XCOM: The Advent Directive

by Xabiar

Australia has been annexed, the United Nations is in chaos, the world is under siege and the Ethereals have taken the field. Facing the full might of the Ethereal Collective, the Commander must rally XCOM, the newly formed ADVENT, and several other allies and rivals to unite the divided nations by any means necessary, for failure now will mean the fall of humanity once and for all.

17. Little Storm

Little Storm

---

Skyranger, En route to Osaka, Japan

It felt like they had just fought aliens here.

Granted, Sierra hadn't actually fought in the battle itself, but the First Battle of Japan had been the first true battle against the aliens, which in retrospect…huh, now that she thought about it, it had been a while since that battle. Pretty much everything had gone downhill from there, and it was only a matter of time before they came back.

She supposed that that little surprise attack had made them a little angry.

Still, assuming the aliens had learned from their mistakes last time, XCOM and ADVENT had also improved significantly. They were really only screwed if the Battlemaster himself showed up…which was extremely possible now that she thought about it. At the very least she was expecting him to put competent aliens in charge.

She sincerely hated how irritatingly competent these aliens were sometimes.

Would it kill them to have one alien who wasn't a tactical genius? Although every said that the first attack on Japan was extremely amateur…

She was mentally rambling, knowing that the aliens were not going to play so nice this time. Which said a lot since she had never used that word to describe them. But XCOM had psions, a MEC, and the best soldiers in the world, even if she barely knew the names to some of them.

Carmelita was in charge, which Sierra was somewhat reassured by, even if she suspected the woman wasn't entirely stable. She had a tendency to take extremely suicidal actions, but survived all of them. Crazy she may be, but she knew what she was doing, even if she went somewhat berserk once the shooting started.

Aarni, Antia, David, and Kiera were all newer soldiers, and she wasn't entirely sure they'd actually seen combat against the aliens, but she did know they had experience. Good enough. Much as people went on about how different the battlefield was…it really wasn't. Instead of bullets, there was plasma; instead of enemy humans, there were enemy aliens. You got shot too many times, you died. People around you died. The enemies died. That stuff didn't somehow change.

Then again, she was something of a veteran at this, and couldn't really get hurt like she used to, so her perspective was probably flawed to an extent. The two psions, Fatima and Said, were the real heavy-hitters here. Sierra wasn't sure how wise it was to send people who were married into the same combat zone, but it wasn't as though they couldn't take care of themselves.

Both were freakishly powerful from what she'd seen. Fatima was a mini-Patricia and Said was at least as strong as Iosif when it came to defense psionics. They were definitely going to make any aliens who were idiotic enough to attack think twice. Assuming they could even think that independently.

"Ten minutes out," came the voice of Burning Sky. "Initial reports are coming in. Osaka seems to be coming under attack from primarily Mutons. But there's a lot of them."

"Copy that," Carmelita grunted, her longsword resting between her legs, the metal tip touching the floor. "No way that's their only surprise."

Sierra agreed. "Probing for what we have?"

"Likely," Carmelita nodded. "Or they intend for it to be a distraction."

David crossed his arms. "A distraction from what? The entire country is locked down. I looked over the defensive specs for some of the cities, Tokyo is a fucking fortress. They're not going to be able to launch surprise attacks anywhere."

"Yes," Fatima agreed. "David is right. This is likely a simple way to test ADVENT, and perhaps us. The aliens view Mutons as expendable, once they determine the apparent weaknesses of the defenses, they would launch a more dangerous wave specifically constructed to destroy it."

"Assuming the aliens are smart enough to do that," Aarni pointed out. "The last time they attacked, they didn't have much in the way of tactics other than 'throw as many soldiers at them as possible.'"

"We're likely fighting the Battlemaster here," Sierra reminded him, rolling her eyes. "He's not an idiot. In general it's better to assume that you're dealing with geniuses instead of idiots. Makes things easier if they actually are being commanded by idiots."

"Speaking of which," Kiera glanced over to Carmelita. "What's the plan if the Battlemaster shows up?"

"I distract him while we wait for Purifier and MDU support," Carmelita answered. "XCOM and ADVENT think the Purifiers might actually pose a threat to him. MDU's might be able to keep up with his speed. But Aegis doesn't think the Battlemaster will be on the field today. He thinks that the sudden appearance of the Purifiers will cause him to back off until he develops a way to kill them 'safely.' Who knows how long that will take?" Her right hand gripped the longsword. "Still, never hurts to be prepared."

Sierra nodded. It seemed like a fair assessment. The Battlemaster, for all his power, did seem to take things very conservatively. It was almost paranoid in a way, but it was done in a methodical manner she once more found irritatingly smart. She supposed that when an entire Empire of those things had died, you learned not to rely on invincibility.

"Approaching the LZ," Burning Sky updated. "Stand by for deployment."

The skyranger's lights flashed to red and Carmelita stood, with the rest of them following suit as the skyranger began to dip, the sounds of combat already reaching their ears. Carmelita stood up front, Said beside her, his hand partially raised and rippling with psionic energy. Sierra stood right behind Carmelita, David beside her.

With a shudder, the skyranger settled on the ground, and the ramp slowly lowered to the ground, human and alien screams mingling in the distance, along with the familiar hissing of plasma and rhythmic pounding thuds of gauss weapons. A purple shield suddenly appeared before them, and Carmelita pointed her sword towards the fighting; reminiscent of the knights of old charging into war.

"Deploy!" She shouted, and they charged out into the raging firefight.

---

Nakashibetsu, Japan

"Prepare the lines!" Came the calls from behind him as ADVENT soldiers rushed all around him, filling up the erected barricades and reinforced buildings that still hadn't fully recovered from the Purifier attack earlier. Duri could still make out the smell; he couldn't place what it reminded him of, but the entire city smelled of it, and it was distracting.

"Beatriz, you in position?" He glanced back to the small two-story shop where she was situated on top of the roof, sniper rifle propped against the stone railing, ready for action.

"Ready as can be," she answered, giving a thumbs up to him. "Not much going on up here right now. Nothing in the distance either."

"Of course there isn't anything yet," Cara muttered to herself, hefting her autorifle. "Sensors start picking up stuff hours away. I don't even know if that'll be enough."

"Do we even have anything major left here?" Kang asked, checking his rifle.

Duri nodded. "A lot of the MDU's and Purifiers were immediately transferred to Tokyo, but we still have…" he paused. "Twenty-five MDU's and forty Purifiers. That isn't counting that Destroyer out in the water, and the rest of the regular soldiers. Like us."

"They better keep the Purifiers way the fuck back," Beatriz commented over the comms. "Those things are not front-line units."

"Really, where should they be then?" Cara pointed out. "They aren't exactly artillery."

There was a brief pause on the other end. "Fair point. Let me amend that to saying that the Purifiers should be kept back until the battle is a little less..er, chaotic. Like when they could actually be sent out, burn a few aliens, and then pull back without as high a chance of getting shot right next to you."

"Well, in that case," Cara nodded to herself. "I agree. I think the Corporal knows what he's doing with them though. No point wasting them."

"Are we getting psion support?" Johan asked, changing the subject. His tone indicated a frown under his helmet as he spoke. "I have a feeling we'll need it."

Cara snorted. "Please, name me a situation where we wouldn't need the purple demigods?"

Duri smiled under his helmet, and Kang stifled a chuckle. Still, a psion would be nice. Preferably an entire XCOM or Lancer squad. MDU's were nice, but there weren't enough to make him feel comfortable.

They had reinforced the city as best they could, considering the circumstances. The coast was mostly open beach, no cover whatsoever, and ADVENT had established lines much like the first time, at the edge of the city overlooking the beach. But this time they were being a bit cleverer. Mines had been placed throughout the entire beach, the ones furthest back, and the ones at the end under direct manual control in case the Andromedons tried any sort of shield tricks again. That, and there was the possibility of damaging the UFOs themselves.

Then there were some new turrets; recent ADVENT tech they'd been working on much like the MDU's. They essentially were a black pillar of metal with a large laser weapon on the top, with a few panels around that to protect the inner workings. From the explanations he'd been given, they operated much like the MDU's in that they were just as accurate and completely autonomous.

There were a dozen of those spread along the perimeter, and he knew there were a half-dozen more further in. ADVENT had also been sure to reinforce the interior of the city, in case the perimeter fell, so the army could have a secure place to fall back to. It was very elegantly planned, and Duri was grateful that at least someone was learning from the last time this place had fallen.

On top of all that, there was an entire Raven Squad and another plane which Cara had, quite excitedly, identified as a Warthog. According to Cara, it was the best thing they could have outside MDU's, and it appeared to be an anti-tank plane of all things, which he'd thought would be very difficult to pull off, but it seemed the Americans had every kind of combination available.

He'd been somewhat surprised to learn that these Warthogs actually hadn't been upgraded to Gaussian tech, which he would have thought would have been a priority. He'd casually brought it up with Cara who'd laughed and showed him a picture first of the gun, and then the size of bullet fired. After that she'd shown him some videos of the plane demolishing actual buildings with a single volley.

He conceded that maybe they didn't need a gauss upgrade quite yet

So, that was air, sea, and ground support covered. A well-fortified city, or as well fortified as could be expected. Purifiers which could turn the entire beach (or city) to glass if needed. MDU's and their sister turrets which didn't fuck around with anything. All in all…they were as prepared as they could possibly be for this attack.

But if they'd learned from their mistakes, would the aliens follow suit?

"What do you think they'll send this time?" Kang asked, as the minutes passed. "More Andromedons?"

"Please yes," Cara said. "Let them come, set up their little shield, then send the Purifiers to burn them to death. Or Mutons. I'd be alright with Mutons."

"They always send Mutons," Johan muttered absentmindedly. "Well, almost always."

