"King Kronos, sir, multiple enemy targets in bounds!"
Prometheus looked over the railing of the platform and saw many dark creatures running towards the shield walls from only one location. He gawked at the sight for a second before growling, "Prevent them from getting inside the city at all cost! Protect my people! Go now!"
Slamming his fist onto the rail, he unleashed his sword while Guards prepared the multi-barreled cannons for a counter attack. He placed a pede upon the ledge before hoisting himself up to stand on it. Instantly, he jumped off grabbing the roof of the nearest tower and slowing his fall until he leapt to another. Several times he did this until he landed onto the shield wall's balcony that stretched endlessly with the wall itself.
"Sir, you do realize you just damaged your own buildings, right?" A Guard asked as he helped one of the cannons pinpoint their intend targets.
"I don't care about my citadel! I care about my citizens! The kingdom can always be rebuilt, lives, however, cannot. Do not let your personal concern for mere objects let my kingdom's inhabitants suffer; if you think a building is more precious than a family, you are welcome to go down to greet those monsters and hope that, in return for your care of them, those buildings will help you."
The Guard was taken aback. Hesitantly, while others listened with interest, he nodded, "Yes, sir. I'll take note of that carefully."
Kanjian Guards lined up the cannons with their enemies' position, waiting for the order to fire. When they saw Kronos raise his hand in a fist, each squeezed the handles that held the triggers. When he opened his servo, a loud synced boom erupted and bullets rained down upon the Metal Heads.
To all of their disliking, only a few Metal Heads dropped dead, the rest continued on, set to kill and kill only. When one blast knocked a creature back, two more replaced it to strengthen their offense.
Suddenly, a Metal Head leapt onto the balcony and bit a Guard as it landed. The creature then turned to the King but met its fate as the mech brought his weapon down on its skull gem. The Guard who received the bite began twisting madly where he stood.
Kronos tried to approach him but could only watch as spikes morph into his armor and the grey protoform of his face turn dark blue with faded black spots. His tail went rigid as the transformation continued. When it stopped, a huge metal monster now stood where the Guard once did; a yellow skull gem placed on its chest. Four golden eyes caught sight of the beings lurking among the cannons and it let out a roar.
Kronos stood his ground before the creature made his way towards him. It clamped its jaws down upon the sword as the weapon was lifted to block the attack. The King struggled with it, attempting to push it back as shook its head, trying to rip the blade from his hands.
Before it had the chance to strike in their predicament, it exploded in front of Prometheus and behind its desecrated form, a cannon was aimed directly at its back. The cannon's control just sat there, shocked by the sudden events. He didn't need to be asked why he had such a reaction; the Guard who became a Metal Head was his friend. He had just lost a comrade that had been with him throughout their entire career as a Guard.
Several shakes from the wall getting hit interrupted the sad realization. The creatures were ramming their heads against the blockade, eagerly wanting in. Another wave of blasts followed. Kronos knew they couldn't hold out like this forever. The legion wouldn't tire like they would; they'd keep on bombarding the wall for as long as they were alive.
"Corporal, get Tigressa and the others! We need a new strategy and they are the only ones who can figure something out in time!"
The Corporal bowed before him and ran to fetch the leaders.
The Metal Heads continued their assault on the wall, occasionally trying to climb it only to be knocked down again by the cannons. Then the bigger dark creatures appeared.
Mammoth dragon-like Heads moved slowly across the field, leaving deep footprints within the soil and crumpled blue grass. Its' armor repelled the cannon fire as if it was a mere flick upon their bulky, scarred forms. They bellowed deeply whenever a blast hit their faceplates but none stopped their march. Any smaller Metal Heads that accidently wandered too close were crushed by the three-clawed feet of the giants.
"Sir, we have a bigger problem!" The Corporal said as he slowed down to catch his breath.
"Well, where are they!?"
"The Palace…is swarming with those creatures! They must've found a way into the underground chambers! Your children are currently keeping them at bay, and we've already evacuated the Kingdom. Your wife is fighting alongside Demon and Poltergeist."
Shocked eyes turned to ones embedded with fury, "The only way to those passageways underground is sealed unless someone from the inside opened it, let them in, and led them through it to the kingdom itself! Was anybody sighted with them?"
"No, sir."
"Ahhh…Firefox! Aim at them, not me! NOT ME!" Entity screamed as he rubbed his sore aft and tail that now had scorch marks on it.
The red femme raised a hand to her mouth with an "O" expression but nodded and returned to an animal-like pose. She puffed out her chest before a stream of orange lighting inside her jetted upward. Immediately, fire ejected from her mouth, engulfing a few Metal Grunts and setting walls of fire near the broken hole that the creatures were pouring out of.
In front of her once again, Entity stood his ground before grabbing a Metal Head's gaping jaws, pushing the creature back. It struggled by twisted itself to the side, attempting to loosen his grip but it found he was only angered by the movement. The black and orange dragon forced its head to be facing the ceiling before his own body glowed with the same orange illumination. The creature tried to wiggle free but his hold proved too powerful and it froze when it felt molten plasma being fired down its throat. It ceased its actions when Entity stopped and placed a pede against its form before ripping its head from its body, letting the helm fall to the floor once he was confident it was dead.
He huffed as more Metal Heads appeared, each drooling saliva at the thought of food which he assumed was him. The blast he had produced took too much energy than he anticipated and left him leaning on his knee plates to recuperate. Despite this, he activated his guns and yelled at them, "Come on, I'm a full-course meal! Let's see if you can earn fine dining tonight!"
