Chapter 40: Chapter 36: Raid
Specter went ham on the Sarkaz. The front line goliaths that were hauling huge swords fell prey to her weapon and it ripped them apart with ease. Especially because it was rated against seaborne.
Her saw heated up until it went red hot and she was splattered with blood. Like a wild berserker, Specter ignored ranged fire on her and the arrows that slightly pierced her skin were meaningless against her.
"Kyahahaha! Come on! It is a good day to die! Send more!" She laughed like a maniac and the vampire squad led by the twins began to move.
Alastor raised her hands and the blood that was spilled on the battlefield began to pool around her. They turned into vicious looking swords that are serrated to cause more bleeding.
Her sanguine blades then attacked the vanguard even more fiercely than Specter and it all went downhill from there.
As more enemies fell, blood that fell to the ground increased. "Follow the lead of the lord of crimson!" The Silverlance pegasi entered the fray without a moment's notice and they were the top knights of Kazimierz indeed.
Enemy leaders fell one by one as their heads exploded and Platinum cranked her gun's bolt and a new bullet chambered in the barrel.
"One shot, one kill." She breathed in and another guy's head exploded violently like a watermelon that got stomped on.
"Restrict their arts! Kill them all!" Sonus barked orders and they quickly drew on the air. Runes appeared as the banshees used their unique arts and the Sarkaz enemies were unable to use it.
"Fire! Kill them! No mercy to the enemies!" Zofia used her gifted whip blade to pierce an enemy's skull and rhythmic gunfire were heard all over the battlefield as they flanked the enemies.
"Seems like we're harvesting some wheat aren't we Lappland-chan?" Degenbrecher bisected a Goliath mercenary in half with her longsword.
"Kyahahaha! Tell the baws we should do this more often!" Lappland was zooming around the area and killed as many as she could, she was holding back a lot in Paradiso after all.
Hannah and Vina put a hand on their mouths and they were even concerned about the enemy. "Bloody hell, they're killing them all like they're pigs in a slaughterhouse." Vina frowned heavily.
The members at the back then puked their guts out when they saw the Nachzerer eat the corpses like it was the best thing ever.
Vina and Hannah went green when they saw it and gagged at the sight. They were cannabalizing the Sarkaz and it was a feast.
"Hmm, the lord will be happy to know that the sanguinarch is here." One of the Nachzerer's eerie voice sounded out.
"Their military might is next to none, how can anybody compete against that?" Hannah winced. She knew that they'll be in for something dangerous.
But the knights bisecting enemies like soft pieces of meat and the back line getting gunned down was too brutal for some gang members that hasn't seen a real battle before.
"Die!" They heard someone shout behind them, one of the enemies snuck up on them and was about to hit them with a large sword.
But before he could, they heard a wet smack and they got bathed in blood and brains as a hammer hit the enemy on the head.
"You won't get injured with your armor, but be careful of getting kidnapped." Mudrock warned them and she had a black energy shield on her that stopped arrows like they were wet noodles.
"T-thanks." Hannah muttered subconsciously and she was shocked that a shorty like Mudrock could swing that heavy hammer.
They then saw her speen and bodies exploded whenever they get hit by her hammer that produced an eerie sound whenever it was swung, no doubt enhanced by arts.
"You still want our protection?" Ash turned towards them and his sword was greedily drinking the blood that dyed the ground red.
"Y-yes your majesty." Vina replied meekly, she never saw him stand so close to her. He towered over them and his slitted eyes were glowing.
"Good, how about I give you a good show?" He slammed his hand down on the ground and a group of stragglers that were running around like headless chickens got smothered into a red pasted into the ground.
A handprint appeared on their location and he was satisfied at his progress in telekinesis. He then raised his hand and some enemies started to scream.
"Ahhh! I feel hot! Help! Help! Help!" A nameless Mook started to glow brightly and he suddenly exploded into chunks. Turning into a human bomb, shrapnel of bones hitting his squad.
A chain reaction then formed and Ash smirked at the Glasgow gang. "W-what was that?" Hannah could only gasp in horror.
"That? concentrated all their life and turned them into a bomb, awesome right?" He laughed and Hannah released some rainbows.
"That's not that bad, you should see what Alastor is doing." He pointed at the spunky twin and she was bending the enemy's blood while it was still inside their bodies. She pools them all into their heads at a split second and their heads explode like a bloody firecracker.
"T-thank you for the show your majesty..." Vina closed her eyes as she broke into a cold sweat. Doubting her decision to try and have protection from Paradiso.
After a few more minutes, everything went quiet and all that was heard were the metal armors of the knights and the imperial army of Paradiso.
The Nachzerers were delighted and began packing up the bodies that aren't too ruined and would store them as their meat supply for later.
"T-they're looting the bodies... Ugh, I'm gonna get sick again." Hannah's imagination ran wild. And it didn't help when they saw one of them took off a head for a snack and crunched on it like a jawbreaker.
