The Krieg Anti-Air batteries tore the sky asunder to halt the advancing aircraft as Alicia and the other Gallians watched with muted awe. One of the flying vehicles caught a shell square in the cockpit. The detonation tore it in half, sending shrapnel raining down on the battlefield along with its blown-out husks. Severan and East Imp tanks mobilized in the distance, Earthshakers raining hell down upon them near Regiment.
Matt approached the detachments from Regiment 3, Militia and said to Captain Varrot "Get your troops in the trenches! We'll hold the line with the Krieg, weather their assault! Then?"
"We break them with a good counterstrike." Varrot nodded. She rallied her soldiers and their tanks, waving them to their trenches despite her wariness at the enemy's own heavy, jet-powered aircraft. Matt was thankful, meanwhile, that the enemy didn't swing in with their Thunderbolts or Lightnings to strafe them. The thunder of explosions rocked the forward trenches as the Cadians and Gallians poured into the line. The Marauder bomber up above had dropped its payload and, now, a wall of Promethium-laden fire burned, a billowing black smoke rising high into the sky and obscuring the vision of Tanks and Infantry alike.
The Edelweiss took position beside one of the Anti-Air Hydra positions within moments of the enemy's assault charging over the line. The rattling thunder of the four heavy autocannons mounted on a Chimera chassis annoyed Welkin slightly, but he maintained a steely resolve, gazing through the scope of his cannon while Isara made adjustments. She'd fitted a bunch more armor on to the Edelweiss, alongside a better power-weight ratio via a new engine upgrade.
Isara murmured, "I can't see a thing..." slightly afraid.
"Me neither... Guess we'll know when they're here, though." He quipped.
"Probably, Welks... You sent the others into the trenches, right?" Isara asked, turning back to her brother. He gave her a nod, finger twitching around the trigger of the cannon. Thank goodness she also managed to upgrade the turret hydraulics and drive to a more sustainable one. The turret could keep pace with light tanks advancing rapidly now, ensuring they could, at the very least, fire at them to keep them away.
She looked to their left, into the more shallow forward trenches of the Imperial Guard's position, watching as Matias and his comrades rallied up, with Amy and her troop taking the flank of some mean-looking soldiers of the 'Death Korps'. Some of them wore heavy weapons, including different-pattern Hellguns like those of the Cadians and plasma weaponry. Some also carried heavy-looking weapons with canisters of Promethium that was mixed with something else in their arms. The canisters themselves were strapped to hose-laden backpacks.
To their right, the two Gallians saw an enemy craft crash, cartwheeling into a ball of flame at the side of the Anti-Air Gun. Both Isara and Welkin had always wanted to fly, secretly, even if flying craft had been said to be useless. Yet, here their allies were, both fighting them and prepared for them with anti-aircraft weaponry that could just as easily have been put to use against infantry.
Isara popped open her hatch, the sweet scent of Promethium fire filling the compartment and her nostrils as she looked up at the sky. Two aircraft were on fire and the one that had dropped the payload of Promethium Napalm-laden bombs had received glancing hits. They veered away and were retreating as hundreds of High-Explosive shells detonated around them. Another craft was caught right on its nose, its engine blasted apart by the shrapnel from the shells. It careened to the left, diving, ablaze, before landing past the cliffs to the right of the Valley.
She shut the hatch down, staring to cough thanks to the overwhelming smell of smoke. She peered through the periscope at her seat, her hands trembling around the wheel of the tank, feet twitching impatiently. She'd been in combat, of course, behind the steel plating of the superb vehicle her father had designed and built for Welkin's dad. Heck, she'd been there since the Dawn of War here in Gallia.
Still, she tensed now, knowing the enemy had the ability to strike at them from above. Worse still was that she could not see past the wall of scarlet-burning flames and fumes raising into the sky. Neither could their comrades, of course, which made this even more painfully frightening to her. She wondered how Matt and his friends and comrades could fare so easily against enemies in the wars they described.
