The Attack on Nexxian City

by TheHomunculi Thu Jan 08, 2015 8:51 pm

How long had it been?

The King knew not. Months upon months spent in seclusion to build what had been designed for them. It had been designed by one whose intellect was beyond even the King's. But it took more than just intellect to make an army. It had taken discipline to truly craft this into a fighting force. That had been his purpose. The reason he had been given a chance to live. The promise of an army honed with discipline unlike any other. The words "inhumane" may have been used to describe his treatment of the troops under his command. But it would be worth it in the end.

The King turned his gaze to the rear view mirror of his vehicle. The lines of cars behind them were a magnificent sight. Varying shades of dark green were used to conceal them. The multiple headlights though would give their position away in no time until the signal came to cease. Convoys filled to the brim with infantrymen. Iron suits covered over with tarps and cloaks. One for every soldier who was forced to be exposed to the desert night air.

The King then gazed to his right to where the line truly began. His own convoy was center of this massive force. To his left and right were other convoys that began the vanguard of this moving force. Hundreds of vehicles moved in. Cages attached to the back of several trucks that contained all to sinister creatures to be used. Necessary creatures that would hunt down any troops that moved their way.

He sat back and took a breath. Preparations would soon be under way. The amount of vehicles that were part of this "fleet" seemed endless to the naked eye. The amount of troops, both armored and unarmored, seemed even more endless compared to those numbers.

They had been preparing for this for months. Plots within plots. Maneuvers made one after another. A year ago he had killed Angelo Zerephan. That had been a kill that had resulted in much chaos for the small force that had been in the desert. None the less it had a desired effect. The Agents had stumbled upon their base of operations. They had decided to move further into the mountains as a result.

The army had been a process of trial and error. A constant trial for the soldiers who lacked the discipline and a constant error for every soul they lost. But it had been worth it when the proper formula had been crafted. When the proper procedures were applied. When everything was finally set and they could build on a foundation.

This was the result of that foundation.

"Stop the vehicle." The three words spoken to the driver who started to brake his armored vehicle. Others trailing behind followed as a result. The drivers to the left and right of the driving force would slow to a stop as well when realizing their center was missing from the force. The Homunculus stepped out of his vehicle and got a good feel of the night air.

His emerald colored eye closed and he took a deep breath.

Fighting was one thing. When one only had to look out for themselves in combat and murder whoever stood in their path.

But commanding would require necessities for what he was about to do.

The gentleman walked calmly ahead past the vehicles that had stopped. "Kill the lights." Another order given as each vehicle started to shut off their own vehicle's many headlights. The bright display disappearing into the night. They were on the other side of a hill and, as Bradley calmly walked over it, the forces who followed would see the prize before them.

A walled city. A city that had acted impenetrable to their last attempt.

Bradley had been disgusted when Envy had reported the details of his attempt to infest the city with the "zombies" that had been crafted by their master prior to their campaign in Nexxian. The only profit that had come from that failure was intelligence about the enemy. Intelligence not previously known to their militia.

In fact much of their experiments had begun in the Kingdom of Silvermoon. Now they were focusing their efforts in the warmer climate of the Nexxian Kingdom.

The Homunculus inhaled once through his nostrils.

"Ready the cannons."

Another three worded command. Spoken so softly that it was as light as a whisper in the wind. But the soldiers who had followed nodded their helmets forward and shouted to one another. They moved on one another to craft what they needed to. A line of armored soldiers ran down to the base of the hills to establish what they needed to. It was approximately twenty armored soldiers with the proper utensils necessary for this portion of the campaign. They spread out along the base of the hill and did a surprising motion.

They slammed their hands to the ground.

The resulting motion should have meant nothing. But as their gauntlets had clapped together at the palms, it only meant one thing. Alchemy. This was further proven by the ruby rings that glowed on the digits of every one of those infantrymen. The array of red light would likely be a flicker from the distance of the city walls but the mighty structures that were crafted would be something else. They would rise up in the distance.

They rose to two stories in height. The barrels spanning to 50 feet in length. Giving them a range unlike any other. The design of each cannon had been engrained into the minds of each troop who would create and operate them. It was engrained into their minds as much as the alchemical process of transmutation had been. It had been like a war mantra one needed to study over and over again to get right. And Bradley had made damn sure to get his troops to get it right each time.

There were approximately twenty of them that spanned along the base of the hill. The standing towers were created to face the threat they would end.

"Fire."

If somehow the enemy had seen the display, they would more than likely not even have a chance to attack. The twenty cannons that spread out along the distance fired simultaneously. The cannonballs transmuted within each cannon firing outward toward one singular enemy. The South East Wall of Nexxian City.

The explosion would be something else entirely. The top of that wall would be hit all too fast. The echo of the cannons firing simultaneously would go into the distance. Any troops atop of that wall would likely be flung or, more than likely, killed by the explosive cannonballs. The explosion would spread along the top of the wall and spread downward. The wall itself likely cracking from where the cannon had opened fire.

The smoke that was exuded from the cannons spread to ground level as the Homunculus grimaced for a moment. His coat flapping with the wind as his single green iris regarded the city with a blank expression. His troops were starting to move from the top of the hill downward. Spreading from right and left as they observed the city.

IF all was said and done, the troops atop of that South-East wall would be either dead or wounded by the sneak attack. Their vantage point mattering little as an "advantage" in this battle as the enemy forces were outside of their city.

"Fire again."

The cannons were reactivated and, once more, would open fire on that wall with a staggering force. Each cannon raised to the approximate height as they would open fire at the top of that wall. The objective, it seemed, was to bring down the wall for these troops to move in.

What was not seen however was the position that Bradley had. His forces covered the road that went out east to where the ocean was located. To where the farmlands that produced food for the city. He had only the mountains to his back. Any vehicles that might come from the farmlands to give food would not make it past his force. The city would starve for however long this siege might proceed. Not only that, but he had the cover of night to conceal his numbers. They would likely be able to count his cannons after a certain time. But for now the objective was firing upon this particular wall. The distance from the base of the hill to the city was approximately twelve miles. The cannons crafted to be able to go such distances. The enemy forces on the walls would more than likely be unable to fire those kinds of distances.

King Bradley had the advantage with his position. And he meant to hold it.

The King stood there as the commander as he was for his soldiers. No discomfort visible now on his face as he stared out to the top of that wall. His coat flapping with the wind still. One sword held to his side as he gazed outward towards the city. He saw a conquest unlike any other. A battle that would end with a slaughter unlike any before. He saw enemy troops who would die against his own superior forces. He saw victory assured for himself and his men.

War had finally arrived to the Nexxian Kingdom.

by War Torn Thu Jan 08, 2015 9:29 pm

Angelo:

{My Serenity is War.}

It was a night like any other for one Angelo Aaron Zerephan. Serene, noisy, and full of plenty of walking. Errands and such kept him busy after he took it upon himself to leave work an hour ago, and now he was pacing by himself, armed in the usual arsenal(the six shooter Grantslayer on his right hip, the oversized desert eagle known as History and the newly made sharp civil war cavalry sabre known as Conqueror sheathed/holstered on his left hip), cares in the world, but mind overall blank as he wandered the streets of Nexxian City. Then there came the distant echoing of tall structures falling, and the echoes of panics and screams. Angelo paused ten, simple face creasing into something not normally seen, not seen in ages, not even during the Agencies great battles against forces. It was a look of war.

Such sounds of war were familiar to the Confederate. He had been in two major ones and recalled the sounds of defended and attacked people, enemy or allies, they were all the same and they never changed. These simple thoughts, among quite a few more ran through the Confederates head, along with the fact that that direction was were he choose his current place of residence. Immediately, a burst of adrenaline made himself bolt and jump up a line of pipes on the side of a random building, climbing them and reaching the roof within a moment, Angelo bolting forward from that roof and jumping atop another, then another and finally a third, muscles of legs screaming in protest at the sudden actions but Angelo ignoring them as he perched on the roof. What he saw made him both mentally sigh in relief yet hitch a breath of quick air into his lungs. The damage was a good four or five miles but said damage was a hole, no, holes, plenty of them on the south eastern wall. Artillery was the corporate of this, as no oversized beasts of war stood outside the wall and no hint of close up and destructive magical properties seemed to buzz about, so this was obvious but to Angelo, the artillery used was quick, to quick to be the kind he was familiar with. He knew this simply because the firing rate, one after another was far inbetween the average and this worried him to no end, to be sure.

Angelo grimaced, kneeling from his perch, one hand curled into a fist and set on the ground, while his other hand laid flatly on his head, said head mentally dedudcing various things, the damage, possible scenarios, and in the back of his head, the big one, the enemy. The wall could take a few blows, that was sure, but at that rate of fire? Those few blows could be even less given the rapid succession of fire and where there came breach of walls, there came assaults involving storm troops, vehicles, and the like. That wasnt good, not at all, especially from such a sudden attack, from constantly firing artillery none the less! Angelo sighed then stood up from were he had been kneeling thinking very hard.

There were the Celesin forces. Those he had known about the third or so day he came back, and he knew from reputation (and from people he knew in the empire), they could very much handle themselves, that and they were stationed at the wall from what he heard There were also Nexxians general armed and police forces, surely there for both rapid offense and rapid defense and outlined (from what he remembered) arms and guns and magics to display as well, but they were scattered to and through the city. Lastly, there were Arcerions forces, which Angelo, as a favor to Arcerion, even before he became the right hand Knight of the Dorian empire, to protect and help this city prosper, a trump card if you will. The big question to Angelo though, with all he knew (and all the holes he knew he couldnt fill out) was, how would they react to such a sudden attack and could they work/react fast enough to stop it from doing immediate damage? He didnt know, and though he was trying to push it back, for fear of wrong assumptions, there was the creeping question of Who was attacking them as well.

Angelo, without knowing it, flinched. The hand once gracing his head moved down to his neck, where the scar of the former neck slice that killed him slightly throbbed. He didnt Know that, couldnt...but could he not? What was it that Leonards mission accomplished a while back? What was that Sillent at one point wrote down in his journal about Edward and those forces? Could it be? Would it be? He knew they were all alive and there was reason to suspect there activities but, on the spot could they truly be behind this?

Angelo shook his head. He couldnt be nervous and outright think of that now. The decision had been made the minute he saw the damage, and to further outline this he pulled from one of his pockets a small both way transmitter, one he always had on his person in case work showed up and he had to do some. This wasnt work, but this was just as important. He switched the little ear device to 'open transmission' and he spoke, sighing first.

"...Angelo Aaron Zerephan to anyone, Agency, Celesin, Nexxian Defenses, or Dorian Empire, etc...We are under attack and I...Send a message to anyone who didnt know that or wished to coordinate with me to seek and destroy the fuckers who did this!"

He turned his speaker off and acted as he waited for responses. He began jumping again, a bit off from the very center of the point the Artillery attacked, from roof to roof, all the ones he could clear, and jump to, the bands of his guns undone, a full box of specialized bullets for Grantslayer and a load of clips on his person ready to go. Along with this, mental energies began channeling and gathering for Angelo, bits by bits, pieces by pieces. War was war, and if it were to come on this night, Angelo was going to do all in his damned power to help the city that had all the people he cared for and loved, and had made and called home!

{Perceived Will: Activating.}

by ALIS-Ultonis Fri Jan 09, 2015 12:05 am

The Ultonis were on the wall, Fenris had taken most of them to Discordia but there were still 15 of them left. 3 Ultonis per side of the wall in 4 places, with 3 in the city off duty for the moment. The southern wall held the Alis fairly spread out, they operated well in smaller groups after all, spread out for precision striking. The tell-tale light and crackling of power coming from a philosophers stone would be seen even despite the 12 mile distance, due to the quantity of cannons and their massive size as well as the energy needed to manufacture them. As a result the Ultonis who had a specialization in vigilance would have noticed this quickly. However a sneak attack was still a sneak attack.-

-two of the three of the Ultonis on the wall had the presence of mind to begin moving, a sudden reaction born of training though one was not quite fast enough and got caught in the initial blast, the other two leaped in a single bound away from the wall getting caught in the shockwave of the blasts and forced backward where they were forced to adjust their grav harnesses to adjust and locking back onto the surface of a building where they "swung" back onto the roof to catch their bearings and get away from the wall. "What the hell?!" one of them swore. "They got Allen!" "THOSE BASTARDS!"-

-The Potentae moved with them, losing perhaps 2 since they had been wider spread on the wall as they jumped off with the Ultonis. "Look alive POGS!" one of them told one of the Ultonis, who scowled. "Why don't you make yourselves useful and get some vehicle-support out there? We gotta figure out whats going on." he responded through gritted teeth. The Potentae did not like that response but they were not undisciplined enough to start brawling over nothing in the middle of a surprise attack. Another BAM against the wall, as debris felt and tremors followed.-

-"We might be able to get back-up but not much..." The first Ultonis said to the other. "Lets start working on that then, radio in HQ, and fill everyone in on whats happening, and establish communications with the cities defensive network." "Alright Barten but what abou-" BOOM probably another one interrupted him. "We need someone to man the turrets..." and "Barten" took off to find if any of them had survived near the south-eastern wall...

(1 Ultonis casualty)

(2 Potentae casualties.)

(Off-Duty Ultonis active in 3 posts.)

(Establishing possible vehicular support in ? Post(s) )

(Establishing communication with other ALIS in one post.)

(Establishing communication with city in ? Post(s) )

(Moving Barten to look for a turret.)

by **Sune** Fri Jan 09, 2015 6:33 pm

Sune'ere was up on the wall this evening. Looking out over the north eastern sector. He was stretching out the leather of his new gauntlets by clenching his hands again and again, wanting them to not feel so damn stiff. The metal that overlaid the gauntlets was a thin and malleable type, with a few secrets in it which lay hidden within the metals way that it conformed perfectly to Sune's bone structure. The rest of his usual gear was strewn about him, rifle and runed gauntlets, his hand axes and of course his revolvers. He'd swapped out his business clothes for a thermal cloak when he'd come up, after all the cold winds near the top of the wall at night could chill someone to the bone.

He didn't notice the fateful sparks of alchemic energy which created the artillery, he was blissfully unaware until the sound o the first barrage reached his ears mere moments before the shells would. The sudden sound almost like thunder turned him around and then the barrage hit. He wobbled uncertainly, rushing to grab his gear that he'd since set down. Once he had it he scanned the horizon, against the night sky, upon a hill the light of massive cannon's going off could barely be made out. He only had the vaguest idea of location and direction.

Then the second volley slammed into the wall. Rocking his perch and vantage point, enough for Sune to lose his footing and go down face first off the desert side of the wall. Using on of his axes to guide him and turn him right side up. Then pressing the badge that hung around his neck he would activate the Agencies personnel teleporter.

Coming out in the Agency building he immediately went to his desk to set up the buildings defenses. If something unfriendly got near the building, the security system would open fire on them. Sune went to his office, gathering a few extra supplies, bombs, and ammo for his gun. He grabbed his saber for good measure as well. Who knew he very well might need it all. Then running towards the garage, he found the truck he'd been using. A beat up pick up his last serious girlfriend had left for him. It ran well enough though. Jumping in and starting up the car, the garage door opening along with the agencies gates. He tore ass down the street. Luckily the timing of the attack meant there was little in the way of traffic. He meant to take the south gate out i he could, and if worse came to worse he would swing around north and then back south.

Once he was outside the city, he would kill the lights and veer into the desert itself and off the paved road. Augmenting his own eyesight to see in darkness let him move with relative stealth. The car bouncing and bounding with every dip and rise, the speedometer steadily rising into the higher end of the spectrum. He would have time for one last gear check. He gave himself the time to do this by grabbing his metal rune gauntlets, placing them on the wheel to steady them and activating them. They acted as a second set of hands for him. Now he went over his gear one last time. Of course he'd never established communication with anyone else. He'd been falling when the first call out by Angelo went out.

by -Dorian Empire- Fri Jan 09, 2015 9:31 pm

The Eighty-Sixth Judgement Company

Nexxian had slowly grown on Sergei and his men and women, they had blended in as asked by their emperor, taking the culture in along with part-time jobs. This helped all One thousand men and women from The Dorian Empire blend in that much easier. Of course they shared stories of their homes with the people here. The main point of the Judgement squads was first as a peace keeping squad, as well as used to exchange culture to make it easier to work with the countries in question. They had helped facilitate many minor victories in the hearts and minds of the people here. After all, you couldn't have good trade relations if the people themselves disliked you, none of your product would sell. Tonight would be a night to remember, for not only would the squads be called to action, they would be working alongside the Nexxian Security Forces, as well as the few Celesin who still stalked the walls. It would be a massacre for whoever stood against them.

The first strike hit the walls of the city, waking those few troops who were sleeping, the others already going about their days, were shocked into a sudden alertness which spoke of intensive military training. While some of the citizens began to panic with the second barrage of artillery fire, those from The Dorian Empire gathered their things and headed towards the designated meeting area in case of a surprise attack. The commanders after all had been prepared for many contingencies.

The northern sector which had been a battle field not too long ago, had been rebuilt and made to handle specific equipment from the Dorian Empire. There the troops would meet, requisition the gear which could not be simply carried upon their forms, and prepare for orders as soon as the proper lines of communication were established.

Sergei Deker the giant commander was seen in his full battle attire, gleaming armor that covered the majority of his body, with a bird of prey helm. The innerHUD for the helm gave him tactical data as well as allowing him to communicate with one of his officers. After all the officers were on call 24/7, there was no need for him to ever be without data in a combat scenario, unless one of them died. Sergei sub-vocalized the command to get his communications officer on the line, and in a moment the gruff voice of Keldon Garadon was coming through.

"Shit Sergei is that siege fire? I was just relaying orders to the bridges, when this went down. Wall looks pretty beat to hell, we'll have a hole the size of a drilling ship in here in no time!"

"Cut the shit Garadon, I need you up in the air ten minutes ago, I thought you were supposed to be able to predict this shit?"

"Yeah when I'm given the full story, someone must of with held some info. I'm on it, I'll be in communication of the Spindle Core keep it near you.". Keldon for all intents and purposes was an average looking human. Built for front line work, and yet his unique bloodline had gotten him the honor of being the companies communications specialist. He was able to fix and establish the unique relay system the Dorian Empire used for encrypted transmissions faster and more effectively then anyone. It also helped that his specific bloodline had a proficiency using shape shifting rotes. The form of Keldon contorted downwards and turned itself into a raven. Taking to the air in the direction of the siege weapon fire. Black wings on a black night. Who would shoot a bird fleeing over head anyway?

Sergei grinned to himself, Galaxy wide empire, you were bound to come across a few freaks. He was just glad that particular freak worked for him. The first of the commanders was making their appearance. The forward commander Daish as well as the leader of the aerial division, Anna Deker, the commanders own daughter. Daish had the unassuming look that Sergei associated with most of the Dorian people. Anna on the other hand retained her native heritage as a Starbody, one of winged avian race that Sergei had once been, before the Shuinsai had gifted him with the powers of an Exercion.

"Once Keldon reports back we'll have a better idea of what we're dealing with, until we know act like Celesin just decided they want to take this place from the Duchess by force!". While it may of been politically incorrect to refer to Celesin as enemies, it was going to take more then a few sweet words between emperor's to get rid of years and years of disgust practically bred into most nationalistic Dorian's.

Arcerion Shuinsai
Arcerion had been dealing with multiple problems of late it would seem, first the training of his knight was going slower than anticipated, as was the arranges marriage of his niece. The only thing that seemed to be going well at this moment was the peace that was being kept in Nexxian. Arcerion sat at the helm of his flagship, the Nightmare Engine. The warship was big enough that landing it on the planet it currently was in orbit of, would be considered an act of war and aggression, after all that damn planet he and Celesin somehow shared was a hot bed of realms and odd mechanics that defied reason and logic from time to time.

