In the West, Khaexyn's forces arrived first at the Wyxiri front, the entire armada a clockwork soldier to the last. The spread of the armada was a fleet spanning far into the distance, numbering far beyond count.
The second prince had gone to see the sight for himself, and was stunned in his revelation. This was no simple army, this was like a necromantic hoard. Clockwork soldiers moved to him like he could imagine the living dead, while the power armor looked more like a metal golem. The destroyers were like animated weapons, as far as he could tell from where he stood. Among them wasn't a single normal person, neither human nor elf. The second prince froze speechless, his face pale.
Even from her distance, Thanrie felt empathy for her brother. She understood the feeling of that fear, had lived it herself. However, terror would only work to their enemy's advantage. Thanrie nudged Ihzyhur forwards, who caught wind of her intent. Ihzyhur rushed to his brother and made the request personally. "Brother, your orders?" "That's- .. yes, forgive me. It seems tales of our enemy didn't have as much fluff as I had originally expected. This is truly some fearsome use of the gift. Yes.. yes, anyway.. let them approach the choke-point, so we can weaken their numbers. Our ranged forces should be ready to engage the moment they get in range, pressuring them closer. Pin them against our shields, divide them amidst our blades." The second prince expected that zombies would die much like soldiers did, but had no idea what to do about the larger monstrosities.
Ihzyhur returned to Thanrie, at a loss. "Proper tactics are difficult when we haven't even had time to present enough information. He wants to hold the line, fetter them from afar with bows and catapults, and trust in the strength of our own metal. Even I've faced one of those destroyers before, they will be within firing range soon. We both know our brother, he's not going to be rational about it." "No, but it might be possible to make his plan work. Doesn't the catapults have the same range as their destroyers? Have them aim in return, it will compel them to hold back a bit until our front lines fall. Destroyers are rather fragile large targets, after all.. at least compared to some of their stuff." Ihzyhur went back to his brother as Thanrie considered the situation. She knew leaping into action would only alarm her brother and his soldiers, but she would have to do it eventually. She just needed to figure out the best opportunity, possibly after the conflict had begun.
Thanrie went back to Zyuixqs, himself already in the power armor. Because the designs Thanrie had worked on involved such considerable customization, it looked only distantly related to the other power armors on the field, very easy to identify as one of their own. He had been seen in the armor already, so that others had time to distinguish him, it wouldn't do for him to be attacked on the field, after all. Beyond Zyuixqs, it was awfully convenient that all of their enemies were mechanical and their allies were not, it made it much easier to figure out friend from foe. The power armor had much better defense and maneuverability than destroyers, but far less range. The shots from either were far too dangerous, but that made the wide-area blast of the destroyers much more intimidating. She had to consider these weapons carefully.
Ah, range! The catapult wasn't in range because it didn't have enough power. Thanrie rushed off to a catapult, Zyuixqs following her. The catapults were still idle because nothing was nearly close enough. She considered the ballistics, if she boosted the tension of the catapult, the boulder would go flying an unknown distance more than expected. That would make aiming impossible. If instead she boosted the impact force of the boulder, a collision with the ground would not be enough to stop it's momentum. The hard part was, playing with projectiles was far more Lwyn's thing than her own. However, playing with the time of the boulder, she could have it play with matters of velocity at the time it was triggered, so that it's force of impact was compounded. It's not like she would be manipulating the boulder in flight, only the forces it was collected with.
This would still however be very difficult. She asked the catapult attendant if the siege weapon was aimed properly at an approaching destroyer. It seems it was, just only waiting for the whole thing to get in range. She pulled out her weapon and connected with the boulder, imparting her gift into the mechanism. Then, she pulled the firing mechanism even to the protests of the attendant. Nothing happened, exactly so far as she planned. The boulder was stuck in a conflict of forces, unable to expend its energy and thus compounding upon it. After a few moments, she returned her weapon, releasing the boulder. The boulder had so much impact energy, it ignited the air around it, looking like a blazing inferno. The boulder otherwise flew to exactly where it would have been estimated to land, with cratering force. The ground sundered on impact, shaking the ground even at this distance. Not just the bolder, but also the wave of impact and the blaze that followed crashed into their enemies, tearing through the destroyer and anything around it for hundreds of Uyns.
The enemy realized that moving to support their slower destroyers was no longer of value, and their forces broke into waves. Now rushing forwards ahead of the rest, mechanical soldiers rushing to face off against human ones. The other catapults started to rain off in turn, without nearly as much effect, as both forces finally clashed. Thanrie motioned to Zyuixqs, it was time to begin. Thanrie activated her boots and sent her scythe lancing into the mountain, which froze itself there so that she could pull herself to it. She landed amidst her enemies, and started tearing into them. Zyuixqs took to the hills and started firing upon solders from the distance, his energy weapon sundering through his enemies like tin foil.
