December 25th, 625

We crossed the remaining 11 miles to reach Stronghold Charlie, everyone nursing wounds. Jaya used what little medical supplies she had left to keep everyone functioning and we were able to reach the walls sooner rather than later.

And we found them under siege.

We had known that there were enemies moving toward the Stronghold but after the arrival of that Sovereign, we hadn’t been able to receive any more intelligence.

Thankfully I could sense the Marshal in active combat, which meant she was still at least alive. They were holding but the monsters were already pouring over the walls. Stronghold Charlie hadn’t been given a fraction of the soldiers that the Treehouse did, and they weren’t ready for a major siege.

We’d see how long they could hold them off, because for now it didn’t seem like they had any intention of retreating. They didn’t know that the Treehouse had already fallen. We’d have to tell them, because I wanted a Marshal with us when we left this place.

I turned to the others, looking for Nonnen, for just a split second, before my eyes centered on Umara.

“We need to get in. My Aerial is fried, and they need to know that they have to retreat.”

“We follow you.”

She responded simply, so I turned and started walking around. They seemed to be keeping the south gate of the base open and clear. Seemed they were more ready for a retreat than I thought.

Thankfully it meant we didn’t have to fight our way in. We simply walked up, some soldiers noticing us.

One of them shouted at us as we walked up to the closed gate.

“Who are you?!”

“Snow Doves, Charlie Company! We have critical intel for the Marshal regarding the Treehouse!”

“...Let them in!”

The gate opened without any doubt, letting us into the walls where we made haste for the northern wall. Knights and warlocks all around us were fighting back the Scourge. They weren’t endless, which meant they’d be able to hold, for now.

I had Polly and Umara follow me, the rest securing a Steed and some Aerials, just in case. We went toward where the Marshal was on top of the wall, slaughtering hundreds at a time. There was nobody to contest her so she was able to easily dispatch all the higher Authority Royals and monsters in the area.

I spoke to her from a distance, my words entering her mind.

“Marshal Akitcia, we have intel from the Treehouse.”

Her head snapped around when she heard me, unleashing another sword strike before jumping down and landing right in front of us.

I couldn’t find the energy to even react to her. All I saw was a set of armor in front of me, wholly inadequate compared to Nonnen.

She seemed to recognize me, since I didn’t have my mask on.

“You’re John Cooper?”

“Yes.”

“I see you’ve returned with my Colonel. Or, I suppose you’re a Brigadier General now. Hello, Polly.”

“Marshal.”

Polly shook her hand, Akitcia glancing around.

“Where’s Nonnen?”

“Killed in action, facing an Authority 11 King Blood of Unholy Light.”

“...Shit. May his soul rest. So, I take it the Treehouse has fallen?”

“Yes. We need to retreat, now. The Scourge has well over a million monsters overrunning the front. We can’t stay here.”

“Yeah, I’m getting that. I’ve already packed the Rails full and sent them off. All of the intelligence personnel are gone, and once the Rail gets back, we can send a batch of troops.”

“I’m afraid we don’t have time for that, Marshal.”

There was a sudden explosion nearby. Bombardos were making their way over.

“This siege isn’t going to stop. We need to leave, right now. Otherwise you’re going to be fighting off thousands as you’re running, like we were.”

Polly stepped forward, “Marshal, please trust us. We need to retreat to the southern village. The monsters aren’t far behind us, and the Scourge is fielding King Bloods like they’re common. The sooner we leave, the more breathing room we’ll have, even though we have little. A force like what’s here can’t handle much.”

I could hear the desperation in Polly’s voice, as could the Marshal. She was silent, turning and staring at the monsters climbing and pouring over the far wall, as if that wasn’t already an indication of how urgently we needed to leave.

Stronghold Charlie had always been manned by strike forces, elites compared to the common armies other bases had. They regularly fought high-strength enemies in lesser numbers.

But they were average compared to the dozens of platoons and strike teams that I had personally sent out to do battle, and once upon a time, it was the Snow Doves that had been Stronghold Charlie’s greatest strike force.

