Duke Londe has seen many battles in his long life span of five hundred and twenty seven years. An impressive range including old fashioned sword and shield fights that counted on having more men than the other, up to the passionless modern age of firearms and guided missiles. Having participated in many a battle, he had thus far managed quite well in beating back the likes of those within the churches of Europe.
This campaign will prove to be his most daunting challenge.
Advancing to a village near the capital to regroup with the scattered forward units that had been sent out to encircle the capital. Dividing his forces to reinforce the remaining towns and villages, a cavalry unit of this size will allow for a far greater chance of taking the capital. Leading his now far smaller battle group, the undead stead blaze forward to reach the captured town. Londe's eyes narrow as his force comes closer to the town, no sign of any vampires, chimeras, or gargoyles. Observing the buildings closer with his superior vision shows that most have bullet damage and charring. Raising his right fist into the sky, his men stop on the spot. Any scout would have seen their approach and sounded away for a welcome. That's when everything went horribly wrong.
"AMBUSH!" he had only a second to scream his warning as dozens of human soldiers reveal themselves from cover, opening fire. Airships rise from behind some of the taller building, unleashing volleys of cannon and machine gun fire. For their credit, many of his men managed to get some form of defensive structure made of stone. Far more had not been fortunate enough to react in time, being massacred by the attack. Gargoyles screech and fall from the sky like rain as anti air guns decimate their numbers and allow for the livestock to seize aerial superiority. Behind the makeshift cover the knights, those who had not been crushed by gargoyle corpses crashing into them, begin forming stronger defensive measures. Viscounts work tirelessly to replace the quickly crumbling walls in front of them as the heavy caliber guns and cannons cut the stone walls down.
Knights and Barons fire elemental cocktails at the town, some attacks like lightning and stone striking their targets. Some of the building struck collapse on top of their human defenders, lessening the amount of lead currently landing on their position. Small bunkers are formed under enemy fire, granting an actual fortified position to fall back to. An explosion rocks a group of knights that were lobbing bolts of lightning at the airships lazily floating above the town. A cascade of explosions crater the ground behind their cover, taking out smaller groups as his forces funnel into the bunkers. Mortars continue to land all around them as the knight modify the bunkers to make them larger and allow for magic attacks to be made through them.
Londe stands behind cover, gathering a frightening amount of demonic energy into his hands. An orb of deep purple energy growing in between his palms. Rearing his arm back, the Duke launches the orb as if it were a baseball. Flying straight into an airship, the ball of energy forces the floating warship from the sky. The downed airship barrels through a line of houses and deals a hearty blow to the livestock's defensive abilities. No time to feel pleased with himself, his smile is wiped away as a volley of cannon fire send him flying backwards and through one of the bunker walls.
Getting back to his feet with the help of a Viscount. The Duke dusts himself off as his wounds quickly heal, bones coming back together and cuts closing. Stepping out of the bunker, the vampire royal finds that the enemy has stopped bombarding their position. Perhaps the livestock have run low on ammunition already, that would be most advantageous for a push into the town. Rallying the remaining knights, nobles and their steeds, the cavalry readies for a charge, victory does not favor those without firearms in the modern age.
Leading the charge to retake the town, Londe arrives first, his bicorn's hooves kicking away spent bullet casings. Feeling a bit spiteful, the Duke sets several nearby buildings alight, all the fire provides light to the night. Better to destroy all this ugly architecture so the livestock have less places to hide. Spreading the fire, Londe blazes a trail for the rest of his cavalry. Howling echos through the streets, causing the bicorn the Duke is riding upon to rear up and nearly throw him off.
Lycans dash through the flames now raging across the town, splitting those of lower standing open and killing them instantly. Parrying a blow from one of the passing dog warriors, Londe launches a javelin of stone straight through its chest before decapitating it. The Duke's steed however finds itself on the receiving end of a werewolf claw that cripples its legs. Jumping from the equines back, the vampire royal floats in the air, firing off multiple magical attacks at the lycans conducting a hit and run.
