NOVEL NEXT 99 l Castrum Meridianum
The sun had risen past its highest peak and started its descent. Their morning and afternoon had been nothing short than playing the waiting game—waiting to hear back about the battles that ensued at each of the Castra’s.
Azlyn’s group had been on standby, waiting for news on phase two of Operation Archon. As it stood, the proceedings were going swimmingly. They were instructed to start making their way to Camp Bluefog, where Raubahn eagerly awaited their arrival. It started to reach dusk when they finally stepped in front of the Flame General.
Upon their arrival, the last of the three castra’s fell and all that remained were the last two phases of Operation Archon.
Those who were able gathered at the behest of Raubahn, who stood at the front of the gates with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked over to rabble of the people, and then turned his gaze to his side. Minfillia and Alphinaud began their approach, walking up to the Flame general. They joined him, one standing on each side as they went to address the growing crowd.
“Brothers and sisters of the Alliance! I would share with you glad tidings! Doubtless spurred on by the news at Castrum Oriens, the Maelstrom has struck a double blow! Castrum Occidens and Castrum Marinum are now under blockade!” Raubahn threw both his arms outward, as he rallied the people. “Phase two of Operation Archon is a success!”
The crowds cheered, thankful that the missions so far had been successful. Azlyn turned to see her friends beside her—Roll and Kida nodding happily, Koroko and Richiro smiling up to the Flame General, Mjnt, N’thuzu, and Ozwin quietly watched as the rest celebrated.
“Reports tell us that the Garleans offered fierce resistance—but that the Admiral yielded them not one ilm.” He closed his eyes a moment, before Raubahn addressed the crowd. “With Occidens, Marinum, and Oriens thus suppressed, the third phase may begin in earnest! Even as we speak, the Order of the Twin Adder moves to block the railway leading hither from Castrum Centri. And that can mean but one thing—The hour is come to strike at the heart of the Garlean invasion force! Castrum Meridianum, the den of the Black Wolf!”
The crowd steeled their resolve, the cheering from earlier quieted at the mention the nefarious man.
Minfillia seemed to sense the unsettlement in the crowd, so she stepped forward to speak up. “My fellow Eorzeans, I am Minfillia, Mistress of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. There exist myriad barriers that divide us—those of race and nation, language and creed, to name but a few. Such barriers serve to isolate us from our neighbors—yet they also serve to define who we are. Shorn of them, there would be little to distinguish one from another, and the rich variety of our lives would give way to sterile orthodoxy. These barriers can never truly be broken down, of course—not so long as there is liberty in the world—but they can be transcended! Verily, we do so now in coming together for this grand endeavor, to fight side by side in defense of our shared home!”
Alphinaud took his opportunity to come up, as he spoke resolutely and with purpose. “Before me stands Azlyn. You all know her as the woman who will lead the unit tasked with destroying the Ultima Weapon.”
The crowds began to murmur, gazing in the direction that the boy spoke toward. Azlyn gave him a horrified expression back, wondering what in the twelve hells he was thinking.
“We Scions know a different Azlyn, however—while most of you have read the novella depicting her valiant deeds as the Bloody Princess, or the Eikon-slayer—to us, she is a dear friend. A friend who has endured untold hardship on our behalf—a true hero who has ever blazed a path for us to follow. And why do I tell you this?” He gestured openly to the crowd. “I tell you this, friends, because it is time for us to blaze a path for her and her friends!”
Ozwin hid a chuckle, as Azlyn flushed a crimson red. If she could have smacked the lad, she gladly would have. She really hoped that this wouldn’t wind up over the newsletter in the following days to come.
“Our objective is to wreak such havoc outside the walls of the Meridianum as to afford our Bloody Princess and her comrades the time they need to disable the magitek field generator within.” Raubahn threw a fist up into the air, for all to see. “With the path thus cleared, we may finally turn our minds to the true goal of the operation—the destruction of the Ultima Weapon! All troops, prepare for battle!”
Everyone roared in unison, the rallying cries of the men and women who were participating in this battle for the future of the realm rocked Azlyn’s nerves. She wondered if they would be able to meet the expectations of all these people who fought with everything they had to offer.
“We will suffer the Black Wolf to prowl our lands no more! Let us teach the hunter what it is to be hunted!”
As the forces cheered, they started to divide and spread out. “Forward, comrades! FOR EORZEA!”
“FOR EORZEA!”
Cid walked over to their remaining group. “I fear I can’t accompany you this time. The unenviable task of facilitating communications between our forces has been entrusted to the Ironworks. Know, though, that I will be praying for your safe return.”
Kida rubbed under her nose, while Roll grinned.
“Don’t worry, we’ll send enough fireworks up that even you will see it from your station.”
Ozwin smirked. “I do enjoy breaking enemy toys.”
N’thuzu elbowed him in the side. “I like you more as Ozwin than as Nin-Nin. Gives your more character.”
“Shut it.”
Richiro gave him a thumbs up. “Don’t you worry Cid, Roll and I will be healing everyone.”
