Far from the battlements, on desert sands devoid of sunlight over the horizon, Sophia led her knights against the Angel’s ground forces, composed of vehicles and a ground escort of Angels. Sleek, sophisticated-looking tanks that levitated on magnets. Six-wheeled rovers with a tread that navigated the desert sands with ease. Floating artillery cannons that extended several thick metal legs deep into the ground to stabilise themselves. The Angels, genetically selected for strength, endurance and intelligence, all sported their signature high-tech silver-and-gold exo-armour that enhanced their physical capabilities even further. The Angles were largely equipped with jetpacks, able to better traverse the treacherous sandy landscape and acquire better angles for shooting their laser guns.

However, ADAM’s power, and by extension, Al Dherjza’s power, was on a different plane when compared to that of the Incandestine forces. ADAM’s power operated on the level of ‘concepts’, rather than on a physical level. Certainly, magic could produce physical effects, but that was only the result of a precise ‘definition’ being put into the meaning of a spell. A spell could almost produce any effect, so long as one had the reagent, as so long as the target was not protected by Universal Law. Lucina’s forces were limited by what was physically and scientifically possible. In exchange, they had the advantage of greater numbers and resources. A long, drawn-out conflict would only favour Lucina’s side; the Al Dherjzan forces needed to end the war as soon as possible.

On the battlefield smothered by the Intercessor’s shadow, the myriad flashes of guns, explosives, magic, and enchanted armour activating were all that could be seen of the fierce fighting. Shrill shrieks of Incandestine laser rifles punctuated the rhythm made by the low booms of artillery fire. Bombers roared overhead, flying straight to Al Dherjza. They daren’t drop bombs on the Al Dherjzan knights that hung back from the melee. The mages and support units that weren’t engaged directly with the Angels were protected by a demon with a gaping maw for a belly that sucked the bombs into itself, seemingly growing more powerful whenever it did so.

A shell from a tank ploughed into a group of knights at the front, as machinegun fire tore their flying ragdoll bodies to bloody shreds. A different shell was caught by a magical Al Dherjzan shield that glowed with cyan energy and was reflected straight back at the vehicle, instantaneously turning the Angels standing near it into ash.

And amidst it all, Sophia perpetuated her mad dance through the enemy ranks in a tantrum of vengeful, bloody violence. Her vermillion hair was tied back in a ponytail and she wore a crimson set of form-fitting, segmented, full metal plate armour, covered in runes. The wide collar of her navy blue undershirt stuck out from beneath the metal, studded with various enchanted artefacts.

“Wolves, status report,” Sophia demanded with only minor exertion in her voice, even as she flew through the battlefield like a murderous spirit. She stopped only to strike Lucina’s soldiers down. She leapt high into the air to stab an Angel flying five meters above the ground in the stomach. Landing in an area surrounded by enemies, Sophia swung Solreyn in a wide arc to strike those nearest, only to let go of it and control it with telekinesis. The bladed staff spun in a wide circle about the Bloodstone, like it had been possessed by a ghost. As she had imbued Solreyn with her blood, she was able to project Aegis-scorn blades from it even while it was far from her ‘real’ body.

“Our hexdogs detected a fleet of hidden machines trying to sneak past. We’ve made short work of them already.” The Wolves’ leader replied.

“Good. Keep watch on our flank. Runald is nearly done, then, we’ll have an even fight.”

A minor earthquake suddenly shook the ground beneath their feet, causing the Incandestine vehicles to temporarily sink into the sands. It was of little concern to the foot soldiers. The Angels could simply take to the skies, and the Al Dherjzan Knights had dealt with similar phenomena in numerous training exercises.

That must be Aleister’s magic. Sophia thought.

Aleister was the most reclusive of the Bloodstones, and preferred to support his dear friends by hoarding and activating some of the most devastating spells ever seen in Apolaphia as needed (so long as he could do so from a safe distance).

Although Sophia preferred what was essentially a bladed staff as her main weapon, her combat style and movements were unlike any other martial artist in the world. She would poke and slice at enemies as one might expect, but would also perform feats equal in acrobatics and lethality. For instance, she would stick Solreyn into the ground, keep it in place with telekinesis, and kick at her foes with her feet, projecting her characteristic Aegis-Scorn blades from the tips of her toes to cut at her foes. She would plunge Solreyn into the ground to teleport deep into the enemy ranks with little warning to reduce their war machines to metal scraps.