She looked again to her left, to see him, sat there, straight-faced and with his Power Sword and pistol in hand. Weapons that were magical to her were about as normal to him as the faceless Death Korps soldiers, it seemed. Maria, the Krieg colonel, joined in, bearing that awful weapon Isara had seen Matt wield only once. The Chain-sword. It was an intricate design, more-so than Matt's own, but it also had more blood on it. Congealed, coagulated, dark-red, it stained the teeth, flesh and cloth hanging off it as if she'd just used it.
Ahead, she saw them. The first East Imp tank, a Medium, a Duke-class if she recalled the name correctly, appeared. She didn't even need to call it out to Welks, he'd already traversed the turret, the mechanical whirr of the horizontal drive coming to her. With a click, the vehicle rocked and a muffled thump echoed across the hold of the vehicle. A spent shell casing, still hot from the detonation, fell into the cradle below. The 88mm round struck the enemy tank's forward armor, bursting clean through and flinging the enemy's turret sky-high.
No celebration, however. Three more Imp tanks, lights and a medium, appeared through the line of fire, followed by the Scarlet-wearing Dominate infantry and the armor-clad Imp forces. Beams of scarlet light struck against plate armor and flak. Autocannons mounted in foxholes and inside the safety of the hexagonal ferrocrete bunkers around them thundered. Limbs broke, flesh tore and shards of steel and flak armor rained.
A second Imp tank was felled by the direct hit of a Leman Russ Vanquisher, clean through its side. It blossomed into an explosion that left behind a twisted wreck, one over which a Severan Leman Russ rolled over, firing its cannon. The shell went wide of the Edelweiss, thank the Emperor, but it struck and took a chunk of ferrocrete out of a rear emplacement.
Isara had caught herself, 'thank the Emperor'. She chuckled. Matt was getting to her.
Welkin fired again.
In the trenches, Amy had hefted her Hellgun onto the sandbags lining the lip of the trench, shouldering it and firing indiscriminately into the crowd of advancing enemies. She'd affixed the bayonet she had for it to the end and she could already see the blade itself start to glow red. It was a Tanith Straight Silver. It was her home's blade, her people's. One of her uncle's most beloved knives, in fact, lined with inscriptions from Tanith Magna's most famed of Blacksmiths.
Beside her, her fellow Kasrkin tore the enemy asunder with Plasma, Flamers and, alongside the Death Korps's Grenadiers, more Hellguns and even the Emperor-blessed, Omnissiah-procured Melta weapons. Beams of boiling flame and plasma belched forward, arching into enemy tank armor and soldiers and melting through them like the fires of hell. Sweat draped each Guardsman and Gallian around from head to toe as both the flames of the enemy's promethium-laced bombs and their own guns burned into the enemy.
Amy took a knee behind the wall, activating the weapon's heat sinks. Gusts of steam drew a cloud in front of the Hellgun's white-shining muzzle as Alicia and Rosie came up to Amy. The Sergeant took a knee and asked "What can we do!?"
"Blast at them! Fire for any exposed part you can find on the Severan Troops!" Amy stated, a violent glare in her eyes that was meant more for the enemy. She stood up as the weapon cooled down a bit, then started firing short, controlled bursts into the enemy's forces. Still, even as the bodies of both Severan and Imp soldiers stacked in front of the allied trenches and Machine Guns and Auto-Cannons lit their sides up, the Severan and Imps continued charging like maddened dogs.
Alicia stood up from her crouch, joining in with Amy and firing into the bastards. She caught one of them, without a face mask, square between the eyes, his blood painting his armor a darker shade of scarlet than it already was. Beside him, she gasped as she saw one of the Imps, a madman with a battle-ax, charging at her, his weapon spent and hanging off his belt and his eyes filled with madness, teeth bared in a primal grin.