The yellow-skull gemmed creatures somewhat gave toothy grins towards him before snarling. They all sprinted at him, bloodlust filling their corrupted minds.
In another hall, Queen Kiara fought side by side with Kalypso and ElectroHyena, metal maxi dress-like appendages flexing to accommodate her elegant actions. Her swords hit a Rozarian-like Metal Head with undeviating force, breaking guts loose from their bodily protector. She brought one of the blades down upon a fallen Head when it met the end of her elbow as she turned around.
"Mama's still got it, isn't that right?" She smirked cockily.
ElectroHyena dodged a blow from a larger creature. "Yeah, though I'd hate to be on the receiving end…," she blasted the Head away from her after ducking a swipe, "…of your ferocity!"
The grey, black, and yellow femme jumped up as two Metal Heads pounced and did the splits, socking both in the face with her pedes. The two flew backwards and tumbled into the walls like ragdolls. "Hey, Kalie, need your mumbo jumbo right now! I sure could use a laugh."
Kalypso slit a few throats of the creatures before peering toward her older sister, "I'm busy, Electro, ask your twin to help you if you need a laugh. My abilities are not your entertainment! Besides, why don't you just shock them; that'll bring a smile to your face."
The raccoon techno-organic snapped her fingers in the face of once of the enemies, earning an instant laugh from the other sister. The surrounding Metal Heads just gazed at their friend, confused as it waddled by. They didn't know whether to attack it or not. The swaying Head was no longer in its normal state, but rather a small duck-like animal with a metallic blue coloring and a tiny skull gem on its head. It quacked irritably as it sprinted away from the femmes.
Turning back to the girls, the Metal Heads shifted uncomfortably until Kalypso snapped twice more. Two of the creatures practically vanished except their armor appeared to be floating while another was defying gravity, trying desperately to get down as it slowly drifted toward the ceiling. The semi-invisible Metal Heads found themselves attacked by the others in mere seconds. Blood poured from their clear bodies. Apparently, the other creatures felt threatened by the two, tricked into thinking they were Guards.
"Poor babies," the Queen muttered.
"We're your babies! Don't take pity on them; they're not exactly the nice guys here," the hyena scolded.
Kiara gave her a sideways glance as the Metal Head troops began fighting among one another.
Tigressa saw her younger sister, Blossom, fly backwards with a Metal Head pushing her. The flowered wolf quickly did a barrel roll before lifting her arm upward. The motion brought forth a root of a tree with the width of two Guards to shoot up from the floor and wrap around the furious Head. Entangled and limited, the creature succumbed as it realized it could do nothing to overthrow the plant.
As Tigressa battled and chopped down Metal Heads, she silently whispered, "Sorry, sweeties. Mama's very sorry."
They couldn't quite hear her but they knew her intentions were true. As each met their fate, they couldn't hold back a slight smirk on their ugly features. They knew there was a surprise coming for Kanjis. They were patient, even in death.
"Tigressa! What the hell is this!? You had no right to change the rules…"
"I had every right! My beautiful monsters need to see what they are up against to plan and conquer. Besides, I didn't let them in; that was someone else's doing."
The Rozarian Captain snarled, "Do your brothers and sisters know this? I know some have already figured out it was you who created these abominations, but do the rest?"
"No, that information is solidified within Ghost, Demon, and Blossom only. When the time comes, I'll tell the others. I made the three a deal that I wouldn't attack any more sparklings if they kept their mouths shut. So far, our deal is in play. I can assure you, everything is going according to plan," Tigressa smiled.
"You do know they will mutiny in time, right?"
The tiger-dragon swung a Metal Head over herself into a window, shattering it and letting the creature fall. "I know. I wouldn't expect any different."
She silently put two fingers next to her ear. Instantly, all the dark monsters paused, some occasionally giving a short bellow, before they suddenly ran off. The remaining Metal Heads crawled back through the holes to the underground with Guards chasing after them. The Heads at the shield wall did the same but retreated back to the wilderness with the slow mammoth creatures following.
"What did you just do?" Silos raised a brow.
"I called them to go back. I believe my father has seen my warning. This attack was a mere small example of what is to come soon. Next time, I won't say a thing against it and see how long big daddy can hold the waves of Metal Heads breaching his kingdom and killing its citizens. Let us see what he thinks, shall we?"
Captain Silos turned his head to the side at the remark, scowling but keeping mute.
Despite the holes that led to the underground labyrinth sitting openly unguarded inside the Palace, the damage was something more fearful. The wall had newly made entrances every five hundred feet because apparently, those titan-class Metal Heads just crashed through it like a tool hits glass. The Palace itself suffered enough; the inside was torn apart in the halls and set ablaze, thanks to Firefox.
Luckily, much to Tigressa's despise, no casualties were reported. The citizens were okay but some of the Guards fell victim to the attack.
King Kronos, however, was stressed beyond comprehension. Outraged, he stomped past all his children and his mate, not even sharing a glance with them. The Guards and the royalty just stood there in awkward silence. They all heard the doors to the throne room close loudly in which some of them winced.
"So…that went better than expected," Blossom cheerily mused.
All helms turned towards her and the awkward moment turned even more dreadful.
AN: Yep, Tigressa's getting pretty ballsy right now. Oh and the term "Scout of War" is part of a level sequence that will make sense as more battles come into being. There's "Scout of War", "Warrior of War", "Prince/Princess of War", "King/Queen of War", and "God/Goddess of War". All these terms will be used as well as the ones that have two possible wordings. The "Prince" and "Princess" will switch views of characters as well as the last two terms. You'll see why later on.