“And we shall return.” Koroko smiled, nodding to Cid.
“I look forward to that tankard, Cid.” Mjnt chuckled, as the engineer let out a laugh.
“I’ll buy you lot all the ale you want.”
“Baderon’s place would be good for a party.” Azlyn suggested, thinking that she should pay the ol’ man a visit after all this fighting.
Minfillia and Alphinaud walked to them, just as Cid waved his goodbye.
“See that you all come back to us, my friends. May the Crystal bless you and keep you all safe.”
Alphinaud spoke to Azlyn. “Go now, and bring us one step closer to the dawn!”
They were ushered by a group of soldiers, bringing them to the front gates of Castrum Meridianum. When the gates were opened, the eight of them were able to get in—and gave hope to the officers outside that all this fighting would bring about a change for Eorzea.
On the inside, they could see the grounds littered with soldiers. Ozwin punched his hands together. “Divide and conquer. Thuzu, Kida, Mjnt—split them into smaller groups. We’re going to pick them off.”
Azlyn crossed her arms, “I nominate Ozwin as leader.”
Roll chuckled.
Ozwin gave the Au Ra a side look. “And I nominate Azlyn to get some shit done.”
“I resent that.”
Kida shook her head. “Alright, jokes aside.” She notched her arrows. “Let’s light this bitch up.”
They cleared the first section of the stronghold, shutting down the search lights that alerted the flying airships above to check in. As they dispersed the imperials and disposed of them, the party soon found themselves running down a linear path to another open courtyard. They could see in the distance the glowing barrier that protected the Praetorium.
When they entered the courtyard, there looked to be a trash compactor in the far-left hand corner, and a large bulkhead that suddenly opened.
Azlyn brought out her grimoire, summoning her Ifrit-egi to her side as an enhanced magitek reaper and pilot came forth.
Koroko started to gather her aether in her staff. “Leave this small fry to me.”
The melee fighters took a step back as Koroko unleashed a hellishly large firestorm upon the reaper. The pilot, doused in flames, jumped out from the cockpit and started to roll on the ground. Mjnt personally walked over to put the lad out of his misery.
For good measure, the black mage began to smash the magitek reaper with a gigantic ice block until it buckled to the knee. She scoffed, chuckling darkly. “And that’s that.” She clapped her hands clean, turning to face the party.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear you had a personal grudge against magitek armor.”
Everyone, including Azlyn, snapped their head over their shoulder to see Cid coming up from behind them. He sheepishly waved, before explaining. “What can I say? I couldn’t bear to let you guys have all the fun.”
Ozwin snorted. “Says the guy who was in charge of communications.”
Cid chuckled. “Don’t worry, Biggs and Wedge have everything in hand. Truth be told—I think they like having the work of three men.”
Kida smirk grew wider. “Sounds to me like a pair of masochists.
“Wedge wasn’t exactly pleased to be left behind, though, and made quite sure I knew it, I must say, our recent struggles have done wonders for the lad’s spirit.”
Roll walked over to the side wall, finding a fire extinguisher on the base wall. She plucked it out from it’s spot before walking over to douse the burning magitek in white dust. The healer was halfway through putting the flames out when Cid walked by, stopping short of the reaper.
“Given the size of this place, I suspected there might be an armor or three to be had. And here we are.”
Roll smothered the last of the flames, and blew on the end of the black hose. “Is she going to live Cid?”
“Hmm, not as bad as I thought. If I have half Marques’ talent for mending things, I should be able to get it working.” He pulled out his toolkit, rummaging through his tools. As he laid out what he needed for the repairs, he caught sight of the trash chute in the distance. “Listen everyone, we intercepted an imperial communication indicating that the Ultima Weapon is indeed being housed in the Praetorium. We also learned that the field which protects the compound is powered by no fewer than three generator towers.”
Mjnt smiled. “This is sounding a bit too true to my ears.”
Ozwin had to agree with the red haired Viera. “My gil is bet on that fact too.”
Richiro gazed over to Ozwin, “Didn’t you lose your money in a bet before? You really shouldn’t keep doing that.”
“Shut it Richi.”
Kida snickered.
Cid waited for them to finish their side chatter, then spoke to Azlyn. “If you’re to deactivate the field, you’ll need to locate and disable them all. And I’m here to help you all do just that.”
N’thuzu Tia counted their numbers, liking the odds with nine compared to eight. “One more wouldn’t hurt.”
“If you all direct your attention to the chute.” He waited for all of them to face the silver-plated device. “It leads to waste disposal.”
“I don’t like the sounds of where this is going.” Koroko Koko responded sourly, while N’thuzu laughed.
“Somewhere nearby, there will be a ceruleum facility supplying fuel to the closest of the three towers.”
“COOL! Are we really going dumpster diving!?” Kida pumped her fists in the air.
Ozwin crossed his arms. “There has to be another way.”
“Scared of a little trash?” Mjnt teased.
The midlander Hyur shrugged. “I would prefer not to smell like garbage.”
