Chapter 37:
Men at War
October 30th 2019, Sekibetsu River, Tokū Solis.
The battle grew fiercer on the third day. Men and Digimon fought tooth and nail for each meter of land, casualties stacked up on both sides. The capital city was in shambles, any sign of its prior prosperity was wiped out in a few days. The glorious shine it had when the sunlight reflected off the many round, dome-like roofs of the business district and Imperial district was replaced by the lingering trails of black smoke rising up from the embers of destroyed buildings. Nothing was spared in the city.
Dividing the city in two was the Sekibetsu River, surrounding what is known as the Imperial District; where the elites, nobles, aristocrats and high ranking military officers of the Imperium reside, it is also where many prestigious universities, military academies, libraries and scientific reseach centres were located at. But more importantly, the district represents the Emperor's powers and residence.
The tanks hammered the enemy positions to the ground, the way towards the bridge had been blocked by numerous sandbag lines, barbed wires, tank traps, concrete walls and more. Buildings around the main road were booby trapped either by IEDs or a small group of legionaires, they made sure that each step that the IDDF took would inflict serious damage to its troops and their morale.
Flamedramon jumped over a sandbag wall and swiftly parried a sword strike from a fanatical Darcmon. The angel lunged the blade forward, he used his M16A4 rifle to swipe it away from him and struck her ribcage with the buttstock. The angel digimon grunted and staggered backwards, the two digimon stood a couple of feet away from each other, glaring as they silently wait for the other to make a move.
Darcmon yelled out her warcry and swiped her sword downwards, intending to hack Flamedramon' left arm off. He narrowly dodged the attack and plunged his bayonet through her chest. Grunting in effort, he pushed the blade further into the flesh and forced her on the ground. Blood spat out of the angel's mouth, tears dripping down her dirty and battered face. Flamedramon kicked her sword away. He lifted his rifle and aimed down the sights, muzzle pointed at her face. He pulled the trigger and coldly watched the bullet flying through her head, ending her life in cold blood.
The blue dramon stood there silently for a long second before he snapped himself out of his lost daze.
The Marines of Alpha and Bravo company, along with the JSDF soldiers of the Third Recon Unit and the digimon of the UAF fought through the hellscape of the battlefield. Blood, bullets and bodies dotted the road, large craters filled the street and buildings collapsed on themselves.
Cyberdramon slid to a halt behind a concrete wall. His squadmates followed suit, taking their positions and opened fire at the enemy. The digimon brought his machine gun on the wall, racked the bolt and began to spray the imperials with bursts of 7.62mm rounds. More Marines joined them as they slowly make the hard push to the bridge. Mortar strikes shortly plummeted from above, wiping out a large number of enemy soldiers and cover.
"Move out, Marines! Let's go!" Their platoon leader yelled before vaulting over the wall.
The Marines obeyed without question, with bayonet fixed at the end of their rifles, the Marines charged into another cover line of enemy troops in hand-to-hand combat. The cyborg digimon hefted the light machine gun and vault over the concrete obstacle. Projectiles flew passed him, snapping near him as he makes his move towards the fight. His body began to tire, the weight of his weapon, tactical vest and combat pack started to take a toll on him.
A round snapped just below him, losing his balance and fell on the concrete road painfully. He slowly rolled on his back and quickly wiped his weapon around and fired blindly just when a Sealsdramon was about to gun him down. The bullets perforated the digimon's armour and guts, spewing out blood on the ground and Cyberdramon. The legionaire dropped on the road and lied there motionless. He took in heavy breaths, relieved that he saved himself from death yet again. This was the third time today and he felt his lucky streak reducing.
"Come on, Corporal! On your feet and fire your weapon!" His squad leader yelled from behind.
Nodding in response, he pushed himself off the ground and joined the rest of his squad. Only three hundred meters to cross yet the objective seemed so far away. The tanks and LAVs cautiously drove forward, destroying everything in their path while the infantry moved up on the sides, sometimes clearing a building along the way. The tank at the head of the heavy support column droved over the concrete wall, crushing it under its tread and heavy weight. It let out another terrifying thunderclap, the ground trembled after the high explosive shell hit its mark.
"Loading!" Cyberdramon yelled as he flipped the feed cover up.
He threw his pack in front of him and searched for another ammo pouch. He locked the pouch on the machine gun and pulled out the belt of bullets and placed it on the feeding lock. He flipped down the feed cover and racked the charging bolt. He shouldered the weapon and resumed suppressing the enemy with short bursts of hot lead.
He felt the ground shake once again after the M1A3 Abrams fired another shell out. He glanced back to see the tan metal beast slowly making its way to the bridge with the infantry by the sides, its machine guns barked while the main gun roared, kicking around itself dust and dirt. Suddenly, an energy projectile struck just below its hull, spitting out flames and black smoke. The tank halted, swiveling to the side to let the other vehicles some space to move forward. Another round struck its side armour platings, shooting out sparks on impact.
"Hostile air! Incoming!" He heard a Marine shouting.
Tearing his eyes off the tank, he gazed upwards and spotted the small formation of aerial digimon, diving down straight for them. He readjusted his aim at them, firing short bursts to eliminate or dissuade the enemy from getting any closer, other Marines joined them as they opened fire at the flying shock troopers.
"Dragon Impulse!"
An AeroVeedramon launched a dragon-like aura of energy towards the Marines on the ground. The dragon shaped aura opened its maw like it was about to swallow the humans as it dived downwards. Cyberdramon got out of cover and ran as far from the blast as possible but unfortunately the attack was much faster. Soaring through the air, it struck the M1A3 Abrams tank and exploded, the vehicle ripped to pieces and shot out hot melted metal around itself.
