Chapter 21: "Priority: Temple of Minerva"
-Underground chamber, Minerva Temple, Icia-
Hearing his name, Kaian pauses and looks at the direction of whoever that was. His action give Rene enough time to transfer what's left of his armor to the right arm and punch him in the face throwing him off the commander. Kaian gets up with the intention to finish off Rene but he is stopped by another SIF. The SIF pull Kaian's collar and throw him at the wall then shoot him with his PAS-5 but Kaian dodges the shots and then uses his spear to knock the rifle out of the SIF's hands.
He kicks the SIF to the ground and pierces him with the spear. With his last breath, the SIF materializes a pistol in his right hand and shoots at Kaian. Although annoyed, Kaian admires the bravery and the tenacity of these other worlders. Pulling his spear out and sharply stabs the SIF's head killing him.
Rene exhaust sitting against the wall can only watch as another one of his men is being killed "This is Robber 9-1" his sentence is interrupted as he coughs some blood out "We're 2 men down, a total loss is imminent. Requesting…" the paint makes him coughs again "Requesting assistance immediately".
As he coughs out another bit of blood, he looks up and sees Kaian charging at him. Rene tries to get up and prepare to fight the apostle but before he could attempt to do so, Kaian is already right in front of him. He grabs the spear as Kaian tries to stab him with it. What's left of the TAC suit helps him hold the spear in place, preventing it from killing him but he's too weak to do anything else. His only objective now is to buy enough for help to, hopefully, arrive in time to save his men.
Suddenly, Kaian pulls his spear back and block an attack from the side that is so strong it throws him across the room. Rene looks up and sees Rory standing over him with her halberd in hand staring at Kaian.
"You're a freshling?" Rory asks.
Without a single answer, Kaian charges at Rory and swings his spears at her, which she manages to stop it with her halberd.
"Rude" Rory says sarcastically.
Rory slides to the side and hook her halberd with Kaian's spear then pulls and slams him to the ground. She then jumps up and attempts to strike him but he rolls over and slams at Rory's rib with the end of his spear's handle.
In pain, Rory dashes back as her rib heals back "That's hurt!".
Both of them charge at each other and the clash of their weapon creates a shockwave that knocks them both back and everyone else in the room.
-Keep's tower, Icia keep-
Zoral and the governor are back in the keep, he's looking down, observing the siege progress while the governor is kneeling in the center of the tower and praying. The UNE advance is slow but it is only because they're taking extreme care to minimize the loss of innocent lives, although, civilian casualty is unavoidable. The barricades and obstacles that Zoral's men have been working hard to set up do little but be a minor annoyance to the Lancer tanks.
"These barbarians and their use of dark magic, such cowards" Zoral cursed the UNE as he is trying to think of a way to turn the tide.
He looks around and evaluates the position of his forces. Zoral knew that a small team of the enemy appeared out of nowhere at the temple of Minerva, he thinks that they used some kind of teleportation magic to get there. He expected that his troops there will deal with the enemy quickly but to his surprise, the fighting is still going on.
"Runner!" Zoral calls one of his runners to enter the room he's in "What's the situation at the temple?".
"Your Highness, the enemy is holding the entrance into the temple and apostle Kaian is fighting enemy troops in the secret chamber" the runner reports "It seems that they're trying to take the Holy Cube of Minerva, we are trying to take back the temple but a lot of our men died without any significant progress".
"That square is a choke point that is getting our men slaughtered for nothing. Have the centurions to pull their men back and then send a mage to create a magic shield so the trolls could build a blockage at the entrance to the square" Zoral turns away and looks at the square "If they want a useless religious relic they can have it, I have a siege to win".
"What about Kaian, Your Highness?" the runner asks.
"He can take care of himself, now go!" Zoral orders.
As Zoral standing at the window looking down at the city, he slowly reaches for his sword and, suddenly, he turns around and points it at 5 men that just appear in the room. One of them is wearing a black rob while 3 others wearing light brown robes, the other is a slave that is dying because the new arrivals men drain his life force for teleportation magic. The governor is so terrified that he passed out right where he is.
"Mages of Topaz, you treacherous heresy dare show yourself in front of me? GUARDS!" Zoral shouts.
The mage in black rob waves his hand as a dark energy wave extends from him to cover the entire room and seal the door. Zoral is terrified by the display of dark magic as he could hear his men from outside trying to get in to help their prince.
Topaz is a small region in the North of the Empire near the border between the land of the living and the land of the death. Mages in this region is famous for their practice of powerful dark magic that uses the life force of all things as a source of power. The Empire and the mages of Rondel see them as evil and attempted to wipe them out many times in the past. All attempts were unsuccessful as Topaz mages are cunning and crafty in their use of dark magic. Because of the cost and the ineffectiveness of each campaign against them, Sadera eventually gave up and leave them alone mostly as long as they don't cause too big of trouble.