"Realistically?" Duri paused. "A combination of air and heavy infantry units if they're smart. Definitely the Floaters for harassment, basic Mutons for shock tactics, throw some Andromedons and Elites into the mix and you'd have a solid force we can beat. If they send any psions, Sectopods, or god forbid, the Battlemaster, things aren't so good."

"It's not the units," Cara shook her head. "It's how they're used. Hopefully they'll have the same idiot running the battle that did the last one here. I like it when they use the 'throw everyone at them' strategy. Makes it much easier."

"All soldiers, we have sighting of UFOs," came the voice of the Colonel.

Duri quickly looked behind him. "Beatriz?"

"One second," a pause. "Lots of glints in the distance. Definitely transports. Ugh, there are UFO fighters with them. Air support might be tied up if that's the case."

Duri looked back out into the horizon, and he also saw the shimmering glints in the distance. "How many?"

"Twenty, minimum," was the answer. "And…uh, there's three more lines behind them."

"Sixty?" Johan asked incredulously. "For this?"

"Hold that thought," Beatriz said, her voice wavering. "Ok, the first twenty are still going forward. All the rest are holding back."

That made some measure of sense, there was only a limited amount of room on the beach, and too many soldiers would make it crowded. That was a small comfort, since there were twice that number of reinforcements following them. It was even worse if any of those transports had Gateways in them.

"Look at that." Kang said in awe, and Duri squinted his eyes and focused onto the UFOs now clearly in view. Still small, but getting closer. But he immediately saw what Kang was talking about. "That doesn't look like a transport."

"No," Beatriz agreed. "It definitely doesn't."

From what Duri could make out, it looked like the equivalent of a sideways teardrop, although with clear edges and lines on its sides. What immediately stood out was that the entire ship appeared to be transparent, or at least made out of a light-blue tinted substance. It reminded him of the Andromedon helmets and…the teardrop ship suddenly dipped and plunged into the ocean.

He blinked. "What was that?"

"Oh, that's not good," Beatriz breathed. "I don't know what that thing was, but there were Andromedons on that ship. Saw it plain as day. Going underwater isn't an accident."

"We have subs, right?" Johan asked.

"Don't know," Duri said, looking towards the Destroyer which was now starting to fire up at the transports. "But that Destroyer needs to get out of there now if we don't."

"Ready weapons!" Came the call from the front-line Officer, as the transports came ever closer.

Duri gripped his weapon, and steadied his aim towards the ocean, saying a quick prayer that all of them survived this battle.

But this time, he wasn't sure they'd be so lucky.

---

Osaka, Japan

From a few minutes of hectic, dangerous, and chilling observation, Sierra knew that even if the aliens literally sent nothing but Mutons, this battle was not going to be won easily. The heaviest fighting was taking place in the Osaka bay, with ADVENT holding the perimeter of most of the areas around the circular bay, but the aliens had landed on the far ends, as well as some of the docks and platforms in the water.

The transports had actually landed on them, and the Mutons were mostly hunkering inside the transports, and occasionally sending teams to brave the hailstorm of gauss bullets shot in their direction. But what was actually bad news was that the island that was further back in the bay had clearly been taken over by aliens, and Sierra could clearly see at least a thousand marching forward into the city proper.

"Fatima! Take care of that island for us!" Carmelita demanded coldly, slowly appraising the situation herself as ADVENT soldiers ran past them to reinforce the front line.

"Overseer!"

They turned to see a green-tinted ADVENT Colonel dash up, flanked on either side by standard soldiers. "Colonel Chu, sir! Glad you could get here, we got hit harder-"

"So I see," Carmelita interrupted, raising a hand. "Situation report."

"Yes, sir," he nodded, audibly wincing as a building closer to the front lines crumbled. "Short version is that the aliens have control of Awaji, that island over there. Right now the transports on the docks are keeping a good portion of our soldiers occupied. Air support is currently limited, so we can't rely on that. We can't make a concerted effort to press forward, since the Mutons are actually being smart this time."

He pointed to the docked UFOs. "They haven't done much more than stick their heads out this whole time. Only Mutons, but they're being led by someone smart. A massive Muton force is going to hit Akashi, since the island connects."

"Can't you blow the bridge? Aarni asked, tilting his head.

"Bad move," Sierra dismissed. "Should only be done as a last resort. That funnels the Mutons and makes it easier to kill them off."

"Exactly," Colonel Chu confirmed. "I'm not blowing the bridge until we're sure they can't hold. But there are going to be a lot of soldiers that die if they aren't reinforced."

"Understood," Carmelita nodded. "You'll have XCOM support. Gray Sky, drop off Kenta by Akashi. Order to reinforce."

"Copy, Overseer. Gray Sky out."

Carmelita looked back to the Colonel. "A Ballista-Class MEC is being sent to that position. Fatima, you're going too." At that Fatima dashed off towards one of the Humvees that was carrying soldiers to and from the battle, hailing it down. "She's a telepath," Carmelita explained. "If that's where the largest threat is, she should be able to handle them."

"Great!" Colonel Chu said, clearly relieved. "I'll inform the Captains of the updated situation. What about the rest of you?"

"We'll deal with the transports," Carmelita answered, looking back to the shores of the fighting. "Two at a time. Sierra, David, Antia, you're with me. Aarni, find a sniping position and take out any priority targets you see." She pointed to the Colonel. "I want Aarni tapped into your lines. He'll take out any specific targets you want, within reason."

She looked to Said. "Take the rest and hit another transport. Everyone got it!"

"Yes, Overseer!" They shouted. Carmelita looked to the Colonel.

"Anything else we should be aware of?"

"There are transports hovering beyond the bay," he answered, pointing in the distance. "I assume they're reinforcements. If we keep holding them off, they'll likely send them."

"Understood," Carmelita stated, gripping her sword tighter. "Move out!"

With that they split into their respective teams and charged forward. Sierra knew Antia and David would need to be a little more careful, since they didn't have any genetic modification, while she had the Iron Skin, and Carmelita was extensively modified. Still, the aliens were about to be in for a world of hurt in the very near future.

Green plasma streaked overhead once they reached the front lines; ADVENT soldiers were hunkering behind their black alloy barricades, while Gunners provided steady streams of suppressive fire, which barely seemed to do more than irritate the armored aliens. Sierra also saw that some of the Muton bodies, which she assumed were from failed charges, had been stacked on top of each other into something of a makeshift cover, bound together by what looked suspiciously like the stuff in symbiote grenades.

Huh. Clever.

Seemed to be working too, since even those makeshift Muton barricades were filled with soldiers, and were withstanding direct plasma blasts. "I'm going to distract them," Carmelita muttered as they stepped onto the metal docks, cover few and far between. "Keep both of them alive. I'll hold them until you get here."

Sierra opened her mouth to answer, but before she could, Carmelita jumped towards the open mouth of the transport, sword glistening in the morning light.

"What the fuck," Antia said in disbelief.

Sierra heard surprised Muton grunts and the familiar sound of an alloy cannon. "Go forward! Now!" With the hail of plasma fire briefly stopped, the three of them charged through the winding docks, all of them hyperaware of just how exposed they were. But they finally got close enough to the transport and Antia and David slid into cover, while Sierra charged a bit further.

Carmelita had done a lot more than distract the Mutons.

She alone had already taken half of the transport bay, and Sierra saw eviscerated, stabbed, and headless bodies of Mutons who'd tried to stop her. Carmelita was right now behind some alloy cover that had been erected in the interior of the UFO, firing away with her alloy cannon every few seconds, which had the effect of keeping the Mutons pinned in place.

Sierra made it to the first barrier in the transport, lined up her shot, and fired. The cyclic red laser bored into the head of a Muton, leaving a small hole behind and the massive alien collapsed to the ground. She repeated the same with the one next to it before it realized what was happening.

Two more shots took down another Muton, and Sierra glanced over to see David and Antia were both here now, and taking positions behind the second layer of interior defenses. Sierra leapt over her own and decided to try something a bit risky. "Carmelita!" She yelled. "Flank them!"

"My pleasure!" She yelled back, and charged toward the right flank while Sierra took the left, and their positions were quickly taken up by their backup. The Mutons were not expecting another apparent suicidal charge forward and stepped back in surprise, before Sierra shot two of them in their unprotected faces, then pulled a small grenade and tossed it towards another one, ripping it apart.

Carmelita was far more brutal. She quickly executed two Mutons with alloy cannon shots to the face, turning their heads into mush, while a few seconds later she hooked the weapon to her waist, thrust out her left arm and that eerie stinger modification shot out like a cobra and directly into the eye of another Muton, burying itself deep while she pulled out her sword again and leapt towards two more Mutons, stabbing one directly in the face, and quickly repeating the same tactic with the other.

"Outsiders!" David called, and his and Antia's fire immediately focused on them. Both had Pulse weapons, and they were quick enough to catch one Outsider by surprise, and the sudden influx of energy froze it, increasing the orange light inside the crystalline alien until it shattered.

The other two Outsiders were smarter and faster; ducking into cover immediately and firing on Sierra and Carmelita for all the good it would do them. One plasma bolt clipped her shoulder; scowling, she responded by raising her rifle and firing, forcing it to hide from the deadly laser.

Carmelita didn't waste time with that, and simply jumped to the second level where the Outsiders were hunkering, landing beside one and unloading three full blasts of the alloy cannon into its face. Sierra quickly ran up the ramp to corner the second one, and the instant she had a sighting, she fired and shot directly into its leg, pinning it temporarily as Carmelita reloaded her weapon and stormed over, before repeating the same method of execution.

The area went relatively quiet, although the sounds of battle were still heard outsider. "Said, report!" Carmelita demanded. "We've taken this UFO."

"Just a few Outsiders to deal with here," was the immediate response. "No injuries or anything. This'll be taken care of soon."

"One down, seven to go?" David asked hopefully.

"Think it's probably more than seven," Carmelita grunted, motioning them to follow her back outside. "But essentially. Still, if this is all they've got this will be laughably easy."

She paused. "Colonel, any updates?"

