The city center was once a place to gather. Now it was a reminder that a grave last stand happened, that or it was a host to a mass execution. Twenty bodies. Four soldiers, five children, eleven civilians. They fell victim to magic, more specifically fire magic. Burn marks adorned their bodies, yet no one had a visible puncture on their wounds, suggesting that they were burned alive indiscriminately.
There were no words to describe what went through Mike’s head. He was confused, scared. All he could look at was the “nightmare” that surrounded both himself and the twenty-three others. His now semi-bandaged chest pained him, as he let out several soft grunts and growls. His movements were sluggish as he tried to focus on the reality around him. His head throbbed in pain, and his eyes threatened to clamp shut from the lack of true rest he had forgone for the entire time he was on this god-forsaken planet. He held back tears and he open and closed his mouth as he reigned his emotions.
It only took the soldier a second to realize where he stood amongst the others. He like five of the Volunteer Corps members stood injured over the destroyed settlement. Remembering the orders that Lecca, his commanding officer, provided, he found himself sitting against one of the few wooden carts that had survived, his head resting uncomfortably on the makeshift, stiff padding. The entire mission was supposed to be nothing but reconnaissance. It was supposed to be a simple mission to observe enemy forces. Yet here he stood, standing in death. There was no doubt that the orders the princess had received were only half true, that, or she completely lied convincing him and the others to go on a suicide mission behind enemy lines.
Sure, Rangers were trained to complete the mission, but this was too much. They were trained to complete a mission and get out alive, not get stuck isolated and outgunned. In truth, yes, he and the others were somehow alive even with all the shit that had happened, yet he feared it wouldn’t be long before one of them eventually met the reaper.
Yet, he supposed orders were orders.
Though ragged, the princess moved quietly beside him. Dirt and soot covered her once beautiful pale face, and a small mark below her left ear, a scar was visible in the small amount of light that came from the setting moon in the west. As a small speck of sunlight rose in the east, the burnt clouds above glowed in a fiery orange letting a small amount of light illuminate her soft brown eyes and her firm expression.
A familiar member of the newcomers, the Guild Attendant now know by the name, Veronica White, stumbled her way to the fountain. Silence grew over the few fighters that whispered amongst themselves as she knelt and placed her once clean hands on the dented, scratched, and war-torn structure of the fountain. Whispering to herself in an almost inaudible voice, the bodies within began to break apart into the same golden spheres that Mike had seen during the clean-up after the surprise raid on Bishmark.
Just glancing over her shoulder, the guild member’s short-brown hair shuffled under a quiet breeze as her eyes sharpened with skepticism and hate. Though the sergeant had no idea who her sudden glare was directed to, he knew that he and the other Rangers were collectively being separated in her mind from the Corps members. Her sudden icy look froze Captain Thompson in his place, a somber look overtook his normal battle-hardened expression.
Turning on his boots, said captain maneuvered himself away from the front of the group, his troopers following behind silently. Mike knew the look Thompson had on his face, he had only seen it once before during the campaign in Africa, however the princess beside him was dumbfounded as the captain greeted the both with his cold-onyx black eyes.
His sudden scratchy-quiet voice caught her off guard as he spoke, his face contorting in anguish and confusion, “Commanding Officer, Chieftain Airish. What is our next move…?” He asked. “I have nothing left to provide. I’ve allocated things that even I would label as valuable. I have no plan left, I could only ask that you get me and my men home safely.”
Just below her feet, a small collection of purple flowers shuffled in the cold fall wind. Her shadow was casted over one of the wilting flowers, and her mind went blank at the words said by the captain. As the sun rose higher highlighting the sweltering clouds of smoke, dust and ash passing over the settlement, the millions of stars high above began to fade.
“I-.”
