give Louria a run for their money, so don’t feel too bad using our uglier munitions on the whole lot. Just make sure you don’t accidentally hit any friendlies, all right?
Let's show this world that the only true Demons in Elysia are our very own Razgriz!
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“Hey, is that the OADF I’m seeing over the horizon? About time you guys got over here—I think we might have bit off a little more than we can chew on!”
“This is AWACS Sky Keeper to Task Force Cipher: we’re here to provide assistance. Update us on your status so we can provide taskings for our birds.”
“Alright, here’s the situation: we’ve been completely encircled around the Tormis by Nosgorath’s forces, but our armour and air assets have been fairly effective in holding them back so far. Apart from obviously flattening the entire army with whatever you Big Shots brought along, we need an opening for our approaching main force to establish a supply line. Their ETA is approximately ten minutes, and we’d obviously rather not get them into a close-quarters firefight.”
Sky Keeper quickly nodded to himself, already highlighting several targets into the console for Golem and Mage Squadrons to hit. “Copy that. Do you have any casualties?”
“Negative, just our pride. Some underling of Nosgorath himself managed to sneak into our HQ and tried to get the jump on Ambassador Anderson—don’t worry about it; we turned that bastard into Wellow cheese in a matter of seconds.”
“Uhhhhh…”
“Just hit those targets, please, Sky Keeper; we don’t want to talk about it.”
“…copy. Mage and Golem, you’re cleared to engage. Key points of interest have been highlighted on your HUDs; eliminate everything within the general area, and we should be able to give our ground forces some breathing room.”
Knocker’s voice crackled to life on the AWACS operator’s headphones. “Roger, moving in to intercept. Clown, I don’t suppose I need to remind you at this point—”
“Kill the enemy, make sure Trigger doesn’t die. Way ahead of you, flight lead.”
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“Look over there! It’s the Osean metal wyverns!”
Moah’s eyes widened as he saw the seven crafts arc downwards, just narrowly pulling upwards mere metres from the ground even as they launched their payloads: a mixture of guided arrows and exploding munitions that buried the advancing demon armies in a wall of earth and fire. Even from the fortifications of Tormis, the Topan knight and his mercenary companion could see the scattered remains of the invading force flung throughout the battlefield—only the golems themselves remained unscathed, but even they too appeared shaken by the brutal attack dealt to their allies. Already, one particular fighter—a grey craft with what appeared to be an orange demon emblazoned on its tips—was swooping downwards to strike them down with a large cannon on its belly—
“Lightning? Did lightning just come out of the barrel itself?”
Gai gasped. “It fired—the air just split in half! Did you see that?!”
Whatever projectile was launched from the cannon, the sheer force had completely broken the sky and shot right through the golems, disintegrating them in a matter of seconds and sending rocks flying across the field and onto the fleeing remnants of Nosgorath’s army. The outcome was clear—nothing in the Demon Lord’s arsenal could match against whatever these newcomers had brought with them, and Topa would survive once more…
“Gai? What’s going on outside the walls?”
Moah and his companion quickly whirled around. “Elei?! What are you doing here—never mind, why are you here? There’s a battle going on outside!”
“I heard the stories about the Oseans fighting the Demon Lord, and I wanted to see for myself!”
“Never mind that! Gai, lend me a hand here and help me get Elei out of here—Gai, what are you staring at? Gai—”
“By the Ancient Sorcerous Empire, it’s Nosgorath himself! The Demon Lord approaches!”
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“Sky Keeper, are you seeing this?! That guy’s huge!”
“Copy, got a visual on the bastard. Free engagement—ground forces can mop up the remaining demons, but they don’t have enough ammunition to take on Nosgorath himself at this time.”
“Roger that. Golem Two, Fox Two!”
A pair of missiles shot out from Brownie’s Hornet and streaked towards the towering demon. Almost immediately finding their mark, the warheads detonated into the creature’s armour, blowing sizable chunks out of the metallic armament. With a great roar, Nosgorath extended his finger towards his assailant—sparks emerged on his fingertips, coalescing into a glowing ball of fire; with a twitch of his hand, the beam of magic instantly shot forward, now pursuing the plane that had dared to touch him.
“Wait, what? Damn it, it’s Gim all over again! Boss, lend me a hand here!”
“Already on it, just keep on evading that countermeasure! Everyone else, keep firing at him—he can’t take out all of us at once!”
“Trigger, let’s go! Full saturation—Mage One, Fox Three!”
