Steel and Mana

Watching them work, the hive rebuilt the damage faster than I thought possible after the massive worm got back underground. No sooner had the mother beast disappeared beneath the ground and the tremors stopped, all the bugs surged forward, climbing over each other, erecting the fallen tower back into place, and resealing it with that strange, waxy thing they had lying around here. One thing I have learned since serving my Sovereign is to make proper deductions... The fact that they didn't use it when attacking the Wall meant that this... sludge was not made by the bugs. This could mean that it is either an excretion of the worm or a previously unseen monster belonging to this hive.

From our position, digging ourselves back under the snow, I just hoped we would remain as such... If any of us were to be discovered, I gave the order to cut all feeds and that the located party should try to escape. I know it was a bad order... Because most likely the bugs would follow... But... hopefully, the rest of the squad would remain hidden while we sacrificed one of our own. I did not want it to come down to that, though.

While thinking, the wind was picking up, too, finally getting cold enough for me to feel it through my armor. No matter. A little bit of cold doesn't mean anything to the elite of Avalon. Ignoring the feeling, I stayed crouched, watching and waiting.

The next tremor came about an hour later. Tsk...

It was softer than the one before, if that means anything, because it still made the snow ripple like it was water. Of course, the bugs reacted first. We watched them freeze mid-motion before it even became recognizable for us, their bodies twitching. Then, when it ended, they moved faster than ever before, scattering and making, for the first time, loud clicking noises. They felt... more urgent, as if the hive were getting orders from the worm. That was my conjecture at least...

Then, another tremor ran through the land around midday, and it was shorter, but also much sharper. If I am right, then it felt like a warning of some kind.

"Did anyone else's teeth tingle?" Thorken asked, his voice sounding tight in my headset. "I swear I felt something weird about it..."

"Same reaction here." Korr added, "I just reapplied my blood tattoo ten minutes ago, and I felt it in my spine. That was filled with beast magic, I would bet on it."

"Same," I grunted, feeling that this was getting worse than I wanted to admit, "It's getting impatient. I am now sure that the horde we stopped with the Khulmani warriors was sent away to find food. "

And that was worse... Because from that group, nothing returned...

By early afternoon, we'd counted four more distinct tremors. Each time, the hive responded more frantically than ever before. By the third, the flyers rose to the sky, circled around, and flew out overhead, disappearing westward. It made my blood freeze for a moment, but they were so frantic, they didn't notice us. Then, they returned after half an hour before dropping down again, as if trying to report to their boss. Its answer was the fourth tremor, which was short but the most violent of them all.

"They're out of CC," one of my men guessed, "Trying to harvest scrap now... And I bet that the big guy will not be happy about it."

"They're scraping the barrel," Korr agreed, "Maybe it will swallow the whole hive. Are they hostages?"

"Why not let it eat them? I say go ahead!" Thorken snorted, and I was about to add my own thoughts to it when the radio crackled.

"...zz..." Static hissed in our ears, just enough to make me twitch before the line cleared to be audible. "...Co....Pion," came General Oleg's voice through in bits. "We've arrived... Artillery... being... and set up."

By the breaks in the signal, they had to be much further out, at the edge of our receiving capabilities. I leaned forward, brushing snow away. I'm not sure if it helps, but I wanted to ensure my reply gets back to them. It was paramount to do so...

"This is Pion, General Oleg. The situation has changed! Do you copy?"

"...zz..." There was an uncomfortably long pause... but, "Go ahead."

"The nest has a massive worm under it," I said. "It is, at least, I repeat, at least sixty meters in height. It had emerged briefly before dawn, its armored body and a mouth capable of eating a mech whole if it wants to... Or take a bite out the Camelot itself... We witnessed how the flyers are feeding it CC, but they have run out of it, and it is clearly not satiated. Every tremor it causes triggers more panic amongst the bugs... Our issue had become not the hive but the thing under it."

"...Understood." The General's voice lost its usual steadiness for half a breath when his answer finally came back. "Will relay to Sovereign. Estimate on eruption?"

"No clue," I answered, sighing, "But it's getting worse. If we wait too long, that thing is going to do something, and I am unsure what."

"..zz..." There was a long silence on the other end, only transmitting static for a minute, "Acknowledged. We'll double the pace of the setup, and we have a meeting scheduled. Prepare for marking."

"Acknowledged, Pion out."

As the feed clicked off, I slowly stood from my position... It was time to work. As for what the Sovereign will come up with, we can guess, but we won't. We will simply follow the orders and accomplish his task... that is how Avalon will win against these abominations.

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Aboard the Camelot, I was standing still, holding a cup of hot coffee, my eyes a bit darker than usual with the little sleep I had. Not that it was problematic, I had much worse to go through in the past, I was simply unused to it here... Well, my mind easily recalled those days, so it felt... nostalgic. Of course, I wasn't alone with it, though; nobody else slept much more than a few hours while we picked up our reinforcement back home. I expected Lucca to complain a little, but he did not. He simply split some troops off and diverted them from the Pass to protect the city of Markoth while we brought most of the defenders away. Hopefully, no massive horde would come and attack them while we were here.

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Right now, in the war room, I stood there, sipping on my drink while Oleg relayed all the new information coming from Pion. It was the same group as before, but with a new addition, as Rashira was standing next to her sister, Seltana. By Lucca's report, she got used to the way we were dealing with monsters, and he suggested that she should see a different style of Avalon when we fight. So... I let her come. She was a bit surprised, seeing how Seltana was following Oleg around, giving her opinions to my General, and that he was actually considering them.

"That's the gist of it," Oleg finished his report while I was thinking about Rashira, "It's getting restless, My Sovereign. Knowing what is down there, we were lucky not to... attack and cause a massive issue. But we need a new plan."