"Whatever your telepath is doing, it's amazing," was his answer. "Don't know what she's done to the Mutons, but they're pretty much killing themselves. That MEC is also picking up his fair share of kills and your sniper is softening up the transports for a counterattack. Air support is still tied up, but it's much better."

"We're moving to the next UFO," Carmelita informed him, briefly checking her alloy cannon. "We'll do this as many times as needed."

"Understood, I'm reorganizing our defenses to further assist."

"Time to take the next one," Carmelita said, and they charged back out into the fray. Sierra was just waiting for the hammer to come down. Carmelita was right. If this was it, it would be laughable. But the aliens never made things this easy, even if the same idiot was in charge of this attack.

Since the Mutons still didn't have helmets, she suspected he was.

Arrogant aliens.

---

Nakashibetsu, Japan

"Fire!" One of the Corporals yelled and all the Rocketeers, Kang included, fired at the approaching transports. Rockets sped towards the ships in streaks of white and orange light, impacting with brilliant explosions that sadly only seemed to be doing superficial damage at best. With gauss bullets bouncing off of them, the transports settled down, and a few moments later, the transports opened up and out came a horde of Mutons.

They were likely in straight lines before charging out, but those quickly deteriorated as the savage aliens roared and charged forward. These ones were wearing helmets, not stupidly exposed like the others. The helmets were the same green as their armor, but they thankfully didn't seem to grant them more intelligence.

The first wave suddenly exploded as they triggered the mines, and the rest staggered to a stop in confusion, and some immediately fell to one knee and began firing at the ADVENT line, while others continued forward slowly, firing their plasma rifles; not even seeming to take into account the minefield they found themselves in.

Duri, Cara, and Johan all began firing their weapons at the encroaching horde, whose numbers at minimum matched their own, even if they had no concern for their own safety, and after a few minutes of battle, he realized that when the Mutons didn't have such a blatant weakness…they were rather terrifying.

Cara unloaded an entire clip into one approaching Muton, but even as it bled ichor from its mangled chest, it still kept going, and was only killed when it stepped onto another mine. Johan and Duri managed to kill one by blowing away parts of its helmet, which was still fairly easy to target, since the alien made no attempt whatsoever to find cover.

"Shit, they have Grenadiers to the back," Beatriz said urgently to him. "I'll try to take some out. But they're coming now."

That was not good. "Grenadiers!" He called to the other soldiers. "Watch for explosives!"

"MDU's moving forward," Corporal Williams's voice suddenly interjected. "Hold the line. We have plans for grenades."

"You'd better," Cara sneered as she managed to down another Muton that was getting uncomfortably close. "Because they're coming up now!"

Duri saw the aforementioned Muton Grenadiers coming forward now. In all respects they appeared to be identical to the Soldiers, except that they had a couple dozen plasma grenades strapped to their belts and across their back, as well as holding what looked to be some kind of grenade launcher. He'd heard of these, even if he hadn't fought them yet.

"Snipers, target the exposed grenades," Williams ordered. "All Gunners, lay down immediate suppressive fire!"

There was a chorus of unacknowledged affirmations, and all the Gunners began spraying the battlefield with thousands of gauss rounds in wide arcs. The front line of Mutons was instantly halted, and some raised their arms as the hail of rounds slammed into them, some puncturing vital organs and body parts.

Behind the main Muton line, several Grenadiers suddenly exploded in green flashes, presumably from the snipers hitting the grenades strapped to them. "One down," Beatriz said smugly. "Only several hundred more."

"They're getting ready to fire!" Another Officer called out.

The ADVENT Snipers fired again, as the regular soldiers, Rocketeers, and Officers picked up the suppressive tactic while the Gunners reloaded their weapons. A few more Grenadiers exploded from sniper fire, but the majority loaded their grenades, raised, then fired them at the ADVENT line. The green-tinted projectiles were in the dozens, and Duri didn't see how all of them could be stopped.

The short answer was that he was right.

But it wasn't nearly as devastating as it would have been otherwise.

The MDU's raised their weapons up, and streaks of lasers shot into the sky, and it was suddenly filled with green bubbles of plasma that dissipated seconds later as the MDU's and Turrets shot the grenades out of the sky when they entered their range. But it still didn't get all of them. ADVENT soldiers jumped out of the way, or tried to flee the range of the grenades, but some just weren't fast enough.

The plasma blew them apart, or incinerated them entirely depending on how close they were to it. Entire fortifications were suddenly nothing, and even a few MDU's succumbed to the plasma grenades. More green explosions from the back as the Snipers continued taking them out, a few more volleys, and they would have this under control.

The Muton advance had been mostly stopped, as the Mutons refused to find any sort of cover, but they were now adapting to that in a rather morbid way. Knowing they didn't have to worry about grazing shots or even getting directly hit unless it was in the face, they were taking the corpses of their dead and piling them on top of each other, creating a temporary, but effective means of cover.

"We've got air support," Corporal Williams updated. "Stand by for airstrike on concentrated Muton position. Officers, mark highest concentration of Muton forces."

"Understood!" Duri responded, and activated the green tracking laser on his rifle and aimed it where the Mutons were establishing a massive semi-circle of dead aliens, and beginning to return fire from it. "Locked!" He shouted as the green laser turned red. He saw the lines from other Officers who were also marking the area.

"Stand by for airstrike in five seconds," a deep voice suddenly said. "Targets marked."

Duri suddenly heard a sound that seemed to come from a buzzsaw or really fast machine gun. Then out of nowhere thunderous streaks of white light rained down from the sky and cut the Muton concentration to pieces. Cara whooped as the plane that had fired the airstrike flew off into the distance for another round. "Fuck yes!"

He supposed that had been the Warthog she'd been so excited about.

Now he knew why.

The Muton forces were in complete disarray as the ones not ripped apart by the airstrike struggled to decide what to do next. "Purifier forces, perform area denial," Corporal Williams ordered and two Purifiers suddenly began walking forward, taking advantage of the lull in the Muton plasma fire to perform area denial.

Duri could only hope things were going as well further up and down the beachhead, because this was a beautiful sight.

The Purifiers unleashed the white-hot cones of ClF3 towards the Muton fortifications, then swept them across as much of the beach as they were able to. The Mutons unfortunate enough to get caught in the blast panicked instantly, running around in circles, rolling on the ground to put out the fire, or worse, running into the water where they promptly exploded.

The fortification of Muton bodies was incinerated within minutes as Purifier fire swept over it, destroying the only defense on the beach. The sand underneath the fire was turned to glass that shattered and damaged the Mutons even more when they fell on it or set off more of the few mines that had remained untouched.

Duri's lips curled into a grin. Perhaps it wasn't hopeless after all.

Maybe they could win once more.

---

Tokyo, Japan

To Jamali's surprise, there actually wasn't any fighting going on in Tokyo.

Yet.

All of them exited the skyranger rather calmly, all things considered. They technically weren't in Tokyo proper, but in one of the areas before it entered Tokyo Bay; Kawasaki he believed. But from what Jamali had seen already, the city would be able to withstand even the worst alien assault. There were, at a minimum, twenty-thousand ADVENT soldiers here alone, of all types.

That wasn't counting the automated systems like MDU's and turrets, which had been built throughout the entire area. Beyond the bay was also one of the massive US Carriers, a behemoth of the sea that was primed and ready for any conflict. Jamali also suspected that there were submarines also accompanying it.

Yet the aliens hadn't attacked yet.

Interesting.

"Looks like we've got company," Allison muttered as a group of ADVENT soldiers walked up. Definitely an ADVENT Marshal by her coloring and shoulder cape that was over her right shoulder. She was flanked by six Colonels and Corporals, likely the main Commanders of this entire defense. The squad Overseer, Dael Young, a recent promotion, stepped forward. "Marshal Kilani, Overseer Young, XCOM."

The Marshal put a fist over her heart in an approximate ADVENT salute. "Glad you're here. Satellite footage and readings all indicate that we're going to get hit hard, and we're going to need all the help we can get."

"That's why we're here," he nodded. "We have a Goliath getting dropped off in the city proper, and we'll assist on fighting the front lines, wherever the fighting is the heaviest." He motioned to Allison. "Both Psion Monder and I are defense specialists; Psion Mattis is a telepath. We'll give extra protection and assistance when you need it."

A nod from her. "Good. In the meantime the city is as prepared as I could make it. MDU's, soldiers, Snipers, Gunners, Purifiers; all of them are situated and ready for whatever is coming. We've got the USS Washington out beyond the bay, which will provide us with air and sea support, should we need it."

"How much air support will you have?" Jona Mattis asked.

"Worst case scenario?" Marshal Kilani asked. "A small fleet. That isn't including the American Warthogs that were brought in for anti-infantry and anti-tank support. Our Ravens are weaker than UFOs, but we can still shoot enough of them down to make a difference."

"Don't worry about them too much," Jona tapped her head. "I picked up some tricks from Patricia. As long as they aren't automated now, I should be able to take them over."

"That's good, but we'll also need you on the ground," Dael reminded her, before turning back to the Marshal. "In the meantime, where do you want us?"

"You'll have two deployment helicopters for your own use," she answered quickly. "In addition to your skyranger. You're probably going to be moving around a lot, and I want you where we need you as quickly as possible. I've ordered them here-hold, new info."

Jamali waited for a few seconds, and the Marshal's voice suddenly turned confused. "What? Why?"

Well, that didn't sound good. "Understood," she finished grimly. "Good luck." She looked back at them. "Change of plans. The large alien fleet we were worried about is going in completely different directions. Probably reinforcing other points of attack."

"What?" Yasu and Sora, both XCOM soldiers of Japanese origin said at the same time. "Then we're safe?" Sora finished, her voice hopeful.

"Not exactly," Kilani corrected slowly, raising a hand. "There's one UFO coming towards us. Small, seems to be the same class as the one used by the Battlemaster."

