R. A. T. H

Eighteen

Desert sand rolled below an armored truck that pulled a wagon. Dust flew against the dark, metallic motor. It looked like a van with another attached van, but was heavily platted and there was a certain product strapped to the top of it. It stopped right before a desert dune and hid behind it.

Five people filtered out of the truck led by a blonde man.

"Alright, let's get things set up, it should come within ten minutes," Reed said, looking through the pad on his wrist then back to the truck, "Nicholas, the turret, how's it coming along?"

The wind rolled and sand flew. A brunette haired man with a scruffy beard popped up from the center of the truck and sat within a chair connected to a beastly weapon: A large, metallic, cylindrical thing — it had a long snout and there was a rather large orb embedded to its base, swirling a gas of blue.

"I just ran the last tests. This boy will fire no problem," The male said and equipped goggles to his eyes as he patted the thing with a grin, "All I need is your word."

"I'll tell you when, but you better hit it. I don't want to waste 10K Lixels if you miss."

That staggering amount was the cost of firing the weapon once and his budget wasn't so high as to spam it.

Nicholas laughed and patted the weapon once more. "Have I ever missed?"

"Yes," Reed Fraught said, unblinking, "Quite a bit."

". . ."

He turned.

"Elsa, recon?"

The black-haired girl smiled and took an object out of her satchel. The thing was round and circular, metallic and white. The spherical body was about six inches of length on either side and at its center was a core of crystallized blue. It looked like an eye without an iris. After she activated it, it floated in front of her and then ascended into the sky with quite the speed.

She checked the feed from her pad and glanced at the man with an a-okay sign.

"All's good, there's no patrols round' here yet."

"Great," He nodded, he had expected as much, then turned to the rest of the group.

"Everyone else, have your gears ready and be prepared for the eventual guards that follow its descent."

Rose summoned her Gear.

The dragonian girl, who she had learned was named Lilias, merely placed her hands to the weapons on her back as her tail swung.

Then there was the last person, a lanky man who tapped a metallic band strapped to his left wrist and it imploded into a metal bow with a string made of mana. He tugged at the thing, the string shook, and he nodded to himself with a smile. His name was Fieth.

Reed looked at his Pad and Rose could hear the hum of mana in the air increase. She looked up.

"Nicholas!"

"Gotcha!"

A rectangular thing broke out from above them and sand fluttered. It was metallic at its base, had a shield of mana around it, and floated within the sky towards the general direction of the city and slums. It made a rather large shadow, at-least several times larger than the truck they came from. That was their target.

Nicholas turned the behemoth of a weapon and aimed at the transporter. Mana rolled through the shell and a blue energy packed into it. He tapped the screen in front of him, aligned with the vehicle, and fired.

There was a jarring vroom, the air shuddered, and an azure beam broke out from the turret's muzzle. The truck kicked back and the wheels locked on sand, the energy—the precise storm of concentrated mana—shot through the air and struck the transporter.

As soon as it made contact with the shield, the two mana creations clashed and caused an explosion of blue that canceled one another. Following that, the transporter shuddered, fell from the sky, and smacked into the sandy ground with a puff of mana and the thunderous clank against hidden rocks.

"Fieth, provide cover with that bow of yours. Lilias, do your thing. And, Rose, charge after she fires her weapons. I'll follow you along with Elsa."

Rose took a breath, unsheathing her weapon with the command of Reed.

The man with the bow nodded. "Right."

He aimed towards the crash sight and, as an orb blinked at the side of the armament, a blue arrow formed on the string. He smirked.

A latch of the grounded transporter opened and men, dressed in green-gear, streamed out with weapons in hand. Fieth released the arrow and one fell over as it pierced right through him. Following that kill, mana arrows knocked onto the bow again and he released the volley.

"Men, barriers!" One of the guards yelled and with a tap on their chest, mana wallowed around each and every one of them, "Combat formation! I want this transport defended at all costs!"

The arrows fell from the sky, smacked against the barriers, and did only so much as fizzle it while breaking apart — but, their shields still decreased in energy.

"Dammit, aim and fire at will!"

They prepared their rifles.

The dragonian girl jumped forward, feet skidded against the sand and she unsheathed the weapons at her back as two gleaming, crimson blades came out.

"Fly — Devour — Explode."

The girl slashed her weapons, two orbs blinked, and a wave of mana shot forward. A roar resounded. The energy morphed into the raging head of an azure dragon. Pulses of blue flew to stop it as the rifles bellowed but were only added to its might, increasing it in size. Its maw opened, jagged teeth, and devoured some of the men and the ground. Then.

The place exploded into a cloud of sand, limbs, and blood. It was gorish.

"A Custom Armament!" Elsa said, mouth agape at the absurdity of whichever Mage designed such a thing as those swords. It was basically the same as the bombs in her satchel—a collection of mana that was forced to explode—but it looked ten times cooler, flew on its own, and was rechargeable!

Fieth took his bow back and slipped out two Pulse Pistols from his sides. White guns that fit snugly in his hands and rolled with mana. He grinned, and began firing upon the group of guards.

Blue beams shot through the space with each group targeting the other. A guard went down after a barrage smacked against his barrier and tore through him. Fieth dodged a volley with a leap, rolled across sand, then fired as he ran to escape another.

Nicholas had already hunkered into the truck for safety. Rose, on the other hand, used this chance to rush across the sandy plains with sword drawn. Her blade gleamed orange below the sun.

A beam of mana came for her with a noticeable vroom. Her brain operated at maximum efficiency as her core hummed. In a tenth of a second, she had enough information. She blinked her eyes, dodging the thing, then another, and another, <Igris> allowed her already great senses to latch onto the energy in the air—the volley of pulses that went for her hit only sand and she ran farther ahead.

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