A stand-off quickly ensued on the ziggurat, and several of the remaining soldiers kept their sight towards it awaiting orders. Unfortunately for them, several individuals just outside of the area are slowly approaching them, dismounting and leaving their vehicles behind, however those that remained were actively awaiting orders to engage.
Two of the LAV-25-ADs were sent to another direction in preparation for the detected incoming airborne units.
["This is command. Try to create a passage for the civilians to escape once all enemies retaliate."] Andrea said
["Copy That."] one of the Soldiers responded, the groups were mixed in terms to camouflage. Most had desert attire while some had Forestry attire due to the Oases scattering the desert. In this combat situation, they were lacking the majority of the advantage of stealth.
However, fortunately, they did have the element of surprise, several of their targeted soldiers were facing away.
"Say Goodnight, Bluecoats..." The Soldier uttered
(A/N: The Urestan's colour is a dark hue of blue.)
—Ziggurat—
"Who the hell are you?" The second assassin said.
"Something you wouldn't dare trying to mess with." Esther said.
"Yeah, Definitely." The first assassin said, before sending a volley of Daggers towards Esther. However all upon reaching 6 inches from her, an energy shield formed and the daggers were redirected to eliminate several of the Urestanese soldiers.
The assassins were a bit shocked. Her attire and staff was clearly that of an ordinary mage. More skillful mages are capable of utilizing single words, but she didn't even chant.
"Fire!" One of the Urestanese soldiers yelled, the girl held onto her staff with both hands and two walls by her sides were formed the bullets were reduced to ash upon making contact. The walls dissipated afterwards.
"...You're a special one aren't you?"
"You can thank My Director, for that." Esther said, her reaction time just in-time for the 1st assassin to charge at her at a blinding speed.
""Kh!"" They both uttered.
"Make sure to keep that B***h at bay, I'll deal with this one!" The 2nd assassin said preparing to skewer Freya, However a stream of light suddenly pierced her shoulder.
"Ah! Oi! What do you think you're do-! Ing...?" She yelled, before she became confused.
"Go Go Go! Through there! Get out of here, now!" One of the Soldiers yelled firing into the air, as several of the civilians quickly run away without hesitation.
"Oi, Control the crowd!" The 2nd assassin yelled to several of the Urestanese soldiers, only for them to be cut down by repetitive streaks of light. Several of the steam-tanks turn their turrets, and fired upon the unknown Hostiles. While many were injured, Their capitalization on speed, allowed them to daisy outmaneuver the steam-tanks.
"Fire in the hole!" One of them yelled after shoving three grenades into one of the firing slits on the side of the tank.
"Huh?" One of the crewmen uttered looking at the grenades on the floor.
"...Umm... What the heck is thi-?" His Sentence was soon cut off as it detonated and the tank was rendered out of service.
"You've got to be kidding me! These bastards!" Before the girl could conceal herself for combat she was quickly attacked and pushed off the stairs by Freya.
Both rolled down the stairs while simultaneously harming each-other in the process. Several streaks of light graze them or pass them eliminating much of the nearby soldiers while much of the civilians were quickly evacuated, How were there were an unlucky few who were shot by the Urestanese soldiers. Both eventually landed upon the ground with the 2nd assassin pinning her to the ground only to be blasted away by several meters by a female soldier with a recoilless rifle.
"Ouch, that's got to hurt right?" The Soldier sarcastically said, the second assassin got to her feet grasping her shoulder which bled profusely.
"Kh!" She uttered as she prepared her Sabre, and Freya got up to her feet raising her own sword.
As all this occurred Esther remained in a duel against the 1st assassin, and she was gradually exhausting her mana, as she continuously fought against the girl who simply moved everywhere like a mosquito, however the 1st assassin also began to deplete her own mana
"Feeling a bit sluggish, huh?" The 1st Assassin smirked
"*cough* I could say the same thing to you." Esther uttered as the assassin charged at her and she blocked the attack as always, both of their mana supplies have begun to decline to a significant point, however the assassin had a significantly higher supply than esther at that point
—Egypt Colony, Command—
"...The Fighting between the national combatants are going as expected, but those four are equalized..." Matthew uttered as he observed the battlefield from the drone footage. Matthew opened up his panel and proceeded to view Esther's statistics through the visual depiction on the screen.