Oh.

Jamali swallowed and exchanged looks with the rest of the XCOM soldiers. They were absolutely not the right ones to face the Battlemaster. "I see," Dael said slowly. "If it is the Battlemaster coming, get your soldiers out, and gather as many Purifiers as you can. Those may be the only things that could actually hurt him."

"Agreed," she said, motioning to one of the Colonels to give the orders. "Estimation is that it's ten minutes out. I'm ordering two squads of Ravens to try and take it down, since it appears to be alone."

"Is that a good idea?" Gyeong asked, stepping forward. "Isn't the Battlemaster a telekinetic?"

"He's dangerous, but not a telekinetic," Allison interrupted, shaking her head. "At least not a true one. He can use it, but it's not his skill. And even if he managed to take down one, that leaves seven more. Not sure how well it'll work either, but it's the best plan outside of relying on Purifiers."

"Look!" One of the Corporals shouted, looking through his sniper rifle. "UFO coming."

"Right on time," Marshal Kilani nodded and the squads of Ravens immediately streaked overhead towards the faint glint in the distance. "Fire at will, Wing Officer."

Jamali watched as the glint slowly got larger until it was clearly what he believed XCOM had dubbed an Overseer-class UFO. The metal was a duller grey, but it still seemed a duplicate of the UFO scouts and fighters. The first of the Ravens fired at the UFO, as did the guns on the Carrier from the ground.

Except the missiles suddenly froze in mid-air and then plummeted towards the sea. In retrospect, that might not have been too unexpected. Missiles were small, and even the Battlemaster could catch a half-dozen.

But what did shock not just him, but all of them, was all of the Ravens suddenly freezing in the air, jets still pushing forward, and then their metal frames suddenly collapsing in on themselves like cheap foil. Jamali blinked. "Officer!" Kilani demanded. "Come in!"

Something must have finally ruptured, because one of the Ravens exploded, and the rest of the planes were slowly turned into crumpled balls of steel. At that point Jamali realized that the UFO had stopped and was hovering. He also noticed that despite the Carrier firing, it seemed there was zero damage being done to the craft.

He swallowed. "I don't like this," Maria Pena said softly. "Could the Battlemaster do that?"

The crumpled Ravens were suddenly released from the invisible hold on them, and fell into the water with a splash and something dropped out of the bottom of the UFO, and began speeding towards them.

"Oh, fuck," the Sniper Corporal breathed in terror. "It's an Ethereal."

Jamali quickly zoomed in on his own rifle and his eyes widened as he confirmed what had been said. But it wasn't an Ethereal that they knew, this was a completely new one. The helmet was almost identical to the one Aegis wore, if having a couple more curves, but the rest of the Ethereal was completely new.

He, because he assumed it was a he, wore a mix of the Ethereal robes and battle armor. It was as if the material was interwoven with the armor, which covered the chest and legs. While a material skirt of sorts fell behind the Ethereal's legs, it still allowed the Ethereal to move forward freely, and the arms were covered by sleeves of a purple material, with the hands encased in black gloves.

The Ethereal was on what seemed to be a kind of hoverboard, which was just large enough for him, and no more. The boots seemed welded into it, and the Ethereal flew with a familiarity that indicated that this was not the first time it had been used. His arms were held loosely at his side, and the Ethereal approached as if it had all the time in the world until it was just over the entrance to the Tokyo Bay, in perfect view of XCOM.

The Ethereal was still very far away, but Jamali wasn't sure that really mattered.

"Humans!" Jamali and the rest of the soldiers on the rooftop involuntarily shivered as the amplified and echoing voice that permeated the air long seconds after the last syllable was uttered. "You have fought beyond what we could have predicted. You have scored victories, and killed hundreds of our soldiers. Your continued defiance is a testament to your will, although your intelligence has much to be desired."

Marshal Kilani didn't really seem to like his monologue. "Fire!" She yelled, and the area was suddenly alight with the flashes of gauss rifles and the sound of automatic fire. The Ethereal didn't seem perturbed, and simply lowered a hand out towards them, palm down and the gauss rounds suddenly froze inches before they actually hit him.

"Your time of insubordination is at an end," the Ethereal continued. "Today the world will see the futility of resisting us and our power. You will die at the hand of Caelior, Destroyer of the Immortals, and Wielder of the Maelstrom. Prepare or flee before the might of the Storm."

With that he thrust down another hand, and a visible wave appeared in the air and slammed down on several hundred ADVENT soldiers, all of whom were immediately crushed to the ground. He extended another hand to a nearby building filled with soldiers and ADVENT emplacements and Jamali watched in awe and terror as it shook and suddenly collapsed from waves of energy that crushed it from all sides.

"Jona! Get into its head!" Dael yelled as all of the soldiers started firing. "Commander-"

"You can't fight Caelior where you are," came the urgent response. "Caelior will kill all of you at this range. Get back now and reconfigure a plan!"

"Copy!" Dael confirmed, as Caelior swooped down to another ADVENT position and raised one hand, clenching it into a fist. The soldiers below him began screaming as their armor compressed and he crushed them into masses of flesh, armor, and bone. He threw another hand as six MDU's were tossed into the water like toys, right before he turned his eye to the carrier in the background.

Allison saw it too. "Impossible," she breathed. "He can't do that…"

Impossible or not, Caelior was going to try, and with one hand extended to the USS Washington, he turned his palm up as psionic energy encased his body. He raised the arm.

And the Carrier began to rise.

Water poured off it by the hundreds of gallons, everything not bolted down also slid into the black water as the ship rose by inches, until it was five, then ten, then twenty feet above the ocean, and still rising. Throughout it all, Caelior hadn't been neglecting the enemies on the ground. He shot waves of energy which caused miniature earthquakes in the immediate area, destabilizing everyone, including the XCOM soldiers.

Most were flattened into the ground; unlucky ones were crushed with an unrelenting psionic grip; Purifier tanks exploded and set fire to nearby areas; MDU's were crushed and ripped apart, and Jamali heard the Marshal yell for a retreat in the background. Then Caelior turned himself around, one hand raised high in the air, with the massive United States Carrier held suspended several hundred feet in the air.

It was all too clear what he was going to do: Throw it into the center of Tokyo.

"Get on the chopper!" Dael yelled, and all of them quickly boarded them, and were speeding to the city, trying desperately to formulate a plan that had even a hope of stopping the nightmare gradually getting closer.

But Jamali was no longer sure that was possible. Not with the time they had.

Their only hope was maybe Patricia.

And even then…they might be calling her to her death.

---

Nagoya, Japan

No words were needed as XCOM stormed out of their skyranger into the heated battle of Nagoya, where the aliens were not just attacking from the shore, but also from the east of where they'd landed, in farmlands and fields where they assumed ADVENT wouldn't be expecting them.

Shortsighted fools the aliens were.

Connected as she was with all of her squad, she had no need to give orders and watched them charge off to their respective battles. Cassandra and Jim headed to appropriate sniping positions; Matthew led Bora and Leonid towards the docks where the alien were attacking, and Fakhr led Anna and their MEC Gloria to assist by the farmlands.

Patricia herself closed her eyes and knelt on the ground. It was easier this way, much less distraction than just standing up and relying on unneeded gestures to impress her will on the enemies of XCOM. She felt she was beyond that now. Not quite at the level of an Ethereal like Aegis…but she was getting closer every day.

She felt the frantic, chaotic, and fearful minds of the Humans around her. Flashes entered and exited her mind like water. Memories, stray thoughts, strong emotions…they were all present and amplified in the heat of battle. Love, hate, hope, and despair were all in equal measure, largely swinging between the extremes.

She listened with interest as she observed the Humans minds around her, fascinated at the thoughts that ran through their heads before winking out of existence. Some thought about their spouses and kids, others regretful at not achieving their goals, others had the faces of their mortal enemy seared into their minds right before they died.

Oddly enough, it wasn't usually the faceless alien that killed them, but some mundane Human that had wronged them at some point. Harsh bosses, cheating friends, whoever had the strongest emotional connection tended to be the last person one thought of before death.

How curious.

Nevertheless, she had a battle to win, and a job to do.

Be at ease, she began, focusing on the Human minds first, focus and stand firm in the knowledge that you will be victorious. Let go of the fear, clear your minds. Focus on the aliens.

Focus on them, and kill them.

Wipe them out.

That she repeated until it was in the minds of the soldiers; it was their mantra, their singular goal for this day. Hopefully one they would never forget. And she felt the emotions around her change. The fear slowly faded and was replaced by cold resilience; resilience that only grew stronger as the minutes passed. Every death seemed to harden the resolve of those fighting; every injury only emboldened those alive to fight harder.

They fought by not letting the emotions humanity was so prone to rule them.

And perhaps that was why the Ethereals were so interested in them.

A human not ruled by emotion was a dangerous one indeed.

She smiled.

Now, the aliens.

They were all exclusively Mutons to her surprise. Odd that they would pick the most flawed species to fight today. A trap, or simple overconfidence? No matter, it only made her job easier and there were no tricks in the minds of these Mutons. Simple creatures, beings driven by instinct and whatever was drilled into them in the War Camps.

Such aliens were broken beyond repair. Whatever potential their species had held was now lost forever, crushed by the ambitions of the Ethereals and their quest for vengeance.

It was almost sad. Mutons didn't have emotions like Humans, those had been purged long ago by the Ethereals. It had been purged by years of torturous training and beatings at the hands of Sargons, Sectoids, and Vitakara. The capacity for a Muton to feel anything beyond pain was no more.

And yet, there was a way.

She could make them feel again.

Their minds would not be able to process what they were feeling, nor would they be able to handle it without simply freezing up and standing still. And so she projected her feelings into their minds; opening them to what had been purged long ago. Hate for her enemies, sadness for the friends she'd lost, hope for the future, and love for her friends and Creed.