In the distance several members of the Corps were silhouetted against the orang e-blue sky. A flock of unknown birds flew high above, smoke trails from the desecrated buildings chased after them as the wind changed direction. Her eyes snapped to the left; Mike was struggling to keep himself upright. His chest rose up and down as Green suddenly moved to his side to keep him from falling. Tears gathered at the corner of his own eyes, yet he could not bear to let them go.
Several petals of the purple flowers grew loose and were carried from their homes alongside the remaining spheres of light that ascended to the burnt skies and blue heavens. Looking up towards the light, several strands of her silver hair brushed over her eyes, the sun’s light made them glimmer.
Finding her voice, finding her answer, she gave her answer. Her voice was unwavering, her eyes-she saw the world.
“We go beyond the walls.” She said firmly. “The king yet send me on a mission that will help his nation. He has sent you with me to survive.”
Turning around, Thompson stared at the small gate in the walls so far away. The sun’s light was the only thing that breached such a strong defense, but just beyond the harsh light, vast fields of green waited for them.
“There is no army, there is no Demon Lord?” Turning to the source of the voice, Lecca stared at Mike with wide eyes. “Let’s be real, everything we’ve fought against… they’re just people…”
“Mike what are you saying?” Green whispered harshly, “They burned kids alive! Civilians! They’re monsters!”
The sergeant’s eyes fell to the ground.
“Enemy raid!”
The sudden ringing of a bell drew the attention of everyone standing around the fountain towards the eastern gate.
“What the hell?” Lieutenant Patterson said aloud as the horde of fighters moved towards the gate with knights Eugene, Anne, and Marco in tow.
“Get on the fucking cart!” Green ordered as he, with the help of Lecca, dragged Mike on.
Freezing at a sudden blood-curling scream, the men turned around to see one of the Corps members being kicked off a short-sword wielded by a hooded man. It only took a second, but five more men meaterialized and walked from behind the killer. Thompson and the others not on the wooden cart rushed towards several pieces of cover just in front of them.
“Hostile contact! Don’t let them break through!” Thompson shouted as several members of the Corps rushed ahead weapons drawn.
“Protect Arish!” Patterson bellowed as he watched in frustration as the two groups engaged in close combat.
“Fuck this is a target rich environment!” Richard complained moving to the opposite side of Thompson and Patterson.
“Get that fucking cart moving!” Thompson directed as two Corps members were cut down by a man wielding a large axe.
“Rog!” Malkovich called out as he climbed into the driver’s seat and took hold of the reigns attached to the horse.
The cart lunged forward, and Lecca kept her head down as Mike steadied himself on a small collection of wooden boxes. His breath’s remained haggard, but he kept his carbine aligned on targets beyond one-hundred meters. The only problem was the friendly Corps members were fighting in close combat, thus there was no possible way to get a clear shot without putting friendlies at risk.
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“Got mages downrange!” Simon called out as he fired fix bullets towards the enemies.
“We got to get across the plaza!” Thompson ordered. “Move and provided suppressing fire! Richard, flush them out with the 340!”
Moving his left hand to the 40-millimeter, under-barrel grenade launcher under his rifle, Richard flipped up the metal range finder. Releasing his breath, a sudden “thumping” noise came from the grenade launcher, and thereafter, a bright light emanated from the ground alongside a small plume of dust and dirt. The sudden blast caught the remaining mages not killed by the blast off guard. They swiftly ran to cover as they reorganized themselves to target the princess and Rangers.
“Don’t bunch up! Cover my movement right!” Malkovich called out as he, Simon and Richard moved away from the wooden cart.
“Bound! Suppressing!” Simon yelled as he let out several short bursts.
Covering each other, the three took cover next to a demolished building, several muzzle flashes came from the ruins as they engaged the mages exposed.
Lecca’s hearing momentarily was distorted as the fire being fired by the Rangers intensified, but soon she was able to hear the loud voice of Mike who was directing Green, “You should be good. Cover our rear-we need rear security.”
“Got eyes on three!” Patterson shouted. “I’ve got three mages pinning down some of our guys!”
