Steel and Mana

The battle was going on for eternity, at least that was how the soldiers felt, standing atop the Wall. One line was about to rotate, letting fresh arms stand at the front while the warriors, drenched in monster blood, took a few moments to breathe and rest. But just then, a surprising darkness had fallen onto them without anyone noticing at first. What made them look up was the loud cracking noise and the meteor crashing down in the middle of the beast tide.

A strange, humanoid monster landed before the Wall, throwing, squashing, and stomping on monsters; its pink-painted frame quickly becoming crimson after its sudden arrival. It slammed into the frozen earth with a seismic boom, just twenty meters in front of the Wall, making the world shake, at least that is what the soldiers felt in their bones.

"Now this is a party that needs a bitch like me!" Yuri laughed, causing the fighting to stop as the voice that came from her mech was a distorted, deep mechanical tone, uttering the exact same words.

Not that she waited to see the reaction of men and beasts, moving to accomplish her mission, enjoying the rush of adrenaline. The only drug she had been using since marrying Leon. The twin spear racks mounted along its back hissed open, and then, two five-meter lances clicked into position with a mechanical clang as she grabbed onto them. In a fluid motion, she aimed at one of the bastards, readying himself to ram against the Princess.

The bone-armored rhino-creature snarled, recognizing her appearance as a challenge, and pounded toward the pink mech, its hammer-shaped limbs cracking the backs of dozens of the other, bug-like beasts, ignoring them in its mad rush.

"Not today!" Yuri chuckled, "Let me fuck you up!"

She launched the first spear at the end of her shout. The weapon screamed through the air, giving out a loud, whistling noise. There was no magic involved, only raw power and the law of physics. It struck the monster in mid-charge, and the attached cylinders around the spearhead exploded with a concussive blast that threw the monster's limbs, broken carapace armor, and shards of bone a dozen meters wide as it groaned and moaned, buckling.

It was still alive... but half of its skull was gone, only lying there to twitch and convulse until bleeding out. The Khulmani warriors on the Wall were stumped, barely comprehending the events playing out in the past few seconds.

"A steel god...!"

The Princess raised its second spear the moment the first one had left its grip. Yuri's mech stomped forward through blood and cracking carcasses, as the smaller variants, as if sensing danger, tried their best to go around it and avoid it at all costs. The second throw was even more violent, thanks to the fact that the spear was magic-infused this time. There were not only gunpowder cylinders around its head, but a formation inscribed on it by Sasha, coming alive the moment Yuri had thrown it.

It landed straight in the way of two running, bone-headed beasts, exploding in such a bright flash that it made the soldiers watching turn away, shield their eyes, and see white for a long time after. What remained was a crater, charred bits of monster meat, and rushing water, filling the crater from above through the melted snow. It was a strange sight as the steam in the air froze very quickly, fell back to the ground like an ice-storm, and created a frozen, icy hole in under a minute.

"Now this makes me wet, ahaha!" Yuri grinned, turning towards the remaining targets.

She was already loading two more spears, cycling them from her storage unit, strapped to her back. This time, she was a bit more direct, and with a jump, she was among the thickest of it, swinging the two weapons, stomping on anything below her, hearing how bones snapped. It was revealing the ecstasy she was feeling as their gore sprayed all over her body. It was just like in old times... She couldn't stop grinning, her eyes twinkling, causing the mech's outer, red receptors to flash as well.

"Come on then," she challenged them, "Let me show you how humans fight!"

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The hiss of pressure locks opening whipped into the inner bay of the Camelot.

Pion's boots were already moving as the drop door opened beneath him and the rest of his squadron. The team of Avalonian soldiers launched from the Camelot's belly, jumping down without hesitation, becoming falling, black phantoms. As if nothing was more natural, they straightened at the right moment and their fall slowed down rapidly, allowing them to step onto the Khulmani Wall without much, if any, issues.

In the whirl of battle and constant shouts and monster growls... they came almost unnoticed and unheard. Only the Khulmani archers near their landing site froze in shock, watching the head-taller, skull-faced black figures appear from thin air. One young warrior nearly let go of his bow as five of the Avalonian soldiers dropped beside him without a sound whatsoever.

"W-who...?" He tried to ask, but then the wall behind them cracked.

One of the rhino-beasts had rammed at it again, and this section was beginning to buckle. The much smaller insectoid monsters had started scaling up at once, their claws striking into the wall's rough stone, using it to pull themselves up. Of course, the Avalonians didn't answer, simply pulling their weapons, activating their effects, and striding forward to meet the attack.

"Hold the line!" Pion's voice came through their headsets.

His men's only answer was a loud roar as they rushed past the stunned Khulman troops wherever they landed, forming a tight wall of dark figures along the inner edge of the battlement, just in time for the first monster claws to reach the top. Too bad for it, its claw was met by blade and boot, kicking them back down. One tried to leap over them all, but an Avalonian buried a burning axe into its frame, splitting it through the middle.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

At its thickest, Pion was leading the charge.

He leapt clean over the Wall, his glaive spinning with a crackle of lightning energy, landing on the back of a bone-armored bastard that was there to keep headbutting the Wall, and he couldn't let it demolish it. With one slash, he split its armor, but it was not enough to fell the beast that began trampling and bucking like an angered bull. It was too thick to do actual damage with just one slash. But he was not alone, and the Khulmani commanders regained their senses by then, shouting new orders.

"They are with us!"

"Back to the front! Ballistae! Aim at the monster's underside when it rears onto its hind legs!"

"Push forward! With them!"