He felt a burning piece of lead puncturing through his armour, it was like having lava poured into his body. The cyborg digimon growled in pain, the piece of metal hissed and vapour flew out of the wound.
The AeroVeedramon and only a smaller number of imperials, whom survived the initial onslaught, swooped down and attack the digimon of the UAF head-on. The ultimate-level AeroVeedramon rammed into a group of UAF troops, deleting half a dozen of rookie-level digimon. Flamedramon got out from cover and sprinted towards the nearest Imperial with his bayonet brandished foward. He stabbed the blade deep into a Shutumon's back, earning a cry of pain and shock from the winged digimon. He retracted the blade out and another Marine gunned the digimon down with five shots to the chest. Turning around, Flamedramon spotted the AeroVeedramon taking out in quick succession and with brutal force friendly troops.
A fireteam of Marines surrounded the winged Veedramon and opened fire. AeroVeedramon snarled and used his armoured forearms to deflect most of the incoming rounds.
"V-Breath Arrow!"
A V-shaped heatbeam shot out of his wrist and hit three Marines in a row, burning them alive to a crisp in a matter of seconds. Their cries and screams of agony was unnatural and eerie, they helplessly and desperately tried to swat the fire away but it was fruitless. They seemed to dance around like lunatics as their uniform melted with their skin and flesh, the eternal fire eating and consuming them almost to the bone. Flamedramon watched on with horror, the images of these burnt men forever etched at the back of his mind. A fury began to rise from within, the adrenaline rush sped up. Filled with passionate rage, Flamedramon charged at AeroVeedramon, letting out furious battlecry.
The legionaire spun around and felt the bayonet digging through his ribcage. He howled in pain before retaliating with a swift punch across his opponent's face. Flamedramon's facemask flew off, revealing his fresh scars and blood running down his nostrils. The digimon Marine glared at his foe and spat his own blood at the ground, feeling the metallic taste at the back of his mouth. AeroVeedramon launched another strike, summoning the blades on his wrist and swiped diagonally. Flamedramon narrowly avoided them, stepping backwards so he could let the Marines shoot the other digimon.
The Marines had their opportunity and suppressed the hostile digimon, immobilising the target on the spot. Snarling in irritation, AeroVeedramon spanned his wings out and ascended above the Marines, preparing to unleash another attack. The humans quickly scattered behind cover before they could fire back. Flamedramon aimed for the wings, tearing up chunks of his wings off with a couple of bursts from the assault rifle. The aerial digimon groaned with a mixture of pain and boiling anger, turning around to solely focus on the bipedal dramon, eyes glaring daggers at him.
"V-Wing-"
"Moon Moon Shooter!"
A volley of highly sharp and huge needles perforated the winged digimon from below, ripping apart scales and flesh. AeroVeedramon fell helplessly from the sky, his wings badly hurt and now useless. The digimon hit the ground with a resounding crash but the fall didn't kill him. The winged Veedramon lied on the ground, gasping for air as pain numbed his entire body, rivers of blood gauged out of his hole riddled body.
Stingmon slowly walked up to him, staring down at him coldly. The Spike on his right arm sprung out before he swiftly plunged the blade through the Digicore, instantly killing the wounded digimon. Wordlessly, Stingmon walked away, regrouping with his teammates while leaving behind the lingering cloud of data particle.
"Thanks..." Flamedramon said tiredly.
The humanoid insect halted on his tracks and quietly looked back at the other digimon, "Don't mention it," He replied stoically.
Though a bit taken aback by the cold response, Flamedramon sensed that there wasn't any ill intention in the way he spoke up, he figured that he was naturally stoic or awkwardly unsocial.
The battle raged on as the day went on, there wasn't a single moment of peace like the other two days, the imperials were giving everything they've got to protect their home, to the very last digimon. The news of BlackSeraphimon's death had been shared to all forces, however the location of the two other Lord Generals still remained unknown to the coalition.
IDDF controlled areas were still dangerous, pockets of legionaire fighters were hiding in the ruins to ambush any unsuspecting soldiers. This was a war of attrition now, any dead or wounded they inflicted will be another blow to the troops' morale. In the afternoon, the IDDF and its allies finally managed to control one side of the riverbank, all six bridges were captured but Intel suggested that the enemy would soon come back in the evening to reclaim their lost territories.
The Marines set up their defenses as they prepared themselves for the night counter-attack. More troops and supplies were mobilised along the river frontline and to further add stress and to demoralise them, imperial snipers had been set at the otherside of the river, men and digimon now need to worry about sniper and aerial attacks.
From the second floor of a building, Shoutmon observed the humans as they continued to set up their defenses: machine gun positions, mortar emplacements and HMG firing points; all under the supervision of the officers.
The small draconic digimon sighed heavily after sensing another presence in the devastated room. The other digimon let out quiet footfalls as they stood beside him, hands clasped behind his back.
"You seemed to be troubled, your Majesty," The digimon spoke with a soft and angelic female voice.
Shoutmon chuckled tiredly, "It's been a long time since I've spoken to you," The other mysterious digimon hummed in agreement.
