Xue Lu City had become a chavalcade of wanton destruction and chaos, the city on the plateau was in flames. The stench of death lingered everywhere so thickly that it threatened to gag anyone of air in the very centre of the firefights. One of such hotspots was where the demon was, mincing rebel soldier and Golden Path alike. Ajay had collectively decided the damnation of every living soul in Xue Lu, young to old, men, women, elderly and children. After his one year career as a demon, it made no sense that he had carried that name for so long without a bit of atrocious villainy. Even when his heart was against it, he knew that if this place wasn't secured quick enough the PLA would gain a legitimate foothold in Yinke and that would spell catastrophe for not just Yinke, but his homeland as well.
So despite his guilty conscience that weight down his blade, Ajay gripped his kukri tightly and brought it down with the force of not just the demon, but the weight of responsibility of his people weighting on his shoulders. The result was a swing that even without the effects of the demon would cleave through a Devas tainted flesh. That was the power of belief that Golden Path should have utilized, but were too conceit to wield it.
"What the hell?! How is this possible?!"
"Monster!"
The Golden Path fighters in this City were unlike anything previously fought off before by the Royal Kyrati Army. They had now distributed the altering of bodies on a mass scale, now every fighter was just as solid and almost invulnerable to harm as the Devas.
"So childish." (Slash)
"Buueeeghhh!" Two Golden Path warriors were torn apart together with strikes from his dense metal kukri.
The sight of him slicing through flesh that could stop small-arms fire sent shivered down the fighters' spines. Now they understood why the Devas had failed to challenge Badala for so long, he was in a league of his own.
A true demon in spirit and in flesh.
The disheartened Golden Path were the first to retreat as they'd always done, Ajay snorted at their conceitness. He refused to allow them to escape his grasp, not even one.
After the bloodbath in the street he was in stacked with bodies till the pavement was hidden, Ajay walked towards the area where the command element of the Battalion was directing the rest of the Jatayu and where Sandesh was. The Commander of the selected mixed Battalion chosen by Ajay to led this atrocity of their own, the only stain on the Demon of Lanka's reputation.
"Sandesh."
"Sir, encountered the enemy. They seem to possess an untampered will and some sort of body armor that can resist small-arms."
"…"
"I fear that American Contractor Group have rooted deeply into their logistical needs."
"It's not body armor nor anything close to indomitable will, Sandesh." The lack of answer expressed Sandesh's surprise.
"It's a combat drug, a concoction called "Untouchable". For a day, no pain can be felt but the price is too gruesome to explain." Ajay justified their seeming invincibility with the similar in-description Invincibility syringe he had used on occasion, although the real one was nothing close to what the Golden Path fighters had presently.
And entire army of Deva-like fighters, close at least. They lacked two qualities that limited grasping the full potential of this power that was granted to them. They often fought with gun rather than knife and their will was not tempered enough like the Devas or a few field commanders in their ranks. Perhaps only the later two could bring out the full potential but Ajay had yet to spot any signs of leadership. Especially that of Deva Vasu Sen, he wasn't sure about the outcome of Jason Brody through.
"I see…." It was difficult for Sandesh to process this given what he'd received on intel from his men.
"Fifty cal and above, grenades and high-powered weapons will still do the trick. Aim for the head. Just because they can't feel pain doesn't make their bodies invulnerable." It was difficult for soldiers to do that but they were presently at close ranges in the confines of a city where the instances of point-blank reactive shots were a common thing.
"Understood, sir. We'll proceed with the plans in capturing for the town centre." Sandesh said with confidence. A little more difficulty wasn't going to slow down the Jatayu commandos.
"And Sandesh…."
"Yes, sir."
"I'm sorry to have forced this upon you."
"(Sigh)….. One of these days we were bound to get our hands dirty. I knew that when I first joined Mistress Lau's snow guard. When she reassigned us to Unit 58, I knew that it would become a reality sooner than later. Amongst the demon's company there was no room for hesitation or sympathy. Yet when we met you, it was nothing like any of us had initially thought. We've worked under Competent commanders before, but you were really something else, sir." Sandesh gave a sad but worriless smile.