By then, Khulmani and Avalonian fought side by side, shoulder to shoulder, and soon a second Avalonian jumped over, landing precisely next to Pion, using his acid-dripping two-handed sword to hack the armor of the beast open. With the support of the Khulman javelins, landing in the monster's belly when it tried to throw the Avalonians off, it was finally finished, made to fall and groan in pain.

But, there was still a tide present. And it was not yet over, even if Yuri had already drawn all the remaining bone-headed ones to only focus on her.

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From the command deck of the Camelot, I watched the battle play out, shaking my head, ignoring Yuri's usual comments after landing in the midst of it. For now, the Khulman soldiers were holding it steadily again, and all should be well. However, the real problem was still the others that were far behind the battlelines.

I had no idea how much more the Khulmani mages would take before buckling. Then, if one of the enemy spells landed, thousands would be gone just like that. While the smaller variants possessed animalistic intelligence, these were at a size where they had likely already formed a monster core, losing most, if not all, of it. The Khulmani shamans were fighting to deflect their attacks, and from the one image we snapped, the poor old shamans had sweat freezing on their brows as they were working their best to keep up with what was being thrown at them.

"Load batteries one through four on the front," I ordered, "I want to see what they are capable of. Start with pure magical bombardments."

"Cannons ready," Kustov reported a moment after.

"Open fire."

When the cannons were fired, the ship had a deep, guttural rumble run through it. The spells were full-power but straightforward shots from my Airship. Nothing fancy or complicated, just fire-spells cranked to the maximum that a cannon could handle. They hit without obstruction, and the monster we aimed at was torn to shreds in the impact.

I saw its limbs being blown off and spinning through the air. The beast's skull imploded from the direct hit first, and then its insides caught on, the magic gathering within it going haywire, resulting in an outward explosion. Of course, it wasn't strong enough to crack any core that it may have had... but it did remind me of that for a moment. Brr.

"No sign of magical defenses." Kustov reported, "Should we...?"

"Turn towards the rest, give them a full broadside volley. Fire all cannons, including the physical variants."

"They are targeting us." Sasha suddenly chimed in, keeping a close eye on the situation.

"Activating the anti-magic spells." Mikan followed up at once, and true enough... this time, when they tried to release their magic, it just fizzled out the moment it appeared.

"I think the Khan will be happy with our performance." I smiled a little as the ship shook below me once more.

Another volley, and this time around, it was ten times more violent than the forward-facing guns. This was the full firepower of my personal vessel... and it obliterated this tide's backline. It was like... target practice.

"Sound the horns!" I ordered, letting the Camelot's warhorn blow in triumph, while down below, the shamans finally managed to straighten their crooked backs as the pressure had lifted on them... for now. "Fire the other side, aim at the horde. Start circling around the battlefield and maintain suppressive fire on the beasts."

"Executing!" Kustov yelled, giving out the orders for the crew on board.

"Any sign of flyers?" I asked.

"None," Sasha reported after looking over the results from our scanners.

"Keep an eye out for them. It would not be the first time that some monsters have a hunter's instinct and lie low until they see an opportunity to pounce."

"Yes, Sovereign," everyone answered as we were rotating our firing cannons, bombarding the tide that began to thin out. Looking at the Imaginary, my gaze swept the battlefield once more, comparing the images of the start to how it was now... And well... Air superiority is no joke.

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The battle had ended about an hour ago, but the wind refused to settle at all. It kept howling across the steppe, and if not for the fact that, in the cold, the torn-apart limbs were frozen to the ground, they would be rolling around in the snow, painting both a comical and grim picture at once. Smoke was still rising from multiple spots around the battlefield, and the snow had become a mix of grey, crimson, and black by now, no longer the pristine white it had been.

Rhanak stood once again atop the command tower of the Wall, looking over the destruction, taking notes in his mind. It ended much better than he first expected, but he kept himself from showing his actual thoughts. They had won, and he had to say, Avalon was actually convincing in their show of strength. They even made it so he didn't need to activate the Gauntlets, something he would keep back from using as long as possible, knowing the beasts could adapt. And a weapon can't be a surprise more than once...

At the moment, the Khulmani warriors were shifting through the dead, marking the fallen and checking the wounded, separating them. Knowing that even in winter, the dead could pose a danger for the living, they hauled the corpses away on sleds and then burned them in newly dug pit fires, sending them to meet their ancestors and to rest with pride.

"Final tally?" he asked without turning, hearing Bakhi walk up to the tower. Still keeping silent for a moment, he stepped beside him, his own face gray and worn, with a new scar running across his right forearm.

"We lost twelve thousand on the Wall," He reported, "Another two thousand dead among the cavalry who were sent out herding the retreating tide so our allies could finish them off."

"...fourteen thousand," the Khan murmured, "Not bad."

"Another five thousand are still between being wounded and dying. Two thousand who are not critical but maimed enough to not be able to fight anymore. Our shamans are working through them, but they, too, need rest. My Khan... without Camelot's arrival, we would've lost far more."

"I know," Rhanak grunted, shaking his head.

The Khan didn't answer further. Instead, his gaze drifted towards the Airship, hovering above them all, and then at the pinkish warmachine, standing straight. The shock of their arrival had not faded from the regular troops, and he was aware of that. He just couldn't tell if later on this would be a challenge to their own, to the God of War himself... or not. He was the Son of the War God, Toobu... What if they start saying now there is another? Or... a daughter of your war-god, if ever there was one. Thinking of it, this time, Rhanak allowed himself a small, humorless smile.

"Times are changing..." He shrugged, turning around and heading down the tower, "Now that it is over, it is time to meet with the Sovereign of Avalon. I am curious to finally see the man who made all this possible..."