"Indeed, but times have been quite... difficult for the both of us," She told him softly, "I'm sure you can understand that,"
"Yeah well the war isn't going to end itself," He replied wryly, "Though I'm also sure you're not here just to pay me a visit, especially in a warzone, snipers are picking off the unlucky ones. That would be unnatural of you to have bad timing,"
The angelic digimon giggled lightly, earning a small smile to cross Shoutmon's face, "You know me all too well, Shoutmon, but yes, I've come here for an entirely different reason," She paused for a moment, letting Shoutmon a small measure of peace before she spoke on the matter.
"Other than aiding the refugees, I've been sent to relieve a curse on a certain human," Shoutmon's eyebrow raised with curiousity.
"A curse?" He asked, now intrigued.
"Yes, the particular human is developping some sort of poisoning of Virus origin. In other words, he's affected by our data,"
"Affected? Do you mean he isn't supposed to be cursed?"
"Exactly... when cursed a human is only rendered permanently blind for they are made of real flesh and blood, not data like us Digimon. But this human managed to be affected by it, and thus he is slowly dying from within," She explained in serious tone, something that was rare on her part.
"Is this curse contagious?" Shoutmon asked with worry, carefully eyeing the humans to spot this affected one.
"Fortunately no, but there's more... Recently, he's having lucid nightmares. The humans can only diagnose him with some case of post-traumatic stress disorder but this is something much greater. He is having visions, not nightmares,"
"And you think that his visions can become a reality?"
There was long pause from the angel digimon, she seemed to be bothered by the matter, something that's starting to worry the king of the Green Zone.
"This war is only the beginning, Shoutmon," She stated mysteriously, plainly avoiding his question, "More misery and destruction is to come in the near future. I sadly cannot reveal more for God is watching my every move. I wish of you to be careful and be prepared for the worst. The humans may be our allies but they bring a great danger with them, something far more dangerous and powerful than their weapons and bombs..."
For the first time in ages, Shoutmon felt fear, fear of the uncertain future that his old friend has predicted. If anything she said was true, than he better make sure he's prepared for this unknown danger, the DigiWorld is still in grave danger, a ticking bomb is about to set his world to flames and probably the Real World with it. He closed his eyes pensively before reopening them and looked around him, the angelic digimon long gone.
"I really hate when she does that..." He murmured bitterly.
Rapid metallic footfalls echoed from the corridor, the clatter of armour plates and the creaks of the wood planks grew louder as the figure approached his location. Calmly turning to the doorway, he saw a Zubaeagermon halting in mid-stride once they've found their king and leader. The Vaccine Digimon bowed down while breathing heavily.
"Your Majesty, the Royal Knight Craniamon wishes for your presence in the command tent," The fairly young digimon reported dutifully.
"Tell him I'll be there in a few minutes," Shoutmon instructed the Champion-level digimon.
"HAI!" The four-legged digimon responded eagerly and quickly ran back down the stairs, accidentally tripping down and crashing onto the floor, "I'M OKAY!" He shouted as he left the building.
Shoutmon simply laughed at the digimon's antics. More questions came through his mind that uneased him; who is this affected human? What are the dangers? What if he isn't cured? Unfortunately he has no answers to these questions, he simply shoved them to the back of his mind for there are more pressing issues at the moment.
Sekibetsu River, 2245 hours.
For the past hour, the combined air forces had been bombarding the enemy non-stop, bright flashes of explosions span across the district, more black smoke rose to the night sky while the district was lit in a hellish fire. The Marines watched the flames and explosions in silence, it was their fireworks show, they gazed at it in silence, such devastating attacks was the norm for these men, men used to the war.
However they knew that these airstrikes did little to the enemy's morale, they will be coming for them, there was nothing that can truly halt the Imperial war machine.
From a building facing the bridge, Raymond observed the perimeter with a pair of night vision binoculars, a machine gun fire team and a riflemen squad of Marines were in the same room, overwatching the riverbank in silence with their night vision goggles on. Sullivan stood just next the company commander, using a night vision monocular to spot any hostile units.
The silence was almost eerie, too quiet for the Marines and digimon on the ground while the airstrikes raged on in the distance. They waited for the inevitable, holding their breaths while surveying their surroundings cautiously.
Raymond gently pulled Sullivan down, ducking behind the wall of sandbags and Marines. The Marines tensed up and readied themselves, their weapons up and ready to shoot on their captain's order.
"They're here, crossing the river, dozens of them while a large group is being assembled at the otherside of the bridge," Raymond notified in a whisper while pointing at the ripples being formed at the river, "Call in an artillery strike at the other side of the bridge up to a three hundred meters up," He instructed Sullivan, "You open fire once they hit the shore," He ordered his Marines. Those on the ground had been notified prior the nightfall.
When the news finally reached the other units, the Marines got ready for the fight, their weapons were aimed at the bridge and down on the slope of the riverbank.
There were two dozen small rubber boats crossing the river, each carrying at least ten legionaires, two were paddling as quietly as possible, already fearing and wincing at the sight of the ripples they were creating. The first boat hit the riverbank, all ten legionaires dropped off to the side, some landed on the water, eminating loud splashes. They quickly pulled the boat further onto the shore before they slowly crept up the slope with the others arriving and disembarking.
A loud crack abruptly cut through the tense silence, a green streak of light flew straight into an imperial trooper's chest, the sudden force threw them to the ground with a rain of blood bursting out of their chest. The second later, all hell broke loose, the imperials were mowed down by a storm of green and red tracers fired by machine guns and rifles. From the sky, high pitched wails as artillery shells dived on the imperials gathered at the other end of the bridge, crushing and pounding them with metal and fire.
