No plan survives contact with the enemy.
It was one of the oldest sayings in book, known to anyone from the greenest of martial artist trainees to the most grizzled of jaeger elites. You can't always expect your enemy to act how you want, so some level of flexibility was needed with any strategy.
But never in her wildest dreams could Fie have imagined the bracer's plan being rendered so utterly useless like it just had.
A few minutes ago they had been informing civilians of the shelters that would hopefully keep them out of the line of the Imperial Army's advance, but that idea had backfired terribly as the archaisms that had supposedly been defending them instead revealed themselves to be the more immediate threat. Instead of tanks and soldats they were now trying to deal with a bunch of machines that had gone haywire and were firing at everything around them without any rhyme or reason.
"Hup!" The agile bracer launched herself into the air to escape a burst of fire from one such machine, firing her own retaliatory shot before gravity once again exerted control over her body, noting with some satisfaction the effectiveness of her counter as the archaism burst into flames.
One down, countless hundreds to go.
They'd noticed fairly quickly that while the wild machines were targeting everyone indiscriminately they still seemed to have the good sense to go after those they perceived as actual threats. This meant that instead of saddling themselves with protecting civilians she, along with Laura and Sara, were free to act as loudly and destructively as possible in order to keep the attention of most enemies fixed on them and not the people fleeing for cover around them.
Most, but not all. Her past experiences served her well as she ignored a pained cry in the distance. It was a harsh reality that while they could try and save as many people as they could it would never be enough.
Fie resisted the urge to let out a yelp as a missile passed through the location she had just been standing at before careening into a nearby building and exploding, leaving a large hole in the wall. If anyone was inside hopefully they had the good sense to stay away from the windows.
Not only was there the Phalanx who had just shot the rocket and it's partner approaching her, but four of the little ones were with them too. It would've been a lot for her alone to handle, but these archaisms were pretty weak compared to the ones they fought during the war despite being similar models, so the silver-haired warrior was pretty confident in her ability to win.
And hey, six archaisms were attacking her. That must've meant they saw her as a bigger threat than Laura who was currently facing a paltry three at the moment.
Having multiple guns trained at her was always a little unsettling, but Fie was in her element as she weaved through the barrage sent her way like a dancer performing before an enraptured audience. A lesser being might've thought that being good at evasion simply meant having good reflexes, but a master like her understood the intricacies involved.
The archaisms in their current state had no interest in trying to flank her or use actual tactics, so it was child's play to keep both eyes focused on them to keep track of where each attack was coming from, which machines were about to fire next, and to identify which archaism was most open for her to shoot at once the opportunity for a counter attack arose.
Dodging and countering. Dodging and countering. While she wasn't so stupid as to ever relax during a real battle there was no denying the monotony of the current situation. None of the archaisms were threatening enough to truly worry her, but whenever she took one down another would almost instantly take its place.
Eventually either she'd get worn down or the flood of machines would dry up, but at the current rate of low intensity combat it didn't feel either of those scenarios would be happening anytime soon.
Fie gained herself a reprieve when a flash of purple burst onto the scene, surprising the assaulting archaisms with a rapid assault that left many of them smoldering wrecks. With the opening offered to them both she and Laura were quick to shift onto the offensive and finish off the remaining opponents. More were approaching, but they had enough of an opening to gain their bearings for a moment.
"What's the scoop?" She asked the veteran bracer.
Sara, who had holstered her gun in order to fight with just her sword while using her ARCUS to communicate – something which Fie would grudgingly admit was an impressive feat of multitasking she wasn't capable of – let out a tired sigh, "Situation's pretty much the same all over. Seems like every archaism in the entire state has gone haywire. Didn't sound like the other bracers are having quite as rough a time of it as we are, though."
"So they see us as the biggest threat? Hurray."
"Instructor?" While Fie was lamenting the current situation Laura seemed more focused on the older woman, even as the next wave of archaisms were rapidly closing in. It did seem like Sara had something else to say, but was struggling to find the words, "Is there something else?"
Sara swapped out her ARCUS for her gun before taking shots at the first of the archaisms, "Yeah... I also contacted Major Claire and told her what's happening here. Lots of confusion at the front but she promised to pass on the info to Le Guin and Bardias."
On paper it was a smart idea. Everyone in the city had their hands full trying to deal with the rampaging machines so the invading force would face little resistance if they decided to speed up their assault plans. And doing so would bring sorely needed reinforcements to fight off the archaisms in the city.
But by passing along that intel Sara had all but assured the invasion would be a success and her homeland occupied. It was a brutal decision to make and Fie's respect for her mentor grew the tiniest amount.
