Battle of Red Canyon II

 

POV Sword

I lower my hand from the comms device in my ear, and the visor slides over my eyes. Pushing my mask further up the bridge of my nose, I step down from the elevated rock that I've been standing on to look across the battlefield, and turn towards my team that's gathered around me in a loose semicircle, the ranks of light tanks and mechs whirring to life behind us as their crews prepare to assault in the wake of our mission. 

"We have our orders," I say. "Let's move."

We say nothing as we begin our task, but a few of us behind me are unable to control themselves and break into hissed banter. As our midlines begin to advance, we approach a vertical joint that runs up the walls of the canyon and begin our climb. I place my palms and the soles of my boots against one side of the rock, and push my back as hard as I can against the other side, and start to move up along it. Below me, Airo follows, then Elemental, then Nyx, Chris, Luc and the others, ascending in a straight line, hidden from view by the overlapping vertical outcrop of rock that covers the crack we are climbing up. Deep inside my conscience, a small thought ignites - a remnant of the scientist that had once dwelled inside me, urging me to stop and take samples from the rock, report findings, take pictures of the beautiful Red Canyon of Central, once one of the most popular tourist destinations before the Skather Descent. I shake my head and zone in on the argument below as we climb. Which happened to be a mistake.

"You stupid thing, I can't believe you just said cheese and onion is better!"
"He is corrupted! We must end him!"
"Cheese and onion all the way, bro."

"He's too far gone."
"Hey!" I hiss. "No talking until we're in position."

"What, so we can talk when we’re actually doing the important stuff?" Airo replies.

"No, just don’t freaking talk. Is it that hard?" I say, starting to get reeled into the trap they had unknowingly set for me.

"Why?"

"Just trust me?"

Below, I see Nyx's hand extend out from the gash.

"So we can’t talk at all?" she asks, as Elemental hurriedly kicks her arm.

"Not a word," I repeat.

"I just have one question," Airo mutters from directly below me.

"What?" I demand, half whispering half shouting.

"Why do we have to be so serious all the time?"

I plant my foot firmly on his head threateningly.

"I swear to god if you talk right now-"

"I want to know who's buying snacks after this."
I pause.

"You. You are. You're buying them all."
"What? But I'm broke! I know you and Neo are loaded, Sword."
"Who, me?" Neo demands from somewhere down below.

"Well tough," I say, glancing upwards to estimate how much further we have left. "You better cough some Imperials out of your ass or you guys are all going hungry tonight."
"If that happens I’ll rip you apart, 002," Luc says.

"Wait, where are we even buying from?" Chris asks, which to be fair is the question we should be asking.

"Halycon Major?" Airo asks, as if it should be obvious.

"Can’t just raid the food storage and steal everything?" Nyx asks.

"Alright, now shut up!" I tell them all, and pull myself up onto a small ledge that overlooks the whole of Halycon Major, a point that no one would've ever thought would be an ambush point from people who climbed up the gash without any equipment whatsoever. After all, if any kind of Chrona was used the systems would've long picked them up.

 

"Everyone know what their job is?" I ask.

The team nods, grimly, the flair and spirits from a few minutes prior nowhere to be seen. This is the scene that I am slowly getting used to, and the scene that I'll see for pretty much the rest of my time in this world. A row of elite warriors, rifles, pistols and other tools of war cradled in arms, dressed in full battle suits powered by chrona. It feels like I've being doing this all my life.

"For the Third Prince," I say. "Move out."

We simultaneously drop from the ledge, save for Kremi, Loflo and Rain, who hang back, and split up into our groups as we rocket towards Halycon Major's shields, into the area between the Second and Third Wall. The bright blue wall of Chrona rushes up to meet me, but I flip midair and slam down on it upright. Beside me, Airo and Elemental also arrive.

You gotta get excited for the top 3 of Pharo Force working together.

I plant six EMP charges against the shields, my own outer casing of chrona shielding me from the chrona shocks of Halycon Major's barrier. As they detonate, it interferes with the barriers for a split second, a small area around the tiny explosions flickering slightly. We use that moment to slip through and we drop down into the middle of the enemy fortress.

"We're going to the inner reactor core," I tell them, as we crouch in a corner, hidden from the soldiers running and shouting outside. "We're shutting down these shields to let the army through."
"We'll have to fight our way through half the fortress," Elemental says.

"If it's us," I say. "It's not unachievable."
 

POV Nyx

Nyx followed Neo as they dashed through the lower barracks in the area between the Third and Second Walls. Their mission was to destroy the barracks and disable the reinforcing garrison that would soon be deployed to the First Wall, which would be detrimental to the assault lines under Angelica's command. Arriving at the centre of the barracks, arranged in two squares of twenty-five buildings each, they wished each other good luck and split up, each of them taking a half.

One bomb in each building. Better move quickly.

She moved swiftly between the barracks, planting and priming each charge whilst avoiding the hundreds of heavily armed soldiers running back and forth, preparing to reinforce. She had ten minutes on the clock. The first row of five were easy, and she moved on to the second, and then the third. She was swooping around to the fourth row when someone caught her eye.