Mage and the remaining members of Golem Squadron began spewing missiles and air-to-ground weaponry at the Demon Lord himself as Sky Keeper’s fingers began working on his console once again, scoring dozens of hits on the creature and almost immediately overwhelming him through sheer numbers. Slowly, Nosgorath was forced down to his knees as the tanks within Tormis finished resupplying and began to join in on the maelstrom of fire—
“Enough with your puny toys! They shall touch me no longer!”
“He talks?!”
Nosgorath’s hands reached out to the sky, and lightning burst out and scattered in all directions—his eyes glowed blue, and the sparkles began to coalesce into balls of light; a thin sphere of azure energy began to shimmer into existence around the Demon Lord and the shattered remains of his army, enveloping and encasing the entire force in a matter of seconds. A stray missile collided with the surface and burst into flames, the wreckage harmlessly bouncing off and silently crashing onto the ground.
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“What the hell? That’s a shield! That thing can’t possibly stop our missiles, right?”
“Well,” Clown grumbled, “there’s only one way to find out. Trigger, if you would be so kind as to—”
From underneath Mage Two’s Hornet, the miniaturised railgun burst into life, crackles of electricity emerging from the special weapon as its magnets launched a small projectile towards the glowing energy shield. Travelling at several times the speed of sound, it instantly collided with the barrier, sending visible shockwaves through the entire shield—and almost, for the briefest of moments, causing it to flicker—
“No joy,” Knocker half-muttered to himself, “but it definitely caused something. Sky Keeper, any advice?”
“We’ve just completed our analysis on Nosgorath, so listen closely. The entity itself appears to be capable of creating magic-based shielding for limited periods of time, but the Navy’s fairly certain that a missile saturation attack should be more than sufficient to nullify whatever he tries to throw at us. Use your railguns and AGMs, and let’s see what happens.”
“So just the same as before? Copy that, but we’re kind of running out of missiles here—can’t the Navy lend a hand or something?”
“Stand by. I think the Navy’s trying to—”
“Sky Keeper, this is HQ. The carrier fleet’s launching cruise missiles, but we need to make sure they don’t get intercepted by whatever Nosgorath throws at us. ETA: sixty seconds—”
“HQ, do you read? This is Pilgrim Two—we have located the enemy camps from our observation posts and satellite feeds, and are sending the geographic coordinates to you now! Requesting saturation strikes as well on those targets.”
“Good copy, Pilgrim Two. Sky Keeper, we’re still currently attempting to coordinate with ground forces and bombers on which group’s getting assigned to what, so stand by for further updates. Proceed as planned until told otherwise.”
“Uhhhh…copy that, HQ.” Sky Keeper hastily reached for his console, tuning back into the regular frequency for Golem and Mage. “Be advised, we have cruise missiles inbound to nullify Nosgorath’s shields. Keep the pressure on him until they arrive, got it?”
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The pain!
Unending agony wracked Nosgorath as the shields buckled and flickered with each guided arrow and fire barrel colliding with his magical barrier, the strain from each collision causing his wounds to open wider and gush like a flowing river with red. But one flying ship in particular gave him the greatest pain—a small white craft with a large cannon on its underside that kept firing great blasts of sound, the very projectiles shattering the air as they shot right through his shields and struck him with ludicrous force; the Demon Lord’s shot around as he sought in vain to find the single gnat and strike him down—
The pain!
—Nosgorath’s shields shimmered and wavered for the briefest of seconds, but an exceptionally large guided arrow slipped through and found its mark—
The pain!
—a great roar echoed throughout the fields of Tormis as the Demon Lord bellowed in agony, a ball of fire erupting from his chest as the arrow struck deep, screaming for his attention above all else—
The pain!
—his shields having all but failed, a fusillade of projectiles and guided arrows now struck him unimpeded as Nosgorath was forced to his knees, explosions dotting the entire Demon Lord’s body as he struggled to get a glimpse of his miniscule foes—
—was that an orange caricature of a fox or a demon on that accursed metal wyvern’s tips?
So this was how he was to be brought down: by a crude, perverted mockery of his kind—
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“Nosgorath is down! I repeat, Nosgorath is down!”
“Sky Keeper, this is Task Force Cipher: the entire town saw that demonic bastard go down! The entire garrison’s begun celebrating—no, scratch that: all of Tormis just started celebrating! You Big Shots just helped save a ton of people down here! Hey, hang on, I’m still trying to—”
The AWACS operator grinned even as the rest of the crew aboard his plane burst into cheers. “Good copy, Cipher. To Golem and Mage, great job down there—looks like we’ve got the gratitude of the entire kingdom for what you just did. RTB at your leisure.”
