Battle of Arcturus Forest pt II

Diana came hurtling into a clearing to the sound of Barbara and Amanda crying out Hannah's name in heart-wrenching anguish, and she only spared a quick glance at the air battle that was being desperately fought to give her and the other witches of the recovery team enough time to get the casualties back to the outpost. Fearing the worst, she landed roughly, ducking reflexively as Amanda howled with sheer rage, blasting spell after spell into the woods surrounding them, sundering trees with magical energy and starting fires even as Barbara held Hannah's limp body in her arms, the dark haired witch sobbing uncontrollably. "Oh, Hannah, no!" Diana cried as she ran in, sliding to a halt next to Barbara. It had only just happened, if only she had arrived a moment earlier! "What happened?" she asked, and with a broken voice, Barbara explained it, and Diana frowned as something niggled at the back of her mind, staring at the unmarred skin revealed by the circular hole in the armor that was even now slowly recharging its defensive enchantments. Why wasn't there a wound? Something didn't seem quite…with a gasp, she cast a quick spell, and winced as the sight of Hannah's life force still clinging quite stubbornly to her body bloomed in her eyes…but that life energy was fading fast, and Diana realized what spell had been used. "Quick!" she snapped, "Lay her down and get back!"

"What?"

"Just do it! She's been hit with a paralyzing curse, all of her muscles have stopped moving! It should have gotten her heart, too, but her armor warded just enough of the spell that it didn't! Get back!"

Barbara lay Hannah down and backpedaled even as Diana cast the spell she had only ever had to cast once before in her life. "Ennor Fiendennor!" Hannah's body was enveloped in a pillar of green light, and Diana felt sweat break out on her forehead…whoever had cast the curse was powerful. But she was a Cavendish, and they would not take her friend from her! Sending another surge of energy into the spell, she felt the curse break and dissipate, and Hannah began to spasm, clawed hands grasping at her chest as she drew in wheezing breaths. And yet there was not enough time to truly enjoy the relief that flooded though Diana as Hannah rolled onto her side, coughing weakly, for a called shout from some of the witches keeping watch above the trees was heard.

"We've got incoming! One minute, tops!"

Then they were scrambling, Diana casting a quick healing spell to stabilize Mary, the wounded witch's breathing steadying as some of the pallor about her face dissipated. Everyone who could do so mounted their brooms. Suspension spells were cast, collecting the bodies of the wounded and fallen, and she noticed Amanda collecting up a lance. When did she get a lance? Then they were airborne, flying as quickly as they could towards the camp, aware of the cultists who streaked after them, and Diana glanced once more towards where the air battle was still raging. The forces from Luna Nova were more skilled at using magic given their formal education at one of the premier magic schools of the world, but there were just so many more of the cultists. Then she noticed that the Silent Spring forces who had been chasing after them had broken off, and were heading towards the air battle.

"Amanda!" she cried, and the fully armored American nodded.

"I see them!" Amanda's wand came out. "Get them back safely!" she ordered, and Diana glanced at where Hannah was riding behind Barbara on her broom, face strained and one hand holding her billhook, the other wrapped tightly around Barbara's midriff. Diana nodded reassuringly, and Amanda's wand came up. "Toriara Faciesse!"

And with that, she winked out of view.

xxxXXXxxx

It only took Amanda a matter of moments to catch up to the sixteen cultists who were flying to rejoin the main battle, unaware of the death that was rapidly approaching them from their rear. She sized up distances and spacing. They were arranged in four echelons of four, four pretty little inverted v's that were so assured of their own strength that they did not think that the hastily fleeing Luna Nova wounded would dare send anyone after them…but, oh, they dared! They dared, and even now Amanda was drawing up behind the rearmost four cultists.

Amanda was furious in a way that she had never been before. They hurt Hannah…they nearly killed her! The spell that Diana had used to save her…magic of its like and those that could successfully cast it was very rare. Hannah would have died, slowly, painfully, terrified as her brain was starved of oxygen that her lungs no longer drew in. And now Amanda was going to make them pay for that. She lifted her wand in her hand after checking to make sure its lanyard was tight around her wrist before she started. This was going to take some careful timing. "Diphulaniado!"

