Steel and Mana

Chapter 555 – Ignis (5)

When the Union's completed machines entered the battle, their mechs' charge hit the battlefield like a mini-earthquake as most of them were built for melee, entering the thickest of the fights, going where Lucca had sent them, reinforcing the Vasas and Avalonian elites. Even though this was their first serious battle, it seemed that all those who managed to build their machines had chosen well when picking their pilots.

Dozens of Union Knights thundered forward, their machines varying wildly in looks and weapons, many of which were made from monster bones, copying the Avalonian method from the resources they were given. One such machine, holding a massive shield as large as a tower, slammed into one of the thirty-meter-tall creatures, almost flipping it off its four legs after hitting it in the side. The momentary disruption was enough for the Vasa warrior fighting it to leap up onto its nape, stabbing his spear into it, yet instead of killing the creature, he twisted it, and the next moment the beast was rushing backwards, randomly attacking anything that was coming towards it.

At the other end of the battlefield, an eight-legged crab-looking creature braced itself against the incoming enemy, its limbs digging into the earth. At the same time, magic radiated from its back in waves, sending them out, and although it wasn't like an EMP strike, it still made the Vasas disoriented, and the mechs nearby started malfunctioning, becoming sluggish and unresponsive.

“Target is charging up again!” came the call from an Avalonian Knight, “With its interference, we won’t survive a direct hit! Evacuate the area!” He ordered the ground troops while his mech braced itself, the shield he held stabbed into the ground, intending to become an obstruction against a gathering spell, while the warriors behind him scattered.

“You won’t have to retreat.” Came a voice through the open channels, belonging to Mirian, as her airship flew above the battlefield and dropped her mech down, straight on the preparing creature's back.

The moment she landed, holding her Spear, it nailed the beast to the ground, crunching its backplate, the bones below it, the flesh, even its magic, which shattered like glass as it was killed by the impact. When straightening her back, Mirian had left a disintegrating hole in the middle of the monster's body. As a fresh reinforcement, she, of course, wasn't done. The next moment, Mirian had already moved off it, searching for her next target, intending to feed her Spear ample of death today... and she didn't need to look for long. By this time around, not only were the smaller creatures swarming the landscape, but there were so many, walking and hulking, twenty to forty meters tall beasts... that it felt like this was the foretold end times indeed.

She wasn't wrong either. Even though they were killing them both in the air and on the ground, sometimes dying creatures falling onto the top of the mechs, they just... didn't seem to end. With how many beasts had already been killed, their corpses were creating multiple mounds and walls that the others had to climb over. Sadly, this also meant that, finally, exhaustion was showing on both sides, the Avalonians and the Vasas. More and more of them were injured, having to be extracted back towards the Pride in a hurry. Protecting such an extraction, Ur’Tokh himself made sure he crushed a sea of surging monsters with a single stomp of his black-armored monster, which he took control of just a moment ago, then drained the beast to rejuvenate his own powers.

Even then, he knew this was... close to the end of him. Three or four more such forceful syphoning and his body won't be able to handle it, finally giving in and mutating into something grotesque and die like a fleshy abomination... But the Avalonians didn't need to know that. It was the end of it all, and he would make the sacrifice if he must and when he must.

“You stand firm!” he yelled to the Avalonian infantry around him as they dragged away three of their injured. “This is not your final hunt!”

“We’re holding, don't worry about our morale!” Pion barked at him, standing close by, his bone-blade cleaving a beast from skull to tail, barking orders in the meanwhile, “Try not to let your beasts step on my men!”

“Try not to run under my beasts,” Ur'Tokh retorted, amused even while ripping a monster in half with his bare hands.

One Vasa struck the ground with the haft of his spear close by as crimson light exploded outward in a wave, knocking dozens of beasts flat, making their skin melt as they began rolling on the ground, set ablaze by invisible fire.

"We are getting pushed back..." Seltana muttered, biting her thumb, watching the battle from the Pride, already analyzing the different points on their foremost battle line, doing their best to hold out.

"We are." Lucca nodded, remaining calm, "Send out the order to bring the line back to the secondary trenches. We will regroup before we have to deal with a break. Also... Take over the commanding position." He added, glancing at Seltana, "And send the order for the Subjugators that they will follow Kiva and me..."

"Did we pick up something?" She asked, but Lucca himself was unsure.

"I don't know." He answered, "It's just... the patterns, the latest appearing waves... they suggest a much cleaner form. I do think our main target is already here, nearby... And I trust my guts, always have."

Of course, the battle was not only a struggle on the ground. The flying beasts broke through the Avalonian and now Ishillian ships' flak curtains in waves. Some dove with suicidal intent straight at the Camelot and Stormbringer, their claws scraping the ships' armor before being shredded and forced to fall.

Brask’s plane, returning to the battle after a refill, rolled into a tight spiral, his bullets stitching across three winged creatures in a clean line. One burst apart from the impact, the other spiraled down, wing torn off, while the third lunged at him, jaws wide as his fire missed it...

“Brask!” Lazlow’s voice snapped at him at the right moment, “Break right!”

He didn’t hesitate, and his fighter dipped into a hairpin turn that no normal pilot would’ve survived. Luckily, he wasn't normal. The beast zoomed past him, only to be obliterated by Lazlow’s burst a heartbeat later, whizzing past his friend.