It all rushed over their simple minds, and as she suspected, they simply froze. They stopped, as if frozen in mid-thought, and in a way, they were. It would take their brains hours to fully process what they were feeling, and by that time, all of them would be dead.

Her smile grew as their minds suddenly vanished, winking out like stars in a galaxy, until there were only a few more left in the void. And the Humans pressed forward, ever confident and resilient in the face of overwhelming odds. Odds which were slowly shifting back to their favor.

Still, she wondered why they had only sent Mutons. With that, she went into the primitive mind of one looking for clues, and managed to reconstruct a fragmented thought.

Enemy appraisement. Test current defenses.

She frowned and mentally commanded the Muton to kill himself. Interesting. So they were probing ADVENT defenses? Seeing what they had before sending in-ah.

Well, they were getting better. Mutons were expendable. Better to tailor the second wave to the weaknesses of your enemy. It was probably the same for all the attacks then. Very clever, and an excellent usage of the superior numbers the aliens had, if a little useless. She frowned as there was something buzzing in the distance…what was…oh, right.

She returned to reality; the sounds and smells all coming back in a rush. "They're testing the defenses," she quickly said into her helmet. "The Mutons are just a front. The real attacks will be the second wave-"

"Patricia! We need to get you to the skyranger now," the Commander interrupted. "Big Sky is coming back for you now."

She frowned. She was never called away. "What's happened?"

"Caelior," the Commander confirmed with a word. "And if we don't get you there soon, he's going to destroy Tokyo."

---

Tokyo, Japan

Jamali knew they were in a losing battle, though seeing the Ethereal float through Tokyo Bay, a massive US carrier held hundreds of feet in the air, it didn't seem entirely real. He prayed this was some kind of horrible dream, but he knew that if it was, he would have woken up by now.

He tried lining up his pulse rifle, and fired another burning lance at the distant Ethereal, missed of course, and quickly moved because that was the one thing that seemed to provoke Caelior. "Jump!" He yelled and Maria and Sora both complied as they moved to the next roof, and just in time as well.

He glanced back to see the building he had been standing on, a small two-story one, shimmer as it was surrounded by a slightly purple aura, before cracking and collapsing in on itself. Jamali's heart pounded as the rubble settled, but the sounds and screams were still as prevalent as ever. There was nothing that seemed to be able to stop the rampaging Ethereal.

Gauss rounds slowed to a crawl the moment they got near him, rockets were turned back at ADVENT laughable ease, buildings were collapsed into rubble with a clenched fist from the Ethereal, and his range seemed only as limited as far as he could see.

And he could see far.

"Jona!" Jamali yelled. "Can you stop him?"

Their telepath had one hand extended futilely to the flying Ethereal, purple energy shimmering around her. "I can't!" She yelled in frustration. "He's too strong! I can't do it without help!"

Jamali glanced up as the Ethereal was getting frightfully close to the city. "Come on, Patricia!" He muttered. She was literally their only chance here, since Jona wasn't strong enough, and their weapons weren't doing more than posing a minor annoyance to the Ethereal.

"Jamali! Allison! Get on!" Dael yelled from a helicopter that landed behind them. "Maria! You get on too. We've only got one shot at this before he gets close enough!"

Jamali didn't hesitate and jumped onto the helicopter along with the others, as they took off and began circling the area. "What's the-"Jamali began, before Allison gasped and the building that they had just been on was suddenly surrounded by Caelior's telekinetic hold, and shattered. With a grip strong enough to break stone, Jona, Sora, Gyeong, and Yasu weren't nearly equipped to resist it, and their figures compressed into misshapen forms of humans, limbs bent in odd ways as their Aegis armor worked against them, making any injury far more painful.

He just blinked in surprise. Had it just been random bad luck? Or had Caelior been able to target them from Jona's telepathic probe? But they were dead now; killed within seconds at the hands of the Ethereal.

Any slower and he might have been on the building when it imploded.

Allison's voice was ragged. "Plan?"

"We trap him in stasis," Dael answered grimly, summoning his power. "Both of us. That isn't his specialty and we need to do it now."

"But-"

"It won't stop him, I know," Dael answered. "Maria, Jamali, you shoot that glider-thing he's riding. He'll be invincible, but he'll crash to the ground all the same. We drop a bomb down into the water and he might die."

As far as plans went, it wasn't the worst he'd heard, and see two skyscrapers collapse, knocking over even more buildings…they needed to act now. He exchanged a glance with Maria, who nodded and raised her pulse rifle. They could do this.

They got closer and closer. Jamali needed to learn the name of this pilot. He deserved a medal if they all survived this. "Now!" Dael yelled, and he and Allison extended their arms and Caelior was suddenly surrounded in a purple bubble that covered his body like a shell. Luckily his helmet was facing away, which meant he hadn't seen their approach.

"Fire!" Jamali yelled, and red lances of fire spat out of their rifles and into the hoverboard Caelior was using, with them specifically targeting where the engines were. The silver board sparked, and the blue engines or anti-grav fields, Jamali didn't know which, flickered out and failed.

And the board fell into the ocean.

But Caelior was still hovering in the air.

"Little foolish humans," Caelior almost sounded amused, and the helicopter blades stopped. Jamali gasped as pressure covered his entire body, as if he was in a presser that was killing him by centimeters. "A clever tactic, and one that might have worked, had I not prepared for such a maneuver."

The purple shell around Caelior had vanished, and the now-floating Ethereal spun around, one lower hand extended to the ground, another towards the helicopter now in his grasp, along with all the occupants. "You die here today, XCOM," Caelior spat, as Jamali felt his bones begin cracking. Maria and Dael screamed in pain. "And you will die knowing you failed."

Caelior closed his fist, and the helicopter crumbled like a cheap toy, and the people within it were just as doomed. Jamali didn't have to think about how he died. Perhaps his skull caved in on itself; perhaps his spine broke; perhaps the pressure forced his body to explode. But all that he felt was a brief flash of intense pain, and before he even had time to form a final though, let alone scream, everything ended.

And the crumpled helicopter crashed into the water, then sank to the bottom, never to be recovered.

Osaka, Japan

The battle had suddenly and unexpectedly shifted. Everything had been going along relatively well, and both XCOM teams had taken several more of the landed UFOs, but now there were…issues. Sierra first noticed that something was different when they suddenly came under attack by Floaters. Not just the cheap and poorly made floaters, these were…different.

They were the result of someone taking the concept, and putting as much armor as possible over them. Whatever visible flesh was on the alien, it was gone and replaced by metal. These Heavies carried full plasma rifles as well, not the carbines the smaller ones used, and they were being used to great effect.

"Down!" Sierra yelled, and yanked David to the ground, before directing her weapon back up and firing at the Heavy that was trying to flank them. One of several dozen which were assailing the ADVENT lines, of which they were a part of now. Six went down from combined ADVENT and XCOM fire, but several dozen were shot in quick succession as a response.

What was worse was that the Floaters completely negated Carmelita's advantage, since they could stay above her, and largely out of the more accurate range of her alloy cannon. But even the aliens couldn't keep that up forever, and with every Heavy they lost, that was one less. The unarmored Floaters weren't that bad. One swipe with her sustained beam cut them right in half.

She glanced up over the water as damaged Heavies flew inside the transports hovering over it. They seemed to be acting as a hangar of sorts, and Sierra suspected that there were probably Battlefield Engineers inside.

"Said! Fatima! Status?" Carmelita demanded as she managed to blow a Floater apart that had come a bit too close.

"Holding," Said grunted, and Sierra looked over to where he, Kiera and Antia were defending the docks. "The Floaters are whittling down the ADVENT forces. I can't protect them all."

"Another problem!" Sierra interrupted, as she saw two dozen shining disks coming across the water in the distance, accompanied by the familiar black drones. "Cyberdisks!"

"It's not good over here," Fatima breathed heavily, and Sierra saw from a quick glance over at the bridge that there was a lot of ground being lost. The Ballista-class MEC was smoking, and the missile racks were almost depleted. Kenta needed to restock or get out of there, especially as she saw three Sectopods stomp out of the woods before the bridge.

"My telepathy isn't working on them anymore," Fatima explained. "They're using those mind-slaved Mutons, and the Andromedons have their suits overridden. Everything else is mechanical, and-gah!"

"Shit!" Carmelita cursed as a massive floating white ball suddenly joined the Sectopods. "Gatekeeper!"

Alright, maybe there wasn't an idiot in charge after all. All of this was way too specific to be a coincidence. "It was a trap," she muttered to herself as her laser sheared through one Floater that tried an audacious flank. "They wanted us to kill the useless Mutons."

"Thank them later," came the voice of Aarni. "Carmelita, I need some priority targets. I can keep shooting whatever comes into my sights, but there are too many to choose from effectively."

"Can you hit the cyberdisks?" Carmelita demanded, as the disks transformed into their firing mode.

"Yes," came the answer. "Understood."

"New plan," Carmelita continued, all of them continuing to fire as the Cyberdisks shot golden-trailing rounds onto ADVENT positions. "Said, you and me will go reinforce the bridge. Sierra, make sure everyone else holds here."

"Got it!" Sierra confirmed as Carmelita began dashing away towards the fight on the bridge. A Cyberdisk suddenly flared and its insides caught fire, then fell into the water with a splash. Sierra took a few seconds to aim, then surgically fired at one of the small gaps in the cyberdisk, cutting through it easily and it fell into the water after a few seconds of sustained fire later.

That immediately attracted the attention of the aliens in the area, and she slid completely behind cover as plasma and golden rounds hit everywhere around her. A couple ADVENT soldiers jerked back as their bodies were pierced by the rounds and they fell still as she quickly reloaded a fresh cell into her rifle, and turned around to line up another shot.

To her dismay there were even more Heavy Floaters in the air, almost reminding her of a swarm of insects. They were shrugging off ADVENT gauss fire like water, or at the very least it wasn't affecting them. And they had figured out how to use their superior speed and protection most effectively. The Heavy Floaters were dive-bombing ADVENT soldiers, slamming into them, grabbing the unlucky ones and dragging them up into the air, where they either dropped them into water, or slammed them into walls or the ground with bone-shattering force.

