Ters-Ly War (9— Last Part)
The new pistol of Lýmoca was a little wonder that saved oh so many lives in situations where Lýmocan soldiers had little time to respond, support, or their DLMs were either out of ammo or afflicted by non-personnel grenades. This was the subnamed QH - 8C, the Quick-Hand 8th Century pistol.
Its design was something else, entirely differing from the traditional ways that have reigned until today. Furthermore, its firepower was monstrous, although it had a more ‘flexible’ control, and it didn’t become an enormously powerful pistol.
It has a somewhat, semicircular, oviform structure. The handle was at the middle, near to the rear, with the thickness being major at the top half, and more so to its slightly protruding mouth, which hid yet empowered the muzzle.
Its feed system was located at its upper rear, with 56 cartridges spread throughout it. The ‘barrel’ section was about the size of a third of a forearm, extending from 1 inch from where the long, flexible cartridge case is replaced.
It is configured to have max, regular, and light burst. Its color is mostly black, with narrow, light blue ‘streams’ at the top.
Its light burst consists of 1 bullet per shot, with an effective range of 50 meters. The regular also has 1 bullet per shot, but this one is expelled with the pistol’s full firepower, with its effective range is 110 meters. Lastly, the maximum, max, burst consists of 2 bullets, either full power or not, which can be managed with one’s thump on its respective place, courtesy of bion-ish tech. Its effective range is 300 meters. This is with the same firepower as a large pistol, and a little more in the first few tens of meters.
How could a horrendously baby of evolving technology be something the Terkans could ignore or simply pass as a new model of pistols? More so, how could the Lýmocans not comprehend its use? It was not too powerful, but it was handy!
While all special forces received one, less than half the actives in Terka received theirs, with the rest used in Lýmoca for training.
That wasn’t all the offensive tools the Lýmocan army now had at their disposition. There was an explosive that left the Terkans speechless and not knowing what to repel it with.
Lýmoca developed grenades with simpler, faster air travel with tiny aerodynamics, better secured against foreign explosions, and more able to accumulate for quicker and lighter transport. But these weren’t a problem, other than their resourcefulness.
It was a new type of grenade, or hand-thrown explosives, that threatened the Terkan soldiers’ sanity and will to keep fighting.
Although the Terkans were no Lýmocan battle hardened, they were no weak nation, and they were still holding their positions, even if things were as they were.
It was called the Static March, SM. A new invention. When thrown, it explodes with immaculate bursts with the kinetic force behind it, and from another similar force. The latter was a result of the developing of this explosive, which is simply to the level of pioneering.
It explodes in the direction where it hits, whatever that might be, but also in the opposite direction, so its use has to be crafty and calculated. The result could be as fearsome as terrifying.
In an even more enigmatic notion, the latter, the explosion from the opposite direction it hits is ‘drawn’ towards the hit object, person, or vehicle. In simple words, it stops anything. All it needs to be triggered is being activated and then thrown. Any bit of force and velocity is enough, even when another Terkan soldier grabs it softly, it explodes their body to smithereens.
Of course, if it was an instructed soldier, they would be able to deactivate them with their hands, catching them and deactivating them, as these were hand-safe, so to speak.
In the first hours it was used during the advancement of a company with 200 Lýmocans, there was a situation where an armored vehicle was caught by a tank’s cannon for the second time, this time a direct hit.
The vehicle had already ricocheted 2 missiles headed to their wheels, as it had previously bounced a missile off and then continued to drive forward with some unbalance before being controlled after the explosion. Rockets were even easier to slide upon impact if not hit directly from the side or rear, and from a semi short distance.
The tank first hit a lower side, but the vehicle kept moving hard despite almost making it turn over into the air, to which the vehicle ‘handled’ itself back onto the ground with its 4 wheels. Then, the second cannon hit the right side of the vehicle, though only directly into the driver seats.
It immediately turned left and almost drifted for a second before turning over several times before finally stopping. Its right side was set ablaze, but only a crooked, about 40 cm wide gap was the maximum it left as a scar on the rest of the vehicle’s right side. Regardless, the survivors stepped out and began defending themselves while moving towards a forest.
They were quickly chased by an enemy vehicle with their turret taken down by what seemed a rocket explosion, but still hot on their heels. One soldier took a SM, which has a squarish middle and small, fat, circular ‘gum’ around it, and threw it at the ground where the incoming enemy vehicle was approaching.
Pfwah- pffh- sssu- PFWAH!
