Aldnoah Zero Knights of Earth
Chapter 5
Duel
A/N: *looks embarrassed* Really sorry for the delay but I hope that the content makes up for it
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-Earth, Shinagawara Docks-
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Darkness had fallen upon the city of Shinagawara shortly after the sun had finished setting. If this were any other day it wouldn't make a difference as countless streetlights and lights coming from inside buildings would have kept the city very well illuminated. Now though it was almost completely pitch black outside of the docks. The only light came from the docks as the soldiers and Kataphrakts continued their patrols throughout the immediate area.
At least that was what was going on until the telltale sounds of heavy caliber gunfire echoed throughout most of the docks. Inside the landing ship, the refugees held what families and other loved ones they had close, and hoped that the fighting wouldn't reach them until after they had already finished leaving the area. Only they were wrong, and now it seemed as though the fighting had once again all but reached them!
Outside the perimeter, several of the Vers Kataphrakts had already engaged the UFE units that were guarding the docks. The UFE Kataphrakts fired from the relative safety of behind the buildings. The enemy units however seemed more than content to simply charge their ranks, while firing their weapons with seemingly reckless abandon. Unlike the units from before these hostiles didn't even seem close to have the same level of power that the first machine they sent in did.
Hell their overall shape and size looked like something out of a bad science fiction movie. They had a dome shaped body with a pair of semi-armored legs sticking out from underneath it. The thing didn't have any arms or (god forbid) mechanical tentacles other than a small pair of pincer like things that were mounted just underneath the front of the machine's dome shaped body. Instead there were several weapon mounts that held what were quite obviously similar to the 90mm machine guns that most UFE units used. While these weapon mounts were capable of aiming in different directions it was impossible to do so in a wide variety of angles.
This lack of flexibility when it came to being able to aim their weapons meant that if they could be flanked then they could easily be dispatched. While their armor was relatively decent compared to most UFE Kataphrakts it still wasn't enough to truly stand up to the 90mm cannons that were standard armament to units like the Dyaus, the Areion or the Sleipnir and certainly not the much heavier weaponry that the Embarr packed.
In fact the Embarrs that carried arm mounted mini-guns or anti-armor cannons completely obliterated the Orcus units that were advancing on their position. Massive holes riddled the Martian machines' hulls and some of them had even had their legs blown off from the 90mm grenades that were launched at them. Hell some of the pilots in the defending platoons were starting to wonder how in the hell the Martians had made any progress if this was all they had to throw at the UFE military forces.
As the defense continued, one of the pilots who had been assigned to aid in the defense on the eastern perimeter, Marcus was enjoying himself thoroughly while killing the Martian fucks that had decided to rush at the base like a pack of lunatics. He was back in the piloting seat of an Areion and even though he had felt a small amount of apprehension at fighting a large group of Martian Kataphrakts given the strength of the one that had singlehandedly wiped out the last platoon he was assigned to, he was genuinely surprised that these War of the World's rip-offs could even move properly let alone fight.
Soon apprehension and anxiety gave way to satisfaction as wave upon wave of Vers Kataphrakts were destroyed by him and the other defenders. In fact it was actually quite easy. The enemy forces simply kept charging straight at their ranks like a pack of idiots, resulting in their numbers getting gunned down each and every single time. Sure they tried to use their ranged weaponry but they didn't even try to aim it properly resulting in very few casualties being inflicted on the side of the UFE.
Marcus' Areion opened up on the hostile units with his standard issue 90mm cannon. The high explosive shells tore gaping holes in the enemy machines making several of them either explode or simply fall completely still due to the damage that had been inflicted on them.
And these psychos called themselves the superior race? The evacuation zone was prepared for a full on tactical assault, but instead what Marcus and the other Kataphrakt platoons got were a bunch of Martian dipshits running head first into enemy territory. It didn't matter if you had a superior piece of technology if you lacked the intelligence to utilize it in an effective manner.
One of the H.G. Wells rip-offs fell close to Marcus' position near one of the destroyed buildings and while at first it seemed as though it was trying to get back up it soon stopped moving. Interestingly enough there was a voice coming in over the comm. channels "Please, please stop I surrender I surrender!" the pilot of the machine yelled, begging pathetically for his life. "Please show me mercy!" he begged.