He received word of the conflict mere moments after it had started. He was linked up with his troops after all. He grinned that sharks grin of his and made a motion that signified he wanted the warship to move there. The problem with this was simple, The Nightmare was a massive ship, it wouldn't even be graceful in empty deep space combat. Here it was like a bull in a china shop. On top of that any weapon they could fire would be so inaccurate that they may hit Nexxian instead of their targets.

"I'm aware of all of this, I simply wanted to watch. Maybe we can offer some sub-orbital support later on"

by TheHomunculi Sun Jan 11, 2015 2:44 am

Current Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGy70BxOQwY

The King stood there as silent as the crypt as he surveyed the field of battle. That single green iris flickered over the large mass that was Nexxian City. It had high, thick, walls. He knew that this conquest would be difficult with whatever force lay inside of the city. He knew there were multiple forces at play here. Whatever military that the city could scrounge up. The police force with their tanks. And of course the Agency. The Agency would be a powerhouse with certain members. But Bradley knew that he had the numbers to take them out if need be.

The Homunculus knew the odds were in his favor. Artillery fire would work on making that wall into rubble in no time. As long as he kept hammering at it without delay. However, and he knew this would be the problem, he would let whatever forces in the city remained ready themselves for a fight.

So he would need to act fast on wasting their resources.

"Spread out. More cannons along the South and Eastern walls." He gave the specific instructions for these cannons to the iron soldiers beside him quietly as they made sure to follow his command and remember what would be necessary. The iron soldiers took off without further word to their vehicles.

Trucks were mounted and soon enough were spreading out along the circumference of the city. They maintained their cover by killing their own lights. Ten trucks sped to the south while ten more trucks sped over to the eastern walls.

The troops at the southern wall were quick to dismount and move to the desert. They had approximately eighty troops at the southern gate now. Twelve miles from the southern gate to be precise. Ten iron troops were able to fit within the driver and passenger seat, along with filling up the bed of the trucks as well. The troops at the Eastern wall were of an exact similar number as their counterparts at the southern wall as they made good time as well.

The southern troops quickly applied a fourth of their troops, twenty to be precise, to making their own artillery. They spread even further apart than the artillery at the south eastern militia had. Red stones upon their ring fingers activating as the ground likely shook from the twenty different transmutations that were processing. All had a similar design.

The eastern troops, of course, were following similar commands. Twenty troops while sixty of their troops maintained their eastern position.

The long barreled cannons that formed up were even larger and thicker than the ones used at the south eastern wall. The barrels were even longer than the previous ones. They spread along the desert sand and were easily half the width of the wall in total with how wide spread the cannons were. They would cover much ground.

"Ya heard Commander! Fire when ready!" The metallic voice screamed from the base of one of the many cannons below at the southern wall. And as that order came through, multiple red sparks of alchemic energy once more lit up the southern desert. The barrels of the cannons were tipped even higher than before. What this meant might surprise some. Bradley knew that there wasn't a sniper alive who could make a twelve mile sniper shot. Much less take out the Iron Infantry he had sent for this particular task. He knew that the soldiers atop of the walls weren't capable of handling this level of threat.

The cannons were raised to fire over the walls.

Sune'ere might just make it out in time to hear the cannons being fired. The Prince had needed to get to the Agency and get ready, as well as get out of the city in time. And while that was all happening, Bradley had already made his plans and gave his orders.

The Prince would likely get a good idea of how many troops were up ahead due south by seeing the multiple flashes coming from the artillery fire. Twenty cannons with twenty troops atop of those cannons to transmute and activate them. Sixty troops spread out along the base of every cannon. All of them wearing armor but not slouching in the slightest. All of them armed to the teeth.

This was only the troops that Bradley had sent. If Sune had decided to check east, and somehow see the flashes from the cannon fire that was sure to come, he would likely have a heart attack from the number of armored vehicles and the number of soldiers that were over that hill. If the man could see that far that is.

For now Sune'ere had the advantage of stealth but how long would that last with a moving vehicle?

The artillery fire that came from the south and eastern troops was something else compared to the ones used by the south eastern troops. The south eastern troops, which was the main host commanded by Bradley, were currently hammering away at the wall with explosive rounds. There was more kinetic force to the explosions than actual fire.

The cannons at the south and eastern walls were incendiary ones.

Forty artillery cannons fired into the city. Cannonballs sailing over the walls to land into the city and not just explode but burn as well. Roughly bigger than the cannons used at the southern east wall.

The explosion of fire would likely light the city up in no time. Smoke would be rising up as the fires spread and some even came together. Buildings would be burning down as citizens, police, or whatever military forces were likely to die just from the cannon explosion alone if they were caught in the range of the multiple blasts.

Chaos and panic would likely reign inside of the city in no time.

King Bradley was going to burn them from the inside out if he damn well pleased too.

The sound of more explosions echoed as the twenty cannons twelve miles from the south eastern wall fired once more in unison. Hammering away at the wall again and also firing at the top of the wall. Whatever troops might have gone to look over the wall would likely die from that hit.

Bradley had three positions that gave him range to attack on the city. And no military troops were likely to stop him.

"Sir. The communicator. One named Angelo Zerephan is attempting to ask for help from any allies."

The Homunculus turned to gaze at a human soldier who held the Agency communicator in his hand. He pursed his lips for a moment and nodded his head before accepting the device.

When the time came, and when he burnt enough of the city, only then would he attempt communicate to discuss terms.

by War Torn Sun Jan 11, 2015 4:37 am

Angelo:

{The Sounds of War.}

"Goddammit, can anyone fucking here me?! Anyone?! Grrr..."

He growled into the ear piece and upon not receiving an answer from anyone or anything, he had to restrain himself from utterly destroying the thing, but he didnt, he simply switched it off but left the channel open for those who wished to communicate and coordinate with him, for what good it could of done. He kept moving along the rooftops of Nexxian, ear twitching as more explosions were let lose through out the city, this time not from just one general direction either. No, it seemed to come from three, and this time, it appeared the obvious artillery was aiming over the damn wall. Angelo knew this tactic, feared its very effects as he cringed, flinching and seeing a spark of fire suddenly erupt miles away from him then crys of anguish. Incendiary, that which was meant to burn more then rip to pieces and explode.

"Fucking bastards..."

Angelo spoke through grit teath, every piece of him, bone, muscle, and organs screaming to help those in need, and he could, he had to...but he also needed time as well, and a plan, a simple good one. The first part of this plan involved keeping away from the obvious (possible) danger zones where the artillery was hammering blow after blow, and get to a particular section of the walls to act on. This for Angelo was the opposite end along the Southern, South Eastern, and Easter walls, the West side, which he was currently, quickly, bolting to. Jump after jump carried him closer and close to the as of yet, untouched area, a look of pure concentration on his face as he did so.

"I really fucking hope those goddamn 'on loan' forces can do some damn good! Just Nexxian forces, a this level of a surprised and chaotic attack, would not do good on its own!"

Spoken out loud to himself, he needed something to keep his thoughts straight as he ran, straining himself with each forceful jump, and he needed to Not think about what would happen if Meryl and Tier were currently in the bombarded sections of the city...He shook his head as he ran and kept jumping, seventy percent of the way there, though thinking as he did. Where was the rest of the Agency? He was sure Sune was in or around the city as a time of an attack, and logically thought he was about doing his own sort of thing but...what of Eren, the so called 'Titan Shifter'? And hell, above all, where the fuck was Edward Elric? These thoughts raced through Angelos head as he lept and lept, occasionally lower then before, occasionally higher, but he never stopped moving. Perspiration lined his face as he moved, mental energies continuing to gather as he did...but he just needed more time, and he needed to reach that goddamn wall before anything else, maybe set up a stable line of communication along the way if even possible.

{Perceived Will: 1, Base Format}

by ALIS-Ultonis Mon Jan 12, 2015 5:28 pm

Barten got Angelo's message. " This is Lieutenant John Barten of the Ultonis. The South, South-East, and Eastern sides of the wall are being attacked by heavy-artillery. I saw big flashes of light before it happened, and then the other flashes which were the cannon-fire. Ultonis and Potentate are scrambling and-"

The transmission was interrupted. "Barten we've gotten back to HQ, were going to have to wait for things to get to the Primoris-Ultonis before we get confirmation..." he said. "In the meantime HQ says instead of fucking with the Fulminis' shit, organize other Ultonis in the inner city, and mobilize for a strike-operation. Apparently Legatus Khooey is present, see if you can establish communication with her." the Transmission beeped out. Barten altered his course and made towards the inner city. "All Ultonis meet in Celesin-Embassy."

The Embassy was between the inner and middle wall fairly far away from the range of the cannons so far, and they could all be there in minutes with their Grav-Harnesses. "Yes Mr. Zerephan, the forces are massed in the east towards the mountains we have to establish a plan as there's little we can do to respond at this range we are calling for back-up..."

He said as he got to the center of the city with a few other remaining Alis present. "You might help if you can somehow attack the other force or defend the targeted areas." Barten said as he looked at him. "See if we can get a hold of Khooey, she is no longer in the Ultonis but she is the only Legatus present and wait... What about Daul? Someone get a hold of her if the potentate have not, alright I'm gonna ask for 4 others to come with me and scout out the enemy areas. Meanwhile I'm putting Kliff in charge."

The request for back up was going through the channels and as Barten organized things half-way through they got a response. "We are diverting troops from a garrison in Vasten, 10 Drop-Ships of Ultonis, a quad of Raiding-Hounds, and a Dusk-Phantom." "Thanks when will they get here?" he asked. "We have to mobilize them and get the gateway ready, it should be about 20 minutes if nothing fucks up. "Alright." (Lets say that's 4 posts?)

by **Sune** Mon Jan 12, 2015 9:45 pm

Sune heard the crackling of his communicator as more people joined the fray. He pondered responding back for a moment, or just letting them enjoy the show he was about to give them. Grumbling and knowing that communication won wars and battles, not heroics nine time out of ten he would reply.

"Sune'ere here, I'm outside the city, trying to get an exact lock on their position, I've already gone four or five miles and they barely seem any closer." Once he'd exited the gates he'd decided that he'd stick to the road for the better part of the trip instead of immediately zipping to the south east, if he could get a better lock on them, he could assist the Nexxian forces better. This entire time he was using his rune gauntlets to drive, as he continued to accelerate faster and faster, the speedometer climbing to seventy five, with no sign of stopping any time soon. Removing from his pack two of his storage pouches, the kind that he'd always used to keep his munitions in. He fiddled with the both of them for a moment, pressing the edges up to his lips and biting down, and yanking hard. As he went to grip the wheel again, he finally caught sight of the cannons immediately to the south. There were a lot of them, and damn near right there on the road. Even a small force hiding in those dunes could stop a resupply. He didn't need to think about what needed to be done now. Flooring the gas pedal he would head directly for the new encampment. Still though he was tearing ass across the desert, the speedometer finally tapping out at a hundred miles per hour, Sune would have maybe a minute before he would intersect with those troops.

His body tensed as he placed a brick upon the gas pedal and raised his rifle, placing it close to the reinforced glass that he'd personally placed within the cars front windshield. Once he was thirty seconds out he would pull the trigger on his spellstorm rifle. The effect of the kinetically charged bullet activating the very second that it crashed and exploded against the glass, the runed bullet releasing it's potential directly across the full surface of the bulletproof glass. The force which the bullet traveled was easily four times that which Sune was currently traveling at. Causing the front windshield to not shatter but instead leap forward from the car at an impressive two hundred miles an hour. Basically becoming a moving brick wall to smash against the first troops it would find spread out near the base of one of the cannons. As this happened Sune reloaded the rifle with a quick flick of the wrist that just so happened to smack the high beams of the truck on, flooding anyone who saw its vision momentarily, and then he Slammed one fist down on the horn. Kicking at the drivers side door, as he activated the powers of his bloodline, placing his body under a light duress of endurance enhancing Body Cascade, and he flung himself out the car and into a roll in the hard packed sand.

by -Dorian Empire- Wed Jan 14, 2015 12:19 am

Nexxian South Eastern Hospital:

The hustle and bustle of the hospital always had its charm, at least to the two brothers who ran it. Ian and Stanley Bridges, men who worked for the Hanley Corporation, who in turn were a part of the Obertus and Sanders conglomerate, and so on so forth. Suffice to say even if their company wasn't Dorian in origin, it certainly had enough ties and holdings with that specific empire to count as such.

Also, they had a long standing contract with Nexxian to heal and make sure that its citizens were in tip top shape, no matter what plagued them. So far setting the hospital up in the seedier side of town with all the dive bars and titty bars had worked out really well. Stabbings weren't down, but people dying from being stabbed had come to an all time low. (Though there were still a few casualties, can't save 'em all.) Also the magically rich land provided the brothers with a unique opportunity to indulge themselves a bit more.
Specifically in the morgue. Well Ian at least, he had a fascination with death. Not the actual killing part, just death in general. So while Fat Stanley worked away helping the sick and injured, skinny twig like Ian, was in the morgue with a bone saw, cutting into a new cadaver to determine cause of death, and maybe use parts for their side project.
The first barrage of artillery fire caused him to slip as it shook the foundation of the wall they were near making way to shallow of a cut, and at the wrong angle of all things. Cursing and going to grab a cigarette, the next volley not a few seconds later alerted him that this was more then a simple earth quake. His brother would undoubtedly fill him in.
"IAN! We got siege fire, get up here and help me with the defenses." Was his younger brothers voice in his communicator. Well it was probably good that those Dorian errand boys had come around and asked for an update on their project.

"I hear ya ass hat, can I at least flip the switch in case we end up dying?" His voice had the inflection of someone so bored with life that he'd risk his own for just a little fun.
"No you can't switch on the reactor, we haven't run tests, and the repercussions could be catastrophic." Ian knew this, he stared at the spot where the switch was. He shrugged and headed towards the door, ready to help his brother defend their financial investment, after all his car was here. And he loved his car.

Heading towards the elevator with an unhurried stride, he would wait for it to come down. His communicator suddenly abuzz with talk from the Dorian side, and someone talking to him.

"Yeah fine, we can do that. I said fine. Also go jump up your own ass Sergei."

Switching channels back to the hospital PA system, he would put on his friendliest voice and broadcast it across the local area, even using the outside speakers so that the panic stricken citizenry could have a calming voice to deal with.

"Attention Nexxian Citizens, if you are hurt or wounded, please come to the hospital, we have a defensive system in place, and our own shielding should be operational at any moment..." He switched back to the comm with his brother. "Any minute now Stan." After all Ian hadn't felt the surge of the shield extending outwards from the generator pass through him.

"I'm trying damn it, but I think that last hit disconnected us from something. I'm doing a scan to find out."

At that moment the secondary artillery started to fire upon the city. Though they were closer to the south east wall itself, the explosions ripping through the air above the city itself instead of beyond the wall were not helping. Fire was raining down near them, hell with the wind the way it usually was atop the wall, if one should detonate prematurely the hospital was likely to be on fire in no time at all. Switching his communicator back to Dorian channels.

"Sergei we're gonna need some help over here. If you got anyone you can send over I would appreciate that." He waited for the reply, frowning. Maybe he should be a little nicer. "Oh c'mon double the dosage really?" He nodded. Shook his head and sighed. "I'll triple it for your bodyguards if you get me permission to activate our generator over here. Yes I'm aware of the health risks. I'm also aware that this wall could collapse on my head any moment, and I would rather much like to stay alive. Well I hope you're fast about it."

As the Elevator came down he turned away from it, stalking back over to the morgue to grab his chair, sit down and move over to his computer. Typing in a few quick commands the back-up generator would come up, extending the shielding bubble around them that should hopefully protect them from falling debris and most of the fire. However a sudden massive attack would quickly overload the back up generator. Also it didn't stop people from coming in, so if something broke through the wall, that shield wouldn't do shit.

"Stan you got about 15 minutes worth of power in the shield. Find that disconnect or I'm activating the generator with or without the higher ups permission."

----------------------------------------------

The Eighty-Sixth Judgement Company:

For the moment while everything was getting set-up the Dorian military forces were currently in the dark concerning the others. Radio was rarely used, mostly for the ease of which it could be intercepted, and when it was used it was for inconsequential banter, or at the very least a verbal encryption. The communicator in his helm, had a pair in each communicator of his officers, essentially a single uninterrupted line between them. However the link could only go between him and one other person, no more people could be added. Which is where the lynch pin of the Dorian communications network came into play, the aforementioned spindle core, is a device usually kept near the base of operations. Once turned on it projects a low-level telepathic field, which anyone with the proper training may operate. However those not attuned to the psionic core of the device, would simply get images and thoughts at random from too many people if they attempted to break in. The more people present the more dangerous getting into a Dorian telepathic link could be. And there was an army present here.

Of course Sergei was painfully aware that the supposed Knight had never asked any questions concerning the technology of the empire he'd be dealing with, and Sergei gave no answers. So outside of radio communication, which the Dorian's were only just now setting up, Angelo, who was supposed to be working for them, would be effectively in the dark.

Sergei watched as Daish moved over to the command area that they'd set up, slowly setting up the portable core that they'd brought with them just in case that a fight broke out where they were unsure of who was on the other side. It would of been faster with Keldon doing it, whole damn minutes faster, but Sergei would take that time he'd gotten to address some of his troops as they were coming in.

"Hammers I need you working too help out the Civies, Your artillery is still in pieces at the space port. Left and Right Eyes I need you making a southward sweep through the city, help who you can and get me all the information you see once the spindle core comes online. Don't go out of its range, I need you all acting as one. Third eyes, out the gates, assist any friendlies you find, but do it quietly, I need you trying to meet up with the communications officer. Keep your fields up, and be prepared for a nasty fight."
He turned to address some of the others when the familiar wave of a linked mind went through him. Then he noticed someone on the link who wasn't part of his army. One of the Bridges most likely. Well that worked out well enough for Sergei, passing orders onto those brats was a favorite of his.

"Maggot, I need that hospital open to all, I know you got defensive parameters in there. Anyone that can't make it out of the attack zone, goes there. Safest place for now." It seemed like the skinny one was trying to get him out of his head quick. The cursing brought a smile to Sergei's lips. He did so love annoying the small fries who thought about business first and nation second. At least they had their uses.

Keldon on the other hand had flown unnoticed over the desert, a black bird in a black sky. Nothing off about that, especially if it was flying away from the city. Every time the cannons went off, he would see the silhouettes of the people below. The sheer amount of forces that had been brought in was obscene. He made mental note to estimate upwards for every group that he saw. Though he couldn't get a good look at them, from this vantage point, he could see the weapons that they were using for artillery. It was kind of hard to hide something that large out in the desert. He circled over them once or twice, being sure to be quick about it, acting like a bird looking for food. Once he had gotten a good look he would dive farther into the desert, looking for some spot that was out of their way. Farther behind them would work best, but if he had to hit the spot between the east and the south eastern main force he would do that. Once a clear spot had been found he would dive down, sembling back into his old self, and pulling his large cloak of raven feathers down over his short but muscular frame. Keeping himself low to the ground he would pull out a small spindle core. Taking a moment to activate it, the low-level psionic wave length would spread out, aiming to meet with the other one and hopefully reestablish a link with Sergei and the rest of the troops. He didn't need to be vocalizing anything, or risking a transmission getting intercepted while he was stuck between two armies.

Back in town Sergei had managed to get the Radio up and operational in time to hear responses from some of the other defenders here. Mostly what was spoken over open broadcasting radio channels too the Zerephan by these Celesin troops. Sergei would place his hand on the forehead of his helmet and shake his head before speaking into the microphone. "This is Commander Sergei Deker of the Dorian Eighty-Sixth Judgement Company, We'll be backing you up, any information you can pass our way would be appreciated." Sergei was careful, the Dorian Empire had conquered his own people by breaking into their communications, he preferred the method the empire now used to anything physical and tangible. Thus his reluctance to say anything outside of the fact that he was in fact present.