Already ambushed, the imperials panicked and charged blindly at their enemy, the bullets and artillery strikes chewing through their numbers. Like a furious swarm of bees, the bullets cut through their ranks and mowed through them mercilessly and relentlessly. Casualties were high in a matter of minutes.
"Keep on pouring at 'em, Marines! Get them what they deserve! Give 'em hell!" Raymond encouraged loudly through the loud barks and roars of weapons.
The once empty road was soon illuminated by the muzzle flashes and explosions from the humans' weaponry. Farther back from the frontline, Shoutmon, among a handful others, watched with shock and awe the ongoing firefight. In awe because of the bright flashes caused by the humans and their display of firepower on a short notice, in shock and fear because they threw hell and fury on digimon like a warhammer, knowing deep down that he could be at their place and mercy. So many lives were extinguished in seconds. Humans were both terrifying and interesting to him.
Behind him was Craniamon, quietly observing the battlefield, his hands held firmly his tower shield and double bladed spear. The digimon acted as the support role for the humans, in case they retreated and needed to eliminated targets in close combat. But to him, they seem to handle themselves quite well, much to his dismay.
The Imps let out a war cry as they desperately pushed through the volley of bullets and shower of shells and missiles. Digimon were riddled, peppered, dismembered, blown up and torn apart to pieces, the river slowly took on a much darker coloration as blood flowed down the riverbank and bridge. The wails of severely wounded legionaires were equally matched with the roars of weapons.
From their position at the building, the floor began to be piled up by empty bullet casings and ammunation boxes. Ammo was running low, logistics were quick enough to re-supply the men in time but soon they'll have to fall back. Quite ironic given the fact they had the upperhand. This wasn't a battle after all, it was a massacre, a turkey shoot; for the past thirty minutes of the chaotic slaughter, Raymond had only of five casualites so far, all wounded.
Raymond crouched down to reload his carbine. He heard a hiss just next to him, he glanced to his left and saw Cyberdramon changing the red hot barrel for another one. Once he reinserted the new barrel, the digimon racked the bolt back only for it to be stuck mid-way. The digimon tried again and again and again until he cursed and checked his weapon with scrutiny, groaning in frustration.
"What's the matter?" Raymond asked loudly.
"MG's jammed, sir! Don't know why!" Cyberdramon replied truthfully, struggling to pull the bolt back.
"Let me see," The captain demanded as he gently took the machine gun out of Cyberdramon's grasp.
He grabbed a flashlight and peered into the feed and barrel, the inside was completely melted shut, much to his surprise.
"Weapon's useless, Marine, you somehow melted the insides," He said as he ditched the machine gun aside, "Try to find an-"
"HIT THE DECK!"
Raymond felt himself being tackled to the ground meters away from his original spot. An earth-shattering explosion and intense heat suddenly struck the room, his ears went deaf, high-pitched bells rang in his ears. He felt a heavy weight on him and some kind of warm liquid spilling on his uniform. He slowly opened his eyes, his senses completely blurred and looked around. He tried to move the weight off him only for it to reply with a pained groan. Realising there was someone on him, he slowly pushed them aside, sat up and gazed to his right.
"Oh fuck,"
Blood poured out of Cyberdramon's mouth as he struggles to breathe, his body twitching uncontrollably and wincing in enormous pain. Most of his armour had been burnt, melted with his skin, or punctured by several sharpnels. His wings were broken, the left one being ripped to pieces.
"Corpsman!" Raymond shouted as he began to nurse the digimon's wounds, if he could. Cyberdramon's status was severe, he could die in the next few minutes. Blood poured out of him.
"h-h-he-lp m-m-" Cyberdramon struggled to speak up, his mouth quivering and teeth gritted, trying to suppress the pain and stay awake.
"Just focus on staying awake, Cyberdramon, I'm getting you out of here,"
Raymond began to pull on the digimon's plate carrier's shoulder straps, making him whimper as his skin began to peel off with his melted armour. Raymond stopped when he noticed the damage he was doing.
"Goddamnit – CORPSMAN! MEDIC!" He shouted angrily.
He spotted two Marines at the back, ammunation boxes with them. They both halted in their jog and watched the room with shock, mouths agaped at the state of the room.
"Get me a stretcher instead of gawking!" He ordered them furiously.
The Marines dropped the ammo boxes and complied to the order, searching for a foldable stretcher around. A minute later, they came back with one and unfolded it, then helped Raymond to get the wounded digimon on it. Raymond noticed that Cyberdramon's silhouette seemed to glitch, data started to fly away from him.
"Come on! Pick up the pace and get him to a digi medic asap!" He instructed urgently, knowing that the digimon only had minutes to live.
Craniamon mobilised his task force after the devastating imperial artillery barrage, Shoutmon gathered his troops as soon as Craniamon flew off to the frontline. The humans were pulling back, the enemy has the advantage of the chaos.
"Is everyone assembled?" He asked Dorulumon.
"Hai! All units are present and ready for battle." The four-legged digimon reported stoically.
"You know the mission, hold the enemy until everyone made it to the secondary line,"
With a nod, Dorulumon led the company of UAF soldiers into the fray. Shoutmon watched on with dread at the turning point of the battle, the enemy had managed to punch through their defenses.
"Fall back! Fall back!" Dukeman yelled, kicking a Marine out of his hiding spot, "Go! Go! Go!"