'Christ... She's low.' Matthew uttered, before he started recalling what he did during the besiege of Reichia. And looked down at the smaller monitor on the desk.
"Several Aircraft are approaching."
"The LAV-25-ADs will handle 'em, Those planes are both steam-powered and slow enough intercept quite easily. Right Matthew? Matthew?" Kara uttered she soon looked back to where Matthew stood, only to find him missing.
"S**t... Matthew's, on the field." Andrea uttered. "I'm gonna start feeling bad for those guys..."
"...You Motherfu- *sigh* Nevermind." Kara uttered in defeat.
———
"*cough* Kh...!" Esther was knocked down as her mana supply got depleted, before she could switch to melee, the assassin stabbed two daggers into both of her arms, pinning her to surface.
"GAGH!" Esther blurted out.
"Well... Guess I'll Catch you later." She said looking up into the sky, before standing aside.
Several of the steam-driven aircraft descended down, two were vectored towards where Esther was.
'F**k...'
["I got a lock on the Squadron."] The gunner of the LAV-25-AD radioed
["Take the shot."] The commander responded. The Five-barrelled Gatling Gun of the LAV-25 burst to life, several bright streaks tore through the two aircraft with relative ease.
Several of the planes suddenly broke formation, as a tactic, but little did they know of the missiles that were launched, they trailed behind several aircraft reducing them to shrapnel. Leaving less than half of the total number of planes in the air
"What?!" The assassin yelled in shock "How?!"
"The power of Science my friend." A male voice said, the girl turned attempting to utilize her remaining mana supply only for her hand to be grabbed amidst it.
"That won't work." Matthew uttered before stabbing his own sword straight through her chest and out the back, Utilizing his Matter manipulation to quickly pin her to ground and kept her in place whilst she profusely bled.
As several gunfire continued and the reminding planes were being picked off. Matthew quickly tended to Esther pulling out the weapons, and immediately (and carefully) utilized restoration upon the threatening wounds.
"Esther?"
"Yeah...?"
"Your a mage, Never get cocky like that, okay? Don't let the increased power get to your head, or less ideal situations like this will occur."
"I'm sorry..."
"It's fine... Now you need to go, there is another." Matthew said referring the second assassin.
"What about her?" Esther said.
"...I'll deal with that." Matthew assured her, as he prepared his restoration.
Hypocritical as it may seem, he thought the side-effect may be useful in a way for information gathering purposes.
———
"Kh!" The 2nd assassin uttered.
While she managed to hold Freya off significantly, she was absolutely shocked by what's occurring around her, several men in unconventional uniforms eliminated a large number of her forces. Steam-tanks, horsemen, and foot soldiers alike, all trained to the best degree, and not to mention their aircraft shot out of the sky as if they were wyverns.
"How is this possible...? I-I... I need to report this..." she uttered.
"Don't think I'm done!" Freya yelled, raising her sword, but she quickly began utilizing her cloaking ability, however that ceased once a bright projectile penetrated her arm and she was knocked down. "Agh!"
"Hold her down!" Esther yelled.
"Never!" The 2nd assassin yelled as she immediately resorted to wasting her mana supply to teleport herself out of the area, leaving behind much of the other forces, to the mercy of the Aurelians.
The Esther and the other soldiers were busy in spent the rest of their time to coerce the remnant forces to surrender, along with the M1A1 tanks asserting their superiority over the steam-tanks. Freya to the time to head over to the stairs and reach her friend, still unconscious.
"Ruth... I'm so sorry..." she uttered, trying to shake her friend awake.
Matthew relayed nearby, and walked over.
"Hey." He said. Causing Freya to embrace her friend defensively.
"Calm down." He said, raising his hand and utilized restoration upon both of the, with more focus and caution to prevent the 'obsession' side-effect, just as what he did with Esther earlier.