The explosive spell went precisely where she wanted it to, detonating just above the head of the head of the lead witch in the second rank, her fury lending strength to the explosion, the fireball enveloping the forward three echelons and killing them all, leaving the four rear cultists swearing and starting to disperse as they looked back at her as she flickered back into view, horror in their eyes…but Amanda wouldn't let them escape. She let go of the wand, and it dangled by its strap around her wrist as she drew the pistol out of its holster, the sights centering on the back of the closest cultist to her, and she fired, the heavy .45 caliber bullet striking true, and the Silent Spring bitch slid bonelessly off of her broom, trailing blood through the air as she fell towards the forest below. Amanda repeated the process three more times, her broom effortlessly chasing down the cultists that remained, and as the last cultist disappeared from view into the trees of the forest, Amanda turned her attention to the air battle.

Their three witch close formation strategy seemed to be working well defensively, but they were limited in causing damage as a result. Even through all the chaos of the spells being cast and the insane flight patterns, Amanda was relieved to see that it looked as though they had not suffered too many casualties, but how much longer would that last? She needed to give their forces an opening for escape. Time to use the lance.

She keyed up her mic as she took off, flying as quickly as she could so that she would be positioned between the air battle and the camp. "Hey, Nelson, let's do Operation JDAM, start bringing everyone back!"

Nelson didn't answer, but as she flew closer and closer to the battle, she could see the Luna Nova witches start to break off and fly in her direction. The Silent Spring forces must have thought that they had started to rout, as they began to give chase, and Amanda smirked viciously as her thumb very carefully depressed the button on the handle of the lance, and the weapon began to hum slightly. Then she was flashing past the fleeing Luna Nova witches led by Professor Nelson, and heard shouted encouragements and saw brief thumbs up from the others before she met the Silent Spring host. She crouched low over the broom, tucking the butt of the lance under her arm as she flew directly at the biggest, meanest looking bastard in the mob, just barely catching the look of surprise on his face before the tip of the lance caught him in the chest, skewering him completely, and she let go of the lance before pushing her broom as hard and as fast as it could go, weaving in and out of the bone white robes, narrowly dodging the spells that they flung at her, but she was desperate for distance. The button was a dead man switch, and ten seconds after it was released-

It was suddenly like flying against a hurricane strength wind, and she grit her teeth and pushed through until there was no more of that resistance, and she looked over her shoulder at the large, translucent black sphere that had bloomed, two hundred meters across, and black lightning crackled inside of it. A good number of the cultists had been caught inside of the field, and some of those that were at the edge of it were able to escape the field, but not many of them managed it. Then the field began to contract, the lightning becoming more frequent, and Amanda faced forward, diving, letting gravity urge her to go even faster, because next came…

A brilliant flash of light followed by the shockwave and a deafening explosion, and the world spun as she was nearly swatted out of the sky. She righted herself and looked up at the large, black cloud of smoke that was raining debris…debris that was all that was left of the cultists that had been trapped within the field. Okay, so, the lances were effective. Frighteningly effective. Apparently Constanze's theories had been right, and magic could be overcharged so that a lance with the right reactive components could emulate a 2,000 pound bomb. She didn't know if she was up for trying that again. She had only just barely managed to get out of the spell's field of effect, something she'd have to bring up to Cons, later. She glanced up at the sky, seeing that the bulk of the Silent Spring force had scattered, and that the Luna Nova witches had escaped cleanly. Alright, time to get out of here before those pricks reorganized and came after her. After all, the opening act was now complete, and it was to their advantage, with only a few casualties to dozens. Now to see how these pompous fools reacted…

xxxXXXxxx

Akko stared down at the pendent held in her fist, completely blind to all the bustle around her, instead focusing all her concentration on the pale pink gem that hung from a fine chain. It was linked to the locator spell that had been placed on the journal. She knew the book had to be on the battlefield, she knew it. It was the last part of the puzzle that Silent Spring needed to find out all parts of the summoning ritual. All she needed was for the pendant to move, and she would fly out, on her own, everyone else acting as a shield, drawing the wrath of Silent Spring while she was given the chance to end the ritual, and hopefully assassinate the ringleaders of the cult. She knew that they likely wouldn't be able to kill all of the cultists gathered here today…some would escape, and others likely hadn't come to the forest, but they had come in force, and if they could obliterate as many of them as possible, then perhaps Silent Spring's influence would be greatly diminished for a long time, giving centuries of peace and stability.

If only the damned pendant would move!

"Here they come, from the air!" came the cry as her eyes stayed focused on the crystal.

"Defensive shields, ladies, and let them try!" came Chariot's fierce shout, but Akko didn't even twitch.