To the surprise and deafening of the Terkans inside the vehicle, the SM exploded, with only part of the front caving in. Then, its front almost flew into the air, jumping a meter and a half before coming back down with its driving speed and inertia. But then, directly afterwards, like a second but not a second later of pure silence, it immediately stopped as its front exploded outwards, stopping the vehicle.
By then, the drivers were dead, with glass and the interiors bursting to the sides and the back, mauling the enemy with their vehicle stopped as if the clutches were suddenly hard stomped. The Lýmocans didn’t stop after seeing this, but they were undoubtedly shocked.
When the tank came, even after seeing the new explosive, confident and bloodlust after forcing the new Lýmocan armored vehicle down, the Lýmocans were prepared and poised. When the tank was just passing through an opening it caused with its cannons opening a flaming path, the Lýmocans fearlessly looked at the enemy cannon, one of a few, aiming at them and threw 3 SMs.
The tank fired, although it ‘missed’ with one soldier bringing another 2 down, who were too close to the cannon’s aiming direction. Their bodies became like jelly, with most of their bones and their limbs completely broken. But their 2 grenades and another’s reached the tank’s sides.
They landed just below the ground where the tank’s tracks covered the dirt. They exploded, making the tank jolt slightly. The Terkans inside must have thought another ‘tank’ hit them, which they somehow didn’t notice. Regardless, the next second, they heard a small sound of air, before they perceived, for an instant, they could see the outside as the armor broke apart like an implosion.
Pfwah- pffh- sssu- PFWAH! PFWAH, PFWAH!
It must have been horrible from the inside, because the Lýmocans preparing another bout of their SMs were baffled and stopped just as they were about to activate them. They saw the Terkans inside become plastered against the undamaged wall of the tank, remaining as skin and uniform hanging like a coat hanger.
They still threw a few more just in case, avoiding aiming at the cannons to salvage it later. Thus, the Lýmocan army’s combat efficiency had only just shown its beak.
Days, days, more days, and weeks, passed.
… While Fox once spent days to attack a simple church of cultists and who knows how related to the organized crime, that was when he was an Artista, who are worse off than any 3rd Grade agent in the District. Now, he was the Raging Blood, and he was aided by representative captains, firsters, seconders, and thirders of Piya Sanctum District.
Fox wasn’t so… alone anymore.
It has been 7 weeks since Fox arrived at the westernmost of Terka’s northern regions. The war’s continuation into the capital state began a month prior. Thus, it was the year 1,026th, 6th month, 2nd week, and 4th day.
During this time, courtesy of being the Raging Blood, Fox requested for information on the war, at least about the big things that he couldn’t catch from the ‘secure’ lines of the enemy with one of his gadgets. Thus, he knew of the development after the new technology.
As for the planning of the assault on the Terkan president, it was a little more difficult. The timeframe to investigate the terrain was a must, and it took a while, with some high-end warplanes, which Terka shouldn’t have, used as the private force to protect the president.
This forced the SAs to slowly investigate, not being neither too slow nor reckless. When the terrain was fully covered, including its change as the cold was slowly approaching, they began investigating the rest of the variables.
The Terkan president was located in an old, secretly fortified tower-like building in the middle of a rural zone, away from the city nearby. If it wasn’t for some more careful investigation at the beginning, proposed by Fox and Nala, the SAs might’ve gotten noticed in the city.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Regardless, this tower was 30 km from the safe zone the District picked after discovering the president’s whereabouts. Then, as the tracks of hoogs were found, and the SAs didn’t dare to come close any further, the planning of the killing began.
The decision makers spent days and days figuring out how to go forth with stealth and top speed to not be discovered until they were already at the foot of the tower. Naturally, it did not go well. There was the possibility of more than 2 other hoogs involved, especially after so much time spent planning. For example, who knew if other countries receive Terka’s fortune to be protected.
Knowing Lýmoca had a Fox, anyone would want protection from such a special agent. It was one thing to bombard a city to kill a head of state ‘for the sake of’ whatever, but individual killing in a war they provoked; Terka had to be scared. Furthermore, even without such initial provocation, Fox was just like that… bloodthirsty, as he has always shown.
After a couple of weeks, seeing how they planned nonstop, with the speed they would use going from ‘bah’ to decent, and the distance before being discovered from too far to almost halfway there. Fox got tired of their bullshit and proposed a new strategy.
His proposal wasn’t unheard of, of course, but its efficiency was too situational. Who could know the future, especially when hoogs seemed to notice tracks of each other, and Fox had such a status even without taking the Raging Blood rank into consideration.
Thus, the planning according to Fox’s suggestion was set on motion…
***
In that old tower.