Marcus wanted to spit in disgust. So much for Martian superiority. They were nothing but a band of cowards, when someone was weak and helpless they flaunted their title of being the "master race" but when someone fought back they cowered like the weak bullies they were.
The man piloting the Areion narrowed his eyes at the fallen Vers machine, "Was any mercy shown to the people you and your friends slaughtered?" he asked rhetorically as he aimed his weapon directly at the cockpit section of the enemy machine and fired into the cockpit section of the machine, utterly vaporizing the operator upon impact.
'Disgusting tumors.' Marcus thought in contempt. He then brought his weapon back up and resumed firing at the enemy units that were still around and riddled yet another Martian war machine with armor piercing rounds sending another Martian soldier straight to hell where they belonged.
As the fight continued more and more of the Martian Kataphrakts continued to fall. Still though the UFE defenders didn't come out unscathed. Several of the defending units were hit by hostile fire and soon they found themselves taking casualties. Several Dyauses and Areions found themselves struck by hostile fire and quickly went down in flames.
However this did little to deter the defenders who merely fought harder than they had before. Marcus knew that these mother fuckers wouldn't set one foot inside that dock. As the battle continued the radio crackled and a panicked voice came over the comm. channels. Marcus didn't know who it was as he didn't have the chance to meet all that many of the remaining Kataphrakt pilots.
"This is Joust Platoon we are under heavy attack in sector 12 and we've more than half our number! We can't hold out against this thing we need help now!" Sector 12 was very close to the section of the docks where the civilians were being evacuated at. If it fell then those Martian animals would slaughter the civilians.
"Don't worry Joust, this is Lieutenant Marcus of Lokai platoon we read you and we're on our way!" Marcus declared before he turned to the rest of the platoon he was in charge of "Gato, you and Miller are with me, the rest of you are to hold this line no matter what!" With that one of the Embarrs and Dyauses broke off from the defense and started to follow Marcus towards the zone that the distress call was coming from.
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-Shinagawara Docks, Sector 12-
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A short while earlier it appeared to most of the refugees as though the fighting was over and that they would be safe for the moment. They couldn't have been more wrong. Earlier gunfire started to erupt as combat started once again, only this time it seemed as though it was all around them. People were already starting to panic and things were only getting worse as the fighting continued.
Near the bulkhead that lead to the outside of the craft was Inaho and several of his friends. After Inaho's conscription they wanted to spend as much time as they could with their friend before he was forced into active duty the next morning. Hell, when he arrived to meet them he was already in a military flight suit. Apparently he was expected to get out into combat if things started to take a turn for the worse. While the regular forces didn't have any extra units available, Inaho said that he'd be more than comfortable in a Sleipnir than any of the other Kataphrakts on hand anyways.
Some of the other members of the military were a little bit confused when they found out that the boy would prefer a training unit over one made for the frontlines. However they weren't going to question it at the moment, they thought that boy probably just didn't want to take away one of the units that were being used by the pilots that were patrolling the frontline or something of that nature. The truth was though, that he considered the Sleipnir one of the greatest machines that had ever been made.
Given that the Sleipnir had lighter armor, it meant that it was more agile and while the Dyaus was even more agile its controls were much more sensitive in comparison. This meant Inaho would need time in order to get adjusted to the machine's control systems, time that they really didn't have. Therefore Inaho would pilot the Sleipnir for the time being.
The sounds of explosions began to get closer and closer to the docks and Inaho knew that it was only a matter of time before the fighting reached them. No matter what some of the soldiers who were trying to keep the other evacuees from panicking said. Inaho looked outside the bulkhead that lead to where the Sleipnir Kataphrakts were being kept.
During the drills in school, Inaho and the other students were trained to bring their training Kataphrakts online in less than thirty seconds. Inaho's record was almost fifteen seconds, mainly because even during the timed simulation where fake gunfire and explosions were going off, he still managed to keep calm. Most of the other students eventually did as well but they all usually had a number of pitfalls before then.