The Stronghold no longer had those great forces, a shadow of what it once was, and what was coming couldn’t even be handled by the best.

It seems the Marshal saw some of that reality.

“Very well. I’ll muster the retreat.”

“I recommend within the next half hour.”

“I will move my troops as fast as I deem necessary, Lieutenant Colonel. You are dismissed.”

I silently stared at her for a second before saluting and turning. Umara and Polly followed, the Marshal jumping back up onto the walls.

We walked to the garage where I found Feiden, Tana, Jaya, and Jasmine around a Steed.

I waved my hand, all of them moving to board. When we got there we jumped in as well, Tana in the driver seat.

The back hatch closed, and I let out a long sigh.

I glanced at Polly.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Are you going to stop me from giving the order?”

She silently looked up at me, tired and worn.

“...We’re in your hands, John. Do what you will.”

I looked at her for a second longer before turning to Tana.

“Get us out of here.”

“Roger.”

Tana started the Steed, rolling us out and toward the south gate.

The same soldier as last time stepped over to us. I looked out from the Roof of the Steed.

“Open the gate.”

“For what reason?”

“Marshal Akitcia is about to order a full retreat. We’re moving to the southern village to start evacuating the citizens there before the Scourge can reach them.”

He stared at me silently before waving, the gate opening.

I gave him one last word of advice.

“Be prepared to run. The Treehouse has fallen, and this place is next.”

With that we rolled off, Tana driving with haste.

I sat in the front seat and gave her directions. I had never actually been to the southern village but I knew exactly where it was.

With an approximate population of 5200 people, the southern village was the go-to spot for troops that had leave. There were armorers, blacksmiths, a red light district, and anything else an underpaid soldier could want.

There were also a lot of families of the soldiers at Stronghold Charlie. All of them were citizens that needed to get the hell away from the monstrosities coming as we drove.

While we headed there I brought up one of the Aerials that Tana had snagged from the empty headquarters. All of ours were fried, what I could only assume was the King Blood’s doing, so I had to make do with a lesser model that couldn’t even be put on my wrist.

It still worked like the others though. It was able to access the Node network and I used some of my credentials to get into the higher networks and give myself priority. Then I contacted Sawn, who picked up relatively quickly.

“Hello? Who is this?”

“Sawn, it’s Cooper. I’m calling you from another Aerial. Mine was fried.”

“John! I haven’t heard good things. How is it up there?”

“The Treehouse has fallen. We’re currently retreating but I need your help with some things.”

“O-Of course. What do you need?”

I glanced back as I felt some bursts of power behind us. The Marshal was fighting pretty hard. If she didn’t leave soon, she’d be among all the others who have fallen already.

Given her ignorance, or arrogance, I was betting that she would take her sweet time.

May she rest among the dead.

“I’m currently heading to a village just south of Stronghold Charlie. I need you to muster all the helicopters you can and send them there. There are over 5 thousand people there that need evacuation before the Scourge can reach them.”

“5 thousand? How much time before the Scourge arrives?”

“Within the day.”

“...John, we don’t have access to that many helicopters right now. Planes, yes, but helicopters and their pilots are scarce.”

“I already know that! I just want to know how many you can muster and how quickly.”

I snapped, Sawn speaking a bit quieter.

“I… don’t know. I need to go to the airfield and look.”

“Do what you need to do, and call me when you have an ETA on the first helicopter. These people don’t have much time.”

With those words I turned off the Aerial.

Feiden turned to me.

“We won’t be able to save many.”

“Any is better than none. It’s not their fault that their military is so incapable.”

I settled back into my seat, slouching and closing my eyes.

“It’s about 5 hours to the village. I will wake when we arrive. Take the calls from Sawn if he comes back.”

……

…

“Baron!”

Siem raised his head when his aide came running into his study, frowning when he saw her urgency.

“What’s wrong?”

“S-Sir, there’s some soldiers from Stronghold Charlie here. They said they’re Snow Doves and need to talk to you right now. I think the Scourge is attacking.”

Siem stared at her for a second before rushing out of his chair, running out of his study and exiting his estate.

