———
Kara observed the video feed provided by one of Sagorski's repurposed drones that were continuously circling the area at an untouchable altitude.
Several areas have been marked for termination, identification from the special operations forces currently residing in the unmarked Command building have provided the necessary and unnecessary places to target before the paradropping Forces enter the town to eliminate all hostiles. All that is necessary to eliminate any forms of mana communication.
As of now, they were waiting for feedback.
Kara looked at Chitose who scrutinized the points, however, a rather disdainful expression was a bit present on her face.
"General Kadokawa. Is there something bothering you." She asked.
"Nothing, SecDef. I'm just thinking of ways to torture the surrendering higher-level individuals that defied Master."
"Ah, I See, A reasonable caus- Excuse me, What did you say?" Kara said, before abruptly cutting herself off after hearing the last word, 'Master'.
["Spectre Leader to FOB"] Eventually, the voice of the Infiltration Unit spoke on the radio.
"Spectre leader, Mission status." responded.
["All Personnel in the Command Outpost have been secured. Moving to secondary Objective."]
"Copy that, Spectre Leader."
"Alright, call the air cavalry in. And Prepare Howitzers and Hwachas, Both facing inwards and outwards, Leave alone those inside the walls, I just don't want to see any semblance of escapees from the city or possible enemy units closing in response to the rising fires."
"Affirmative."
(A/N: Hwacha is Aurelia's short term for Rocket Artillery, mostly because the RA platforms they are using are vaguely reminiscent of the Traditional Hwacha.)
—Artifact Chamber—
A number of the individuals wander around the chamber, some being tempted to take the riches simply scattered across the floor only to be severed from that endeavour by Colette and Coen, commanding them to remain vigilant of their surroundings and remain cautious. Matthew managed to stride his way and stood nearby the pedestal where the Artifact capable of teleportation is set atop.
"Alright let us begin with this one." Coen soon Spoke to Colette as he pointed to one artifact that could be described as a tablet, Matthew likening it to one of those Precursor Keys from subnautica. The same goes for a few other tablets with their distinguishing colouration.
The specified artifact was mainly an Amplification type, specifically towards physical strength & agility, however, artificial tweaking may increase Its physiological influence output.
"Alright, come on-." Colette said with a hint of impatience at the speed acorn is going at.
"Hold it," Coen said.
"What?" She responded in annoyance.
"As much as I want to burn Aurelia to the ground as you, You must be cautious. Do you think we can just grab these all Willy-nilly? Well of course, if you want to suffer extreme consequences from the temple itself."
"Kh... Fine." She said and proceeded to wait, while Coen began.
Two of the group's guards stood by the artifact, informed regarding which artifacts are necessary. Fortunately, they are in a somewhat distant area. And Matthew quickly walked behind both of them, he waited until the necessary moment without witness to have them both knocked out or rather... Murder.
Their identity was already distinguished as Reichian through their.
A tense silence occurred before Matthew soon clenched his fists, clogging both of the men's throats entirely, before quickly putting them down against the floor, fortunately away from view and proceeded to melt their brains.
Blood slowly began to drop from their eyelids before Matthew allowed them to slowly slump to the floor, exercising a bit of his Matter manipulation to prevent their impact from making noise.
"*pant* *pant*" Matthew asphyxiated lightly, at a volume which wouldn't be perceived from the distance between him and the rest. Primarily caused by shock
Simultaneously due to that rather unprecedented brutality at that moment, and how his abilities seemingly got weaker.
He immediately took notice regarding the amount of mental strain and stamina drain just performing it. However he then realised the cause was his simultaneous usage of his abilities, he set his Matter Manipulation to autonomously maintain a sphere of influence over the city to nullify mana communication and weaken mana effectivity.
With a diameter of about 40 kilometres at most, he is essentially stretching himself out.
He shook off the concern for his well-being for the moment as he remembered what needs to be done. And he eventually stepped forward to the pedestal. Matthew carefully performed the procedure to release the artifact from the bonds of the pedestal without causing unnecessary booby traps or alerting the temple's security system, which quite frankly baffled him initially upon being informed by Aurora, but magic tends to do things that would make any science-supremacist annoyed.
"*sigh*... Come on, we don't have much-" Colette, annoyed at the speed Coen is going at, eventually cuts herself off. At the same time, the high-grade mana keeping the teleportation artifact in place was displaced to the point of distortion, as Matthew was already about to do the last step to release it from its bonds.
"We don't have much... What?" Coen uttered at her sudden pause just as he was halfway performing the procedure whilst observing a small pamphlet with the instructions labelled on.