The Terkan president took a cup of coffee with a trembling hand. Putting it on his desk, he grabbed the large document detailing only a fifth of Terka remained in his hands for a few seconds. He suddenly yanked it downwards, looking at his generals and cabinet members.
“Where is Matías!?” The Terkan president barked. He looked around, but the young man from before was nowhere to be seen. He stood up from his hair and slammed his fatter hands now. Compared to before, while his hair grew gray, his body fattened up.
“What about Torka, Cerka, and other neighbors? Nothing, too!?” The president glared at his cabinet members, who looked down and said nothing, barely daring to gulp without making a sound. This infuriated him, “Why are you so quiet now!?”
“Cerka has thrown us prayers and hopes, but whenever we bring their deployment… They keep cut off with ‘other matters’, sir.” One cabinet member replied, malnourished with bags under his eyes. Another added, “Torka has said they are amassing their troops… It might… take them close to 2 years to prepare, and another to send help.”
“Bullshit! Aaaaah!” The president wanted to throw his desk off at them, turning it over out of rage, but he only hurt his fingers and was unable to lift anything. He went back to his seat, the hair still on his head messy, as much as that little could get. He looked up, “What about ANS? They promised…”
“3 months,” the old general replied. The president, Toño R., felt his body’s last breath leaving him, but he was still alive and sort of well. He looked up at everyone and asked, becoming vulnerable, “Is there nothing else? Nothing we can do? W- what about the surrendering talks? I already said, a third of our wealth and our apology, is that not enough?”
He turned his eyes to the old general as he reached the end of his words. The old general shook his head a bit, “They’ve cut off all communication for months. ANS said 3 months. That is the time they set to help.”
“WHERE IS MATÍAS!?” The president raged on again, throwing what little papers remained on his desk off, looking left and right with crazed eyes.
The general blinked, his also grieving expression turning cold and disgusted. He took a step forth and palmed the president’s desk with both, “He fled! The moment things started going bad— accept it! We have nothing to do for this calamity in our country! Now, all we have to do is show the Lys we are sorry! Are we not!?”
“One of us needs to go out, showing them we mean our surrender. Let me go, I’ll make this right.” The old general finished, raising his voice to the president, who looked at him without words before throwing his hands down in a tantrum.
“No! Since they want war, they’ll have it! Arm every kid, elder, young woman, and make the rest put bombs everywhere in the cities…” The Terkan president went on and on. He didn’t notice the tired expressions on those who carried handguns with themselves.
***
In the middle of the evening, Fox and the PSD company neared the site, only 10 km from the tower.
Wheesh, whistle… Flutter, flutter. It was surprisingly calm and peaceful. Indeed, there weren’t even birds flying in the distance, let alone nearby. Furthermore, tracks of animals passing by, hunting, or shitting were nowhere to be found. But it was quiet and peaceful, at least.
Just as they were moving forth, slowly walking with their DLMs resting, and other SAs taking the flanks behind them to cover each other and those in front, a group of people stood up from the ground. They had simple boards on their backs, letting them camouflage underneath. Their breathing was also kept to a minimum, surprising Fox, but only when he saw the dirt move.
They had ‘bloody’, mostly black uniform, with their gut bions mostly under that uniform, but some showed some above it. There were at least 250 of them who stepped up from their hiding spots. After seeing the lot of the PSD, they took the masks covering their faces off, which hung attached to the side.
“You must be the Fox, huh? Phesx Caolia~!” A young-looking man that was well over 2 meters tall, taller than Fox, bald, with pale, dull gray irises and pupils and lips looked at Fox as he spoke.
Fox didn’t bother to look at the person again, so he scrutinized the rest. Their attire revealed them to be Scarlet Houndhood’s special agents, whose ranks went from Scarred to Blood Hound, with the special few, the Bloody Hounds. This person talking seemed a Blood Hound.
The majority of these SAs were Scarred, but there seemed less than a third of Blood Hounds. The distinction of ‘Blood’ from ‘Bloody’ was in their prowess, nothing else. Fox narrowed his eyes, but the bald, pale young man he ignored barked with widened, furious eyes.
“Hey! I’m talking to you! Look at me!”
“…” Fox returned his gaze to the pale man after looking at the other hounds, unbothered. The pale man smiled, showing crooked, disgusting teeth, but Fox raised an eyebrow. The pale man spoke with a disgusting, salivating smile, “Come to me, come to me. You know who I am? Haha, it doesn’t matter. I’m gonna kill you and take your place. The world will see me, Fox, as your evolved version.”
