Work immediately began as players got their shovels out alongside their skeleton soldiers.

  Foxholes and dugouts were immediately built into the small patch of fields in the endless forests of Schon. Mages were then sent to use their magic to make trenches with sandbag protection. In the center, bunkers were built by them as trucks arrived dumping Tank Traps and Barbed Wire.

  Thanks to the endless toil of the skeletons, it didn’t take long for a perimeter to come together and Jackson sitting inside a freshly built bunker by the small mounds on the flat terrain. Mortar pits were also dug in as Squad Leaders briefed their men on the new coordinates as jets and helicopters were constantly flying back and forth from the valleys.

  Artillery has also not been silent since the day they went into Vitas itself. The guns fired day and night, shells whizzling high above them would be a constant source of annoyance for the more fresh troops from the Men of the Woods. Unable to rest properly as distant sounds of explosions weren’t stopping and many having to continue doing work with no sleep still.

  Jackson himself could feel a bit tired already, only having eaten Ready to Eat meals. His arms slumped on the deployable metal table as radiomen came in and set up a Communications Post.

  “M’Lord, if you really need to, you should sleep. A leader needs to be in the right headspace if they want to make good decisions.”

  “Arrrugghh… don’t worry, Alana… I’m already used to this… well back then. I’m sure I’ll get the groove on it again. I did it before, this far younger and more fit body should be able to do it better.”

  “My Lord, you should be like Bahamut.” he turns around and sees the Black Dragon had already been sleeping. “Eh? So it’s only Mars right above us right now?” She was snoring audibly, the noise of the players setting up long and short range radios unable to disturb her as she dozed on the metal chair. “She really has nice hair, doesn’t she, My Lord?”

  “Oh yeah. Dragons naturally don’t have hair. Any that did were mutations as they adapted to their biomes. When they got used to having a Human body, they really took great care of it.” Elizabeth would then approach the sleeping Dragon, admiring her straight long black hair as if it's given top notch supermodel care everyday of the week.

  “M’Lord, you should know that you're also fighting for beauty like that.” squinting his eyes, he turns to his very back to look at Alana. “The Cosmic Gods have no concept of Worldly beauty. You’ve seen it yourself, have you not? If they do have such, it's probably so alien that it's disgusting to our eyes.” she crossed her arms, holding herself. “The Cosmic Gods only take from what is here and try to make their own far more volatile and vile versions…”

  He gave her a smile and a nod as he turned his gaze back to the sleeping Dragon. “You know, Dragons don’t let anyone touch their hair without explicit permission.” Elizabeth, who was looking at her beautiful black hair, recoils back as she turns to him. “They never had hair so they see it as a form of power itself. The more beautiful your hair is, the higher other Dragons look at you.”

  “Master…” she then awakens, yawning and stretching her arms and legs. “We keep our hair like this because beauty is power in of itself.” he tilts his head as his eyes squinted at her. “Wait, really? So we interpreted it wrongly after all this time?” she shrugs her head. “No, just differently. Chosen Ones are to caught up with our addiction with power and conquering when such concepts are not regulated to invading, killing, and fighting. It’s also in how one looks and behaves.”

  She then stands up, swaying her hair like a model. “One of the main reasons we kept Mankind was not only because of your propensity for violence but also because of your beauty.” This made Jackson lean forward, his chin on his two hands. “Wait, really? Dragons saw us as beautiful?” Bahamut then walks to the slit of the bunker, overlooking the valleys of Schon that surround the vast forestry there. “Of course, Master. Why do you think our cities float? We see this as beauty too and want to preserve it. We fight with such a show that it could be entertaining to many others." She turned her head to him and gave Jackson a smile. “Beauty is found in divinity itself too, Master. Beauty is ancient and primordial, the world is full of it and so is the ancients. Albions glistening platinum scale armor is a prime example of this.”

  Nodding and rubbing his chin, Jackson’s eyes were processing the new lore he got in real time, the two Vampires just having a small giggle at how seriously he was taking it all. “M’Lord, if we have time, why not hunt for a cow? What would you want for me to cook?” to her surprise, both Jackson and Bahamut turned to her in unison. “Roast Beef.” The two spoke out loud at the same time and tone. The Radio operators just turn around to take a peek at them and then return to their duties. “Very well. Now let us hope that we come across a cow.”

  Placing Anti Tank mines and Claymores, the patch of open plains has been turned into a dumping point of spare explosives. There were no main battle tanks and only a handful of infantry fighting vehicles were active in the area as most of the vehicles were wheeled armored personnel carriers in dugouts and trenches. Crates of their high caliber ammo were dumped in craters behind them as their crews prepared for another round of heavy fighting.

  The trucks continued to ferry more mines and explosives, the Mages using their magic to quickly lay them down. There dirty staffs waving in the air as skeletons assembled the firing devices and pins behind them, putting in the fuses as squads of infantry race to the flanks, climbing up trees and digging foxholes where they piled anti tank rockets while those with larger locations placed ATGM tripods and covered it with piles of dead leaves. “WE GOT CONTACT! AIR!”

  Looking high up, an armada of Terrordactyls were flying over the peaks of the valleys. The players stood up in horror of the sight before them. The helicopters and jets all turning around as they re-engaged from a far safer distance while the skeletons with them just continued to toil away with there current task.