As the gunfire grew closer, Inaho continued to stare out he open bulkhead and soon enough his friends came closer to see what it was he was doing, including a certain incognito princess and her escort who were mostly remaining out of earshot.
Inko and Calm looked as though they were about to ask Inaho what he was doing so close to the doorway that lead out into the battlefield when another explosion resounded, this one much closer than the previous ones had been. Without warning the top half of an Areion struck one of the neighboring landing craft with an almost earth shattering crash. The bridge tower of the ship was completely caved in and if there was any hope of survivors it went up in smoke, quite literally as the Areion exploded, sending a shower of metal into the neighboring naval ships.
Inaho heard the sounds of the other refugees begin to panic even further and he wondered why the landing craft hadn't yet tried to leave the combat zone. Sure the Kataphrakt/aircraft carrier hadn't shown up yet but the safety of the civilians was the number one priority according to UFE military doctrine during an evacuation.
Just a few seconds later, there was something else that got everyone's attention. Another Martian Kataphrakt, this one much different than the one that Inaho and the others had destroyed earlier in the morning, was making its way directly towards them. The appearance of this one was much less bulky and instead had a large body that was at least a little bit thinner than the one that had been fought earlier in the day. The machine had a cobalt color scheme, its legs were incredibly thin while the rest of the body was far bulkier and it almost made Inaho wonder how the machine was able to stay balanced and walk around.
In the right hand of the machine was a single sword hilt that was constantly generating what appeared to be a burst of energy, or as Calm put it so eloquently "Is that a beam katana?" Everyone had trouble discerning whether or not Calm was afraid or awestruck by the machine's weapons.
Just a little further away was "Annette" and her friend, the two were whispering to one another but Inaho managed to catch her saying "I'll talk to this knight."
Inaho knew that such an action would probably only end in failure. At the current moment, this conspiracy to start a war with Earth had an unknown amount of people participating in it. It could range from the entirety of the Orbital Knights to only a select few, but until they had more information, they had to assume that every member of the Orbital Knights was involved in the assassination attempt.
The newly conscripted teenager looked over at "Annette" and said "Don't worry," he said almost tonelessly "We'll take care of it." Annette and her friend looked at Inaho and it took a moment for the pair to figure out just what he planned on doing. Despite hearing what he had just said, Annette and her friend were both still somewhat surprised and in the case of the former, extremely worried, when Inaho made his way out of the ship and began walking towards the Sleipnirs that were parked on the deck of the landing ship.
Calm and Inko immediately started after him as they started to ask what the hell he was doing when Inaho looked directly at his female classmate and asked "Inko can you operate that?" all the while gesturing towards the crane that moved around the large cargo containers around. At first Inko didn't really know what it was Inaho wanted her to do with the crane but quickly realized what it was that her friend had in mind for the enemy Kataphrakt and began to make her way towards it while Inaho and Calm headed for the Kataphrakts.
-UFE Landing Carrier, Bridge-
Captain Magbaredge and the rest of the bridge staff had been trying to get the landing craft to move from its docking berth with absolutely no success at all. The instant that the neighboring craft exploded, chunks of metal had been blown into the side of the adjacent landing craft, more specifically in the engine section of the ship. The damage was enough to cause engine problems to the point where it was seemingly impossible.
Magbaredge watched as some of the bridge staff tried to either contact the Wadatsumi which was too far away to contact due to the jamming. Other individuals in the bridge staff including Colonel Braddock kept in touch with Yuki and Marito who had gone down to the engine block area to try and help fix the problem with the engines, and failing that, get the backups online.
"There's still nothing from the Wadatsumi!"
"Keep trying!"
"It's pointless there's too much jamming in the area!"
Magbaredge ignored the fruitless attempts to contact the Kataphrakt/Aircraft combat carrier and instead looked over at the group that was in touch with the pair that was attempting to help fix the engines. Currently Braddock was trying to get a status update "Marito talk to me, what's going on down there?" demanded Colonel Braddock his tone harsh and demanding, a stark contrast to his normal demeanor when around others. Of course this was in a combat situation, he couldn't always remain the relatively personable individual he was under normal circumstances.