Just behind him, the Royal Knight Strike Force engaged the enemy in hand-to-hand combat while a handful of Marines provided support and cover fire for the others. He spun around and fired three quick bursts at hostile troops from his M16A4 rifle. He parried a bayonet strike from a Sealsdramon and struck them with the butt of his rifle before plunging his bayonet through their chest. He pulled the blade back and stabbed them a second time for good measure.
He felt three rounds whizzed behind him and two bodies fell to his right. He turned around and spotted Raymond with his sidearm out.
"Now you owe me," Raymond joked with a small grin.
"Fuck you, I don't, you owed me," The Gunnery-Sergeant shot back, eliminating another target.
"Bullshit, that time didn't count," The Captain responded while reloading his M45 pistol.
The two Marines covered each other's back, taking out one target at a time like automated machines, switching from one target to another, swaping out their weapon when necessary and crouching behind cover when needed.
Shortly after UAF troops joined the battle, joining the Strike Force to hold off the enemy while the humans regrouped at the secondary line where the tanks were in position to provide heavy support.
"We need to go, sir!" Dukeman advised urgently.
"I know!" Raymond retorted. A light, metallic thud landed between them, his eyes widened in realisation, "FRAG!" He yelled.
Time slowed down all of the sudden, his instincts and training kicked in at the same time, his guts told him to run while his mind told him to jump out. He did neither. As Dukeman dived for the ground, he grabbed the grenade and threw it at the air. He watched the round object being flung upwards, his right hand lifted to shield his eyes while he let himself fall on the ground.
The hand grenade detonated, a fiery flash bursted out of its metal shell, broken into hot pieces of shrapnels and spreading out widely.
Then time resumed its course when he hit the ground.
He felt a fragment being lodged into his right thigh, burning his flesh away. He screamed and pulled his pistol up when a BanchoLeomon started to charge at him. He fired four shots, only one hit the target, staggering the bipedal lion but not killing them. His pistol clicked empty.
"Fuck!"
He rolled to the side, narrowly dodging the large blade aimed to impale his chest. He got up and tackled the digimon to the ground, pulling out his KABAR knife in the process. He lunged the blade at their throat only to be caught in mid-action. The two warriors struggled for the upperhand, BanchoLeomon slowly pushed the knife away, surprised of the human's strenght.
BanchoLeomon threw a swift punch at his face. He fell off the digimon, his head dizzy and dazed. The beast digimon grabbed Raymond's throat and lifted him off the ground while in their other hand they held the tantō.
"You fight well, human, however it is time for you to die," BanchoLeomon stated with a sadistic toothy grin.
"Go to hell!" Raymond let go of the grenade's pin, releasing a 'ping'. He held the grenade up and dropped it at their feet.
The digimon yelled and threw the human away before it exploded at their feet, severing their legs off and spilling their organs on the ground. Raymond wailed after he landed on his wounded leg. He clutched it with his hands, seeing the blood flow out of his combat trousers. Cursing and admist the chaos, he got up and painfully made his way back in the building.
He closed the door behind him and rested against the wall. He was in pain, confused and lost. He was pretty sure that now the Marines were already at the secondary line with the digimon; in other words, he's behind enemy line.
"Great..." He muttered bitterly and slowly marched up the staircase. He might as well do something to cripple the enemy while he's still here, give them a metaphorical "fuck you".
Reaching in the same destroyed room he was half an hour ago, he carefully and quietly made his way to the shattered windows, making sure to keep himself low to avoid being caught. There was another whole battalion's worth of legionaires crossing the bridge, they were amassing their strenght to overtake this bridge.
Intel suggested they would spread their forces apart to hopefully capture all five bridges. Looks like that intel was false.
"Christ..."
He looked around for his scattered PLD. He found the device being buried under a rubble and took it without emitting a sound. His hopes however were gone when he found out that it was crushed by the rubble, not buried. He sighed and simply took his radio out.
"Phoenix 2, Phoenix 2, this is Alpha-Actual, do you copy?" He whispered, fearing the worse. No reply. He repeated again while carefully observing outside enemy activity.
"Alpha-Actual, this is Phoenix 2, we're reading you, over." He breathed out in relief at the reply.
"Phoenix 2, fire mission on grid: Bravo Hotel 092 108 096, a whole battalion of foot and armour in the open, H.E in effect 10 rounds, danger close. Over," The artillery radio operator repeated the order with hesitation.
"Uh, Alpha-Actual, you want us to shoot the bridge down?"
"Affirmative, that's the only way to cut them off before they overrun us. Now fire for effect, over,"
"Roger that, package's out in 20 seconds, over,"
A crash suddenly broke the silence. Rapid footsteps and shouting came from the staircase from below, probably a squad of soldiers coming up towards his location. Cursing, he adjusted himself behind some moderate cover and reloaded the M45 pistol before he aimed it at the door. A single wooden door stood between him and an unknown number of hostiles.
His gaze hardened, his senses tensed and mind focused behind the pistol, they were here. Silence fell for a short moment before the door was kicked open. The first shot rang in the room, one body fell with blood and brain matter splattered everywhere. Four shots roared next, two missed Raymond while the two others mortally wounded an Imperial. And then Hell fell from night sky.
The ground trembled violently as the artillery shells hammered the enemy in a spectacle of huge explosions, destruction, death and doom. The hostile squad panicked as they were near the shelling area, the building shaking uncontrollably, threatening to collapsed on its own in any second. Raymond used this opportunity to finish off the wounded trooper with a bullet to the chest and fired two more rounds at the other. The last legionaire fired back frantically, retreating behind cover while his comrade cried in pain. He fired the last two rounds at the doorway, suppressing them. He quickly ejected the spent mag out and took a fresh one, his last one.