Any further thoughts about the situation were put on pause as the three bracers once again found themselves assaulted by archaisms and there was nothing left but to fight.
At least this time the presence of Sara meant they had more tactical flexibility open to them as the A-Rank's presence kept them from being swarmed. With that opening Fie found herself moving to support Laura. The Arseid was undoubtedly the best of them at obliterating whatever got in range of her massive sword, but she was less apt at dealing with the machines smart enough to hang back and pepper her with ranged fire. With their combat link firmly in place Fie took it upon herself to snipe out those ones while also dealing with any machine that tried to flank around Laura and attack from her blind spot.
One archaism, two archaism, ten archaism. The numbers didn't matter as any that approached the two were felled with ease. Given how long they'd held out she was fairly sure the streets must've been clear of noncombatants by now, but it wasn't as if they could simply break off the battle and let this mob of machines continue their riot.
Still, while the overall situation remained unchanged the battle itself entered a new phase as one of those large tank-like archaisms Fie first encountered in the factory in Roer decided to make itself known. It was an enemy that took the combined efforts of all of Group A to handle, and with Sara currently occupied with her own horde of archaisms that just left the two girls to handle this one.
But honestly? That was fine with Fie. She knew how this machine fought and her partner possessed freakish strength. It was all she needed to win.
In fact, even as the massive machine turned its myriad guns onto her a bold plan came to Fie's mind. It was dangerous, but in her mind it seemed really fun and so she decided to go with it. And thanks to the combat link she shared with Laura her intent was shared without a single word being spoken.
And yet that didn't stop the Arseid from voicing her hesitations, "W-Wait, Fie! That's not a good-"
"Hup!" Fie ignored the lame protests as she once again took to the air. Laura – despite her reservations – had no choice but to roll with her decision and follow her dangerous plan.
With the grace of a cat Fie landed on Laura's waiting hands before using the powerful girl as a springboard for a second jump. Between her own agility and Laura's crazy strength the silver-haired girl thought she might've finally defeated gravity and reached low orbit. Sadly that didn't quite happen, but her flight did take her well over the archaism and its feeble attempts at shooting the airborne girl.
Upon reaching the apex of her ascent Fie allowed herself to become a mighty meteor as she descended back down to the ground. Luckily her leap had been aimed correctly and she found herself heading straight for the machine. Perhaps it simply wasn't capable of processing such an insane maneuver quick enough as it didn't even try to evade her attack.
The landing was heavy and left her feeling momentarily dazed, but she recovered soon enough and got to work. Just like the first time she'd fought this archaism the former jaeger busied herself with slicing, stabbing, and shooting anything that looked important. Realizing its peril the tank-like enemy did everything in its power to dislodge the stubborn girl.
And in the process left itself completely open to Laura. While the blue-haired swordswoman may have lacked the precision and agility of her partner she more than made up for it with a penchant for mechanical destruction and a sheer inability to tell the difference between heavy armor and tissue paper. Treads were sliced apart, mechanical arms were detached, and armor plating was shaven completely off.
It was impossible to say which of the girls secured the kill, but the end result was the same regardless. Leaping off from the dead opponent Fie gave a victory sign, "Absolutely perfect."
"Let's not ever do that again." Sadly Laura seemed to lack her enthusiasm.
Fie was about to retort, but a noise caught their attention. Looking skyward they bore witness to a familiar figure rapidly flying over their position and past them.
"Second Form: Gale!" As much as he would've loved to continue with his less practiced forms, now was not the time for that. Instead Rean forced his body to speed into three different groups of archaisms in quick succession, only taking out a few but ensuring the rest would focus entirely on him and not the civilians they had been pursuing.
"Brionac." His younger companion had been a step behind, but that didn't make her own assault any less effective. Instead of facing three groups of surprised but extremely hostile archaisms the duo found themselves facing two after Claiomh Solais' opening attack completely eviscerated the first one he struck.
Rean hadn't really considered it before, but he was suddenly glad neither he nor any other Class VII member had gotten hit by her combat shell's laser during their past encounters. They probably would've fared just as poorly as the robots she just obliterated.
Tearing his focus away from Altina's carnage he instead chanced a glance towards the civilians and jaegers who had been under attack, "I'll cover you! Get the wounded out of here!"
Some of the Northern Jaegers were staring at him suspiciously, but he was relieved to see that their sense of pragmatism prevailed over that distrust, with the healthy mercenaries providing cover to the injured as they retreated together. With them gone he could focus his full attention on the archaisms who were beginning to recover from their surprise attack.