The pale man stepped forth, openly challenging Fox. Fox tilted his head a little forth and to the left before letting another SA in Nala’s echelon take his DLM. Nala slightly knitted her eyebrows, feeling a special danger from the pale man, but since her man stepped forth, there was a show to watch.
Fox still said nothing to the pale man, whose stomach bounced, holding giggles of satisfaction over his victory, envisioned right before him. Seeing it was the same as imagining it, it was so close, finally!
Standing just 10 meters from each other, the pale man smiled from ear to ear without it appearing to be like a human does, with a widened ‘V’ shape, twisted. However, he noticed Fox looking behind him. He followed Fox’s gaze and spotted a few Blood Hounds.
“Oh, those? Haha. Good to know you can spot your fans from a simple glance, or should I say, breath? Haha.” The pale man laughed to himself, chuckling immediately after.
Fox’s narrowed eyes set on the pale man after confirming the small pieces of feeling being watched in the past pertained to some Blood Hounds. He thought as he analyzed the pale man, ‘So, they were checking me out… They…’
Fox parted with those thoughts and looked at the man, whose muscles tweaked and screeched from within. Not only he, but the PSD SAs could also hear it, it was too obvious that the pale man was preparing a surprise attack. At that moment, the man smiled snarkily.
“You see what I’m doing? I see it too… I see…” The man lifted his left hand, fingers slightly spread, obstructing Fox’s body from his vision before slamming it downwards. “Your doom.”
Stomp! The pale man slapped his hand upwards as he dashed forth with a strong kick, jumping the distance in a second. Fox widened his eyelids and shrunk his pupils. He bent his left arm, stopping the clawing hand with his elbow and forearm.
Pf- fwwip- pah! The pale man furrowed in dissatisfaction, but rapidly punched with the right. Yet Fox only tilted his arm a little and blocked it. Fox’s eyebrows were relaxed, but his polycoria eyes grew a little cold.
The pale man gritted his teeth to the point they cracked, throwing tiny pieces of teeth out his mouth. The man swung his right foot to kick at Fox’s chest, forcing Fox to unfold his left arm to cover himself with his forearm.
Fox then saw another fist from the man’s left, to which he extended his left arm to catch, and just then, bending his left arm to bring the man’s body closer, Fox punched with his right hand. The man widened his eyes before becoming glad, but just as Fox’s fist was about to land, he opened it and grabbed the man’s left shoulder, near the trapezius muscle.
The man brought his right fist and knee to Fox’s left side, but Fox didn’t free his grip on the man’s left fist and received the blows. Then, before stabbing with his ultra nails, he looked at the pale man and voiced, “Preut?”
“…” The man widened his eyes, shock in his eyes before nodding. The pale man voiced a voiceless ‘I am’. Fox tilted his head and shrugged, “Pity.”
Pfssshhu~! Fox’s right hand sharpened its nails, with his fingers pushing in, breaking into the man’s skin. Blood poured out with a foul smell. The man’s eyes went round, losing all rationality to what was happening. When he looked to his left shoulder, he only felt his fist turn into mush.
“AAGH!” With a quick retreat, failed as Fox’s right hand hooked into his shoulder, the man raised his right arm, revealing an electric whip of white color. It soared into the sky and hit the ground, lifting half a meter of dust in a 2 meters area left and right. Then, with a decisive expression, he whipped it towards Fox’s back, who stood there and looked back at the man.
Whi- PLASH! Crack- crack- rack- ack- ck- bzzz! The impacting noise wasn’t small, and the electricity’s charge was even more joints-weakening, but Fox just looked at the pale man’s confused countenance. Under the man’s state, Fox blinked and calmly spoke, doing circles with his wrists in preparation to dive in.
“I didn’t like the way you shouted at me. I already don’t like that, but yours was the worst yet.”
The pale man lifted an eyebrow, not knowing if to feel insulted. But at that moment, Fox dived his right hand with all his strength. His ultra nails searched for a heart in under 2 seconds, scrapping it off to shreds bit by bit as the pale man’s legs shook before collapsing on the ground.
Fox’s hand followed the corpse-turning body until he extended it as low as possible without lowering his shoulders. His hand slid out from like a stuffed turkey like ingredients. Then, with his bloodied right hand raising in the air, Fox looked at the other hounds, with his hand turning ‘aggressive’, slightly spreading his fingers with his sharp nails having some organ tissue stuck in between.
“I don’t like the idea of experimenting on bodies… much less Preutians.” He spoke into the air, to the Scarlet Houndhood, to his Piya Sanctum District special agents. “The Scarlet Houndhood, as my enemy, I declare the Piya Sanctum District to… now…”
“Hunt them!”
…