As the Baron in charge of this village, he naturally had plenty of interactions with the soldiers from Stronghold Charlie. Most were pleasant and profitable, others were just a matter of wrangling troublemakers.

But if the Snow Doves were here in an official capacity, it meant things were extremely dangerous right now.

He took his own vehicle to the city center, going as fast as he could and stopping nearby once he saw the large Steed.

His pupils constricted when he saw the uniform of the girl standing on top of it. He would never mistake the uniform of Special Operations, even though he had only seen it twice in his life.

He saw four of those uniforms, as well as the Glimmers of a Brigadier General and Colonel. He also noticed a few people standing on the rooftops of nearby buildings, looking around, two of them in those same unmarked uniforms, Elites of the Kingdom.

Once he stepped out, one of them jumped off the roof, dust kicking up underneath his feet and slowing his descent enough for him to plant on the floor.

The Baron had to look up to see his scarred face. He was a large man, his presence so overwhelming that when he spoke, he heard more than just his voice.

He barely noticed the thing in his hands, a long metal weapon that snarled with glowing red heat, radiating the Aura of hatred and carnage.

“You’re the Baron?”

“Y-Yes, I am Baron Siem.”

“I am Commander Cooper, and I need you to listen to the orders I’m going to give you because we’re out of time.”

The Baron nodded. He had seen Commanders before, occasionally. Most were relatively nice, and none were so overpowering. He had been a First Sergeant himself and yet he couldn’t fathom the depth of this man’s ability.

The Elites of the Kingdom were different, especially when they were here to fight, not to relax and enjoy leisure.

“The Scourge is about to advance on this village in numbers. We’ve already caught a few on the way down. I can’t tell you more but I can assure you that nobody is coming from Stronghold Charlie to help. So, for the sake of the people here, I need you to order everyone to start gathering. We can’t cover the entire village so we need to narrow the scope. Can you do that?”

“Yes, yes sir.”

“Good. Issue alerts, do what you need to do. It looks like this center is the only place big enough for helicopters to land so I want every single person in this village within the nearby buildings. For now that’s your sole job. Gather the people. Can you handle that?”

“Yes, I can.”

Siem nodded again, and right when he did he saw the Commander’s head snap in another direction.

“They’re here. Jaya!”

“Yes~!”

A cute girl came skating over, the Commander handing out his orders.

“Work with the Baron. This area will be yours to protect. Keep them alive, kill anything that gets past us.”

“Roger.”

“As for the rest of you, I’m dividing the northern hemisphere of the village into four sectors. We’ll each take one. Umara and I will take the center sectors. Feiden and Tana, take the outer two sectors. I’m tying you in with my Command Center, so stay spread and cover as much area as you can. Move citizens here and keep them alive long enough to make it.”

“Roger.”

“Roger.”

He got a few acknowledgments before the three of them shot off.

The Baron turned, intending to go sound the alarm and gather people.

“Hang on.”

He was stopped, the Commander raising a finger.

“I just thought of something.”

He was silent, closing his eyes for a moment before speaking.

His voice entered their minds.

“All citizens, assemble at the center of the village. We are under attack. I repeat, we are under attack. The Scourge is coming. All citizens, please make haste to the village center.”

The voice repeated a couple more times, the Commander turning back to the Baron.

“Go ring your alarms.”

“Yes sir. Ah! I have guards! I can-!”

“Just assemble them in the center as well! Jaya, handle them!”

“Roger!”

The girl shouted before walking up to him, the Commander shooting off toward the buildings. There were some screams in the distance, fire blooming into the sky here and there as spells went off.

They were already under attack. It was actually happening.

“Hey!”

The cute girl shouted again, the Baron snapping to attention.

“Go ring the alarms! Call your guards! We need them here now!”

“Yes!”

He ran, thinking about how he had gotten this position as a Baron not because he was good at fighting, but because he was business savvy enough to buy the noble title and take the opportunity to run this village just behind the front lines, full of business opportunity.

He didn’t think this day would ever come. Stronghold Charlie had always been known as an impenetrable shield manned by the elites.

Why had they fallen? What the hell was going on for a base full of elite fighters to fall?