"Sergeant Engleton, let them taste heavy machine gun fire!" came Crowther's order, but even as the .50 caliber machine gun began to fire up into the sky at the first, tentative air assault on the outpost, she did not stir. She had one job, and nothing would distract her from it. Not the heavy, thudding report from each round that the machine gun fired that she could feel in her chest, not the call for a cease fire, nor even the excited cheer as the air group swept in and dispersed the attack, enjoying localized numerical superiority, inflicting terrible casualties on the white clad foes. No, she simply stood there, and waiting, still as a stone…

xxxXXXxxx

Constanze hadn't had much of a chance to join the fight yet as her armor could not match a broom's speed, but she knew her time was coming. She had taken a quick scan of the Silent Spring Ley Line and had counted at least three hundred enemy magic users. Luna Nova had inflicted a good number of casualties, but from what she had thus far seen, the cultists displayed a casual disregard for their own safety. Plus, there was just something that wasn't adding up. She pulled up the holographic control screen for her suit's functions, and quickly swept her fingers over it, selecting her recon drones. The small drones, each no larger than a sparrow, detached from their resting point on her back, and she sent them off. On their own, they acted much like any unmanned drone did, able to take video and audio recordings and link them directly to her suit. But all four of them, when set up as the corners of a massive square, could link up with one another and scan the areas inside of the square for magical signatures. The smaller the square, the more precise the readings, and at max distance, they could cover a hundred square kilometers. For now, she sent them out, five kilometers to each side of the square, and centered them on the camp. Let us see what our eyes cannot see, she thought to herself as she lay the interactive holographic map sheet on the ground, each corner of it glowing green, representing the drones. Very good, that cluster of blue signatures in the center was the camp. She had previously scanned the magical signatures of all the witches on the force, so even the witches in the air group appeared as blue dots, hovering over the map sheet, to scale in relation to their actual position.

Then she frowned, eyes flicking over the red dots that denoted magical signals of unknown origin that began to appear…and appear…and appear, and for a moment, she wondered if the drones were malfunctioning. A moment after that, and she wished that her drones were malfunctioning, even though she knew they weren't. Whirling, she found Holbrooke giving various orders. Running up, she tugged the older woman's sleeve, not caring that she was interrupting her, almost pulling the headmistress over to the map.

"Constanze, what's the matter? You…oh." Holbrooke understood quickly as her eyes swept over the sea of red on the map, all the signatures at ground level, a sea that completely surrounded the camp, and that was slowly but steadily moving in towards their position, like a fist getting ready to squeeze the life out of all of them. Holbrooke spun, face frantic. "Recall the air group! We need every available witch here, now! You, get in contact with Luna Nova, immediately! Tell them this was a trap, and that they need to gather every witch capable of fighting in the entire country. We need reinforcements!"

xxxXXXxxx

All the task force leaders were clustered around the map, now, and the looks of worry on the faces of everyone else was not very reassuring, Amanda thought to herself. Particularly in the case of Captain Crowther. The SAS were like the Green Berets, and she knew that he had seen action overseas, and that he was highly trained. For him to be looking at the sea of red dots that were slowly moving in towards their outpost with a look of hopeless worry…not good.

All around them, witches were raising earthen barriers while the SAS soldiers moved around the outside of the perimeter, setting up razor wire and claymore mines. The original plan of having the outpost be in the rear and away from the fighting was obviously no longer a thing. Now, this place was going to be the center of some very hard fighting. "Right, between the lads and the Jegertroppen, we've only got twenty soldiers trained in modern combat. That's five soldiers on each side of the camp…not very reassuring, I must say. The trick to holding a defense is to cause enough damage to an attacking wave that they break and retreat before they close the distance. We'll obviously need more than just five on a side."

Jasminka grimaced. "We've only got thirty witches on the ground force, that's only seven more on each side."

Amanda sighed heavily. "So you want to take from the air group. The more you take from us, the less we have in the air, and if we completely give up air supremacy, then they'll just bombard us from the sky with impunity. How many do you want?"

"How many can you spare?" Finnelan asked, and Amanda gnawed on her lip, fingers drumming on her hip, tapping against the armor plating as she thought.

"Half?" she asked. "Leave me with the best flyers…keep in mind, our ability to fight is going to be really reduced. We'll have to stick around the camp and only go after Silent Spring air attacks that are threatening our ground forces." And she didn't want to think about casualty rates that they were going to suffer. With the injuries and deaths already sustained, they were already down to only fifty flyers. With only twenty-five in the air…

Holbrooke apparently saw the misgivings in her expression. "I know, it's not ideal, but this is what we have to work with. Our only hope is to survive long enough for our reinforcements to arrive."

"Do we have a time estimate on that?" Crowther asked, and she shook her head.

"They'll be marshalling at Luna Nova, and they'll be teleporting in, probably in groups as they get enough witches. But unfortunately, with witches coming in from all over the country, we have no idea when they'll get enough witches in a group to send in."