"Flattery won't get you anywhere, Sandesh." Sandesh let out a chuckle or two.
"Contact 3 and 10 o clock!" His forward platoon point man reported.
But as two new opponents came around the street and stood in front of him. He had to end his little chit chat with Sandesh. "Looks like the Commanders of Golden Path have grown impatient. See you at the town centre in a bit then." Ajay gave them the light suggestion to leave.
"Roger, sir. Give them hell." Sandesh motioned to his men to pack up and relocate to a safer area.
The three of them walked closer to one another, each from a street of their own towards the centre of a junction.
"Vel the violet witch…. And Deva Vasu Sen."
"Demon."
"Badala….."
"Both Mohan and that mistress of yours have been quite busy recently. But never would I have thought that you would permit your brothers and sisters to proceed with damning their souls for powers like yours. If it was just you and your late brothers then it made sense, because they were your responsibility, but now… huh! I wonder who's the real demon here." Ajay chuckled.
"It is nobody else but you, and now you slaughter the inhabitants of this city at a whim. You're a monster in both prowess and mind!"
"I don't deny, this'll be my sin among many others. But don't forget who made things difficult for me in the first place, don't forget who pushed me time and time again to do what I do best. You have only yourselves to blame for the predicament you've landed yourselves in. If anyone was more at fault for the destruction of this city in ruins, it'll be your indifference to the safety of the Yinkian people here. But instead you've involved them in your scheme- no. Forgive me. Mohan and your mistress's scheme, you're too dull witted to have plans for you own."
"You-…!"
"Then let me ask you instead, Vasu. Where do you picture yourself after all of this, when Pagan's head is mounted on a pike up the steps of the Royal Palace for all to see. What will the last Devas do for once in his life?" It was at this precise moment that Vasu's eyes widen in shock and his hand was shaking after reaching an understanding of what Ajay told him.
"I'll tell you what will happen to you even if you do nothing, Vasu. Allow me to predict what'll happen." Vasu was both reluctant to hear yet eager to know his fate, caught in conflicting emotions.
"Here's something a certain someone told me long ago. "The best heroes are the dead ones." Even if you do nothing, no one will ever want to walk alongside a freak like you, eventually they will fear you and in their fear turn to whispering voices. Everyone will revert back to praying to their useless god that has done almost nothing for the last thousand years. Wasting away what little potential they had to be beyond dependence on others and the spiritual. And you were the contributor to this all."
"….. Let's get on with it then." Vasu was initially shocked but steeled himself for a fight after all.
"And you?" Ajay turned to the beautiful girl who helped him recall a beautiful memory. In his current state he had long abandon sympathy for her even if he owed her. She could tell by his tone he would potentially kill her if she got in the way.
"….. I will not get in between your fight with Vasu Sen." She said as she sat against the rubble.
"What?!" Vasu was nothing short of disbelief. "You came along to help me, so help me kill him!"
"Don't distort my words, Vasu Sen. I've come under orders of the mistress to observe, not engage the target of interest, Badala." Ajay was one to be surprised as well. But considering her little rogue behaviour in Lanka had nearly cost her life had it not been for her mistress's divine intervention. She had obviously been told not to engage this time.
Somehow, her appearance had suppressed the demon from making another move against Vel on its own like it did last time. He could feel the pressure being held at bay whilst he was still wielding the power of the demon now.
Ajay almost lost control of himself of laughter at Vel's declaration not to intervene, leaving Vasu to fight Ajay alone.
"So there you have it, Vasu. If you can't even fight me on your own, come quietly and turn yourself in. I still have a promise to keep with old man Bibek."
"…What?..."
"Once a son always a son, even you are slow to understand that for a great general like yourself. Hurry up and decide."
"I-….. Why-….. Why does he still care?!"
"Huh!" Ajay snorted and converged upon Vasu. On reflex, he brought his knife up to bear. But the force had struck him and sent him flying to the wall of the house, he impacted to walls and burst straight through them before being stopped by the third.
Ajay disappeared nearly fifty metres away from the original place he stood and a shadow appeared directly before Vasu and grasped his hand and throat, with the same overbearing force as before.
