Chapter 93
Beginning’s End 11
-:-
The Next Day
Dawn
As the sun began to rise from the distant horizon, a tense silence greeted Vermilion City’s new day
The government officials, superheroes, military, media and many others have been watching the whole debacle since yesterday and they were both terrified and excited of what could be next
On the Hell Hole District side, a massive concentration of criminals were gathered in the 9th district. A quick glance would reveal around 3000 of these filthy scum were fortifying whatever building they could find.
Among the 3000 were 200 Norscan warriors with their iconing fur coat and enchanted armor and 50 Valkyries each with her own pegasus mount.
It was a terrifying army in every sense of the word.
Why the superheroes haven't hunted them all down was a mystery beyond comprehension.
On the other side of the conflict was Theodore Lorne’s group.
Since Theo was rushed into his scrapyard office building, everything has been peaceful and quiet.
However, this soon change a few minutes prior to the crack of dawn.
The first figures that were seen was Theo who was exiting via one of many the underground parking areas of the complex.
He wore a black power armor minus the helm and a black cloth eyepatch over his left eye. He didn't look half bad considering the crap he went through yesterday.
Beside him was armored Juno who was holding his hand as if supporting him.
Then there was the menacing Diego who was already in his minotaur form.
This was followed by Mother Leticia and 50 of her warrior nuns and Harbinger Ulkov and his 100 norscan honor guard unit.
Last but not the least, was The Boss who seemed to be taking orders from Theo.
From there, the flood gates opened and a terrifying amount of military might was unveiled.
First were 30 jet black tanks that lined up in 10x3 lines.
Once in position, the tanks transformed.
Each of their treds splitted into 3 and spreaded out like that of a spider. Their main guns became longer in order to maximize muzzle velocity.
All the tech junkies instantly realized what they were.
The Levantine-made SPA-403 Scorpion Siege Tanks
It was outdated by 2 generations, but it was without a doubt a monstrous machine of war.
The Siege Tanks pointed their guns at district 9, and at The Boss’s signal, unleashed hell.
The chorus of artillery guns were followed by the earth shaking drums as district 9 was hammered by the rain 155mm rounds of pure carnage.
Buildings and bodies were reduced into rubble and severed limbs as shrapnel flew through the air.
At least 50 people were killed outright in the first salvo alone. Many more would soon follow due to injuries so severe that they’re as good as dead.
The screams of shock, panic, pain and agony echoed throughout district 9…. At least until the second salvo made perfectly clear that fear should be the only emotion in the criminal’s hearts.
Most of the buildings in district 9 were not made to protect anyone from 155mm artillery shells, thus the death toll dramatically rose as the shelling continued.
While the siege tank rained wrath upon the enemy, Theo’s group of approximately 1000 soldiers split into 5 groups.
Juno, Diego, Ulkov’s warriors and Mother Leticia’s battle sisters and a few of Theo’s Reformant units totaling around 200 people boarded off road APCs and went in straight through the front where the battle was expected to be the fiercest
2 groups of 200 Reformants each took a number of APCs and 3 Levantine HMBT-18 Spider Assault Tanks and approached from the left and right of the battlefield.
Due to the sheer size of the scrapyard, it took 20 minutes for the 3 groups to reach district 9
Theo, ‘The Boss’, and the Hassan I Sabbah remained in the base to guard the siege tanks from any potential assaults.
If any drones or news choppers get too close, the Hassan I Sabbah snipers would either shoot the camera (news choppers) or shot it down entirely (drones)
Theo was guarded by the 10 B-31 Assault Armor in which 9 of them were being manned by robots directly controlled by Theo himself.
The last Assault Armor was reserved for Theo’s use.
For now, Theo had nothing to do but to watch enviously as the carnage ensued
Around 30 minutes since the shelling began, the first close quarters conflict kicked off.
It was between Juno’s 200 against 1200 disorganized combatants that escaped into the scrapyard.
The 1200 included approximately 150 norscan warriors and 20 valkyries
Despite being greatly outnumbered, Juno’s group cleaved a bloody path through the larger force who was exhausted, injured and shell shocked from the artillery bombardment.
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However, their slaughter slowed considerably when the norscan+valkyries combo took center stage
Slowly but surely, Juno’s group was being was being overwhelmed by the much larger force.
But if Theo’s army was anything, its battlefield awareness was second to none.
Just as Juno’s group was beginning to lose ground, 3 155mm shells struck right into the middle of the enemy formation, effectively breaking their momentum.
And without missing a beat, the 2 groups that went for the sides appeared at the enemy’s flanks and began showering their exposed backs with lead and cannon fire.
At this point, the enemy group was on track to total annihilation.
While Theo watched and sent commands to his units out in the front, the event he was waiting for finally happened.
20 valkyries and their pegasus mounts was approaching the base in breakneck speed. More importantly, Hjorrdul was in the mix.
However, as they got closer to the base, they were met by a wall of munitions.
Normally, anyone stupid enough to charge through such a hailstorm of death would instantly turned into confetti, but the valkyries had a countermeasure for this.
The rune in their armor began to shine an a transparent bubble enveloped each rider that repelled the torrent of bullets.
Fortunately, these shields were not invincible.
As the valkyries and their mounts charged straight towards Theo’s shieldwall composed of his assault armor, their protective barrier was teetering on collapse.
The valkyries charged into the shieldwall in an attempt to trample the assault armors under their hooves.
Such a thing didn't happen.
Like bugs on a windshield, the valkyrie’s charge shattered upon smashing into the shieldwall.
The shieldwall may have been pushed back 10 meters, it was still a singular entity.
While the worst injuries the valkyries sustain were some broken bones, the pegasus of the ones in front died from broken skulls and necks.