"There's something wrong with the startup sequence, we'll need a few minutes to make temporary repairs to it!" Marito declared on the other end of the line. At this point Magbaredge decided to add in her own two cents to the conversation "We don't have a few minutes, there is a hostile Kataphrakt out there!" she declared.
Marito replied that "they were going as fast as they could" but this time neither Magbaredge nor Braddock gave any kind of a response as the pair, along with most of the bridge crew noticed that the Martian Kataphrakt had stopped making its slow overly dramatic advance towards the ship as a pair of Orange Sleipnirs stood upright and each drew the standard issue assault cannon from their mounts on the back of the machines.
"They're using a pair of trainers against that thing?" asked Magbaredge before she saw Colonel Braddock rush over to the communications terminal and began to contact the pilots of the orange clad machines. "Attention unknown pilots, this is Colonel Braddock of UFE command identify yourselves and state your intentions!" he ordered, although he already had a very good idea of who were the ones inside of the machines and what they planned to do with them, even if Nina Klein hadn't already muttered "Inaho," fearfully from her seat at the helm section of the ship.
From her seat at the helm "This is Second Lieutenant Kaizuka of the UFE, Calm Craftsman and I are taking control of two Sleipnir units and we are going to engage the enemy in order to help buy time for you to finish repairs on the engines." With that explanation out of the way, Braddock started to grit his teeth. He really wanted to order Inaho and his friend back but they did pull back it would leave the craft completely defenseless until support from whatever remained of the defense force or the Wadatsumi finally showed up and by the time they arrived it would be too late.
"Very well Second Lieutenant, you are free to engage the enemy. However do not take any unnecessary risks, am I understood?"
Inaho's almost robotic voice resounded over the radio "Understood Colonel." With that the conversation ended and Braddock turned his attention to the windows on the bridge that showed the battle that was going on just outside. As he watched Inaho and his friend's Kataphrakts slowly advance towards the enemy Orbital Knight, Braddock's eyes narrowed 'That victory earlier today had better not have been a fluke.'
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To the Orbital Knight Ser Vlad, the defenses of this place were even more pathetic than he had first anticipated. While it was true that the Orcus forces that he had sent in had done very little damage to other areas of the docks due to the defenses. However they were mere commoners and therefore did not possess the combat prowess or sheer power of a true Orbital Knight. Because of this Vlad managed to get ahead of the weak Orcus units and cut a swathe of destruction through the UFE lines straight to the primary target. It was so easy that it was practically disappointing.
When he reached the landing ships it was so much fun to toss one of the insects' pathetic war machines at one of them and watch it go up in smoke. Vlad wondered what he should do to the other one. He hadn't tried to slice one of these craft in half with his swords before, and it certainly would be interesting to see if that could be done. The Orbital Knight smiled at the thought. Hopefully it wouldn't explode until after he finished making the attempt to slice it in half.
While Cruhteo ordered him to ensure that the area was cleared of any hostiles by morning it wasn't as though Vlad couldn't have a little bit of fun in the meantime. Besides it wasn't as though the Terrans were offering any real resistance. Vlad alone could have cleared this place out with relative ease.
The battle hungry pilot was brought out of his thoughts when he saw two of the orange painted Kataphrakts on top of the remaining landing craft stand up and aim their weapons in his direction. Vlad inwardly smiled. With some luck maybe these orange Kataphrakts would provide a little bit more of a challenge.
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The systems for Inaho and Calm's Kataphrakts booted up extremely quickly and within a few moments both machines were standing up and had drawn their weapons. As the Sleipnirs stood up, Inaho noticed that the Martian Kataphrakt hadn't moved at all, sure it had its weapons drawn and was clearly prepared for combat but instead of just attacking while the Sleipnirs activated, it just stood there.
Perhaps the pilot didn't know what the capabilities of the Sleipnir was and was taking a more cautious approach, but then again this particular Orbital Knight was clearly alone despite the sounds of gunfire that echoed throughout most of the dock area. This told Inaho that that the Orbital Knight had broken off from the main attack force and had found himself and was looking for a fight rather than being cautious.