As soon as it began, the lycan assault was over. A distinctive set of fwomps reach the Royal's ears, turning, he screams for his following men to get off of the street just as the mortars land. This time the shelling is much more effective, taking out a whole line of cavalry soldiers. Damn these livestock, the Duke had thought setting the town on fire would be enough to drive them off. Shooting into the sky, the vampire royal begins raining stone hail over the town, each rock going roughly the speed of a bullet. Directing some of the stones at the circling airships, they fail to do much damage to the larger of the craft simply forcing the crew on board to take cover. The interceptors accompanying them are torn to shreds, wiping out the entirety of their air presence. Machine gun fire rips into his body as soon as the gunners aboard the airships can take aim. Convulsing in agony as holy metal burns his body and makes him lose some altitude, the vampire royal grits his teeth and starts conjuring demonic magic in his hands. He'll use something high tier to clear the skies in one fell swoop. Focused on the task of conjuring an attack strong enough to destroy the airships, the Duke fails to notice the glint of a sniper scope from one of the airships.
A pain filled scream rips from his mouth as something lodges itself into his chest. Angry eyes stare down at the metal rod currently staking his heart, sapping his strength. Pulling on it only earns more pain as barbs dig into his unbeating heart. Pushing himself out of the way with a burst of air before a cannon round can hit him. A battle cry is let loose from his mouth as he calls upon a massive spire of stone that shoots into the sky and splits the airship that had staked him in two. Feeling the magic and physical fatigue slowly creeping in, he begins to swat the airships out of the sky. As long as he can clear the sky before he's forced to the ground, his forces have a much better chance at survival.
Sending a bolt of flame down the barrel of an airship cannon, the shell inside explodes, causing a domino effect of explosions throughout the aircraft. Having taken down three airships already, the Duke becomes the most sought out target. Forming an air barrier around himself, the high pressure air easily blocks smaller caliber fire, but struggles to deal with the heavier calibers and cannon fire. Pressing the attack, he flies over to the closest air ship, his air barrier blocking most of the bullets aimed his way. Drawing his saber, the vampire royal rushes through the airship, cutting down its crew too fast for them to mount a proper defense. Capturing the airship, the Duke drinks from some of the dead livestock to replenish some strength. Now under some protection, Londe painstakingly tears into his own chest to pull the stake free, barb by barb.
A shell digs into the airship hull before it explodes right in front of the Duke, sending a wave of holy fire and shrapnel right into his open chest. Getting knocked into the still intact hull, he stares in shock as the remaining five airships unload into his airship, bringing it down to the ground. Groaning in pain, the Duke drags himself from the wreckage, standing up and staggering as his exposed chest cavity refuses to close due to all the shrapnel embedded in his flesh. Any positive effects from his feeding have been wiped away, bringing him back down to his previous state of weakness, if not worse off.
Fighting between the remainder of his forces and the humans and lycans can still be heard raging on in the distance. Plucking the shrapnel from his chest, his chest slowly starts to close. There's no time to work the stake out as the last five airships approach his position. Launching a volley of high level fire bolts, they penetrate the wooden hulls and kill some crew members on the airships he hits. Returning fire, a barrage of cannon fire rains down on the vampire royal, covering his position in smoke and damaging him heavily.
Bursting through the smokescreen, a lycan digs it fangs into his throat, the Duke only has a moment to react before he's decapitated by the sheer strength of the mongrel. In a swift motion the vampire royal draws his saber, running it right through the lycan's jaw and into its brain. Jaw going slack and releasing the vampire trapped in them, the Duke rolls away just in time to avoid a beheading slash from an exo wearing ECHO unit livestock. Gunfire and magic attacks erupt throughout the burning town as the vampire royal stands to oppose his new opponent.
Hearing an oncoming surprise attack, Duke Londe raises a pillar of stone to protect himself from the rear, another exo wielder striking the pillar. A bullet shatters the vampire royal's knee cap, bringing him to a knee only to have to throw himself to the side to avoid another blade strike. Scanning the surrounding the area, Londe finds himself surrounded by the bastards, his name being called out beyond their perimeter. His forces are fighting to get to his position, what kind of leader would he be if he let these animals take his life?
Pounding his purple coated fist into the ground, the resulting earthquake staggers the approaching attackers. Floating back to his feet, the Duke flourishes his saber, pointing it at the recovering group of soldiers. Lunging, his saber connects with the wrist mounted blade of the exo, pushing back on it to pry open his foe's guard. Side stepping from the soldier's free hand as its' blade reaches out to his neck, the Duke disengages from his sword lock to parry some wild swings from an assisting grunt. Kicking the soldier away and conjuring a fireball in his free hand, he hurls it at a soldier taking aim with his rifle. Dodging backward, he deftly avoids getting stuck by an exo blade from his front, kicking up a stone wall behind him several bullets smack into it.
