Even before the western fronts found itself under attack, Khaexyn's forces had already begun their attack in the east. The forces on this side were just as numerous and impressive as they were on the other.
Qheria's sister knew to not prepare for the obvious, to expect the unexpected. She had paid close attention to her mother's story of the Destroyer before, and had set to resolve a solution for dealing with metallic marvels of.. some further unknown capacity. What mattered was that heavy metals sunk easier than most, and their battlefield was a swamp. She had a collection of resources to bridge or ford the river, boats and mobile bridges that she could set on command. All of them however were cleverly designed to carry specific weights, and nothing more. Her enemy would approach with no way to cross.
She didn't expect this to be enough, they could very well prepare to ford the river of their own means if given enough of an opportunity. She had lances across the coast, ready to attack any who dared to cross, and would send shields and blades to slow down their foes, as archers and catapults decimated them. The catapults were all at the shore, while lances and archers scattered across a number of the islands. The overall distance of swamp was actually in excess to her reports of the destroyer's firing range, more than her catapults even. She knew she had to be prepared.
She got word of her enemy's approach, and was surprised to discover that there wasn't a single destroyer spotted in their collection. All of their forces were either metallic people or heavy armors. It was unexpected, but shouldn't be more than she could handle. She waited for her enemy to reach their coast before sending her signal, archers lit arrows on fire and let soar a volley. The oil-scoured ground of their enemy caught blaze immediately, the flame surging through their forces. She was however disappointed to discover far fewer of her enemies falling at this than she had first assumed, surely her enemies were weak to such flames. Still, everything was still according to plan, she advanced her forces through the cover of smoke, and set to engage her enemy in this opportunity.
Qheria took note of her surroundings, being thankful that Mhyl was not present for such a challenge. The water she was dealing with was honestly more dangerous than most they had faced, herself falling in could bring an end to her life. Mhyl and her phobia would probably have been a shaking wreck in this situation, and not without due cause. Since she had fit herself in with the Reavers, she was set to one of the forward islands, expected to dash in through the smokescreen. She also knew she was the most prepared for her enemy, and activated her belt from an island near shore. It might have been crazy for a normal person, but with her tools, the shore was a short skip away.
Qheria landed in among her enemies, herself still having issues seeing through the smoke. She knew it was supposed to be more of a smoke curtain, but having it obscure any further than that was more to her own disadvantage. A few more leaps inwards, she resorted to more dramatic alternatives, slamming into the ground with a torrent of force. On impact, her enemies went flying towards her, as she herself went straight into the air. She descended once more on a collection of enemies that has piled up below her, a force wave rushing outwards on impact, crushing into the ground anything directly below her, and sending flying anything just past that. She had been practicing that, it really worked better than she thought.
The wave of force was also clearing the smoke in her area, giving her a bit more visibility. As the area cleared, she got to witness the plans of her enemy. Many of them were actually hovering, jet-packs turned on to keep them in the air. She couldn't see any of the power armor, but worried that they might have some advanced equipment as well. Khaexyn clearly was not ignorant of the geography he was working with. As visibility started to clear, the same jetpack soldiers turned their firearms on her, leaving her to setup a barrier. Qheria knew that even though her sister thought she was prepared, she wasn't prepared for this.
Lwyn was already fighting before the smokescreen showed up, her enemies having arrived well before Qheria's. She was herself high up on the cliff, but found her enemy's ability to fly completely unfair. She was thankful that their flight maximum height was limited, she was still too high for them, but them being aerial made it very hard to get a good shot. She fired another blade into the air, it detonating in an explosion at the point she desired. She couldn't rely on contact explosions, she needed to actually measure distances.
The Pillars actually did not know there were anything beyond the mechanical jetpack soldiers, the curves of the mountain concealing anything further. As fire burned in the battle below the mountain, so too did it above, the Embers having engaged in full force. However, by now, the other Pillars were starting to catch on to what they were dealing with, leaving the area a field of assorted elementals. From fire followed shards of stone and ice, the Dust and Frost Pillars taking action. The effects of the Gust Pillars were much less visible, leaving enemies crashing to the ground for no visible reason as the very air betrayed them. Enemy firepower deflected off of stone shields, the energy weapons absorbed into shields of frost.
To Lwyn, this was actually pretty easy. She had to aim away from the rock-face, sure, but that just took a bit more gift. Her own shots were even silent and soundless, further efforts to not disturb the mountain they stood beside. Still, flying enemies were annoying, she needed to fix that. The Gust Pillars though, they might have the right idea, having the very air betray those who depended on it. She fired another blade, which unwound in the very air into a webbed mesh of energy, spreading over a large area. As this connected with her enemies, it started forcing them to the ground, still growing larger and continuing towards the ground in it's pursuit. This had some minor collateral effect, even the Pillars on the ground were forced to their knees, but anyone in the air was crashed into the ground with much more force, the higher they were the faster they fell. Some of them were destroyed in the crash, but many of them took to the air again, so she simply fired the same once again.