"Hurrgh!"
"I couldn't care the slightest bit."
This was perhaps the first ever aerial dogfight to take place between Kyrat and a foreign power, the sky was filled with smoke from the proximity fuse of the missiles and 30mm rounds detonating in mid-air.
Pravindra was exposed to the prowess of air combat, some of China's best had to offer. Frankly, he was enjoying it a lot more than against his Pakistani rivals. The PLAAF pilots were both aggressive in their attacks and highly coordinated in their flight formations. Yet they chose to fire upon flight group callsign Eagle.
Perhaps a young and anxious pilot among them was too eager to test his skills and went against his superior's orders. Whatever the case, it was already too late to change back. Eagle 1-4 had sustained damage from a gun run and Rules of Engagement dictated that they were now within legal boundary to fire back. The Indians' weren't going to let them get away with that act.
(Beeeeeeeeeeeep) "Deploying CM!" Said Arun, his co-pilot. A stream of flares popped out of the back end of the Su-30 they flew in to disrupt the incoming heat-seekers coming from the one Chinese Fighter and his wingman.
Two had engaged Pravindra, one was being pursued by Eagles 1-1 and 1-5, while the last two had chosen to outmanuever Eagle 1-1 who was at the tail of Eagle 1-5 struggling to get a shot at that one Fighter who they'd chased the entire way. It went to show that the bandit they chased was no slouch, perhaps it was the flight commander himself or herself.
(Brrrrrrr) The pursuing bandit switched to the gun approach on Pravi who hit the afterburner to increase speed whilst performing a rolling scissor with the enemy bogeys. The bogey attempted to chase after him in his high-g manuever but was seriously lagging behind.
And that was when Pravi noticed it.
"Eagle 1-3 to Eagles 1-1 and 1-5. Their airframes can't handle beyond 7g's recommend high-g manuevers to shake'em."
*Eagle 1-1 acknowledges.*
*You say they can't go pass 7 then what about this guy?* Eagle 1-5 complained.
*Eyes sharp, Eagle 1-5. This ones an abnormal airframe and pilot.* Commander Singh informed them.
Pravindra began a high-altitude climb with his pursuers.
"I wonder what else they're limited at."
"Prav, we're bleeding speed! What're you doing?" His co-pilot noticed his intentional action of slowing the aircraft.
"Giving way." As he said so, the pursuing fighters were on a course to almost pass him.
"Hang on!" He killed the engine and swung the plane 90 degrees towards the path of the incoming fighter who were too close to engage and too quick to manuever away from Pravi's gun path.
(Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr)
His 30mm cannon shredded the cockpit of the first plane while the second ejected safely before the rounds impacted his airframe.
"Yeah!"
"Yeah! Two kills! Keep that up and we'll get an Air Medal." His co-pilot could no longer hide his enthusiasm.
"Fighter ten o clock! Banking right!" He made a hard turn as the incoming fighter disengaged from harassing his teammates to apprehending him after seeing the situation worsen on the PLAAF side of the combat.
The situation was clearer once they fought with one another. So the Indians' felt more confident in fighting off their aggressors.
"Let's see what you've got." Prav mused as he followed the enemy Sukhoi by its tail.
The radar lock appeared upon the pursued fighter.
"Eagle 1-3. Fox Two." Pravi called out the firing callsign as he launched a heat-seeker at the enemy whilst in high-g's.
The bogey countered with flares just in time as the missile explodes just a few metres from his airframe but damaged the rear end section of his plane and causing smoke to bellow from the back.
Seeing his odds worsen, the fighter left the battlefield on his way back to the airstrip in Tibet.
"Wo! And Bogey 4 runs away!"
"Tsk tsk tsk! Shameful." His co-pilot joined in for a near end of battle victory parade in their two-man cockpit.
*Eagle 1-5! Going down! I'm bailing!* Came on the local comms as the Sukhoi of Eagle 1-5 ejected its pilots out as their aircraft burst into flames falling down into the mountains.
*Eagle 1-1 to 1-3. This sucker is almost too good. Help me- shit!* That one enemy bogey was beginning to show more than just competence as it had broken out of the pursuit by Eagles 1-1 and 1-5 and had neutralised 1-5 and was going on to 1-1.