Silence followed that as they all realized just how tenuous a position they were in. They had less than one hundred twenty combat capable fighters. Silent Spring still had more than two hundred flyers, and the number flashing at the corner of the map was in the thousands.

"Right," Captain Crowther said with a grim nod. "We'll do our best. Just remember, strike to kill. Area of effect spells would be preferred…we don't have artillery or air support out here…you lot are our artillery."

"We'll do our best," Finnelan promised, her voice grim, and they all looked at one another before refocusing on the map. They only had a few minutes now, and Amanda stepped back, nodding with determination.

"Well, no time like the present," she said. "Nelson, shall we?"

The two of them stepped away from the cluster before Nelson grabbed her shoulder. "Just a moment, O'Neill. Listen…I can get the girls ready. You should go and check on Parker and England." Just the way she said it had Amanda pausing as her mind supplied the words that Nelson hadn't spoken: while you still have the chance. Given how close they had already come to losing Hannah…the smile she gave Nelson was tremulous, but thankful.

It didn't take her long to find the two…Hannah and Barbara were sitting on the edges of the casualty collection point, and a quick glance revealed that Hannah's armor had already been repaired. Good. She was going to need her armor, and soon. They looked up at her approach, and smiled, though Hannah's face was still pale and shocked, and Barbara's was still very worried.

"Hey," Amanda said, words gentle. "I'm going back up into the air soon, just wanted to check in on you two, see how you're doing."

Hannah lifted a hand, opening and closing it slowly. "Everything still feels oddly distant, like I'm slightly detached, but Diana said that that's pretty normal. It's definitely getting better as time goes on, though, so I should be fighting fit in no time at all."

"That's good. Listen…until you are feeling completely better, I want you two to stay back for as long as possible. It's…not looking good. Cast what support spells you can, the Nine know we'll need every possible spell to be cast, but…try to keep yourselves safe, okay?"

Barbara frowned. "And what about you? Down here we're behind barriers and shield spells. Up there, you're going to be exposed."

"Oh, don't worry about me, Babs," she said, a cocky grin taking to her face as she tried to exude a sense of confidence that she didn't actually feel. "I won't be stuck up there with them, they'll be stuck up there with me."

Hannah scoffed as she slowly clambered to her feet. "You would say that, wouldn't you?" she asked as Barbara also stood, hand held supportively under her elbow. "Now, come on, give us a kiss."

In any other situation, Amanda would have expected objection to the public display of affection…but this wasn't any other situation, and Amanda knew what Hannah was actually asking for. Better to part with a kiss…should any of them die, better to have that as a final, fond memory. And so she stepped in closer, tilting Hannah's chin up with armored fingers, meeting her soft lips in a slow, lingering kiss. Once it ended, she paused for a moment, resting her forehead on Hannah's, staring deeply into hazel eyes, committing this moment to memory. Then they separated, and Amanda swallowed the lump in her throat at the sight of tears gathering in the corners of Hannah's eyes as she turned and repeated the same process with Barbara, all the while fervently begging that this wasn't going to be their last moment together.

Then Nelson was calling her name, and Amanda offered her two lovers one last lopsided grin before she reactivated her helmet. "I'll see you two afterwards, okay?"

"Be safe!" Barbara said, her voice hitching, and Amanda couldn't help the hearty laugh that burst from her.

"Be safe? Now, where's the fun in that?" Then she was turning, making the short distance towards where the other air group witches were gathering, gritting her teeth as she kept from crying only through sheer force of will.

"Really? Both of them?" came Nelson's dry voice, and Amanda looked up, meeting her old professor's eyes that showed a distinct look of exasperation (and yet not an ounce of surprise…interesting) and Amanda glanced back at the two British witches.

"Hell yeah! After all, it's gonna take a lot more than just one person to handle all of this!" she boasted with a thumb jabbed back towards her own chest, and Nelson rolled her eyes.

"Of course you would say that. Now, come on, we have cultists to kick the shit out of!"

"Damn, teach! I didn't know you had it in you!" Amanda laughed as she mounted her broom, and Nelson scoffed.

"I used to be in the Royal Air Force, lass, there's a lot you don't know about me. That said…" her expression turned wolfish. "That's my sky, and I bloody well don't want any more trash in it!" At her resounding words, the twenty-seven members of the air group took off into the waiting sky with a fierce cry.

xxxXXXxxx

Three minutes after the now reduced air group took off, first contact on the ground was made. Captain Crowther was expecting a tentative push, Silent Spring forces testing their defenses with small probing attacks using skirmishers, seeing what the Luna Nova forces were capable of dishing out. Standard tactics when attacking a defensive position without proper intelligence, especially when you have forces to spare, which Silent Spring most certainly had. Better to see which lanes of approach offered the most protection from defensive fire before sending in the main attack, resulting in less casualties over all.