The swordsman couldn't even begin to make heads or tails of what was happening in the city, but what he did know was that thanks to this assault he had no choice but to abandon his own personal mission. Had he just been able to track down and capture the Northern Jaeger's leaders before the invasion began perhaps he could've prevented the inevitable occupation from taking place, but he wasn't about to abandon the people of Haliask in pursuit of that hope.
Maybe some would disagree, but in his mind it was better for them to live as citizens of Erebonia than it was for them to die as North Ambrians.
"Autumn Leaf Cutter!" The Eight Leaves practitioner used the first technique he learned to quickly close with the nearer of the remaining archaism groups. He and Altina were pretty outnumbered so it would be better for him to be as quick and disruptive as possible. One machine attempted to knock him down with a charging attack, but he effectively parried the strike, leaving the robot open to a deadly counter.
Through his ARCUS link he could tell that Altina was trying to use her combat shell's melee transformation to mimic his actions against the third group, but it seemed they were more prepared and were already training their guns upon the young girl. Although Rean was confident in her ability to evade the shots it took very little of his concentration to launch a hasty Arc Slash across the battlefield in order to delay their salvo, giving the intelligence agent enough time to land in their midst and begin wrecking havoc.
With all the machines trapped in melee preventing them from making use of their arsenals the outcome of the battle was no longer in doubt. It took a minute, but soon enough the swordsman was sheathing his tachi just as the last remaining archaism exploded from the damage it had taken.
"Take to the sky and find out where the most immediate threats are!"
"Understood."
While Altina left to carry out his order Rean didn't remain idle. The pair of Phalanx model archaisms crossing the nearby street didn't seem all that interested in starting a fight, but that didn't mean he simply needed to let them pass. A pair of well-aimed Arc Slashes was enough to make a later fight easier for someone.
"A large number of Archaisms appear to be headed towards a battle south of our position." Altina intoned as she returned. Her words seemed to check with what he had just experienced, but she wasn't finished, "However there's a large group attacking what appears to be a shopping center a block or so away from our current position."
"Right. That's where we're headed. Lead the way."
The run towards where she had pointed out wasn't a long one, but it was an agonizing one as Rean couldn't help but notice each and every body on the ground. There weren't many, and of those only a few were civilians, but it was such a remarkable waste of life that he couldn't help but feel a swell of anger within.
He was mad at the Imperial Government and his father for forcing this crisis upon North Ambria. He was angry at the Northern Jaegers for their willingness to sacrifice their people in this defense. The Society also bore responsibility with their obvious scheming by adding volatile archaisms into the mix. And he was even a little resentful at himself for being the brave and heroic Ashen Chevalier yet not being able to prevent this crisis from occurring to begin with.
Such feelings only grew inside him when the pair passed the body of what appeared to be a young bracer, overwhelmed by the myriad machines that rested around him. It wasn't anyone he knew, thankfully, but it was just another reminder of the personal stake he held in this crisis.
The swordsman had to pause for a moment as a dull pain flared in his chest. R-Right. As impossible as it was, he needed to do his best to rein himself in. If he needed to make use of his Spirit Unification then he would, regardless of the risks involved, but that needed to be his last ditch resort. For now he needed to keep a cool and level head.
Waving off Altina's silent concern the two resumed their trek and were soon at their destination. As she had said a lot of machines were trying to force their way into a department store, presumably one filled with innocent civilians. No jaegers or other allies were around, but that didn't stop the two of them from once again diving into the fray.
This group proved more challenging than the previous, but once again they prevailed. There was no rest for the weary, however, as another group of archaisms was assaulting another building just down the street. He prepared to engage-
"Rean! Look out!"
Altina's warning alerted him to the presence of a very unwelcome newcomer. It was one of those large tank-like archaisms rolling down the street. The son of Ymir grit his teeth in annoyance – Maybe they could beat it, but could they do it quick enough to help out the people under attack?
"Above us!" Once again his partner provided another unwelcome warning, this time in the sight of a group of hovering machines that were ignoring the duo as they headed off to another destination.
That made three different encounters that all demanded his immediate attention. Even if they could beat all of them they couldn't do so at once. And who was to say that more enemies weren't already approaching?
It was painfully obvious to Rean that they were being overwhelmed.
"Rean." Although she said little it was obvious Altina was thinking along the same lines with her expectant look.
Right. He'd been loathe to summon his Divine Knight into the middle of one of Zemuria's largest cities, but any further hesitation would cost them more than it already had. With a heavy heart he raised his arm and sought out the link he shared with the machine awaiting him in the military camp.
"Heed my call... Valimar, the Ashen Knight!"
