Chapter 5: Indescribable Power
Author's Note: Disclaimer in Chapter 1, hope you enjoy, Mikaa rules the world, I think we all get the picture.
I must bring up some bad news: due to circumstances beyond my control, I will NO LONGER BE ACCEPTING ANONYMOUS REVIEWS. I do not have the time to micromanage flame reviews that are completely devoid of intelligence and have no relation to the plot. Give a big round of applause to Anti-Gone, folks. He's pushed me too far.
I MIGHT accept anonymous reviews again at a later date, but for now, I will no longer accept them.
I do hope you enjoy, and remember to review when you finish.
Marching in formation towards the insignficiant town of Ima, Colonel Yul observed his troops from his mobile command post. Though the Tolbibi Empire had the technology to make a small command chair and table that could be moved with the barest of psynergy, they had yet to come up with anything that could replace his troops's power and loyalty.
Well, maybe the nulmen might best them in sheer power, but they had no real allegiance except to whoever was controlling them. Yul frowned with disgust; he remember seeing the damneded things during a brief campaign in southern Godnowa, and his recommendation that they be eliminated immediately were ignored in favor of their results.
Thankfully, the Imperial Military Council was allowing him to march on Ima with his own pic of troops. A small, secluded town in a pacifist-dominated territory, and all he had to do was to subdue and capture one man and the local caretaker of the Savior Statue in the area. Yul did not get to the rank of Colonel by questioning orders, though he had to wonder why Tolbibi was so intent on collecting the caretakers of the statues. Even Rivas had been taken into custody, or under the Imperial protection, claimed the IMC.
Returning his thoughts to the forthcoming attack, he briefly considered ordering his troops to level the place. His orders were specific in that a silver-haired man with the mark of the Silent Saviors was to be apprehended alive, and the local healer, which the informant had described as a goddess in Imilian pesant rags.
Yul noted that there were two unusually large concentrations of village residents, both of which seemed quite roudy. One was towards the river, being egged on by Ivonari, the IMC's plant in the village, while the other seemed to be heading towards what appeared to be a sanctum.
As fate would have it, the door opened, and to Yul's mild suprise, his quarry appeared, the man acting as though he was shielding the young madien. Had it not been for the Imilian style of tacky clothing, she would have indeed been quite attractive.
The shouts of the villagers broke Yul out of his primal desires, and his attention was drawn to the mob, noting how they were preparing for a rush. Unwilling to let his prey be so easily removed from him, he signaled his lieutenant to send a small squad ahead to take care of the villagers.
Resting back, he watched as the villagers reacted with shock and horror as they were mowed down by his men, swords slashing, villagers screaming, psynergy overpowering. It was not the most complex battle they had ever fought, but it was always nice to watch trained men fight as they were taught.
Sparing a moment to stare at the goddess, what was her name in the report? Terra? Yul noted the sheer look of horror on her face, recalling that she was a healer. Why was it that healers had such a big issue with death? Only the strong should survive; the weak only serve to amuse the strong.
Then all hell broke loose.
Out of nowhere, a brilliant lash of psynergy appeared, mowing down over half of the squad he sent forward, taking with it the few remaining villagers and chunks of a building. Tracing the source of the attack, he was not suprised when it's owner turned out to be the man they were supposed to capture.
Making a signal with his hands to the remaining troups, Yul watched as they marched forward towards the man. He knew instinctively from experiance that those with that much control over psynergy were near-impossible to apprehend without killing the controller, but he had confidence that-
Yul never saw it coming. A massive force of psynergy engulfed half of his entire remaining forces, missing himself by only a fraction of a hair. Knocked backwards, Yul rose, ignoring the smoldering hulk that had been his ride, and drew his sword. Never mind that the man was suddenly attacking his men with close-range attacks of a kind Yul couldn't see; Nobody, NOBODY killed this many good men so easily without Yul taking him out.
Sprinting forward so as to try to size his foe up, Yul noticed that the bastard had somehow forged twin blades from pure psynergy, an ability that even the most powerful Adepts in Tolbibi's heart had not yet acomplished for actual combat. His fear distracting him for a moment, Yul backpeddled, narrowly dodging a slash as it cut through the soldier before him, clearing the way so that he could see his foe up close.
The man wore Imilian healer clothes, though nothing as elaborate as the trash the girl wore. His hair was indeed silver, and his arm did bear the mark of the Silent Saviors. But if this man was the one IMC wanted...
He lept backwards, avoiding the fate that had slain so many of his own men. There was no way to fight something this powerful, not without enough sages to distract him into an opening. And his sages...
Yul cursed as he saw their remains, and turned to look for Ivonari, only to see the man dead, lying amongst a dozen other bodies of villagers. Swearing, Yul shouted a gruff howl, backing a few hops away before turning about and fleeing from the strange opponent. Yul knew there would be hell to pay for THIS disaster, but there was no way in the name of the Elements that he would kill himself to catch what obviously could not be caught.
Glancing back in expectation of being slain, Yul noted the girl gripping the arm of the murderous man. Though they were inaudible and he was moving fast enough to barely see them, it was obvious that she had asked him to stop the killing.
For the first time in his life, Yul was thankful for a healer during a battle.
A short chapter, but it gets the message across. Another chapter is in the works, so keep an ear out! Please remember to review!
Mikaa