"I am Lynk, master mage of Topaz, and these are my students. We just want to help, Your Highness" Lynk bows and says.
"I need no help, not from you heresy!" Zoral swings his sword at the mage but his body couldn't move "Release me!".
"Please give me a chance to convince you, after that, if you still don't want our help then we will gladly leave" Lynk walks closer to Zoral.
"It seems like I don't have a choice, do I?" Zoral replies annoyingly.
"I'm going to release you, please put away your sword and hear me" Lynk says as he waves his hand and Zoral can move again.
"Look, Your Highness" Lynk invites Zoral to look down at the city "Your forces are losing, the enemy is advance is slow only because your men are using lowly peasants as human shields, which is a brilliant tactic using the enemy's weakness against them, but soon they'll get to the keep. When they do, there's nothing you can do to stop them and Icia will be lost".
Zoral stares at the battle raging on in the city below him. Although he hates to admit it but there's no hope for his legions to win this battle against such powerful dark magic. Death rain from the sky, unstoppable fire-breathing beasts and strange agile flying beasts are tearing his men apart. If the enemy is using dark magic against him, if they have no honor then he shall use evil to fight evil.
"What's your plan?" Zoral asks.
"I'm going to need living humans to power our magic on large scale. The younger, the better and a lot of them" Lynk replies with a grin on his face.
Zoral looks at the door still hearing his men trying to get into the room "Let them in" he says as Lynk nods and the magic seal is released. The guards pour into the room as Zoral shouts "Stop! They're with me".
"Bring the children, kids and babies I don't care just bring them all" Zoral orders as the guard captain bows and retreats outside with his men.
-Underground chamber, Minerva Temple, Icia-
Ava is taking point leading the 1st Squad, Robber 5-1, down the hallway leading to the chamber. She could hear the fighting taking place and trying to arrive as fast as she can after hearing Rene's call for assistance. Sharply turning the corner, she takes a shot at a legionnaire that is fighting Duran and kills him.
"Duran, stop!" Ava shouts but Duran ignores her and runs to the direction of Rory and Kaian "Damn it, Jimmy take a look at Rene, everyone else engage all hostiles".
Ava manages to catch up and tackle Duran to the ground. One hand trying to keep Duran down while the other shooting at legionnaires that are trying to approach them. Once it's relatively clear she looks down at Duran.
"What the hell are you doing?" Ava asks.
"That's my son, I can talk to him!" Duran replies still trying to get up but unable to overpower the strength of the TAC suit.
"What?" Ava is surprised, she shoots another legionnaire and looks back to Duran "There's no time for this".
Ava put the white suit on Duran and pulls him to where Jimmy is treating Rene's wound then active lockdown mode, which locks the suit movement. Duran sitting next to Rene being locked in the suit unable to move.
"From now on until evac if you pull another move like that I'll shoot you myself. Now stay here" Ava points straight at Duran's face and heads back to assist Rory.
"You really managed to piss her off huh? Even I wouldn't dare to do such a thing" Rene says as he tabs on Duran shoulder and chuckles "Ouch! Hey!".
"Sit still, sir" Jimmy says.
After shooting a legionnaire that gets in her way, Ava leaps up and tackles Kaian while he is charging Rory. He kicks Ava out of the way and turns to block Rory's halberd while Ava kicks him in the popliteus knocking him out of balance and then punches him in the face. Kaian swings his spear at Ava, which she blocks with both her arms. The swing is bounced off by Ava's shield but that makes her shield fluctuate.
Seeing that Kaian is distracted, Rory hooks his leg with the halberd making him fall to the ground and then strike him from above. Kaian rolls over to doge, however, Ava gives him a kick that throws him at the wall. He stands up and evaluates his situation. The imperials serve nothing but a distraction for the other worlder warriors, he could fight Rory to a stalemate alone and possibly win if he's lucky. However, the fighting skill and strength of these other worlders are nothing like the other mortals in this world and If one of them is teaming up with another apostle to fight him then it's a losing fight for him.
Kaian slams his spear on the ground which kicks up dust along with a shockwave that knocks Ava and Rory back, he uses his spear to throw the rocks at them. As the 2 are blocking the rocks flying at them, Kaian dash to under the hole and jumps up to leave the city and head for Minerva Sanctuary to face his god for failing to protect her Holy Cube.
"Ash! Hostile apostle disengaged us, do you see him?" Ava calls.
"We got visual of him leaving the city, Commander, enemy troops had also pulled back and they blocked the entrance of the temple square. It seems that they're trying to barricade us in and ignore us" Ashley reports.
"They want to focus their forces in the fight on the lower level of the city. Stay frosty and keep us clear. Over" Ava orders.
"Roger that. Over" Ashely replies.
"Alright mage, do your job" Ava orders the mage to continue breaking the runes as she walks over to Duran.