“When you do go, you’ll have to find the place and break things.” Cid finally added, remembering what Ozwin had said prior to their entry into Castrum Meridianum.
Ozwin immediately looked to the chute disposal. “Challenge accepted Cid—we’ll blow it up way before you get that hunk of junk off the floor.”
“1,000 gil that Cid does.” Richiro Wichiro bet and reached a palm up for the Midlander Hyur to accept the deal. With an agreement made, the pair rushed into the vault. Azlyn yelled for them to wait, but the pair had already jumped inside.
Koroko and Mjnt soon followed, as did Roll and N’thuzu Tia. Kida was second to last to go, as she called for their white-haired companion.
“Come on Azzie!”
Cid waved her to go. “Go on ahead Azlyn. I’ll be along as soon as I finish my repairs.”
She nodded reluctantly, and then ran over to Kida. The pair stared into the dark void of the chute before Azlyn looked to Kida. “I don’t think this is such a—ah!!!” Kida pushed her in.
She screamed all the way down and landed in a huge pile of trash at the bottom. A hand reached down to pull her out, just as Kida popped out from the chute.
“Thank you Thuzu.” Azlyn muttered, disgusted mostly at the fact they fell into a dumpster filled with…trash. The Miqo’te helped the pair of Auri out before hopping out of the compartment himself.
Azlyn started to do a head count. “Where is Ozwin?”
Richiro pointed up to the ramps leading up the side of the ledge. “Doing reconnaissance.”
“Ah.”
Moments after her onomatopoeia Ozwin came running back down the ramp. He beelined straight for Azlyn. “Paper.”
She scrambled into her bag for a journal and a pencil for him to scribble. He hunkered down on the balls of his feet, drawing a quick outline of the area he surveyed. It was a simple drawing, but it had all the necessary information.
“Here. This is the pump fuel station to the right. When we go up the ramp, we’ll head north, following the path. There’s a searchlight we can disable along the way. Then we’ll cut across the path here, and into this ceruleum plant that Cid mentioned from before.”
“Do we have anything that can blow things up?”
Kida manically chuckled, pulling out her satchel. She had several pieces of unlit dynamite. “Roll and I had a ball in Sapphire Avenue Exchange, let me tell you.”
“How many enemy combatants between us and our destination?” Azlyn asked.
“Anywhere from twenty to thirty. From reapers to vanguards, to foot soldiers and wolves. We have quite a bit on our pocket.” Ozwin explained. “Oh, I forgot about the airships.” He pointed up to the sky where they could see the streaming spotlights on the ground. “If we get sighted by those, our chances of sneaking in are as good as gone—so stick to the shadows.”
With a basic plan in mind, the group went up the ramp. They would need to stealthily deal with the enemy combatants on the ground all the while staying out of sight of the airships above. Ozwin took point, leading them through the sides behind the large towers and buildings. Kida sniped the foot soldiers, and Azlyn used Titan-Egi to trap the soldiers in an earth gaol and crushed them shortly afterward.
It was a long walk from the ramps where they came from the trash, and over to the ceruleum pump booster station. Kida and Roll set up one side, placing the dynamite—and blowing it asunder. While Azlyn and Ozwin affixed the other side with dynamite.
Ozwin whistled as he set the fuse.
“You’re enjoying yourself.”
“Summon your Ifrit-egi please.”
She summoned her primal egi to her. “Light the fuse Ifrit-egi.”
The essence did as was told, blowing hot embers at the tail end of the fuse.
Ozwin grabbed hold of her arm, and together they all escaped from the station. Behind them, the explosions rocketed the skies—making it seem like fireworks had shot off.
Kida laughed excitedly as they rushed to the next courtyard that was open.
With the ceruleum pumps destroyed, they witnessed the first generating tower go down—and the energy that went into the barrier dampened. All eight of them celebrated the successful attempt on destroying the first generator.
“Now to find the other two.” Azlyn recalled, and they followed the path. It split in the middle of the junction, where two bulkheads were locked upon arrival.
“Watch out!” Mjnt called out, and they all looked up to see a vanguard drop from the sky. The magitek machine landed with an earthy thud before turning to all of them—firing canon drills.
“Do something!” The casters were scrambling to find a safe place to stand, while their melee fighters jumped into action. Their attacks were bouncing off the hardened metal of the machine, even Azlyn’s Ifrit-Egi’s claw attacks weren’t making a dent.
They spread out, trying to find a weak point when suddenly one of the bulkheads exploded nearby. They turned, looking to see what new enemy joined them—and found Cid firing canon balls to the vanguard. “There you are!” From one magitek armor to the other, the blasts were enough to tear into the vanguard and shut it down for good.
Cid strolled in, a confident smirk on his face.
“Damn—I was hoping you’d be quicker Cid.” Richiro Wichiro said, while Ozwin grinned.
“1,000 gil sounds real good right about now.”
“Money talk after we destroy the Ultima Weapon.” Mjnt replied smoothly, pushing her bangs off to the side. “Cid, it’s nice to see you.”