  Inside the Command and Communications Bunker, Bahamut quickly ran out and transformed. Taking flight into the skies, heading straight to Mars who was already hovering in place as she observed the oncoming army. Jackson walks out of the bunker door, looking up, he holds his Death Knight Helmet tightly as he gives her a slight nod. “You know, wherever she is, her Dragon Knights follow closely behind her?”

  Elizabeth stops as she looks up and then down to him. “What do you mean, My Lord?” he smiles as he puts on the intimidating black helmet. “Dragon Knights never leave their Dragon God. They are always with them, giving them power and prayer. I’m sure as she flies high up there, she could feel her Knights all cheering for her in Paradise, where the Golden Kingdom of Heroes lay waiting for those deserving of it.” He then picks up a light machine gun that was leaned against the wall and walks out to the plains, the two Vampires separating into their respective flanks.

  Bahamut and Mars both roar, prompting a flight of Goblins riding on top of Terrordactyls to retreat as a giant wave of flying creatures to corrupted Dragons arise from the valleys, this time not coming from one direction but multiple, they were already half-encircled as Mars took to the left and Bahamut to the right, leaving the front to John’s Air Force who had finally turned around and begun to fire long range missiles while pilots of Rostock’s Air Forces used the small opening to continue towards the valley peaks, performing a steep climb as there thermal cameras locked onto the Giant Knights.

  Valleys rumbled and shaking began as the Giants knelt one leg down, their head lowered as fighter jets dropped Bunker Busters right atop them. The ear blistering sound of the mach speed penetrators hitting the unknown composite metallic armors of the monstrous humanoids caught the attention of many as one by one, they fell but those with there shields slinged behind them lived and stood straight up right after and they pointed their fingers at the flying jets and streaks of lightning hit them.

  The flight of Su-30s was quickly dispatched, turning their airframes into smoldering husks falling thousands of feet and plunging into the ground violently. The Pilots quickly find themselves respawning right behind the assembly areas where the Sergeants gave them shovels and a box of fuses. “Help out. Recovery trucks won’t arrive till an hour. I need more mines there and there. Ask the boys if you need instructions, go.”

  As the other formations waved off, instead opting to dogfight the corrupt Dragons, there missiles were useless with so much things in the air with only one of the fifty more air to air missiles that they fired actually reaching a Dragon as Bahamut and Mars were already busy halting the enemy airpower from two sides.

  Far in the back, Super Flankers repurposed as missile buses unloaded their entire payload of long range rockets. Flying at a good eighty kilometers away, their HUD was still overloaded, the datalinks of the fighter jets proving to be more of a detriment with the amount of objects flying as their missiles would over think. Some are already flying loosely as it gets closer in the mothball of flying objects.

  Once again, the skies were lined with streaks of rockets as artillery with proxy fused shells acted as makeshift flak guns, ravaging the Demon army’s airpower whilst Mars and Bahamut burned every single little thing that’d try to fly from the flanks but even for a second that they’d stop, new creatures would replace those they’ve already killed. Forcing them to focus on their tasks.

  A horn was then sounded, loud enough to even alert them, the bushes from the valley peaks began to rustle violently as soldiers placing mines two kilometers away stood up with their guns trained at the thick shrubbery. “CON-” A fast four legged creature ridden by Goblins wielding curved swords beheads the player as they hop above those in direct path of theirs.

  Explosions then started, from the North, to the East, and West. The mines were being set off inside the forest prompting Jackson to holster his light machine gun and pull out his Glass Rapier as he watched the edge of the forest in his Knightly armor. Standing ready for the first arrivals as the thick bushes would show faint pops of light as the forward units of the Kingdom of Vitas ate up the minefield with ruthless and ruinous drive. There brethren ignored the fallen as they continued onwards towards the patch of open plains.

  Monstrous sounds of the cannon fodder irking ever so closer to him made the hair on his back stand up, but he held his sword with a tight resolve as his eyes peered into the darkness with a level of glee.

  Elizabeth was fast and violent, hopping from one tree top to another with her assassins, they quickly intercepted a group of mounted goblins that had begun to wall jump from one bark to another that was leading a horde of Abominations and Undead. Letting them detonate the mines as the goblins with their agile reptilian bipedal mounts were safe from touching the soil.

  Its leader, a Orc donning heavier armor and with a flag on its back was leading a pack of his own kin, they had proper equipment, with a belt full of potions and healing items to chainmail and bits of plate as they rode on four legged wolf-life mounts.

  With its gray skin, it only heard the growl of its green skinned comrades who got a snippet of a long golden blonde hair falling from the sky as its head rolled onto the ground and into a mine, it got set off so close to the others that there mounts lost their grip for a moment and slid into the ground as her assassins finished off those lucky enough to have there four legged wolf-like rides eat up the shrapnel with its armored bodies.

  Goblins who were on the front were far more safe but were briefly cut down by machine gun fire from the players hiding in dugouts. Some reached the wire but got caught up by the barbed wire and were promptly killed. Elizabeth with her Black Knife’s then turned their attention to the slow and wasteful crawl of the Undead and Abominations that was needlessly detonating every mine and tripwire set up.

  Alana sat on the West flank, inside a hastily built trench with the use of magic and shovels, with excavators meant to dugout mortar pits still left there, abandoned as her hand trails along the edge with her sword as she observed the horizon.