Only…they didn't do that. They came boiling out of the trees surrounding the outpost in an unorganized mob, howling rage and defiance as they charged at the walls raised by the witches. It had been a shock to be on the receiving end of such a rabid attack, but after only a moment of hesitation, this SAS lads and the Norwegian witches all opened fire, joined very shortly by the Luna Nova witches who seemed more than eager to use a variety of explosive spells that, while not quite as effective as proper artillery, were still rather effective enough at the job. But even as he did his part, firing aimed bursts at the howling horde, he felt a flicker of unease. Something wasn't quite right about how they were coming in. No attempt to move from cover to cover, no jinking, and most troubling, no attempt to use magic. They were coming in stupid.

But why? It was obvious that they had planned this ahead of time. They had their ground forces prepositioned well before the Luna Nova forces teleported in, and had kept them concealed enough that the Jegertroppen hadn't noticed them, despite recon being one of the main missions of the Norwegian Special Forces team. So why were they being stupid on the attack? It just didn't make sense! Also terribly troubling was how the assault was going. Despite terrible casualties inflicted on the attack wave, casualties that would have made even the most disciplined of forces break and run, these bastards just kept pushing on, almost reaching the short walls before the last was killed, littering the ground with white-clad bodies. I really don't like this, he thought as he went into a quick combat reload. That must've been some three hundred in that wave, and they got close enough to the wall to touch it. What happens when they send six hundred? Eight hundred? A full thousand? What happens when they start using magic, too? He keyed his throat mic. "Right, I want machine guns repositioned on the corners, keep eyes open, and sing out if you notice anything."

A chorus of affirmatives answered him, and he took the moment to take a drink from his hydration pouch. Think positive. We've successfully beaten back the first wave. We only have to do that ten more times, and we're golden. It was precisely at that moment that the first magic attacks came arching in from the woods around the outpost, heading directly for their defenses. "Oh…bugger me."

xxxXXXxxx

Amanda winced at the bright flares of light and loud, booming cracks of the artillery spells impacted the magical barriers hastily raised by the Luna Nova witches. When the smoke and dust cleared, her heart clenched to see that some of the spells had managed to get through the defenses, causing casualties that she could see others rushing towards, and she grit her teeth. Perhaps if they had been down there and not up in the air, their added shields could have stopped anything from getting through!

No…no, that was stupid thinking. Perhaps they could have, but then they'd have no air cover, which would let Silent Spring strike with more artillery spells from all angles. She quickly scanned the sky, and while the cultists' air forces were in the sky, they seemed content to remain at a distance, which was…frustrating. It was good that they hadn't closed in, but the fact that they were holding back made Amanda feel like they were being saved for later. It was just so damn annoying, being up in the sky and not able to do anything! She'd totally attack the Silent Spring ground forces around the camp, but the foliage was too thick, she couldn't see targets to attack!

She blinked as the thought occurred, and her mouth twisted into a sharp, wolfish grin. She toggled her throat mic. "Hey, Cons, real quick, can you link the data from your drones into my helmet?" There was no reply, but then, there wouldn't be. However, thirty-two seconds after she asked the question, Amanda's view flickered, briefly turning dark before returning, and now the red dots were neatly interposed over her visor, seamlessly moving when she turned her head, giving her a real-time view of enemy forces. "Oh, Cons, if I weren't already in a loving relationship, I'd kiss the shit out of you!" she laughed as she drew her wand.

"This is an open channel, O'Neill," Nelson's voice came on, almost berating. "You got something?"

"Yeah, hang on," she said as she looked around, making note of where the biggest clusters of red dots were…all of them hanging out just outside of the effective range of the witches stuck in the camp. Clever bastards. Unfortunately for them, they probably didn't know that Amanda could now see them. "I'm going to fly around and lay down some flares. Follow after and blast the ever loving fuck out of the forest directly below the flares."

"Solid copy, forming up on your six. Ladies, be ready for spells fired from the ground."