Great... that we do, indeed. Glancing to my left, Sasha stood there, arms crossed, stifling a yawn. Mikan sat nearby, holding Luna in her lap, rubbing her head while she was still asleep. They were seated next to Galahad and Princess Fila, who was now also present... And, Yuri, of course, leaned against the wall standing next to them, with her arms folded, unbothered by the reports, her eyes meeting mine, telling me to just blast the bastards to bits.

"All right," I said, rubbing the back of my neck, chuckling, turning back to Oleg, "That worm is on a different scale. We need to deal with that; the swarm had become a secondary target."

"I agree," Sasha nodded, leaning over the table, "Our priority must be controlling the airspace... If we deal with their flying guardians, we will have a much easier time controlling the swarm below."

"We thought of the same thing," Oleg agreed, glancing towards Seltana before he tapped the map laid out before us, "The Eagle's Nest will coordinate our fighters and dive bombers. We have five bomber squadrons, which include the fighter escorts. The airship itself has been prepared and would ride into battle with them. It should focus on clearing the skies as fast as possible."

"Dive bombers will drop their payload directly into the central hole from where the worm emerged," Seltana added, pointing at the marked zone that she circled. "We can't tell how effective it would be... especially as it eats magic, but if we only use the powder weapons..."

"Timing will be key," Sasha muttered, thinking, "We can't tell if the worm will come out, hearing the commotion."

"There is nothing we can do about that." Rashira offered, growing brave enough to say what she was thinking, seeing that I was letting her sister be part of the planning this much. "But if it doesn't poke its head out, I would delay the bombing runs until we control the skies."

"Mhm." I nodded, "I would indeed do that. As for the swarm below," I continued, turning to Oleg. "How fast can the artillery be set up?"

"We're already in position," he answered promptly, "When you give the word, we'll begin the barrage and won't stop until we're out of shells or CC to send Avalon's fiery wrath towards them."

"Good. Follow Pion's relayed markings and shell them," I confirmed. "Rashira, I heard you turned out to be pretty good at ordering the artillery fire in the Second Pass? Even coming up with a good method to keep them rotating and lay down continuous fire."

"General Lucca said I had a knack for gauging distances," She nodded, flinching and blushing for a moment, but her voice and answer were calm and without stutters. "Probably thanks to practicing archery since I can walk... It is the same, just shooting... farther."

"Good. I will test you." I chuckled, "You will coordinate with my artillery to stay on target."

"..." Now, actual surprise was on her face, glancing at her sister, but Seltana didn't even look at her, making me feel like she was almost smiling. Or smirking... "I... Understand." She nodded, "I will do my best."

"That's all I ask for." I chuckled, "As for the mechs... Oleg, I want the Rook to deploy on the northern side when the barrages begin. The Princess will cover the southeast... The Excalibur will take the southwest quadrant," I continued. "They will anchor the line and crush anything trying to flee. Your job isn't to charge the nest, or to do damage, just to trap it. Nothing gets out. Understood?"

There was a long pause as everyone nodded, watching the map on the table.

"As for the worm," Sasha sighed softly. "We have to make it come out from its hiding spot."

"That we do..." I groaned as I turned back toward the table, letting my gaze rest on the map and discarding the ideas I had, until only one remained, "If it stays hidden in the earth, we'll never kill it..."

"So we draw it out," Yuri muttered. "Not that complicated. Why not dangle a big bag of CC over the hole?"

"That is what I had in mind," I smiled, "It is hungry... and I think, we can use the Camelot as the bait."

The silence hit harder than a gunshot, which surprised me. Looking up, not even Yuri was smiling as they looked at me. Even Luna woke up, blinking her misty eyes, as if she had misheard me even in her dreams.

"..." Sasha's brow slowly loosened as she began speaking, "Leon…"

"It's the only thing large enough, powerful enough, and bright enough, magically speaking, to tempt it. We have two cores installed on board... We're the lure. We hover directly over the fissure, play bait, and when it rises... we will try to make it leave its hole. When it is out in full, we hit it with everything we've got. Planes, bombers, artillery, mechs, everything."

"Well!" Yuri clapped, regaining her grin, "Now that's a plan!"

"Um..." Mikan and Luna didn't share her enthusiasm, speaking in perfect unison. "It's a risk."

"Every option is a risk," I countered, "But this puts us in control. It comes to us and not the other way around. It is hungry, per Pion's recount. If it indeed is starving, it will come out. We all know that the larger they are, the more instinctual they tend to be. It will come out."

"And if it reaches us?" Luna asked, rubbing her mismatched eyes.

"We retreat straight up," I shrugged, "The Camelot can ascend pretty high, and I doubt this thing can reach the clouds. Plus, if it opens its mouth, we can shoot directly where it is the softest."

"The Camelot is ready and won't fail you, My Sovereign," Kustov nodded as he folded his arms, ready and able.

"I know it won't," I said, "I doubt this will be the last time our whole army works together like this, to take down something nasty."

"I can somehow see that..." After a moment, Sasha straightened her back, "Then we begin at once. I'll coordinate the launch with the Eagle's Nest, so I will go over there."

"I'll stay with the artillery units," Mikan stood up, her voice more alert now, "I can help clear any magical waves, including radio and the spotting data coming in, making sure we can hit them."

"This is going to be good," Yuri cracked her knuckles. "Don't worry, I will keep an eye on Galahad~!" She winked at Luna, who was about to say something, but Princess Fila was faster.

"And on me. I somehow got roped into this... again..."

Oh my... is she coming out of her shell? I chuckled, seeing how she also blushed, realizing she had spoken out loudly and her tone was... annoyed. How cute.

"Of course!" Yuri giggled, showing her a thumbs up, "You are already family anyway~!"