She swiveled about, trying to catch him with her bullets, but the man managed to dance through the shots and, as the shittiest kind of luck would have it, pounce on Alicia, knocking her gun away and to the side. He roared "I'LL DRINK YOUR BLOOD, YOU GALLIAN WHORE! For the PRINCE AND FOR THE UNDIVIED!" as he raised his Battle-Ax high. Alicia put her hands in front of her face, screaming as she waited for the blow to end it all to land.
A burst of fire crackled, followed by the moist, wet and sickening sound of steel tearing through steel plate and flesh. Blood dropped onto Alicia's hands and face as she finally opened her eyes. Stuck through the man's chest, a sword-bayonet poked clean through, congealing blood stuck to the blade, dripping off the tip. The man gasped for breath, fearful and staring up at the sky.
Behind him, a Soldier of Krieg. The lasgun bayonet of the trooper had pierced the man's very heart, skewering him. The soldier twisted the weapon to the right, then kicked the dead Imp off to the side, his Battle-ax falling onto the smoothed floor of the trench beside him. The Soldier then extended a hand to Alicia, which she took in stride, awed at how quiet and professional the trooper had been.
Gazing at the corpse, it also hit her and she thought of Krieg's ruthlessness.
She looked to the soldier, smiled weakly, then said "Thanks," As she wiped the blood off her face. With a nod, the Soldier simply picked up Alicia's rifle and handed it to her, turning back to the slaughter as the enemy got the closest they'd ever gotten to the trenches. Beams of las-fire and bullets snapped off by the ears of the defenders. Two soldiers of Krieg and five Cadians were caught by the rounds. Only one of the Cadians survived. No Kriegers.
Alicia took to the side of the Krieger that had saved her, every once in a while staring at the corpse of the madman that'd just jumped into the trench. A Cadian had put another las-bolt into his head to ensure that he was dead, before turning back to engage the enemy. The young Death Korps soldier to her right, meanwhile, maintained a cadenced, steady rate of fire with the Lasgun.
Hearing the breathing, even through her own gun's cracks and snaps, Alicia figured the Trooper was a girl. Either very young, going by how thin the voice was, or not really all that grown, considering the fighting they've been doing. She swore, looking to Rosie as the girl also joined in, toting what looked like a handheld Autocannon. Alicia smirked, then said "New gun!?"
"Kriegers were kind enough to toss it to me! Though they didn't say much when they did!" The woman smirked, slamming in a fresh drum magazine and setting it onto the bipod, "How're ya doing, sarge! You're bloody!"
"Thankfully, it's not mine!" Alicia stated, surprising even herself with how casual she made it sound. Maybe they had been hanging out around the kids for too long, even for their own sake.
"Yikes!" Rosie noticed the corpse of the madman, "His?"
"Yup." The girl nodded, then she gasped as she watched a Cadian get a Bayonet to the throat. She spun about, squeezing the trigger until her magazine was dry. About a third of the shots struck. Less than half that penetrated the Flak vest of the Severan bastard that'd just killed a kid from their friends' unit. The Severan bastard, either driven by adrenaline or something else, still stood.
Alicia gritted her teeth, pushing past Rosie and planting the butt of her rifle into the face of the man. She slung her rifle onto her back by the strap, drew her pistol and put two pistol-caliber rounds into the man's head, right through the thin glass of the tinted goggles. She turned about, drawing the bayonet she had on her belt and, with as little hesitation as the kids, plunged it into the gut of another Imp, hosting him over her head and onto a corpse before executing him.
Rosie whistled, "Holy shit, sarge!"
Alicia gritted her teeth, drawing her rifle again and reloading it, before stating "Less talky more shooty, Rosie! Blast these bastards apart!"
The Redhead grinned, shouldering the heavy cannon and squeezing the trigger as Lance-based Mortars flew into the lines of Imp troops. Another tank shattered under the whittling barrage of firepower from the Allied line and, finally, the Hydras brought their cannons about. Quad-mount Heavy Auto-Cannons roared, tearing into the enemy lines with all the strength of huge fucking machine cannon shells.