“I didn’t have the patience to take the long way ‘round.”
“I’m glad that you didn’t.” N’thuzu replied, looking to the vanguard that resembled swiss cheese.
“I see you disabled the first generator. Nice fireworks, by the way.”
Kida gave him a thumbs up.
An alarm went off from behind Cid—as the bulkhead he burst through buzzed haphazardly. “Ah, bugger—that was me, wasn’t it?”
They all laughed at him, shaking their heads.
“Well, there’s nothing for it but to press on. We must see to the remaining generators before the enemy has the chance to regroup.”
Azlyn sighed, nodding to the engineer. Meanwhile, Ozwin with his drawn-out paper in his hand—crushed it into a paper wad. He tossed it over his shoulder. “So much for stealth.”
“Press on this way, I’ll bring on the rear.” Cid called, while the eight of them rushed to the locked bulkhead behind him. “Let’s raise some hell!”
Together with Cid in the magitek reaper, they charged forward. Cid blew out the next bulkhead, and the party split off into two smaller groups to the side. The engineer noticed a group of clustered enemies together and fired several rounds into their group.
The fighting became easier with a magitek on their side, as well as some fortuitous cannons stationed nearby. The explosions and bombings from their groups—and Kida’s maniacal laughter, echoed in the evening. They were able to shut off another search light and arrived at the phantom train depot where more enemies lied in wait.
Cid took care of the reapers and vanguards while they engaged with the foot soldiers and wolves. They moved through as a unit, until they came to another courtyard. Cid maneuvered his reaper to the edge where he started firing at the bulkhead. “This might take a while! Watch my back!”
The eight stood guard, patiently waiting as he fired shot after shot. It was then another imperial airship flew over, and a giant Colossus with a flame enhanced sword dropped from above. This time they would have to be the ones to deal with it. “I’m almost there! Keep that thing occupied!”
N’thuzu Tia and Ozwin took point, while the casters unleashed their hefty spells upon the mechanical thing. Azlyn noticed the machine start to hunker down, as she shouted to the pair at front. “It’s charging something! Stop it!”
Mjnt jammed her spear into one of the joints, while Ozwin bashed its core with his shield. N’thuzu Tia tomahawked his axe into the head of the machine—and watched as it started to twitch and spark. Kida fired several shots of acid at it, and soaring windbites—while Roll and Richiro slammed it with spells ranging from Ruins to Malefic.
Roll lifted her astrologian globe high in the air, calling out to the group. “With the stars as our guide, bless us with your power. Divination!”
Stellar energy soaked into each of them, and Azlyn felt an increase in aetheric power within. The surge tingled, as if wanting to be released from her fingertips. She wondered if this was how everyone else felt—looking to N’thuzu Tia first—and noticed the miqo’te had a boost of additional strength in the swing of his axe. She then found Mjnt bursting with blue energy, as she jumped up high in the air. Her lance point shimmered in a blue fire as she went to impale the Colossus.
When she impacted the magitek armor, it exploded in a fiery burst of energy and magitek bits. They shielded themselves from the parts flying outward, and Mjnt landed safely back with a lofty smirk on her face.
Kida pointed to the Viera. “What was THAT!? That was awesome!”
Mjnt stowed her lance away, looking to the debris. “After Roll powered us up, I got a sense of what I should do.”
Azlyn tapped her chin, thinking of what it reminded her of. “You did kind of look like a fiery dragon when you came down.”
“WE SHOULD CALL IT THE DRAGONFIRE DIVE!” Kida pumped a fist up.
“Ladies.” Ozwin called over to them. “We have a weapon to blow up—fangirl later.”
Cid stopped firing at the side panel of the wall behind them. “Stand clear everyone. I’ve a mind to let loose some more fireworks.” They all turned their attention to him as he positioned his reaper in the center of the courtyard and started to press a sequence of buttons.
“What are you doing Cid?” Richiro Wichiro asked over the increasingly loud engine hum.
“Diverting all power to cannons!” Cid yelled, as the magitek reaper lifted to face the tower of the second field generator. They watched as the armor started to build up energy into the canon, and Cid let the enormous blast explode straight into the tower.
The energy that had been feeding into the barrier exploded into flames, and they could tell that the Praetorium was now less protected than before. All of them celebrated by throwing a fist up into the air. The reaper, having expended all its energy, powered down—most likely due to the expiration of the core. As Cid shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, he gathered his belongings together.
“Heh.”
“Nice!” Koroko Koko commented to the engineer who hopped down from the reaper.
“Damn. There goes the core. I fear I may have overestimated its maximum operating capacity—by a few orders of magnitude.” Cid grumbled. Roll ran over to help Cid with any quick repairs, but after a few moments of looking it over, he decided it was a lost cause. “I blame Marques.”
Roll chuckled.
He cleared his throat, bringing their attention to the open bulkhead just south of them. “We’ll need to find another way to bring down the third generator.”