Without warning Colette suddenly drew out a spear and sent two towards the direction Matthew was, He reactively dodged one, however, the other managed to pierce his right arm.
"F...!" Matthew nearly cursed.
"Someone uninvited is here!"
'S**t.' Matthew thought before he used his abilities again to shut the chamber's doors. Many of the men quickly scramble towards the doors, either to prevent them from closing or to escape.
In the process three of the men were crushed as the door closed, only one wasn't crushed entirely only for his legs, starting from below his knees, to be crushed and his scream emanated across the room.
"What the F**k!" Coen said in shock.
"Show yourself!"
Matthew quickly felt significant strain to his mind upon performing that, but nevertheless, he immediately unconcealed himself, while remaining hidden from sight is more preferable by this point, it is necessary to reduce the amount of strain being inflicted.
"Who the hell are-" Colette was about to say as she prepared her weapon.
"Attack!" Coen soon butted in ordering his subordinates to simply charge at Matthew.
"Seriously?" Matthew uttered in annoyance. As he raised his hand, several crescent blades of hyper-accelerated air particles were soon sent towards the attacking men, most oriented at varying angles and were guided in trajectory to prevent themselves from damaging any artifact.
Several men fall to the floor as blood profusely spilled from their severed bodies. The couple of men that haven't been charged were stoned at the sight. Colette expressed a hint of shock, while Coen's expression went dark.
"That surprised you?" Matthew asked. "It shouldn't, because I'm more than sure you are aware of a certain individual who had such capabilities back at the Former-Capital of Reichia, Such as when that practitioner was killed." Matthew continued.
"...Kh." Coen gritted his teeth while fist clenched. "You son of a-"
"Ah..." Colette quickly stopped him. "He's mine." She said before taking a step back and placing her hand on the artifact that they were attempting to obtain cautiously.
"Oh No, He's- Wait... What are- W-No-No-No-No-NO!" Coen said, However, Colette soon ripped the Artifact from the pedestal, which immediately caused its base to red and it retracted to the floor.
"The hell... Are you insane?" Matthew uttered.
"Maybe," Colette said, as held the artifact in her hands and she quickly used her magic. The artifact's runes soon began to illuminate, before the entire tab itself began to crack, until with a bright flash it shattered, fragments falling to the floor.
"Kh!" Colette groaned a bit as she soon absorbed the mist that was seemingly evicted from the tablet, and her pupils soon turned red.
"Hehehe... I'm gonna be enjoying this." She uttered as she prepared to fight.
"You idiot, do you have any idea what you've just done?!" Coen yelled Before Seven doors around the walls around the chamber opened up, and humanoid entities soon entered.
The entities were physically human-like, roughly 2 meters tall, however, their entire forms were made of stone, specifically red sandstone.
"How about you deal with those, while I handle this Friend-killing bastard?" Colette said.
"I have a better idea, how about you F*****g back off! This bastard is mine!" Coen yelled, as he too disregarded the consequences of artifact obtainment as he grabbed a nearby artifact and soon did the same thing and absorbed it, a black aura around his physical form was the result.
"Seriously? This is more than just-!" She said before turning back to see Matthew but suddenly ducked just in time as Matthew, after reactively ripping out the teleportation artifact from its pedestal, send it across the room.
With Colette dodging it as it maintained its trajectory before slamming against the face of one of the Urestanese individuals in the room, upon impact against his skull he suddenly disappeared from view with a bright flash of light, before the artifact slammed against the wall causing a faint crack to form on its surface and fragments of the stone door to be strewn across the floor surrounding the box.
———Far North, Atochia———
"Uff!" The Urestanese soldier reappeared with a bright flash and landed on the cold ground.
"...augh... Huh?" He uttered as he looked around and found himself within a forested area just by a mountain slant, with rather light snowfall, not enough to make him suffer from freezing though, and just enough to allow him to take in the view of the snow-littered landscape stretching out before him.
"*groan* I'm so done with this S**t..." he uttered in disappointment as he laid back down.
———Temple Interior———
"..." Matthew didn't say a thing though he did faintly sigh at the artifact's unprecedented durability.
"..." Colette stared at the artifact before going wide-eyed. "That's the one!" She yelled as she recognized the artifact as the Teleportation cube.
"Hey, I don't think so!" He reactively yelled as he attempted to use his matter manipulation to pull the Artifact towards him. However, just as he performed that, a black disc appeared below Coen simultaneously, and he descended into its clutches, just as another disc appeared just in front of Matthew and eventually Coen emerged from it landing a punch that sent Matthew back a few meters.