Charging his saber with electricity discreetly, he blocks an exo blade strike, electrocuting the soldier through his own exo, killing the man instantly. A pair of bullets, fired from a very heavily burned soldier's rifle, take both of the Duke's eyes. The distraction is just enough to let one of the soldier's combating him in melee to get close enough to strike. Regaining his bearings using hearing, the Duke throws his arm up to block his neck. The exo blade sinks into his forearm, severing it but buying enough time for the Duke to place a palm on the soldier's face. Overpowering the exo's defenses, the blood magic does it's job and instantly drains the blood from the soldier's body. Collecting the blood into an orb before him he raises another set of walls to defend himself.
He'll need to drink this blood quickly to heal enough to force the stake from his heart, a full feeding can replenish a vampire from just about anything. Drinking from the orb, he already feels his strength returning. A drop of blue tinted blood from above enters the orb, making the Duke look above to find he had not sealed the top of his little impromptu cocoon. A soldier bearing the markings of an officer stands on the wall, his hand reached out above the orb, blood dripping from an open cut. Dispersing the blood orb in a panic, the Duke gags as he feels the corrupted blood enter his stomach.
He's too late.
Roaring in agony, bright golden flames erupt from the vampire royal's mouth, the holy fire going to consume his entire body. Slamming his quickly weakening body into the walls he made for defense, he flails in a frenzy to get away from the soldiers. Bullets tear into his already burning body, further amplifying the mind melting pain he's experiencing. A heavy kick to the back knocks him to his stomach, a set of feet climbing onto him to keep him pinned.
The officer's sword comes down onto the royal's neck, decapitating him and meeting the third condition, ending Duke Londe's unlife.
Another airship falls to the ground as the fucking vampires wail on it with magic attacks. Their damn leader took out at least fifty soldiers and four airships, not to mention setting the fucking town on fire. At least one of the ECHO officers put him down. Now they have to drive the remaining vampires out of the town, which is proving to be difficult as the bastards are currently entrenching themselves in the burnt remains of the buildings.
Having his mortar teams set up further back in the line to avoid the raging blaze eating the town, giving the coordinates of the current enemy defensive position. Taking cover behind a waist high destroyed wall, the Mistralian General peeks over the cover to watch as mortar shells rain down on the enemies stone defensive barricades. Popping out of cover, the high ranking officer picks off those vampire fortunate enough to survive the initial bombardment.
A bolt of lightning strikes Sugg, knocking him flat on his ass. Scrambling back to his feet just in time to see a full on charge on his position. Bringing his rifle back up he sends controlled bursts into the crowd, taking out a few of them but not enough to discourage the rest. Throwing his rifle down, he extends his wrist blades to fend of the charge, only for a crashing airship to flatten the forward group of the charge. Several of the crew had managed to bail out just before crashing with the ship, landing next to the General. Taking up arms they do their best to fortify the position before the airship can explode as fire engulfs it.
The shock wave of the downed aircraft's munition stockpile going up sends everyone flying, obliterating the charging vampires and killing a few unlucky crew members. Groaning, Sugg can barely climb to his feet as his aura cracks around him. Eyes hazy from a concussion, the General takes out his pistol and scans the area as best he can. Fighting can be heard all over the town, but it seems to be dying down. A call for retreat sounds out, dozens of vampires come rushing past them back to the way they came. Taking pot shots at the fleeing forces, some bullets land true, dropping some of them.
Hot on their heels are the rest of his unit, ECHO and Mistral soldiers along with lycans crying out in rage as they chase them off. Medics come running to start treating the injured, helping the General to a safer position as they attempt to resuscitate some unconscious soldiers.
An ECHO officer takes a knee beside the General as the medic checks him for damage. Sugg can't help but grin up at the younger officer from his prone position.
"I gotta say if this is what victories look like for you, I'd hate to see a defeat" sighing, the younger officer simply takes out a cigarette, lights it and takes a quick puff of it.
"Yeah vampire royalty can really do some damage, its just an estimate, but I'm pretty sure we've lost a total of at least a hundred soldiers today. Airship crew included. Had the attack helicopter been here, only the royal would have been left to deal with" raising an eyebrow at that, Sugg sits up, shooing the medic away to go deal with the more heavily injured.