Without missing a beat, Theo 10 assault armors to focus fire their shoulder weapons into the backline of the Valkyrie charge with the goal of taking out their mounts.
And as expected, the chorus of RPG-7s and 120 mm mortars tore a lot of the pegasus to shreds.
He commanded his men not to fire at the Valkyries unless Theo says otherwise.
He wanted to personally gutt the bitches for all the crap they have put him through yesterday.
With Theo in the very forefront, the shieldwall began beating back the valkyries.
Those who were not directly in melee combat used their M2 Browning Machine Guns to kill all the pegasus as fast as possible.
Those who were in melee pulled out their HF blades and began stabbing the valkyries from behind their shields.
All the while, each and every assault armor was lobing mortars and RPGs via their automated shoulder weapons.
The valkyries were literally being beaten back by sheer volume of firepower.
However, these valkyries were nothing like the norscan warriors.
Their Aeserian body was more powerful than any mortal in Theo’s world. And this was on top of their high quality armor and weapons
A testament to this was the fact that only 6 out of 20 had died despite the overwhelming firepower brought upon by Theo’s assault armor.
But Theo wasn't particularly worried by this.
In fact, he enjoyed the fact that he can stab them more before they croak.
As he grinded the valkyries into fine powder, a powerful pillar of light shot from the heavens into the ground behind the valkyries.
When the light faded away, a about 100 warrior looking individuals stood valiantly.
Based on their armor, they were Aeserian.
Theo groaned internally at this unexpected reinforcement while Hjorrdul was ecstatic
Their leader was the definition of an excessively hot MILF valkyrie.
However, much to everyone’s surprise, the MILF valkyrie commanded her troops to raise white flags.
True enough, while the troops were armed and armored, none of them were wielding their weapons.
This caused the Theo-vs-Hjorrdul battle to stop as both parties stared at the new arrivals in confusion.
Nevertheless, Theo commanded all of his men to take aim and get ready to fire at their new guests.
The MILF valkyrie approached the 2 forces and, to the surprise of all Aeserians, took a knee in front of Theo.
“I am Freyja, Queen of the Valkyries and I have come to negotiate the terms of our surrender.” said the MILF valkyrie in a calm and soothing manner.
Theo may not know a lot of about magic and myths, but even he has heard of Freyja, the norscan goddess of Love, Beauty and Fertility.
And based on the limited knowledge he had on norscan myth, Freyja was a bonafide slut.
“L-lady Freyja! With all do resp-” said Hjorrdul before Freyja backfisted her into a corpses of a pegasus 10 meters away.
“Quiet child. I am trying to save your life despite the disgrace you have commited.” said Freyja before turning back to Theo. “As I have said, I have come to offer the surrender of the valkyries in this campaign. I have also come to bargain for their lives”
Theo wasn't sure if this person was truly Freyja, but based on the shock and confusion of the Aeserians that resulted from Freyja’s actions, there’s a chance that she was the real deal.
And this was very worrying.
“Say your piece” said Theo with all the confidence he didn't have.
“Thank you. But before we begin, can I ask you to exit that armor of yours? I think its basic etiquette for negotiations to be done face to face, is it not?”
“You expect me to abandon my only defense after seeing you beat someone I had a hard time trying to kill with one punch? Don't be stupid. And besides, I have a gut feeling that you have already seen my face before you beamed here.”
“Oh yeah… you’re mortal now...”
“ ‘now’ ?” asked Theo in confusion
“Ah. Sorry. A little misspeak. Anyways, I understand your thoughts of self preservation. Very well, let us get to negotiations. For the safety of my sister valkyries, I will pay for all damages incurred on the city by this event, give you 2 enchanted items of your choice from my personal vault, grant you 5 valkyries of your choice as your personal concubines and lastly, you will be my personal Einherjar. In short, you can have me anytime you want. It’s a good deal, no?” said Freyja in a gentle yet impish voice
If Theo thought about it purely on gain vs loss, indeed the deal was heavily skewed in favor of him.
However, that was what he was worried about.
Whenever something is too good to be true, it’s because it is.
“Let me make a counter offer.” replied Theo
“Huh? Was my offer not to your liking?” asked Freyja
“It’s too suspicious.”
“~aww~… Then what do you desire?”
“First: you will pay for all of the damages done to the city. Second: you will pay me the same amount as what you will pay for the damages”
“Wow. Greedy aren't we?”
“What can I say, I love money. Anyways, moving on. Third: YOU, and no one else, will make an apology in live television and explain the situation using a script that I will write. Fourth: on live television, you will tell everyone who Hjorrdul bribed to cooperate in this whole event. Fifth: Me and my troops will be immune to all crimes that we committed during this whole debacle. ”
“You know that condition 2-5 of your deal can instantly be solved if you become my Einherjar, right? As my Einherjar, I will shower you with gifts and you will never be targeted by any Aeserians or any human for the rest of your existence. Why refuse?” asked Freyja
After a second of thought, Theo answered.
“This whole event made me want to start a trophy rack filled with my enemy’s heads. Aeserians would make a fine addition to it.” replied Theo. “Anyways, those are my terms and they are non-negotiable.”
“*sigh*... I hoped to make a friendly relationship with you” said Freyja with a childish pout.
She knew how to make use of her looks, that’s for sure.
“This event made that impossible.” said Theo as he turned to leave. “Take your stupid whores and leave. We’ll iron out the details in a later date.”
“Thank you, Theodore Lorne.” said Freyja
But once Theo was out of earshot, Freyja whispered something with a smile of a carnivorous beast.
“Hmph. Playing hard to get huh? I like a challenge”