Double Assault

When the group appeared, it was just behind Weiss, even as some of his forces were taking on the first of those wolf-lions to come over the collapsed pass. Genesis turned to scan the whole area, as did Sephiroth, while Al went to the nearby civilians and Ed scanned the pass itself. All Weiss did was give them a nod and turn back to the battle, jumping in to attack more wolf-lions. It was obvious the civilians—maybe around four or five hundred of them all together—were terrified of the wolf-lions, so he was sure they weren't pleasant opponents.

"Yes, they're a type of chimera, which means the weight of both a wolf and a lion are in the same space," Ed commented. "That weight will be a huge benefit to them against ground forces like Weiss', so Mages was a good call. Sonna, can you keep them confused or blinded more than anything?"

"Sure. I'm not all that much good for attack, anyway," she agreed, then activated Invis on herself so she could move around without being seen. Against the wolf-lions, it wouldn't make any difference, but against their handlers, it would be a prime position.

"Mages, get in there and start leveling the war-beasts and their handlers!" Genesis called, hoping Sephiroth wouldn't decide to try to take over instead. "Try to keep yourselves in an advancing line, but don't try to kill every one of them—Weiss and his group will still be here to take care of stragglers. Of course, they may all target you anyway, but if they don't, let some get through. Keep working your way forward—yes, over the rubble!—until you reach the far end of the pass, then hold there! Sephiroth, focus on anything in the air over the entire battlefield, and see if you can tell how many troops they actually have! I'm going to head to the far side of the pass to start eliminating them there!"

As Ed was creating a row of stone blockades for attackers, Nina rode Alexander up the mountains alongside the pass, and Al began casting healing on Weiss' troops and the civilians (had he known the boy could do that?). Genesis and Sephiroth both called out their wings as the Mages lined up and began beating back the wolf-lions just past where Weiss and his were fighting, leaving the pass' defenders only what had already gotten through. There were no handlers in that batch, which meant they either couldn't or wouldn't ride the war-beasts, so had to advance more slowly, even if they were going to climb rather than staying to dig out the pass.

Once the two were in the air, Genesis thought of another point and called over to the other man, "Seph, let's stay close to the sides along the pass and clear out and groups we see on the mountains above the pass itself! Those could be climbers or riders, especially if they're used to mountains and have horses bred for that." Even as he did that, he absently threw some fire into the middle of the long string of war-beasts, reducing their numbers some without putting much focus on doing so. When the General just nodded, he turned his attention forward again—and was more than a little thankful SOLDIERs had enhanced night vision, too.

When they got to the first of the handlers, they both began throwing magic down into the people, reducing the number of them more than they had with the war-beasts. They still weren't trying for full elimination, just a reduction, so passed over quickly—and soon after, found the first group of riders coming over the mountain on sturdy horses obviously trained for mountain climbing. It would be a shame to kill the beasts, since those were just going where their riders directed them, so he just aimed right at the riders, who were all well-armed, and eliminated them. The horses were beasts of burden, not war-beasts, even if they'd been trained to fight back when attacked.

A glance at Sephiroth showed him largely also not bothering with the horses, but he'd suspected that to be the case, as they'd done the same with terrorists or bandits riding on Chocobos before. And in these circumstances, the horses would be their version of 'war spoils'. They kept up through the pass, aiming into the forces below even once they were past the rock slide and striking the groups they found bypassing it on the mountains above the pass. Of all of the ones up top, two groups on each side weren't mounted, but the rest were, for a total of five mounted groups on each side, all progressing roughly apace.

One of those groups, the fourth one, gave Genesis pause, because one armored rider hadn't drawn any of the weapons he wore, and when he threw fire at the riders, it bent around that man. He motioned for Seph to keep going, then turned and headed to the man, who had stopped in shock to stare around him at all the now-riderless horses, and dropped down to the ground a fair distance away from him, sword drawn and rippling with flames.

After a moment, the man asked, "So, have you come to kill me?"

Genesis quirked a brow and commented, "I already tried that, and it bent around you. Are you some sort of Avatar, and if so, why in Hellfire are you out here on a battlefield as a soldier?"