"You have that much faith in that thing when six airships came down in one fight?" making a so so gesture, the ECHO officer finishes his smoke and snuffs it out in the dirt.
"Airships are slow and huge, sure they're heavy hitting but they take a lot of hits as well. A helicopter is fast and smaller, hitting just as hard, not to mention built in magic defenses. We're just lucky it wasn't a Lord, if one had been here we'd lose" the thought makes the General grimace. How could a single vampire wipe out all of his forces?
"You're telling me one of those things is powerful enough to wipe us out?" a nervous laugh comes from the ECHO officer.
"Yeah, see high ranking vampires have conditions you have to meet to kill them. For a Duke, its stake the heart, light em on fire and cut their head off. They start losing power and strength with each condition met as well as the damage you're already dealing. A Lord on the other hand, they don't lose as much strength, as well as having one more condition to meet. That being a silver stake to the brain. This is all while the body is still fighting." Sugg can only stare at the ECHO officer in disbelief.
"How many Lord have been killed already?" taking out his bestiary, the younger officer flips through some of the pages. Finding the desired section he reads it off.
"As of the current year, dating back from at least 1100 A.D only four Lords have been killed in active combat with humanity. That's a span of more than nine hundred years. Granted Lords aren't always fighting, but they've done enough that the number is still way too small" whistling to himself, it does put into perspective how long Earth has been dealing with these assholes. The last three airships destroy the still standing vampire bunkers in the distance, being sure to keep a safe distance from any potential retaliatory attacks. Radio chatter sparks to life as Becksworth and Akon report the start of defensive battles at both of their villages.
At the moment, they can't send any reinforcements, needing to hold this town in case of another attack from the vampires. From the stream of reports, it seems that they're managing far better than they had, until an airship is brought down at Becksworth's defensive line. Of course it wouldn't be that simple.
Qrow shoots out of the window of the shack he's currently hold up in, taking out some approaching grimm. This night is going to hell, if Amber's injuries weren't bad enough, grimm are currently pouring down on top of them. Oz had told the unlucky huntsman that help is on the way and he need only to hold them off long enough for help to get there. Amber is more or less stabilized, currently unconscious on the table he'd set her on. If she dies here, its possible the maiden powers will go to one of those women who were attacking her. The grimm are going nuts, they're swarming around the shack and at this rate he'll need to go out there and start fucking them up. If he does that, he'd be leaving Amber alone and there's no telling if those assholes aren't lying in wait.
A beowolf smashes its face through a boarded up window, only to have Qrow bring Harbinger down on its head, killing it instantly. Firing at the other members of its pack, killing them off. The wall just behind creaks and cracks as something slams into it. The same thing can be said for the other walls as the shack. Cursing under his breath, Qrow dives out of the window and starts cutting down grimm, had they broken through the walls there was no way he could defend Amber.
Doing his best to attract all that attention to him, he's shocked to see that half of their numbers don't even focus on him. Running around shack he easily kills the grimm from behind as they try to break the walls down. The grimm are acting strange, and there's far too many of them to be normal. Damn it Oz, he needs help now or Amber is going to die! Going to behead an ursa currently forcing its head into the shacks wall, he trips and ends up only wounding it. Damn this semblance! Turning to him the grimm bear smacks him away, turning its attention back to the wall. Hearing the wooden walls crack, he jumps back to his feet and shoots at the assembled grimm only for a pack of beowolfs to block his path. Cutting them into little bits, another ursa comes from behind and smacks its massive paw into his back. Tumbling forward, Qrow rights himself and puts a bullet into the offending grimm, killing it instantly. Rolling to the shack, he climbs to his feet shifting Harbinger to its scythe form and swinging it into the grim crowd attacking the shack.
Clearing a fair chunk of them in a single swing, Qrow circles the building to keep clearing it of attackers. His timing couldn't be worse as he has to lunge onto the back of a beowolf just as it breaks through the wall along with another two of the bastards. Wrestling it to the ground, he shoots the two beowolfs before they can reach Amber. Gritting his teeth as the beowolf bucks him off of its back and into the ceiling, he takes aim mid air to kill the grimm bastard before it can pounce onto Amber. His weapon clicks as the bullet inside it turns out to be a dud. Swearing in panic, the beowolf charges Amber in slow motion as he falls.