"Eagle 1-1, I'll back you up." Pravi said coolly, but was hiding his excitement after chancing upon an opponent that could potentially give a run for his money.
*Correction, it's not a J-11. Break. Radar frame pattern analysis confirms it's a J-16. From the last encounters over the Tibet-India border by our air force.* Commander Singh's co-pilot informed him of the more advance nature of the craft they were dealing with. The Commander himself was engaged in a heavy evasion manuever to break free from the bandit's chase of his rear-end.
But it wasn't just the plane that was exceptional. The pilot was a natural instinctive pilot, like Pravindra. Using the power of his airframe and talent, messed together created a formidable fighting ability.
Pravi began chasing the tail end of the enemy J-16 whilst it was chasing his Commander in turn.
*Shit. Eagle 1-3, he almost has me in attack angle.*
"Eagle 1-1, working- urgh- on it." Pravi began to fight the enormous g's placed on him from the tight turns. The enemy bandit almost never lost energy from its motion making it difficult to handle, yet was able to avoid Pravi's missile lock, he couldn't use guns for fear of hitting Eagle 1-1 as well.
"Fuck this. Eagle 1-1, bank right and bleed energy on my mark. Three…. Two….. one… go!" Commander Singh hit hard right and pulled up to force the bogey to overshoot him pass by.
The radar beeped as a clear line of sight allowed the Pravi to gun it down. "Fox two!" He called out as the last missile in his arsenal flew towards his enemy.
But contrary to his imagination of a burning fire ball, the bandit bleed speed to perform a very precise barrel roll to avoid the missile.
"Miss. That's the last missile and your guns nearly empty." Co-pilot Arun reminded him and also scolding him for ordering the current loadout without his consent.
"Don't have to remind me! I'm going after him, he's got no energy left anyway." It was as he said, a fighter without energy was in serious danger to an opponent's missile or gun as it had not enough speed to evade.
Pravindra pursued the bandit as it made a heading for Pada Mo city stubbornly. Both Commander Singh and Pravi particularly were surprised by the pilot's behaviour. It was utterly suicidal and reckless. As he gave chase to the slower bandit, the J-16 began to eject its munitions and fuel tanks to reduce its dead load and improve its dogfighting capability with nothing to hold it back.
It was a trade off that Pravindra employed himself as it was usually his fellow flight officers that did the ground bombing while he was escort, so it was just Air to air missiles and standard loading of gun munitions for him. He was purely focused on dogfights.
Pravi begun to realise that the bandit had been fighting all this while with full load against two fighters, it spoke much about his prowess as one of China's finest.
As he was about to fire his gun at the bandit, its nose was raised as it passed by him and he ended up the one in front. A radar lock had just commenced as the infrared warning sensor went off bells and whistles.
"Shit."
*Eagle 1-1, I'll be attacking. Bring him up for me.*
"Roger." Commander Singh had flown to the far left ahead of them.
He knew what his commander wanted, they would perform a Thach Weave manuever where he'd lure the enemy in for a kill for the Commander.
The bandit knew what they were doing but had little choice but to destroy Pravi as soon as possible. Which meant that if he could outlast the bandit's gun and missile fire long enough for Commander Singh to dispatch him, they would have complete dominance of the skies for a limited time.
"Arun, keep a look out for me where he is."
"I'm tracking! He's on your left side!" The co-pilot watched out for the bandit tailing him.
(Brrrrrrrrrr) (Brrrrrrrrrrrrr)
The bandit fired rapid session to try to get a lucky hit on Pravi as he was manuevering in a highly stressful but rewarding manuever. He had minor radar locks that immediately disengaged due to the limits of the bandits radar scanning radius.
(Brrrrrrrrr) He began to just stick to the gun. 30 mils rained pass Pravindra, but with the high angles it flew all arcs except where Pravi was.
"Madarchod! Is he trying to empty his drum into us?!" Arun commented rather anxiously and became even more frantic as Pravindra's maniacal laughs were added into the picture.
"He's getting desperate."