Finding one of the hard line phones that had been set up between the town and star port proved hard, but finally he managed to get one. Ringing up the security offices number was easy enough. Getting them to answer was harder. The sound and rumbling was too loud too close for them not to be panicked. Hopefully the big guns didn't decided to point that way. That was an international incident waiting to happen if they did. Once they finally picked up the part-time security guard was in such a fluster that he'd forgotten this was a military line.

"What the fuck do you want? I got bigger problems to worry about like these cannons that just up and magiced themselves in front of us."

"You know talking like that to a commander in the military usually tends to get you killed right?" The gulp of frustration and fear on the other side of the line was practically audible to Sergei another laugh came from him before he spoke again. "At ease soldier. I need you on top of things over there. Get all incoming vessels to change their trajectory, I am also going to need you to try and establish a secure link with the flagship. If we can get orbital information, this battle is as good as won. Lastly, I need you to activate Orchestra Nine. I'll give you my command codes and I need you too type everything exactly as I say them." The gulp of fear was now one of worry and frustration that Sergei could barely stomach, but he would tough it out and give the command codes to the guard. Once they were typed in he would give the man parting words. "Clear off all the northern docks. Get the workers to start refueling the fighters, and for the love of whatever god you pray too, do not look at the guys putting together my artillery."

Keldon still hadn't gotten back to them. This was worrying to Sergei. He had to keep his mind off of that, He turned to issue some more commands, pointing towards the storage buildings his group rented out and motioning for Daish to get the vanguards equipment for the first real charge of this battle. Nothing would be done heroically, this would all be done by the books, urges be damned. Then the bridges fellow decided to start speaking in his ear again. An unseen roll of his eyes.

"Defenses? Hah I though the foundation provided you with them." The next words had Sergei intrigued. He nodded to himself, well if they wanted to play business he could do that. "Double the usual dosage for the Hand and I'll send you a a half-fist of infantry." He listened to the mans counter-offer and was intrigued to think of what triple the dosage might do for his own personal body guards. Hell that was even tempting for him, might let him go past his limits. "As soon as I hear from one of the Shuinsai proper, I'll let you know."

He turned to the rest as the cavalry was being assembled, a grouping of war-bikes, designed for quick engagement and to utilize the innate bond developed by the Dorian Empires techniques of bonding through localized spore colonies. Thqat was when Keldon responded to him sub-vocalizing his communication.

"Boss I got good news and I got bad news. The good news is I got a lock on their exact location. Like longitude and latitude. The bad news is, I think they outnumber us. Pretty heavily in fact. We might be looking at a god fist scenario." Keldon's tone was certainly morbid, but that's what Sergei got for dealing with a damn Garadon.

"Nonsense Keldon, we're the Judgement company, not one of those sick Void companies. Ten to one, a hundred to one. We still win. You know why? Because we're protecting a damn Shuinsai that's why. Now get me those coordinates and get your ass down to the star port, we're putting together your toys."

Keldon out in the desert nodded, turning off the portable spindle core, and shifting himself back into his raven form. Now from South-East to South and past the artillery. He was heading towards the space port.
------------
(Eyes (scouts) meet up with Nexxian/Celesin forces still in the city. Next Post)
(Hammers (Artillery team) Currently helping evacuate Civies to safe zones)
(Wings(Aerial), Hand(Commanders Bodyguards), Spear(Cavalry) and Sword(Infantry) Equipping. Spear and Hand ready by next post. Sword ready in three-five (situation dependent) Wings ready when space port opens. One Powered suit currently active for Commander of the Winged division)

by **Tera** Wed Jan 14, 2015 2:40 am

Communication was a wondrous thing, but more importantly the Fulminis had a Legatus present, and could act faster with her authority. But even at this rate it was incredibly slow for the Lightning Branch of the Celesin, there was a suitable reason however as roughly five miles from the Eastern Gate the night air suddenly thickened. A subdued indigo flash of light was the only alert given as the Gateway parted, opening to reveal what appeared to be a garage or hangar of some sort. The distinct lack of energy from the Gateway's folding of space as it was released into the negative space between locations meant that detecting it beyond direct visibility was beyond difficult. Unless they were capable of reading spacial anomalies that is.

And out came Lieutenant Tyne, the redhaired foul mouthed firecracker already had her helmet donned and locked. As did the Five Alis Fulminis behind her, all of them mounted on the sleek black grav-bikes. The bikes, hovering roughly five feet from the ground were deathly silent, five of the Specters remained afloat by their ion drive anti-grav engines. While the Lieutenant was given a new toy that she had taken to naming Deathstalker. A modified version of the Specter which ran on a Magi Core Crystal and housed a carriage mounter Magi Cannon. Ruby red lips were licked by her pink tongue behind the dark mirror visor of her helm as she was itching to let loose the havoc.

Her retinal linked HUD flashed as she opened the closed Vox com that only the Celesin forces had access to. "Lieutenant Tyne here; the flaming wait is over now, you'll see our fireworks shortly, the Legatus pulled a few strings. We got a nice surprise for these infidels." Her lips curved into a smirk as she suddenly barked over Fulminis Com's. "Keep up you slack asses, I don't intend to carry you all the way there, activate night vision and prime your guns, we're going unseen." The words hardly left her mouth before the Lieutenant slammed the throttle and her bike took off like a flash of lightning.

Tyne didn't need to look back to know her five Alis were keeping up, she didn't bring greenhorns like most of the wall lot and her HUD displayed the position of each of her men. These were battle hardened Fulminis with her, her personal retinue as it were. They had quite the reputation for being speed demons, and despite their rambunctiousness they were well trained. No hoots or hollers left them as they blazed through the night at break neck speeds. Despite Tyne's words she kept back on the throttle, breaching super sonic speeds would certainly alert the enemy to their presence. It was a very short time before the Fulminis streaked by Sune in his rickety old Pickup. Their V formation expanding to accommodate the width of his truck as they streaked by with little more sound the whistling wind they were slicing as they crested on 300 mph.

Tyne even took a moment to look back and blow Sune a kiss knowing full well he'd know who it was. She assumed he'd have amped up his vision, the Lieutenant knew a bit about what a Dra'sin could do after all from studying Lord Caden. And the the others too of course! At about ten miles out they diverted north, using the cover of night and their silence to keep hidden as they readied to sweep around behind the canons on the eastern wall. "Give them a wide berth, we don't want them knowing we're here until we're right up their asses."

The Fulminis were more than forward scouts and troop recovery. While not quite the heavy hitters the Potentiae were, the Fulminis were Celesin's premiere shock troops, and this invader was about to find out why.

by **Khooey** Thu Jan 15, 2015 1:12 am

The Djinn closed the link between herself and Lieutenant Tyne; having given the order under Caden's banner for the Fulminis to get her out and onto the field in order to make the perfect distraction. There was a commotion coming from elsewhere as well and, sadly, through the throngs she did not know whether it was friend or foe. She'd immediately gotten sent out into the fracas under the authorized request of Barten.

As for Bradley ….he thought he had the advantage? No, well, yes he did-- but as an army and as a whole. Not as a single man. Khooey had been watching first from the mountains after using the coin to transport herself quietly behind and to the south west of his forces. An hour had been spent watching-- and admittedly fretting about what she saw below. The vehicles, the towers, the canons going off. She winced as she saw the projectiles hit the wall and wondered if anyone she knew on it died and if she knew the names of those militants. More than likely she did not, but, the Djinn had an unfortunate excess of empathy.

Tears were wiped away as she edged closer; the vehicles having stopped half a mile ahead of where she had safely taken to ground to stay concealed. It wasn't difficult after all as both she and her garb were as dark as the night-- though she had wrapped her horns in fabric to keep any errant lights from bouncing off of her. Above all things she had to be careful in what she had planned and in several ways: To not be seen, especially not by those armored suits which held no flesh. An attempt to see from afar into a core that was not there had proven useless, but, the familiar stink of alchemy wafted from them. Though curious as to what made them tick? She had a feeling that what she had in mind may not work on them.

Khooey's chief weapons lay in the flesh and blood fighting for Bradley. She had to get to them in order to get to him. To think she'd convinced herself to leave the Homonculus alone after Alphonse, Astafa and even Fenris had laid into her about the blood debt she seemed completely unable to let go. It was something about her nature as a Ifrit, though the girl was sweet as candy, that had made it nearly impossible for her to let her hellbent revenge go for the man who'd taken Angelo's life. Only him somehow coming back to the land of the living had released her from it. Perhaps her daddy, Bahst, had the answer to the origins of such obsessive malevolence? But she could not dwell on that now.

Now was the time to move. Bradley himself and his corps was her focus and, suddenly, she darted from being belly down in the cooling sand and tried to ignore the roaring and crumbling of the Nexxian walls in the distance. Hopefully Tera and others could give the aft troops something to chew on and make a problem for the Homonculus while she completed her task. Silently, she made her way toward the western side back of south eastern cavalry and found herself having to climb the back end of the overgrown sand dune which Bradley had parked him and his ass end on.

They would not see nor hear the Djinn coming-- she was only one diminutive femme made invisible by the night and her own natural coloring; a shadow in soft boots and only when she reached the closest cluster of human bodies flanked to their right by vehicles and opposite to her point of approach. Bradley was, hopefully, smart enough to be front and center to his men and not left open for lunch by flanking them so that her job would be easier. What was the job?

The mentioned men would not have had a chance to react before the small specter that rose up in the middle of their throng; oily and incorporeal presences with little glowing violet pinpoints for eyes slithering about the air and into their ears, eyes and nostrils in order to tie them to her. Khooey had the somewhat limited to choose “champions” as a Black Ifrit, to tether the astral brain, consciousness and will to her every whim. However, it was a dangerous talent that required extremely careful balance. Upon one soul it was a true tethering with dire consequences. Upon too many and they simply gave way to extreme bloodlust; becoming a horde of uncontrollable berserkers. This, of course, was why Khooey very quietly only made an attempt for fifteen of them.

“Shhhhhh.....I am here now. I know ya missed me.... You have to keep me safe” she'd whisper to her minions with brand new pitch black eyes and lost looks on their faces ; a hand over her lips as she seized the chin of the man closest to her; needing to keep one of them close in case she was spotted or lost control. Though, everything was going swimmingly so far...amazingly. Hand gestures were used to keep the soldiers from bending down to assist her or fret as she crawled deeper into the center of her corps of infected and stood up. “Please. Please come closer t' me. Keep me safe. We're going t' move now.”

“Yes darling...yes, Khooey” they mumbled; one or two of them looking disoriented. The Djinn grimaced and knew that if something happened those with the strong mental countenance would have to be taken down first by her new Djinn Knights.

Those she had taken had never seen her before but they knew they had to keep her safe. Khooey was their queen, their Maalik. To lose her would be agony, to let a drop of her blood hit the sand was a sin worthy of death. All they could see was her and she was the end that justified the means.

Instant obsession and true dedication to duty. All for her.

“Maalik, my black star...if one of higher rank sees you--” One of them started; whispering down at her with the most concerned look in his eyes as the Dwirgi swam through every part of his being.

“Y'all do what you got to do. If y'don't keep m' safe, I can't love you anymore.”

Immediately, he looked horrified with inken eyes; his mind possessed by obsession. And then he looked determined.

“Stand aroun' me, please, move wit' me...make sure they don't see me. If anyone tries t' hurt me...” she trailed off with a wince as the rest was obvious. And, nearly phalanxed by her new troop she began to tentatively migrate while trying to ignore the horrifically unethical thing she was currently doing. The thought of using this particular talent always made her sick, but, there was a reason Fenris had called her in.

It was useful.

by TheHomunculi Thu Jan 15, 2015 9:04 pm

"Readjust!"

The scream is metallic in nature and it comes from one of the Iron Infantry positioned south of the city below the artillery that has been transmuted. They are hardened, disciplined, and are ready for war. They had been born for this. This was their purpose. Night and day they had trained for this. Firearms, alchemy, and even brutal hand to hand combat. Their large frames of course seeming to make them slow but they made up for it.

"Raise!"

The twenty cannons south of the wall were adjusted and raised even more upward. Some feet in change would mean all the difference.

"Fire!"

The scream echoes as the twenty cannons fire once more upon the city. The first layer of the city exploding even more so as the fire spread towards that second wall. The screams of innocent civilians as they were brutally burnt alive while trying to escape were bound to get the attention of some. Men, women, children, none of it mattered. The incendiary rounds would spread the fire all along the city. Smoke rising up from the burning buildings as it went overhead for all to see. Civilians were likely panicking and struggling to get into the safety behind the second wall. The cannons from the East were bound to readjust soon as well as per the orders of their commanders. In truth, there was only one commander who mattered.

"Keep firing! Attack! We attack! We--"

What the soldier said next didn't matter the moment that windshield sailed across the distance and made contact with him. The soldier's iron armored form was shot forward towards the center where several of the bases of the cannons were. The armor broke apart immediately due to the impact. Its form unmoving if Sune'ere were able to see to that point.

That single death seemed to spark an uproar among the troops who were gathered to defend the cannons. There were approximately fifty nine of them now. One dead and yet there was no blood. No splatter. Nothing to indicate there was ever someone there to begin with except for the smashed suit of armor and the flung weapon. The sudden beam of light was surprising and they had turned to face their enemy.

"Contact!"

One soldier roared loudly and, with rifles being raised, they would open up a hail storm of bullets into the bright light that was coming for them. The soldiers had been spread out along the base. And yet even as the centered soldiers were gazing into the bright light that stormed through the desert, they seemed to not react to the bright light. No need to shield their eyes or anything in the slightest. Only gunfire. The truck, bound for their destination, was likely to end up full of bullets as the troops converged from all sides towards where the vehicle was coming. The truck likely crashing due to an inability to self-drive. The base of one of the cannons was hit as it shuddered from a moment but was able to maintain itself. One soldier moved for the truck and, quickly reacting, shouted to the others. "No one! In desert!"

Sune'ere would get a good look at them now. Fifty nine troops. Another twenty atop of the cannons that were firing into the city. All of them were wearing a large framed heavy set armor that covered their entirety. The armor was thick and yet they seemed to have no problem with running. "Move! Spread! Find him!" One soldier even raised their rifle to fire into the direction the truck had come from. They spread out as commanded, twenty of the soldiers remaining at the base as thirty nine of the troops moved out towards the desert from all sides. The truck having been abandoned at this point. With that window trick, only one of the troops would taken out. Sune'ere would also see how tall the cannons were. Two stories to be precise and certainly as wide as a house. And there were twenty of them. The Prince had his night cut out for him.

The Eastern troops were unaware of being under watch yet or that they were about to be attacked. They maintained their current position and, like their counterparts at the Southern wall, they also readjusted the cannons they used to go even further west towards the second wall within the city.

The raven who was a shifter would see their numbers. Cars, trucks, and more numbers for each one too boot. And if the raven were able to see vaguely from the flash that came from the cannons being fired, it'd see more troops than it could count with that spread back as close as it could to the mountains.

The troopers who were taken control of by the newcomer Djinn in the rear were far back. Far too much for Bradley to notice. It spread a good mile at least. The operation Khooey could now see clearly had some cages that were covered by tarps. The vehicles were all over the place and the armored soldiers were positioned by their own specific vehicle. Some more human troops were of course maneuvering around as they waited for the signal that they would need. The Djinn seemed concealed by her own little entourage. For now.

"Sir. They are organizing a counter offensive to us." The soldier was beside Bradley now, human of course, and had an eerily similar communication device to one Angelo Zerephan in his hand. Likely tuned to the same frequency as well.

"Don't give anything away. We mustn't let them know we have a line into their communications. Let them eat static." Now was the moment that would count for much of the battle. The moment that determined everything.

"Move in. I want that wall taken down now before they have a chance to mount an offensive from it." The King is cool in tone as he gives the order. The sudden shouting from many soldiers echoing as truck engines were turned on and the vehicles roared before descending from the top of the hill to move past the cannons. The number of trucks were insurmountable. The number of soldiers who were on the bed of each truck even more so.

The King had reached out and held his hand expectantly to the soldier for the communication device. The device handed over after some confusion before the soldier readied his own truck. The cannons from the south east were quiet as could be now as the trucks descended. Each truck held approximately ten soldiers. There were far too many trucks to count but if a number were to be given......five hundred would suffice. Five hundred trucks descending downward and heading for that south eastern wall. Khooey would see more trucks being loaded and driving ahead but stopping when the first reached the top of that hill. The number of trucks and soldiers were still hard to count but it was evident that Bradley was sending only half of his forces to the city now. But even so with all the movement, Khooey's presence was more likely to be discovered at this rate. Even as one armored soldier pointed to the fifteen soldiers gathered around the Djinn and shouted "MOVE IT MAGGOTS!" before he took off in his own truck.

The Homunculus stood there with his forces forming around him once more. A large multitude of troops still lay between Khooey and him. Far to many to count. But it was evident that her task was certainly not an easy one. What with the armored soldiers outnumbering the human ones.

"Oh Angelo." Bradley's tone seemed amused by it all. Amused by the war that they were about to wage. His tone like one who spoke down to a child who knew not what they were doing. He spoke to the man as though he were right before him now and not in the city getting ready to defend. Adjusting the communication device into his ear but not pressing any buttons to activate it, the gentleman spoke out into that desert as he eyed the forces heading for the wall. It was a twelve mile stretch with his artillery not firing at the south eastern wall. A faint of a smile on that old face as he continued to speak. "Do you know the old Ishbalan proverb that says that revenge is a dish best served cold?"

Half of the forces were finally converging on the city. The fight was about to get much worse.

by War Torn Thu Jan 15, 2015 9:41 pm

Angelo:

{Runner on the fire.}

Angelo in particular wasnt feeling 'field commander' ish (that and he had doubts whether anyone would listen to him even if he was), but a thing he could do, when connected communication wise, was get information, post updates, and keep himself informed.

“Listen, if you can find some way to make a damn field, energy, magic, whatever you use. Do it now! We might need it as a temporary patch to the wall if it falls, and if you can stretch it over the damn thing and prevent further destruction! Not orders but suggestions.”

Ignorance kept Angelo from saying whether those particular Celesin troops could use such magics, but if they could? God that'd help. Defense with bits of fighting offense first, then offensive defense, for the city and shit. Angelo kept moving while he talked, a breaking in his power occurring as the gathered energies were triggered in his mind. His eyes turned a shade of orange, normal jumping and steps suddenly became quicker and farther and he seemed more organized despite his quickened paced. At the moment, even with the physical boost (to body and weapons) it was not the biggest trump card, but the Empowerment Format of his powers would speed things and help him personally.

“I'm heading...”

He kept moving, but his words paused for a brief second.

“...Westward, towards and unassailed area, I'm going to see if I can gather any Agents or free roaming people that can help and connect with Sune'ere Drasen, Barten. Keep an eye on shit and keep us all updated , and for God sakes keep your head down while doing it! And if you hear anything from Khooey get us the hell connected on the wire!”

That was all he could say for Barten and his division. Next up was Sune. Thank God he was in the City, thank God for whatever chaos and help he was hearing on Sunes end.

“Sune, good. You get all that shit I said or...do I have to repeat my grabbing strays on the way and connecting with you and that help of yours?”

He waited until whatever magical mix of chaos the princeling was doing was done before speaking further.

“What kind of enemies can you see, if any? Normal troops or...Something else? Artillery is usually followed by charges and shit of all kinds, especially when they're this heavy, so you and your friends there keep your chins up and load up whatever grape or canister shot type shit ya got and get to harrying and raiding. I'll be there with any help I can get along the way ASAP.”

OR would he? Why exactly was he going Northward yet saying he's heading West? Well, call it a hunch, call it caution...but if all the factions he was trying to work with could hear him through his little earpiece, why couldnt enemies? It was confusing, it really was, but a little deception went a long way in the game of war, this Angelo knew, had experienced himself. His enhanced Empowerment state made his trip towards the Northern wall quick, but he didnt go to fast. This was the least chaotic part of the city (for now) and as he went he was sure to keep his gaze downward in search of anyone he recognized, anything that could throw in their weight and soar with him as he moved. His ear twitched, head turned quickly back East near the wall, squinting. The fuck was that echoing voice? Did it say it was from a hospital? Regardless, Angelo couldnt do anything but continuing moving forward. At that moment though, Sergei made his link and Angelo waited for him to stop speaking.