Nelson was right to give the warning. Even Amanda, as fast and as nimbly as she was flying, had a couple of close calls…the problem with getting within range to cast spells is that you drew within range to have spells cast back at you. It was a bit nerve-wracking having what appeared to be solid streams of magical energy reaching up to swat you out of the sky, but Amanda was able to make her circular pass, marking those concentrations with flares, and even without turning around to look, she could hear and feel the impacts and explosions from their bombardment, and she gave a fierce cry of success as she swung around and flew up to where they had been flying before they made their attack, and sure enough, those clusters were scattered now, and hopefully they had delayed the next attack. Even a minute or two could be the difference between victory or death.

Then some of her fierce joy dissipated when she only counted twenty-four of their witches still in the sky…had two of them been shot down? "Nelson?" she called out with a concerned voice when the professor drew within shouting distance, and the older woman shook her head grimly.

"Bastards got lucky, and we couldn't get to them before they fell through the trees."

"Fuck! Maybe we shouldn't have-"

"There'll be none of that! It was a good plan, O'Neill, and we're bound to take casualties no matter what we-"

"Incoming air!" came the warning shout, and they all turned their heads to see the hundreds of cultists on brooms swooping in.

"Now we get to test our mettle, ladies! Keep close formation, and lure them in over the camp where we have some supporting fire!"

Amanda grit her teeth as she drew her sword. She was one of the best broom riders alive, and her broom could definitely outrun and outmaneuver whatever sad pathetic excuses for brooms these bitches were riding. Time for some blade work. "You guys keep in your formations, I'll fly support!" she shouted, and Nelson's head whipped around to look her way.

"O'Neill, that's insane! With no one helping support you…"

"I'll be fine!" Amanda snapped back. "My armor is at least as good as a shield spell, and I'll be going too quickly for them to target me with anything worse than normal energy blasts. You guys stay in formation, I'll be free roaming…kinda like a fighter escort for bombers during WWII, yeah?"

Nelson grimaced. "I don't like it, but if you think it's for the best…"

"No time to argue, here they come!" With a fierce war cry, Amanda took off, waving her sword in a glittering circle above her head, leaving Nelson to chase after her with a blistering string of curses aimed at Amanda and her ancestry, some of which Amanda actually filed away for later use, given how impressive they were. Then things got entirely too busy to concentrate on anything but the task at hand: survival.

The threat indicator in her helmet went absolutely wild, even worse than earlier during her lance attack, almost countless red arrows appearing in her field of view, even more clustered at the edge of her vision, all denoting spells being launched at her as she flew into the midst of the swarm. Some few of them connected, feeling like someone smacking her with a baseball bat, but her armor held, just as she knew it would, and her broom wasn't going to break because of such weak magic attacks. They'd have to try harder than that!

And she certainly wasn't taking this passively, oh no! She had let go of her broom with her hands just before contact, guiding her flight path with expert skill using only her legs, even as both hands went to her sword's hilt, allowing her to strike with every ounce of strength and skill that she possessed. Her blade flashed repeatedly, almost tirelessly in the mid-morning sun, and where she struck, she killed, severing limbs and cutting broomsticks apart, cutting a swath of destruction through the bastards, and soon the cultists began to try and flee, attempting in vain to put some distance between them and her merciless sword already colored red with blood. She chased them down, only peripherally aware of the other Luna Nova witches joining in, flying in their tight formations of three, using magic more than blade as they entered the dog fight, and Amanda found her tactics changing subtly, flying more in support of the others, striking down those that seemed to pose a direct threat to her comrades.

And then came the moment when the vileness of Silent Spring was finally and totally understood. She was chasing down a pair of witches, and as she closed the distance, she frowned, noticing the dark red splotches on their backs. If she didn't know better, those looked like bloodstains consistent with a wound caused by a .45 caliber pistol. But that didn't make sense, the only people that she had used the pistol on were dead, likely still on the forest floor below, and-

One of the two turned around, fixing expressionless eyes in a wooden face on her, and Amanda faltered, horror seizing her heart. She knew that face, had seen it turned on her with a look of fear just after she had used the explosive spell to kill the other twelve cultists earlier. All at once, so many things made sense, and she cut off her pursuit, diving hard as her eyes sought and found the camp that was currently under another assault. Shaking fingers found her throat mic, and she toggled it, her desperate cry sounding out on the radio: "Holy fuck, these guys are using zombies!"

xxxXXXxxx

They would never know if it was done intentionally, but the moment after Amanda's startled cry went out over the radio, a sickly green light enveloped the battlefield, and the vast majority of the bodies that littered the battlefield all clambered to their feet and began to make their shuffling way to the camp, though their gaits seemed to steady and grow stronger with each passing step. Diana almost panicked at that, as the scent of death magic permeated the air, and cries of alarm went up all along the perimeter, even some of the SAS men balking at the sight of bodies standing up to continue the attack, in spite of the grievous wounds that many of the bodies bore.