The man snorted and repeated, "Hellfire. That's accurate. They can stick me in armor and put me on my horse, even make my horse follow theirs, but they can't make me draw my weapons or fight. No, I'm no Avatar, I just want out very, very badly, out from under a horrific leader only being kept in check by Xing, Drachma, and a desert which isn't one anymore. Now they have somewhere to go to conquer, the thing they most want—to become as powerful as their neighbors to conquer them, and to conquer the rest of the world."

For a moment, Genesis could only blink at him in surprise, then asked tersely, "Does that mean, even if we beat them here and now, they'll just come back with a larger force later?"

"Until they have no forces left, yes," the man answered.

And the red haired SOLDIER realized his refusal to cooperate with killing needlessly was probably why he'd been protected. "Well, if you want out, show us your good will by collecting the horses left behind along the pass and herding them to the far side for us—we eliminated all the other units sent up the sides of the mountains. There's also a girl riding on a large, white, maned wolf who will be up along here, keeping our ground line healed, and as far as I know, she came up this side. If she's okay with you, you'll have your chance more than just on my word. Just do yourself a favor and take off things like your helmet so we know you're not with them."

He then took to the air again, pulled out his PHS to send a message to Weiss about the man, and put it away as he kept going along the pass. He was still eliminating people as he went, and came to the next, and last, group of riders not long after, which he eliminated as usual. Then, he reached the end of the pass and saw where another unit was about to head up, so he eliminated them the same way, then used some Aeros and bits of Quakes to make those horses run up the path into the mountains, anyway. The man could collect them when they stopped running.

Finally, he could see the majority of the troops, and had to just shake his head tiredly, suddenly glad they had enhanced combatants who wouldn't die from usual battle wounds. Sephiroth was in the air above him, striking down other large, winged shapes as he came to them, and several were already turning to aim at the man. Leaving him to it, he first cast Flare across the entire area below him, easily wiping out around two hundred of the foot soldiers in their ranks—the benefit to them all being so closely packed.

From there, he went across the ranks and rows of units of soldiers, eliminating them quickly with his most powerful spells and watching as the rest began breaking ranks to flee in hopes of not getting hit themselves. If many went in one direction, he wiped them out, sometimes reaching as many as three hundred in that way. Without ranks, clearing so many at once wouldn't have been possible, because normally, even his spells had a limit, but this military structure was beneficial to him just then, so he was going to take advantage, like any good military commander.

Still, him doing that, by what he could see from his current vantage point, was only eliminating maybe a quarter of them. A lot, but if this was only half the Mongols' army or less, and he could only eliminate a quarter of it, they'd have trouble against the full army. What he was eliminating now was then crucial, and not revealing things like their Summons would likely also be much to their benefit. As much fun as it would be to see them react to Alexander, Phoenix, or Bahamut Fury, that would be for when they came with their full force.

Then, he reached the first ranks of the cavalry and paused above them to blink at the numbers, realizing keeping the horses here would largely not be doable, especially if he was just wiping out swaths of them with Flare. With a faint sigh, he sent out another mass Flare—but as he released it, he felt something pierce his chest, barely missing his heart, and sagged in his flight for a moment as his vision went black. When it cleared a moment later, he was closer to the ground than he had expected to be, and had to pull up sharply to get out of the reach of the cavalry who had started towards him as he'd fallen. He'd have been dead already if he hadn't just obliterated everyone right below him.

It was amusing to see how stunned they were, but he turned to look for the shooter—and found a mounted group not far away who were armed with rifles, not swords. Turning to them, he made sure he eliminated every last one of them before going back to regular clearing. As he did, he heard a horn blowing and saw the rear ranks of the cavalry pulling back, followed by every rank after them. Except for some stragglers, a small number of them, who just stopped where they were and watched their countrymen leave.

"What do we do about those?" Sephiroth asked suddenly from above him with a frown. A glance up showed him gazing at one of the ones who had stopped, and several feathers in dappled gray and brown stuck in his uniform and hair.