"We can't keep all of them off!" David yelled as two Heavies flanked him and the soldiers around him. They fired, killing one soldier and wounding the other. Sierra swung her rifle around to shoot them, and quickly fired, hitting one directly in its metal head, doing enough damage to kill it instantly. The other one fired at an exposed David, and scored several direct hits in the leg.

David fell to the ground in a heap, though managed to raise his own rifle high enough to hit the Floater directly in the center chest, causing it to flare out of control and crash into a nearby building. Sierra rushed over to him, glancing down at the wounded leg which had dissolved most of the thigh armor, and the plasma residue was eating into the leg.

"Out of the way," Antia interrupted, pulling out her med-kit. "Let me fix him up."

"Thanks," Sierra said as she returned to the quickly worsening situation. The Cyberdisks and Floaters were ripping the ADVENT forces apart, and the bridge battle wasn't going well at all. The Gatekeeper was engaged with the front ADVENT soldiers, its shell open and tentacles extended, and consuming them in horrific fashion.

Said was clearly trying to establish some kind of defense, but against a horde of Sectopods, Mutons, and Andromedons, he couldn't hold out forever. The Sectopod fire was relentless, and Sierra blinked as one massive blast slammed directly into Kenta's MEC, and it blew apart with a fiery explosion. She swallowed. That was the MEC gone, and with it, one of the main reasons ADVENT had been able to hold the bridge.

"Two on the right!" Kiera shouted frantically, and Sierra barely had time to dodge out of the way before one of them tossed a small plasma grenade at Kiera's feet, exploding and blowing the lower half of her apart before she could even move. The Floaters were quickly taken apart, but the damage was done, and they were another soldier down.

"Carmelita!" Sierra yelled furiously as she stepped back, trying to draw some fire on her. "We're getting overrun here!"

"Well, it's not any nicer over here!" Was the hissed response, with the familiar sound of alloy cannon shots in the background. "Kenta is down, Fatima is hurt, and Said can't defend the bridge on his own. Now I've got a Gatekeeper to deal with."

Sierra ground her teeth together as she shot a few more Floaters down. "We need to retreat. All we're going to do is die if we stay!"

"I agree," Carmelita answered grimly. "They knew exactly how to counter us. We were played here. I've informed Colonel Chu of the recommended course of action."

"Is he going to do it?" Sierra demanded.

"All ADVENT Forces are ordered to immediately retreat to the designated regrouping area," Chu suddenly interrupted on the comms. "Blowing the bridge in five minutes."

"Time to get off here," Carmelita said. "Sierra, get David and Antia to the designated extraction zone. We'll be close behind."

"Understood," Sierra answered, waving to Antia who was standing over David, trying to protect him as best she could. "Come on! We're getting out of here!"

She dashed over, providing brief bursts of covering fire as Antia hauled David to his one good leg, who also grunted in pain. "I'm just going to slow you down," he grunted, in obvious pain still. "Just go!"

"Give him to me," Sierra ordered, and she clumsily switched places with Antia, who took up the role of bodyguard and area suppressor. "We're not leaving you behind." She told David, and with a grunt slung him over her shoulder. Were she not genetically enhanced, she probably would have collapsed. As it was, he was extremely heavy and she was not going to be able to protect herself.

"Aarni, cover our retreat!" She ordered as they began moving up the street as fast as possible, plasma and Cyberdisk rounds raining around the street and buildings.

"Copy that," Sierra didn't see what he was actually doing, her gaze was directly in front of her, moving forward as fast as possible; one foot in front of the other, even as she tried some means of making tracking difficult by moving in a zig-zag pattern, although she was probably too slow for it to make any real difference.

"We're almost there," Antia encouraged, sounding almost out of breath herself as they kept going. Sierra was purely following her HUD at this point, although the sounds of the battle had faded the more they got away from it. She was trying not to think of how close she'd probably come to dying. That wouldn't serve any purpose.

But she'd come close today. Very, very close.

She took a breath. The battle here was probably lost.

Hopefully the others were going better. Assuming that the rest of the attacks had been more or less straightforward.

But she had a feeling that wasn't the case. Whoever had planned this knew what they were doing.

Probably wasn't that idiot from the first time then. Sierra sincerely wished that aliens would actually make some mistakes every once in a while. Because when they were smart, they were terrifying and almost unstoppable.

---

Nakashibetsu, Japan

The aliens were both doing what Duri expected, and not at the same time. He found it interesting that the reinforcements still hadn't begun moving forward, and they seemed content to watch ADVENT utterly annihilate the remaining Muton forces, sending each and every last one to the grave. Some more Warthog barrages had targeted the transports some of the Mutons fled to, and that had resulted in several massive explosions as the Warthogs must have ruptured the elerium engines, destroying the craft completely.

That had prompted the aliens to send in several squads of alien fighters, and now there was a raging dogfight in the air, which essentially meant that they would not be getting any air support for a while. The destroyer had been constantly moving ever since that strange Andromedon craft plunged into the water, and as such wasn't providing much assistance. At the speed it was going, Duri would have guessed it was running for its life if he didn't know better.

However, the lull on the ground was likely going to stop soon as the Corporal informed them of the latest development.

"We've got another UFO on approach-," Corporal Williams suddenly informed the soldiers, with his voice halting unexpectedly at the end. "Purifier forces immediately move back. Confirmation of an Overseer-class UFO on approach. Possibility of Battlemaster engagement raised."

Duri exchanged glances with his squad, expressions all hidden under the helmets, but any elation he'd felt had quickly faded at that. The Battlemaster. "Fuck." Cara summed up for them eloquently, as she frantically reloaded her weapon. "And here I thought things were going well."

"Rocketeers, ready weapons for launch," Williams stated, as in the distance a small gray UFO appeared. Kang raised his weapon, as did all the Rocketeers in the area. Duri did not have high expectations that this would work, but there was always the chance. "Fire!" Williams ordered, and several dozen rockets sped towards the UFO.

Small red lasers shot out of small turrets which popped up the instant the missiles were launched, and quickly reduced the missile volley to dust and metal. "That went well," Kang muttered as he switched back to his rifle.

"Looks like it's landing," Duri noted with some surprise, as he aimed his weapon at the entrance. "Weapons up!"

"Prepare for concentrated volley," Williams ordered. "Fire the moment whatever's inside steps out."

"Copy," Duri affirmed, and they waited.

And waited.

At five minutes, Cara was clearly starting to get restless. "He's taking his sweet time," she muttered. "Whoever this is doesn't seem to care."

"Or he's being smart," Johan pointed out. "Although that raises the question of why he'd come alone?"

The UFO was a fair distance down the beach, literally hovering a few inches above the water itself before the sand proper. It had landed in between two of the empty transports, and was grossly out of the range of the majority of their weapons. ADVENT was cautiously moving forward, and the MDU's were marching forward slowly, accompanied by some Purifiers who stopped about a quarter of the way to the transport, which was still fairly far away, but at a range the Purifiers could reach.

"Purifiers, ignite the target," Williams ordered, and the Purifiers kept walking forward, as if they hadn't heard the command. "Hold your positions," Williams repeated. "I repeat, hold your positions."

The Purifiers spun around in perfect coordination and unleashed their flamethrowers on the completely exposed MDU's. None of the machines stood a chance as they exploded and melted from the torrents of flame from the traitorous Purifiers. The chemical fire flared dangerously close to the ADVENT line, but for better or worse, the worst of it had been taken by the MDU's and the Purifiers didn't seem to want to continue firing, as they walked back towards the UFO, as slow and mechanical as metal zombies.

"Humans!" A deep bass voice rang out, as the alien inside the UFO finally stepped out, the area in front of him charred and broken glass, and the compromised Purifiers moved to form a pyramid of protection around him, although not close enough that if they exploded, they would harm him. Duri also noted that even if the alien was in range of a Purifier explosion, the chances of even a sniper hitting the tanks was extremely low.

Purifiers had been built specifically to withstand enemy fire like this.

The alien himself was not an Ethereal. Nor was it any other species Duri thought he had seen before.

The alien was massive, it stood nearly as tall as an MDU, with bulging muscles encased in segmented and seemingly ceremonial red armor. The fingers of its red gauntlets had tipped points, and the symbol in the center of his chest armor was clearly reminiscent of an Ethereal figure. If said Ethereal was a stick figure.

"What the hell is that?" Johan muttered.

It reminded Duri of a Muton, if that Muton was a little smaller, not quite as strong, and could talk. The face was that of a brute, ugly, with compressed features and a blockish head, not to mention scarred horrifically. The skin was a deep shade of purple, although the bald scalp was a mix of violet and purple from all of the scar tissue. The eyes were a deep purple, and seemed to burn with an unnatural purple fire.

Under his right arm he held a similarly ornate helmet, one reminiscent of the ones Mutons wore sometimes, which completely covered the face and only had slits for eyes. But this one had ornaments that were angular and jagged at the ears, and the back had some kind of hair or wig coming out of it.

Duri surmised that Johan had spoken for all of them.

Because he had no idea what this thing was.

Except that it was psionic.

"Humans!" The alien repeated, raising a pointed hand not holding the helmet at them. "You have stood in defiance of the Elders for far too long. You have insulted their generous nature, and your continued resistance is beyond merely insulting, it is heretical!"

The alien raised his hand to the sky. "The Elders wished to bestow great gifts upon your species, as they did to me! But like petulant children, you have squandered their goodwill, not even comprehending what you will lose in pursuit of your hollow victories! You are blind, arrogant, and weak!"

Duri wasn't sure if he should be worried at how genuinely offended the alien sounded, or confused because he was literally monologuing in front of them. And the alien began to pace. "Snipers, set your sights on this thing," Williams commanded, cold fury evident in his voice. "Let him keep wasting his breath."