N’thuzu Tia came up to them holding a type of key. “I found this lying on the floor.”
Azlyn took the identification tag, peering at it. “We might need it for a bulkhead to open.”
“Yeah, since we don’t have a reaper to break it down.” Ozwin teased, putting his hands behind his head. “You got any of that dynamite left Kida?”
The bard of their group nodded. “Yeah, but I’m trying to save some of it for Praetorium. I don’t know what to expect in there.”
“Probably an entire army—and then some.” Roll replied, wiping her hands with a grease cloth. She had also done a quick look over the reaper and found that it would be hard to repair given their short timeframe.
Cid waved them to move on. “You guys go on ahead. You guys will have to find an impromptu way to destroy the last generator. In the meantime, I need to go to the bottom of something.”
Mjnt curiously perked her head to the side. “Will you be alright Cid? Would you like a couple of us to accompany you?”
He shook his head. “No, you guys should stick together. I won’t be that far behind.” He waved to them, heading away to the broken wall panel that he managed to blow.
“Let’s get moving. One more generator and the night isn’t getting any younger.” Ozwin replied, leading them to the open bulkhead. They travelled down the linear pathways of the castrum—most of them looked identical to the ones they’d been down before. After finding the place scarce, the party then found themselves up to a locked bulkhead with two identification scanners, and a large gathering of imperial soldiers and a vanguard lying in wait.
Azlyn stepped forth this time, as she summoned forth Garuda-egi to her side. She remembered during her trial to make the essence of Garuda under her control, the primal summoned two smaller essences to her side. She now asked it to bring them forth.
“Garuda-Egi, smite my enemies in front of me.” She commanded, snapping her arm out. The winds picked up, as the essence cackled in delight. Her summon glided up into the sky, as she brought forth several whirlwinds upon their human blockade.
As the screaming echoed, everyone watched as Garuda took her whirlwinds and magnified it into tornados—blowing up all of them several hundred meters out into the distance.
Azlyn watched in miffed horror, hoping that her egi would never do something like that to do.
“Holy shite balls.” Kida whistled. “I knew Garuda was tough, but damn. You sent those guys—magitek and all—flying.”
“Literally.” N’thuzu Tia nodded, watching the soldiers disappear beyond the wall. He knew how it felt to be picked up like that.
Ozwin stepped forward to the scanner, retrieving a key from his back pocket. He began to scan it over the terminal. “You got that key Azlyn?”
“When did you get a key?” Richiro asked, pointing to his head confused. “I don’t remember you grabbing one.”
The Midlander Hyur cracked his neck. “Oh—yeah, while I was skulking doing reconnaissance, I swiped the key off one of the guys. Figured we would run into a security terminal at some point.” He shook his head as several delayed thumps and crashes in the distance went off. “Not like we were trying to be stealthy anyway.”
Azlyn ran over to the last terminal, holding the key over the scanner to activate it. It seemed to have accepted the scan, as the bulkhead shuddered open. Another courtyard awaited them, with several platoons of reapers, vanguards, and colossus’s waiting for them.
Roll stepped up to Azlyn. “Can you get them all to fly up once more?”
The summoner nodded. “Yeah. Easy.”
She commanded Garuda to clear out the magiteks. When Garuda-egi had gotten another powerful storm to start lifting them off the ground and several hundred meters into the sky, Roll chuckled darkly.
“There are many absolutes in this world. What comes up—will come down. Gravity!” A massive grey orb formed over all the magitek in the sky, before they all came crashing down at an alarming rate. The heavy atmosphere around them lingered as the spell fizzled. “Again.”
Azlyn turned to Garuda-Egi, commanding her to send them sailing. Koroko Koko decided to add to the mischief, causing explosions of fire and thunder in the sky.
Altogether the trio inevitably wound up crushing the magiteks in a course of minutes.
“WHOOO!” Kida cheered. “Let’s check out the two platforms on top. Maybe we can find a terminal to shut down the generator.” She charged up the first ramp, followed by Ozwin, Mjnt, and Richiro Wichiro.
N’thuzu started to run to the second platform, where Azlyn gave chase. Roll and Koroko Koko shortly followed where they found a searchlight terminal. It was identical to the one on the other fours side.
“Press it?” Azlyn hollered out.
“Press it!” Kida deviously chuckled, before slamming her hand on the panel. The alarms started to turn off, signaling an end to the blaring noise.
As the eight caught their breath, it was in that moment that several large blasts from above rocketed at them. The ground shook, causing all of them to stagger to their knees and feet. Azlyn winced as the debris of the ground below flew up at them.
“Airship! And it’s charging it’s cannons!” Richiro Wichiro shockingly grasped his cheeks.
“Get off the landings!” Ozwin ordered, “We’re sitting ducks here!”
Some of them started to scatter, jumping off or running to the ramps. Azlyn felt her linkpearl go off. “It’s me! Are you all alright!”
“Never better.” Azlyn replied, as another blast rocketed close to where she stood by the rail. She blocked the blast of heat by covering her face with her arm.