"We find out if they want out and return them to our people if they do," Genesis replied in a flat tone. "As the first of those I met said to me, they could put him in his armor and on his horse, but they couldn't make him draw his blade or fight. He's collecting the horses in the pass for us, by the way."

Sephiroth rolled his eyes. "Fine, let's get started, then. We have a lot of ground to cover and people to send to the pass—and a notice to our forces so they know to expect them."

"I'll start with that. We should probably start at the outer edges of the area and work our way in," Genesis agreed, pulling out his PHS to send the message to all the local forces and to Lady Shinra. "Then I'll have to send you back to the bonfire—you were already scheduled to head out to those herds in the morning. I guess I should send Kunzel back, too—he was supposed to rejoin Argento's team..."

As soon as the message was sent, both began working their way across the plains to talk to the Mongols who had stayed behind.

FoWD-HC

The lookout they'd posted had reported back to him around the time the camp had been waking in the morning that there was now a much larger army coming through the pass—the one they'd met had essentially been an advance party. Rufus had been very, very annoyed by that, so he'd sent the Turks to do a real scout on the far side of the pass for him. Angeal and Veld both stepped up beside him as he sat there stewing silently about the idiocy of some people and how Ed had once again pegged them right.

"So, what's the situation?" Angeal asked in a mild tone. "If you sent the Turks, there must be one."

"No, I just sent them to scout for the fun of it," Rufus snapped, and the two men's brows rose as they traded looks. Sighing, the blond admitted to himself that he really wasn't angry at anyone—just exhausted. Was this going to be a site of permanent war? "A larger army is coming through the pass. By extension, the one we met before was an advance party, and this one plans to do what the first group failed to do—take this side of the pass. I've never been more thankful for the forewarning and the reinforcements my mother sent."

"I'm thankful for that, too," Angeal agreed. "Are we waiting on the Turks to start, or are there things we can do now?"

"Infantry can start making their ways to good places to shoot from above the pass, but I want to try to push their advance back to their side if possible," Rufus answered in a thoughtful tone. "So maybe what we want to do is have SOLDIER do a massive push to shove them back, then let Veld, his force, the Motos, and the mercs hold that line. The ones with greater skill can then push further in once the line's secure, like you, Veld. Unless you want to stay there to be sure it'll hold."

"If you don't mind me doing it, I'll decide that as I see how the battle is progressing," Veld answered. Rufus eyed him for a moment, knowing the words meant he wanted autonomy—and trust. While he was wary of that from a former Restrictor, Rufus also knew he'd saved Ed and many others before the situation with Deepground had wound down. And, the fact was that he was there—after Minerva's cleansing. He probably was trustworthy.

"All right, other than the Motos—and the Cetra, who all know their healing very well—you can have charge of the force which will hold the line, and decide what your best option is as needed. We'll be counting on you to keep them on their side of the pass," the blond agreed, and Veld nodded firmly.

Rising, the three set out to begin preparations, sending Infantry up the sides of the mountains, some of the Mage SOLDIERs with them, and arranging lines of SOLDIERs and the force which would hold the line. The SOLDIERs were already moving forward in a solid wall of enhanced bodies by the time Rufus got his call back from the first of the Turks—Kariya.

"What have you got for me?" he asked the orange haired man who was on the other side of the pass.

"This is a very large force they had to've been mustering for the last three weeks before we first arrived at the pass," the Turk informed him in a hard tone. "They're definitely all military, and it looks like they've mobilized the whole force—including large weaponry, like cannons."

"...Cannons. With explosives or cannon balls?" Rufus asked with a frown.

"I'd hazard a guess because they also have some primitive rocket launchers that they could be shooting either or both randomly. Or those bullet shaped 'cannon balls'. I can't get close enough here to tell what their ammo would be. They definitely also have rifles, but they seem to primarily use other kinds of weapons, expecting close combat. As far as I can tell, unlike in Amestris, they don't do much with that 'alchemy', so they shouldn't have any mages—of any strength—to throw at us, but they're a hardy and sturdy bunch. The problem just now is numbers," Kariya offered, but he sounded suddenly tired.