And yet even as he felt the acknowledgment in his mind the Ashen Chevalier couldn't help but wonder... Would Valimar even be enough to clear out the archaism hordes in the city before greater damage was inflicted?
The sight of Rean's Divine Knight passing overhead marked an immediate shift in the tone of battle. As much as it stung Laura's pride that the archaisms they'd been fighting for the past half an hour turned their proverbial backs upon them as they began moving in the same direction as Valimar, that feeling was just a minor nuisance compared to the sheer weight of concern she felt for her love.
"I don't like this." Fie stated in an uncharacteristically worried tone of voice.
"Mmm." Sara grunted her agreement, "Normally I'd say that Rean can take care of himself and we should focus our efforts clearing up this area and helping the wounded, but given how badly I myself want to head over there I'm a little stunned the two of you are still standing here."
Laura was too. A part of her definitely wanted to abandon their position and track down Rean and Valimar, but her body felt like it was at war with herself. Between her heart telling her to go, her brain telling her to wait for orders, her body wanting a respite, and even a little part of her that was afraid to see what was waiting for them there. All of it combined to leave her legs feeling as heavy as the sword she held in her arms.
"Alright, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna track Rean down, but I want you all to keep your eyes out for anyone in trouble along the way. Got it?"
Those orders were enough to form an alliance between her heart and mind, which left all the other emotions swirling through her body outnumbered and defeated. With no hesitation remaining the Arseid broke into a run in the direction Valimar had disappeared to. Of the three women present she knew she was the slowest and the others would probably leave setting the pace to her, so she made sure to go as quickly as her stamina would allow.
True to word the three stopped to assist anyone they encountered along the way. Fortunately that didn't end up occurring often as only a few of their mechanical enemies were doing anything save moving towards where Rean was. Some of them turned to engage Laura as she approached, but for the most part they were moving with such single-minded determination that the bracers could've simply ran past them without repercussion.
Of course they didn't just do that. It was a good thing their enemies were soulless creations as her moral code would've left her feeling aghast at the number of distracted enemies she cut down without hesitation.
Unfortunately, while the archaisms were now moving towards Rean that hadn't always been the case, and Laura's heart twisted in agony each and every time they came across a sign of their attacks. There were far less bodies on the ground than an attack of this magnitude should have warranted, thank Aidios, but any loss of life was a personal failure on her part.
That someone could be so cruel as to order such devastation was just terrible and went against everything the soul of Arseid stood for. Hopefully justice would be meted out liberally to the ones responsible for this carnage, even if it wasn't she herself handing it out.
Their progress was briefly halted as a group of massive archaisms rolled past their position, leaving her feeling even more unsettled. Sure Valimar could certainly handle them with much greater ease than anyone on foot, but those were archaisms powerful enough to actually damage a Divine Knight. Assuming the group in front of them was just a small number of what was actually available in the city than the numbers converging upon Rean might be becoming dangerous.
As difficult as the fight would be if they could divert even a couple of them it'd make his life much easier. With that thought in mind she prepared to charge forth to intercept the nearest of the machines, but a firm hand on her shoulder held her back. Laura nearly scowled at her former instructor's actions, "I get you're anxious, but starting a fight like that right here is a terrible idea."
Here in this case being a relatively narrow stretch of road in one of Haliask's residential districts. That was enough to calm the Arseid down... a little bit.
"Let Rean handle these ones for now. We'll do what we can to assist once we get to him."
"How the hell did the Northern Jaegers and Ouroboros hide this many archaisms?" Fie asked, the anxiety in her voice doing little to hide her own worry, "This would be almost enough to stop the Imperial Army if they'd used them like that."
"I'm sure heads will be rolling in the Intelligence Division after this." Sara responded before adopting a grim expression, "...Assuming our esteemed Chancellor Osborne didn't already know but was choosing to keep quiet, of course."
Given the way that man manipulated the entire civil war it was a very distinct possibility.
Eventually the last of the mega archaisms passed their position, "Alright, let's get a move on. Just a bit further and we'll be close enough to support Valimar with your ARCUS links."
Right. Even if she'd rather be fighting herself it was undeniable their best contribution to the current crisis would be to support Rean and his Divine Knight with their strange link abilities.
With the archaisms finally gone they resumed their trek. They were close enough now that they could hear the sounds of combat in the distance, but at the same time they were encountering more and more archaisms as they neared what was rapidly becoming the epicenter of the battle in North Ambria, thus slowing their progress to a crawl. At least Laura could take solace in the fact that it sounded like Rean and Valimar were still holding on effectively, even against the hundreds of machines that were likely attacking them from all sides.