Mhyl felt the ground shake beneath her as the cry of alarm arose through the elves. They too had found their enemy, and were preparing for battle. She learned that some of their enemy's larger forces were having issues navigating the trees, especially the destroyers. Their smaller foot-soldiers thus arrived far sooner than the rest. Mhyl watched the conflict through her headset, which gave her a superiority to everyone else who suffered seeing through the trees. She saw that they were clashed in a melee already, blades and arrows the core of the defense. The wardens however were preparing to offer more, knowing that the sheer number of trees nearby gave their gift a multitude of options.
Using the gift wasn't a bad idea, in fact she had something similar in mind. She knew her stamina, it had low levels, and recovered quickly. That means, waiting for a good time to use it wasn't the best approach. She knew she shouldn't just let loose with all she had, but to at least present an early advantage for the elves. She focused upon their back-line gunners, foot soldiers who kept their distance and carried some advanced firearms, far superior to simple bows and arrows. Being so far away, there was no one near them she would have to worry about possibly harming.
Mhyl held up her book, and set her other hand on it, to help her to focus. It was simple, there was a sphere of space that she felt shouldn't exist anymore. The fact that it did was as simple to solve as to provide it's inversion. It was like mathematically saying 'x-x=0'. Mhyl used her gift to provide an anti-matter vortex in the designated location. A ripple of darkness pulsed through that area in the span of a moment, causing a vacuum of wind. She forgot to consider that air exists in a space as well, as everyone present on the field stumbled, and several trees fell over. The Elniri host was alarmed at the sudden black explosion, but the Wardens knew better. Being given an opportunity, they also unleashed their gift, causing vines to sprout from the fallen trees and lash out at their victims. Even the clockwork soldiers fell when they had roots and vines growing through them, tearing them apart.
The Elniri host only barely understood the principle of what happened, and pressed upon their new advantage. The woods itself turned to their aid, compelled by the Wardens. Mhyl however took a moment to rest, sitting aside Chyurae. That actually took more from her than she had first expected, she should really be careful not to do that again.
Thanrie was sweeping her way through her enemies, finding this form of sweeping to be much more exciting than the version using a broom. She pressed her advantage so hard, she actually started to thin the pass with her blade alone. Archers had stopped firing, realizing after the tenth failure that trying to shoot anything in her range usually has that target die before the arrow hit. Thanrie still had a plan, she was still driven to an experiment, she just needed an opening. Eventually, as she passed through soldiers, she found herself before a power armor.. but not an enemy. Zyuixqs had made his way out and had joined her, the forces around her having thinned that much. Thanrie laughed a demon's laughter, her brother's plan was still working wonders, it was trapping everyone in a tiny bubble, ready for her to rip them apart.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Ihzyhur was brandishing his blade, searching for his own opportunity to bring his frost to the field, when his brother tapped him on the shoulder. Ihzyhur turned around to confront him. "Oh, brother, would you care to join me? Our blood was given to us for a purpose, to be brandished in times such as this. The soldiers are holding the lines, certainly you would be interested to inspire them with your own gift?" "Inspire? I'm not sure I could even hold a candle before the blaze out there, my ice melting in such an inferno. Just where did you find this so called Crystalline Blossom?" "Brother, you jest, certainly you recognize your own sister after she would set to the stage like that." "What?! That's little Thanrie?!" Ihzyhur laughed at his brother's incredulous look, being in fact fully aware how difficult it might be to see the little sister he used to know in this new Thanrie.
Thanrie mowed away another bunch of foot soldiers, paving her way to more ambitious foes. Two power armor suits stood before her. "Zyuixqs, keep one busy, don't kill it though." Thanrie meanwhile rushed one herself. Standing a short distance behind it, she tossed her blade, which sunk into its back. A small time-stop bubble formed around her, so she focused on the connection she had formed. It was a connection, like when you plug a computer into a network. However, like all networks, that made the system before her open to intrusions, to hacking. In fact, it was now hacked, it's entire command system re-written to follow her own commands instead. She had been waiting to try this for so long, and was eager to see her success.
Once Thanrie broke the connection, time restored. The power armor before her just stood there, doing nothing. "Destroy your identical partner." Thanrie pointed at the power armor Zyuixqs was trying to keep busy.. the same one which suddenly exploded a few moments later. Zyuixqs stopped in surprise, Thanrie's demonic laughter not helping his confusion. Once she had the power armor set against the aethyrnz, she set off to look for a destroyer to test the same measure upon. It was perfect, Khaexyn hadn't even sent Thanrie a single enemy she couldn't hack. Her hacking was still slow though, she knew she wouldn't bother hacking everything, just a few more of them. Then maybe it would be time for something else.
Mhyl stood in alarm as the enemy power armor broke through the trees. She was expecting such enemies to be held back for a while longer, but it seems her previous attack had cleared the way a bit too much. The Wardens attempted to deal with the power armor, but to no real effect. Mhyl noticed one of the power armors breaking past their front lines, seeking to lay waste to their back lines. Mhyl herself was in the self-same back lines. Given no opportunity to act, she found herself suddenly in close melee with a power armor suit, it turning to fire upon her. She picked up her book, realizing that she would be too slow to form any useful effect in what little window was left to her.