The wounded imperial pulled out their sidearm and opened fire, missing most of their shots. The M45 snapped as the round was chambered in, Raymond killed them before focusing on the last one. At the same time, the legionaire sprung out of cover, assault rifle in hand and ready to shoot. They pulled the trigger, automatic fire barked louder than the pistol, bullets flew at both direction. They fell down the stairs, dead before they even hit the floor.
Raymond let out a pained and raspy gasp. Two out of three rounds hit him, penetrating the kevlar plate and into his ribcage. He let go of his pistol and instinctively held his chest, one hand searching for a field dressing while the other held onto the wounds. Fear began to surge in his mind, this was it for him, his instincts told him.
"F-f-fu-uck..."
He grunted as he tries to open the plate carrier from the side to let the field dressing in. However his vision became hazy, he knew he was dying yet he struggled for a slimmer of hope to live. He felt cold suddenly, as if winter just came. He fell to his right, hitting the wooden floor with a heavy thud. His breathing was shallow, his eyes threatening to close before him. With one last effort and energy, he rolled himself on his back, staring blankly at the ceiling while waiting for death's slow embrace. He knew this would happen one day; he got too lucky for this world, too many close calls.
One last eased breath escaped his mouth before his eyes closed, resting forever.
The artillery bombardment was the firepower the humans and digimon needed to halt the enemy wave. The opposition force was cut in half, the legionaires' morale dropped instantly and ran away, their officiers screamed at them to bring back unit coherency but were quickly eliminated by the humans. The Marines cheered and roared victoriously, their spirits gone up as they gunned down the retreating enemy force, the tanks and mortars launched death from above, pounding the imperials into bloody pulps.
Craniamon stoically watched the Marines angrily spewing out profanities while they gun down every imperial like helpless preys. They held no mercy, no imperial was spared in the ensuing onslaught. The Royal Knight tore his gaze away from the battlefield and looked back at the makeshift medical station. Casualties began to pile up, wounded on stretchers were being carried over to the station frequently, medical extract was busy from across the frontline, only two helicopters were dedicated for this station to evac and supply the station.
The battlefield slowly died down, the humans were given a moment of respite. He walked along the wall of sandbags and soldiers; most of them smoked, relieving some of the stress while others were on guard duty or slept on the ground. Few Marines looked back at him and gave him a nod. The purple knight finally made to the command tent, where only a Marine Captain and his XO were present.
The two Marines were exhausted and dirty. Their green-ish uniform were covered and tainted by dirt, sweat and blood. The officer, Captain Middendorf, perked up and seemed to be momentarily surprised by his presence before he returned to his usual frowned face.
"Captain," Craniamon greeted respectfully, "First Lieutenant," Both officers saluted back at him, "Where are the others?" He asked while looking around and making his way to the table displaying the map of the sector.
"First Lieutenant Itami is on his way with the king Shoutmon. As for Captain Raymond... I have no idea," Middendorf stated with worry, "I've sent his XO to search for him. The company sergeant is... in really bad shape as we speak," He explained solemnly.
"Is he going to make it?" Craniamon enquired neutrally, "The company sergeant I meant,"
"He should make it but I don't know if he's fit for duty. He got stabbed to the lower torso by a sword ," Middendorf replied honestly.
The tent's flaps lifted upwards as Itami, Tomita and Shoutmon arrived. Shortly later, Sullivan came back with a frown. Middendorf asked him if Raymond was around, the executive officer shook his head. Alpha Company has lost its commander. He's either KIA or MIA.
"Do you think that he was the one that called in that artillery strike?" First Lieutenant Briggs asked as a hypothesis.
"Don't know but we need to regather our strenght before we can make a push to recapture the objective," Middendorf stated.
"I think it's pointless, captain, "Shoutmon spoke up, "The bridge's half destroyed now, no one's getting through that way,"
Middendorf sighed and rubbed his messy and sticky hair in frustration, "Lieutenant Sullivan, from now on, you'll be temporary commander of Alpha company until we can find Raymond or confirm his death. I'll try to contact Overlord and request any help from them,"
"Should I tell the men about this?" Sullivan asked with uncertainty. The captain replied with a nod. The XO straightened his back and gave a sharp salute before leaving the tent.
After a couple of minutes of debriefing, everyone left the tent except for Craniamon and Middendorf, whom didn't noticed the Royal Knight staying in his spot. The human sighed and ungracefully sat on an ammo crate. His head hung down, resting on his hands.
"Is everything all right, captain?" The man got startled when the digimon spoke up.
"Uh...I... yeah, just fine..." He lied with an exasperated sigh, "Didn't notice you were still here... Scared the shit out of me,"
"I apologised if I've startled you, it wasn't in-" He was interrupted when Middendorf chuckled tiredly.
"You don't need to be so formal now and you don't need to apologise. No harm's done here,"
"Very well. However I do need to note that you seemed disturbed about something. Is something bugging your mind?" The Royal Knight with genuine concern.
"Heh, you got me there," The officer admitted dryly before he sighed, "That was a massacre out there... the Imps just kept running straight at us... like pigs sent to the slaughter house... I've lost so many men back there, butchered by these... fanatics... monsters..."
Craniamon had seen it, he had seen the face of lost men, their spirits shaken by the violences of war. It is rare for a digimon to have battle fatigue but with humans, despite their ferocity in battle, they are relatively frail creatures compared to them, he knew by seeing them that once they'll go back home, they will be forever changed because of the war. Their souls had been torn and lost to the war.