“You’re welcome,” Lazlow muttered, exhaustion in his voice.

“I had it,” Brask protested with a chuckle.

“Sure you did.”

“How are we doing?” Brask grunted, already doing a loop around to get the creatures that were landing on the top of the Punisher.

“We lost... enough...” Lazlow answered, not really going into the details.

"They lost more," Brask said, half of his words drowned out by the noise his guns made as he made sure the Punisher was free of its parasites.

As he passed over it, the airship itself unleashed a broadside that tore a good chunk of monsters out of the sky, while the Eagle’s Nest took a glancing hit from a flying brute, ramming it, exploding into a bloody mess... but the ship remained steady. Watching it happen, Brask counted the flying shapes in the distance, with instinct alone.

Still a flying wall of meat... and they were still coming... Still nowhere near the end.

“1st and 3rd Squadrons, rotate!" He spoke, more somber than ever, "2nd Squadron, hold the center!”

“Acknowledged!”

“On it!”

"They have to run out... They have to..." He told himself, but he wasn't as sure anymore...

...

....

......

On the Camelot’s bridge, I stood shoulder to shoulder with Sa'Ith, both of us staring at the shifting battle below and around us. Sasha was somewhere behind me, calling orders to the bridge crew while Merlin was handling the Camelot's magic systems, especially our shielding, as most flying bastards were hell-bent on kamikaze striking my ship. I guess it was Ignis's doing, afraid of me, most of her focus placed on my capital airship.

As for Sa'Ith, she rarely blinked, while her eyes glowed faintly, flashing here and there as I guess she was sending mental orders down below. I was curious what she was saying to them, how many of them she was in contact with at once, but then, out of nowhere, a chilling shiver touched my spine, making me tremble.

“You feel it too.” She looked at me immediately.

"..." I nodded slowly, “…Yeah.”

"Here she comes..." Sa'Ith muttered, and the next moment, an actual, magical ripple washed over everything, causing the clouds that were above us to scatter.

"So you're finally here, you flying fuck..." I chortled, watching as the massive wings appeared in the distance, coming down from high above us.

When she got close, hovering at the range where we were yet to fire with our artillery, she just stayed there, watching. Her ash-made wings were reminding me of a certain demon from a certain mine... But I don't want to fight it and die, because I guess I won't respawn a second time; I am not that lucky. Just then, Ignis's mind spread out, and I wasn't surprised that she connected to me... but this time, I wasn't alone speaking with it, because somehow, Sa'Ith's consciousness got also linked up as I could feel her thoughts reverberating in my head too.

"Why are you still resisting and struggling?" Ignis asked, both annoyed and amused, "My children are countless... You can't win. Just accept your fate and punishment."

"Fuck you," I declared, already walking back towards my chair, only giving hand signals that Sasha immediately understood, beginning to clear the airspace, as my Camelot began aligning with Ignis.

"...?!" I could feel her surprise and the smile on Sa'Ith's face. "You are an... annoying Vasa!"

"I am not a Vasa." I retorted, making her get shocked once again, because she could feel I wasn't actually lying to her. "If you would behave, we could even be friends, but here you are, throwing a tantrum like... I would say a child, but none of my daughters and sons did anything like this. Ever. You are a petulant little bitch, aren't you?"

"Hmph! What do you know...?! Human?! Friends? You and us? Me? Hah! You don't make friends, and I am not your friend..."

"I can see that." I shrugged, "At least I tried. So? What are you waiting for? Come, I'm here."

"..."

"Afraid?" I grinned, because I could feel it... she wasn't frightened, but she was... hesitating.

"Hmph! I am not. Afraid? Of you?" She snorted, "But I am not stupid, even if you think so... human."

"I beg to differ."

By then, I was sitting, and our main weapon was charged to its maximum. Will it surprise her? Probably not. But I didn't care and fired it anyway.

As expected, Ignis was reading my mind, quite literally, because she was ready, letting out a breath of her own, meeting mine in the middle. As I guessed, she could see it, because it was a perfect shot, with no chance of a miss. The only plus that came out of the exchange was the fact that the shockwave it created was like a mini-nuke in the middle of the air, right above the horde. Although our planes and airships were also rattled by it, not as much as the creatures directly below it. For a moment, the constantly flowing bodies were paused as a literal line of death washed over them, parting them like a grotesque Moses.

But the surprise wasn't over yet, because Sasha's orders had been executed by then, and our artillery extended its barrage to its full range...

"You!" Ignis shrieked inside my head, and I could see the explosions raining down on its head.

Although it was barely hurting her, it still made her tremble and almost fall from the sky.

"Come, get me if you want to prove you are the top dog here." I kept provoking her, "This Sovereign is not afraid of an overgrown lizard! Let me cut off your tail and watch if it grows back, bitch!"

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

She literally roared at me, making me wince, rubbing my ears, even as her voice was inside my head, finally shutting me out, not wanting me to get a feel of what she was about to do.

"Well..." Sa'Ith looked at me, smiling, "You enraged her."

"I know," I watched as the massive dragon-form of that bastard was making its way to us, "That was the plan..." I gripped the armrest of my chair.

Now we just need her to be at the right spot...