Screaming in despair and rage, the beowolf digs its claws straight into Amber. Kicking off and rushing the beowolf, he impales the grimm and throws its dead body off to the side. Looking down at the maiden, she's not breathing and her chest is torn open. Falling to his knees, Qrow grabs fistfuls of his hair as he struggles to catch his breath. This can't be happening, why did his semblance have to be this active out of all the possible times.
Aircraft can be heard approaching along with gunfire as the grimm horde gets purged. Two squads of soldiers rush into the shack, coming upon the unlucky huntsman as he starts to break down. Two medics run over to Amber's body, looking over the damage. Golden light fills the room, causing Qrow to look up in surprise. Two small fairies are currently using some kind of magic to close her chest. The two floating creatures turn to the medics and throw up a small thumbs up before poofing out of existence. One of the medics places an ear on her chest, declaring to hear breathing and a heartbeat.
Qrow can't believe it, she'd clearly been too far gone, literally seconds from death. How these ECHO unit soldiers managed to completely reverse this nightmare is nothing short of a miracle in his eyes. One squad of soldiers pick up Amber's still unconscious body and escort her out to their rotor wing aircraft. The other squad actually picks him up and runs out of the shack, jumping like twenty feet into one of the floating aircraft.
"Targets secured, get us out of here!" rising high into the air, the aircraft form up and turn around, flying back the way they came. The gunners have no time to rest as they shred the local population of nevermore that are currently after them. Shaking off his shock, he flails out of their grip and finds himself a seat. Qrow has some serious thinking to do when he gets back to Vale.
Morning comes with some crazy news, which doesn't surprise the Lieutenant Colonel whatsoever given what happened last night. First report she saw told of the first actual battle for Mistral, with a rather glum casualty list. Out of the three engagements in different towns and villages in the Mistralian frontier, around one hundred and fifty five soldiers had died along with nine airships being brought down as well as their escorting interceptors. Bringing that total to around two hundred and twelve people have already died against the vampire threat. On the bright side, massive damage had been dealt to each invading force, counting a dead Duke, a few Counts, dozens of assorted nobles and entire troops of knights. As well as their retreat back deeper into the marshlands. All in all, it's not the worst outcome for a battle she's seen, not by a long shot. Still, she quickly sends out a requisition request to headquarters for more vehicles to help support the war effort until their own vehicle production capabilities are able to catch up. You never know when you'll need more helicopter gunships.
The other report tells of a rescue operation to retrieve one of Ozpin's agents as well as a maiden. They had found her moments from death, but a bit of holy magic changed that in a heartbeat. Now the maiden is sleeping it off, but is expected to wake up some time today. Qrow hasn't left her side and seems a bit shaken up from the description given by the medics. More worrisome however, is the fact that Salem's human allies had been involved, potentially still alive somewhere in Vale's wilderness. Fighting humans has always been a sore subject for her, the first human she had to kill was a cultist attempting to summon some kind of demon. He had been the first, but he wouldn't be the last. It's a shame, that even in Remnant there are still those who would side against their own. Not really enjoying the act of killing, it didn't mean she'd hesitate in a situation that called for it. Ethan had the same reservations, or well, somewhat. He was against murder, like what the church had him carry out. Killing people in defense of humanity was a completely separate thing. Rennold would rather not send their youngest Captain out to hunt them, so instead probably best to just send some soldiers and officers with prior experience in the normal army.
Outside of the reports she had to get in the morning, the question in regards to the incident in Atlas still stands. Meztyse is human now and in their holding, the threat to her life is immense since Ava could just say fuck it, and go in there and kill her. Her safety however is not guaranteed anywhere she goes. Rennold isn't proud about it, but she's going to get some licks in whenever she gets her hands on her. Her potential for enemy intel is great and she's sure she can have someone wring the answers out of her, no matter what they have to do. She'll need to get Ironwood on the phone and have the ex-demon extradited to Vale's base.
A knock on the door takes her out of her musings, calling for whoever it is on the other side to enter. Clerks burst through the door, carrying this days stack of admin hell, making the leading officer nearly cry in sorrow. At the very least she got some fun last night, with help from Diane. Speaking of the Major, she's probably having fun torturing the resident huntresses in training with physical training.
Yang and Ruby are currently enduring training hell.