“You think you can set up long distance blockades, Sergei? A mile or two behind the wall? 'Less we get something up to help it, its going to go down fast, really fast, and that usually is followed by all out assaults. Also, you have any splinter forces West that I can take towards Sune'ere in the raid?”

Which he knew the Dorian Empire, despite his lack of knowledge on their tech, had various amounts of pieces and certain 'special' troops meant to take down that type of crap in droves. Maybe not also, but he had confidence in such things, given who their damn leader was, and also knowing full well how such troops were, he was sure they had some sort of shielding to at least negate the artillery fire if it came to close to home. Plus it helped to ask about troops, whether Sergei would let him command a few to go hunting were Sune was. As for everything else...He heard Tera and her forces helping Sune, and he at least knew Khooey was out there, somewhere (hopefully NOT doing something like Sune, which as helpful as it was...was way to risky from Angelos stand point) and just as Angelo was feeling slightly reassured about things, BOOM. More artillery, more explosions and this time, more of them were in the city. This caused Angelo to stop briefly and assess the damage from a distance. It was bad, just like before, as good a tactic as the bombardment was. Pound the wall, then pound the innards of the wall, reload, rinse, repeat. Make openings, soften up inner and outer defenses then slam in. Angelo hated to admit it, it was a simple thing really but it was what could work, assuredly. Angelos hand balled into a fist, the scar on his neck throbbing moreso then before, causing a hand to lift to touch it, soothe it.

“...Goddamn you Bradley...”

He incidentally left the ear piece on for anyone to hear, and while it should be known he wasnt exactly sure if it was the Fuhrer himself, the feeling, the burning and uneven almost painful coursing of blood going through his neck just...gave him that awful feeling.

{Perceived Will: 0, Empowerment Format}

by ALIS-Ultonis Thu Jan 15, 2015 10:41 pm

Khooeys comm would hum to life. "Is this Legatus Khooey?" Bartens voice came over on the channel. "We request that you lead a strike a team against the enemy." they said. "We realize you are now a Fulminis, but it seems Lieutenant Tyne has already arrived." though typically it was always easy to tell when she was around. "We are going to gateway to your position, and hope that you can lead us on a strike-team, we have reinforcements en-route though." Barten told her, and in a moment her permitting they used her own coin to hone in on her location and transport themselves to her location 4 Alis, including Barten present.

He looked at the men and drew a Howler-Blade in his right hand before probably being told they were her "mind-slaves" now, which may lead to a shutter. "I have an idea if I may be so bold Legatus Khooey, have these men escort us to their former master, and we will cloak ourselves and follow, they should be able to get us closer to him without wasting too much energy..." he mused thinking that it might just go a long way towards getting them towards the heart of the matter.

by **Sune** Fri Jan 16, 2015 10:28 pm

Sune'ere wasn't completely unaware in that car when Lieutenant Tyne passed by him. Things moving that fast in comparison tended to get noticed, especially when you were on high alert. Along with his relative familiarity with Celesin tech he would give a friendly wave to the lieutenant and a grin as he finished tying a string around one of his fingers. That string was connected to his munitions pouch, and was the second one that he'd connected. He'd made sure that they were secured and that the piece of string he'd bitten loose came from the seam of his munitions bag.

Back in the present the brick he'd placed on the gas pedal was doing it's job and keeping acceleration fairly consistent. The runed gauntlets were left to keep the truck steady on its course right towards one of the artillery shells. Sune was tucked and rolling on the ground, impacting and skipping along the hard packed sands. Bones might of been broken if he wasn't channeling his core to manifest and make his body as tough as he needed it. Trickling a minor amount of his own power through the strands that had been tied to his fingers, he would keep that string not only tight and unraveling, but unbroken. Considering the intense speeds and the size of the bags which he'd taken the strings from, the contents of the munition bag would begin spilling out within ten or so seconds from Sune's exit from the car.

Laying sprawled on the ground with his head ringing from pain and the sudden expenditure of too much, too fast of his own energy. It was like a sudden high that got cut short. He'd withdraw the runed gauntlets, mentally calling them back to him. They would exit the car whichever way was easiest, whether through the windows or even punching their way out if necessary. The moment those hands both left the steering wheel the car would be moving near uncontrolled. Until finally a bump in the road and a sudden turn to one side would send it to its side and rolling end over end.
At some point in this whole fiasco, at least one of those munitions bags would of spilled its contents. Being a man who didn't skimp on safety, or quality, hand fulls upon hand fulls of the small brown clay munitions Sune had dubbed 'Cussers' came spilling out. The arcane pouch as his uncle had once described them were basically little hammer-space holes that were only contained by the fabric of the bag. (Basically a bag of holding.) So way more munitions came spilling out then should of been possible as the hole would of collapsed and expelled its contents.

Now these men may be familiar with dynamite or other such explosive, but Sune's particular mixture was vacuum sealed, no air existed within the innards of those clay balls. The mixture inside was essentially inert until exposed to air. But once a single clay ball got a crack, and a bit of air came rushing in, the chain reaction would be obscene, near instant, and almost completely unstoppable.
A single cusser had enough explosive force to level a small house. Now there were tens of them being jolted around in a truck that was flipping on its side or front over end, it mattered not which way. Only that eventually one of those clay balls was going to get jolted and cracked, and air was going to be rushing in, and then the explosions would begin. Over and over, turning that truck into not only a single massive fragmentation grenade, by flinging it's pieces apart and going to impale anything that was unlucky enough to be near it, The second bag would eventually be opened, pouring out more of the bombs, and this time they would probably be sent sailing this way and that, though momentum certainly favored heading towards the troops instead of back towards Sune. Fifty nine people their may of been when he hopped up, but how many would there be, and how many cannons would still stand when he popped his head back up?

His gauntlets hadn't fully made it out, being flung away from him, and his rifle and saber had made his tumbling landing just that much more uncomfortable. He'd definitely have worse bruises in the morning then anything the girls at redpointe gave him. However the gauntlets would be coming back to him, slowly crawling as was in their nature, to try their best to be quiet.

Sune looked back up with his augmented vision to see just how much damage that he may of caused in the southern strike zone. Was it all over? Could he just take out the rest of the cannons without worry? Or was he about to get ambushed? He thought he heard something squawking in the ear he kept his communicator. But the near constant explosions drowned out whatever someone had said, his hearing would be shot for a while, that was for damn sure. But just to make sure, he would click the on and off switch multiple times. Causing static and very heavy breathing to come through, as well as the sounds that may be coming from the people he crashed against. The short and quick bursts might be recognized as Morse Code. The simple message he sent was.

-S-O-U-T-H-

He brought his legs up under him, and lay in a runners crouch. Though not completely hidden, the black cloak he wore certainly helped in this darkness. One hand checked his right side, his revolver was still in place, as well as his hand ax. Left side next, revolver, and no ax. He looked around for it, though not finding it immediately it was probably a good fifty feet forward having been flung from its holder during one of his bounces. Well that would certainly point the way to him if anyone should find it. He'd draw out his revolver on the left hand side, and wait to see if anyone did in fact come.

by -Dorian Empire- Sun Jan 18, 2015 8:04 pm

-The Eighty-Sixth Judgement Company-
Hammers and and the Left and Right Eyes:

Generally speaking the Artillery division was comprised of generic soldiers, who just so happened to have a love of blowing things up. Their sizes ranged from medium to large builds, and their specific brand of armor gave them a moderate strength boost when activated, as well the on board computers in their helms gave them advanced targeting logistics. The problem was, those targeting logistics were designed to be hooked up to one of the massive cannons they'd brought with them. Their equipment was a simple combat melee weapon of their choice, usually a sword or an axe, while they always kept their SRD pistols with them and ready. Even the low level Spore Tech they brought with them here, had a tendency to outshine all but the meta-manipulators of this realm. After all, the ability to make a mage out of someone with no talent in the art, and then mass produce it too the army made for some interesting combat situations.

On contrast the Scouting division was usually comprised of lean and fast people. Their own helms devising the quickest routes to intercept targets, and the on board computers always attempting to intercept incoming transmissions. They carried on their person low-level powered armor, which assisted in mobility, as well as could generate a prismatic cloaking field which let them blend in with their surroundings. They were more heavily armed then what the artillery had at the moment, each of them carrying a long range spore-tech rifle. Each of their eyes having been augmented. Outside of the commanders own retinue of body guards, they were the most augmented of the soldiers. No scout ever made it into the program without having some natural talent to warp the world around them, small as it may be. It increased the survival rate for the new eyes to a good 90%.

With none of their weaponry on hand the Artillery division, which was comprised of roughly fifty men and women of varying races from the Dorian Empire made a slow and methodical sweep of the area. Spreading out from the north and slowly but surely moving civilians up there, where a shield would be erected to help protect those men and women of Nexxian. The artillery was in the least immediate danger, as the bombardments were focused upon the southern and eastern quarters. However whenever they came within a few block radius of a place that had been hit by the bombings, they would activate their environmental shielding upon their armor. A standard issue device that allowed the troops to survive even in the cold depths of space (if only for a few moments longer.) Thus a direct hit from one of the artillery shells, or the raw force of a concussive blast too close to them would take one out of commission, but the fire that was being flung around would only slow them down, not deter them from their life saving mission. However considering that they were helping evacuate and not save most of the citizens it was entirely unlikely that they would be entering into those kinds of areas.

On the other hand the two scouting divisions were entering into the area's that were currently dealing with mass panic and fires, as one might guess all available units of the Nexxian fire squads as well as police officers and emergency medical staff were being called in. Some doing their jobs well enough, others suffering hellish casualties as they were being assaulted. While the scouting squads were not equipped with natural elemental resistant armor, with built in Macro access to the coding sequences, all members of the scouts were required to be natural born Aetheriologist's. Meaning that with proper training, what most troops would require coded macro's into their weapons to accomplish, these savants could accomplish by proper study and memorization, as their bodies and minds were naturally in tune with the way the world around them worked. Given that they were the first in people, one of the first activation sequences they had memorized would be the elemental resistance sequence.

Twenty members went directly south, to assist with the burning buildings and moving citizens to the nearest safe zone. Another twenty went directly east to do the exact same thing. They had been informed that the hospital in the south-east could be used as a safe-zone, if only temporarily. So soon enough there would be a large crowd being ushered around burning buildings and away from where the next barrage was likely to land. Debris that fell from the walls should they be near one would be blasted to smithereens by a high powered spore-tech rifle. And while it would be unlikely that the scouting troop would get out of there completely unscathed on both ends, they being at least partially infused with machines to increase their natural talents had a tendency to think more logically then any of their non-enhanced brothers. Thus if they deemed a civilian trapped underneath rubble, with both legs shattered and bleeding rapidly to death, the poor civilian would be ignored. They had other people who were more likely to survive who needed their help. It was cold, and logical, it was triage.

Third Eye Scouts:
The last twenty in the sixty man total scouting division moved with a purpose. Towards the south gate, their cloaking devices since turned on, and their speed and endurance augmentations cranked to max. They would in the course of running and leaping make it from the northern sector where they'd been stationed, down over the inner walls and to the south gate in a matter of minutes. Leaving through the southern gate would be easy enough, though one would have to guess that the guards were smart and had brought the gate down or closed the doors. They were being assaulted after all. So that left scaling the wall. An easy feat for men and women of their caliber, using the correct ingrained spore macro upon themselves they could now move along vertical surfaces as quickly as they could a horizontal. So they would run up one side and down the other.

On the other side they may of at some point met the Ultonis Ali's, however it seemed they were moments too late as they gated away. They would move, slowly cautiously across the road and then the dunes. Spread out so that in case something came down on them, all of them wouldn't die. Their prismatic cloaks turned on, they were effectively invisible. Though foot prints were left in the sand, the tail end of their prismatic cloaks brushed against the ground obscuring them as best as it could. Though vague outlines would be left for the wind to catch and get rid of. A trained tracker would have no problem picking up on them with a little bit of luck. All together all twenty of them were covering a mile of area as they moved progressively south. Slow moving only in comparison to how fast they had moved through the city. They still moved at a rapid pace for a normal soldier. Their visors having been set to night vision and heat seeking mode. Looking for anything out the ordinary. Anything that wasn't a registered ally, and anything that seemed like an enemy. It would be nice to test out their rifles on a new target that had no idea what they were.

Keldon and the Star Port:
The Raven shifted was winging his way towards the star port with every intention of helping assemble the artillery as fast as possible. He couldn't let Sergei have all the fun, his little brother would laugh at him. His gaze turned too the north where whatever was going on with Bradley's Artillery was happening. Seemed like they had some support he hadn't been aware of. Things were going well enough it would seem. He could see the star port as the first of Cryings rail gun shots smacked directly into one of the visible control towers. The kinetic force of the rail gun spear causing not only the control tower itself to visibly shudder and become a heap of what it once was, the raw concussive force would cause windows across the star port, that were not attached to actual ships to explode inwards harming the few travelers who had been stranded in the Star Port. In total Crying would get out 6 rounds that struck the star port in very key locations. Besides one of the control towers being decimated, two of the landing pads for smaller fighter sized ships was hanging precariously over the sands, and a third had been completely and utterly destroyed.

Why only six? Well one of the guards who watched his brother (The one who'd received orders from Sergei ) get blown up by the rail gun, had the smart idea to activate the emergency shielding protocol. This drew heavily upon the Spore-Reactor that was a mile underground. The kinetic shielding would save not only him but the 2 remaining fighter ship docks from total destruction. The problem? Well the amount of power that was needed to shield from a rail gun, was pretty extreme, especially for their small reactor in comparison. On top of that no one knew when it would come back, thus the shield was kept active.

Keldon shifted out once he was near the shield and on the ground. Standing in his full battle gear he would set down the portable core and establish a link with the communication system in the remaining control tower.

"This is Keldon Garadon, lower the shields for ten seconds and then reestablish them." He gave his rank and ID. Once it was confirmed through the on board database, he had ten seconds to run through the shield. Assuming Crying hadn't made a B line for the star port to terrorize them some more, it would be enough time for him to get in. Once inside of the shielding he would head for the remaining control tower. And soon he would begin to give orders. With the automated systems essentially powerless so long as the shielding was up, things would need to be done the hard way. By hand. And so he would begin the long process of recruiting people to help him physically move fighter ships with rope and pulley to their respective docks.

On the ground yes some people had died from debris and fire. Some had gotten their heads smashed in, and those people who were helping assemble the massive artillery cannons they did not move. The rest though, despite severe wounds, like impalement, or missing limbs or even having their legs crushed, well they kept on moving. Like Sergei said it was probably best that someone didn't look down at who was assembling his artillery, a small work force of undead tended to cause most normal citizens to freak the hell out.

Though crying wolf may not know it, it's timing couldn't of been more perfect. Had it been given another thirty seconds too aim, it would of been too late, and communication with the flagship in orbit would of been made. However as it was never made, and the new communication tower operator had no idea of that order, it wouldn't be made. So their orbital support, was not aware of the star ports current predicament.

Commanders, The Hand Spear and Sword:
Sergei took stock of everything that was here, there were enough Spore powered war bikes to outfit his whole cavalry, and then some. he heard things coming over the radio and just grinned hearing what the other forces over the radio had too say. He nodded to himself and responded quickly and curtly. "North Section will be safe." Well now they knew where he and most of his forces were. He turned towards one of the tech crews, they gave him a nod and he grinned. The gesture wasn't lost on the crew and they did what they had planned. Flipping on the shield generator which drew from the medium sized spindle reactor buried beneath the city. This would extend a field much like that which was currently protecting the Nexxian Hospital in the South East. Ranged attacks outside of something like orbital bombardment would be next to useless. However the draw back was that things moving under a certain velocity could pass by the force field with relative ease.

As for Angelo's other request he would sigh and shake his head while he spoke. "If you wish to rendezvous with one of my scouting parties, or come to my base of operations I will give you command of a small squad of infantry, but not until I get visual confirmation of your identity." He clicked off the Radio and turned to Daish, the leader of the vanguard. His war bike was already in the start up process. The things were sleek, but took up a decent amount of space. Though they were designed after the two wheeled luxury vehicles in a sense, with a turning front wheel and most of the actual movement coming from the back, they were one of the few devices designed for land based combat only that used a live spore pack instead of the usual inert packs. This meant that it made it faster and more versatile then your average Dorian Military load out. As the commander of the vanguard set his own helmet on, and gripped onto the steering bars of his bike, a hundred other men and women would be doing the same motion. The wide solid frames of the war bikes, twin linked machine guns on either side of the legs. Some were differed in small variations, with axes or spears or even swords strapped along the side above where the guns were. Those weapons seemed like they may be more decorative if anything, after all the only people who could wield monstrous weapons of that size would be Sergei or someone else equally large.

The roar of all those engines was good enough for Sergei to give the order, and off the vanguard would go. Moving through the city at a fast enough pace, it would take maybe a moment or two for them to exit the north gate. And then they lined up in a horizontal line. Engines idling for a moment as each and everyone of them linked their minds into their machines. Activating a steadily increasing amount of Macro's, one which upped acceleration, another which linked their movements to be in tune with one another and compensate for changes in acceleration and angle. Finally there was the personal shielding, which would keep their own internals from being decimated on the sudden burst of speed that was too come. Aligning themselves in their charge formation, the Vanguard of the Dorian military would burst into action, literally all at once. Moving along the north side of the city and down towards the south and east. After all they had the coordinates from the communications officer. And they would be spread out enough that they would see whatever point of attack Bradley would choose. Adjust and then come screaming down upon them. At the speed they were traveling, easily approaching 200mph without even putting a moderate amount of stress on their formation, it would be very likely that they would meet with Bradley's oncoming troops before they met the wall.

Back within the city Sergei had finished equipping his body guards. A group of ten elites. They looked like skinny, strung out stoner's, lazy ass holes even who didn't seem like they belonged anywhere near this well oiled fighting machine. He had passed out cloaks, cigarettes and a pair of swords to each and every one of them. His words were simple when he spoke. "If they make it too us. Kill everything that doesn't smell like it belongs." The sunken eyes of these five men and five women, all looking like strung out junkies would follow him, and then nod in unison as if they shared one mind.

Now the lower end officers and his daughter could finish equipping the rest of the forces. He was going to go see exactly who they were fighting with his personal body guard. Calling upon his inner self, he would manifest his massive great sword. It was a large blade, even for a man of his prodigious stature. And yet he held it with ease in one hand. It was in his nature as Courage to inspire his troops, as well as strike fear into the hearts of his enemies. And what wasn't scary to most then a massive man, with a massive blade? It was as much about skill and tactics as it was about psychological combat. Sergei took one step forward, knelt down low, and summoned forth his aura of power. Courage was easily found upon the battle field, and any time in which a single soldier showed it, he was being fed. So long as his troops or those he fought against believed in their cause, or fought with courage, no matter who died, he won. In one single massive leap the form of Sergei Deker not only ascended but seemingly took flight til he was atop the wall, scanning with his bird of war helmet, linked into the active spore fields that were projected from all of their technology. He had an idea of just what was going on, and even had the vague sense of something amiss to the south. He sub-vocalized on the commander's private channel to his daughter. "Once the equipping is done, suit up and take a squad south. There's more fire down there then should be. I'm going to link up with the scouts and see if we can figure out whose leading."

All the while his body guards scrambled across roof tops and building crawling and climbing and moving more like lizards or spiders then anything actually humanoid. Once they were again near Sergei he would smile genuinely. "I wonder what they'll make of you Delta's?" And as he spoke their old code names, each and everyone of them grinned. Blackened destroyed teeth being shown. The price for their power, this form, this laziness, the destruction of their minds and the degradation of their bodies. But when the power was upon them. They were unstoppable.

by **Tera** Tue Jan 20, 2015 1:54 am

Unseen, unheard, unknown; the Specters were living up to their namesake. Their incredible speed already had them flanking around above and behind the cannons and troops on the Eastern wall. Utilizing the Helm’s optical enhancement Tera was able to zoom in on the canons before they were within striking distance, they were large structures and would require a bit to bring down. A terrible grin pulled at the Lieutenants cheeks and if the enemy could see the gleam in her eyes right now they would be terrified. ”Double collapsing points, tether it. Aidra go.”