  Sounds of mines exploding caught her attention as her eyes locked into a seemingly endless horde of Abominations and Undead that was being needlessly thrown towards them but a certain rustle caught her sharp pointy ears.

  Suddenly, the Vampire jumps out of cover and her head turns in a direction. “To the left!” The players and skeletons creeped out of cover and as she raised her sword and pointed it, they opened fire in that general direction. Everything from assault rifles, mages with staffs, machine guns and grenade launchers were thrown in a hail of lead and explosive powder.

  A series of bodies then began falling from the tree tops and hitting mines then followed as one of the squad leaders jumped out of cover and used his rifle like a bat, swinging it as a Goblin leader that creeped from the right. Unlike Orcs, the Goblin Leader had leather and chainmail. With his rifle destroyed, Alana’s blade, the heirloom to the Minuit family, cleanly cuts its body without even a hitch. “You didn’t need to do that. Such is a waste of energy.” The player though had his nerves rocked as she kissed his helmet and made him return into cover.

  “Do not worry about me, boys. Your heroism is better used when you return to your planet. M’Lord had told me a lot about Earth. It will surely need your heroism when you come back." She then elegantly lifted the sides of her gown and performed a curtsy as mines were detonating behind her. “I cannot thank you enough for fighting for my planet, my home. I can only ask so much of each of you.” The skeletons were as still as they were but the players had stupid smiles on their faces, many beet red as Alana swung her sword to her back, slicing clean the head of the fast demonic Wolf-like creature. The goblin riding on top of it fell into the trench and was quickly disposed of by a skeleton with its service pistol. “I will be sure to have the Kingdom and the Domain I reside upon to erect statues of all of your valiant and gallant acts.”

  She then ties up her hair into a long high ponytail. The teenage beauty with her black hair and slim figure voraciously astonished the men who were just in absolute awe of her otherworldly looks.

  Jackson, who is in his scratched Death Knight armor, drags out two wooden boxes out of the back of a Humvee by the straps. He pulls them through the mud made by the combination of tracks and wheels that churned the ground. He kneels and breaks open the box, taking a 200 round ammo box for his M60 light machine gun as he swung his sword fast enough for the blood to come off it and sheathed the blade as tracers and bullets flew right past his back.

  Reloading it and standing up, the Knight General could feel the oncoming targets once again. “Get ready men! Send those coordinates when I say so!” The large gun which he is holding like rambo weighed nothing as his eyes began darting at slight movements in the dark bush and just as his finger moved to the trigger, the first Goblin riders appeared from the tree tops and he began laying down bullets into them.

  Bodies of the devilish armored wolves and bipedal reptilians there riding began spilling out of the forest as he continued to fire. The players behind him got up and pointed their rifles as those ones who were able to escape his fury were taken down by them and the last trucks drove away dumping what mines they had on their beds. “To the Colonels! Call it in now!” The officers quickly radioed in a bunch of coordinates and instantly a reply came. “ROUNDS OUT!”

  “GET SOME! GET SOME!” Jackson continued to lay down fire, piling up a small puddle of spent casings on his sabatons as he continued to riddle the forest with 7.62mm bullets. The skeletons would then charge forward, throwing grenades into the bushes causing mines to explode and putting the riders out of balance as they hopped from one side of the tree to another. With the horde still a few hundred meters away and artillery soon came in, raining clusters. Filling the forest with shrapnel and small unexploded bomblets.

  Walking up to him in a crouched position, a radioman approaches him from his back as the Knight’s cape with the Rose of the Vampires flapped wildly from the bursts of fire he was throwing. “SIR!” he didn’t stop firing, continually pressing on the trigger in two to three second round bursts. “Hand me another box!” The radioman then looked at the boxes and proceeded to open up the M60 and replace the empty box on it. “What is it?”

  “Sir, we received a call for a Broken Arrow on the flank West of us. They're approximately two hundred miles away sir.” Jackson leans down as the radioman takes the phone up to his head while still remaining crouched. “This is Charlie Squadron from the Seventh Heavy Mechanized Brigade! I am requesting a Broken Arrow for my position!” sporadic gunfire could be heard on the other side, frequently disrupting his voice. “We are all that is left from our army! Alpha just fell a few minutes ago and half of Bravo is gone! They're sending an immeasurable amount of disgusting flesh things at us with nine legs! We can’t hold it any longer!” The shooting was so violent on the other side, it was even enough to drown out the one he was in.

  “Holy shit! What is that thing?! Is that… That’s the proper Demon Army! Hello! Is anyone here on the Command net?!”

  Jackson then takes a knee as the radioman shows him a chart of where they are. “Miles?” As he thought about it his eyes squinted at the player. “There quite far… but…” the radio continued to transmit the emergency call as they had their own battle going. “Grid coordinates are right on top of us! Disregard Danger Close and hammer them to hell! Super Demons in impervious plate armor are here and there murdering everyone!” immediately, someone replied. “Excalibur here, we have thirty guns ready to fire. Your just a bit out of our range but with some adjustments, just tell us where and we’ll lay it down.”

  The Black Knight removes the straps of his helm and takes it off, only the chainmail and balaclava underneath it showing as he puts the phone up his ear and mouth. “This is Supreme General Jackson, I will be sending a barrage of cruise missiles at your position including most of the air force, Bravo Squad. Sit tight. I thank you for your service. Rest well after respawning.”