The blond brawler is doing her now usual weight workouts under the strict gaze of Ryan, who had substituted for Diane who is currently working as the leader of the expansion missions. Rubes is running on the track upstairs, wearing several hundreds pounds of weight. The Major proves to be just as sadistic, even more so than Diane was. Ryan easily handles the same exercises Yang is doing well within her sight line, it easily pisses her off. Anger is great motivator when working out, helping her push through some of the harder reps in the workout.
Taking a half hour to finish up the workouts, the two sisters collapse next to each other on the ground floor. Thinking the torture is over, they let out a startled yelp as they're both picked and tossed into the nearby ring. Groaning loudly as their sore muscles scream at them as they force themselves to their feet. Ryan lands in front of them, taking a fighting stance.
"You're a real slave driver you know that!?" grinning at the question, he slowly approaches them. Gritting her teeth, Yang rushes forward to try and get at least some hits in before she gets battered. It doesn't go well for her, considering that the Major is pretty much completely fresh and a hell of a lot stronger than her. Seeing her sister getting sent straight into the mat, the little red reaper whimpers as the Major beckons her forward. Zipping over to him doing her best to try and fight him unarmed, Ryan simply throws her onto the mat.
The two sisters help each other up, having a quick pow wow before rushing to fight him again, Yang going to act as the main distraction as Ruby goes around to get some quick jabs in on his unguarded side. It would have worked had the Major not used the blond brawler as shield against her sister, then throwing Yang at her. The sisters tap out pretty much immediately.
"C'mon now ladies, you gotta be able to put up a fight even when you're nice and tuckered out" Yang doesn't even look up from the padded floor of the fighting ring, her words coming out muffled.
"Yeah sure, because we're always going to be just finished doing some of the hardest workouts we've ever done" sighing, he walks over to the two, crouching down and balancing on the balls of his feet.
"Yes, ok, I understand its a bit on the extreme side. But there will come a time when you're spent and feel like you can't go on. Yet you're going to have to or you die. Or worse off, someone else dies because of you. If you can fight me after these work outs, you can fight someone after pretty much anything. Now get up, we're not going to spar seriously but Ruby needs some more unarmed training, so that's what we're going to do" they can't even argue with him as he manhandles the two of them and stand them up like they're mannequins.
If this doesn't help Yang get through Beacon she's going to be really pissed off.
Meztyse is bitter beyond belief, the ex-demon can't believe that she's some mortal now, and in captivity no less. She's never felt so powerless before, not to mention the weird sensations in her stomach, hunger she believes they call it. The chair she's in is massively uncomfortable as well, having been sat here for hours on end. Honestly she expected humans to treat their prisoners with a little more respect than to just throw them chained into a room like an animal.
The door is kicked open, making her jump in surprise, before a brown blur enters the room and her face is slammed into the table. Crying out in pain as her nose breaks upon connecting with the table, groaning in agony as her face is ground into the table making her nose rub against the dented metal. Having her head yanked back by her hair, she winces as some of her hair is ripped out. Coming face to face with the lycan female from last night, her initial instinct is to spit on the mongrel, but an emotion she's never felt grips her heart upon seeing the warrior's face. Letting go of her hair, the lycan circles around into her blind spot. Ethan enters the room flanked by two guards wearing armor she had never really seen before, one of them closing the door behind her. He looks oddly pleased to see her, it makes her anxious as he pulls back the chair opposite of her and sits down facing her. Pulling out a combat knife, he stabs it into the table, making her jump again.
"Tell us everything you know about the current forces on Remnant and Earth" this time she does spit in his face, only to have a set of clawed hands dig into her shoulders making her grunt in pain. The young Captain frees the blade from the table and drives it into her hand, punching right through the table underneath. A shrill scream fills the room as she's forced to stay still by the mutt behind her, she doesn't even get to pull the knife free of her hand. Tears flow freely from her eyes now as Ethan wiggles the knife inside her hand, forcing pained groaning from her mouth. "I'm not one for torture honestly, it's just unfortunate for you that you weren't born human. You're still a filthy fucking demon being punished for speaking against your master"
"That wasn't my fault!" Meztyse cries out in agony at both the physical pain and the emotional pain of knowing she'd been ejected from her family and title against her will.