Having been denied by anti-air support, the footsoldiers stopped using their jetpacks and simply fought from the ground. Lwyn smiled, that was exactly what she was hoping for. Lwyn fired an energy pulse, which detonated on contact with the ground. Being of energy, the ground weathered the blow very well, but her enemy was not so stable. Several of them were blown from the mountain, crashing into parts on their unfortunate landing. Many of them simply were torn apart by the blast. She reloaded and fired again and again, large collections of her enemies falling. Surely things wouldn't be this easy?
Qheria's sister looked across the battlefield, her smoke screen having unfortunately cut herself off from information on the front lines. However, her provided advantage was clearing up, the smoke was fading away. She was very interested in how her mother was fairing out there, and if she had destroyed whatever fording equipment their enemy would be preparing. As the smoke cleared, she saw her mother at the edge of the shore, being overwhelmed by a number of soldiers... in the air! They could fly?! That was not something she had planned for, that would ruin everything.
Moments later, the air erupted in a sphere of wind, throwing foes all over the place, and giving her mother an opportunity to keep pressing on. She could see Xyithy wielding vapour itself and slicing her foes apart, lines of smoke swirling around in her wake. Still, those massive spheres of wind.. what was causing them? "The smoke is clearing, do we have any reports on what is going on? Other than the flying, I can see that perfectly well, I mean where are those spheres of wind coming from?" She sent orders for information as she pondered a solution to this dilemma.
A soldier approached her, having hear the request, and got out of his armor. The armor he wore was huge, similar to their enemies in some vague sense. "Oh, yeah, that would be Qheria doing her thing again. Lucky her, I got stuck on this side because of the stupid swamp." "Wait, that's my sister? When did she.. actually how is she... Nevermind, there is no time for that now. Archers, fire upon the enemy, especially any in the air above the swamp. Catapults, prepare to fire in kind." Rhyde got back into his power armor, taking the same instructions into consideration. This thing did have some ranged firepower, maybe he find a good shot. Qheria's sister didn't bother with Rhyde, going back to giving orders.
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Rhyde advanced to the shore and fired a practice shot. As the electric volt passed over the water, the whole lake electrified in a surge from the passage of the bolt. Rhyde armor fell backwards in response to his own attempt to do the same, that was both surprising and interesting. Qheria's sister however ran right up to him to personally inquire. "What was that, how did you do that?" "Ah, this is a weapon from Qheria's.. friends, I still don't completely know everything it's capable of. However, it seems to react very well in this situation." Qheria's sister watched as Rhyde fired another shot towards some of the flying enemies that had made their way into his range. The bolt only took out one of them, but the electric surge dropped several more into the water, along with a few other clusters elsewhere over the swamp.
Qheria's sister revised her strategy, given this opportunity. Rhyde would be securing the water with his storm-bolt, being the cornerstone of their defense. With such a defense, they had need of nothing more than to attack. She looked across at her mother and.. sister, together both laying into their enemies. Things were looking to be progressing pretty nicely after all.
Lwyn stumbled from the mountain as a shot nearly missed her. She was surprised, she should be too high for.. and then noticed the arrival of enemy power armor, in the air almost as high as she was. She quickly caught the wall, struggling to hold a grip with the non-metallic wall. From her glove, she spawned a sphere that pulled her into the wall lightly, keeping her steady. Meanwhile, the enemy that had shot her was falling from the sky as a very loud sound struck through the air. Yuxzn reloaded his rail gun, very happy that his first shot being against a large target had still connected. He didn't hit what he wanted, but it seems hitting their flight pack would at least take them from the air. Before he could reload, another had turned to face up to him, but that one too fell from the sky.
Lwyn reloaded once again, her shot having successfully at least repaid the favour she had just been owed. Yuxzn was actually seated way high over the mountain, with what would have been the best view ever. She had seen from that location, it was possible to even see the swamp far down below, perfect for a sniper. It would have been even better, if their enemy didn't fly. Sure, it was more like hover, they needed to be a distance from the ground to keep any kind of real lift, but that's almost the same thing.
Lwyn tried the net trick again, but to no avail. It seems the jets of the power armor were fully capable of keeping themselves in the air regardless. She had learn from her last battle, these things were not to be underestimated. "Fire in the hole!" Lwyn's Izhaethyx still made no sense to anyone who heard, but it at least got their attention. She spawned a sphere of energy over her glove and threw it down to her enemies. The sphere detonated mid air, much like a grenade, sending a wave of white plasma surging from it. She had kept it a distance from her allies, but still that same force melted the gift-given frost and even stone, the stone wall below her having melted itself. This is to say nothing of the power armors that were engulfed by the explosion.
As another power armor was shot down from above her, she noticed several more were approaching on the ground. Ah, so not all of them could fly, or would fly, she had no idea which one it was. The newcomers fired up at her, a massive beam that tore through the stone. The entire mountain shook from the impact, sending stones falling over her. Lwyn clung to the wall, setting another gravity well behind her. A stone nearly fell upon her, but was blasted from the air by another railgun shot. Lwyn was very thankful for Yuxzn's accuracy, having been unable to deal with such a threat herself. It seems the ground-bound forces had heavier weapons, and very long range.