Not wanting to give the Orbital Knight a chance to attack Inaho loaded the assault cannon with high explosive rounds and opened fire at the Martian Kataphrakt even as Calm began to move in towards the machine's left. Much to Inaho's surprise, the rounds did not impact the machine, instead they simply exploded in midair after the machine raised its beam sword in the direction where the rounds were being fired.
Immediately Inaho's mind went into overdrive as he thought of why his rounds just exploded before impacting the target. It quickly became clear that the sheer heat being given off from the enemy machine was enough to make the explosives in the oversized bullets detonate early. 'HE rounds are having no effect huh? Well then let's try armor piercing,' thought Inaho as he ejected the apparently useless high explosive rounds in favor of the armor piercing ammunition.
Inaho quickly took aim and then opened fire. This time the rounds didn't explode on impact, instead the majority of the bullets were deflected by the beam swords and onto almost everything in the nearby vicinity, tearing into several cargo containers, warehouses and even a couple of nearby buildings. The few rounds that did manage to impact the armor did very little in the way of damage and instead simply dented it.
"The tips of the bullets are melting in midair due to the heat and their trajectory is thrown off. So it's the Leidenfrost Effect. The sheer heat output of those weapons must be enormous." Inaho had read about the Leidenfrost effect along with many other pieces of research on physics while studying for midterms a while back.
Inaho then started to move to a different position, still firing as he did. He had to keep the Orbital Knight occupied for just a little bit longer. Fortunately for Inaho it seemed as though his opponent was more than willing to simply deflect whatever ammunition was sent his way. Perhaps this Orbital Knight believed that he was having fun with this or something similar.
By that point, Calm had finally managed to get into position by one of the nearby warehouses that hadn't been heavily damaged by the deflected bullets and looked as though he was about to open fire on the Kataphrakt. It was then that Inaho's assault cannon ran out of bullets and he was about to start reloading when all of the sudden the Orbital Knight charged at the Sleipnir that Inaho had been piloting, sword ready to bisect the machine.
Inaho managed to sidestep the killing blow using the Sleipnir's thrusters at the last second. Not wanting to wait for a counter attack the Martian Kataphrakt attempted to vertically slash at Inaho's machine, only for the Sleipnir to grab the much bulkier arm and keep it at bay, for the time being. While Inaho's Sleipnir was able to hold it back, the sheer weight of the other machine made it so that it was only a temporary solution as it was already starting to gain more leverage over the smaller machine.
From his position Calm was gritting his teeth. He could easily see the Martian Kataphrakt but it was also right behind his friend and even if Inaho wasn't in the way, the energy sword would cause his shots to be deflected or explode. "Goddammit!" Calm muttered to himself, angry at his own powerlessness to help his friend.
Before Calm could try to get into a better position he heard Inaho say "Maybe a little bit more to the right," over the radio in that same deadpan voice he always had. Before Calm could inquire as to what in the hell his friend was talking about saw one of the dock cranes that Inko had been told to use earlier start moving. It swung a large cargo container into the left side of the Martian Kataphrakt's head, knocking it aside and away from Inaho. "Good work Inko," he heard Inaho say again.
"T-thanks Inaho," Inko said still very anxious about her part in the impromptu plan and actually seemed very surprised that it actually worked.
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It had come completely out of nowhere for Vlad. One moment he was about to deliver the finishing blow to the orange little upstart and the next his Argyre was shoved dozens of meters away when that damnable crane struck the side of the Argyre's head, hard. When the Argyre was struck and sent reeling Vlad felt the wind being knocked clean out of him. For a second or two Vlad drew in heaving breaths as he struggled to get his lungs full of air again.
Once that was done, the Orbital Knight saw that the left half of his monitors showed nothing. "My left monitors are completely destroyed!" he muttered to himself angrily before he looked back at his opponents "You damnable little bastards, I'll make you all suffer for this insolence!" Vlad snarled as he started to charge at the pair of orange Kataphrakts, intent on butchering them both.