*Eagle 1-1 here. I nearly have a good shot on him, keep up what you're doing!*
"Burning air!" Pravi increased speed as he performed a difficult turn towards the direction Commander Singh was.
*Nearly!-*
(Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr) (Crack) The shots whizzed dangerously close to his airframe and one had grazed his glass canopy.
"Shit! That was too close!"
"Any time now, sir!"
*Any- I've got lock! Good tone back!- Firing! Fox Two!*
The missile streaked overhead and struck the left wing of the bandit. And as a result, the pilot was forced to eject. Pravi shouted in victory after an aerial battle had ended in their win seemed like hours but was only ten minutes.
*Good work, Eagle 1-3. If you weren't such a troublemaker, you'd make a brilliant career pilot.*
"Thank you, sir. But keeping my wings is all I need."
"What about me? Can I get a transfer away from this crazy idiot?" His co-pilot retorted.
It was at this point of their moment of joy was cut off with the beeps of new entries into their local airspace.
*Two flights of five bogeys, make that ten in total closing in from the East.*
"Arrhhh- you've got to be kidding me!"
*This isn't looking good, what are your reserves?*
"Fifty-plus rounds of 30 mils left, all missiles spent."
*Two fox twos. And a full drum.* The discussed inventory.
"What are your thoughts, sir?" There was a long pause till Commander Singh spoke.
*Rohan would have dispatched the other flights if AWACS has picked up these bogeys as well. We hold till reinforcements arrive to relieve us.*
"So you want us to hold until help arrives with likely ETA of twenty, for a dogfight that could possibly last less than ten minutes. With might I add, limited munitions for half the bogeys that'll be in the air. Two against ten."
The comms remained silent for a second.
*You can head back if you want.*
A smile that spoke of insanity crept upon his face.
"Heh!"
There was no place he'd rather be than here.
It would have been a cakewalk to dispatch the now wounded Vasu, his abilities had now outweighed that of Vasu thanks to the understanding of Four Seasons of Pandemonium or what was more commonly referred to as the Royal Martial Art. It was to Vasu's shock that he was using it to a similar capacity as him if not better.
That being said, Ajay had still not comprehended the second form, he didn't have the time or patience to understand it. Especially at this time, so he learnt the basics to counter the Devas if they ever used that abominable formation on him in numbers.
Seeing him in that hampered state, some warriors disengaged from the battle to aid him and were cut down in a similar fashion. Their lives only extended his own by seconds. But it was all in Ajay's favour, if they were fighting him instead of Sandesh's men then he stood to gain ground against the ticking clock.
(Boom) Everytime the double-barrelled slayer fired, a fighter died.
It became ingrained into their system that it wasn't a normal weapon but a Deva slayer.
It had become the more popular ways of dying in contrast to the blunt heavy kukri or the spinning grapple wire he used as a chain weapon to slice off body parts. There almost became no difference between Ajay holding back the demon and letting it control him, the only difference was him holding the off switch.
The Deva tried to knife him whilst the fighters gave him a window, but instead of dodge Ajay took the knife that pierced his hand. He grabbed hold of Vasu and flung him hard onto the concrete and threw a satchel charge at the stunned fighters.
(Boom) it didn't matter if they were invulnerable to small arms or not. They were now but chucks or raw flesh lying around. His further engagements with the Devas and Jeeval's encounter with sabal had taught him that they still felt pain and could die from shock, if a significant damage was done to them they would also die. So hence, they weren't unkillable, just very persistent not to die.
In this moment that Vasu was recovering from the heavy throw, Ajay went over to pull out the iron rods from the destroyed concrete wall.
(Stab) "Yerrrgggh!" (Stab)
Ajay slammed the rods through Vasu's hands, effectively "crucifying him" to the floor. He bent the ends with raw strength so that he couldn't easily ply free. Vasu was far from dying here.
"WHY!-….. WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME ALWAYS!?" Ajay kicked him in the gut to silence him as he lay defeated and humiliated.
"Because you're so stupid you can't even think for yourself. I don't kill you because of Bibek, but you're to much of a fool to stop. You have only yourself to blame for humiliating yourself! But that's not even the stupid part. You know I let you live because of that yet you don't even want to prioritize Bibek's wishes over your stupid pride. That man is the only reason you were kept alive for sixteen years in the Gulag, you ungrateful bastard!" Ajay kicked him in the face from where he lay immobile.