At their part of the trench, the Colonels skewered and hacked apart the bastards that had gotten into their trenches. Matt swore to himself in High Gothic, then said "They grew mad with the last battle!" as he plunged the tip of his Power Sword through the heart of an East Imp charging him with a sword bayonet. Maria's chain-sword churned and sputtered as it gutted a Severan soldier.
"It is almost as if they're corrupted..." Murmured the woman.
"Couldn't be." He stated, vivisecting a bastard at the waist and putting two through another one, "We'd have seen them beforehand."
"Are you certain?" She raised a brow.
"Yes." Matt stated self-assuringly, charging down one of the bastards and dodging under a swing of the butt of the rifle. He thrust upward, clean through the man's chin and split his face in two. A spiked club struck him in the side, sending him spinning. He doubled over, reeling, then saw the bastard charging him with the weapon and put him down with one headshot from his pistol.
The sand between the legs of the Imperium forces started to glow with blood, flashes of lightning coming from the barrels of their guns. Artillery rocked the ground as Cadian and Death Korps alike put down one enemy after the other, in turn losing their own to the enemy's fire. Matt watched as a bastard charged, strapped with high-explosives, toward the Edelweiss. He gasped, turning around and firing at him twice. Both shots narrowly missed the suicide-bomber, but what shocked both him and the two Gallians was a Death Korps soldier surging forward and plunging his bayonet with all his strength into the bastard, pushing both himself and the suicidal maniac into a shell-hole. The walls of the hole directed the detonation as scarlet smoke filled the air ahead.
Isara stared, stunned, as Death Korps troops emerged to defend them, their lasguns hollering aloud. One of them had their head blown clean off by a Las-bolt, while the other had been engaged in melee by another madman with an ax and no shirt. The soldier parried, dodged and thrust forward, stabbing the enemy clean through the gut. The Krieger then pushed forward again, kicking the man away and almost losing his bayonet. The butt of a rifle struck him from the smoke and an east Imp soldier, partially ablaze himself and with his clothes burning into his skin, plunged the bayonet of his ZM Kar into the belly of the Krieger.
Welkin turned and switched to the Machine Gun of the tank, peppering the Imp trooper full of lead and dropping him dead. Another squad of Death Korps rolled in, firing into the wall of smoke ahead with a Flame-thrower. The belching heat burned through as the soldiers emptied their Lasguns close with it, to kill anything in that area. They advanced, not even stopping to check their comrade.
In another part of the trenches, Freesia fought beside Susie, Alvin and Yrine, each concentrating their fire by the other's side into the face of another Imp or Severan madman, depending on which came to their sights next. The enemy's numbers were starting to dwindle, Frees noticed. She called out "There's fewer of them!" As one of the last enemy Leman Russes detonated in a blaze of fire. Cadian tanks and Tallarn vics advanced from their left, sponsons and main guns roaring.
"They're..." Alvin stared almost disbelievingly, "They're retreating!"
"Fuckin' A!" Yrine cheered, "Blast them apart, folks!"
A whistle echoed and Alvin smirked, "Looks like we will!" As the Artillery intensified, "In their own fucking trenches! EVERYBODY! FIX BAYONETS!"
"FIX BAYONETS!" Colin roared, rallying the soldiers with a bloodthirsty grin on his face, "FIX YOUR BAYONETS, SOLDIERS OF THE EMPEROR! LET THE ENEMY FEEL THE WRATH OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR ON HOLY TERRA! ALL OF YOU, DARCSEN, GALLIAN, CADIAN, TALLARN, KRIEG, IT DOES NOT MATTER! LET STEEL TALK FOR YOU WHEN YOU COUNTER-CHARGE THESE TRAITOROUS DOGS AND THEIR MONGREL COMRADES BACK TO THEIR TRENCHES! GO!"