It was only with a sheer wrenching of will that Diana didn't succumb to the fear. Death cult. Of course they'd use necromancy! She charged up to the wall, shifting her wand to her left hand, drawing her rapier with her right hand. "Come, you brave souls who stand against this evil!" she cried out. "Come and fight, let not terror stay your hand! Shuryal Muryuelle! Creature of the holy mane, absorb the light of the stars and rise from the gushing spring. Tiphillie Lirullianae!" she called, and water burst from the ground in a brilliant spring, knocking down the attackers closest to the wall before a unicorn erupted from the water and charged through the ranks of the undead, knocking the fell creatures aside with powerful thrusts of its horn.

Her fellow defenders gained courage from her spell and her words, and the moment of danger passed by as they began to pour fire on the oncoming horde, beating them back enough that Diana could return to the wounded, continuing her healing. It was from the vantage point that she witnessed one of the more frightening moments of the battle…and what was worse was that it did not directly involve any of the cultists.

Captain Crowther detached himself from the wall, heading towards the center of the camp, and Warrant Officer Grimbly met with him. "We can't bloody well sustain the defense if they can hit us from all directions and simply bring back those that we've already killed!" Crowther raged as he collected freshly loaded magazines from the ammunition pallet.

"The witches are doing their best, and it looks like destroying the body or the head of these bastards is permanent, sir!" Grimbly retorted.

"And it's bloody hard to consistently shoot the bastards in the head when there's hundreds of them!"

"I can close off a side of the camp," came the dry voice that Diana had learned to fear, and even she jumped at just how suddenly Sucy seemed to appear behind the two men. Diana had noticed before that, while she did participate in some of the defense, Sucy had seemed more content to keep back from the fighting, observing all that was going on with her cold, red gaze. Was it bad that Diana found it incredibly disconcerting that Sucy was finally offering to help?

And apparently she wasn't the only one. Crowther stared at Sucy for a long moment before he answered. "You can do that?"

Sucy grinned, and Diana shuddered at the expression. "Oh, yes."

"Then please, you might be our only bloody chance out of this!"

Sucy began to laugh at that, the sound utterly chilling and seeming to echo ominously as she retrieved her broom and took off into the sky, and Diana had to return her attention to the wounded who she had already stabilized and didn't actually need any more assistance when Crowther turned to Grimbly. She didn't want to make it seem like she was eavesdropping. Even so, she could hear every word the man said. "Grimbly, I have been in some of the worst places in the world. I have stared warlords in the face, men who held absolute power of life or death in their territories, men who feared absolutely nothing…but nothing I have seen has been as unsettling as that woman."

Then came the cry from the east wall. "Look! Look at Manbavaran!"

Diana turned her attention to the east, and like so many of the others there, would very shortly wish that she hadn't.

Sucy streaked through the skies on her broom, ragged black robes flapping and whipping wildly behind her, head thrown back as she cackled with sadistic glee, the sound amplified so all could hear it, and a yellow mist poured from the bristles of her broom, a mist that sank heavily over the enemy lines, enveloping the trees. It wasn't the screaming that emerged from the mist that drowned out Sucy's crazed laughter that was the most horrifying…no, it was the absolute silence that quickly followed the terrified screams that was the most frightening, a silence that only prompted Sucy to cackle even louder. However, before she could swing around for another pass, a full hundred of the cultists still remaining in the air began to chase after her, and Sucy seemed to glance towards the camp one last time before she began to fly even further east, drawing the Silent Spring host away from the battle.

For a moment, Diana felt concern flicker through her…but then, given what Sucy had just done and what she knew of the Filipino woman, it was probably better for her to fight away from the rest of them. She very much doubted that that mist would have discriminated between friend and foe. She glanced at the mist that still lay heavily on the ground, tendrils brushing into the clearing that the camp was situated in. Sucy had done them a favor, as horrifying as the favor was. There would be no more Silent Spring forces coming from the east.

"Right, get the forces on that wall distributed on the other three!" Grimbly roared. "We've got a battle to fight!"

xxxXXXxxx

Things were hectic at Cavendish Manor, and Daryl was feeling at the very end of her rope as she checked to make sure everything was in place. "Merril, I forbid you to go!" she snapped, exasperated.

"You cannot stop me, mother!" her daughter retorted, and Daryl glared at her, stomach turning at how she was clothed for war, and while her armor and sword were not quite as expensive as Diana's was, they were still family heirlooms. Daryl, too, was armed the same.