Tera’s words were a low whisper even behind the sound proof protection of her helmet and their private coms. Aidra gave a simple confirmations and one of the outside Specters suddenly sped ahead, breaking off from the rest of the group. Known reverently among the Fulminis as the ‘Red Havoc’, they were extraordinary even within their branch. And spoke of with subdued awe amongst the others. Each was hand-picked by the Lieutenant herself; each had a penchant for destruction and love for speed. More they were all zealots, some as fervent as Tera herself, but most importantly each proved themselves exemplary countless times. Earning the entire retinue privilege of being personally trained by the Fulminis Primoris himself.

Their reputation preceded them in the Celesin home sectors, and it seemed only fitting to introduce those whispered rumors to this new enemy. Oh certainly each Captain and Lieutenant of other branches had their own small squad, but this enemy would meet the Fulminis first.

There was a small blip in Tera’s HUD, that showed when Aidra was properly ahead, almost to the end of the cannon line actually, just as the Lieutenant and the remaining four closed in on the first. ”Initialize.” Tera gave the command but it was hardly needed, Aidra and the flanker still with Tera, Vinly fired simultaneously right as Tyne gave the command. The two flanking Specters carried the Nova cannon, a vicious thing that Konstantine had improved even further than the original version. From the two sleek jet black shadows of a bike came a resounding thump as if the air itself was suddenly struke with a hammer. However there was no wind as what could only be described as a black ball streaked forth. A sphere so dark, so black that it made the night seem bright and when it impacted the large summoned cannons of the Alchemist force it simply bored right through it leaving a perfect hole. And nothing further happened, at least until a second thump suddenly hit the air, and a dark line shot forth from each of the orbs until it connected in a line between the two.

Then the effect would be known, as the orbs suddenly imploded on themselves, creating a massive gravity well at their points that caused the cannon they were buried within to very likely collapse in on itself due to its own mass. Worse, it started a domino effect that moved down that connected line until it met in the middle. Each of the large cannons shuddering as their own mass was suddenly and violently multiplied until the structure could no longer support itself. But worst was not for the cannons, but the men and those suits of armor, as if they were metal filing drawn to a powerful electric magnet they would be drawn towards the line of gravity between the two orbs, those in close proximity most probably imploding in on themselves in a glorious mess, the armor suits likely turned into tiny balls of scrap metal. While the rest were drawn towards it relentlessly, even the most steadfast would be locked in place if they could resist it.

But that was hardly the end, no it was just the beginning, as Tera suddenly cried into her coms ”Light em’ up!” Again her words hardly needed to be uttered as the four Alis with Tera, careened their bikes sideways in perfect unison with Tera, the shrill whine of spinning metal suddenly night air, as the three normal Specters and Tera’s bike unleashed their Ion Gatling’s twin barrels spinning from the underside of the bike as they strafed down the line just like an old-school firing squad on the gravity tethered soldiers that hadn’t been crushed. These didn’t fire solid projectiles, but charged blasts of Ions. More or less hyper electrically charged ‘bullets’ of pure force meant to turn things into swiss cheese, if the cannons hadn’t already collapsed under their own weight from the collapsing points gravity tether, the Gatling’s would certainly aid in that process by perforating structure and man alike.

Aidra well trained as she was knew movement was life, sitting stationary was a fool errand and would get her killed, so she jet down the line towards Tera and her strafing comrades before falling back into formation. In the unlikely event that any of the soldiers on the cannons could muster the raw strength to fire back at their attackers the Specters shields might come into play, but the riders would mainly be protected by the strong hull of their hover bikes. Not to mention the tremendous gravitational pull slowing down if not preventing projectiles from leaving its field at all.
It all took little more than a minute as Tera and her retinue reached the end of line a spare few seconds after the gravity wells finally completely imploded on themselves, and the effect ended rather abruptly. Their bikes tilting as they utilized the thrusters to spin back into a forwards drive, ”Static Web, Full throttle.” The five nodded to the Lieutenants words and knew what she was planning already, their formation fanning out as they all suddenly truly punched the throttle.

The air shook with sudden violence as five nearly simultaneous sonic booms echoed through the night sky, the Alis Fulminis and Tyne taking off at supersonic speeds bee lining right towards the advancing army from the North East, the exact opposite direction of Khooey who was coming in from behind from the South West. But unlike before they were coming in hot fast and loud. Utilizing their sheer speed and friction from the air to generate a static charge that was exponentially magnified by the Ion spray they were releasing from their bikes, it rapidly turned into what could only be described a hyper violent lightning storm beneath their bikes. Countless strikes and lines of electricity visible to the eye hitting the ground and forming an every changing every shifting web to catch the enemy in.

Their formation spread out so that there was roughly ten yards of distance between them as they ascended to about fifteen feet in the air expanding the Static Nets total width to roughly sixty yards. Oh the army could see them coming now. And they were coming fast, traveling at supersonic speeds that distance was closed in an incredibly short time, only elongated by the easing of the throttle roughly after three quarters of the way there. Certainly those trucks couldn’t want to meet that net, or the poor soldiers either. But it was coming right for them now, and after those cannons well it could be forgiven if the soldiers felt a bit of fear creeping up on them.

(For reference, http://www.dahlslett.com/_data/images/props/07.jpg
The Specters are black versions of these with under slung guns that are sheathed in the carriage/hull when not in use.)

by **Khooey** Thu Jan 22, 2015 12:22 am

The Ifrit knew that she could extend her hold over the soldiers far past fifteen and nearly to a hundred before her control would weaken. Two hundred before she lost absolute control over them and they’d simply savage each other out of blind helotism—and her as well. The parasitic influence she had on them had taken a lot of practice (something of a skill she would have never even thought about honing were it not for her joining Celesin and her mentors constantly pushing her to do and be better.)

The problem with sharpening the blade that was her Ifrit-borne talent was, firstly, she’d only scratched the surface and, secondly, her biggest folly was her own swollen sense of morality and sensitivity. It was taking a lot out of Khooey to keep in mind that releasing her hold out of feeling bad about it meant certain death—or, they’d try to kill her anyway. Such was a bonus…she was getting harder and harder to push around these days. The Djinn pulled her black half cloak back over her left shoulder; the fabric length short enough to not hinder access to her weapons or utilities at her hip and noticed her hands were shaking while migrating and she startled when one of the other grunts hooted and hollered, as Sophonax would say, at her little motley crew. Of course, they all looked alive at the suggestion and got moving.

“Ain’t good” she mumbled; foisting several hands off of her back and arms as they sought to comfort her for only jumping. Having too few under her parasitic influence could be rather irritating should some be the touchy-feely type.

“Keep y’hands t’ yaself, alright?! “ she groused; hissing with her brows knit as she hurt their feelings and drew one of her black hands out to, again, produce the servitor. Her eyes briefly rolled into the back of her skull as they continued on their trek, and, the object—a several sided shape with peaks as if someone had collapsed a small, violet star into a toy for the Djinn spun erratically and dissolved into the Dwirgi once again; sending their black and corporeal forms into another thirty five infantrymen. A deep breath as she felt some of their deepest, darkest fears rattling around their skull and thought how strange just as Ultonis Barten’s voice sounded off through her ear piece. His suggestion made her eyes widen considerably.

“Yes, it’s me. Request granted an’ ah….oh. M’on it. I-I got this…ready” she stammered and blathered a bit at his words and then closed the link between them. As her hands lowered she turned to her crew and noticed they were now more stone faced—the need had drained from them but the obsession and zealotry for their Maalik Ifrit Queen was very still present. “Take me t’ Bradley. Play at restrainin’ me if y’ need to…be fast’ And, of course, they did not need to be asked twice. With a little more free will knocking about their brains they got the bright idea of starting to shove through the crowd with a sense of excitement and urgency until they reached one of the vehicles and, one of her high ranking afflicted immediately set about pulling rank.

“We’ve seized one of their operatives! It is imperati—“ He was cut off; some of the other men, afflicted by her and otherwise cursed and started as the air itself began to vibrate and made her ears ring; the light show above flashing brutally and briefly ruining what remaining night vision she had left.

“Tera’s made ‘er move. I don’t have time f’ this” she’d say; lowering her chin from gawking overhead and making eye contact with the confused vehicle operator and decided it was time to get serious. Fifty men? She’d make them work for now and figured it better to err on the side of caution.

“Get me t’ Bradley, fast, do whatever y' need to do to clear a path. Cut anybody down in our way…keep me safe.” Just as the driver meant to react Khooey had to grimace and nearly moaned in horror as one of her minions almost casually approached him and shoved a utility blade through this throat and wrenched it out of the back end of his nape—halfway decapitating him. Thank goodness those within visible range were hers. “Egh…lets go, five of y’ stay back an’ light up a couple more. Get too much happenin’ behind us. Time to move” She gingerly yanked the still bleeding body out of the slowing vehicle and didn’t have to command one of hers to get into the driver’s seat. Two infantrymen flanked her in the back. Captured right proper, yes? Khooey pulled herself down behind the driver and passenger seats in order to stay out of vision and contact Barten.

“En route th’ move t’ Bradley now. Look for fire” she’d say. Propped up awkwardly on her elbows she, once again, produced a lesser version of the servitor and saw through many eyes. Guns fired into the gas tanks of moving vehicles, a few killing each other, the sharp and unpleasant tingle of one of her afflicted dying at the concussive force of the explosion. Three of the field vehicles formed funeral pyres and, within moments another would explode.

by TheHomunculi Fri Jan 23, 2015 2:05 am

The King was steadfast as he observed a half of his forces descend for the city walls. Twelve miles was a long stretch in the desert. Especially with these many vehicles heading for a single wall. The wall itself would not last in the slightest during the inevitable skirmish that was coming for the city.

"Sir. Communication. Operative.”

The single worded sentences were the result of unfortunate experimentation with many of these soldiers. Most of them were unable to form sentences. Much less grunt in approval or not. One of the soldiers had another communication device strapped to his ear and was listening in to the intel.

“Wolf claim Prey north.”

The King’s brows furrowed as he stood there and turned his gaze outward to the city walls. Had the prey realized that their communications were tampered with? It seemed unlikely due to the Homunculi not even having the resources or know how to purposely hack into the communication feed. Instead they had gotten in by chance and luck. With some manipulation of course on their part. Still it seemed Angelo had the right idea.

To the Southern troops, life was becoming difficult. They were doing their damndest to try and move when the truck exploded. One of those clay balls likely cracking and causing a chain reaction. The explosion spread out then and encompassed the center of the troops. There had been fifty nine infantry left to guard the cannons. Now there was likely less than forty. The explosion had consumed twenty or so troops within its blast radius and fried them to ash and dust. Metal shavings and shrapnel flew within the air in all directions. The troops who were left sought to move ahead or around the fire.

The pure steel cannons were made of durable stuff however. They were thick and designed to last. The explosion had taken out a portion of the center of those cannons. There had been twenty and now there was thirteen by the count of them. For Sune there was still work to be done. The troops however were converging on his location despite the smoke and disorientation that should have followed. They had their rifles raised and were opening fire into the darkness of the desert.

That was until one of them clapped their hands together.

Sune’ere would recognize the gesture. Two of his comrades did it often enough. But something was surely different about this one. When those metallic palms slammed into the ground, nothing but raw yellow alchemic energy emerged from those palms. The energy was wide and tall as eight feet. It was a blast that seemed to brighten up the area as it was sent forward in an arc. The ground underneath it melting and breaking apart as the burst of energy headed in the direction of where Sune’ere was bound to be near, or even possibly be. The bright burst of energy lit the area around it up as well. The Prince’s position was bound to be exposed. And if that happened, the remaining troops would open fire. That was, of course, unless back up decided to arrive for the Prince.

The Eastern Troops were, surprisingly, having a tougher time. The “thump” in the air seemed to not register for the troops who were atop of that cannon. The sixty troops who were posted at the base of the cannons maintained their current position. When the two spheres connected, the cannons were forced to break apart.

The effect was catastrophic. The cannons were pulled to the center as the shells were fired at the oddest angles. The soldiers atop of them unfortunately pulled to the center of these tethered lines. The cannons fired along the twelve mile distance. The desert coming alit with flames as some shells even went past them to sail overhead to their rear some miles. The distance meaning it would be nowhere near these troops.

The sixty troops who were posted near the base of the cannons had seemed to realize things were falling apart and had turned to see the attacks from above. If nostrils could flare, they would be going right now.

Rifles were raised as archaic runes carved on the barrels of each rifle surely activated. Rounds were fired at Tera and her troops as, if one of them were likely to be hit, they would find these rounds had an explosive quality to them. And with these rifles opening fire from sixty weapons below? They were bound to get at least some hits on Tera and her crew. Maybe even kill a few of them. And that didn’t even count for the twenty troops who were struggling to reorganize themselves and raise their own guns for fire despite the magnetic pull. Whether any of these troops were able to kill some of the Celesins might prove crucial for the coming battle.

To the remaining half of the army, they had an infestation near the rear. An infestation that was named Khooey and her troops.

Now while the Iron Infantry were unable to feel anything. While they seemed incapable of even breathing, there were some in the army who were capable of feeling. Capable of sense.

Some of those were Chimeras that were loose.

As the air thickened and the gated troops came in, it was as if every alarm was rang as a howling echoed in the distance. Iron troops who were stomping their way stopped as sudden. Blank expressions on those helmets as they regarded the odd crew who had yet to react. They had been ordered to move and yet they had not?

That was when Barten and his crew gated in.

Khooey might try to enslave them but many of these soldiers had lost their free will long ago. Any semblance of individuality wiped out. The humans were weak and mush. But the Iron Infantry? They were born of iron. Their wills nigh unbreakable because they had nothing to fear.

And when one of Khooey’s followers decided to kill one of their own in the truck, all hell broke loose.

“CONTACT!!!!”

The metallic voice roared loudly as the troops under Khooey’s command were fired upon. Barten and his team having little to no chance of getting to move. Their arrival was unexpected. And the chimeras had smelled them the moment they entered the host’s presence.

Explosive and electric rounds were fired from multiple directions. The sounds of cages being opened echoed as stomping was heard. The Alis would have some precious seconds before chimeras descended upon them. There was fifteen in total, mixtures of mountain lions with some kind of lizards and even a bird or two, but their nostrils flared and they did all they could to go for the possibly cloaked troops.

The gunfire echoed and more troops had turned and were quick to move back for where the fighting was taking place.

Half of the army was going for the city. And now it seemed the other half was about to descend on Khooey and Barten with their troops.

They would likely see a turret being transmuted to the back of one truck. The gun spinning as the continuous rounds tore through the air on their position. If any of Khooey’s followers or the Alis opened fire it would matter little. Slaughter was the objective. Khooey herself would find herself fired upon from multiple directions despite her best attempt to convert these solemn troops. Trucks mobilized with more turrets attached to the beds of those trucks as they sought to circle around the perimeter and box them in with continuous fire. It might be unexpected but with Barten’s arrival which had been detected by their “hounds”, Khooey’s chance of succeeding slimmed despite her raised numbers.

The troops heading for the city continued on their way as best they could. If Tera and her troops were able to survive the explosive rounds fired on them by the remaining Eastern troops, it was more than likely a conflict was about to brew. But this is where complications arose.

The vanguard of the Dorian Empire was heading towards the host behind Tera and her net .

The vehicles would maintain their speed, their speeds of course being over 100 mph, as they did their best to reach the city. While the Dorian troops had their warbikes, and the Celesins had their own hovering vehicles, the Iron Infantry’s trucks were outfitted with thick armor that seemed more than capable. Titanium battering rams were transmuted to the front of each vehicle that made for a more dangerous impact.

When Tera and her net of electricity eventually hit the front of this army, the trucks ceased their functioning abruptly. The center of the host, which was bound to be where Tera and her team were heading for. Sixty yards was the width of the storm. Their speed was greater than the trucks.

The trucks to the vanguard ceased as they skid along the road. Their distance to the wall was some miles as brakes were applied to the cavalry. Some trucks collided with one another as many troops in the beds of the trucks raised their own rifles and sought to, like the Eastern ground troops, open fire on Tera and her team if they flew by and sought to try to come through the center once more. The transmutation circles activating on the rifles as multiple explosive rounds fired at Tera.

“Hello Angelo. It’s been a long time.”

The voice came across the communication device all too easily. That smooth tone that had not only age behind it but some firm power as well would likely be heard by any who used the Agency frequency. It was likely a voice that had haunted Angelo’s dreams since his little resurrection.

“Angelo, Commander Deker of the Dorian Empire, and Lieutenant Barten of the Celesin Empire…..This is King Bradley. Commander of this army.”

If Sergei were in fact atop of that wall and looking to the South East with possible enhancements to see, he would see the commander of this army now atop of the hill overlooking the battlefield. A blue militaristic uniform worn as a sword was clung to his hip. A blue hat atop of his head as he surveyed his troops. That black eyepatch concealing the left eye all to well. The explosions echoing from all around seemed to have his attention.

“I am here for one reason and one reason only. Your surrender. Abandon the city and allow my demands to be met then I promise to cease fire and not make this city a crater.”

Bradley could hear the chaos to the rear of his army. He could hear the bombings of his Southern and Eastern troops, and yet he knew those were only fractions of what his host was capable of. He knew that if he took a portion of this city now, then he could hold that position for some time.

“My demands are simple and will not be unchanged. And I’m sure your gracious Grand Duchess will permit them if she appears to negotiate.”

He pauses for only a moment before reconsidering. There was no going back.

“I want one thousand Nexxian civilians released from the city into my custody. How they’re given, I don’t care. This will be the start of an on going trade. The city will release one thousand humans to me by the week and I will cease attacks altogether.”

The demands were simple were they not? One thousand civilians to be delivered to them each week. Surely it wasn’t to much to ask for. Still the presence of Bradley on Angelo’s line of communication may or may not be confirmed by anyone who was capable of tracing the signal or frequency.

“Refusal of this demand will lead to only one outcome…...Your extinction.”

by War Torn Fri Jan 23, 2015 3:38 am

Angelo:

{And I shall not Kneel.}

“Barten? Barten? Can you hear me? Hellooooooooo, Barten of the Celesin Empire? What the fuck are you doing?”

Something incredibly, stupendously, casualty sustaining stupid beyond all belief. Had Angelo known what had just occurred, what he had just done, he would of personally slapped the bumblefuck upside the head and told whoever the hell was in charge of the fuck ups that warping into a mass fucking body of enemy troops was not ONLY stupid, but probably fucking cost the whole defensive force. Oh well, single fucking agents seemed to be the order of the day on most sides of the Nexxian forces, despite the mass coordination of the goddamn enemy army so what the fuck did Angelo know?

“Holy...Sergei, what the flying fuck was that?!”

Angelo practically shouted, stopping for a brief second. He wasnt close, not by a longshot to where Crying was, but he saw it in the distance, how couldnt anyone? The rail gun like blast that smacked into the Dorian Empires Airport a few times, over and over, and it was a shame at that point Angelo didnt know what Sergei had up his sleeve because he was slightly panicking. That was a big explosion, on something that could be crucial to the defense or counter offense and it made Angelo sweep a hand through his hair. If only he knew, if only he goddamn knew. Regardless he shook his head and kept jumping from that point. Roof top to roof top, his intent still clear; to get tot he Northern sector of Nexxian Cities wall. And he would, with one final strong leap into the air and onto the ground, kneeling, head turned this way and that. There were few defensive personal on this section, obviously, most had moved to the main attack to help or go into the city to assist with things, which was part of the reason why Angelo was here to begin with. He leaned out to look all about the Northern sands. Left, right, up, down, all around, trying to spot anything fishy, anything out of the ordinary, both physically and metaphysically.