Middendorf coughed and silently got up. He headed for the flaps and lifted them open before he looked at his watch and then at the digimon.
"By the way... Happy Halloween," He said with a tired grin and left the digimon alone in the tent.
The Royal Knight simply chuckled to himself while shaking his head. Somehow some humans haven't lost their sense of humour.
Imperialdramon General Hospital, Tokū Solis.
Once the helicopter landed, the team of combat medics jumped out of metal bird with their dying patient on the stretcher.
The civilian hospital was soon turned into a military emergency centre after its capture. Wounded digimon and humans crowded the halls of the hospital, medical personels ran left and right with supplies or stretchers. Outside were rows of black, blue and drab olive bodybags, waiting to be lifted away by transport helicopters.
The team bursted through the double doors, everyone quickly stood aside, letting them aside and pass through the busy hall.
"Make way! Make way!" The medic at the lead shouted as they had for the nearest station.
Duskmon inspected the severe wounds of a human soldier, a Canadian, with a third degree burn on his left arm and left part of his face and a bullet through his right kneecap, the bone completely shattered to pieces and possibly turned into powder. Next to him were two of his assistants, nursing the wounds of the man.
The door abruptly bursted open, catching the stares of some of the medical staffs, including his. The humans laid the stretcher on an empty bed and began to nurse the wounds of the digimon.
"We need a digimon physician over here!" One of the medics demanded urgently.
"Make sure to stop the bleeding on the kneecap and give him another shot of morphine," He instructed to one of his assistants before making his way to them, "What's his status?" He asked while examinating the wounded Cyberdramon.
"Severe third degree burns everywhere on him, his armour has melted with his skin and multiple shrapnel wounds to the back and chest, he's losing a lot of blood," The lead combat medic reported quickly but clearly.
"Did you give him morphine?"
"No sir, he's in too much pain but I was afraid that he'll die from exhaustion, we had no choice,"
Duskmon nodded in approval, these men did the right thing despite having zero training on digimon biology and medical proccedures, "You did good, Corporal, I'll handle this from here," The medics nodded obediently and left the expert to the task. "Sorcerimon!" He called out.
The white sorcerer arrived in short notice, standing at attention before him. His white clothes and cape were tainted with dirt and blood, both dry and fresh. His old thick leather gloves were replaced with another pair of blue elastic gloves, recently clean to wash off the blood of a prior patient. His hat was also gone, a simple white hair cover kept his messy blonde hair in place.
"I need you to stabilise him while I get a team to move him to the emergency area," Duskmon instructed flatly,"Looks like we have to revert him back to his rookie form,"
"You're going to revert him?" Sorcerimon asked in surprise, "Are sure the revert machines even work? I thought they were broken,"
"But one is still intact, we have enough power to use it at its full capacity," Duskmon informed him before he left the white wizard to his task.
Sorcerimon summoned his staff and casted a slow healing spell on Cyberdramon, it won't do much but it will stabilise the bleeding and keep him alive longer.
"Hang in there, we'll get you fixed in no time,"
Cyberdramon didn't reply, his body kept trembling uncontrollably, coughing violently as blood spat out of his mouth, his mouth quivered, he couldn't talk, couldn't breath properly and extremely cold. Sorcerimon noticed and looked around for a thermal blanket. He searched through the cabinets and found one. He ran back to Cyberdramon, ripped the plastic packaging and laid out the blanket on him.
"T-thanks..." Cyberdramon weakly said gratefully.
Shortly after, he was carried away by medical staff to the emergency station, where they will try to revert him back to his rookie form, hopefully the wounds inflicted to him wouldn't transfert to that form. This was their last chance to save him. This also meant that he won't be able to digivolve back to Cyberdramon conventionally.
An hour has passed and his shift ended, he was given an hour break before his unit will be mobilised to a refugee camp out of the city, away from the frontline.
Sorcerimon stood outside, silently staring from afar the hectic and ongoing battle. War has changed since the humans intervened, gone were the days of battles fought in large open fields, where armies would clash and fight for a day and rest for another. Warfare now became faster paced, more intense, more mobile, dynamic and involved sea, air and land. Conventional troops fought in fixed positions, aided by air and artillery support while spec ops units were sent behind enemy line, sabotaging the enemy or assassinating their leader. War has become more destructive, more deadly. It has become a total war.
Near him were two humans, chatting amicably while smoking. The digimon occasionally glanced at their direction. They seemed so lax, seemingly forgetting of the horrors in the hospital and far ahead of them. Humans are weird creatures. Sorcerimon sighed and slowly walked towards them.
The two combat medics stopped chatting as soon as Sorcerimon approached them. They were from different nations, as the digimon noticed by the small flag patch on their sleeves, one was an Australian while the other was an American.
"Need somethin' friend?" The American adressed with a friendly smile while the other took a puff of smoke.
"Yeah... Do you have a cigarette left?" Sorcerimon asked tentatively. The humans looked at each other in surprise before they chuckled, the Australian dug into his trousers' pocket to take out one cigarette and gave it to the digimon.
"Didn't know digimons could smoke," The Aussie said while lighting up the tip of the smoke for him.
"Oh they do," Sorcerimon confirmed as a matter of fact, "I don't," He added with a sly grin.
"Shit, so this is your first time, huh?" The American asked curiously.
"Yeah," Sorcerimon replied before taking a whiff of the cigarette.