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Although some Angels were able to fire accurate shots at the young woman, even through the fountains of blood and dismembered body parts, she was too nimble to ever receive much damage at once, allowing her enchanted defences to cool off after preventing harm from befalling her.

With each strobing flash of orange light beneath the darkened sky, a spray of blood and a collapsed body followed.

Sophia’s personal troupe of Al Dherjzan knights, the Snakes, fought in a similar style alongside her. Some used specialised weapons that synergised with their Gifts as Sophia used telekinesis on Solreyn, or used their Gifts directly on the sand or air to attack. Shards of glass would fly out of the desert sands beneath the Angels without warning. To Sophia’s left, a knight fought using atmospheric nitrogen compressed into barely-visible weapons, seemingly denting armour and crushing bone with what appeared to be a forcefield around their bare hands. They ran up an invisible flight of nitrogen ‘stairs’, tackling a flying Angel to the ground.

All three battalions of the knights, the defensive Wolves, offensive Snakes and supportive Scarabs, were fighting to buy the warlock Runald enough time and space to cast a crucial spell. And, that spell was now nearly complete.

A wave of bright blue energy propagated out from the magic circle Runald had constructed of iron sand.

As the wave reached the Angels’ forces, their vehicles stalled and the computational systems inside their advanced armours died. Many of the Angels in the sky fell to earth like birds drunk on spoiled fruit, their jetpacks still burning.

“What is going on?!” one of the Angels shouted.

Confusion reigned among the Incandestine ranks. Their powerful tanks and guided weapons were no more useful than lumps of ungainly metal.

Runald’s spell had taken hold. A spell designed to ‘kill intelligence’. Of course, it had no effect on the people gathered on the battlefield, but the story was different for any artificial intelligence that had no soul to protect it from the magical attack.

The nearest of Lucina’s planes fell from the sky, quickly regaining altitude as the pilots resumed manual control of the craft.

Unfortunately, Runald didn’t have enough reagent to expand the border of the spell any more than a few hundred meters, but the warlock hoped that it was enough to win the battle they were embroiled in.

“THEY’RE DEFENSELESS! KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!” Sophia screamed at the top of her lungs.

The Al Dherjzan knights surged forward in unison, slaughtering every Angel that stood in their way. The Angels, with their advanced compensatory aim-assisting computers disabled, were barely able to hit the supernaturally enhanced knights. Unable to figure out what had happened to the technology that had been turned against them, some of the elite Angels, who had never before shown signs of weakness, turned to run. Unfortunately, without any computational support from their exo-armour, many of them suffered snapped spines and mangled joints as the servos and motors in the suits overcompensated.

At the very least, their suffering didn’t last very long.

As for how Sophia felt as she cut down the countless men and women who stood in her way, she simply remembered Rolynd’s words to the Bloodstones when Phee had asked what she should do when Lucina inevitably arrived for war. Whenever pity or doubt rose up from within her, she remembered his words.

“There’s a time and a place for everything. On the battlefield, they stand before you to fight and kill. They stand before you because they call you demons, monsters. They stand before you because they believe it, and that belief, that hatred, has closed their hearts and minds. The time for constructive words and feelings like pity and love has passed. If they believe you to be demons and their minds cannot be changed. Then become what they claim you to be. Hold nothing back. Kill every last one of them. Do whatever it takes to survive.”

Indeed, if Rolynd believed that she had to become a true monster to survive, she would do so without a second thought.

The Angels were routed… and in the distance, the silhouette of the grand city built by the Incandestine was consumed by the light of a giant, kilometres-long red spear that almost seemed to strike from the heavens themselves. The Spear of Mars.

The ground beneath the two warring armies shook violently. Everyone was forced to stop fighting just to stay on their feet, and when the red light in the distance faded, the entire city was gone, reduced to little more than a smoking crater. The fleeing Angels froze at the sight in complete disbelief. Cries of dismay rang out. Some even threw their weapons aside.

Sophia had perhaps killed a few hundred, but how many had Charlie killed with that one strike?

The Al Dherjzans cheered loudly, continuing their slaughter with renewed vigour. The Al Dherjzans had struck a decisive blow against the Incandestine invaders, but how long could they endure the ceaseless flow of Lucina’s armies? Even as the Knights turned back to resupply and tend to the wounded, gigantic pieces of metal floated down on retro-rockets in the distance, from the unchanging Intercessor above.

They were already rebuilding. Replacing everything that had been lost.