His orange eyes permitted that, the rush of the 'Perceived Will' to his brain enhancing all of his senses (though namely his sight) and made them able to clearly detect the presence of the 'mundane and magical' and they elements they were conceived of. Simple to the point, though for some reason he kept flinching...oh that was why.

“Who the hell keeps banging or tapping on the communicator they are wearing?”

Sune'ere was, and sadly, as much gun and general skills Angelo had, Morse Code was not one of them. Everything else? He was opposite side of the globes basically. He couldnt see the deployment of troops on any side. Nexxian, Dorian, even Bradley(ian) forces were unseen to Angelo (though he saw some of their effects, no doubt), but he did nod to what Sergei said.

“Rodger Rodger, on the North Wall, Sergei. Trying to scout and see if anything is trying to sneak here before I head out. I didnt manage to find anyone on my way here, soldiers or otherwise, walls manned well enough.”

He turned the communicator off. Even if it wasnt, most of Bradleys forces were concentrated on the South and South Eastern section, that much Angelo knew for sure. If anything they were tied up to say the least, for whatever failure Barten found himself in, he actually did have confidence in the other forces, Dorians, and whatever Celesin stuff was helping Sune'ere out. Angelo pondered things as he surveyed the north, a hand coming to rub his chin. If nothing was there (or happened, as I suspect it will soon) he'd contemplated moving, but then he heard it. That voice...that one old voice that spoke with such firm command in it. He turned his head towards the South, then turned his body to look at it completely, listening to Bradleys words. He just...blinked. He switched the ear piece on again and sighed.

“Let me speak for everyone that is here, Fuhrer King Bradley; kindly go fuck yourself.”

He switched the ear piece off, scowled and turned Eastward. He thought about it and jumped, vaulting over one of the walls guard towers. He had an idea in mind, but time was needed. Gathering and energies was still occurring and for this scenario, he was getting close, extremely close, but for now? He made it a point to move along the Northern wall, head turning, ensuring nothing crept out from the desert, aware of the battle, unaware of the sniper. If the poor fools luck was up, things could be had, if not? A creeping sense of death would snare him, assuredly.

Perceived Will: 1 Empowerment Format

by ALIS-Ultonis Fri Jan 23, 2015 2:14 pm

The prowess of the Fulminis brought them all time, as the flashing arcs of power were far from subtle, they were a good show, un-subtle unlike the Ultonis' methods, but leave it to Tyne to make a spectacle of a battle, and even so it had destroyed the cannons it seemed. The Ultonis would not have time too enact their plan because a few seconds after they got there, the other troops began firing from a distance. It was time to improvise, a smoke haze obscured them from view providing some cover against the fire. Khooeys men would probably cover her but the Alis saw they had to act. Their gear allowed them to see through the haze, as they double nocked their arrows, 3 Ultonis in total firing 2 arrows each at the ground before two-trucks each. The pulse-arrows exploding the earth that the trucks were traversing creating craters and pelting the area with shrapnel. The aim was to cause extreme damage to the tires and destabilize the earth they were traversing, direct damage was also a factor and could easily total the engines and hull of the trucks.

If successful this would cause the trucks to crash and turn over, perhaps even rolling into each other, as well as damaging them to the point they might be wrecked. The earth now home to several craters as shrapnel potentially hit the rushing chimera and troops, while also potentially causing the trucks to crush a few troops or catch them in the wreck. It seemed the plan was no longer that viable. "Fuck." a sharp curse spewed from Bartens mouth. "Looks like were winging it." he told Khooey as the ground was no longer traversible for the trucks. "Give us some cover fire from the truck, well try and cut a path ahead, were getting reinforcements soon." he said as he drew a "Howler-Blade" in his left hand, the Langes-Messer began to humm with power as it cycled its semi-liquid edge and hummed at high frequency producing a magna-field around the surface of the blade. The Howler-Blades were meant to mimic an ability of Fen's own intrinsic-arming but were far less potent or versatile, even so the powered weapon could cut through even industrial or military grade materials.

Hopefully Khooey or one of her love-slaves would be using the turret to mow down incoming enemies, while the two Ultonis supported this by firing two more arrows up into the air in an arc, they would reach a distance of about 20 feet up, and 10 feet ahead, and along their return to the earth the "cap" at the "head" of the arrow burst open releasing a cluster of shrapnel electrified heated shrapnel ahead of the arrows path in a radius of 12 feet with both arrows in tandem making the distance 24 feet in total to pierce, shock, and burn the incoming troops as they sought to get past the broken earth and wreckage, all of the shrapnel directed ahead and coming from above the incoming horde.

Considering the amount of damage the herd of about "40" troops would have hopefully been thinned out considerably. Two Ultonis hopped on Khooeys truck, on the roof with their bows nocked, while Barten and another traversed the wreckage and earth to forge a path ahead. "Follow us and give us cover, we will give you cover as well..." Barten said as he got out a explosive in his left hand, while his right held the blade, the other Alis behind him with a bow nocked.

Their path would seek to take them deeper into enemy territory, perhaps potentially flanking troops that were being engaged by the Fulminis, if this happened the Ultonis would support them on their way towards the heart of force. "Reinforcements pending Lieutenant Barten." an operator told him in his comm. "Just a bit longer." as they circumvented around the wreckage and remained alert.

by **Sune** Wed Feb 04, 2015 9:51 pm

There was definitely something satisfying about watching your enemies be utterly destroyed before you. Sure that truck had been a gift, but that kind of technology was old and antiquated, so he'd needed to find a damn good use for it. As far as ideas went, massive scale frag grenade was one of his better ideas. On top of that he'd nearly taken out half of the cannons with one well placed attack, and he wasn't even using anything more advanced then what he could make here in Nexxian.

Then one of the troops clapped their hands together, oh yes he definitely recognized that gesture, and knew that getting out of the way of whatever was on its way was going to be his best defense. Setting himself already in the running position, had been a pretty good idea, now it was time to move and hope he still had a bit of luck on his side. Running was the order of business before that yellow alchemy got anywhere near him, and eight feet wasn't that much distance to cover. The main problem now was that there was effectively no cover, making him a fairly open target. As he'd traveled just out of range of the initial alchemic attack, he would kneel low and focus his energy on giving him a nice boost of strength to his legs, sending him vaulting into the air higher then what would normally be possible for him. This sudden change in his trajectory would force them to have to readjust their sights. Even if it meant a small change in the time it would take for them readjust that gave him just a little more time to formulate a plan. Revolver in hand, he would aim not at them, but at the ground near them. Pulling the trigger on the spellstorm revolver.

The ground shaker exited the chamber of the revolver, and by time the report was heard the rune shot would of hit the ground, its effect becoming fairly obvious, as it created a localized ground instability. Rapid vibrations and sudden displacement of ground beneath the landing point would cause small sink holes to form at points and at others, large rock obstructions, the only constant was that in a twenty foot diameter of where he'd hit the earth would shake and move, making precision targeting near impossible.

Landing brought Sune down onto his hands first digging both gauntlets into the loose sand of the desert before finishing up a tumble which would bring him up to his feet before anyone had a chance to see him set his hands down. Keeping in constant motion was what saved you when you had no cover, and keeping that same motion a tad bit more unpredictable then usual, made predictive firing near useless. And that was fine with Sune, because he would finally have the opportunity to test out some of the new automated features that his uncle had instilled into the new model. With a simple thought, the gauntlets obeyed his command. No more messing around with rotes, or switches or foci. The entire munition process was now automated, and it used Sune's own natural magical gifts to streamline the process. Within his free hand was now constructed from the sand he'd grabbed upon impact another bomb. This one was larger then the others, and had a slightly different hue to it. Not that the troopers were in any position to notice those things. He twisted his body to only momentarily face them, and get a good throw of this bomb at the closest concentration of troops. Once it smashed into something, ground, dudes face, whatever, it would blow up. Now this one wasn't anywhere near as powerful as the others had been, but it did act as a standard issue fragmentation grenade. So being hit point blank with one would suck big time, however the main point of this bomb was to cause collateral and internal bleeding damage through the shrapnel it flung about at random.

His goal was simple, keep them on their feet while he attempted to dodge incoming fire. He slid a hand down to both of his guns, flicking a switch upon them, and would allow them a moment of rest and respite while they acquired a full charge. He was going to need it for what he had planned next. Reasserting himself as a force upon this reality he shifted the way his Body Cascade operated. Shifting it from endurance and strength into a boost of speed and control. All manner of stealth was gone, as his eyes burned with the primal magics that coursed through his blood. He wasted no time, rushing the nearest alive group. Gaining upon them in the time it would take to blink. He didn't have his older brothers speed, nor his sister or twins prodigious strength. What he did have was an intimate control of his own limits and flexibility. He would never be able to dodge all the incoming fire, but he could mitigate the severity of damage while he closed the gap.

Once that gap was closed though, Sune with but a simple thought would allow the Magi within his body to spill forth, creating what had been called a force projection. Intimately aware of reality as it were around him. Anything within an eleven feet of him, above below and behind he was so aware of them. What they were, all of the information flooding his mind. It may end up being too much for him in the end to know what these things are. However he had to live in the now, or die. Those were the only options. He fought like his uncle had taught him. Wild and unpredictable. His power was like he was trying to break a hole in his sister, nothing held back. Punching at one man near him, the nature of his force projection would cause reality itself to contort slightly to his whim. If he came up short on the attack, the air above and behind his target would smash into them from behind. Still it was aimed at a specific point, not at the soldier. Every time he punched, he let a bit of his own training by his uncle seep into his consciousness. Trying to combine his own natural abilities, with the magical training that Ferox had taught him. Every hit by the force projected arms, aimed to freeze. Limbs and joints frozen in place, cooling down rapidly. If they missed the air around where it had struck, if there was moisture in the air would condense rapidly. And Sune would continue to punch, at anything and everything that got in his way, at a blinding speed. He laughed the whole time, until words crackled in his ear piece. He held his tongue about Angelo's lack of knowledge. But when Bradley spoke he couldn't help himself from speaking, the sound of him punching these things with his gauntlets and manifested hands clearly heard in the background.
"C'mon now guys. We gotta wait for Ed to get here before we hand him his ass. Early birthday present to him, eh?" The confidence in his voice was absolute, and then the sound of a clicking was audible. The guns were ready again.

by -Dorian Empire- Wed Feb 04, 2015 9:55 pm

-The Eighty-Sixth Judgement Company-

-Scouts-

While a majority of people had been evacuated to safe zones or left to die if they were beyond help, there had been few if any casualties yet on their side. Environmental hazards aside, most of their gear was of an advanced enough degree as to make the hazards that Bradley's forces were giving them, completely moot.

Outside of the city however the scout team that had been placed there, was keeping communications over their private channels open and giving a rather accurate and detailed account of everything they were witness too. Besides the charge of Bradley's forces, as well as the incoming hovering craft. Each of the men and women in that small scout squad had raised up rifle scopes or spotting goggles to digitally enhance what they were seeing. While they may not be intimately familiar with the ins and outs of Celesin Technology, these soldiers had been stationed here about as long, if not longer then the Alis' had been. Just a little bit of reasoning was all that was needed to see that Tyne's small squad were not enemies, and therefore should not be fired upon. The leader of the squad would relay this knowledge along their own communications, and then something caught their combined attention.

Railgun fire was fairly extreme, and not something they should of expected, especially not slamming into their own shields within the city. After all, the northern sector was under Dorian protection, it was a safe zone. And that was where Angelo was. So unless Crying had gotten within the actual dome of energy (Which was entirely possible, as the dome only activated its kinetic shielding when a projectile exceeded a certain velocity,) then Angelo would be unfortunately safe, and Crying would of just alerted an entire army to its relative position at the time. Now of course if it fired from inside of the dome, well there was nothing anyone could do for the wall or for Angelo. However Crying would probably have mere moments of activity left, because the bulk of the Dorian infantry were still within that very sector, and they would not take kindly to being assaulted within their own sector of the city.

Now concerning the scouts once more, they would take the necessary precautions in tracking down prey which wielded such a high end weapon. Despite not seeing where the rail gun shell had impacted, they were still within the spore field. Thus data was transmitted to their own HUD's. Once completed the unit would split. One moving in to the main kill zone to begin offering long range support for the incoming troops, while the other half would move towards the walls and begin to cast out their senses looking for anything that might be capable of carrying a devastating weapon like that.

-Infantry-
The major bits of the infantry had finally finished suiting up. They were some of the more heavily armored men and women in this infantry. Metals meshed with high-grade kinetic mesh-weave. While they wouldn't have the benefit of protection by an active spore-field like the cavalry did, the metal and helmets and weapons gave them a decent enough advantage from basic low-mid tier firearms. Each and every one of them was armed with a military grade latent spindle core rifle. What this meant was that besides the capability to switch between energy and in some cases physical ammo for their rifles. The main advantage of these were the massive amount of spore-macros built into the devices. The hard suits as they were, could hold a decent amount of macros built within them. From environmental defense to point shielding. The main use of them was reflex and strength enhancing. The only differences between them was based on races. After all there were a few minor differences between the races of the Dorian Empire. One of the major ones was the avian and winged nature of the Starbody. The few Bales which committed to the armed services had a tempered gear that could deal with their acidic blood. And the Dorians, well, their gear was an oddity. Having to be personally made for each and every one of the shape changers. Humans of course proved to be the base form from which most things derived, so they were without a doubt the most easily outfitted.

Now of course, if the attack on the northern sector came from within, Crying Wolf could expect the entirety of the infantry forces, all six hundred or so, highly trained and technologically superior Dorian Infantry men and women to track it down and destroy it. However assuming that the shot came from outside of the northern sector, and thus didn't do anything to the north wall, the sectors shielding would catch the rail gun slug much as the star ports had. Dispersing kinetic energy in a visible light show that showed the might of the Dorian Empire. The last commander in the northern sector would look up as her shielding was tested. Now the enemy knew where they were strongest. Great. The short haired red headed woman with snow white wings protruding from the shoulder of her commander’s battle armor grabbed the nearest communications lieutenant.

" Status report on Keldon!"

"Ma'm Keldon Garadon will be unreachable for another ten minutes due to-."

The oncoming slap was unexpected, but well meaning. After all that was the response that had been ingrained into him during training not the one he should actually give during a war scenario. The young human looked stunned as he looked into the deep blues of Anna Deker.

" Listen here scrub, you push that frontal lobe as hard as you can. You get in contact with Keldon, and establish a communication link. This is a matter of life and death! "

That set it home for the young lieutenant. Push yourself his commanding officer had said. Well now was the time to do that. To see what he was made of. Focusing upon his training he meant to push himself, to bleed and maybe even die for his country and empire. He would be honored by the Shuinsai like every fallen warrior was. In the Imperial Book of Names should he go beyond his limits? So the young communications lieutenant would push himself to forcibly extend the communication range so that sensitive information would not leak into enemy hands.

It took a few moments, and in that time the remaining commander was giving out commands to each and every one of her squad commanders. Seeing as they were the largest force, their movements would need to be more organized, but separate. On top of that they would now have some other unknown problem to deal with. So the order would be given that a small squad of thirty would meet up with some of the scouts and assist in trying to track down whatever this thing was that had just attacked them. The rest of the infantry would be split into squads which moved through the city. The bulk of them were meant to come to an exit point in the south, to bolster any forces that needed it before the enemy could make it to them, or to in fact hold the wall should the enemy already be there. The other two major detachments would exit out opposite gates, the north east, and the south west at timed intervals. This would allow them to have the advantage of helping flank the enemy should the main force run into problems.

Now with the orders given out, and only a small contingent remaining back for defensive purposes, Anna finally approached the nose bleeding lieutenant.

" Report! "

The voice that came next was not the young man’s own but the voice of Keldon Garadon on the other end. The young man had pushed himself that was for damn sure.

" I hope you understand little miss, if one of my communications officers is dead because you couldn't keep your panties from getting twisted, I'll be docking your pay."

" I didn't take sass from your brother, and I sure as hell won't take it from you old man. What's the situation down there? When can my fighters castle in?"

" Yeah about that. We took a big hit. Looked like a kinetic assault, so maybe a type A Railgun, the damage was on a horizontal field, so no need to worry about them dropping our own ships onto us."

" Funny, same thing just happened here. Luckily we've had the shielding up for a while. What about those cannons? The artillery is getting antsy over here. They look like they might just start blowing up our own buildings to pass the time."

" Cannons can be assembled in another twenty minutes. Only let artillery teams that have 110-M clearance or higher in though. Sergei gave the order to activate an Orchestra Pit. You're welcome to come down here and help Princess. I'm sure your pops has got things settled up there. Keldon out."

The smile on Anna's face was plain to see, and the wide-eyed look that came over the used and spent communications officer was both fearful and tired. "Good, news?"

Anna nodded and patted the young man, allowing him to go and rest up. She'd have to recommend the young officer for some leave, and probably a promotion. Not many could keep a link sustained that long, or with that good of reception on their own. At least not the kind they used for ground troops. Without a communications ship orbiting it made speaking over secured air waves a bit of a problem. Now the young lady was going towards her own gear, a custom made power suit. One of only ten that they had been allowed to bring with them to this realm. Of all them here, hers was specially designed. Her salary after all allowed for her to splurge on the big toys like this. If that second shot went off from Crying, now would be the time for her and everyone else to notice it. Unless Angelo had moved out of the safe zone and into a kill zone, or Crying had readjusted their trajectory in some way to get around the shielding of the north sector, they would most likely meet with the same results. Of course if the second shot was still taken, the scouts that were looking for it, would now have a better idea of where to go. With all that said, Anna Deker would step into her power armor.

It took a few moments to get situated. All of the small sensors recalibrating to her body, and hooking her up via a few augments she'd intentionally gotten. The back housing for her wings was always the trickiest. While they worked well enough outside of armor, inside the armor always made it an oddity to maneuver with. It had taken months to get used to how little effort she needed to exert to actually fly. And the armor served more as protection for one of her extremities that would be exposed then an actual use for the power armor. The protective casing closed down around her, and then the HUD system came alive behind her eyes. A test of limbs here and there to confirm that all systems were operational. The smallest of movements was registered by her armor as well as the bigger movements of her legs as the power armor moved from its holding.

The thing itself was upwards of fifteen feet tall from foot to head. Basically doubling the woman's previous tall stature and then some. It was colored in simple grays and blacks. Attached lights were available, though it did in fact also have the capability to see in the dark. Its weaponry hidden at the moment save for a halberd that had been designed for it. Comms burst to life informing Anna of everything and everything in her immediate area. Troop placement was now known to her as far as their own people went. She spoke calmly along the open radio.

"Dorian Wings, prepare for my command to castle into the star port. Artillery with Clearance codes 110-M or higher, proceed to Castle to the star port. I'll see you all there." With that the thruster jets on the back of the legs ignited. Lifting her up for a moment, before the flight macros could take hold. She would lift up from the shielding, outside of it for only a second before her power armor would burst to life and set her at super-sonic speeds towards the southern star port.

-Star Port-

Wiping his face the commanding officer went back to work with the people that he could gather up. A bunch of carts had been arranged and some of the older transports from Nexxian had been used, as they didn't draw on local spore power. What this meant is that in all this time, they'd managed to load up a whole of one fighter, onto one air pad. It was exhausting work, and he couldn't in good conscience let the Orchestra pit up here. The Emperor said they were tamed, but there were some things even this shifter didn't fully believe.

Down on the ground the multitude of animated corpses were working in perfect sync as they set up more of the artillery from scratch. Cannons were coming together, but so were mobile gun platforms, as well as a few tanks. Assembled from pieces and nothing more. Instruments of war that had been hidden here since they started building the star port. In case of revolution, in case of something like this. Even if their intended target had never been these humans.

