Steel and Mana

"We will need to extend this... Highway." Matilda murmured, enjoying the ride towards Avalon, even if it was already winter. Passing through the borders and entering the duchy, they had already sped up their trip thanks to the wide, cleanly kept stone road, and they were now deep into Avalonian territory. "Not everyone will be able to use that train thing."

"I bet my Sovereign will be up for it if you bring it up." Pion answered, riding his horse next to her carriage.

"You seem to be in a good mood, hm?" She chuckled, leaning out the window, wearing thick clothing, breathing out a cloud of smoke.

"Of course! I am already seeing my city." He nodded with a smile, and true enough, in the distance, there it was. Yet, before Polo could also ride up next to them and say his piece, they could hear a distant explosion, snapping their heads towards where the Pass was. "It has started..."

"What has started?" Matilda asked, shaken because it reminded her of the deadly noise she experienced only a few months ago.

"Take the countess to the city; we are going to the pass!" Pion shouted, commanding the driver, but then Matilda interrupted him.

"Can I come?"

"It is your decision." He answered with a nod, putting on his helmet before the soldiers accompanying raced off, heading towards the battlefield, followed by Matilda, who wanted to see for herself what it was that the Frontier was facing every winter.

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"FIRE!" My Father roared, keeping his mark on the massive beast in the distance as our howitzers and his cannons all came to life, beginning to bombard the incoming monster.

Because it was well within our range, all of our shots hit their mark perfectly, coming down on its back. Seeing that it had no shield-like defenses, I felt relieved because it was getting bombarded without a chance to escape. It had nasty, bluish-colored blood, splurting high when we hit it, letting its massive jaw let out a high-pitched cry. Good... get fucked!

"Prepare for assault!" I ordered, letting my mech's booming voice echo within the Pass while readying my spear, equipped with a curved blade, turning it into more of a glaive, if anything.

Even though the 'mothership' was being blasted apart and already buckled, it wasn't over yet. From all over its body and from within its mouth, many smaller 'spidery' bastards were swarming out, rushing forward like a mad wave of monsters. What they hit first was the minefield, blowing dozens of them apart, showing me that these nasty fuckers were pretty vulnerable compared to what we had to deal with before. The real issue came from their numbers.

Even with the mines, at least a hundred of them, ranging from the size of a goat to that of a horse, reached our defensive line with me at the forefront. I was already swinging my glaive, slicing up a handful of them, but they showcased why they had grown such long legs. I watched, feeling all the hair on my body rising, my manhood shrinking, wanting to hide back into my body as those motherfuckers jumped high into the air, latching onto my mech, biting, slurping, and skittering around its frame.

I wanted to scream like a little girl, but there was no time for it, so I fought hard to push the feeling down. Activating my shields that flickered on when the little fuckers tried to bite into the metal, I managed to shock them and throw them off, watching them convulse in the snow. I didn't hesitate, and while I swung my weapon, using my weaker, shoulder-mounted, short-range cannons to fire at the rest, I stepped on three immobilized ones.

"Yuck, yuck, yuck!"

"COMING!"

I heard my Father's voice as the Lion arrived, igniting its flamethrowers, roasting the incoming horde, and stopping his long-range barrage. Looking at the big one, it had totally collapsed, probably dead. While the Lion began melting the snow along with the enemy, I switched weapons, taking out a spear, walking forward through the flames, and heading toward the 'corpse.'

When I thought about looking back, part of my vision changed, letting me observe as that beast that got through was now held up by our elite soldiers. I was glad to see how fluently they could work as squads, attacking in tandem or pairs and always having people there to defend their backs while waiting their turn. I saw a few of the head crabs jump high into the air over those of my soldiers, who turned out to be a problem. They landed amongst the regular troops and tried to take a bite out of them instead.

"Better get used to it and grow up fast." I murmured, knowing we would have casualties, but in a war, that is unavoidable.

Even then, by a sweep of my eyes over the battlefield, it was a clear victory. Still, it didn't make me feel relieved because one thing I managed to learn was that the first waves are always about scouting out our present powers.

Arriving about four hundred meters away from the fallen beast, it was still alive, struggling, twitching, so I took off my throwing spear, fitting the biggest explosive head onto it, and, with a perfect throw, sent it straight into its open wound, letting it explode. I saw it splinter; two of its legs flew off, and more tiny, now only cat-sized spiders swarmed out of it, screeching.

"Disgusting..." I groaned, stomping on them in droves, exterminating anything that moved, waiting for my Father to finish at his end and bring his flamethrowers over to melt these fuckers into the snow.

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Standing on the castle's walls, accompanied by the mother of Leon Louise, Matilda was shocked to see the army and the two mechs fighting against something she could only describe as nightmares. Even though she arrived late, only seeing the mop-up portion of the battle, she could still see the sometimes dead-looking... things... as they were crawling out of the snow, jumping high, right onto people before others surrounded it, hacking at their multi-legged bodies until they moved no more.

"They could easily jump up to the walls and swarm us if they get close enough..." she whispered, feeling her blood running cold, not because of the chilly weather or wind.