“Well! Fix those suckers up!” Mike said crawling to the edge of the wooden cart, rifle in hand. Moving a small blanket he found on the cart, and supporting his aim on the cart, Mike aimed down his holographic sight, and he swiftly maneuvered the small red dot over the area where the hostile mages had taken cover.
“They’re still moving! Get me another three-forty!” Thompson ordered, making Richard launch another one of his scarce 40mm grenades.
Firing, Mike shot two bullets towards a sliver of someone’s arm he had seen. The hostile hid behind cover and further refused to peek around the corner fearing for their life. Beside him, Lecca materialized the same lever-action rifle she had used during their conflict against the Reavers. She aimed down the slim sights and shouted out to Mike, “How far are they?”
“Fuck! How far are they!” Mike parroted.
“Two-two… One-twenty!” Patterson responded giving a rough estimate. “What are you doing?”
“Giving them hell!” Lecca responded as her finger snaked around the silver trigger of the rifle she held. “I’m going to concentrate some of my mana on the targets!”
“Give supporting fire!” Captain Thompson said.
“Get some motherfuckers!” Simon shouted from afar as he began to release semi-controlled bursts on the enemy keeping their heads down.
“Beers on me after this!” Malkovich announced over the radio.
“Where the fuck would we even get them!?” Patterson responded.
“I’ll buy!” Lecca said, her eyes widening as her finger slammed the trigger back.
As the bullet fired, a deafening roar emerged from beside Mike making his ears hurt even with ear protection. A small amount of pressure smacked himself and Lecca in the face, as a cloud of dust kicked up from the cart as a fireball followed the miniscule mana beam that was fired followed by gas residue. With no way to mitigate the recoil of the gun, it moved upwards smacking the princess in the jaw.
On the other side of the destroyed battlefield, thee mages remained clustered behind a wall that Lecca intended to fire at. Hitting the stone structure, wood shrapnel and segmented rocks exploded from the contact point as the bullet pierced the structure and flew into one of the three, now unlucky mages. A pool of blood exited the back of the mage, and his chest shook violently as destroyed body matter, smoke, and fragmented bone exited the front, an enormous cavity was left in his chest as he slumped to the ground, dead. The other two mages were hit by the shrapnel shed by the wall, and the force was enough to shred apart their bodies making an unrecognizable gory mess.
“Holy shit.” Mike said as he stared at the red dirt through the one-times magnification of his scope.
“I think they’re dead!” Green shouted.
“Captain! They’re disengaging! We’ve got them on their heels!” Malkovich announced over the radio as he and the other two soldiers behind him pushed forward with the already engaged Corps members.
“Princess?” Thompson asked as he kept his rifle aimed at the running hostiles.
“Consolidate the Volunteers and counterattack!” She ordered hopping over the front of the cart and landing in the driver’s seat. “Your men are already ahead, climb aboard so we may catch up!”
“C’mon! Let’s go! Let’s go!” Patterson yelled as he and Green climbed aboard the cart. Thompson followed and practically jumped up with the two catching him.
“We’ve got enemies to the left! Behind the rocks!” Mike said as the cart began to move east.
Enemies retreating from the endless counterattack that the Corps launched now found themselves under fire from the moving wagon on their exposed flank. Bullets sprayed from the wagon in short, controlled bursts. Several of the attackers dropped dead, they were considered the lucky ones. The others had their bodies ripped apart by the powerful round being fired.
With some of the remaining mages putting up resistance, Mike pulled himself up on his knees. His red dot sight was aligned on one of the mages aiming in his general direction, yet when he pulled the trigger, no bullet came out of the weapon.
“I’m out! Reloading.” He said to the others, with Thompson taking out the mage he spotted. Fumbling with a magazine, Mike replaced the empty mag and inserted the new one before hitting he bolt release.
“Captain.” Lecca suddenly said gaining his attention, “We will need a solution if the Demon Lord is already on the kingdom’s doorstep.”