At that moment ten of the fifty Artillery men and women gated in, homing in on a commanders position. Each of them went to the windows with a look of glee on their faces as they watched the Orchestra pit do what it was meant too. One or another calling dibs on a mobile gun platform, another and a friend pointing at a cannon and saying they were going to use that. For people in a life or death situation, they certainly seemed happy. Then again Keldon was fairly sure that each and every Artillery man or woman could give a Shuinsai a run for their sanity.

Now that there were some extra helping hands that weren't civilian to start loading up the next fighter, he would head over to the communications room at a hurried run. It was only the back up tower so it's functionality was limited. Broadcasting on an open channel, Keldon spoke in fluid Dorian.

" Star Port Nexxian to any Dorian vessels. We've taken heavy damage. Reactor is stable. Half our landing pads are destroyed. Will require a repair once the fighting ceases. "

-The Cavalry-

Sensors picked up some gravitational disturbances further to the east then where they were. The cavalry adjusted to compensate away from the Celesin attack pattern that Tyne was leading. Each and every one of them was mentally linked with their commander. The war-bikes moving over rough terrain at a speed meant to run down the oncoming trucks. The information from the scouts as well as others came into the communicator and he would nod. Adjusting his people to come in right behind Tyne's next attack.

They saw the speeds that the Celesin forces put on, and adjusted their own speed to compensate. While the war bikes couldn't in their current configuration keep up with the Celesin craft, they could push 500 mph with ease. While Tyne's forces would be getting ahead of them, he doubted that Bradley would appreciate the sudden inclusion of a hundred Dorian Cavalry flying into the mix.

Thirty seconds before contact the Dorian cavalry would activate their group shielding. Drawing upon the active spore powering of their gear, this would allow a group frontal point shield to manifest. Given their formation , it ended up resembling something like a massive cow-catcher on a train. As they continued to travel forward the shield solidified more and more. Becoming more resistant to wear and tear, as the rote used a simple recycling of ambient moving dust particles, as well as the kinetic energy generated by the wind around them. Making the rapid charge an absolute necessity for the shield to work fully.

If Terra Tyne's attack had indeed crippled their forward momentum as it appeared that it might, then this massive force would collide with stopped trucks at a massive speed. The wedge design and the frontal shielding protecting the cavalry from instant death upon hitting something. In fact the kinetic shielding would do it's best to simply push things out of the way. Flipping trucks and running over people at high speeds. They would disrupt the initial convoy, sweeping through it again and again, until enough damage had been sustained by a singular section of the point shield as to disrupt the flow of energy. Once that was done, was when the fun truly began.

Unfortunately for the Ali's and Khooey, the men and women of the Dorian empire were moving at such a fast rate that it would be near impossible for them to discern friend from foe, especially if they were using the enemies equipment. But just as the emperor placed his faith in the men and women of his army, they would place faith in the other assisting forces to make the right call, and not attack them.

-Sergei-

Stood atop the wall, looking down at the battle field. The interior of his helmets HUD giving him real time statistics upon what was going on. His mind had been prepared since his rebirth to take in all this information and process it. While Sergei was one of the few Exercion's who could not properly wield magics of any kind. He more then made up for it in his absolute propensity for war in all it's forms.

" Railgun, don't worry if you get hit by it you won't even realize it. Try not to think about it too much. As for that tapping, sounds like some kind of code." He listened to the other thing that Angelo said and quirked a brow at it. " Why yes Angelo, one of my commanders just left through that gate not five minutes ago. Please take what troops you need and get your head in the game. There's a war going on. "

The leader of the Dorian forces stood upon the wall for a moment longer before hopping off of it. His own natural Aura being used to cushion his fall as he approached the ground. The men and women he'd taken with him now came and covered him. Despite their emaciated look he trusted these people these things with his life more then he would of any of the Celesin troops in the middle of battle.

" Two minutes until the hard point shields run out tops. Begin injections at eighty seconds from now. Accelerate and follow me Delta's. " Raising his hand that held his massive great sword, he would twist the handle counter-clockwise and begin to channel energy through it. Activating 'emergency' protocols he would begin the process of castling to one of his nearby commanders, in this case the man that was leading the charge. In mere minutes he would be there, but it wouldn't be until at least a few seconds after the hard point shields on the cavalry reached their absolute limit. Approximately two minutes from the current time. Then the enemy commander decided to speak, and others spoke up. He nodded and spoke back.

" Your demands will be met Bradley. I've already sent a hundred Nexxian's against you. Shall I bring the other nine hundred? " What Sergei was referring too was simple. The Judgement company retained dual citizenship status. By all technicalities, there were a thousand of them. And they were all Nexxian Citizens.

by **Tera** Wed Feb 18, 2015 4:33 am

Collision was imminent and while Tera and the Havoc’s had slowed their speed it was still faster than the Dorian troops behind them. Certainly didn’t want them caught up in the net. The Lieutenants voice came to life over their private coms once more. ”Divert energy to shields, deploy Holo-Bodies.” Tera was a zealot but she wasn’t stupid, far from it. Even with their speed and superior technology that many stray bullets had a decent probability of hitting. Their speed of advance ensured that they were easily at least half way if not a bit more of the way through the Vanguard before they would really have a chance to react. And that’s when the massive web of lightning suddenly halted; it almost seemed like those nasty bolts of energy shot into the hover bikes themselves. The sudden loss blinding light straight into the cover of night would most likely make the subdued illumination that now shrouded the Specters easy to miss. And the rapid gunfire would mask the whooshing sound of the five tiny black orbs each bike had released.

What was once six bikes, was now twelve, and then eighteen. Until there were thirty of the Red Havocs on their Specters, the dull glow of the shields that surrounded each bike were mimicked in all the projections. Furthermore each Holo-Body bike had an identical energy signal to its host. The small orbs matching the signal and frequency of their controller. Of course the riders each knew where the real bike of their comrades was, and moving now in what almost seemed like random patterns given the thirty bikes now dancing around. Actually hitting one of the true bikes suddenly became significantly harder. Oh certainly several rounds would in fact strike the armored hulls of the actual bikes. And flashes of indigo energy lit up the night as the shields protected bike and rider. But what made it worse was that with each hit the holo-bodies imitated the blast making it all but impossible to tell which one was actually hit, especially with all that haphazard movement.

Movement was life for the Fulminis, what made them so infuriating to engage was that they never actually let you engage them. Striking and moving on before you could truly retaliate. Lieutenant Tyne and her five Red Havocs were here to be a thorn in Bradley’s side, and it would take quite a bit more then spray and pray fire to bring them down. But perhaps fortunately they were not the only ones, as Bradley was being forced to divide his resources to deal with the growing threats. Barten and the Ultonis had violently made their presence known, which could only mean that Khooey’s plan didn’t quite pan out. Tyne about to ask Barten just what the bloody hell was going on was rudely interrupted by someone. Now while Tyne might have had a mouth on her, she still held a respect for her brothers in arms. Her mic clicked on over the general Nexxian Channel and the rough side of her tongue had found a new target; Grey Hawk.

”What dim witted greenhorn managed to piggyback this two bit frequency? And why does he seem to think anyone gives a flying leap what he has to say?” One of the stray rounds from Bradley’s troops flared against the shield of her Specter and it caused her to snarl. Lieutenant Tyne had been stationed in Nexxian for a while now and had never met Angelo, had no indication of who he was, and over all did not care. Now Tyne certainly wasn’t going to let him trying to call down Barten pass. ”Crawl back under your rock and let the real soldiers do their jobs boy.” Her comms switched back to the encrypted Celesin frequency, she didn’t even bother to respond to Bradley’s taunts. Her response would be pure action as the Ion Gatling’s under her bike spun to life, a stream of electric charged blasts meant to cleave through troops before her. Shots that were echoed a mere fraction of a second later by the five of her comrades. ”Captain Barten secure a perimeter around the Legatus we’re coming in hot.” Despite Barten technically being a higher rank than Tyne the timbre of her tone was to that of an equal. Most of the brass knew that the Lieutenant could very easily be the Alis Fulminis Captain, but her respect for Captain Nesune and the excuse of she didn’t want the extra paperwork ensured she refused the promotion every time.

”Legatus, let’s get you out of there; I can fast track right to this… King Bradley, with your consent ma’am.” The note of deference in Tyne’s voice was reluctant to Khooey, it wasn’t that Tera did not respect the Legatus, she did. But Khooey had won the unwavering attention of Lord Caden, no other woman had made Tera feel… jealous. Still it was repressed violently with Tera’s increasing excitement. ”Priming Magi Cannon- Bound Beam.” That over the general Celesin frequency, the Celesin would know damn well what that meant. And Bradley was about to find out. Tyne half wanted to see the look on Barten’s face when he learned that the Fulminis had been given access to Magi weaponry for this battle.

With the Lieutenants HUD displaying Khooey and the Ultonis positions, her bike altered course and their speed increased as they took off for the Legatus. Maintaining the Holo-Bodies and evasive dance, but with the Dorian crashing into Bradley’s crippled Vanguard right after Tyne and her web, they might be a bit too preoccupied to focus on Tyne and the Red Havocs. The gentle hum of Tera’s Grav-harness increased as she readied it for her assault. Her gatling’s had stopped firing however as the Magi Cannon gathered the ambient Magi and bound it. The Crystal core of the Cannon continued growing in luminesce as the air distorted around the cannons ‘barel’. Tyne’s eyes had taken on a fervent light at the destruction she was about to unleash. Truly the woman the very definition of battle lust.[/i]

by **Khooey** Tue Feb 24, 2015 9:59 pm

For clarity's sake, time frame of entire post: less than three minutes, coinciding with Tera and Barten's actions, during Bradley's demands to Angelo

“Contact!”, she'd heard it and immediately acted while, of course, panicking as well. Seems she wouldn't be making it into the vehicle after all and could count herself lucky that she'd been flanked by the group at the time.

It was carnage. Her infected immediately fired back, but, not before several unsuspecting bodies on the outer rim of the small, protective phalanx arrangement of soldiers had holes blasted into them; brain, blood and bone spraying all over the place as muzzle fire became bright and blinding and chaos truly erupted. The Djinn hit the sand but not before she took fire through the throngs of flesh-shields protecting her and screamed-- white hot pain soaring across her hip and glute where the bullet tore through her suit. It was a grazing, but, that didnt mean it wasn't painful.

\While down and trying not to howl about the burning, horrible pain dominating every nerve connected to her ass the distress caused the effect of the servitor to explode. She'd been careful before knowing she might well throw them into a battle lust that might endanger her as well as anyone else were she not backed against the side of the Rover with her hands over her head and below the common line of site.

Countless numbers of Bradley's soldiers within the wide sphere of influence would turn on each other; howling and becoming the literal definition of berserk with blackened eyes dancing with starlight over them they gunned each other down and unaffected soldiers were forced to defend themselves as well. Barten had wished that she'd infect the controllers of the turrets with her Black Star and got his wish, however, with a major setback. He may well be in just as much danger as those soldiers if he wasn't careful-- they were after blood. Anyone's blood. The Djinn wrenching a knot in their souls had told them to do it, after all.

Meanwhile, the vehicle would become her shield as she slid under it and withdrew her cult; cheek to sand and making sure it was loaded just in time for one of the effected with his frightening, void-like eyes had seemingly gotten inspired to drop down and reach for her with his hands clawing at her and teeth pulled back. Khooey screamed and cocked the hammer back; firing at point blank range into the center of his visage just as he seemed to recall that he had weapons and a firearm he could use to get at her in his animalistic lapse of logic. Bright white light blinded her for a long moment and a screaming ring dominated her hearing. She'd stop grimacing while catching the latter bit of of Tera's message and watching more bodies hit the ground beyond the bug's eye view vantage point she was subjected to. Watching the Black leave their eyes was unsettling enough to make her stomach lurch. Enough that she'd forgotten the searing pain.“... King Bradley, with your consent ma’am.” was enough for her to get the point of Tyne's request

“Y-yes, thank god-- y' got my coordinates...m'under a military vehicle. The Servitor's outta control Tera, watch out...they're firin' blind. No control” Her voice sounded strained and, which some effort thanks to the awkward position, she managed after a while to reach behind her only to come back up with a palm coated in bright red blood. “Hell's bells...get here fast!” Shot in the ass. How quaint!

But, in the meantime, she had to survive and another Colt report from under the vehicle resulting in temporary blindness and deafness could be the precious seconds in which another of them took her out! So, what to do? The Servitor had to be reclaimed or she'd not survive. Thus, Khooey knew she would have to take a chance and used one of her truly violent abilities: the Black fire. Only having utilized it twice before? She hoped her intents rang true, took three deep and huffing breaths in preparation and scuttled out from under the vehicle which was now riddled with enough holes to make it see-through from one end to the next but was still marginally usable as a shield for her decisive action.

First, the soldiers would be left disoriented and confused as the Hand of the Champion abruptly released their Id and Superego and, thus, unbound them from fervent zealotry. Others would no doubt still be firing enough to take a few more of their brethren out while they stood dumbly and, others of stronger mental fortitude woould have swung their arms toward the figure bathed in black fire with luminous, bright violet eyes hoisting the many-sided, glowing Servitor before dropping to a knee and slamming it into the earth.

Immediately, black flames would radiate explosively and violently out from Khooey's point of contact; screams would erupt as wave after wave rushed over them at gale force and appeared to by burning them from the inside out. Before they were to be reduced to ash every soul would have pale lilac light bursting from every visible orifice. It didn't take a genius to see that said light was something the Djinn appeared to be claiming.

The fire, of course, acted like what it mimicked with components of a phosphorus flame- it would spread and crawl up any available surface. Metal was quite a bit more susceptible to it's preternatural heat.

For the first time Khooey was living up to her heritage as an Ifrit. An avatar of fire, magic and violence.

Stray bullets still threatened her body from those who had been freed from her influence and, her only savior, was how far off they were since the waves were still coming. One whizzed rather close to her ear and nearly broke her concentration while she became almost intoxicated from the effects of the soul-light she was drinking. Each being, somewhat like a Djinn, from the most powerful demi gods and monsters to the lowliest nulls and humans had a 'core', or something close to it that animated them and gave them consciousness. Currently, she was stealing it from those soldiers by the tens.

It was then that, while still being unable to do it at the moment, she understood she could use this macabre ability to heal herself. This was it—this was what Daddy had been challenging her to figure out! Too bad the time for considering methods to apply was not quite fit for the current moment....but wouldn't he be so proud of her?

by ALIS-Ultonis Fri Feb 27, 2015 3:52 pm

The Fulminis were not the only ones adept at hit and run tactics. Synergizing with the efforts of the Fulminis, the Ultonis nocked two arrows each, between three of them as they fired at the ground while the holo-blitz of the Fulminis was in effect, the arrows were flashbangs encompassing a wide area in their effect due to the synchronized shooting between the Ultonis, designed to further disorient the enemy while they were dealing with the speed and technological illusions induced by the Fulminis. After firing the arrows the three Ultonis split off 2 going right and 1 going left as they nocked more arrows and strafed to get positioning around the enemy from two sides.

Once this was done Barten fired three arrows in quick succession at the ground again at the hopefully disoriented troops, chimeras, and etc creating three explosions that would fragment the ground and send shrapnel flying in addition to creating small 6 foot shockwaves of concussive force. One Ultonis moved nearer to Khooey as she sought cover jumping on the over-turned truck to gain the high-ground with three arrows in his hand ready to fire more in quick succession.

At this point would be when the reinforcements for the Ultonis would finally come in. Though the branch was not particularly numerous, they did not rely on numbers. They were precision instruments. Several dropships gated in from the upper sky and fell, 3 near the city, at the edges of the battle, 2 between the city and the area they were at, and 1 happening to land behind the battle between the ALIS and Bradleys forces. From that Dropship about a dozen Ultonis came out. 4 Marauders, 4 Striders, and 4 Strikers. The Strikers however were armed with Pulse-Rifles rather than bows and as they moved out they sought to create a perimeter with the striders and strikers as the Marauders waited near the Seed-Den.

It seemed they were attempting to pacify the area, and create a point of control in the battle. The other Drop-Ships however did not have the Ultonis immediately spill out of them as they sought to get their bearings for a moment.

by TheHomunculi Sat Apr 04, 2015 5:21 am

Battle at the South

There had been less than forty of these Iron Infantrymen who had been south of the city. They had been content to bombard the city with their artillery from this direction. The city was burning out. If it had strictly been only the Nexxian City forces, then their assault would likely have ended in success. That wasn't the case, however. Instead the Grand Duchess of the Nation had been open to diplomatic relations with foreign empires.

This presented the problem of superior technology to their alchemy. It meant that they had to prioritize on focusing their efforts on advancing their alchemy. But there was only so much that 'magic' could do.

The soldiers were spread out and had done their best to open fire on the Prince but the Magi-powered individual did what he could to avoid the gunfire by leaping upward into the air. The soldiers had raised their rifles to fire those rounds at the man as fast as they could to open fire but the Prince had already opened fire on the unsuspecting soldiers. The ground was hit and the area that the front infantrymen shook with vibrations that were unnatural. A twenty feet diameter around that area caused the suit of armor to shuffle uncomfortably as some even fell down, their feet sinking into the ground one way or another. Their numbers had closed in on the Prince but this may have been their undoing as many were now bumping into one another. There were approximately fifteen soldiers to the rear outside of the diameter of seismic activity.

The Prince had landed once more and, upon seeing the man rearing his arm back for looked like a throw, one of the soldiers up front did what he could when the explosive was tossed their way. The large framed suit of armor tossed his weapon to the ground and moved in on the explosive before it hit, knowing just what he would have to do to save his brethren from certain demise. The infantryman's large frame would cover the entire explosive and, almost honorably, take the brunt of the explosive himself. The armor shook as it tore from its outer shell. The explosive force tearing through the thick metal and blowing right through the back. The armor ceased functioning altogether after that point as it slumped over the ground the explosive had landed on. A sacrifice for his brothers and sisters.

The rest of the soldiers, most now getting back up, had seen their brethren's sacrifice and had turned their attention to the now exposed Prince. There were no visible facial expressions to be seen. Nothing to indicate emotion in the slightest except body language. Some armors shook lightly. Almost like a twitch in what had to be an obvious sign of emotion. They were fighting one man and losing. This was not to be taken lightly. Sune'ere was one man and while his eyes burned with a magical intensity, their own souls burned with a desire for vengeance. Over thirty soldiers still remained on this front. They would hold this area.

The Prince moved in now and the soldiers had to try and raise their rifles to open fire again but it was too late for the front soldiers. Sune'ere's ability to sense everything around him would indeed come in handy. The man would sense all the armors. The alchemy power coursing through their transmutations. The transmutation circles that enabled them perhaps. Along with what the soldiers were truly made of; souls attached to pieces of armor and made to combat.

The first soldier did his best to dodge with surprising speed but the force of the air around him sent the soldier staggering for a moment and took him down. The soldier had no visible reaction but it was obvious that they were going to need to take this seriously. The air was freezing apparently as the gauntlets that the soldiers wore were condensing with ice. The other soldiers had seen this display and had done their best to raise their rifles and open fire before the Prince moved in on them. Five soldiers were getting taken down in quick succession as the Prince moved like a demon after them. The man was determined to fight them off.

However, as Sune'ere spoke into his communication device, he would feel a tackle from the back of his legs. The first soldier who had been hit by the air had gotten up as fast as he could and moved to tackle from behind. No rifle raised but instead blunt force trauma was the objective. The surprise attack was just that. A surprise. "Now!" The metallic voice that spoke would sound out from the armor was.....young. Far to young to be in any conflict. It was male for certain but there was almost a pre-teen sound to the voice. Almost as though he were a child and not a ravaging maniac. This realization might even surprise the Prince.