"Probably." Louise nodded her head, watching her son and husband in the distance, burning away the corpse of the biggest one. "But we are prepared. The ones that attacked us before were something that would have broken through a long time ago if not for my son's inventions. It all started with these..." She smiled, patting one of the Dragonfire Cannons next to them, attached to the walls.

"These are the... magic weapons?" Matilda flinched, finally realizing that at least two dozen of them were on the wall, facing toward the sneaking pathway into the beast's domain. They were the same weapons that decimated her sons' army, designed to stop nightmares they had no knowledge about.

"Dragonfire Cannons. These are by now considered obsolete. They are here to be the last line of defense, but those..." She pointed towards the backline of the black army, where the howitzers were, their cannons still smoking in the cold weather. "Those can shoot at you from a distance; you can't even see."

"Magic is scary..."

"It is." Louise agreed, chuckling, looking at Matilda's amazed countenance. She felt a kind of pride that only a child could give to a parent. "And he did it without being able to use it. Want to head in? It is warmer inside, and it will take time until they return!"

"You are surprisingly calm..." Matilda chuckled after managing to tear her eyes from the scenery, smiling at Louise.

"I am a mother and a wife." She shrugged, "I am only calm on the surface... Those two out there are my husband and only son! I need a drink after this!"

"Ahahaha... I understand. I TOTALLY understand!" She laughed, feeling relaxed for the first time in a long time, however weird that sounded. Ultimately, she follows Louise into the castle, having a long discussion with her, and feels weirdly at home from the start.

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"Damages?" I asked, standing over the burning corpse, opening a channel to my Father.

"None. You? Saw them jump on you."

"Surface-level damage only: a few scratches on the paint. The shielding, when it came to life, shocked them. It's good to know it doesn't just create a force field that negates spells or attacks but also affects the little bastards on a biological level."

"What should we do about the big one?"

"I was waiting for its core to appear!" I answered, stepping onto the burnt corpse, easily breaking it apart with my mech's hand, and locating its core, which was a rough-looking CC half the size of what operated the Lion or the Princess. "We will let the rest stay here. If I am right, this was not the only one who would come our way."

"Well, you just spoke about it, so now, for sure, it won't be!" He shrugged as we made our way back to our soldiers, ordering them to make a complete report and collect the corpses of the beasts we killed. Those that remain intact will be sent to Merlin for study. The rest? Burn it.

When the first reports were put in front of me in my tent two days later, I silently read through them, knowing that we had lost thirty-six soldiers from Elliot's army but none from my own warriors. By all accounts, our armors held out, although some were damaged in the battle, but not beyond repair. What was more interesting was that the few bone weapons we had performed wonderfully, slashing and piercing them as if they were made out of paper.

After turning over to the last stack of papers, I couldn't help but smile. As I expected, Merlin worked fast and dissected the samples we sent over, determining that these kinds of beasts differed from what we encountered before.

For one, they lacked any notable organs. They were more like a mouth, a digestive system, and that's all. He didn't even find any kind of brain-like clumps of nerves; there was nothing that suggested they were capable of complex thinking. They had a very loose arrangement of bones within their bodies, and what was there was to keep their disc-shaped form stable while moving. Even though there were many of them, the things we could use from their corpses were almost non-existent. No matter how I looked at it, it was a net negative. Even with the recovered core of the big one, we didn't get ourselves any new material for armor or weapons.

If more come over this winter, it will be nothing but us burning through the CC that we collected throughout the year and maybe lose some armor that we can't replace... Even with the support from Grayback and their new vein, it is going to cause a dip in our reserves... Tsk. The saying is true. For war, you need three things: Money, money, and more money.

Putting down the reports, I couldn't help but sigh and stretch, getting ready for some shut-eye before the next day. I know that my Mother sent word that Matilda Zimmermann has arrived, but I was not going to go back right now, not when there was a high chance that more attacks would come. I had confidence in my wives and ministers to handle everything until I had time to visit.

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"Spies?" Mirian mumbled, reading the letter that Elena had brought over while meeting with her within her palace. "They are not mine... They must be Pascal's." She concluded after thinking about it, closing her eyes, and taking a few deep breaths. "Do you have plans to deal with them? How much do they know?"

"I don't know that. But for plans, I am pretty sure we have them. Leon didn't look flustered when handing me the message."

"Good. I will look into it, though, because I am sure it is not the only place where it is happening. He had to start moving his chess pieces... Hmm..."

"What will you do now?" Elena asked, making the Empress smile, seemingly putting the issue to the side.

"Go and visit Mister Sovereign. I was invited, wasn't I? I will tell my people to prepare the ship, and we can go next thing the following morning."

"Already?" Elena gawked because she had just arrived a few hours ago, and although she WAS complaining about the trip she had to take, she didn't expect to leave the moment she arrived.

"Yep!" Mirian grinned, clapping her hands. "I was ready to go, and if not for the news that you were on your way, I would have left already!"

"You knew I was coming?"

"Please!" Standing up from the table, she smirked, "I am still the Empress of Ishillia... Pascal isn't the only one with resources, followers, and spies..."