 

A tall man with a striking figure and a trimmed brown beard was striding towards the barracks, clad in a suit of golden coloured battle armour that was humming with energy. Behind him, four soldiers armoured from head to toe, walked, each of them cradling a wicked-looking machine gun in their arms.

"Shit," Nyx muttered under her breath.

'Raiz Ignius'. A famous vassal of the Ignius Family, one of the key noble houses under the thumb of Julian.

Nyx was staring at him from behind the cover of a barracks building, but suddenly his fiery orange eyes swivelled around and glared straight at her. Instantly she pulled back and let out her breath.

…his senses are insane. If I fight him without Neo… I don’t think I can win.

Raiz Ignius was one of the three generals under the Slaughter Saint Kain Voss's command, and known for his skill in using pyro-weaponry - a flaming sword, flamethrowers, and explosive attacks. A dominant figure in even the powerful Ignius family.

 

"…there's a rat," Raiz said, not to anyone in particular

"Pardon?" replied one of the soldiers at his side.

"I smell a rat," he repeated. "In the barracks."
…I need to hurry.

Keeping out of Raiz's line of sight, she decided to skip some of the houses and plant a charge on every other house. She and Neo might just have to do a bit of cleaning up. Four more to go. Raiz narrowed his eyes, sweeping the barracks, and fingered a flamethrowing gun in his belt. Three more to go. He began to advance, his boots clanking along the metal ground, clear and audible over the booming of explosions in the distance as the two armies clashed. Two more to go. He stopped. Nyx swallowed as she advanced towards the final building she had to prime. No risks could be taken with letting even one building survive - each one held two hundred soldiers and if any of them were to reach the front, the battle would go awry. The horn sounded for the soldiers to exit the barracks and move to the battlefield, and boots started thundering inside. Nyx made a dive for the final house, but in a split second Raiz whirled around, grinning.

"Gotcha."

She saw a flash of flowing metal on her right and twisted just in time to feel a searing, burning pain in her shoulder. She felt herself jerk backwards and before she knew it she was pinned against the side of the last building she needed to prime by a burning hot metal harpoon through her right shoulder.

"Gah!" she cried, gritting her teeth, and her eyes met with Raiz's through a haze of pain.

"Like a rat caught in a trap," he smiled, showing off his rows of clean white teeth. "To think you infiltrated all the way here."
Nyx ignored both his waffling and the pain in her shoulder and reached down behind her back and attached the final bomb to the side of the barracks.

"Grab her," Raiz ordered. "We can use her as a hostage and then interrogate her for information after our victory."
She finished setting up the bomb and gripped the detonator tightly between the fingers of her free arm. Her hand was shaking.

I don't want to press this… but not doing so is probably a worse idea.

"Ah, and also, quickly check the barracks. She may have tampered with them," Raiz was saying.

Four soldiers approached her, one of them holding a pair of cuffs. Nyx squeezed her eyes shut.

Dammit!

Just then, a barrage of blue streaks tore the soldiers to pieces and their cuffs and weapons clattered to the ground. Raiz whisked around to find Neo's knee rushing at him, but he managed to block it with his forearm.

"So there were more of you rats!!"

Neo ignored him and slammed the tip of his boot into Raiz's mouth, catching him off guard. The golden knight stumbled and collapsed, the world swimming around him, as his four guards raised their guns. Nyx whipped out her pistol and fired at them, some of the bullets being blocked by their thick armour but others punching through. Two of the guards fell, and Neo used the opportunity to kill the rest. Guards began to spill out of the barracks, shouting and running towards them, but Neo dodged past a few and arrived by Nyx's side.

"It's burning hot," she warned.

"No worries. It'll hurt a bit though, since it cauterized the wound as soon as it entered.
He grabbed it with both hands, the heat searing off his skin and pressing into his muscles, but he ignored it and yanked with all his power. The harpoon tore out of Nyx's skin and he threw it aside, impaling a nearby guard.

"Ugh!"

"There's not a lot of bleeding cuz of how hot it was, just from when I tore it out," Neo said, grabbing her around the waist to steady her. "Let’s get out of here."

"The… the mi-"

"Yeah, but let's get out of here first."

As the guards opened fire, Neo fired a grappling hook into the Second Wall and the two of them were yanked into the air until they came to a stop against the side of the giant metal wall, over fifty meters above the barracks.

"Did you finish your side?" she asked.

"Yeah," Neo replied. "Pity Tentee isn’t here to see this."

"Where is he right now?"

"Completing his mission."
There was a yell from below as the soldiers discovered the bombs, but it was too late. Neo thumbed the detonator and a gigantic fireball rolled into the air in the middle of Halycon Major, far behind the front lines. Raiz clambered to his feet just in time to see a wall of flame rush straight at him, and thousands of soldiers were instantly turned to dust. There was no time to lose.

"Let's go," Neo said. "We need to get you patched up, and then it’s right back onto the second stage."

Over the radio, Sword's voice crackled in.

"Good work," he said, and that was it.