Vlad saw the crane from earlier swing its hook towards him again and he immediately sliced the cargo container in half as he charged forwards "Don't you dare think that that little trick is going to work on me a second time." The pair of enemy Kataphrakts opened fire on the Argyre only the rounds to either detonate early or be deflected by the energy swords his weapon was equipped with.
The bloodthirsty Orbital Knight was grinning at the prospect of killing the ones who had caused him so much trouble when he heard a very loud boom followed by an explosion nearby. Immediately Vlad stopped charging at his enemies and turned towards the ocean and saw an Aircraft/Kataphrakt Carrier a fair distance away and snarled to himself. If he stayed here he ran the risk of being killed. While the Argyre's weapons and defenses were indeed powerful they couldn't hold up against that kind of weaponry.
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-Landing Carrier, Bridge-
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Colonel Braddock, along with most of the bridge crew were all looking out at the Wadatsumi which had apparently decided to appear at the most dramatic moment possible. Honestly it was like something out of a clichéd action movie, the heroes were about to be defeated by the antagonists and then all of the sudden reinforcements arrive at the last second. The good colonel briefly wondered if he should ask the commanding officer aboard that ship if they were actually waiting for the last possible second to appear and offer assistance.
Colonel Braddock was broken out of his thoughts when he heard Mizusaki's voice come over the comm. channels "Sorry we're late Captain Magbaredge. It took us longer than we thought to find a secure route to your location." She explained. At that the captain gave a small amused smile and responded "Mizusaki, do you know why you can't get a date?" she asked. Braddock cocked a brow and somehow had a suspicion as to where the woman was going with this.
"I thought that it was in good taste to arrive fashionably late?" Mizusaki questioned. Magbaredge shook her head slightly and 'hmm'ed to herself in a way that almost sounded like barely suppressed amusement. "That's only when you manage to actually land a date," she explained as she watched the Wadatsumi turn its cannons towards the Martian Kataphrakt while a full platoon of Areions and Embarrs were on top, armed to the teeth with rocket launchers and sniper rifles. The Vers machine would either be gunned down or forced to flee.
Sure enough the Orbital Knight must have realized that to stay here was folly and started to make a run for it. Magbaredge was going to let the enemy unit go as they had the refugees to think about and they had already taken losses and they couldn't risk any more of their soldiers getting killed out there. No it would be better if they gathered their remaining forces and made their way out to sea and continued towards the Novichok base.
Before she could ask the engine room what the status on the repairs were, Colonel Braddock spoke into the comm. channels "Attention Wadatsumi, this is Colonel Braddock, have your Kataphrakt snipers eliminate the enemy unit immediately, destroy it at once!" he ordered with a tone that brokered no argument or negotiation.
Magbaredge was about to demand the colonel as to what in the hell he was thinking when she heard Mizusaki give a response "Uh, yes sir, Stallion Platoon open fire on the enemy Kataphrakt!" While Magbaredge was loath to question a superior officer she however didn't see the logic in this action. Clearly the Colonel saw the look she had on her face and turned to her "I understand you may not want to continue the fight but I can't allow even the slightest possibility that the enemy could chase after us at a later date. That machine must be destroyed and its pilot dead. At the moment we don't have any time for prisoners."
After the Colonel finished speaking there were several high pitched booms coming from the Wadatsumi and several 120mm rounds flew right into the retreating enemy. While it was able to deflect one or two shots from the snipers with its beam sword, it was still blind on the left side of it its head. This left it at a massive disadvantage when someone fired from the enemy pilot's left side. Even then its primary means of defense was rendered completely moot when one of the sniper rounds that had been deflected from striking its chest area and was instead redirected right to the Argyre's remaining right hand, blowing it off.
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Vlad barely managed to get his sword up to deflect the first shot from the snipers, and sent it careening into a nearby warehouse and out the other side into another building. The next few shots he wasn't so lucky, the second round blew off the left arm at the elbow, and then another shot blew off the right hand thereby destroying his only remaining means of defense. "You worthless insects!" he shouted in a rage. Vlad knew that if he didn't get out now he wasn't going to survive for much longer and he had to get away from those snipers.