"…For even the generous Elders will not tolerate your rebellion any longer!" The alien continued ranting. "Their grace has been exhausted, for they have sent me! I am the Creator's Greatest Champion™! Be honored, Humans! You stand in the presence of Senorium, Fist of the Creator and Warlock of the Elders!"

"Who the fuck is the Creator?" Cara muttered in disbelief.

"God?" Kang asked in equal confusion. "I mean, this guy seems to think the Ethereals are gods anyway. Who would have thought aliens have their religious fanatics as well."

"Psionic religious fanatics who don't shut up," Duri added. "Look, he's still going."

"Fire," Williams commanded, and all the Snipers in range shot their rifles in quick succession, discharges reaching his ears within milliseconds of each other. The alien actually reacted quickly, raising a hand and a small shield appeared in front of him, but Duri quite clearly saw one of the bullets hit the unprotected part of his throat, ripping it apart.

Purple blood spilled out, and the alien reached for it, looking more angry than in pain. "You wish a battle?" The Warlock gasped, straightening up as the wound closed before Duri's eyes. He blinked. Impossible. He doubted even an enhanced XCOM soldier could survive a direct shot to the throat.

"You cannot kill me!" The Warlock roared, abandoning all pretense of civility as purple psionic flames encased him. "No mortal can hope to stand against me! You will die now!" All of ADVENT suddenly began firing at the Warlock as he surrounded himself in a psionic shield, while putting on his helmet.

He screamed some battle cry in a harsh, guttural language, and he raised a hand encased in psionic energy to the sky, as if lifting something, before pointing the other one at the ADVENT army. Then things immediately turned terrifying. Hundreds of purple figures appeared on the beach, materializing out of nowhere.

The moment they appeared they began running towards the ADVENT line which quickly turned to focusing on them. Duri didn't know what these things could possibly be. They were humanoid figures, some clearly defined while others were little more than psionic mist in the shape of a humanoid. They held strange kinds of melee weapons in their hands, or maybe they were parts of their hands.

The soldiers were clearly afraid of what these things were, and firing frantically into the ghostly force charging towards them. Duri just fired and prayed that these things even could be killed. Luckily, at least some of them seemed to be vulnerable. The ones made out of little more than psionic mist dissipated after a couple shots, while the more defined and solid ones took a few volleys to completely be destroyed.

But Duri also noticed that they couldn't be wounded or slowed down. Not in the conventional way. It was all or nothing. They were either destroyed or they were not. The only thing that indicated damage was that cracks appeared through the defined ghosts, and the immaterial ones became less visible.

The Warlock was laughing as he strode forward, a laugh torn between joy and pain. Psionic energy formed in his hands and he thrust them at a nearby ADVENT fortification. A maelstrom of destructive psionic energy materialized and tore the soldiers within it apart, as well as anything else caught in the storm.

The psionic ghosts that hadn't been destroyed were now on the ADVENT line, and to Duri's terror, they actually were more than just illusions. The ones of psionic wisps sliced and cut against the armor, and it had the same effect as if dangerous psionic energy was used on it. This resulted in the blades of psionic mist cutting and stabbing through armor easily.

The solid apparitions were thankfully much less dangerous. Their weapons were more blunt than sharp, and although they were harder to kill, they were not nearly as deadly as their glass cannon counterparts. Duri shot one of the immaterial ghosts, and it vanished, but there were two more solid ones that were attempting to kill Cara.

One she blew apart with a volley, but the other sent her back with enough force to send her to the ground. Kang stepped up and killed that one, as well as another coming around the side. "They're on me!" Johan shouted as three of the immaterial ghosts charged him; one he shot into nothing, and Duri managed to shoot the other, but none of them were fast enough to stop the last one from slicing down at him, then stabbing him in the neck with the psionic blade, which sizzled the skin it stabbed though, before it vanished as Duri killed it.

"We need to fall back!" Duri yelled as the seemingly endless wave of ghosts kept coming. The MDU's were practically useless as their sensors likely didn't recognize the immaterial forms, and thus couldn't fire at them. Whoever was in charge of the MDU's had ordered them back, but the machines were taking damage all the same, yet were unable to act on it.

The other ADVENT soldiers were still holding the lines, but the Warlock was continuously advancing, creating little psionic storms in secure fortifications, turning them into death traps. "All forces immediately retreat!" Corporal Williams ordered. "Retreat to interior defenses-"

He was suddenly cut off, and Duri didn't waste time worrying about what that meant. "Come on!" He yelled to Cara and Kang, and they began backing up, firing at the apparitions continuously. Duri felt a pang of regret for having to leave Johan's body behind but, there was no choice whatsoever. "Beatriz! Come in!"

"Y-yes?" She answered, her voice ragged and terrified. She sounded like she was going to hyperventilate. Fuck. He couldn't have her break down now.

"Listen to me," Duri commanded, putting some extra steel into his voice. "Keep calm. Stay where you are and do not move until we are at your position. How many of those ghosts are left?"

A pause. "I…I think a quarter of what they were. Maybe, I…"

Alright, that could be worked with. "Good," he interrupted her. "Keep shooting them. Target the more immaterial ones. Those are more dangerous. Do you got that?"

"I…yes sir."

"Good," Duri nodded as he shot a few more psionic ghosts. "Stay calm. We're on our way."

And as they retreated deeper into the city, the insane laughing of the Warlock followed them as he pursued the soldiers, psionic energy rippling in his hands as he continued ripping them apart with his immense power. And behind him, the UFO Transports began moving.

This was somehow going to get worse.

---

Tokyo, Japan

"All of Twin Team has gone silent," Big Sky informed Patricia as she stood alone in the skyranger. "They're presumed dead, killed by Caelior."

"Understood," Patricia said softly, even as she first felt the Ethereal himself. She didn't know how close they were, but she could sense his power was immense. Vindication and triumph were emanating off him in equal measure, and he clearly took great joy in exercising his powers. "Open the ramp," ,he ordered, wanting to see the battleground before deciding what to do.

"Patricia, this is the Commander," he suddenly interrupted. "You're not going to be able to stop him now. ADVENT is in full retreat from the city and we can't afford to lose you as well."

"I know!" She scowled. "But I'm going to see for myself before deciding."

"I'll try to stay out of his range," Big Sky promised. "But even still…"

"Do it," Patricia repeated, as she reached out to probe Caelior's mental defenses. All background noise faded to silence as she tapped into the psionic power within her, and reached out to the alien below her.

She met the equivalent of a brick wall. It was a shell that completely blocked any access to his mind beyond the basic sensing of emotions. Not good. A quick survey didn't reveal any significant weaknesses, and even if she were to press, he might be able to pinpoint exactly where she was, and that would only get her killed.

She needed support. Multiple telepaths minimum, people who could augment her strength or overwhelm Caelior's mind. The technique had worked with the Ravaged One, it would probably work here, if she actually had anyone to help her.

The ramp opened up and she got a look at the destruction Caelior had already wreaked upon the city. It had started in the canal before Tokyo Bay, and it had only continued. Buildings and businesses had been turned to shattered rubble, leaving hundreds of gaps amidst the city, and the collapses had also destroyed other buildings beside them.

There were thousands of dead ADVENT soldiers, MDU's, and aircraft littering the water and land. Every single one was mutilated in some way, from irregularly shaped limbs to complete pulverization of the bodies. Many would never be identified. Dozens of small fires were raging, dotting it in orange, likely from exploded Purifiers, and the fires would cause more damage before burning themselves out.

And she saw the floating US carrier, suspended high in the air, just as the Ethereal below it threw the raised hand forward, and the behemoth of steel was thrown forward, flying through the air almost in slow-motion as it careened towards the center of the city. It was almost elegantly thrown, up until it crashed into the first buildings.

The sound was deafening as skyscrapers were shattered and toppled as the carrier cut through the bases of the buildings like butter; each destroyed building raising clouds of smoke as it fell. The carrier cut through a good portion of the city before coming to a stop; complete destruction in its wake.

The Ethereal himself was suspended in the air, likely under his own power, observing his handiwork, before he continued drifting forward, telekinetic powers employed as he destroyed what ADVENT forces were left, and turning the buildings still standing into rubble.

"Head back," Patricia said quietly. "We can't do anything more here."

"Yes, Psion Trask," Big Sky answered just as somberly. "Leaving the area now."

---

Nakashibetsu, Japan

"We're getting surrounded," Beatriz updated worriedly as Duri, Cara, and Kang continued retreating through the streets. More ADVENT soldiers were taking up positions behind the barricades in the streets, and the turrets were primed and ready, as were the MDU's left. It looked like the Purifiers were being moved to certain choke points.

Beatriz's update was not exactly welcome. "How?" Cara demanded as she leapt over a barricade and positioned herself in a firing stance.

"They've landed UFO transports on the beach and east and west sides," she explained. "Largely Mutons and Andromedons from each of them. I think there are a few Vitakara teams as well."

"Set up here," Duri instructed his team, as they joined several other squads at the barricade. "Beatriz, what's coming up to us?" He glanced up at the roof she was positioned up on, along with a couple other snipers.

"Uh…" she audibly swallowed. "Andromedons."

"Wonderful," Cara grunted. "As long as that Warlock doesn't show up with them, we should be fine."

"Majority of ADVENT forces are in fortified positions," Williams stated over the radio. "Purifier forces perform immediate area denial and retreat to safe position."

The Purifier on their street immediately stepped forward, raised his flamethrower, and shot a torrent of white-orange flame which set the entire street alight, as well as the buildings on the ends. Duri didn't feel comfortable being this close to the chemical, but it would force the Andromedons to find some other path.

Though it didn't deter them for long.

"Andromedon!" One of the soldiers yelled, and immediately plasma lances came down on their position as the Andromedons began firing, not from the street, but from the buildings around it. Their angles of attack weren't exceptional, but they had a line of sight to the ADVENT line. They were also constrained by how many could fire at a time.