  After a few seconds of no answer, just the sound of riddling gunfire, a scratchy voice finally came. “This is Bravo’s Two-IC, I copy you sir! Thank you for the help!” Jackson then returns the phone to the radioman. “Have them be given Air Priority. We can handle things here as it seems they want to take out the easier to defeat armies before us. We’ll need those planes when we hold the second line of defense anyways.” With a nod, the radioman with his hand on top of his helmet makes a run back to their foxhole on the opening.

  Inside her side of the forest, Elizabeth stood on the soil, full of small craters from the exploded mines as a sea of dead riders surrounded her and the seemingly endless horde of the Demons stopped. “Hm. T’was but a waste of time.” None of the Abominations or Undead dared to approach her as she stood watching them closely with her eyes shining a gold color. Eldwood’s skeleton Rangers rappel down from their helicopters above the bushes, making them appear as if they came out of the trees.

  Landing around her she made them take over around the area as her assassins came back to her. “Your Highness! A strong enemy is on the way! I believe they’re some sort of a Demon Knight Legion meant to be used as cannon fodder!” explosions began to echo out, it was numerous in quick succession as the fighting behind them in the open plains became more and more violent with the horde then retreating back. This made the Queen squint her eyes as her surroundings were filled with the sounds of mines exploding.

  Elizabeth then turns her attention back into the dark forest she finds herself in as her assassins take cover behind the Rangers with their guns trained and ready.

  Slowly walking out of the darkness, she meets a marching line of Knights. With their shiny adamantium armor half drenched in red paint, the horns on their helmets have a circular tablet in between them and the slits reveal no face nor eye. Just a black shadow that seemingly has a thousand stares. “What vile Knight Order is this?”

  She then points her hand forward, prompting the Rangers to pull their triggers and the bullets just fling off of there armor as her assassins threw their daggers at them which just bounced off, prompting them to pull out each of their specialty blades. The Queen squinted her eyes as her pretty thin and long eyebrows burrowed at the aura the Red horned Knights was giving out.

  Walking which then became a jog and then a full sprint, she faced the Red Knight head on and the bulky humanoid dodged her hand and grabbed her arm. Ripping it clean off with its bare hands as she gruntled, her torn off arm already fully regenerated. “Heh, I can see it's finally getting serious.” they then began unsheathing their swords. Their vulgar shape is more akin to an enlarged and elongated butcher knife than something meant for war.

  It wasn’t maintained at all, with various chips on its sharp edge, scratches, and dried blood now etched into its steel forever, the Knights began to march forward as others jogged to face the Assassins and Rangers head on.

  As the clash began, the Rangers kept their distance, shooting constantly as the Assassins dodged their blades, but the carnage in a mere fell swoop was a massive spiral of chaos, cutting down trees and halving their barks into thin slices as some of the Queen’s Knife’s had massive Halberds and Greatswords, able to meet the Red Knights face to face. Elizabeth quickly retreated as she took some smoke grenades from the belts of the Rangers, throwing them at the Knights as she looked around for anything. Aside from the fearful faces of the players on their dugouts a few hundred meters back there was nothing for her there.

  Turning at the open plains, the Queen began to rustle around for anything. Then she came across a pile of unused mines dumped by the last truck caught her attention. A grin appears on her face as she quickly gestures for the sappers who were busy readying the replacement mines. Approaching them inside their own pit where there were stacks of Anti Personnel and Tank Mines, they all noticed the shadow looming over them and looking up, it was a beautiful blonde woman in a purple gown.

  “Take these to my side of the forest and arm them immediately.” Looking at each other for a second, they soon got to work as she continued to look for something and the sight of her Lord fighting with a machine gun in one arm and the Royal Vampiric Rapier on the other caught her eyes. The man was fighting vigorously as he and the foxholes behind him piled them high. The barbed wires nearly overrun with the corpses of Undeads and Abominations. Seeing this made her feel a primal lust for him.

  A bunch of combat engineers packing barbed wire retreated from the frontline, crossing her vision as they brought with them a lot of unused rolls, their heads down as artillery rained down. She waits for them to retreat to the safety of the inner sanctum and makes them stop. Appearing in front of them out of nowhere. “Give me as many of these as you can.” pointing at the rolls of barbed wire, the engineers looked at one another as they saluted. “Yes ma’am!”

  The squad of Combat Engineers then loaded an open top Humvee with boxes full of the rolled barbed wire, driving it into the Eastern flank as Sappers running through a barrage of explosive fire magic fired from far behind enemy lines had nothing but themselves and the huge crates of mines as they jogged through the craters and uneven land, the vehicle driving past them, kicking up a huge amount of mud and soil.

  Upon reaching the forest edge, the Humvee had already dumped the crates of barbed wire while the Sappers had just reached them, the Queen standing there and ringing out the wires with her white gloved arms. “Hasten yourselves soldiers!” The barrage of magic wasn’t stopping as the four players screamed as two of each had to carry the long crate filled with explosive anti tank mines.

  With their boots finally reaching the safety of the edge of the open patch of plains, Elizabeth quickly kicked the boxes open. Taking three anti tank mines and wrapping them with barbed wire in a long column as she used magic to melt the steel wire into the mine. “Arm them now.” The Sappers quickly got the fuses from the box and inserted them as she grabbed the tail end and flew back into the forest.