“That’s an assault craft you’re up against! You don’t stand a chance with conventional weapons!”
Azlyn darted her attention to her friends down below, using the foliage and junk of the magitek for cover. She also could see mortar cannons on the ground. About four of them looked usable still.
“You’re going to need something big to bring it down—A mortar—A cannon, anything!”
The Au Ra nodded, hanging off the rail to tell the rest of them to quickly use the mortars. “GUYS! Use the mortar cannons to shoot at it! Aim for the volatile spots!”
“Hang on! I’m on my way!” Cid said, before ending the call.
Ozwin blithely jumped over the side rail to dash to one. Mjnt went to another. N’thuzu Tia and Kida went to the last remaining two to start firing back. Roll and Richiro stayed close to the center, casting waves of healing magic on them when debris stuck.
Azlyn winced as the arsenal airship got a good hit on the platform behind her, causing her to lose her balance. She grabbed onto the rail and realized that it was broken loose by the last shot. She pushed off, flipping once before tumbling to a stop below. The bushes and trees under didn’t do well under her added weight, snapping as she tried to stop herself from falling headfirst.
By the time she pulled herself off the ground, the mortar canons that had been used to fire up to the carrier had dealt it enough damage to start veering to the side. Kida slammed her fist upon the firing mechanism once more.
“Take THIS!” She yelled, as her shot hit the front end of the ship—more than likely the command space that operated the whole ship. They watched as a chain reaction happened, as the ship dipped low--sailing and exploding—right into the last tower generator that held the barrier.
They all watched as it blazed a brilliant red—as sparks of fire and metal sailed through the night sky. Her friends reconvened in the center of the courtyard to cheer, watching the barrier go down.
Azlyn wanted to celebrate with them, but something pushed her to move beyond the first courtyard into the next. She had the strangest feeling someone was watching her—and it wasn’t a friendly one. A female voice echoed in the night sky when the explosions died down, as white-armored magitek dropped down from the high walls.
“Fools! If you are resolved to die here, you might at least have done so without first making a mess of the place!”
This voice. Azlyn heard this voice before. Her mind went back to Noraxia—and to the vision of the white-armored imperial who attacked the Waking Sands. “The Tribunis.” She glared to the armor clad woman sitting in the reaper in front of her. The color motif matched the description of what she saw from her vision. A white, black, and gold themed imperial—her mask resembled a woman’s face with no eyes. It was garish to look upon.
“I see that Garlond is not with you. More’s the pity. I had hoped to slay him myself. But never mind the traitor for now.”
Azlyn slowly stepped forward, her gaze intently upon this woman. “You’re not slaying anymore people. Not while I’m here.”
The woman cackled at her. “I have so looked forward to this meeting. Azlyn Ahz’el.” Her shock must have been evident on her face as the imperial explained lucratively. “Yes—I know much and more about you. About your strength—and your hidden talents.” The woman reached out a hand, beckoning her forward. “I would sample them firsthand—and you will indulge me.”
A couple hands clapped upon Azlyn’s shoulder, as she found Kida on her right side, and Roll to her left.
“Not on our watch lady.” Kida spat.
“We’ll pay you back for the anguish you caused.” Roll narrowed her golden amber eyes.
The other soon joined, scattering in a semi half circle around the Tribunis.
“Thanks everyone.” Azlyn released a shaky breath, then focused on the threat in front of them.
The imperial snarled, firing her canon to her. It was effective enough to split their group once again—as they all moved out from her hiring range. Although Azlyn had a feeling that she was the one who she wanted to kill the most. The Au Ra gritted her teeth, “Think…think…”
Another canon blast went over, whizzing by her left side. She ran to the corner.
“Use the mortar!” Ozwin yelled to the rest. “Fire at the reaper. Azlyn, keep her distracted!”
“Easy for you to sa—AH!” The ground at her feet imploded as another canon blast rocketed up into her. She rolled away, wiping the dirt from her face. She called for Titan-Egi to protect her, as Garuda and Ifrit were more offensive in nature. She ran to the center of the courtyard where she then brought forth an entire earth gaol surrounding her.
As soon as the gaol went up—it exploded as the tribunis focused intently on destroying it. Azlyn stumbled to the ground within her created earth fortress, pulling more ground up to patch the broken bits that were being blown off.
“FIRE!” She heard Kida shout from outside. Four rounds of mortar fire went off, just as the imperial let loose a large cannon blast into Azlyn’s earth barrier. It blew apart her outer layer and knocked her backward by ten feet.
A wave of healing energy went over her, as Richiro’s fairy—Selene—flew over to her. The purple and yellow fairy tapped her nose with a giggle before disappearing in a poof.
“Thanks.”
The mortar cannons imploded upon the tribunis, who abandoned her reaper. They watched as the white magitek exploded from internal damage. She landed without harm, about twenty feet in front of Azlyn as she regarded the girl on the ground curiously.