"SOLDIER should be able to handle numbers," Rufus pointed out. "Especially with our reinforcements. Those cannons and launchers are a lot more worrying. What else have you seen they have, or that you suspect they have?"

"Looks like they've started moving out tanks, too, but I'm not sure how combatively effective these tanks will be—they'll be good and sturdy, but they don't even move smoothly, so they're probably not much more than a protective cage. That doesn't mean they can't shoot projectiles, though, I'm just not sure how well they will," Kariya sighed. "Sirra and Lakis haven't really gotten more than that, but Reno hasn't gotten back yet, so I'll let you wait on his call."

"Kariya, once the fighting starts, I want you and the other Turks to see if you can sabotage their heavy artillery. I'll send the others messages to let them know, and let our people hiding in the pass know to look for sheltered places to shoot from so they're less likely to get hit by anything launched into there," the blond stated, knowing that was going to have to be a must now. To the man's agreement, both hung up and Rufus sent the required messages to the Turks and to the Infantry.

He felt a headache coming on as he found his way to the front of the second wave of combat personnel Veld was leading, pacing himself alongside the man as they followed the SOLDIERs through the pass. They had a bit of military-related small talk along the walk, and once SOLDIER had shoved the first of the Drachmaran forces back, Rufus moved ahead to join the battle for a bit, largely fighting with his dagger (or daggers) to save his ammo for later. While the Ishbalans and Amestrians had brought some ammo with them, a limited amount had been for handguns, so it had gone to him and the Turks who specialized in types of handguns.

Finally, when it looked like most of the Drachmarans were absorbed in fighting the SOLDIERs, he looked for a place he could climb the far side of the pass from so he'd be able to shoot at some of the worst offenders of the enemy force. With a sigh, he also noted how the cannon balls and explosives were being launched randomly across all the surrounding mountains, and some were being shot right over them to the general area of their camp. He wasn't sure if that was deliberate (they could have been trying to cause a landslide, legitimately, and he was marginally surprised they hadn't yet) or just because their primitive equipment wasn't very capable of aiming, though.

It was uniquely interesting to note that one of the Monster Away pillars was hit directly—and took no damage at all. The likelihood of the pillars being Materia (or Mako crystals) right through was very, very high after that, because the solidified energy creating Materia and Mako crystals was pretty much impervious to damage other than some very specific kinds. Cannon balls and explosives weren't amongst the kinds of things which could damage them. Then again, they had to be able to reliably stay intact to keep Minerva's monsters inside the Gaian area.

By then, though, he was really beginning to wonder what had happened to Reno, because he should have reported back long before then. Or if he'd called Kariya instead of Rufus directly—which was what both Sirra and Lakis had apparently done—Kariya would have called him to let him know. It was highly unsettling to realize a Turk wasn't reporting in, and in an enemy camp, that could well have been because he was in deep trouble—or dead. On a sudden whim, he settled behind the rock outcropping he'd picked as a shelter and touched the Summon Materia Ed had given him.

"Carbuncle, I need your help," he called as he pushed his energy into it so the Summon could activate.

His rather quiet (though insanely curious) Carbuncle appeared in front of him and asked, "What did you need?"

"One of my Turks—red haired Reno, do you remember him?—is in the enemy camp and hasn't reported back. Can you find him and get him free, or just protect him until we can take care of the rest of this?" he asked the creature.

"Sure!" Carbuncle agreed. "I'll go right now." It then hopped away, somehow easily disappearing from view, despite being aquamarine against gray and white. At least that told him Reno was still alive enough to be found and protected...

He then turned back to the battle...

For all of about a minute before a cannon ball hit the mountain near him—and an enraged shriek sounded before half the mountain almost right at the Materia Pillar line exploded upward—

To reveal a very, very angry Dragon Zombie with a cannon ball firmly lodged between its horns—the only thing which had saved it from death by crushed skull...A Dragon Zombie which immediately cast Pandora's Box on a good part of the battlefield, which was randomly scattered with SOLDIERs, some former Deepground troops, and the Drachmaran soldiers. Everyone in the area of the effect—being right underneath the bloody thing, Rufus was outside that—was knocked to their knees at best or laid flat at worst, and Rufus noted how the 'at best' ones were all SOLDIERs in some capacity. It was likely most of the Drachmarans in the area were dead.