  Sappers watched as Assassins and Skeleton Rangers with the Foxholes were fighting Demonic Red Knights with cleaving swords and one of them was about to corner an Assassin but Elizabeth quickly came, the barbed wire wrapping around the neck of the Knight as she materialized her AutoMag V and shot at it. The explosion of three mines all pointing into the helmet of the Demon more than enough to behead it completely.

  The team leader of the Sappers then pointed at two of his men. “Grab the barbed wire, you can do mend magic right? You! Can you do basic heat magic?” the players nod as they begin to work in harmony, two armed mines as another two chained them up. “This isn’t the first time we fought Demon Knights. Let’s show the Men of the Woods how Zavaldians do it!”

  On the Western flank, Alana and her hastily built trenchline had held off the initial Goblin Rider and Horde assault, with the forest littered with their corpses and holes of exploded mines could be seen as far as the eye could. The brief amount of silence was a great arrival as she was panting heavily, her family sword completely drenched in blood as she swung it so fast it got cleaned instantly. “By the God of Blood, how many more shall they send?!”

  A writhing sound started coming below her making the Countess jump to a tree as the ground where she was sank into a sinkhole. The players in the trench then began to panic as their boots began to be eaten by the soil.

  Alana quickly got down and rushed to them and as she tried to pull two of the players out, tentacles with the texture of stone pierced through the ground under the trench and with both of her hands full, the Countess noticed something on their vest. “Your grenades! Throw them into the ground!” As only a handful of players were still alive and the skeletons mostly busy with getting crushed and rebuilding themselves by the tentacles, they pulled the pins and threw them below their feets.

  The grenades all got eaten up by the soil and exploded, a burst of blood was thrown upward like a geyser and the tentacles retracted alongside the other trenches inside the Western forest and the players all got out of their trench cover and into hiding behind trees.

  A great rumbling then came as the soil around them became loose and big eyes started popping out from underneath. Many of the soldiers on her flank became instantly startled and rallied on her as she began to strike down one of the larger eyes and multiple tentacles intercepted her blade. Her nerves then blew up as she could feel multiple others gunning for her body in directions she couldn’t possibly go after forcing her to cast magic, getting everyone down and saving their heads from the tentacles as the soldier's senses and hers were bombarded by a voice.

  S????????????????????????U??????R?????????R????????????????E??????????N??????????????D?????????????????????????E?????????????????????R????????? ????????????N????????O???????????????????????T?????????????????????H?????????????????????????I?????????????N???????????????????????????G????????????????????? ????????????A??????????W????????????A????????????????????I??????T?????????????????????S??????????????????????? ?????????????????????????Y????????????????O????????????????U????????????????????

  The voice was not Human, its accent terrifying as if it was a mere creature attempting to mimic a man’s voice.

  O?????N??????????L???????????Y??????? ????D???????????E?????????A??????????T????????H??? ????????A??????????W?????????A?????????I????????T??????????S??????? ??????Y????????O?????????U????????? ???I????????F???????? ?????????Y????????O????U???????? ???R????????E??????S????????I??????????S?????T??????? ?????T????????H????????E??????? ????????E??????M????????B?????R?????????A??????C??????E???? ????????O????F???????? ????N?????'????????G????W???????A??????H?????

  Jackson came on the radio, his words an embrace of normalcy as he blurted out one word. “Collapse all flanks! Defend the plains! Bahamut and Mars are hovering! Something is coming!” and this was enough for both the Vampires to retreat back with the players and skeletons.

  Popping out of the Western forest, Elizabeth's form wasn’t her adult self, she had become a late age teenager. Donning a gothic white camisole with her long blonde hair tied up by a thin one prim ribbon to a ponytail and a lacey skirt that only reaches above her knees, flapping wildly as helicopters flew above them with whatever handful of aircraft was available to perform combat sorties.

  Arriving in the center of the open plains, in the command post bunker. Alana stops to see Elizabeth has reached the same height as her and the woman’s body has completely changed. She didn’t know how to react as her blade dripped with blood. “What? Does your eye have seen something truly magnificent?” With a hand on her hip, the teenage Elizabeth had a dastardly smirk on her face as she lifted her free hand and inspected her nails that’s hidden underneath a pair of red elbow length gloves. “Heh. I am pretty am I not? My beauty is truly a blessing from the Gods.”

  Jackson, who was in his Knight armor, leans out of the command post and gestures for them to head in.

  Popping inside the command post, with the slits to the plains outside showing the ongoing battle, the commander of the Men of the Woods, Zavaldia and the Skeleton General were facing the table below them, with Jackson sitting in the center. “Bahamut told me that something huge is coming. She and Mars are blocking its effects on us but they told me that they won’t be able to kill it without having to use Godly powers which would draw more attention to our lines.”

  “Then? Shall we not get this done, My Lord?” Elizabeth’s voice has gotten higher in its pitch and her condescending tone has seemingly shifted from a sexy to a more actual one. “Godly powers have been used on this planet before, no one would bat an eye to this trash mound of a continent. They’ve sent a Legion of useless Knights at me already.”