"Lay there till my forces get rid of these rebels." He turned to leave Vasu in his misery.
But as he was about to leave, Vel landed in front of him to block his way.
"I won't say again. Get lost!"
"I will, unfortunately Vasu Sen will not be back here when you return." She stated her intentions to bring him away whilst he was gone.
"…." Ajay reached into his pocket and took out the flute and threw it over to her. Vel caught the flute gracefully and instantly recognised it as the flute that her mistress had spoke much about. A genuine treasure thought lost to the ages.
"This-…"
"My payment in exchange for Vasu's life. I'm sure you already knew what it does. You can have it, consider ourselves even. My karma with you ends here."
Vel looked at him with a complexed expression hidden behind the hood. She nodded and walked over to Vasu, raising her hand towards him. A string flew out from her robe and struck him.
"Arrghhh!"
"Consider yourself free of the mistress's binds. You will no longer possess the gifts that our mistress had bestowed upon you. The same way he ends Karma with myself. I end your Karma to the Mistress, in my authority as her right hand." The cloth from his shirt burned away revealing a series of symbols engraved upon his chest like a formation or talisman of some sort. The string appeared to be glowing as the tattoos too were glowing, and then it started to fade away from his chest leaving it clean of any marks.
It didn't need a theorist or exorcist to tell him what had happened. Vasu had been excommunicated from his gifts rendering him into a flesh and blood human.
Vel turned to walk away as well but stopped and looked his way with eyes that seemed sad as it was content.
"My mistress was right about you."
"Right about what?"
"You were not like the others. Perhaps you might be the one to break the seal freeing my mistress's dearest."
"'cuse me?"
"I have a message from my mistress to you." She took out a scroll and unravelled it, instantly an ethereal voice begun to speak from it.
"Hear me oh Scion of Kalinag, Descendant of Devi. All this while as we fight each other, the author of all our sufferings. Of your own hellish purgatory in a world where Ajay Ghale was no longer require and my own when my beloved brother was taken from me. The true enemy grows stronger with every soul shrew brings him a little closer to true divine ascension. He brought you here as his unwitting apostle, do not let him lead you astray down the wrong path less you fall as so many have before you. Find the way to Shangri-La and all will be made clear to you. I promise."
"What?-..." This was the first time someone else had understood his origin, even without him telling them. Never would he have thought her mistress was this powerful that she knew almost everything about him, it was as if he was completely readable. "Hey-."
Vel didn't answer him as she rolled up the scroll and left dashing off into the wilderness with unprecedented speeds. "Good luck, Ajay Ghale."
Ajay watched helplessly as his answer to a question he wanted answered now more than ever had been denied from him. But it wasn't the only thing that happened. His body collapsed on itself and he found himself in a kneel coughing out goblets of blood. The end of his bargain come to the end of its time limit that his body could handle.
Ajay laughed in a saddened reside.
"What did you take from me this time?"
There was not even a minute for him to rest and think about what Vel's mistress had unveiled onto him. Even if he were to take it with a pinch of salt that she was telling the truth, it didn't align to what was in his interest. It still remained that she sought Mohan's original ideal to take over Kyrat to unravel the secrets to Shangri-La.
"The Kalinag scrolls….." It was the item that instantly appeared in his mind at the mention of Shangri-la. That thangka that took him on a mental journey into the epic of Kalinag as if he were really there and really him. If there was one thing that Ajay was convinced was true, was the existence of Shangri-la. An entity as powerful as her acknowledged the existence, so it had to be real. But that was the least of his worries, she knew of his identity as Ajay Ghale since the beginning, then it was fair to say that Mohan did too.
"Fuck."
Ajay put that aside for the time being to focus on the task at hand.