Lowering his rife and finding a seat against the cart, Thompson’s gloved hands traced the weapon now sitting in his lap. The tan paint had begun to fade, and the black undertone had begun to etch off from the rough treatment it had underwent for the last two months.
Looking away from the weapon in his lap, he could see the silhouettes of the retreating attacks against the serene view of the growing orange horizon. A frown grew across his face as he felt the cold wind biting at the exposed skin on his face. His goggles slowly turned off as he coughed. “We’ll find a way. If we can stop this “Demon Lord” and buy time to prevent his armies from marching on the capital, I believe your kingdom will have a chance.”
Controlling the horses and bringing the cart to a slow stop less than two hundred meters away from the east gate, Lecca kept her down as her expression fell. The thought went through her mind in a single second, yet she had to accept the reality that the men under her command would eventually leave. She was no leader, so what she worried about was “when” they would leave. Such a thought spiraled in her mind in that second the cart came to a halt, and the men began to step onto the ground.
With the assistance of Green, Mike slowly clambered out of the cart. The pain in his chest had somewhat subsided, but at his point, it would remain due to his ribs possible being broken alongside internal bleeding. Though he supposed he hadn’t sustained any critical or fatal injury as he had yet to fall over dead. He spotted the princess looking at him with a distant gaze. Not knowing what to do, he just simply grabbed his rifle and turned around towards the gate where Thompson had greeted some of the Corps members that ran the distance from the settlement’s center along with knights Eugene, Marco, and Anne.
Walking in the under the burnt sky, Mike with the princess and Rangers behind him, climbed atop a small observation tower near where they stopped. Upon reaching the third floor, the cold air picked up due to their elevation, and a small amount of smoke poured in their direction as the wind direction changed.
Upon reaching the top, the harsh rays of sunlight bounced on their position. Leccamaradel used her free left arm to block the sunlight and wind, yet after her eyes adjusted to the light exposure, she lowered her arm and returned it to holding her lever-action rifle in the low ready like the Rangers beside her. Beyond the damaged stone wall that guarded Stragea, the lands just on the other side of the wall were damaged, scorned. Dirt, mud, and bodies covered the destroyed grounds, the golden-green fields were there, yet between their current location and the heaven like grounds, a large stretch of desecrated land of death separated them from their supposed “final destination.”
“Lieutenant, sitrep.” Thompson said calmly as he watched the Corps members below chase after the few remaining stragglers.
“Captain.” Patterson said stepping up to him with a worried expression. He spoke in a soft voice, “To put it bluntly we’re not equipped to fight anything, especially a brigade full of monsters from some “Demon Lord”. I’m having some reservations about this mission, so perhaps we should rethink our involvement with the king?”
“You know we can’t Patterson.” He argued. “We need to find some way back, and for God’s sake it would be a mistake to let go of the only country wiling to take us in for now.”
The two fell silent as a loud humming noise came from the sky. Collectively the eight looked up into the orange-blue sky.
“Is that fast air?” Green asked as several shapes emerged from the large-scattered, grey clouds.
“What did the fucking air-force come with us?” Richard commented as he slowly stepped towards the staircase on the opposite side of the building.
“Are those World War Two fighters?” Mike asked aloud as the arm holding his rifle fell to his side.
What appeared to be a formation of bombers slowly crawled over the shattered skies above. One of the unknown air vehicles began to rapidly descend towards the ground.
“Is he doubling down on us!?” Malkovich said alarmed.
A flood of voices flooded Lecca’s ears.
“Holy shit!”
“Get to cover!”
“Move it! Move it!”
“Get off the fucking building!” Mike screamed as he grabbed Lecca and Green, the two nearest people, and dragged them towards the staircase.
Publicly Available Information: Air Power:
Many nations all over the world have a form of air power. While most “modern” nations use commonly found reptiles commonly referred to as “Wyverns”, there are some nations that have attempted to use more mechanical and scientific methods to attain flight and air dominance.