  “Elizabeth. I will not accept that. When Gods fight, everything else is ants. Even me and entire armies and cities." He then puts his finger on the map, the long road out of the patch of open plains there in. “I’ll instead have us retreat to the second line of defense since Elizabeth has already made first contact with the Demon Army.” Alana then raises her hand. “M’Lord, we won’t last long in that line though if whatever is coming to us is extremely strong. If the Demon Knights could already do this much damage to her…”

  He nods and lowers his finger even more to a major depot with the only railway in the entire continent. “That’s why we’ll focus on the third line of defense. We’ve confirmed that multiple other field armies have been defeated and are recouping there. If we do a good enough job, we might be able to hold out there for a day or two at least and rotate around.”

  The Colonel of the Zavalda National Guard with his rifle slung on his vest with his elbows sitting on top of it points his finger on the ruins at the 2nd line of defense. “How many are these aqueduct looking things, sir? And how high are they?” rubbing his chin, the man remembers the area. “About three to two storeys high? There’s also fallen giant statues that’s perfect for mortar positions. When I was here, I was mostly wounded and near death so I couldn’t really measure it." The player with the name Powell on his uniform salutes.

  Everyone then stayed silent as Jackson kept looking at the table. “We won’t be able to make it to the desert on the West of the continent. The Army Theaters on our Left and Right are gone. Either way, It’s an orderly retreat. Wait for my command and remember to tell your men to plant as many booby traps they could. Dismissed.” The officers then got out of the command post except the two Vampires. “How’s it going with the two of you? I heard you encountered tentacles and voices, Alana.”

  She nods and sits down on one of the portable chairs, her sword leaning into a table and the radioman taken aback by the glistening and bloody blade. “Yes, M’Lord. The entire trenchline there worth a few thousand of your men are all but gone.” he sighs as he turns to Elizabeth who is rummaging through crates that’s full of explosives and mines. “My Lord, where is the chalice?” he shrugs his head and points to the south. “It’s safely kept in the command truck far back there. Sorry, Elizabeth.”

  Crossing her arms, the teenage Vampire just leans into the wooden log wall and clicks her tongue. “Tsk. Very well. I can fight well in this form. My Lord, I’ve fought the Legion of Merit and as you can see, they're quite good.” he nods and gestures for her to continue. “We’ve mostly been dealt with. My Assassins and your Rangers had done a good number on them. Those bulky pieces of indignant demonic flesh are rotting with the soil right now.”

  “Did you cause them a strategic defeat?” she shrugs her head making him sigh. “Good job still, both of you. Now, we just need to perform an orderly retreat. Bahamut and Mars are carrying this battle hard right now with their clearing of the airspace and filling for the Coalition Air Forces.” he points his finger at a location far behind the 2nd line of defense, one named the Central Schontic Military Depots. “We’ll make a stand here, I hope the Heroes are making good progress inside Mount Harelm. Already, the plan did not survive first contact. Not even intact.” his eyes wandered from left to right before he picked up his helmet and rapier.

  He then pats their shoulders as he once again sighs. “Everyone, let’s get back to work.” The two Vampires followed him outside as soldiers ducked into their foxhole with explosions from long range magic landing around the plains at random. “Is it just me or are their long range attacks getting more potent and accurate?”

  Jackson walking through the battlefield in full plate armor kept his head low as his cape kept getting blown by the explosives and upon reaching the foxholes at the treeline edge, the enemies being killed were no longer the horde but proper Goblin and Orcish soldiers. Many donning chainmail and using proper shields and spears and lances as their bodies were trampled like peaches on the grass. Their attempts to take cover and slowly advance were met with swift gunfire and mortars and artillery.

  They went on and on, the Undead and Abominations reached such a number that there corpse piles has begun to reach the crowns of the trees but they did not stop, as if it was a tidal wave of flesh in the literal sense coming from the flanks, all the players could do with all their might, with all there guns and endless amount of firepower was to shoot and shoot, regardless of aiming as it didn’t matter. Wherever there barrel was, there was an enemy and the handful of thousands of soldiers in the plains were beginning to get surrounded as the planet rumbled.

  Mars and Bahamut had both dropped from the skies, firing their breaths into the forest as they roared into the clouds, unable to take off as the amount of creatures flying had begun to saturate even the Gods themselves.

  Behind Jackson, the first few waves had already begun their retreat, trucks full of players had started their trek back to the 2nd line of defense as the Giants that were guarding the peaks of the valleys had begun their march.

  It was as if a living wall of pure metal had started to enclose on them, and Jackson wasn’t going to let them get away without having more casualties. Engaging with as much of the abominations and zombies as the Giants began to jog which then became a full blown sprint and the ground shakes violently from the sheer weight and momentum coming at them.

  The two massive Dragons then got on all fours properly and with their heads locked straight into the Giants as tentacles try to snare them into the soil, they fired off a massive laser. Mars emits an orange color while Bahamut has a blue one. It melts through their armor and into their flesh and bones but as they swiveled their heads to kill the last Giants, hundreds of corrupted Dragons headbutt into them and before their laser could reach the last Giants, they were too late. “ALANA! ELIZABETH! HELP THEM!”

  Jackson quickly got his sword and ran towards Bahamut without even a shred of self perseverance as he rushed to the left flank. Alana though had to help Mars while Elizabeth looked at the surviving Giants forcibly closing the mouths of the Dragon Gods with all their might as they clawed to pieces by the magnanimous talons of two. “Each one of you that exists without my awareness, exists without thou’s consent.”