"Raaawwgh-(Boom)." Ajay blasted to smithereens a Golden Path officer who charged him. He collapsed into a blood mess as his fighters and accompanying soldiers routed. The Jatayu came to finish them off. While they didn't all have weapons that were ideal for killing Devas, they did have grenades, .50 cal Zastava M93 snipers and Russian Kord heavy machine guns on a platoon level to dispatch the Golden Path "Immortals" as they were being coined for their resilience to conventional small-arms. That didn't deter the Jatayu from a fight.
It seemed that they were taking this immortality too far with little regard for the wielding it properly. The jatayu taught them the lesson that it took more than highly resilent bodies to excel in the battlefield. It was needless to say that the Arsenal carried by the Mi-28 Havocs and even the transport helicopters mounted with Samars 12.7mm three barrelled mini gun were more than equipped to vaporise them.
That being said, there was a slight problem. They were on limited ammo, while there was a lot of Golden Path. At least a brigade worth mixed amongst the populace and remnant soldiers of former Camp Lalu.
The four regiments of infantry that Ajay had sent earlier had sustained heavy casualties from the Golden Paths involvement. He dreaded the next time they encountered them and how would they defeat them with this very serious factor they were implementing throughout the Golden Path.
His encounter with just a mere platoon worth of fighters and Vasu had already had already put him at the shortest possible time of calling upon the demon. And there was still at least two regiments left that were blocking his way to stand at the border to ward off the invoming PLA forces. He knew they would welcome the Chinese Army with open arms because the alternative was certain death at the hands of the demon and the Kyrati Army.
Ajay looked at his watch.
"Sir."
"Satellite imagery puts them in ETA by three o clock. They arrive in 30 minutes."
Sandesh checked his watch, but it said two o clock, one whole hour before. "But sir-."
"I know what it says, and the satellite doesn't lie. But are you really convinced they'd be satisfied with just coming as we expected?"
"…"
Ajay struck a broken beam of the burnt down house overlooking the battlefield below. They could see the border fences from where they were yet they were so far away from it. At least ten thousand armed individuals were in their way.
"Has Vasu been taken care of?"
"The MPs have taken him back via helicopter."
"Good."
"Sir, I don't mean to be rude but-."
"It's a favour I owe to Bibek Khati." There was no one that hadn't heard of the legendary General Khati. Sandesh was no exception to this list.
"I see. At least, the Golden Path will no longer depend on his might again." Ajay chuckled at the comment.
"It was his master that betrayed him for a trinket." As he said it laughing it had also enforced a belief in himself that their mistress had discarded Vasu as easily as paper, what was to say she in all her "kindness" wouldn't do the same to him. There was one thing he couldn't tolerate more than anything, betrayal. He was prepared to do the worst then suffer from it again, that was the only selfishness he held for himself.
(BOOM) (BOOM) (BOOM) A volley of cannons resounded the ridge where the soldiers and rebels alike fought a bloodly battle to take the City was up upon the plateau.
The rebel soldiers turned to see the silhouettes of familiar armored forces belonging to the Republican Guard. Their hearts instantly soared with delight, only for a moment through.
As the volley struck them instead of the Kyrati Army regiments with their backs to the armored force.
"What the hell!"
"Oh-no-…. Do tell me…."
"Traitors! The Republican Guard have turncoated!" When these words travelled to the ears of the remnant yinkian forces their hearts that had gained potential energy from height dropped rapidly from the energy gained initially. They had become completely disheartened. It meant only one thing, they were the last to oppose the Kyratis occupation. They were the rebels now.
But the matters didn't end there, as accompanying there were the 2nd Hussars.
It was a sight to behold as the tanks and support vehicles begun to bombard the exposed soldiers and fighters alike with heavy ordnance.
Ajay picked up the radio.
"To all allied forces. This is Badala. All forces are rebels who've consorted with the PLA to sell out the sovereignty of Yinke. If even a single man, woman or child grants the PLA ground force access through the border when they come. Yinke can be considered lost. I know I'm asking you to commit an evil that in light of a greater cause, to sacrifice few innocents for an entire country. It disgusts me to chose this approach that my enemies that stand with those rebels have employed throughout the course of the Kyrati Civil War. No one but us however shall remember for as long as we live, because in the end it is the Victor that writes history! And I will be damned if I let this atrocity be held accountable by anyone but me.