“Trigger, looks like you’ve made quite the name for yourself. You aren’t planning on leaving us anytime soon, are you?”
Knocker chuckled on the radio. “Don’t go running away now, Mage Two—Clown’s gonna become all lonely on his own if you go off and start running your own squadron in the near future.”
“What, you think our little nugget’s going to become a flight lead at some point?”
“Well, how about becoming your replacement in Mage Team, old man?”
“Not if I have anything to say about it, Golem Two—I’m not retiring anytime soon!”
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Osean Broadcasting Corporation — October 26, 2019/1639
In a major military engagement against the demon invasion of the Kingdom of Topa, a coalition of Topan defenders and Osean air, naval, and ground assets under the IUN banner annihilated an entire army led by the Demon Lord Nosgorath as it was attempting to lay siege to the isolated northern town of Tormis; Nosgorath himself was slain in combat through the efforts of the OADF, the OFS Admiral Anderson, and its escorts, who utilised cruise missiles and state-of-the-art railgun technology to incapacitate and bring down the entity. Observers aboard Pilgrim Two, currently in geostationary orbit above the Grameus Continent, also helped provide real-time data regarding the whereabouts of the Demon Lord and his forces to IUN forces on the ground.
Widely feared throughout the Kingdom of Topa, Nosogorath and his forces originated from the distant northern regions of Elysia and began a series of invasions of the Kingdom itself through the centuries—upon establishing contact with the Osean Federation, Topa immediately petitioned for IUN membership on the grounds of self-defence in the face of yet another incursion by the demonic being and his armies. In response, a peacekeeping mission was deployed to Topa last June in order to investigate and verify their claims—with the destruction of the force that has threatened the Kingdom’s existence for so long, the IUN has announced that it will now begin transitioning its efforts from military defence to humanitarian and economic aid and relief.
In other news, the Holy Mirishial Empire has been confirmed to…
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Muan Embassy, Eshirant, Parpaldia Empire — September 14, 2019/1639
“Ambassador Mugei?”
“Ah, Ambassador Harling; good to see you again. Please, take a seat.”
“Indeed, thank you.” Setting down on a fine leather armchair directly opposite of the Muan ambassador’s desk—quite the resemblance to Sotoan furniture, now that he thought about it—Harling turned to face his counterpart. “Now, what exactly was it that you wished to discuss with me?”
“Vincent, I’ve just received a message from my superiors in Otaheit: an ally of ours known as the Holy Mirishial Empire has expressed an interest in your nation, and would like to send a news crew to explore Osea and its culture before taking any further diplomatic actions. Needless to say, a seamless and informative experience for their people would no doubt encourage the Mirishials to expedite establishing formal relations—as an intermediary between the HME and Osea, we would like to informally request your and your department’s assistance in the matter.”
Harling blinked. “The Mirishials? As in the superpower of the First Civilization Area?”
“Who else? Your country’s reputation as a technologically advanced nation with significant military and economic power has begun to spread beyond the Third Civilization Area, and the Emperor himself appears to be interested in seeing whether or not the stories about a transferred nation fighting slavery and warmongering would-be empires are actually true.” Mugei slowly raised his eyebrows as he leaned forward on his seat. “I see that Osea appears to be aware of the HME, at the very least…”
“We’ve heard stories and eyewitness accounts from our neighbours about the Mirishials’ influence and skill with magic, but this would be the first time that we would have direct contact with them.” The Osean ambassador blinked, sighing before he looked back at his counterpart. “We definitely weren’t expecting them to come knocking so quickly, that’s for sure.”
“Things have been changing quite recently in Elysia in the past few months, Ambassador. Nations have risen and fallen, and new powers in this world have the potential to make or break the status quo that Mu and the HME have established these past few centuries—and that’s not taking into account old troubles that some of us suspect may be returning in the near future.” Mugei sighed, the Elysian stories of ancient terrors coming to mind once more.
“Mu has a vested interest in the development of closer ties between its allies and Osea, Ambassador Harling. The Concert of Elysia, as the Mirishials so often like to call it, must keep playing no matter who joins our little symphony—and we see that the Osean Federation may turn out to be quite the addition.”
Harling nodded in acknowledgment. “Very well; I’ll inform my superiors about this news crew—we’ll try to give them a full picture of what Oured and Selatapura have to offer. When will they arrive?”
“Sometime within this month, I believe. Look out for an elf named Alana Forlen of the Mirishial News Network—blonde-haired, youthful complexion, definitely as bright and intelligent as her beauty suggests.”
“You’ve met her before, haven’t you?”
Mugei grinned. “Delightful woman, I can assure you.”