  Bringing out the Ultra Greatsword Hellraiser, she lodges forth to Bahamut where using the flames that could extinguish even immortality, it slices through the armored hindfoots. Digging into a few inches of steel, making the handful of giants take a kneel, making the Dragon open its mouth once again and out of nowhere, the massive Dragon proofs out of existence and down below it, Jackson catches the falling Bahamut into his arms.

  “Are you okay, Bahamut?!” she wraps her arms around his neck and with a smile nods. “What a Hero aren’t you, Master?” he could only let out a sigh of relief as Alana hopped on top of the Giants with Mars in her Human form. Donning her all black latex bodysuit and crimson high heels and cape, her shiny fiery red hair stands out as the soil erects hundreds of tentacles and with her absurdly long sword, slices them into bits and the eyes open up once again.

  Bahamut with her claymore penetrates into the soil and with an unspoken spell, sets alight to the entire underground causing a gigantic world ending shake as a roar breaks through every direction and ear.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

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  “WE HAVE CONTACT!” The players all stood out of there foxholes, fingers still on the trigger as a flying armored creature with the shape of a ten legged black spider that’s adorned with translucent wings and crablike hands lands into the valley, chained with it two equally gigantic pyramids made up of military vehicles that’s been mothballed into an amalgamation of steel. The only remnants of their former usage being the markings on their sides.

  Bahamut and Mars both turned back their original forms and looked like normal sized Dragons next to it as Jackson’s eyes couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “RETREAT! RETREAT TO THE SECOND LINE OF DEFENSE!” its many tentacles continued to burrow into the soil, creeping up on the players holding out on the area and making a run for their lives. Some resort to just shooting themselves and leaving behind all of the equipment they're supposed to carry back.

  The Knight General who was focused on making sure the retreating players got out of their positions safely had an idea pop up in his head. Helping out the last of the defenders on the left flank he returns to the command post and tunes into the Higher Command Net.

  With this, the man runs out of the post and gestures for the two Dragons who were flying and carefully having a standoff with the creature. “Bahamut! Mars! Make it stay still and get away!” Even at the range, it seemed as if he was just shouting into nothing but the two understood the order as Jackson hopped into a Humvee with a larger bed for transporting troops as the last trucks began their evacuation.

  Alana and Elizabeth alongside her Assassins and Rangers soon hopped in as most of the foxholes were empty and the main ground forces of the Demons and Vitas were busy trying to shoot down the two Dragons to care for the last vehicle out of the plains.

  Flying high around the level of the clouds, Mars dives down through the hordes of flying creatures and with her sword out, the massive Dragon with an equally massive sword cuts up the chain to one of the pyramids, causing it collapse, detaching the thousands f pieces of military equipment as the giant blackened ten legged creature tried to use its pincers to cut her in half.

  Bahamut didn’t allow it, using her sword to parry it as a circle of fire built up around it and with her roar, set alight to a path, preventing the many thousands of flying creatures of all types to stop her and Mars from retreating as the eldritch creature of insane size and its rubbery skin began to sweat from the heat as the two Dragons flew south and made some distance, there they both looked in silence and then, they pointed there swords at it, the exposed Mana Orb chained by the creature was putting up a Magic Barrier, the Dragons shattering it quickly.

  One lone aircraft flew opposite of the retreating army. An old Panavia Tornado with one huge bomb under its belly. “Ink Spot One, we’re green on the Nuclear Permission Switch? Copy.” With a flip of the button, the Mana Nuke Bomb is labeled green and armed in the cockpit.

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  Using the path the Bahamut made, the high flying jet drops the nuke right on top of the spider-like creature. Piercing through the wall of flames and landing right on its head and a light brighter than the foreign Sun was emitted right behind them.

  Thomas who was standing amongst the many ruins could only look with his helmet, the glass on the slits protecting his eyes from its mighty blinding heat as the image of Mars and Bahamut silhouettes flying is backdropped by the all-seeing mushroom cloud was a sight he could’ve never imagined to see as his knees felt weak and the man knelt down looking at the ancient concrete he stands upon. The other players just looked in horror as they could see the atomizing explosion as they stood a good ten kilometers from Jackson’s position and the creature itself, a good twenty from it

  Light vehicles mostly consisting of armored cars and transport trucks rush past the lone road, none of them slowing down as they drive to the camp a few kilometers behind the 2nd line of defense.

  Seeing them, the Shine Guards’ General jumped down to the road where he saw that most of the vehicles had survived the ordeal and in one of the open top Humvees, Jackson was driving them. Alana riding shotgun while Elizabeth with her Assassins on the back.

  Jackson just puts his hand out and Thomas accepts it, the two’s armored gauntlets exchanging a clap as he continues driving south to the camp. “Take two!” the Shine Guards General uttered and the Eldwood General just gave him a thumbs up and soon, Barbatos riding on a truck just turned into a plume of black smoke and appeared in front of him. “Mission accomplished… somewhat.”

  “You did good enough, Altar. Please work with Sanctum now and defend both the flanks.” he looks up as one of the Dragons continues flying back, the Red one gone as he turns around to look at Mars back at his side.

  Behind the network of mines, barbed wires and tank traps was the main trenchline that spanned a few kilometers in length. Behind it were a series of small auxiliary supporting trenches that could help each other out and the main one, all manned by players and skeletons as Thomas looked towards the now just atmosphere reaching a cloud of explosion and marching out of it was the headless mammoth creature. Flailing around with its ten sharp arachnid legs that’s the height of a skyscraper each till it then stopped moving and fell onto the ground.