"I find your suffering therapeutic, it's rare a demon actually gets to suffer such punishment. Sure you all feel pain, but it's so superficial and there's always a chance you get to live it up in hell after your earthly demise. Not this time however, you'll burn for eternity after your life of suffering. You'll never have the freedom of being a true human, your very mortality is an insult to God's perfection. Hell, even the warrior race you all look down upon as dogs is more favorable than you. How's that feel? To be beneath your so called dogs?" the ex-demon can hear the lycans' tail swishing rapidly behind her, the bitch is enjoying seeing her be berated by a lowly mortal.
"Your very existence is pathetic, needing to rely on drugs and my master Satan to gain any real strength. Yet you humans still cling to God as if he's perfect, when's the last time he actually save your wretched kin?" chuckling, Ethan frees the knife from her hand, much to her relief. Only for it to pierce through her other hand, rocking her entire body in pain.
"God has done more for humanity than Satan ever has, tell me what life ruled by sin have you seen that wasn't pathetic? Even those who choose not to believe live more fulfilling lives than those who turn against God and seek a false strength with Satan. In the end, he doesn't love us, that much is evident by how they still wind up in hell regardless of their allegiance" in too much pain to actually defend her own point, she has to listen to this nonsense. Instead she turns to the guards behind the ECHO officer, better to plead for their assistance than flee to try and get back some kind of power.
"You two there! Are you simply going to let this man torture a defenseless woman like this!?" the sneers on their face showed they knew more than she thought.
"Shut up freak, we know what you are. Any enemy to humanity won't get any sympathy from Atlas!" snarling in frustration in pain, the ex-demon loses her temper.
"You'll all pay for this! Your families will be subjugated and used for food like the livestock you are!" a strong punch lands on her jaw and knocks free several teeth, filling her mouth with blood and making her gurgle a bit.
"Just wait until you see a mirror. Oh wait! I have one here" pulling out a small handheld mirror from his back, he holds it up to Meztyse. No longer was there any of her delectable beauty, her face marred by blood and damage done to her. Eyes filling with tears again, she gasps and struggles to breath at the sight. "You know, that might heal pretty good actually. Ava, why not give her something. A bit more permanent" manic giggling comes from behind her as she can feel the heat of a fire behind her, making the captive ex-demon flail and thrash in her restraints. A burning paw reaches into her vision and clutches her face tightly, searing into her flesh and making her eyeball pop like a grape. Agonized screaming fills the room, as her body convulses in pain and her flesh is forever scarred.
Waiting for her to calm down a bit, Ava forces her to look at the mirror now. The sorrow filled wails were enough for Ethan, making him smile brightly. Reaching out with a dark purple palm, he instantly cracks into her mind like she had once done to him. Finding the desired information quickly, he steals all he can before retreating from her mental realm. Head hitting the desk with a thud, the ex-demon is barely awake as Ava practically skips from behind her and into Ethan's arms, the group quickly takes their leave.
Crying into the table, Meztyse is forced to deal with the brutal pain. One day, she'll get him back for this. She'll tear his world apart and drink of us his agony like it were a fine wine. Several heavy footsteps approach the door from outside, making Meztsye's head shoot up in anxiety and fear, only for it to open much more gentle this time. Entering this time is the man who shot her arm off from last night, his face goes from calm to shocked at the sight of her.
"Damn it, this is not how we do things in Atlas" a hopeful grin spreads on her face as she sees an opportune chance to gain some kind of sympathy. Speaking as if she were choking on wet gravel her voice is very difficult to understand.
"Terrible isn't it. You should go discipline your soldiers for torturing a defenseless woman. I recommend-"
"Shut your mouth, you're not to lecture me on anything. You're being extradited to Vale immediately, whatever Rennold does with you there is beyond my control. I will be talking with Ethan about this however, you're a bit of a special case after all. So I think I'll draw some lines and let him off with a warning since you seem so keen on punishment despite your injuries" rage fills her being as she spits at the man, who side steps the gesture of disrespect. Several armed soldiers come in, putting a bag over her head and roughly escorting her somewhere she can't see.
Diane sends her rope blade sailing into the crowd of grimm before her expansion force, cutting through them like butter. She would never admit it, because it would only earn her more work, but this can be fun in small little spurts seeing as it's not nearly as life threatening as dealing with vampires back on Earth. Although she won't lie, she already misses putting Yang to work and then celebrating out on the town with her. It'll do her well to get some drinks and unwind, especially with all the heavy knowledge dropped on her right before her new school year.