The dwindling, routing wrecks of enemy Infantry fumbled over one-another, despite whatever force that drove them forward earlier. The roar of Cadian, Tallarn and Gallian echoed. Emboldened by their Comrades and without a second thought, the Gallians fixed their sharpened blades to the ends of their weapons, surging forward into the line of fire as their own Artillery broke the enemy's back.
Alicia lead at the front of the counter-charge, her bayonet glistening with the coagulated blood of the bastards she'd killed not too long ago as it stood mounted to the front of her rifle. Beside her, that same female Krieger that'd saved her life charged with no words, no cries, just heavy breaths as feet pounded against the sand. Beside them, allied tanks rolled forward, their guns roaring, secondaries thundering.
Largo and his fellow Lancers let loose high-explosive rounds from both mortar and rocket lances, blasting apart any bastard caught in the way of the explosives. The enemy's own long-range weapons and cannons started firing into the crowd. Still, the Death Korps lead the assault, charging headlong into the line with disregard. The Edelweiss was being 'led' by a squad of Death Korps into battle, its machine gun raking the enemy trenches ahead and pinning down enemy forces.
Lasguns sang as they finally came into range, both theirs and the enemy's. Two wooden machine gun nests blew apart as High-Explosive shells landed from the Leman Russes' guns.
Alicia gasped, watching as two crossed beams struck her comrade. She skidded to a halt, falling onto her side and watching as the Krieg soldier dropped onto her back in a shell-hole. The girl scrambled to her feet as gunfire hit where she'd been, diving into the shell-hole to check on the girl. With wide eyes, the young Gallian approached the Krieg trooper.
She took a knee beside her, then leaned over, hearing the young girl gurgling blood behind her mask. The las-rounds had punched clean through her flak armor and struck the lungs. The Gallian sergeant screamed "MEDIC! GET ME A FUCKING MEDIC OVER HERE!" as she scrambled and pulled off the mask of the young girl. She staggered, stopping as she looked into the youthful face of what looked like an eleven-year-old.
"... How..." She whimpered. The young Krieger forced herself to lift her left hand, her right covering one of the holes in her chest. Alicia took the bloody, gloved hand in her own as the Krieg-girl's breathing grew ragged, heavy, blood foaming at the sides of her mouth. The girl tugged at Alicia's hand, pulling her closer and the Gallian leaned in, saying "Hang on, the docs'll be here soon..." her mouth dry.
The Death Korps soldier shook her head, pulling a booklet out of her pocket with her free hand. She opened up one page and handed it to Alicia, then forced herself to speak, "Please... Read it..." wrapping the free hand around her dog tags and an Imperial Aquila necklace, both stained by blood. Alicia blinked as she realized the girl was asking her to give her final rites.
She stared into the blue eyes of the young girl, hands trembling. She wasn't going to make it. No way in hell anyone would risk the docs charging in here. So, Alicia did, exactly as per the girl's request. She began reading at the page she'd been pointed to, her voice trembling, "As we are to pass in battle... Under the gaze of the Emperor... Watch over us, for we ask for forgiveness... Let us fall proudly, with honor for mankind. Emperor, bless us and forgive us as the night looses its veil over our eyes... And so if we must die, let our bodies serve our comrades even in death... In life, war, in death, peace... In life, Shame... In Death... Atonement..."
Alicia felt the girl's hand go limp. She gasped, placing the bloody prayer book aside and shaking her, only to see the girl had passed with ever-the-faintest smile on her face. She bowed her head, whispering regret to herself, then she looked overhead, to see a Death Korps 'medic' sliding down beside her. The medic gave the two a once-over, then sighed, his breath fogging up his mask's visor. He nodded to Alicia, a sign of respect, after seeing the bloody prayer book at her side.
The young Gallian nodded back, pale. A faint whisper echoed into her ear, a thanks she never managed to hear in the thunder of the battle around her. She peeked over the lip of the trench, the tears that threatened to soak her cheeks drying, replaced by a death glare aimed to the East Imperials and the Severan Shock Trooper that had put the young girl down. She took her rifle from the floor, racked the bolt and reloaded, before clambering over the top, thoughts of vengeance for a young life she'd barely met in her mind.