Finally, after what felt like ages but was probably no more than another minute or so, the group emerged through a small alleyway and into the street where Valimar was. "Rean!" Laura cried out as she approached as close as she dare to the Divine Knight and the myriad archaisms it was in the midst of slicing through.
It was almost a miracle she got as far as she did considering just how many shattered machines littered the path.
But she barely noticed all that as her focus was on Valimar and how it didn't seem to respond to her call in the slightest. She tried again, but again was met with only silence.
"I don't get it..." Fie muttered as she approached, ARCUS in hand, "I'm trying to form a link with him but nothing's happening."
"I believe the reason for that is because he has used Spirit Unification." Came the soft but unexpected voice of Altina, startling both girls as she landed in front of them atop Claiomh Solais.
"Spirit Unification?" Laura parroted. That was good to know, but Rean was usually aware of his surroundings even while in a transformed state. The only explanation she could think of... "How long ago was that?"
The intelligence agent tilted her head in thought, "It was about seventeen minutes ago when Rean transformed in order to save a pair of jaegers who had been overrun, with his last words to me coming about six minutes ago."
Seventeen minutes... Sure that was nearing the limits of what was safe, but he had lasted that long without losing control before. So why was he seemingly unresponsive now?
"Wait a sec..." Fie's eyes widened in realization even as they refused to tear themselves away from the sight of Valimar slicing through a dozen archaisms in a single slash, "Didn't he seem oddly reluctant to use it these last few months? And when he did he'd always cut it short..."
That would imply that he'd been having issues with his hidden power and had chosen to keep it a secret from them. Ideally that wouldn't be the case as it implied that Rean didn't trust them with that information, but it lined up with everything that was going on in front of them.
"You guys can speculate all you want later, but in case you forgot this is still a battlefield! For now don't consider him a hostile but don't expect him to be friendly, either!"
Sara's words broke her from her reverie. Of course. It was nice of the older woman to cover for them based on the number of wrecked archaisms near her, but they couldn't rely on her forever. They had a duty to fulfill.
"R-Right." Fie agreed, but any embarrassment at being caught off guard was offset by the sheer worry in her voice, "Let's do what we can for now. Rean's always been able to snap himself out of it before. We just gotta keep trying to call out to him while we fight. You coming too?"
"Understood." Altina agreed.
Laura watched as the two younger girls moved to engage the nearest archaisms. She prepared to do the same, but before she moved she sent one last look towards the Divine Knight that was mindlessly slicing through everything around it.
For now they'd work to deal with the remaining machines. But once the crisis was past and everything was back to normal...
Let's just say she'd have some choice words for a certain Eight Leaves practitioner.
'Destroy all the enemies'
Shortly after Rean first used his Spirit Unification the swordsman realized just how quickly his control over the transformation had been slipping. In a better world he would've simply cut off his power before it consumed him, but with more and more archaisms popping out of the woodwork he couldn't allow himself to slow down. While his body moving without his input was nothing new to the Void practitioner, right now he wasn't moving on instinct.
He was being controlled by rage.
'Destroy all the enemies'
In an effort to keep that rage from seizing control and sending him on an indiscriminate rampage he had created that mantra to serve as the sole remaining lifeline between his body and mind. He was pretty sure his original goal had been something different, but the obliteration of all his foes just sounded right to him at the moment. The archaisms who dared oppose him and Valimar deserved nothing less than absolute destruction.
Through the hazy midst consuming his mind he thought he heard voices, but making out their words took too much effort. Effort better spent on carving through the foolish robots that were shooting lasers at him. The familiar sensation of a link prickled at the back of his mind, but he rejected it outright as a worthless distraction.
'Destroy all the enemies'
A group of smaller archaisms started shooting at him from the roof of a building. His first instinct was to simply slice through the entire building to remove the threat, but he was pretty sure the building itself wasn't an enemy. Not yet at least. Instead he went with the less destructive but no less fun plan of simply using Valimar's free arm to slap the offending machines, delighting in the way they slammed into a nearby building and exploded.
The white-haired berserker turned his attention to the next enemy, but paused. There was nothing attacking him anymore. Sure there were still plenty of archaisms around, but none of them were moving or attacking. Could they still be considered his enemies?
That brief moment of confusion proved disastrous for the Divine Knight pilot as a surge of malevolent energy shot through his body, rapidly overwhelming his meager mental faculties and severing that final lifeline controlling his body. Along with that power came an equally powerful wave of agony and emotions. It was all too much for the young adult to bear.
Rean's body promptly shut itself down to prevent it from being completely overwhelmed.