Something else on her mind is looking forward to getting her hands on that bitch succubus, Cathy had said that she'd be shipped here soon for proper holding. Turning her focus back to the mission on hand, she orders the APCs forward again, their quota today is to take around a fifteen by ten mile space to the west of Vale. All this space will make for a good tree farm, or at least that's what Titanium had said. That Councilwoman sure has a good head on her shoulders to be thinking that far ahead. It makes sense after all. Vale's grown like three hundred miles since their arrival. Soon enough with a brand new ECHO trained Vale army, they'll probably be expanding dozens of miles every day. That is if enough of them actually pass through the boot camp they're working.
Just some food for thought, back to the grimm killing.
Assembling what seems to be the last white fang outside of Menagerie, Taurus does a head count as well as going over the supplies they have. It's a pitiful amount, their escaping units had only managed to bring a fraction of their safe house's caches. Sienna is well aware of the rapid decline in their forces, she's close to calling them back, Taurus is having a hard time arguing against that decision. Mountain Glenn is a decent enough spot, they could always lead some kind of assault on Vale through the old metro tunnels. The only problem with that is the abysmal lack of supply, any attempt would be an almost instantaneous defeat. Not that they could break through the feet of concrete with explosives they have now.
They'll need to conduct some raids on Schnee cargo trains, getting their hands on more dust they might be able to start paying smugglers to get some proper equipment. Right now, their numbers are good, everything else is lacking. Sienna has made it clear that Menagerie's production capability won't be able to properly supply enough battles to take back any significant amount of lost land. They're on their own for now.
Should Vale continue to grow at its current rate, it'll be large enough they might be able to infiltrate and reestablish themselves into the newer portions of the city. Going the covert route might serve them better. A light bulb blinks to life in his head. His forces could easily dig some sort of foxholes to hide in as ECHO unit clears the lands above them, then once its clear they can sneak back into the city. It'll take some planning and maybe a stealthy trip into Vale to gain contact with an information broker.
Going above ground, Taurus makes a call to Sienna to inform her of his new idea. This could work and would save them the lives that would be lost in a doomed assault.
Patience for Salem has been a constant balancing act, as of late it has been a failed game, with her patience being close to none. The latest news wiping it away is that of Cinder's failed attempt on the maiden's life. Mercury had managed to drag Cinder's unconscious body back, saying that Emerald had died to getting shot near the end of the fight.
The Queen of the Grimm is currently rubbing her temples at the two. Mercury looks like absolute garbage, clearly taking a beating from the huntsman they fought, while Cinder is crippled now. Summoning a beowolf to the throne room, it carries the downed fighter off to the infirmary with Mercury in tow.
Everything falls on Arthur now, him and Leonardo. Everything she has planned has fallen apart, Vale won't fall to something like a hacked robot invasion. Atlas with how heavily they've integrated technology into their kingdom, maybe she should have Arthur refocus into some kind of plan dealing with that.
At the moment, no plans are possible, so perhaps experimenting with the grimm pools might yield some results of note.
Alright, I feel much better about that Duke fight after rewriting it a couple times. I kind of want to compare the Duke to the Meztyse fight, but one thing to note is that Meztyse was out to capture while the Duke was out to slaughter. With that said, am I saying the succubus would have put up a greater fight? Lmao no, the only real edge the succubus princess had was that she had tricks and curse conditions. Salem's pretty much at her wits end, pretty much all her crew is out of commission now. The vampires are stubborn as hell and aren't quite there to pulling out, they've got one more push once Vacati hears of Londe's death. We're also getting close to the ECHO boot camp section, gonna have fun putting Jaune through the wringer lol. in regards to the brutal interrogation of the now human Meztyse, Ethan doesn't see as anything other than a demon so of course he wouldn't care about torture in that case, yeah he's a bit off the walls sometimes.
Also, what do you guys think of the fights? I try to make em as realistic as I think they would play out, but comments on that are appreciated.
Reviews
Dao Ma – I'd have to say that's a pretty good point to make. I feel like its a good way of showing that for the most part ECHO unit doesn't consider their parts in solely human on human conflict. It comes off a bit sloppy since they're dealing with a new playing field that's in far worse shape than Earth. Its a bit cynical but they are an American military unit and we all know how those foreign policies play out lmao. Thank you for pointing that out, it helps me consider different angles for writing
Lolz out