Alastor then controlled all the blood that was spilled haphazardly and their demonic weapons sucked it all up happily. Cleaning everyone up, with only dust being left behind.
"Our losses?" Ash asked Margaret that was reporting and she smiled. "Only slight injuries, the worst being Specter. But you know how she is, that woman is like a tank."
Margaret looked at the nun that was kneeling on the ground and prayed with a feverish expression and sighed.
They then set up camp right then and there, sending out scouts to gather people left and right. It was a pretty massive platoon. So they weren't worried about another enemy attack so soon.
Lunch was then served and the almighty curry powder would of course give strength and deliciousness to the troops.
"So? did you talk well to your subordinate? Alexandrina." Ash was inside a tent and the Glasgow gang was right there with him.
"Yes, she will behave herself from now on." Vina elbowed Hannah on her side and the tigress prostrated herself.
"Please forgive me your majesty." She was sincere now, after all. She knew how fearsome their army was. They massacred a platoon of Sarkaz, reputed to be one of the strongest soldiers in the world like they were wet tissue paper.
"Good, don't call me majesty too. Call me Ash like the others, I give you that privilege." He had to put on airs and he dismissed them. He had a call to make to the empresses.
"Hah, we're safe... For now, listen mate. Don't you bloody do anything that will make him angry, understand?" Vina glared at Hannah and she nodded quickly.
Ash dialed his phone and called for the empresses. "Oh my, it's tea time right now Ash. Why the sudden call?" They were enjoying some snacks and tea with Gertrude.
"I have a bit of situation here in Paradiso, the missing crown princess of Victoria appeared for protection. It seems Londinium got attacked by Kazdel." He sighed and they were quite surprised.
"Really? Then take care of her well yeah? She'll be the empress of Victoria. That's good you have Victoria in your grasp too." They sipped tea nonchalantly.
"There you go again, this is Victoria we're talking about. Take this more seriously won't you?" He rolled his eyes.
"But won't it be fine if you just keep her there for now and then return to Victoria later? Sweep them all up in one fell swoop?" Gertrude offered advice and he nodded.
"Ahhh, that is true isn't it?" He thought about it. They'll just announce that Alexandrina requested sanctuary from them and they'll make Theresis all jittery and twitchy with Paradiso backing her up.
"Yeah, why are you worrying about it anyway? We can annex Londinium pretty easily, you just sent in some of your ghosts and destroy the turrets on their walls, easy." Soleil explained a simple plan.
"Why are you anxious Ash? It's not like you?" Luna noticed something was wrong with him and he couldn't burden them with the matter of Feranmuts right now.
They might look like they're slacking, but there are tons of backed up work when they returned. And they're also helping Mlynar with managing Kazimierz. He was inexperienced as a head of state.
"I don't know, maybe I'm just too much of a busybody these days? I should really use a vacation or something. There's no rush, right?" He rubbed his temples.
"Yeah, we're here to help you too. Just relax a bit and don't get burned out by work." They assured him and he ended the call.
"A vacation huh? Now that I think about it, Enya and Kjera are having a vacation in my city. What the heck's with that?" He just helped Kjerag with its impending civil war and they were the ones getting a vacation.
"Ash?" Viviana entered his tent and she stared at him blankly. "Yeah? Are you okay Viviana?" He asked about her mental status.
"It's fine, I'm a knight. Even though I'm not a campaigning one like the silverlance pegasi. I can still handle it." She sat down besides him and just stared at him.
"What's with the staring young lady? Didn't Ioleta teach you that's rude?" He chuckled and she squinted her eyes.
"You're stressed." She noticed that he wasn't that energetic and he shrugged. "Happens to all of us."
She silently stood behind him and started to rub his shoulders. Not that it was doing anything, his muscles were like steel fibers that are woven together.
"What's with the shoulder rub?" He thought it was ridiculous. "Hmmm, I used to do it for Ioleta a lot."
"Ahhh, is it because she's an old coot?" He chuckled and wondered if she was teaching Mlynar well.
"She was a busy person. Not as busy as you though, I doubt anyone is." Viviana couldn't think of anyone that has as much responsibility as him.
He just looked at her with a raised brow and shrugged. He patted the seat beside him on the couch and started reading on some reports.
"You like to read, right Viviana?" He remembered that her hobby is reading novels.
"Un." She sat down and nodded at him. "Well, you can check your phone. It has an application that stores a lot of books." He guided her with her phone and her eyes sparkled.
"What about you though, you're stressed." She tilted her head and he opened his phone too. "I think we should just read together, enjoy the peace and quiet while reading."
They both started reading quietly and Ash forgot about his problems with Ling, Chongyue, and Dusk.
