CHAPTER 12 - THE GREAT BATTLE
Pippin looked down with total surprise at the thousands of Warthogs lined up across the plains to the north. It looked as though the battle was won already. The Arbiter, however, insisted that they return to the part of Relic which they were reinforcing against the flood. The attack would continue until the Flood were overwhelmed.
Merry, meanwhile, was brandishing a shiny new SPNKR rocket launcher. As the Warthogs accelerated, he felt all manner of nervousness and fear, but knew that this battle could not be avoided. He must be brave or die. The vehicles around him left clouds of dust in their wakes. Merry looked ahead and saw the army of flood that was attacking Relic turn to face them and form a line, many of them brandishing their own rocket launchers. He swallowed hard, his resolve strengthening. Arming the targeting system, he fired off two rounds at the flood. Soon the rest of the vehicles followed suit.
All of the gunners opened fire, and there were explosions all along the line of flood. The Warthogs easily crushed all of the flood in their path, very few falling to the clumsy aim of the rockets. Gunners sprayed bullets everywhere, cutting down rank after rank of flood. The battle appeared to have been won. The column of Warthogs had swept across the plains in front of the city, cutting the flood inside off from any reinforcements.
Johnson smiled at the victory, until his gaze fell upon where the flood were retreating to. Large upon the fields approaching his position he saw them, monstrous and terrifying.
Scarabs.
He screamed into his radio, "All units reform the line and charge those Scarabs!"
At once, the wave of warthogs turned and sped toward the immense machines. All of the rockets were fired upon them, the chainguns on the back of the Warthogs emptied. Only one or two of the machines fell. The rest fired their primary weapons, decimating most of the warthogs. To make matters worse, all nine Nazgul were approaching from the sky and firing their ships weapons on the few remaining Warthogs. The flood began to return from their tactical retreat.
In Osgiliath, ships from the coast carrying mercinaries to aid the flood stopped at the docks. Instead of pirates or smugglers emerging, however, Master Chief, Half Jaw, and Gimli did. In addition, an army of thousands upon thousands of sentinels who were hiding in the compartments of the ships rose high above the landscape and began blasting every flood in sight with their lasers. Since they were shielded, very few of them went down.
The Chief, Half Jaw, and Gimli, were fighting as well. One of the Scarabs took note of their position and began to make its way toward them. Half Jaw noticed this and shot as many flood out of the scarab with his beam rifle as he could. Then he ran toward one of the legs and began climbing up using gaps in the plating. Finally on the top, he began taking each flood out at close range using his sniper rifle. Making his way inside, he found the main power exchange and stuck a plasma grenade to it. He then sprinted out of the inner compartment and jumped to the ground as the scarab exploded. Gimli, who had been keeping track of their respective number of kills, glared at Half Jaw.
"That still only counts as one!"
Eowyn and Merry had been thrown from their warthog by an explosion caused by the leader of the Nazgul. His Seraph descended and he emerged from the black void within. Brandishing a needler mace, which was a weapon that was swung at an enemy and shot needles everywhere on contact, he took a step toward Eowyn and swung. Acting quickly, she picked up the shield from a fallen Jackal and activated it. The needles bounced harmlessly off of the shield, but the mace dissipated it. The Nazgul picked her up by the throat.
"You fool! No living man, Human or Elite, can slay me!"
In response, Eowyn pulled off her helme, letting her long blond hair fall. Igniting a plasma sword, she stabbed the Nazgul through the face.
"I am no man," she taunted.
Pulling the sword back out, she took another swipe at him, this time destroying the body. All that remained was a cloud of mucus that settled into a green, sticky stain on the ground. Needless to say, she thought that flood were absolutely disgusting as she wiped her face clean of the thick, pungent, flood slime.
The sentinels continued their attack. Once the last Scarab had fallen, they moved inside of relic and wiped out all of the flood within. The battle was over. The fields lay thick with the dead. The index was drawing ever closer to the Library.