"...*cough* Thank you..." She uttered before passing out.
["I request medical Assistance here."] Matthew radioed.
—~~——Egypt Colony——~~—
(Freya POV)
All I felt was nothing, I think I was numb or maybe I died. Only for cold air to be felt across my entire body. Cold... not what I'm used to.
"Uuu..." I uttered as I slowly opened my eyes, everything was still blurry, but I think I could make out most things. What felt like a minute passed until everything felt normal, a faint whirring sound was perceived and I continuously heard constant beeping.
'How long was I out?' I said continuing to stare up at the ceiling.
"Hey you, You're awake." I heard a voice say. I immediately turned my head to see a woman wearing a white coat over Dark-cyan clothes. She had a strange device around her neck one end leads to a circle object, and another splits into two metallic-looking parts.
I shuffled in my bed a bit upon sighting her.
"Hey hey, Calm Down." The woman said to assure me.
"Don't worry, I mean no harm. My Name is a Marie, I'm one of the central individuals for the Department of Health. I was temporarily assigned to observe you two for a bit." She said pointing, I turned to the other direction to see My aide lying unconsciously.
"Ruth! I-Is She Alright?"
"She's fine, she's just under anaesthesia, we had to conduct surgery utilizing both technology and magic from one of our mages on both of you due to significant time-induced damage to your organs. I just find it a bit surprising you woke up first considering you seemed to have suffered a lot of damage compared to her."
"...Well... I'm not ordinary in a sense."
"I can see that considering I've seen the live feed of you kicking an assassin's ass for quite awhile." She said.
"...W-Where am I?" I finally asked.
"East-wing Medical Ward."
"What...?"
"Of... the Central Outpost, Egypt Colony Of Aurelia."
"Aurelia? As in..."
"The one and only." She smiled
I gulped, as I observed my surroundings, before I remembered.
"W-Wait... I... Where is-?" I began stuttering, as I attempted to look for the diplomatic Scroll.
"You mean this?" Marie said, holding out the scroll in her hands.
"...Y-Yes... I-I-"
"You were going to conduct Diplomacy, right?" She said, I nodded.
"Well... According to Ms. Esther, The wrap bears the Atochia's primary envoy symbol. So I guess she wasn't off..." she said.
"...While I'm not technically responsible for these types of things, but I guess I'll be reporting this for now." She continued.
—~~—~~—~~—
(Matthew POV)
I walked beside Esther, as I followed Marie who is leading us to the room where she had placed the girl who identified herself as 'Freya Rasule', a diplomat. Further details are to be discussed upon the talks.
"And she's here."
"Thank you, Marie." I said, grabbing onto the handle and the door opened with a click.
"Hello."
"...H-Hi..." Freya stuttered when she saw me, she visibly flinched.
Esther and I entered, and Marie closed the door.
"You're still afraid?" I asked.
"How could I not be... Aurelia's unbelievable victory against The Empire traversed like a Sandworm's tremors across the continent."
"Well don't be, We don't bite." I responded in assurance. Before we soon sat down.
"I'm sure you recognize her?" I asked her as I prepared a folder, regarding Esther.
"Y-Yes... She... Practically saved me and my aide. I'm assuming she is Your... Or one of your combat type slaves?" She asked. Me and Esther exchanged glances.
"Well no, It seems you have misinterpreted significant details. She is a subordinate, while she isn't apart of the Defence Force or Special Forces in either way, she is a part of Aurelia's Directory."
"...I see..." she said
"Now on the to the matter at hand." I said. "You are a diplomat, correct? I wish to know your motive for diplomatic contact with the directorate."
"...I... I wish... I wish to establish f-foreign relations..." She stammered, whilst reading the scroll.
"Well... Yes, I can see that, but you haven't even specified why." I said.
She remained silent, moments pass before she stood up, dropped the scroll, and kicked the wheeled chair back.
Esther pulled out her staff in Defence, but Freya suddenly got down on her knees.
"I beg you! Please help my country!" She begged.