She surged forward, waving her fellow Scouts, rallying them with cries of battle, vengeance and honor as her own Aquila pendant, one which she hadn't even realized she'd put on, clinked against her dog tags. For a faint moment, Alicia Melchiott's eyes grew pure gold as she charged, her bayonet blade glimmering in the gunfire. Her scout comrades, Susie, Juno, Frees and the others, emboldened by who-knew-what, followed Alicia.
Rosie noticed the assault force of Gallians charging for the middle of the enemy's defenses. She stood to her feet, cried "BEHIND ME, KIDDOS!" to her own Shock Troops, some Cadians and Largo. Racking the bolt of her SMG, she crested a small dune of sand and opened fire. Lasguns and bullets struck into the enemy's defenses, Rosie pouncing inside and planting her foot right into the face of a mad East Imp Fencer before filling his body full of lead.
Alicia had jumped in first, her blade biting through plate and into flesh. With incredible strength behind her arms, she hoisted the corpse of the enemy she killed over her head, tossing him to the floor and placating an enemy with a rifle butt to the chin that broke teeth. She shouldered her firearm, squeezing the trigger 'till her gun clicked empty. To her left, she saw an enemy with a Chainsword charging her.
He was felled by a flurry of las-shots. The girl looked up, to see Krieg soldiers and Cadians alike, the Krieger Medic that'd come to check on the girl right there, las-pistol's barrel burning red. He jumped into the trench, handed Alicia a pair of blood tags and a rosette, then nodded to her as he charged forward. He shoulder-checked an East Imp trooper, putting two las-bolts into his head when he was down, execution-style.
Alicia pocketed the tags and rosette, surging forward and plating the tip of her bayonet into another man's throat. She drew her sidearm as she worked to dislodge her main, emptying her magazine on a pair of melee-oriented enemy Shock-Troopers. To her left, up on the wall of the Trenches, she saw the Colonel, calling rallying battle cries for his men and their own. Captain Varrot was right beside him, toting a high-caliber handgun in one hand and a bloody cutlass in the other. Finally, Maria, Amy and Colin weren't far behind, their weapons hollering and swords cutting through flesh and steel.
The Edelweiss emerged on the right, its cannon smoking, machine gun rattling off. Another shell roared, striking an enemy 155mm towed Howitzer in the back and detonating the ammunition around it. Following that, one of their Leman Russes, the Executioner that had just arrived, let loose a blast from its plasma cannon that atomized a string of Machine Gun and Autocannon positions.
Hydras roared in volleys behind them, aimed both at the sky and at the enemy troops on the ground. Two aircraft dived, taking the brunt of Proximity Fuse anti-air shells that sent them tumbling into the crowd of assaulting Death Korps units, ablaze and out of the fight. The Marauder couldn't approach, nor could it drop bombs, thank the maker, so it seemed to veer away with whatever was left of its escort of Fighters.
With fury in her eyes, Alicia charged another man, slamming against him and pinning him against the wall. Freesia followed up with a headshot that put the enemy out of action, while Susie, though trembling, long-armed a frag grenade over into the last line of trenches, the one that the Allied force was now advancing upon. The enemy's artillery positions had been overwhelmed, infantry and tanks rolling over the enemy's accursed guns and breaking them apart. slaughtering the crews as they went.
Alicia climbed onto the top of a trench wall, running by the streaming Allied forces to join the Colonels and the Captain. She bounded over the gap between her position and theirs, reaching their positions and swinging her rifle about, squeezing the trigger twice. Ahead of her, an East Imp officer clad in red armor lost his skull, courtesy of Marina's sniper rifle that rung out from afar.
Rosie and her Shock Troops took the lead now, alongside the Death Korps, rolling into the enemy's lines as lead poured onto them, pinning them against the walls of the trenches. Alicia took to Matt's side and said "Enemy gun positions! They reinstalled their autocannons to face us!"