Although the helmet covers her face, Jimmy knows that Ava is very upset about Duran's action "Commander, please don't".
Ignoring Jimmy, Ava deactivates Duran's suit and holds him by his collar then pinch him against the wall "Start talking" Ava stares straight into Duran's eyes. The mage looks over to Ava and Duran waiting for order from his king.
Duran waves his hand "It's ok, keep working" then he starts talking "My wife was one of Minerva followers, 26 years ago while she was carrying my son in her. She told me that Minerva had appeared in her dreams, telling her that the god was going to take our child away on his 5th birthday to serve a greater purpose" Duran pauses as his eyes show great sadness "The day of his 5th birthday, there was no party, no celebration, I locked myself with my wife and child in our castle and brought every available men to guard it".
Ava slowly let go of Duran "What happened?" she asks.
"The apostle came, my men were no match for him. Although he did not kill any of my men, none could stop him from taking my son away" Duran says "It was the last time I ever heard of my son, I sent envoys and men to all the land to find him to no avail. Once I heard your people said that Minerva apostle is in Icia, I did everything I could to get myself here and ask him about my son".
"But you found your son as the apostle instead" Ava says.
Duran solemnly nods his head "But he's changed, I could not see my innocent boy in his eyes anymore" he falls to his knees and tears start coming out of his eyes.
"You should've told us this, we might have come up with a way to help" Ava says.
"But I couldn't risk it, for all I know, your general might have not let me come here" Duran replies.
"I'm sorry for what happened to your family, but I still need to report this incident to my superior and there will be consequences to your action" Ava says.
"I understand" Duran replies.
"Commander, check your TACNet, drone Romeo-Zero-Five" Ashley says over the radio.
Ava switches to the visual channel of the drone and sees a black cloud forming above the keep with purple lightning within it. The cloud releases a black fog that spread out slowly from the keep, the fog spread pass the SIFs holding the temple without any effect or problem.
"What the heck is this?" David asks while still staying on his MG keeping his eyes out for enemy contact in the square.
"I don't know, it doesn't seem to do anything" Ashley replies as she looks around.
The fog spreads down to the underground chamber and fills it up. King Duran's mage pauses his spell and turns around realizing what is happening "By the gods…".
"What?" Ava is confused but her confusions turn into nervousness as the fog gets thicker around the corpses of the dead soldiers, including the 2 dead SIFs, their body parts reattach to each other and they start moving.
The corpses slowly stand up with a thick dark cloud covering them, from their hand a shadow figure of a sword appears. Ava takes a shot at one of them making their head fall off but the body is still moving.
"This is Robber 5-1 to Alnus Command, something wicked is happening here. Over" Ava reports.
"Copy that Robber 5-1, we're working on it" General Nguyen replies.
"You better be quick, sir, I have a bad feeling about this" Ava says as the SIFs slowly fall back to the runes sealed door. Some shots were taken but none killed any of the moving dead corpses.
"You need to completely disassemble their body to release the spell and kill them" the mage says as he continues working on the runes.
"You heard the guy, start shooting!" Ava orders as the SIFs start shooting "This is Commander Ava Bennett of the 5th SIF to all units, you need to completely disassemble the body of this new enemy to kill them. I repeat shoot off their head and all their limbs to kill them. Over".
-UNE forces, lower level of Icia-
The marines are advancing slowly because they try to avoid civilian collaterals but they are nearly at the inner wall. They have been fighting the legionnaires building by building in CQC, but because Zoral men are fighting with swords and spears instead of the magic arrows, no wounds or casualties have been inflicted upon the UNE troops. When the fog spreads, the dead Imperials raise up all around them and surround them.
"They're everywhere! We're being swarmed requesting air support!" One of the marines shouted over the radio. The background marines shout "How the fuck do we kill these things?" "Just keep shooting!" "grenade seems to work!".
"They can penetrate our shield and their blade ignore the TAC suit, do not let them get close. I repeat do not let them get too close!" Another marine report as another marine in the background shouts "Man down, man down!" "Medic!".
The situation is looking bad for the troops in the city, as the men are ordered to fall back near the vehicles for cover. Soldier of the UNE is trained to avoid shooting their weapons in automatic fire and shoot in bursts of 2 or 3 bullets at a time. The reason for this is, that although bullets don't need shells like in ancient times and a clip could carry up to 60 of them, modern rifles could fire extremely fast. Therefore, they would run out of ammo very quickly if they just hold down the trigger, of course, they can replicate more using the replicators on every SAT8s and vehicle but that would take time, the time that could be spent supporting their unit to complete their objective. When Commander Ava announce over the radio how to effectively kill this new enemy, the order was given.
"You heard the lady, forget your trigger training, go full maniac on these living-wanna-be motherfuckers!" the Major General, that is commanding this assault, orders.
The sound of gunfire switches from controlled bursts to rapid-fire across the city.