From the unharmed individuals we currently are housing in a recently established refugee site, we were able to gather 'basic' information. They had essentially been put on an exodus as their hostile neighbour, Urestan, had commenced an invasion.
"The Sultanate Of Sancerya?" I asked
"Y-Yes! I please ask for military assistance!"
"...Im unsure for the compensation for essentially going to war." I asked.
She immediately got up on her feet and proceeded to start stripping her clothes off.
"Oh for goodness sake..." I uttered silently turning my head away.
"Stop stripping!" Esther yelled.
"Uuu... I-I'll gladly lend my body to you, I shall commit to thee for life, for your help!"
"May you please put your clothes back on first, it's unprofessional."
"Heh...?" She uttered, the tone exhibiting confusion. She paused for a moment before she followed and started fixing herself up.
"...I'm sorry, Your Majesty..." she apologized.
"*Director. But... I'm not requesting for such a thing. For your information, Im not a playboy."
"...Then What do you want? My... My country lacks sufficient resources since the invasion..." She said melancholically.
I spiralled in my thoughts, and Before I could respond my surroundings went Dull blue. I immediately received a notification window.
'Aura?' I asked
'Mhm~ Please tap onto the artifact." She said, I immediately opened up my panel and scrolled to my inventory space. Observing the artifact, I could see it glowing intensely.
'Alright.' I said, upon tapping the inventory space, the artifact quickly materialised in-front of me before Aurora simply popped up.
'Heya~"
'Hi, Aurora... What seems to be the occasion?'
'About that... It's specifically regarding Sancerya. I think I know the perfect compensation which can simultaneously solve three problems.'
'Alright, Please Tell me.'
'You could, Perhaps ask for the rights to inspect their nation's Temples and oil fields.'
'Explain?'
'For one; That could be a good compensation considering they don't know the use of oil and their resources won't get stretched thin. Secondly; One temple has several abandoned artifacts which can Of of significant use and study.' She said before pausing for a bit
'And the third being.... I'm sorry if this sounds a bit selfish but... This artifact won't be sufficient in a sense. Two more would be capable of satisfying certain criteria. There is one in that temple I mentioned that can allow me to interact with the world in a non-Divinity manner, and another somewhere north that can prolong my stay. So..........' she finished
...
'Okay.' I bluntly said.
'R-really!" She said sounding a bit excited.
'U-Uh... *ahem* I'm sorry, that was a bit childish... Are you seriously going to?'
'I can't think of anything better, Assisting a nation can provide sufficient influence, instead fear or hatred which would work against Aurelia, I don't think draining a nation of its sufficient supplies would help.'
'But... You know... You and that girl could just... Smash?'
'...Okay first off that's horrible.'
'*sigh* And that's What I love about you, Matthew.'
'But... Why now of all times, did you tell me this, you could've told me before?'
'Because the author had a terrible sense of management, and lacked any creative ideas.'
'...Excuse me, what?'
'Nothing.'
'...'
'...'
'...I'm assuming that will be it then?' Matthew said
'For sure. I'll see you soon.' She said before the world almost instantly reverted and I found myself back in the seat. Esther looked at me waiting for confirmation.
I looked at Freya who still head her head facing down, not wanting to be confrontational in this situation.
"...Well... I'm not gonna request resources, but I will request three things."
"What is it?" She asked.
—~~———~~—
———Desmur Prison———
Several SES personnel patrolling the interior of the Facility quickly begin being transported back to mainland, as several more specifically assigned guards take their place.
"I wonder how long Urestan would last?" One of the guard's asked the warden
"Not too long, but it depends whether they start going unconventional." The warden responded
"Warden." An SES Officer approached her.
"Yes?"
"It's regarding personnel, specifically those of Reichian or urestanese origin, Director requests extra information about Urestan."
"Alright, I'll be preparing the inmates as-"
"That won't be needed, sirs and madam." A female voice said, all three of them turned their heads to see one of the prison's prominent religious figures, smiling with glee before briefly bowing.
"What do you mean?" The SES officer asked Elora.
"I have enough information to give to his holiness~. I'am the friend of Urestan's Leader."