"Ahhh, Nian reported that she could only make a thousand rounds a day? That's a lie of course." So he planned and letting her make 30mm rounds from now on.
It wasn't good to push her anyway, she must know how devastating their firearms are and is limiting their mass production.
Viviana glanced at him from time to time and didn't expect that he would be reading reports, not books.
But he looked concentrated and focused, so she just left him to his own devices and brewed some tea.
"Ash, take a break." She poured some for him and he nodded. The teacup floated right to his lips. His hands typing on a laptop without lowering his efficiency.
"I told you to take a break." She grabbed his head and put it on her lap.
"Hmmm? What's this, a lap pillow? I can still work you know?" He thought it felt nice, but there's still a lot on his backlog.
"That's why you're so stressed, stay there for a moment." She stared at him with her blank expression and he yielded.
She then continued reading on her phone and their camp was pretty quiet right now so there was nothing disturbing them.
"Why'd you accept being engaged to me by the way?" Ash was curious and Ioleta wouldn't really deny her the right of refusing.
"I got inspired..." She reminisced their time at Kazimierz where he asked Dikaipolis to gather the less fortunate.
"Inspired? I actually left Kazimierz to my subordinates, I didn't really do anything inspiring?" He was confused a bit.
"That time... Do you remember? When you helped those infected and gave them medical supplies. Fed them too?" She could still remember it vividly like it was yesterday.
The child that went up to him and was happy that they could eat. She donates almost all of her proceedings to charity, but that was the first time she saw something like that happen.
"Hmmm, ahh. When we treated them and set up a soup kitchen? That was to boost Dikaipolis' popularity. I left the infected to him in Kazimierz." He explained and she shook her head.
"You might think so, but why go the extra mile? I think it's because you're a good person deep down." She complimented him.
"You're gonna make me blush. Don't overthink it though, everything I do has a reason. And it's not out of the pure goodness of my heart." He sighed.
"I don't think it's like that." She combed his thick hair with her fingers subconsciously.
"Then you are free to interpret my actions however you like." He closed his eyes and her fingers actually felt quite nice.
She stared at him and smiled. And after a few minutes, his breathing got softer and slower.
"He fell asleep huh? I guess he's more tired than I thought. Even though everyone says he doesn't need to sleep." She whispered softly and thought it was quite nice to talk someone.
"Ash... Ah, Viviana. He fell asleep on you? He must be heavy." Margaret appeared and she was surprised that he fell asleep.
"Not really, we're knights remember. I can do this all day." Viviana replied and Margaret didn't hassle her anymore.
"But to think that he'd fall asleep on your lap. He must have been relaxed because of you." Margaret chuckled and thought that the candle knight had that kind of aura.
She has a sweet voice and the scent of flowers and candles makes you quite drowsy.
"Is that so? I'm glad he can be like that with me then." Viviana gave a rare smile and Margaret sighed.
"He's such a sinful bastard eh. Not that I mind, this was inevitable. I picked him knowing this." Margaret sat down in front of them and they talked a bit about their careers as grand knights in Kazimierz.
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"Sir, the platoon that was sent to their location has been annihilated..." The confessarius reported to the sanguinarch and he frowned.
"Annihilated you say?" The confessarius nodded and he squinted his eyes.
"I see... But that's quite a big force, are you sure?" The sanguinarch couldn't believe it and it was a blow to his pride. He gripped his wine glass hard and it shattered into pieces.
"100%" The confessarius assured and the sanguinarch glared at the air in front of him.
"Theresis needs to know of this." He started writing a letter and thought that Paradiso would be a harder problem than they've thought.
Everybody had the preconception that they were just a charity group that took in infected. But if they annihilated one of the armies in Kazdel that the royal court painstakingly gathered. It seems that things aren't that simple.
A few weeks passed and the sanguinarch departed to Victoria secretly in order to help Theresis capture Londinium faster.
He needed to convey the message about their dangerousness too. In the past, the royal court just thought they liked to poach orphans and other infected to their cause.
But they had a fearsome military. And their operation to gather citizens of Kazdel was a huge success.
There were some spies planted here and there. But with them being observed by Platinum and the ghosts, they got quickly eaten by the Nachzerers and all their other spies got outed quickly.
The harvest was bountiful and they got tons of new workers for the economic mobile city of Paradiso.
And a lot of them had some fighting experience too. So they are training well to be in the military.
It was a good haul and Ash was pleased. Though he needed to create more AOS and suppressants. Because Sarkaz are really susceptible to oripathy due to their compatibility with originium and arts.
So he gathered everyone and there was a serious atmosphere. He clasped his hands and looked at everyone.
"So... We have a huge problem." He squinted his eyes and they gulped. Even Lappland listened intently.
"I'm having burn out. Does any one of you know of some place where I can have a vacation?" They blinked and everybody were shocked.
"Huh?" They can only utter that line and they gave him a weird look.
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Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.
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