Steel and Mana

If the Gods ever cared about something, it has to be the fact that they like pranking us... Because the moment we began moving to get a bit closer and have a good vantage point to mark the bugs' nest, the wind had picked up in strength. It grabbed onto the fresh snow, blowing it up into the air, creating a kind of... mild blizzard. I ignored it to the best of my abilities, climbing up one of the nearby trees, perching on top of it while I began marking one of the hive towers in the distance.

Each of us took our positions in the following five minutes, and our circle now encompassed roughly a twenty-five-kilometer radius. An immense perimeter, yes, but not for us. I wouldn't have believed it was possible back in the day, but... Now? I was only feeling sorry for those who were not with us.

"Thorken, mark the dome-looking nest on your end. It has been pretty active lately." I said into my helmet's radio.

"Done. I was thinking of the same thing... It may be a hatchery of some kind or a nest. Like the ones my chickens have back home."

"Korr?"

"Marked mine. It is B-2 through B-5 on the grid. I can see at least three vents in the wax layer they built there, I think they're tunnels."

"Copy that. Add it to the reports as well. When the whole thing is burnt to the ground, we will still need to go down and check underground..."

That part was not something I was looking forward to, but it was inevitable. Who knows what was hidden underground, thanks to that... worm. Trusting our luck, so far there were no more signs of multiple worms... and from what we knew, big beasts like that one are not really friendly towards other, grown variants. So, there was a low chance of it having a family down there, given its limited supply of CC.

Doesn't matter. It was going to die anyway. After today, another beast will be slain, and we will move forward to cleanse the world of their stain. I don't know if I will see the day when no monsters remain, if it can be done at all... but damn well I will try to see to it. And if not me, my son back home can pick up the blade after I have put it down.

Just as I was thinking that, my headset buzzed sharply, but then it cleared; the previously spotty and stuttery radio message became surprisingly clear.

"Mikan to Pion, do you read me?"

Oh... Lady Mikan? No wonder the signal got clearer, and her voice rang out strong and crisp, despite the distance between us.

"Loud and clear, My Lady. We are listening to your orders!"

"Just stay put," She continued, "I'm amplifying your feed through a localized line I summoned. It won't hold if you move too far, I can't rewrite the formation quickly enough for that."

"Well, lucky for us, we are not planning to go anywhere." I chuckled as the feed now connected all of my troops.

"Guaranteed, or you would risk getting into the firing lane. Rashira is coordinating the batteries now, and the artillery is in position and in the middle of receiving your marks. Get ready because soon enough, we will begin our assault. I will be connecting and reinforcing every communication spell between the troops, so stay alert for new orders and possible interference if I can't adapt quickly enough."

"Understood, Lady Mikan," I reported, "We are all ready and able."

This was it... Another battle, another skirmish... and another victory. Because we can't lose with our Sovereign being with us.

"Target's confirmed...." a new voice echoed in my ear, and I quickly identified it to be the Khulmani Princess that was sent to us... The oldest one... Hmmm... Yes. Rashira. "Marks confirmed," she continued, "Readjusting the second line of artillery..."

As she was saying, a more familiar voice spoke over her, belonging to General Oleg.

"All batteries, confirm readiness. Follow the predetermined sequences and any modification orders as changes happen on the battlefield. Forward troops... Prepare for continuous impact. Begin countdown mark for the start of Operation Cinder."

I took a deep breath, discarding all of my thoughts, only focusing on the task at hand. I was a soldier of Avalon. Nothing matters but the success of our mission.

Above us, nothing had changed after the countdown ended, but I knew the first volley was already on its way. I watched as the hive continued its steady twitching, the little monsters scurrying around... Then... There it was... an eerie but familiar whistle. The first to arrive was a mixed salvo as far as I could tell. I saw bright, burning fireballs cut through the clouds, painting their grey underside golden, followed by whistling shells bursting out from behind them and heading directly towards our marks.

The resulting explosion was marvelous to watch.

The first hit struck the edge of the hive, right on the top of the dome Thorken marked. I saw as waxy and stony bits exploded in a cone of fire and smoke, thrown into the air along with pieces of dozens of beasts. Then, there was the shattering of a tower, like glass, one of the physical shells smashing through it. Chunks of insect matter and sludge flew a dozen meters high once again, as more and more of our attacks landed.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

Sequential strikes were raining down on the bastards constantly. Since the first hit, they never stopped, not even once; it was like a fiery rain coming down instead of snow. I had to admit... This Rashira's timing was flawless. Hit after hit, the bugs were in complete disarray, as they couldn't see any enemy that was responsible for the attack, and it was just... coming from the skies.

"Fliers!" Korr barked over the feed. "They are taking to the skies!"

He was right. Because they didn't find any enemy nearby, they concluded that the attack was coming from above, from the sky. Well... They weren't wrong.

A moment later, from the clouds above, two shadows dropped down, amidst the raining shells, that felt like consciously avoiding them. It just showed how well our people worked together. The first airship to appear was the Eagle's Nest, while behind it came the Camelot. I already knew that its presence meant that our Sovereign would deal with the big worm.