And it trapped them. "Kang! Collapse it!" Duri ordered, and Kang immediately pulled out his rocket launcher again, and loaded in his final rocket.

"Marking now, syncing…" Duri continued, switching to his green laser sight, which pointed at one of the buildings containing an Andromedon force. The green beam turned red. "Locked!" He yelled.

Kang fired the rocket, which hit one of the Andromedons directly in its green-yellow helmet and blew apart the entire wall, and within a few seconds later, caused the building to collapse into the street. The rubble caught fire the moment it touched the burning street, and began spreading onto the nearby buildings.

"Nice shot!" Cara called, doing her best to lay down a suppressive barrage on another building holding Andromedon soldiers. "I think-" She was interrupted by a surprised gurgle as a soldier next to her fell over, a small hole in his forehead.

"Sniper!" Duri called, and all of them reflexively fell into cover. "Beatriz!"

"I can't get a clear look!" She yelled back. "Might be two or more. Vitakara probably."

Another lightning plasma bolt hit an Officer without warning, and the Andromedons were moving further up the buildings. "Got a shot," Beatriz updated. "Firing."

A few seconds. "One down."

Duri let out a small sigh. Alright, this was still bad, but Beatriz and the Snipers could hopefully deal with the Vitakara. The larger problem were the Andromedons moving ever-closer. "Acid!" Kang shouted in warning as a half-dozen Andromedons stepped outside their protective buildings, raised their fists and shot out small green pellets at the ADVENT line and turrets.

Duri immediately fell behind protective cover, as small puddles of sizzling green acid landed around him. Soldiers yelled as they were hit and it began eating into them, and some landed on MDU's and turret barrels, warping the metal and preventing it from working properly.

Some of the MDU's, deprived of weapons, charged the Andromedons who'd shot the acid. Unlike the Mutons which Duri knew would try and fight back, hand-to-hand, the Andromedons simply raised their wrists and sprayed the MDU's with acid which ate through the metal and destroyed the integrity of the limbs well before they were destroyed by the acid destroying vital systems.

The good news was that the Andromedons had exposed themselves to the surviving MDU's and turrets, and those surgically destroyed their suits. An MDU blew apart the tubes on one of the Andromedons; the acid tanks on their backs were destroyed by some turrets, and with ADVENT now somewhat recovered, their combined fire was enough to completely kill the Andromedons, including before they could utilize their AI that activated after death.

Duri quickly looked around. They only had maybe fifteen soldiers left, and there weren't any reinforcements coming that he could see. Whereas he couldn't tell just how many Andromedons were left; there could be dozens or only a few. Given the rate of fire still being used on them, he figured they had plenty of soldiers left.

He quickly glanced upwards, and there were UFO fighters still streaking over, engaged in dogfights with some of the Ravens. No chance of any kind of air support then, as that was still tied up, they were too far for the Destroyer to help, provided it was even in any position to do anything. "Corporal," he said on the channel. "We're getting overwhelmed with Andromedons here. Requesting reinforcements."

"I don't have any to spare," was the tight answer. "Every front is under attack."

"Then we need to retreat out of the city," Duri insisted, as he fired a few times at an exposed Andromedon. "We cannot hold this position without support!"

A pause on the end. "Orders will be coming shortly. Hold the line until then. Williams out."

Duri actually hoped that shortly wasn't code for death sentence, but the Corporal knew that they couldn't win this now, especially if things were as bad as had been suggested. If there really were no reinforcements, then this attack was much bigger than he'd thought. "Stand by for orders!" He yelled, speaking to the remaining forces, since many of the Officers had died. "Hold the line!"

A plasma lance slammed into another soldier who collapsed to the ground. And now the Andromedons judged it was the time to strike, and they came pouring out, determined to simply tank the remaining damage ADVENT could put out. Duri had a choice now: Try and hold the line or retreat.

It wasn't a hard one. "Fall back!" He ordered, waving a hand backwards. The soldiers immediately retreated dashing back a few steps, falling into whatever cover was around, and firing a few shots, while the Gunners performed a sustained fallback, firing as they went. "Ah!" Kang gasped as a plasma lance hit his leg, forcing him to the ground.

Cara stopped and began moving towards him, before he waved her off. "Go now!" She didn't have much of a choice as the Andromedons quickly reached where he was, one lowered a gauntlet and sprayed his quivering body with acid, eliciting some loud and chilling screams before he died.

"Beatriz!" Duri called. "Get down here now!"

"I'm here," she responded, dashing out of the building she'd been in, and firing with her drawn pistol. "We need to-"

"Yes! I know!" Duri yelled back, trying to prevent her from breaking down completely. Even through her armor he could tell her body was shaking horribly, turning her shots into wild misses. Her entire balance was off, and he wondered if she would be able to fully run without stumbling over herself.

He grabbed her arm and pulled her behind a crate. "Beatriz! Listen!" He yelled at her over the shooting. "Look at me! You understand?" A quick nod. "Take a breath and stay by me! We're going to get out of this, do you understand?!"

Another nod. "Alright, let's go!" He ordered, and they stood and continued to fall back, now with some distance put between themselves and the Andromedons. With no more Sniper support, the Vitakara snipers had returned to shooting the soldiers, killing several more with their plasma bolts.

"ADVENT forces are immediately ordered to begin retreating out of the city," Williams finally updated. "Purifier forces are standing by for final area denial."

Damn it, he was leaving another soldier behind. Two down. He couldn't lose any more today. His HUD had the coordinates and pathing, so he directed the surviving soldiers that way. "Behind me and reload!" He ordered Cara, whose clip was running out. "Now-"

Another plasma bolt slammed past him and directly into Beatriz chest. She collapsed with a gasp, but the first thing Duri noticed when he knelt to check her was that she was still breathing. Barely. But she was breathing. The sniper had directly hit the hardest part of the armor, and it had absorbed the worst of it.

Not all of it, and he knew she would die if she didn't get medical attention soon. Plasma wounds were like acid, but slower. By the time it fizzled out it might burn through her chest. He tossed aside his rifle and picked her up in both his arms. Throwing her over his shoulder would probably only make the wound worse, not to mention be extremely painful for her.

All he could do was pray they were out of the range of the snipers.

"Cara! Cover me!" He yelled as he dashed past her.

"On it!" She confirmed, still spraying gauss rounds down the street. Duri didn't know how long they had been moving, running, and shooting, but the end was in sight. There were transports and Purifiers at a small city square, waiting for them.

There were only six of them left, as the MDU's had long since been destroyed, and one of the six was injured. Upon seeing them running up, one of the Officers gestured and an ADVENT Medic came running up to him. "Direct plasma shot to chest," he urgently told the Medic. "Armor seems to have taken the worst, but-"

"I've got it," he assured Duri, waving for a few soldiers to come with a stretcher. "She'll live. Don't worry."

Duri turned around and saw the two Purifiers begin their final area denial. They didn't stop at just the streets this time. Every nearby building that didn't immediately pose a threat to them was doused in the terrifying chemical. As the entire street burned, Duri felt that was a good metaphor for how this entire attack had gone.

Up in flames.

Everything they'd accomplished here was ultimately for nothing.

And he didn't know what they would be able to do to make sure it didn't happen again.

---

Supplementary Material

The Advent Directive

Section 8: ADVENT Military

Subsection 8.6: ADVENT Army (Abridged)

Overview: The ADVENT Army is the primary ground force of the ADVENT military, and is responsible for all ground combat waged. The structure and funding of the ADVENT Army is to be larger than other military divisions because of the increased areas of control and because the majority of armed forces are ground-based.

Structure:

General: The general of the ADVENT Army oversees the major operations and deployments of the Army, and coordinates heavily with the other ADVENT Military.

Chief Marshal: The Chief Marshal is the designated officer over ADVENT Army Legions, which are largely provided to member nations, although there are some held in reserve to deploy in cases of emergency. Coordinates often with the General of the ADVENT Army.

Marshal: Marshals oversee Garrisons of ADVENT Legions, and are largely used to protect major cities within member or enemy nations. As they command Garrisons, they are more mobile than standard Legions, as are thus able to more accurately distribute their forces. Marshals report directly to the Chief Marshal.

Colonel: Colonels oversee Companies of ADVENT Garrisons, and are largely used for specific and precise geological positioning, and are able to be one of the most mobile forces of the army. They are best suited in conjunction with other Companies or higher, or defending smaller towns. Colonels report directly to Marshals.

Corporal: Corporals have direct authority over the management or positioning of Squads of soldiers which are composed of Units, many of which can be unique and specialize in multiple areas. Corporals are essential in reducing the workload of command, and are likely to be most involved in battlefield command. Corporals report directly to Colonels.

Officer: Officers oversee four-man squads of ADVENT soldiers and are the primary battlefield commanders in the heat of combat. These are essential for maintaining battlefield discipline. Officers report directly to Corporals.

Specialty Units:These are units that do not fall directly under a specific hierarchy of command, but generally answer at minimum to Corporals:

- Purifier: Flame units that specialize in area denial and annihilation tactics.

- Medic: Primary medical professionals specializing in battlefield medicine. Are armed with gauss rifles and pistols

- Engineer: Battlefield engineers that specialize in adapting equipment found on the battlefield into usable equipment, as well as maintaining robotic and vehicular units in and out of combat.

Soldier: ADVENT soldiers have several different specializations:

- Gunner: Are heavy-fire units which should be utilized for suppression and area denial. Their primary weapon is a gauss autorifle.

- Infantry: The standard soldier of the ADVENT Army, who uses gauss rifles and pistols.

- Sniper: Long-range specialists that are utilized for single-target removal and surgical sabotage. Armed with a sniper rifle and pistol.

- Rocketeer: Heavy weapon and explosive specialists armed with a gauss rifle and rocket launcher.