The terrorist organisation Golden Path has distributed a narcotic compound used as a combat drug granting immunity to pain. Dispatch with heavy ordnance exclusively. Today, no Golden Path terrorist leaves here alive!" He said over the open channel.
The infantry regiments were encouraged by the newest reinforcement of Kyrati and Yinkian armour, not forgetting the presence of 1st Lord Badala, the demon of Lanka. They charged with renewed vigour against the disheartened defenders of the city.
Ajay went down to lead the spearhead through the ruins of the city. His internal injuries from his employ of the demon, he kept hidden as he stepped forwards.
"Jatayu! On me!"
"""RRAAARGH!""" They bellowed a warcry as they charged with wild abandon towards the routing enemy, though there were still some stubborn stragglers.
Sam ordered an artillery creeping barrage from Pada Mo to cut off their escape towards the border as it moved closer towards them with every barrage. She also called in the close air support aircraft assets whom had been granted clearance to fly due to the balance in air superiority performed by the 1st Fighter Squadron.
With the appearance of heavy fire supporting elements, the Golden Path had lost their individual invulnerability to the heavy weapons. The thought of them dying had frightened them more than ever. So the last remaining commanders ordered. "Brothers, sisters. We'll live to fight another day. We will take revenge for our junior brothers-in-arms in due time."
"What?!"
"You're leaving us?!"
"C-Cowards!"
The ranks of the Golden Path, Remnant rebel soldiers and militia broke into anarchy at the trigger words of the highest-ranking officer of the Golden Path that exhibited the desire for Golden path forces to turn tail and run to leave the City to its fate.
Taking advantage of the infighting, Ajay led a spearhead as he rushed straight through the rank of enemies to reach the Commander exclusively for his head.
"The Demon! It's the Demon!"
"Dear god-….."
The pupils of the field commander widen at the sight of the fear inducing demon running towards him with his eyes locked on him. The discord he'd made a mistake in causing had left him open to an attack. None of the baffers of Yinkians would protect him over their own lives save his own troops that had been spread too far and wide to aid each of the fighting groups as part of his plan to divide their strength had now backfired upon him.
"Why!?... How?!"
His leg shook as his body turned on a dime and ran as fast as he could, it was not what he signed up for. How could he have known the Royal Kyrati Army would be so vicious, to ignore the human shields of civilians he'd rallied to protect his troops end up slaughtered in the same way as his men. This was something they'd not done until now and how Golden Path had always exploited that weakness in Kyrat. They were just man, while his fighters were now near-immortal. Just what did they have that made them overcome flesh of steel and strength of a rhino.
"Its what you fellas have been using all this while." As if his thoughts were being read, Badala had appeared before him and answered his question with a raised Kukri to his still running body.
(Slash) The kukri came down and struck his cranium and cracked the skull all the way down to his nose. The field commander's eyes turned white before all energy left his body. It seemed that the "gift" of strength was not enough to restore the internals like with the Devas or Sabal in particular who possessed a willpower almost legendary to their peers. The field commander was none of these and so had perished the instant the blade parted his brain.
"Its called the power of belief."
The Golden Path saw the end of their struggle imminent and ran for the mountains to the north. Despair filled the eyes of some soldiers and militia alike as they sat doing nothing and awaited slaughter by the Kyrati and Yinkian forces.
The last remaining city garrison forces and civilians made a retreat to the borders to Tibet as the Yinkian and Kyrati Armies closed in to rid them of their pain. All two hundred remaining souls left, wearing haggard expressions filled with despair and pain.
On the otherside of the fence were the Chinese border fences and their guards who looked in horror to the entire episode of violence that had occurred just five hundred metres from their side of the fence. They readied their weapons so in the event that army crossed their border and awaited the PLA western army to arrive.
And then, a sigh of relief came to the border captain who received a radio reply as well as an early sighting of forces rolling over the ridge on their side.
The PLA western theatre forces had finally arrived.
Author's Notes:
Men fight for reasons they don't fully understand. That is why War is always a tragedy to both the loser and the winner in the end. I hoped to portray this in the most inethical and discouraging way through this chapter.
In the end, nobody wins.