"How do you like that!?" Coen yelled with a smile as he kickstarted his revenge.
Only to be interrupted as the teleportation artifact, which was still on its trajectory, slammed against his skull and he was teleported out.
"I don't..." Matthew uttered, as he attempted to grab the teleportation artifact.
Only to suddenly dodge out of the way just as one of the golems strike its fist against the floor, creating an indent and a shockwave which in turn launched the artifact away by a few meters and a visible crack soon appeared upon its surface.
Matthew quickly disassembled the form of the golem before it sent its head across the room striking two other golems striding towards him in the process.
Upon turning back he was met with a kick to the face by Colette and he was slammed against a pillar and fell to the floor, Matthew's eyes lost colour for just a moment as he pushed himself up and looked to see Colette as she finished absorbing another artifact.
"What's the matter? Too pacifist to land a punch? Ironic, considering what you've done." She mocked, only for Matthew to suddenly relay right in front of her. And sent a punch directly toward her gut with enough force to send her back at a significant distance, and relayed once more as he continuously began to throw punch after punch. Some managed to strike her and others were dodged.
———Surface———
In the First Wall, A group of four Urestanese soldiers sat around a crate to which they used as a table whilst they play a game of cards, just by an area by the building they are utilizing as a barracks. It was two on two, in a sense. A few other Reichian and Urestanese individuals were nearby overhearing the game.
"Alright... two of us will now get bragging rights, and the other two get humiliation." One of them said. Afterwards that person's partner set down his deck of cards.
"Nothin'..." The partner said in a disappointed tone.
"Jyle?" The man said to one of his opponents who've set their cards down. "Gill?" Jyle's partner set his down.
"Ah... Two pair. Sorry, bud." The man said to his partner
"...Sorry? Oh my God... Dude you-!"
"I'm sorry, you won't be talking soon." He said.
"..."
"Because we don't have to! Full house! Hah!"
"F**k!" Jyle said."
"You imbecile! By the Gods..." Gill uttered in disappointment
"Heh..." one of the nearby Reichians uttered a bit amused at it, actually.
"Now? What do you have to say, Jyle?" The man asked with a cocky grin.
"*sigh* I-..." Jyle stopped as he looked up a bit and saw something bright in the distant outskirts of the town, prominent as if it was a star. "What's that...?-What the hell is that?" He eventually pointed, as everyone looked to see a bright light.
"The hell-?" The man uttered in confusion before he was cut off as the missile struck the barracks and deafening explosion transpired, flinging debris from the building and into the street, Killing off a number of the soldiers. Following that a fire engulfed two men in fire, one of them managing to run away while engulfed in flame before jumping into a water-filled basin.
("Command, we are under attack! Your orders!") one of the soldiers called through a nearby communication terminal inside the building which utilized a non-mana form of messaging
("*silence*")
("Command! I repeat! We are under attack, it may be the Aurelians, What are your orders!")
("Pray. To. Your. God.") Adley Responded.
The man's pupils constricted upon hearing the returning voice. Before he departed from this world as the barracks collapsed entirely from the strike of another missile launched from a multirole fighter.
["Reaching specified target coordinates. Preparing to let loose the cargo."] a pilot of a B-52 spoke through the intercom, as a number of the bombers begin to fly over the city. Their targets are marked areas within the first layer of the city, with minor negotiations with the Orthodoxy, several individuals have managed to settle on utilizing the bombers for collateral damage amongst the lesser areas useless for religious reasons, in other words the first layer.
Several guided bombs were dropped from the bellies of the beasts and hurdle down towards their designated targets within the areas. Seconds pass as the contrast of an unnerving silence 5 kilometres away by the security checkpoints and uncoordinated chaos inside the walls became clear.
From the distance the brightness of the lights provided by the city caused a rather intimidating sight as the bombs obscured by darkness soon became visible as they closed in rapidly. Several clouds of smoke emerged as the bombs impacted the city, soon followed the sound of numerous explosions reaching the ears of the guarding personnel.
The grey plumes of smoke, rising rapidly, spread across the first layer, almost entirely circling the city, one from a distance would describe it as another but taller wall to the city.
"Should I feel sympathy? This is so one-sided." One of the soldiers uttered before lowering his binoculars. "Mm... Probably Not." He finished.