The other soldiers, seeing what needed to be done, had raised their rifles. The alchemic runes at the barrels of the weapons glowing a faint blue as they regarded their comrade for only a moment before the triggers were pulled. The electric rounds, a transmutation that Sune'ere was bound to remember from a certain comrade of his, fired on the ground towards the Prince. The electric rounds coursed through the air towards the Prince, the ground, and even the one soldier who was holding him down as best he could. The rounds would tear into both as Sune'ere was bound to feel the electricity course through him. The voltage was enough to fry the inside of any normal human being. And when over twenty soldiers were firing multiple rounds at one target, it was bound to hurt someone who was abnormal.

"You....aren't....stopping us." The pre-teen soldier muttered in that metallic voice as the electricity coursed through the armor he wore, intensifying the voltage as the armor was used as a conductor for the electricity to spark through the back of Sune'ere's calves. The soldier's grip would be tight as he held on. The alchemic forces were, hopefully, able to take this Prince down for good. A normal human would not be able to survive the amount of voltage but the Prince's durability might be able to handle it.

Battle at the South East

The trucks were doing what they could with their limited speed capabilities. They were heavily armored and the front vehicles had battering rams transmuted to them. What they lacked in speed they would make up with for bulk. However they were being ceased to function as the electric net coursed through whatever car batteries they had. Engines would stop and the vehicles were starting to crash into one another. It was far too fast for their liking. And the incoming dust storm from the east could only mean trouble.

That net had encompassed about half of their vanguard, a fourth of their forces, before ceasing altogether. The other half of the vanguard were spreading out around their centered force that was being halted in their drive for the city. The charge not ending despite the center of their charge taking the EMP hit. "Keep moving forward!" One driver shouted as he honked his vehicle's horn. They had some moments to prepare before the inevitable hit from the 500 mph traveling cavalry but not many. The trucks who were moving around the non-functioning ones were gunning it for the city as best they could. However, the ram that the cavalry from the Dorian Empire tore through the waiting trucks. The trucks that were moving, the few that might be able to skid through the lines, were flooring it. But the cavalry pushed aside not only the stopped vehicles but the ones that moved along it. Some of the soldiers who had exited their vehicles were unprepared for what would come next with the cavalry running through them. The cavalry was pushing through the fallen trucks and coming back around for the trucks that were daring to get through.

The soldiers who had yet to be ran over or whose vehicles had survived getting rammed were moving as fast as they could around that perimeter. Soldiers spreading out along the center as they had rifles raised while other soldiers, both human and iron, were moving along their crashed area. The humans varied in all sizes and genders. Man, woman, and even children were part of this fighting force. The Celesin/Dorian forces might be able to recognize this if they paid closer attention to the humans who were part of the force. The soldiers who were alchemists moved along the area and acted fast in trying to disrupt the ground with a transmutation circle and effect. The transmutations spreading out as boulders and spikes emerged from the ground up. Walls forming as fast as they could as the terrain was altered and, hopefully, would disrupt the cavalry from further charging them and give them a respite.

"Move it! Spread out!" Another driver honked before moving out along that dirt ground. The trucks, knowing that the cavalry and the air support were likely to need to stay within a distance to further use their net once more along. The turrets that fired the explosive rounds were strapped to the back of several trucks, more than thirty for certain, while an alternate form of turret, another thirty of them, were atop of other trucks. The beauty of alchemy was that some transmutations did not require any form of electricity to function what so ever so the electric net would not effect that which was made by a transmutation. The turrets had raised and would start spraying into the sky towards as many of the (were there now thirty of those flying bikes?) as fast as they could. The explosive rounds were incendiary in design and would certainly pack a wallop. The rounds capable of tearing through most forms of armored vehicles. And with the ground troops also firing the alternative turrets, which would turn out to be an electricity based transmutation, this would prove to be a deadly combination. The explosive rounds would fire for a brief time as the electric rounds opened fire above as that Ion cannon fired into the now dismantled prey. The combination of electric currents meant to fry most tech, including shields, with the explosive rounds were bound to take out a couple of those flying bikes.

Human soldiers had been on the beds of several trucks, their attires a dark black with their helmets and what had to be some mechanical devices attached to their backs. There were fifty or so of these soldiers spread out along several of the trucks that formed the vanguard. The few trucks that were struggling to get ahead would deploy these troops now before that cavalry would impact. The soldiers jumping off the back of truck beds and......descending to the air?

The devices strapped to many of their backs activated with a tug of wire and hatches opening up along the sides. Wings now protruding from the devices as the soldiers, who were now activating what had to be circles of some kind along their wrists, would take to the air in a sudden gust of wind. Their darkly shapes rising high above the bikes and much of the battle within the ground. Perhaps they would be seen. Or perhaps Tera would be distracted with her use of her Ion cannon and destroying whoever she could. Either way they were activating transmutations to alter the air and cause them to burst into the air. Their attires were form fitting with the wings attached. The helmets worn over their heads giving the shape of an eagle of some kind. They moved within the darkness as best they could. The gust of air had brought them high and the wings would give them a direction to head for. This was Bradley's air unit.

They moved along the air as fast as they could. Hoping to get by Tera and the others and slowly come down for a descend as they headed for the city. "Ready!" They spotted the now gated in troops ahead. The ones who were dropped between the army and the city. The "reinforcements" who were coming to further halt them. "Aim!" The mini-guns strapped to their wrists could now be seen if one were to look at the figures up close. The winged troops descended further until they would be just above the Celesin troops. "FIRE!" The gunfire came from above. The armor piercing rounds fired continuously above to the unsuspecting troops. It would likely be a slaughter with some confirmed dead as the soldiers made their pass before raising their altitude once more to head for that city. The transmutation circles activating once more and bringing those air troops even higher and, hopefully, out of range of any arrows or artillery these troops might be bringing to the party. The air troops would fly for the wall now. Their destination now in sight as they saw the city burning from within.

Whether it was troops on the ground who were doing their damnedest to maneuver through the cavalry charge or troops in the air, they would persevere for the capitol.

Battle Further to the South East

Khooey had a good force on her. Infected soldiers along with whatever Celesin troops had decided to sneak into the party. Barten's two soldiers had nocked their arrows and fired at the incoming trucks. The ground had been broken apart and the trucks had forced to alter their course to the destination. The shrapnel bothered these iron soldiers very little. Despite the efforts to disrupt the ground, which had succeeded some for the trucks, the chimeras cared little for the shrapnel and destruction as well. In fact it only seemed to egg them on as they rushed through the smoke and haze. Those noses smelling out their prey to be dealt with. Fifteen of these chimeras had come out from those cages and it was likely that more would be ready to come soon enough as Barten wanted to move further through the army with his small band of troops and mind controlled servants from Khooey.

The arrows fired into the air by the Ultonis that released the hot shrapnel was ignored as the soldiers converged on their location. They were many while the Ultonis and the rest were the few. The shrapnel may had shot through the armors but there would be no blood. Nothing to indicate pain or discomfort. Their rifles were raised at these Celesins and those rifles fired once more on the smaller numbers. Along with the humanoid soldiers that Khooey had put under her spell. The blood bath was just that. A blood bath. The Celesin troops may be able to dodge for some time but with half the army descending on them, they couldn't last forever.

More vehicles moved ahead on the "path" that Barten was attempting to forge. Blockading the incoming Celesin soldiers from assisting their air support with the illusions and the electric net. Turrets were once more raised and turned as the Chimeras moved in on the two soldiers who had taken the top of the truck. One would go down along with the next. Claws and teeth digging into flesh on these supposed trained soldiers. When Khooey exited from under the vehicle, she was bound to see the attack and the two bodies hanging from atop of the truck.

Khooey's control had come to an end then as the blood bath continued. The Iron Infantry hadn't intended on killing their fellow soldiers but it was too little too late for that. The black horned woman had come out and, despite having been shot, was doing what she could to attack. The fire had spread and whatever soldiers were ahead were surprised by the sudden burst. However, she also risked attacking the Ultonis who were positioned ahead of her and were even attempting to get close to her to provide cover. The two chimeras atop of that truck would leap for the woman in a death throw. If they could get on her, teeth were going to go for her neck and dig in. Claws trying to tear through her black flesh despite whatever flames might protrude from her body. It was a brutal attack but the chimeras were for the most part primal creatures. They would not cower despite the flames that this woman was using to kill the troops.

King Bradley

He was bemused by the man's comments towards him over the radio line. It wasn't hard to antagonize the human known as Angelo. They had a history after all. "Come now Angelo, you needn't be so rude. My demands are simple. I'm sure that you or your Grand Duchess would be willing to accommodate me in my demands." The voice was smooth as silk in his tone. That single green iris staring out ahead towards the troops he was sending to their deaths.

If he were human, the guilt might actually weigh on his conscience.

The man known as Prince Sune'ere would speak up now. His comments....were pecuilar. The Homunculus stared ahead to the death that was being caused. The trucks being rammed and the air troops being deployed as the turrets fought all they could at Tera and the cavalry's charge. And yet he couldn't help but feel a smirk tug at the corner of his lips as the Prince mentioned a certain Elric Brother. "I suppose you may have to, Commander Deker. Though I was hoping that they would come unarmed and not leave in body bags.." The device was clicked and he was silenced along the radio signal. No. Now was not the time to taunt. There would be time enough for that later.

"We have to hold them." The comment might surprise his fellow soldiers who were observing the destruction. Their forward charge was getting dismantled but they still had overwhelming numbers compared to the others. The other forces at play here had the technology to stand their ground. If this was a strict ground battle then this battle would have been over from the start. "And when the time comes.....I shall take to the field." King Bradley stood tall, his shoulders firm, as his gaze went not to the battle before him but to the city itself. That single green eye narrowing as he saw the forces gathered here to combat them outside of the city.

"We have to hold them here and now." An reaffirmation once more said as the battle continued still.

by Hohenheim Sat Apr 04, 2015 5:25 am

He was not who he use to be.

That was a hard thing to accept but it was the truth. He had once been a human. He had been many things. A teacher, a mentor, a lover, a slave, a father, and so much more. But now all he was, all he ever could be, would be a harbinger of death. A monstrosity that did not belong in his own world. A monster that craved eternal life and knowledge. He had learned much from his time in the Kingdom of Silvermoon. He had faced off against countless foes such as Jason Baane, Lina Inverse, Thaddaeus, and many others in the Royal Guard and he had made it out with his own life. None the less, it mattered little as his own life had taken a drastic turn when he had found himself in the Nexxian Nation. It was a change of pace. He had been banished like so many others and forced into a life of mediocrity. He had needed to change and going through the desert had done that for the man. He had been....humbled in a sense.

He had changed.

The figure was tall and wide in his shoulders. It was obvious he was built but not to an extreme level like some might be. A cloak hung from his neck with the hood over his cranium. An oddly designed mask over his facial features to conceal his identity. Gloves concealing those likely calloused hands.

It was panic in the streets. People were running for the inner gates. Most civilians were headed northward to where there was a sanctuary within the city. A sanctuary to protect them from the threats outside that were attacking from the southern and south east quadrants of the city. A sanctuary to defend the citizens from the artillery rounds that were being fired into the city and burning it from the inside out. Water would need to be used to end the fire. The smoke was already reaching high above the city's buildings and was reaching to the sky.

How cute.

The figure was positioned off the main street that lead to the center of the city to where the Meta Academy. People were running and screaming for their lives. All of them struggling past one another for a chance at salvation to the north where that oh so great sanctuary was located. It was far too amusing for the man.

He had conversed with "his" Homunculi on this. Gluttony and Sloth were as useful as a wooden board for conversation but he had conversed heavily with Envy and the one known as Bradley. He had been hesitant to restore the one known as King to a rank of Homunculus once more. To give that power back to a monster who had wanted him dead for past deeds. But the benefits had been worth it in the end. Bradley had planned for this moment and, loathe as he was to personally be involved in the battle, he knew that he had to play this part to call in the cavalry.

He was the only one who could get the job done. Though if this plan failed, then his troops were bound to all die. Including Bradley and his cohorts. But if they succeeded then this city would burn even more than it already was from the artillery fire outside. Speaking of which, the artillery fire had ceased firing altogether. It meant that the forces assembled had likely brought down those cannons and the soldiers who had crafted them.

"Sir."

The young man behind him couldn't have been more nineteen years of age. Other teenagers and young men and women were positioned around the streets. Their expressions blank as ever. Those brown eyes hollow as ever. They were his. His acolytes.

They belonged to him.

He had become a teacher at the Meta Academe under the identity "Mr. Light". He had started an alchemy course for the students who had been eager to learn and bask in the glory of becoming a part of the Nexxian Nation as an alchemist. He had even negotiated on the behalf of the Meta Academe to get school funding from the Grand Duchess. It provided the chance for more students to come to the school. The Grand Duchess had been eager to gain as many soldiers and workers for the city as she could.

Hohenheim had only seen the opportunity for more souls and experiments. The chance for more soldiers who could hide in plain sight. The chance to position soldiers in a key position before they struck the enemy.

"Go to the sanctuary in the north. Take half of the acolytes. But only wait till everyone is in place before decimating the structure. I want that shield taken down. If it isn't taken down by the time I arrive, then I shall do it myself." The implication was simple. If the acolytes did not get the job done in time, then they would perish with the structure that contained the shield.

He could command troops as well. Not as well as Bradley but certainly with enough force behind his words to make his intent clear that failure was not an option. These soldiers that were fighting against the Celesin and Dorian troops were his own. Each soul had been wiped clean. A clean slate for him to mold. The transmutations had been taught to his former students from the Magic Academe in the Kingdom of Silvermoon. The "data" had been wiped from each of the souls and left them clean. Bradley had done most of the molding and training after that point. It had been necessary. All of it had been necessary.

"Yes sir." The figures moved within the crowd. Their expressions becoming fearful as they did what they could to mimic human emotion. Many moved within the crowd as they rushed to head for the northern sanctuary that was offered by Emperor Arcerion's people. But some people strayed for the walls. East to be precise. The crowd was in a panic but these people were almost unnoticeable due to the crowds struggling to get northward. The figure moved through the crowd as people ran past him still. The figure seemed uncaring what any of these people thought of him running towards the problem. The man's stride was unwavering as that cloak did not shift or tear, the mask not falling either, as the tall figure positioned himself on that main street. The wall was before him now. It was a wall situated to the west to be precise and it was the only thing that needed to be brought down along with the outer walls. The city had three layers of walls. The outer walls, the secondary walls that covered the middle class, and finally the third layer of walls that secured the innermost circle of the city where the Meta Academe was located in the center.

Three walls to be brought down.

One chance.

The pressure was ON.

The figure stood within that street and regarded the citizens running with nothing but a cool regard. Men, women, children, none of them mattered in the long run. It was a loss of souls to him but they would be necessary losses for what was needed for the next part of his plan. That mask never shifted or was taken off as the man stood there. The distance from the male to the wall was approximately half a mile.

"Move it, man! We have to go!" screamed one citizen who had tried to rush past the figure before finding himself promptly pushed back by a brief flash of red electric light. It was a red orb encircling the figure and had acted as a bubble almost. The figure shifted its head and regarded the citizen again with that same cool disposition. Nothing was given away as he only stared. The man had looked stunned for a moment before looking back at the southern walls and taking off past the figure. His head turning back to look before running with the crowd.

Slowly, his arms would extend outward to each side, as though he were awaiting the inevitable, as the panic and pandemonium still struck strong within the city. The wind blew and the cloak fluttered with it. Dark clothes covered the man with that same dark cloak fluttering with the wind. A faint red glow took over the man's frame as the red crackles of energy once more took form around the man. Behind that mask, hollow golden eyes narrowed as he saw his target. The crackling of the energy intensified as the glow brightened around him. If one were to look at the man, their gaze would need to shift due to the intensity of the brightness.

"You're mine now." words spoken so softly that one would need to strain to hear it before the attack commenced.

The energy had charged up now. The transmutation was simple. Exerting an energy from the power source that he had contained within himself. It was an alternative power source than the Philosopher's Stones that he had consumed over the centuries. This was a foreign power that he had taken for himself. It was a power source that had been a gift from a proud son to a father. The energy blast was colored white and it fired from the man's midsection. The burst of energy instantly frying the civilians who were on that street. The beam's arc widened as it approached its destination; the inner city wall. Due to the distance, the wideness of the beam would pierce through the material of the wall and break through it entirely. The inner city wall would crumble with its foundation likely scorched but still stable due to the beam's range not having encompassed it. But it was not over yet.

The beam hadn't stopped. The beam of energy coursed forward in one direction throughout the city. And it was still going forward until it tore through the secondary wall of the city. But the beam was widening with the distance it was going. The blast had started off small from a body-level, but was easily widening in height, length, and width. Engulfing the walls entirely in that bright white burst of energy. The secondary walls were gone in an instant as that beam continued to go through the city until finally it reached that third and final wall. The western wall would be engulfed into the white pure energy. And just like that, in mere seconds, it was over. The beam of energy ceased entirely.

The smell of smoke and ash was in the air. The civilians who had screamed when the beam fired had been drowned out by the sheer intensity of the blast. Their corpses littered the broken cobblestone as black scorch marks. Nothing left. Not even a smell of rot or burning from the bodies. Instead the ground was torn asunder and the buildings that had been within his path were atomized to nothingness. The panic would have likely intensified from behind him. Whatever forces may have been in the second and third layers of the city from the west were likely done for. And the walls? Gone. Burned into nothing.

The figure stood there, red alchemical energy crackling around his form, as he regarded the death and destruction he had wrought now onto this city.

"I've paved the way for my 'cavalry'......and perhaps tipped my hand far to soon but it was necessary." The man spoke to himself, that voice once more muffled through the mask of Virindi he wore. It was not a true mask but only a good replica. The dark red glow emanating from the man's chest slowly ceased as a dark chuckle escaped him. "Thank you Jason. You've done me a kindness with this tool your wife made so many years ago." With that said, the man would walk towards the destroyed walls. It was time to inspect his work and await for the cavalry to arrive.

by Annie Leonhardt Sat Apr 04, 2015 5:25 am

There it was... the signal she had been waiting for. The wait hadn't been too long, but that didn't surprise her. Bradley was a man who knew what he was doing, nor was he a push over. And this time was certainly no different. With the signal being given, a sudden and short high pitched cry was given, one that nobody in the city nor near the walls would hear.

Annie's feet soon pushed off the ground and she charged from the West towards the city's outer wall. Her footsteps thundered against the sand as she ran, already being the fourteen meter tall Female Titan. And she wasn't alone. Thundering behind her were the footsteps of many... many titans. Titans that had long somehow made their way into this world just like herself, or Eren Jaeger, or anyone else not originally from the Nexxus. One hundred titans followed suit behind Annie in her charge towards Nexxian City, all under her command. Some titans were no taller than four meters, but the rest ranged from six to eight meters high.

At first, she and her titans were out far enough to avoid being seen by anyone who might be keeping watch. And with the darkness of night on their side, they could go unseen for a little bit longer. But eventually the closer they got to their target, the more visible in sight and sound they'd become. But by then, it'd be too late to stop them from bursting into the city.

With the walls having been blasted open, Annie and her hoard of titans came rushing in through the first wall, stomping on anything in their way. Buildings would come down around them, civilians would be squashed under their feet or grabbed and devoured, and police men or city guards would share the same fate should they be within their route. Through the second wall another group of titans rushed through, all while doing the same destruction to buildings and murdering of the city's people. Then a third group of titans went on towards the main center of the city, going through the third wall to do the same destruction and murder. In the first section of the city, there were about thirty titans. Within the second section, another thirty. And finally in the center of the city were forty titans.

In the first section of the city, the Female Titan stopped herself in front of the police station. Icy blue eyes stared down at the building and without a second though, her right arm came up above her head before her entire fist suddenly became shrouded in a diamond-like material. The Female Titan's first came down in one swift movement and proceeded to smash through the police station. She'd bring her fist back up and repeat this method once more for good measure, making sure to destroy everything and killing everyone inside the building.

With the police station taken cared of, the Female Titan turned herself around and started off into the second section of the city. She had sights set on the Agency Compounds and with her long set of legs and speed, she'd get there much quicker than by human foot.

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