Matt grinned deviously, "That was their mistake, then! Their rear is uncovered!"
"What?! What do you mean!?" Alicia demanded as a wave of dust and sand appeared ahead of them, a cloud gathered and garnered by the most important element of the Death Korps's regiment. The Death Riders of the Korps surged forward, camouflaged against the smoke as their explosive-tipped lances glistened in the fire and the light of a sun that emerged from between the clouds above as they broke.
The East Imps and the Severan noticed this too late to do anything. Before the troopers managed to swing even one Autocannon or Stubber around, the first of their men was trampled over by the Death Riders. Alicia watched with awe. Like knights of yore and like nightmarish undead at the same time, the horseback troops took out the enemy's guns one by one, allowing their comrades, both Gallian and Cadian, as well as Tallarn, to clamber out of the trenches and envelop the enemy line, slaughtering them to the last.
The Sergeant stared at the slaughter with a hint of a smile that she tried to suppress. She looked to the Colonel, slinging her own rifle over her shoulder and stating, "Well... That was one helluva da-OOF!" Both Matt and Captain Varrot gasped as the girl took a lasbolt to the shoulder. It was either low power or from too far away, a dying shot from a Severan soldier, but it still managed to singe the clothes and char part of Alicia's flesh, sending her falling onto her back.
Matt called out "MEDIC! NOW!" before taking a knee beside Alicia.
"I'll be fine..." She grunted, holding onto her shoulder, "I'll be fine... Fuck, that got me by surprise."
Matt watched as Welkin had come running as well. The boy smiled sheepishly at the sight, then said "Easy on the language, Sergeant."
"Oh... Har-di-harr... Says mister 'I'm barely eighteen'..." She winced, feeling as one of their own medic triplets appeared. This one was Mina, Alicia figured. She'd been around the girl for long enough, so she knew.
"You okay?" Welkin asked, clearly concerned for Alicia's safety, as one would be of their XO. Right, the Colonel thought, chuckling, they cared beyond rank.
"Yeah... I'll be fine." She nodded, smiling awkwardly, "Just gonna need a bit of bed-rest is all."
"Alright..." Matt stated, standing up, "Let's get her and our other wounded to the Krieg medical facility. You can tend to her there, Doctor Sellers." before turning to face the losses sustained by the enemy. As the cloud cover above them fully broke and dissipated and the sun began to set. The Imperial Guard had lost almost three hundred more of its own, including a hundred seventy six Cadians, twenty-four Tallarn and a hundred Krieg soldiers, among which that girl that Alicia had 'befriended', for lack of a better term.
Matias had elected to go visit their wounded, which were more numerous than the losses. He figured it'd be a nice boost to their willpower and morale, especially since they were being sent back to Kasr Creed, much like the Sisters had been, so they could rest and replenish their numbers, perhaps even set up an Imperial Church within the Fortress-Town at the Crossroads.
Entering the Sickbay of the Bunker complex, the Colonel found most of the soldiers asleep, a couple chatting silently. Alvin and his sister, the latter of which having come to visit her wounded brother. He let them talk, turning to find the Sergeant. He'd wanted to inquire about her taking that Aquila almost a day ago. He found her cot, of course, rather quickly. There... He froze.
A faint golden aura covered the Sergeant from head to toe, with streaks of blue fire piercing through as the dressed wound from the Lasgun seemed to heal almost on its own. The girl was fast asleep, unknowing of the events occurring within her very own body. She'd healed before, from similar wounds, but never so visibly. A trace of blue flame, similar to that of the Valkyrian one, imbued within a golden aura. He heard a gasp behind him and turned to see Lieutenant Landzaat, a wounded man himself, though a walking wounded, staring.
Matt shook his head, taking the man out of the place.
Did the Aquila Pendant...?
... It felt impossible.
It was, really...