He suddenly felt the nicotine entering his throat, almost burning his throat, before polluting his lungs. He immediately coughed dryly and violently, a tear ran down his cheek while the humans laughed.
"D-d-damn... t-that's a-wful!" He said before inhaling it carefully.
"Mate, you're takin' like a champ' " The Australian said, although his strong accent was hard for the digimon to understand him.
"What did you said?"
The American chuckled, "He said you're taking it like a champ, despite being your first time,"
Sorcerimon shrugged casualy, "Yeah well, I needed something to calm my nerves,"
"Amen," The two humans replied.
... Unknown...
Fierce firefights echoed behind him, his heartbeat drumming into his ears, his breath unsteady and rapid, his body aching and screaming for a break. His feet led him somewhere. His eyes darted left and right, checking his surroundings as he crosses the empty street.
He ran down the staircase to the metro tunnel. He turned his flashlight on as he slowed down his pace, realising that his steps echoed painfully loudly in the tunnel. He moved the light around him, abandonned luggages scatter the tiled floor, vending machines and garbage bins were thrown on the ground, the ceiling lights were either dead or flickered dimly.
He unconsciously walked through the eerie silent metro, his footsteps still echoing loudly. He seemed to be pull towards some kind of force, as if it commanded him, beckoning him towards it. Walking down the lone corridor, he noticed that the place was flooding, evident by the small droplets of rain water on the ceiling. Moving deeper into the tunnel and the water level was slowly rising up to his ankles, his footsteps echoed much louder thanks to the constant splashes of water that he made, but somehow he didn't care about this.
He later had to jump into the flooded rails to get across the platform, the water reached up to his hip. He crawled his way through the water, making too much noise for his comfort, only amplified by the echoes. He grabbed onto the platform and lifted himself off the rails and onto relatively dry land, now half of his uniform was drenched.
He continued to march to his unknown destination. He was even beginning to question reality. Where was he? Why is he here? Where is he going? And why? These questions were soon shoved away at the back of his mind; he has a mission to accomplish.
A flight of stairs greeted the Marine, total darkness awaited him on the next level. Cautiously, he walked up the steps, his weapon up and ready to shoot at any hostile. Once he made it up, his flashlight was his only source of light in this very dark corridor.
Fear started to grip his mind, his guts tied into multiple knots, his consciousness yelling at him to turn back. He had a bad feeling. But his training kicked right in, shoving his fear aside and replaced it with courage and determination. Duty comes first for the Marine. He released a shaky breath and moved on.
The corridor seemed to be endless, he had been walking in a straight line for over five minutes. He was getting irritated with it. His hands gripped the weapon more firmly. Then a faint sound echoed back at him. It wasn't his footstep nor the droplets of water, it sounded like a growl. He continued forward with more caution until his flashlight flickered and eventually shut off. He groaned and checked his equipment while slowly walking in complete darkness.
A sickening crunch halted him in his stride. His right foot landed on something really hard. He moved away and stepped on something softer while emanating a disgusting 'squirt' sound. A horrendous smell suddenly assaulted his nose, hot tears streamed down his cheeks as he tries not to gag. His flashlight turned on and revealed the water having a dark, red shade. His eyes widened in realisation that the water turned to blood, a literal river of blood. He looked at his feet and gasped in horror when he noticed a body part on the ground, the very one he stepped on. It ressembles an opened skull with the brain splattered out on the floor and due to the size, he made the shocking conclusion the corpse belonged to a child.
But the horrors didn't end there.
Slowly, moving his light to different direction, more corpses appear, piled up, ripped apart, shredded, clawed open, scattered with the guts and intestines displayed on the ground, pieces of flesh or members floating in the river of blood and they just keep appearing, getting larger in number as he moved the light ahead of him. Only to have a huge mass blocking the way. A creature he hadn't seen before.
Thankfully it had its back facing him but even from that, he was petrified with fear. The creature was enormous in size, thick layer of dark brown fur coated the beast with a pair of large dark bat-like wings spruted out on its back. Two long and thick horns were sticking out from the back of its head. Its arms were large and so were its legs, the beast was currently crouching, its hands near its face, probably feasting on the corpses. Eating the civilians and soldiers around it.
The light shining from behind caught its attention. It slowly turned around with a deep and menacing growl, like a predator protecting its fresh meal. Two crimson eyes glared at him with uncontrollable animosity and ferocity yet he knew this demonic beast was sentient, unlike a savage animal. Deep scars were etched across its face, chains wrapped around its forearms with golden gauntlets on its hands. Deep red marking were on its massive and muscular chest.
The creature's growl grew louder, steam puffed out of its nose while blood and flesh seeped out of its bloodied maw. He had interrupted its meal and he was going to pay for it. The beast fully faced him, taking one step forward, completely flattening a corpse with its right foot. Its fur was covered in the blood of its victims and it is seeking for more.
For the first time in many years, Stephen was scared, horrofied and unable to move. Panic has short-circuit his mind, disabling any reasonable or logical thinking. Fear struck deep in his heart, his breathing quickened, his legs shaking, hands trembling, he could barely hold his carbine up. He felt helpless, desperate, afraid... like a coward.
"S-s-s-stay b-b-back..." He choked after long seconds of being speechless.
The demonic entity almost grinned maliciously, as if mocking him and his cowardice.
"A sheep..." It said in a deep, throaty voice, "Like the others... Pathetic... Cowards..."
In a blink of an eye, it launched at him, maws wide open and arms sprung out. Stephen stood and watched helplessly to his horror as the creature was about to chew him in half.
Then everything went black.