With a sigh, Rufus scrambled up the nearest slope to get high enough to jump on the thing's back, but in the meantime, it cast a Shadow Flare on several of the cannons and rocket launchers, obliterating them and their operating troops. And hitting several more SOLDIERs, with the general same effect as last time—they suffered nothing worse than being knocked to their knees for a few moments. With the Drachmarans there to attack them, they had to get up again right away (much to the soldiers' alarm), but as several Drachmarans shot at the Dragon Zombie, that only made it angrier, and it began charging another Pandora's Box.

By then, the blond was high enough up the mountain to launch himself onto the Dragon Zombie's back, which made it rear to try to snap and claw at him as he scrambled up its back to its neck, thankfully distracted from its cast—even SOLDIERs could only handle so many hits of Pandora's Box before dying. The Dragon even tried swatting him off with its tail, which he managed to jump over, and got high enough up its neck to draw his dagger, charge it with Ice 3, and shove it between two of the rotting scales at the base of its skull. The move triggered the Ice 3 to explode outward from its brain, killing it as its whole head turned into a block of ice.

He managed to yank his dagger free and brace himself as the thing fell—and fell, and fell, right past the pillars and down to the meadow at the base of the mountain and not far from the entrance to the pass. In the process, he almost fell off its back, but managed to keep hold long enough for it to stop moving, at which point, he managed to stand up, looking around cautiously...And internally sighing when he realized he'd landed right in the middle of a Drachmaran unit. A very stunned unit, but the middle of the enemy...

All of the Drachmaran troops around him then started in surprise as light blazed beside him and Lakis appeared there, gaze furious and hands shining with energy, clearly ready to attack the Drachmarans.

"Enough!" a voice called in accented Amestrian, and Rufus' gaze lifted to where the enemy troops parted to let another man through. This one wore a rather large number of insignias, so was probably the one in charge of the force. "You, in white, you are the leader of these forces?" the black haired and bearded man asked slowly, tiredly.

"I am, at least at the pass here," Rufus agreed.

"...And neither this—undead reptile—nor that man simply appearing at your side bothered you at all?" the man asked, and Rufus wondered if he was fishing for something—but he wasn't carrying a weapon. There was a blade at his waist, not drawn, and a rifle across his back, but there was nothing in his hands.

"The Dragon Zombie is an enemy my people are used to fighting, and Lakis—this man—very frequently comes and goes by simply appearing and disappearing, now that he's learned the method. He's also one of my guards, so I'd have been more shocked if he hadn't joined me right here while I'm surrounded by the enemy," Rufus explained, motioning to Lakis with the latter statements, and warily, Lakis began releasing the energy of his prepared spells.

For a long moment, the man was silent, but then he offered, "I am Major General Stanev Volstok of the Drachmaran Forces. At this point, I fear I will earn the ire of my superiors, but I would rather their ire than yours." His gaze moved to the Dragon Zombie Rufus and Lakis still stood on for a long moment before going on, "I would like to open negotiations with you, if you would?"

"I'm Rufus Shinra, officially the 'President' of my people, though my mother does a great deal more to lead them than I do currently," Rufus offered. "And if you're willing to talk now, I'll take it. The Turks—like Lakis—will be joining me for certain, if that's all right with you?"

"Of course," the man agreed, still looking very tired. He then called out several orders in a command tone, and immediately the Drachmaran forces began withdrawing to their most recent camp.

As Rufus was about to step down off the Dragon Zombie, Lakis caught his arm and pulled him with him as the Turk-Mage activated the Exit skill and reversed it to move both himself and Rufus to the ground in front of the Major General. The obviously exhausted man just waited for Kariya and Sirra to join them before leading the way to the command tent nearby. Relatively speaking, anyway. On the way, he pulled out his PHS to ask Angeal to see if he could find Carbuncle or Reno somewhere in the camp.

And finally, they could sit down and talk with the Drachmarans.