"And why not? Why should I want you to join me on this fight? Someone must stay behind to watch the manor, child!"

"I am not a child!" Merril roared, glaring hotly at her, eyes fairly throwing daggers at her mother. "And I will go, whether you want me to or not! Even if you try to restrain me, I will escape, and I will follow you and Diana!"

"Why? Why would you put yourself at risk like this?!"

"Because it's the right thing to do!" Silence followed her words as they echoed slightly in the entrance hall, and Merril took in a deep breath before continuing. "Because Diana and Ernie are already out there, risking their lives to defend all of life. Because if something happened to either of them or to you while I sat in comfort here at home, I would never forgive myself. Because what will be said of us after all is said and done, that we had combat capable witches who stayed home when the entire world needed every witch who could fight to go to Arcturus Forest? We are Cavendishes, and while we have made terrible mistakes in recent years, our duty is still to protect the living, and that I will do, with all the passion in my heart!"

Daryl stared at her daughter for a very long moment before sighing, defeated. "Very well. Come with me, then. But for the love of the Nine, stay by my side! I can't bear the thought of losing you!"

"But of course, mother," Merril replied, relief evident in her voice. "Now, shall we be off? There are cultists that must be dealt with!"

A very similar scene was playing all across Britain, Ireland, and Northwestern Europe, and reinforcements slowly trickled into Luna Nova.

xxxXXXxxx

With the eastern approach closed off, the battle almost seemed to turn in the favor of the Luna Nova forces. With a higher concentration of guns and wands on the three remaining sides, it became far easier to concentrate firepower and to knock out attacking waves. The witches found themselves very busy using fire and explosive spells to try and cause enough damage to the bodies that they couldn't be resurrected again. For a moment, they all dared to hold on to hope that they might win.

Then came a deafening roar that was more mechanical than organic, and to the collective shock and horror of the Luna Nova forces, a magitronic behemoth reared above the tree line, its red, glowing eye focusing on them. The SAS soldier on the .50 caliber machine gun immediately let loose a long burst at the giant, but if the bullets did anything to damage the monster, there was no indication. Instead, its eye grew brighter and brighter before a beam of pure energy erupted from it, dragging along the bottom of the western wall, and the wall exploded, sending the defenders stationed on it flying into the air and completely opening up the camp to an assault.

Everything devolved into chaos. Some of those directly involved in the attack had lived, but not many of them. Smoke and fire and dust seemed to overwhelm the camp, and there was no order, no order at all until Captain Crowther emerged from the smoke, uniform covered in dirt and his helmet gone and a gash on his forehead bleeding heavily. But he had the anti-tank rocket launcher on his shoulder, and with a hoarse call of "back blast area clear!" he fired, disappearing in another cloud of dust as the rocket lanced out, a black speck barely visible in the smoke and confusion. By some small grace of the Gods or the Nine, the warhead struck true, exploding with an angry black cloud of fire and shrapnel directly against the giant's head. It wavered, and for a terrible moment, it seemed as though it would remain standing, but with a low, grating groan, it fell back, its impact with the ground causing an earthquake.

"Get bloody well organized!" Crowther snarled as he tore open a first aid packet with dirty fingers, pressing the white bandage over the gash on his head. "You know they'll be taking advantage of-!"

He stopped. They all stopped, every last one of them. And how could they not, with four more of the magitronic cyclopes rearing above the forest, all turning their red eyed gazes on the camp. One had destroyed an entire wall…four of them…

Their eyes grew brighter and brighter, and Chariot felt oddly…calm. Death stared her in the face, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. The absolute futility of resistance was almost liberating, and with a sigh, she looked up to the smoke obscured sky, regretting that it was all to end like this.

Then she froze, hardly able to believe what she saw. But her eyes weren't lying.

There, in the sky, with an expression like a thundercloud, eyes glittering with fury and mouth a tight, grim line, stood Croix atop one of her flying drones. Was she…was she the one responsible for the magitronic attack? Had she truly betrayed Chariot?

Croix swept her hand to the side, gesturing at the magitronic monsters that stood ready, their eyes still glowing brightly, just waiting for the command. "Come, my minions!" Croix called, voice fell. "Come, and do my bidding!"

Chariot sank to her knees and did the only thing that she could: she waited for the coming oblivion, even as her heart despaired. Croix, no!

AN: Hey everyone, I decided that since there were three chapters to cover the one battle, that I could do a Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday posting schedule instead of sticking to Saturdays. The next chapter will be posted on the 1st of June, and will conclude the battle. The next chapter after that will go live on June 8th. See you on Saturday!