Suddenly, the power armor fell over, it's power core removed. Chyurea hoped off the back of the armor, having been totally ignored in the process. He was also previously ignored as he watched Thanrie work on them, including seeing where these things got their power from. Breaking into the sealed container to remove it's power source was simple for one such as Chyurae. Mhyl couldn't help but laugh at Chyurae having stolen the things power source so effortlessly, in the span of a moment. Then she realized he also knew where the power source was on... everything here. Sxieva had shown them that aethyrnz have a core where humans have hearts. The destroyers might be something else, but he could at least break his way into one. Mhyl had worried that Chyurae couldn't have done much on the field.. when in fact he was basically an assassin to anything mechanical.
"Chyurae, do you think you could do this to more of them? The Wardens are having problems with these things, you're our best hope at clearing things up." Mhyl got a nod back for her inquiry, as Chyurae ran off. Mhyl tried to find him on her headset, but lost track of him right away. As she tried to search, suddenly she noticed one of the power armors fall over dead. She turned to it to search, only for another near it to fall over in kind. She quickly gave up, Chyurae clearly was not someone you tracked, an assassin in the shadows.
Thanrie watched as a destroyer shot at another destroyer. It was so beautiful, like she was tending to a mechanical garden that blossomed before her. However, she looked back to see that in her absence, the mechanical armada had once again pressed hard against her brother's forces. A wave sequence of ice shattering rippled from their front lines, clearly things weren't going to be a problem if Ihzyhur was lending a hand. She took a moment to consider that her other brother might actually be there too. Either way, there was still more work to be done, her playtime was over.
Thanrie tossed her blade overhead of several enemies, it landing amidst them. Instead of pulling it back though, she charged the connection with an electrical conduit. Having mechanical enemies everyone would only mean a weakness to such conduits. Electricity however surged along the chain, as if she was the source, rippling through enemies along the way and discharging in an electrical burst at her blade. That was overall far more efficient than she had first expected. Thunder rippled through the air in the wake of the electrical surge.
Thanrie dashed to one end of her enemies, and set the blade as she dashed through them in the far opposite direction, stopping only when the chain met it's maximum limit. Then, she repeated the same surge, electrical current rippling everywhere through the enemy. Zyuixqs however got a bit too close, which temporarily shut his armor down. He himself had to evacuate, in case he got electrified. Thanrie only then realized her mistake, she had made Zyuixqs vulnerable.
Thanrie rushed to his defense as a mass of thunder rippled through the air. With the electrical current gone, Zyuixqs was making rushed repairs on his armor, disconnecting the power core so that he could work safely. Thanrie was not good at defense either, that was way more Qheria's deal, but sometimes the best defense was just a very good offense. She still had hacked firepower active on the field, their enemies were still going down. She just needed to kill enemies around Zyuixqs, and everything would be fine.
Mhyl reviewed what was left of their situation. Chyurae had the power armor actually taken care of fairly well, although other suits were still being a problem as he only could take them out one at a time. There was also a lot fewer foot-soldiers to worry about, their numbers gradually diminishing. What was still a concern was the vast number of destroyers still making their way in. Soon, they would end up a problem, one that might be very difficult to deal with. However, she herself felt invigorated and recharged, ready for another attempt.
Mhyl jumped in surprise as thunder resounded from the distance, ominously loud. She was pretty certain that was Thanrie hard at work, making more sonic booms. Actually, no, that really sounded like thunder, like the rippling force of lightning surging.. maybe even stronger than lightning. She knew Thanrie was able to do electric currents, maybe Thanrie had just stepped up her game. Electric currents, because of mechanical enemies. It gave her an idea, the most scientific way.. almost science fiction way to stop a hoard of robots.
Mhyl set her hand on her book again, focusing once more. She focused into the thick of their enemies, an instant of an electrical pulse, in a polarized spiral. This energy was fully self-contained in a tiny speck of space, held back by the force of her own will. Once formed, she let it go, unleashing the electromagnetic pulse across the field. An EMP.. iconic for shutting down anything robotic in it's vicinity. The destroyers would be immune, but not the aethyrnz inside it. The pulse sparked off in a wave, ending their battle in an instant. However, Mhyl had put a lot into this one, she blinked and stumbled, fully exhausted. Without alternative, she found a place to lay down and rest.
Thanrie was still holding ground when suddenly a pulse of energy surged out from the woods. Even this battlefield was too close to Mhyl's pulse, as every remaining aethyrnz in the Wyxiri front also shut down. Zyuixqs finally got his power armor repaired, and got it reconnected and powered on. Having missed the pulse, it was the only power armor present that still worked. Thanrie knew hands-down, this was a Mhyl thing. The girl was way too powerful sometimes, it really wasn't fair. There was no helping it, all that was left was just to clean up the mess and move on.
Both the Wyxiri and the Elniri cleaned up after their battle, all their enemies effectively wiped out. Things were safe for now, at least on the western side.