Qheria blocked a heavy cannon shot, as the enemy heavy armor started firing upon her. Being able to block her enemy's shots helped, but these shots were taking a lot out of her simply in order for her to hold up against. Worse, anyone else hit by such shots perished outright. Qheria was very worried for her mother, who couldn't block such firepower. As she thought to have her mother withdraw, she noticed the swamp being electrified. While Rhyde's defense did stop the enemy, it also made the whole thing impassable by any of them, Xyithy had no way to withdraw.
Qheria sent a wave of photonic energy through a power armor suit, aiming at her mother. The suit powered down before it could fire. She was however thrown onto the defensive, as several others showed up with the same mindset. Qheria threw up a barrier in the protection of her mother, herself not wanting to share the exact same sadness Lwyn had been forced to suffer. One of the power armors started over the swamp, mitigating the electrical surge. Rhyde fired upon it directly, which proved too much for it, as it sunk into the swamp. Several more started their advance, as many gathered around Qheria's barrier, trying to break it down.
Lwyn descended from the cliff, left with no other option. She had been told she needed to defend the cliff wall too, and had expected her height would have dealt with that, but it seemed she would not be so fortunate. She threw forwards a gravity repulsion well, to slow down her descent as she took the shortest way to the ground. Leaping from the cliff, she landed softly on her feet before all of the Pillars. She put away the crossbow for now, long range wouldn't do her any good in this situation.
Lwyn faced her enemies, two white spheres forming in her hands. Detonating plasma wouldn't be good for her own survival at this range, so that wouldn't work. However, not all projectiles had to fly in straight lines. She let go of the spheres, which moved a distance from her hands, and floated there. She then rushed towards the power armor, smashing it with the pure energy she had floating before her with a massive uppercut. The power armor went flying over the edge, shattering on it's descent. She then turned towards another power armor suit, summoning two more spheres, leaving four orbs floating around her. She nailed it into the ground with two of them, as two more smashed through it.
Lwyn doubled again the orbs floating around her, as enemies turned to fire upon her. Shots passed into her spheres and vanished, fully consumed in the process, as she turned to face off against more of them. This was way easier than she thought, she could only give commands to her projectiles while she was near them, but keeping them near just meant she had an orbital defense grid. She had a few dozen of the orbs now around her, laying destruction in her wake. She kept going until she found none before her remained any longer. Yuxzn's weapon had also finally gone silent, no longer having a target.
Qheria was at a loss, stuck on a defense that would not hold, as her enemies started to cross the swamp. She needed to take action, and had no idea how. Being at a loss for a solution was infuriating for her, she was not one to take a loss sitting down. If only she could bring her mother across the swamp. She smashed the ground in frustration, as the world around her shifted. When she looked up, she and anyone else hiding under her barrier found themselves exactly where she was trying to go. She had warped across the swamp, of all things she could possibly be capable of.
Rhyde and Qheria's sister rushed over, surprised to find the arrive of Qheria and Xyithy so suddenly. "Our offense isn't holding, focus on the giant armors, they need to sink before they can cross. Rhyde, honey, maybe your firepower would be more useful on the other side of the swamp. Have my daughter take you back, I'll look after things here." Xyithy was taking Qheria's sudden innovation like it was the most normal thing in the world, though it was just something she had came to learn. Her daughter was just simply capable of more than she could imagine, that's all there was to it. Qheria's sister however was still at a loss for what was going on, but rushed to follow her mother's advice.
Qheria left the other Reavers she had saved in her mother's care as she set a barrier around her and Rhyde. She then repeated the same process, warping back over the swamp. Enemies now standing where the barrier formed were torn apart as they came into existence in their destination. Qheria was marveling over the destruction as Rhyde set forth firing upon his enemies. Hitting the ones crossing from behind was far easier, and from here he could even attack ones that were not crossing. Rhyde was sinking the fangs of his weapon into them far faster than they could react, although one did shoot him successfully, but to little effect. Thanrie had ensured the entire system was fully capable of discharging energy sent against it, and Qheria had even lent her gift to strengthen the material, much like her experiment with the ball. Rhyde would not be going down anytime soon.
Qheria herself was taking wonder to her new discovery, and warped into a few other enemies, tearing them apart and leaving them no opportunity to even try to fire upon her. Warping around just made her impossible to track, while the same action destroyed her foes. Quickly, she had the entire coast clear on this side, the only enemies remaining were the ones who had escaped over the marsh. This would take another solution, she wouldn't dare warp over the water, she could fall in. This gave her an idea though, as she slammed her fists into the ground again, imparting her gift upon it. At this point, gravity in a wide area magnified dramatically, pulling her flat to the ground. Even Rhyde was pinned to the ground as a result of this. Xyithy and Qheria's sister though were also pinned to the ground.. the gravitation wave going out that far. This then included all of her foes floating over the water, each pulled into the marsh and consumed by it.
Qheria stood up and dusted herself off, looking around. Expecting silence, she listened carefully at the sound of the ground shuddering as something else approached closer and closer, heralding that things weren't over yet.