Her friends ran out from around the mortars, stopping around her in a protective stance. Mjnt was the first to reach her, offering the downed girl a hand. “Wipe the dirt off your face—you did well.” Mjnt smiled, and Azlyn did as was told.
“You must be the tribunis I’ve heard so much about.” Ozwin commented, holding up his shield. “Word is on the street that it was Livia sas Junius who brutally murdered innocent people.”
“It matters not whether you know my name or the deeds I’ve done.” She crossed her arms, peering past him to the girl with white hair. “My lord was quite taken with you and the power you possess—this “Echo”. Naturally, I could not help but wonder whom this Bloody Princess of the Sea was—this princess among women.”
Azlyn clenched her fists, bringing herself closer to the conversation.
Livia sas Junius lifted her head a touch, almost examining her approach. “It was then, in my discovery of you—I learned you were but another traveler—an adventurer no better than the multitude. Yet in spite of this, the masses hold you their champion, and shower honors upon your head. It defies all reason.”
“She deserved all those titles she earned.” Kida quipped, pointing her finger. “From her days marauding aurochs and bathing in their bloo—” Roll’s hand went over the blue haired Xaela’s mouth.
“Ignore her.”
Azlyn sighed heavily.
Livia didn’t seem bothered by the disruption, taking a few steps closer—sauntering toward them. She stopped about ten feet away. “How is it that you could be such a thorn in our side? Wherever you appear, you leave havoc in your wake. You even slew Rhitahtyn, one of your very finest.”
The Au Ra thought back to the first Praefectus that morning—she knew in their fight that he was skilled in both physical and mental capabilities. She still faltered under his reasonings—even though she wanted to curse and scream at it—she knew their was some partial truth to what he said. She only had the Eorzean side of the coin. Not the entire story.
She was about to say something, only for the imperial to wave it off like it was a missed dinner date. “Well—I will not speculate. Truth be told, I couldn’t care less how you have done these things. What matters to me is the fact that you have done them.”
Kida moved Roll’s hand away from her mouth. “So you do care!”
Roll placed her hand back on her lips.
Livia growled to Azlyn. “If you are allowed to continue, you will eventually deprive me of all that I have toiled for—all that is mine by right! My minions, my comrades—even my lord Gaius! Well you cannot have him!”
“I don’t want him.” Azlyn shot that down immediately.
Kida yanked Roll’s hand down. “She has a boyfriend!”
She didn’t seem to hear her, as she postulated with her arms outward. “His dreams and ambitions, his body and soul—they are mine, do you hear me!? All mine!”
N’thuzu Tia readied his axe, while Mjnt hunkered down into her stance by Azlyn. The Au Ra made sure her book was at hand, where Titan-Egi floated nearby. Selene floated in between each of them, casting a group enhancer.
“I lost everything once before! I will not suffer it to happen again!” Livia sas Junius lowered her stance, she slowly skimmed the edges of her blades together as she yelled: “I will kill you, traveler! Only your death can bring me peace!”
Roll guided her globe out to protect her friends.
Kida growled back, finally getting the chance to speak once more. “For fucks sake—where do these crazy people come from!”
Ozwin stepped in front of the Au Ra, his sword and shield up and ready. “You’ll have to go through all of us.”
Livia dashed to them—pushing off her back foot to slam a blade into his shield. He pushed her back, while N’thuzu Tia came charging at her side. He swung his axe down, but the woman was quick on her feet. She nimbly flipped away before firing her gun at them.
Kida fired several arrows, hoping it would help, but she sensed her attacks too. She dodged the bolts by side-stepping, maneuvering between their attacks. Mjnt lunged next, with help from Roll who boosted her strength with a Balance tarot card. As Mjnt pressed in her assault, the Viera and Livia were head to head, mobile and swift in their attacks.
Azlyn summoned her Ifrit-egi, commanding the essence of inferno fire to help assist. In a matter of seconds Livia had shot the essence down, training the gun back to her. “You will not take any more from me!” Azlyn dodged the bullets, dashing to the side while Ozwin and N’thuzu went into melee.
It was a spurt of actions between all of them, hacking and slashing. Livia gave no quarter, pushing them back with relative ease. She kicked N’thuzu square in his chest, knocking him back.
Mjnt tried a series of jabs and piercing moves, but the woman had deftly swung her arm to hook onto Ozwin’s shield to bring it over to clash against the spear. The pair jumped away after being brought together, while Livia pressed in firing.
Koroko Koko slammed a giant cube of ice on top of the tribunis in that moment. The ice blew away into chunks as the woman fired several shots into it but took some damage from the debris. The caster tsk’ed but repositioned herself to avoid the shots being fired to her.
Kida intercepted, unleashing aetheric-charged arrows at the woman to force her to move. Azlyn assisted in this, calling forth Titan-Egi to raise a wall of earth for Koroko to duck behind. Livia turned back to Azlyn, pressing a button on her arm.
“Not good…not good.” Azlyn started to sprint to the side as Livia charged right to her, jumping up and slamming into the ground a massive implosion. The ground exploded in a linear line where she impacted, as Azlyn continued to run the length of the courtyard.