The Argyre leapt away from the open and began to make its way towards the warehouses, where it would be much more difficult for the snipers and the other Terran units to actually hit him. As the Argyre took cover behind some buildings, Vlad seethed with rage. He would get out of there, he would get the Argyre repaired and then, then he would have his vengeance against these damned primitives!
The pilot of the Argyre was about to have his machine make its way back to Count Cruhteo's Landing Castle when he heard an enormous boom, coming from behind him. It only took a millisecond for Vlad to realize that this wasn't the same sound as the snipers from earlier, instead this one was different, this noise sounded lower in comparison.
However Vlad didn't have long to contemplate the nature of the noise when his machine was suddenly upwards for a second or two before falling flat onto the ground below. Vlad looked at his machine's status monitor and saw that the right leg had been completely blown off from the knee joint.
"God, damn you all!" Vlad managed to ground out before he saw one of the olive drab colored Kataphrakts fire off a grenade directly at him and then, a brief bright light followed by nothing but an eternal darkness.
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-Marcus' Areion, a few seconds earlier-
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On the way to the docks Marcus had found what was left of Joust Platoon. They had all been completely wiped out by only a single enemy unit, meaning that it was probably similar in nature to the one that had destroyed most of Clydesdale platoon earlier that day. Every time they came across a wreck of the platoon they had gone to help, Marcus' rage had increased considerably and when he started hearing gunfire and explosions coming from the direction of the dock, all logic and reason had completely left his mind. Instead only a desire for both vengeance and to protect his students came into his mind and burned with an intensity to rival that of the sun.
He ordered the pair of pilots accompanying him to follow him to the docks. It was unlikely that they would be able to do much to destroy the enemy Kataphrakt but it was possible that at the very least they could delay it long enough for the transports to leave the harbor with the civilians.
When they got there though, Marcus saw something that he hadn't honestly expected though in retrospect, he should have, given Inaho's clear penchant for strategy and tactics. There were a pair of orange Sleipnirs by the Landing Carrier while, one of which was more damaged than the other and out in the distance was the Wadatsumi. However what really got Marcus' attention as the enemy Kataphrakt.
The machine was heavily damaged. A chunk of the waist area on the right side was completely gone, nothing remained of the left arm below the elbow joint while the right hand was completely gone and the left side of the head had been completely crushed. It was taking cover behind one of the warehouses and immediately Marcus saw an opportunity to finish off the enemy. "Miller take that son of a whore out now!" Marcus ordered.
Immediately the Embarr took aim with its assault cannon and fired off a single round at the left side of the enemy machine. The round struck it clean in the leg just above the knee joint blowing it clean off and launching the Kataphrakt upwards very briefly before it fell back to the ground onto its torso.
The machine was now little more than a walking piece of scrap metal but Marcus aimed his 75mm cannon at the enemy machine and fired off a round from the grenade launcher right into the back of the oversized machine. The grenade blew an enormous hole in the back of the machine and destroyed what was left of it.
Marcus smiled for a moment as Joust Platoon was avenged but then looked over at the damaged Sleipnir as it got back up on its feet and began to make its way back to the Landing Carrier. He was going to have some words with Inaho the next chance he got.
To be continued.
A/N: I hope that you guys enjoyed the debut of the Orcus. I wanted to put them in the same vein as the Stygis fighters; there's a lot of them but they're only good as either meat shields or cannon fodder in a straight up fight.
I also hope that the demise of Vlad and the Argyre made sense (I never did understand why no one ever thought to try shooting those pencil thin legs). I mean it made sense that the Argyre could defend against 75mm rounds but the show made it clear that the sniper rounds were a somewhat bigger (120mm would be my guess) in comparison to the 75mm rifle that all other Earth Kats have. Plus they traveled faster and farther, after all one of those rounds managed to blow a hole right through the chest of that invisible Vers Kataphrakt in the second season so I thought that they could easily blow off one or two of the Argyre's limbs. So even if they were deflected it was still travelling much faster than the 75mm rounds were and as a result would do a lot more damage than the rounds that Inaho and Calm were using.