Of course, they weren't alone... I already knew they were bringing reinforcements to us. I noticed the mechs hanging under them as they dropped them down, like flying giants flinging their chosen warriors onto the battlefield. It was easy to recognize the Princess's pink hull, or Polo's Rook, and the Young Lord's Excalibur. As they fell from the sky, I also saw multiple smaller specks emerging, and soon, new voices joined our radio feed, connecting with us.

By now, we were hundreds of Avalonian troops ready for battle and forming ranks behind the mechs, encircling the hive. The bugs would have nowhere to run... From the towers and walls of their hive, which weren't destroyed or set ablaze yet, the smartest of their flyers tried to catch the troops and mechs while they were falling.

But they were not fast enough.

The next wave of Avalonian reinforcements punched through the clouds like a challenging, buzzing squad of metal bugs of our own, making me smirk. They were our fighter planes with their roaring engines, accompanied by the warhorns from our mechs. I could hear their weapons firing...

The first wave of fighters tore through the bugs like they were nothing. It was... euphoric to watch.

"Eagle Squadron engaged," came the radio voice of one of the pilots. "Camelot is moving into position!"

"Get ready," echoed our Sovereign's voice now, "It is time for the main course..."

...
....
......

The sound was like a wolf's howl when we got released from under my Father's airship. I could feel it in two ways: one was through the vibrations of the cockpit, and the other was being melded with my machine, feeling it hit against me, as if I were Excalibur. We were falling fast, but I knew it was a controlled drop... Still... it was... Exhilarating. I started to understand why my brothers were excited to do... wild things. But maybe it was a bit different for me, because what I found myself really enjoying were the thousand variables I had to look out for and calculate on the fly. Finally, all the details I had always seen had a meaning, and it helped me deal with everything.

"This is the fun part," Mom Yuri's voice buzzed over the comms, cheerful and clearly in the middle of laughing, "If you get a little sick, you just have to scream, and then bam! It will help! Trust me!"

"Not helping," Fila moaned through gritted teeth beside me, and I could hear her, even through my melding was in full effect. I almost saw her fingers clutching the edge of her armrest a little too tightly. It made the leather groan...

Even without seeing, I could feel that her posture was upright, as if she were trying to look unbothered, but she was, for sure, struggling with the drop. But she remained silent and didn't yell or scream... Although... If my ear was right, she was breathing in short, quiet bursts, close to panic.

"Status check," I offered softly, while watching the monsters scurry below us, the continuous artillery fire whizzing past us, and the flying bugs getting moved down by the accompanying fighter planes so we can land uninterrupted... So many variables, yet they all come together in this moment. It was... beautiful.

"We're stable." She answered through gritted teeth, "The drop angle is... Ugh... Holding..."

"We will be touching down soon, don't worry..." I tried, but she wasn't having it.

"Wonderful," she moaned, hissing, "Then why does it feel like I'm about to die?"

"No, we won't, trust me," I answered. "I am here with you."

"I should be home, reading books..." She sniffled, as the ground was getting closer and closer, "This is the worst date ever..."

"Date?"

"Shut up! Just... Shut up! Ugh!" She moaned again, clearly panicking a little and saying anything and everything that came to her mind. Yet... on the other hand... I found myself seeing it all so clearly now. Huh. Is this what my brain likes? The chaos of a battlefield? Enjoying sifting through the noise and clearing it out for me...?

"Aaaaand I'm down! Woohooo!" Yuri called out again. "This is what I'm talking about, come you bastards, Mommy Yuri is here to fuck–"

"Cutting her mic," Fila said, her voice tight but steady, filtering her channel out with a flick of her fingers.

The hull shuddered the next moment, and the Excalibur slammed into the earth with a shattering boom, but the magic and the hydraulics in the limbs absorbed the shock and flattened a crater beneath us. We had landed without any issues.

"Touchdown successful," I reported, finding that despite it all, there was a breath caught in my throat. "Unlocking troop bay."

Behind us, the inner compartments opened with a hiss, and one by one, our soldiers disembarked from the inside, spreading out around us, ready for any incoming attacks. At the same time, I prepared our guns, already aiming at the target.

"Well done," I told Fila, who was still silent, "You didn't scream."

"I did," she corrected me angrily, her voice a bit hoarse. "Just internally... My throat is raw from the effort."

"It's fine," I laughed, but then I had to remind her, "They're coming..."

"I know..." She muttered, eyes drawn towards the same thing I was watching.

From within the burning hive, those beasts that couldn't fly were scurrying out, heading towards the enemy... Which was us. Zooming in on them, some were only the size of wolves, while others were as large as our half-tracks.

"Weapons ready, maximum power," Fila exclaimed, already tapping into the secondary core, "I'm syncing the core stabilizers to allow a stable flow of magic. Give them hell..."

"Oh, I will." I nodded and then fired the Excalibur's main gun.

It was set, by Fila, to follow the patterns best suited to deal with bugs. The moment it drew close, it exploded and rained down, a massive cluster of green-colored fire, setting the snow and their black carapace ablaze in the same way. This time, I didn't stop to watch... I knew that Mom Yuri was doing the same, and Knight Polo was using his machine and its attached flamethrowers to erect a ring of fire around the hive.

We were here to ensure that if the bugs wanted to run away, they had to go through Avalon's fire curtain and die in the process.