Their melee fighters struck Livia from behind, cracking bits of the armor.
She fired all around her, creating space between herself and the three at her heels. She yelled over to Azlyn who skidded to a halt. Titan-egi had brought up a half-palisade from the ground as the woman screamed. She sounded a bit tired from all the running and fighting. “The pain I have suffered, I shall visit upon you a hundredfold!”
She jumped, only a grey aetheric orb caught Livia mid-jump. Roll slammed her globe in a downward fashion. “Gravity!”
Richiro Wichiro happily called. “Let’s not forget about the debuffs! Miasma!”
Mjnt took the opportunity to jab her spear, as Livia barely had time to move her head. The spear cracked the side portion, showing a bit of her blue eye. It flared in anger as she screamed.
“NO! I will not lose—to the likes of you!” She coughed. It appeared the miasma took effect.
Azlyn started drawing out several patterns in the air, putting together a complex systematic version of a ruin spell she could think of. As everyone single one of them prepared their attacks, Livia raised her arm, her gun aimed right to the white haired Au Ra.
“You have made me wroth!” She fired, Azlyn felt a bite of the bullet impact her shoulder yet she didn’t relent in her spellcasting.
“NOW!” Azlyn yelled, and they all released their attacks upon her. The melee attackers cracked the armor of the white plate, jumping back as magic exploded over Livia sas Junius. Azlyn held her pumped up Ruin spell for last, as the woman haggardly stepped to her. “RUIN!”
The spell released, hitting Livia in the chest and blowing her back. They watched as her legs gave out, and then she unceremoniously toppled to the ground. A quiet sobbing could be heard from her as they all tried to catch their breaths.
“No….no… it’s happening—all over again.”
Azlyn gripped her shoulder, feeling a bit of blood soak her clothing as she walked. Richiro Wichiro gasped in shock, jumping in panic at the sight of the blood. The Au Ra paid no mind to her own pain, and walked to the side of the tribunis.
She knelt.
“Please—I cannot bear it.” Azlyn heard the woman sob beside her. She could see the blue eye of the woman welling with tears. “Don’t take him—away from me.” Livia stretched an arm up into the sky, everyone froze except for Azlyn, who calmly watched the woman make what little of her time matter. “My lord Gaius!”
The arm dropped, as the woman’s eye shut closed. The rising and falling of her chest piece slowed to a stop.
Azlyn closed her eyes, offering a silent prayer. It was all over.
“Stupidity.” Ozwin crossed his arms. “She was like a woman scorned by her love.”
Kida put away her bow. “She was a woman scorned by love. Did you not hear?”
Koroko Koko silently stood with Azlyn, as Roll touched her cousin’s injured shoulder. “The bullet isn’t lodged in there—so that’s good.” She started to heal her wounds.
N’thuzu Tia cracked his neck as he stretched. “A driven woman—thinking that she’d lose everything. What must she have gone through for her to get to this point?” He sighed.
“We’ll never know.” Richiro Wichiro replied. Selene sadly looked upon the scene with a grim face.
“Are you all alright?” Cid came running over to them, not noticing the body of the dead tribunis. It took him a moment to gather the scene. “Ah. Livia.”
“She called out for Gaius in the end.” Ozwin turned his attention to the engineer. “Was she in love with the guy?”
The engineer sighed. “Another poor fool who craved Gaius’s affection over all else.” He closed his eyes. “May her soul know rest.”
Azlyn stood up, nodding to Cid’s sentiment. “She did some bad things, but with this I hope we could avenge some of the scions who untimely passed.”
Cid looked over their group, stopping short of the blood on the Au Ra’s shoulder. He could see that Roll had been administering to it, so he decided to ignore it. “Tis a miracle no real harm has come to any of you. One for which I will happily give thanks.”
Koroko Koko looked up to the burning inferno of the generator tower. The glow of the fire looked like a second sun to them. “We promised fireworks, did we match your expectations Master Cid?”
The engineer snapped his fingers, before he pointed to them. “Truthfully now—did you really mean to send the assault craft crashing into the generator tower?”
Kida gave him a thumbs up.
Ozwin shook his head.
“If you did—you’re a bloody liar. If you didn’t—well—you’re too modest.” He laughed at them.
Roll chuckled. “Heh.”
Kida tapped her foot in an uneven rhythm. “With the three generators down—all that’s left is to get into the Praetorium now—right?”
The engineer nodded. “We can’t reach it on foot. Nay we’ll need to take the Enterprise. I left her at the Ceruleum Processing Plant, so let’s regroup there.” He then punched his fist into his hand. “This is it you guys! The final confrontation awaits!”
The nine of them, albeit, sorely than usual—made their way out of Castrum Meridianum and were welcomed by the arms of the Alliance. Several loud cheers and applause followed as they moved through the blue tinted canyons, but with little time remaining, they all knew they had one operation left.
The final phase of Operation Archon. The destruction of the Ultima Weapon.