And he along with the rest of the anti-liability forces watch as a number of Multi-role fighters drop guided bombs and Air-to-Surface missiles with pinpoint accuracy specified targets within the central wall. At the same time as a flight of A-10 Warthogs followed by a squadron of Cheyenne Attack Helicopters swoop in and "harvest" the soldiers obscured within the alleys and streets of the residential portions.
Over a minute later, Five C-17 Globemaster III Transport aircraft carrying a total of 505 Paratroopers, and 4 C-5 Galaxies just lagging behind them prepping to GuP-drop a total of 4 M1 Abram Tanks, and 8 M2 Bradley IFVs. First the C-17s circled around the city as the paratroopers jump out of their Side doors, before the C-5 galaxies lowered their ramps and their vehicles descended down to the earth like a gift from the Gods, ready to be brought to life by the awaiting soldiers.
From a building a lone Reichian soldier peaked out from a corner, fires and smoke were scattered across the place, but the visibility wasn't awful. Eventually a sharp pain on his ear caused him to grunt a bit.
"What are you waiting for? Go?! Don't tell you have forgotten the empire's bravery!" A prided reichian comrade of his said, pushing him forward, stumbling before turning back to him.
"I'm not making the same mistakes as your brother did back when those barbarians managed to defeat us!" He yelled back.
"They never defeated us! We merely failed to win!" His comrade denied.
The barrel of a tank soon slammed through a pillar right next to them, its sandstone composition and already weakened/weathered state made it as though the turret sliced through it.
"I surrender!" The first reichian said like spongebob as he fell to his knees.
"Coward!" The other soldier prepared to decpitate him on the spot, only for his body to be obliterated by a HEAT shell, hot blood splattering the kneeling soldiers face, before he fell to ground on his side.
"We got a smart one here..." the commander said after opening the hatch. Only to duck just in-time a mana bolt was sent towards the tank, which left a black mark and a significant dent against the side of its turret.
"Kh!" The magic utilising urestanese unit uttered and attempted to land a more powerful blow to the tank, only to be mowed down by one of the Defence Force paratroopers. At the same time most of the enemies were being overwhelmed as the New arrivals established overlapping fields of fire, while others were sent to flush them out.
"Hah!" One of the heavily armoured soldiers charged at one that was tending to an injured soldier who got struck by a mana blast. However four rockets launched from a nearby Cheyenne reduced the man to chum, fortunately far enough for the Aurelian soldiers to be virtually untouched.
""...Huh."" The two Defence Force soldiers uttered.
The Swarming aircraft were eliminating large numbers of soldiers directly in the open. Of course, this meant that close-distance engagements between the forces were gradually becoming prevalent as the enemy soldiers, specifically the Urestanese, realized it.
This would not apply to the Reichians who remain blinded by pride and refuse to tactically hide in sensible positions due to viewing it as 'cowardice' rather than common sense.
As this all went down the Special Forces Unit responsible for terminating the enemy command post were soon sent to advance into the temple, climbing up the flight of stairs before proceeding down the bridge towards the Temple's entrance. The guarding soldiers that had prepared to ambush them, peered up from their hiding spots and held up their muskets once the SF got close only to be dispatched.
The Forces entered through the temple's halls, all setting their Assault rifles to manual-fire, conserving enough ammunition for the purpose of non-human & superhuman engagement, taking into account the information provided by the Sanceryan princess.
"Hold it!" The leading individual raised his hand balled into a fist, as a bright flash simultaneously occurred and a dark figure pushed itself into a standing position.
"Augh... F**k... Huh?" Coen uttered as he looked around. "Back here?"
"Hands where I can see them!" The leader ordered.
"...Oh... Some of that bastard's followers I see?" Coen uttered as he looked at their badges bearing the Aurelian insignia.
"I'm gonna enjoy this..." he uttered.
All of the individuals raised their firearms simultaneously and fired single rounds at him. Only for a black wall to emerge absorbing the bullets before melting into the ground disappearing from sight.
"Superhuman obstruction!" The leader yelled as the special operations force quickly scrambled to visible strategic points around the area.
"Yeah, that's it, Run! Run you, cowards!" He screamed as several black tendrils emerged from the floor, managing to grab a nearby operative slamming him against the roof of the room, before sending him down, enough damage to kill a man, or in this case shatter him into voxels.
(A/N: Read previous chapters to understand why personnel get reduced into voxels (cubic pixels) upon death.)
"Who's next h-!?" He was soon cut off as he was struck back, by a circular saw-blade, the disc and tendrils dissipating and reforming around where Coen now was. Adley stood staring at him, her weapon in hand.
"*cough* Bring it..." Coen taunted.