  The smile on Thomas’ face disappeared as quickly as it appeared. The deathly wound it sustained was burning and moving, the flesh driving as if it was alive, moulding and shifting, forming new muscles and bones. Though extremely slowly its head began to grow back and Giants covered its bleeding severed neck and the sound of marching was once again heard, approaching them slowly.

  Finally reaching the backline, his Vanguard Army takes two. Parking their vehicles and retreating to designated tents. Jackson was given a bigger one, having four beds and tables, he removes his armor and plops down on the cot. Already feeling his bones aching, he gathers what energy has left to take a quick bath on a mobile shower as gun and cannon fire starts to be heard and vehicles begin to speed up the back and forth as they travel from the frontlines.

  Walking back to his shared tent, Elizabeth was on her bed holding her Royal Crown and the Ornate Chalice as Jackson started to lace up his combat boots. Alana was busy cleaning her sword on her desk on the corner while Bahamut was fast asleep on her cot. Her head and face were covered by ration packs as she snored loudly. She’d moved left and right, just inches from falling off as the Queen stared at her Crown.

  “I won’t stop you, Elizabeth. If you plan to do that." The blonde woman who has returned to her adult form looked at him as she drank blood from the Chalice. “Just make sure you can control it this time.” The Vampire shrugs her head slowly as she returns to admiring the expensive headwear. “I won’t be able to, My Lord. If My King back then wasn’t capable of. What more with you.” wearing only a white tee and his combat pants and boots, the man heavily sighs.

  With a chin up and puffed muscular chest, he approached her and placed his hand on her head. “What’re you so afraid of? You're different now, you know.” She didn’t quickly reply. Waiting for a few seconds before looking up to him. “I wouldn’t want to use you for my own gains, My Lord. I am already having a hard time forgiving myself for what I did to My King. To do the same to you, I’d never be able to live again.” This made the Human smile as he knelt to look at her eyes properly.

  “Well, rest as much as you can now. We might need to help Thomas out soon.” Looking at his brown eyes, she knew what was behind that stoic and masculine bravado was a man completely torn apart by the things he had just witnessed and is experiencing, his facade was so easily shattered by her eyes but yet, she couldn’t help but blush at the sight of his radiant soul. “Since it looks like they’ll soon send the Main Army against us. They already defeated the Generals manning our flanks. The Legion of Merit that they sent? I am sure that’s the Demon Army’s Vanguard Scouts.”

  He stands up, picking up the glass rapier and with a cleaning kit, begins to do maintenance on the blade on the edge of his bed. “I’ll be sure to speak of your achievements, My Lord. Till the ends of the worlds, I shall sing songs of your Humanity and Heroism.” the man just smiles and shrugs his head. “You don’t have to go that far. I’m sure there’s a lot more other people there who are doing far worse than me but are doing their utmost best to hold it together while not being blessed or given strength like I did. I’d rather have them remembered more." The sound of ration packs being sucked empty caught both of their attention as Bahamut turned to them.

  “That Goldie told me I should write a book. Hmmm… I might just fully consider it now. I just need a name for it, Master.” cleaning the glass sword on his lap, the General sighs as he looks up to the ceiling. “Hmmm… why not the Adventures of Bahamut? You should include your own stories too.”

  “Master, that’s already the book I give to my followers.”

  “But it’s edited though to include the lessons you learned, right? Why not something more selfish?”

  “Hmmm… I’d like to make it about our fun here in Threa though and include the Bloodsuckers and how they operate with Humans and Droh.”

  Elizabeth smiled as she expressed admiration to the Dragon. “Awwww, aren’t you a truly lovely Dragon? If I still held power, I’d make you a National Hero alongside the Countess and you, My Lord.”

  Sounds of vehicles then began to overpower their conversation, with Jackson moving the flap. It was a huge convoy of trucks hauling skeleton soldiers. Coming from the rear, it was an endless column of equipment heading to meet with the Demon Army.

  Logos on the sides of the trucks and armored vehicles varied from the many Guilds that helped the project come to fruition. The only thing being the same was the hue of the camouflage on the vehicles.

  On the frontlines, the firepower of hundred thousands of skeletons and the few thousand players were more than enough to put a total halt to the Demonic advance, and thanks to the valleys flanking them and the Ancient Ruins, it was nearly impossible except for flying units to scale to their sides. The Central Schontic Military Depot kept pouring whatever resources they had left to Thomas’ Defensive Army. Ballooning his skeletons as the two former Demon Generals had to further focus their efforts in micromanaging.

  Though the giant mammoth arachnid creature was still healing itself, the process was so slow that even after hours of nonstop fighting, only a nerve had been rebuilt as trees began to shake and tank fire was returned to the trenches alongside heavy artillery and fighter jets bombarding them.

  MLRS soon followed, Thomas clearly seeing the rockets being fired from behind Demon lines alongside their mages with long range fire. It was alarming enough that it made him request friendly mages to start erecting larger magical barriers as ATGMs started flying at the turrets of their main battle tanks. “Nani?!”

  Looking into the forest, there were humanoid-like creatures marching onto them. With flesh holding together bits and pieces of tank tracks and wheels, their arms were latched with cannons and machine guns as mortars and artillery were strapped to their backs as they left behind them a torn up soil from their mangled feets of bent metal.

  Numerous bloody tentacles were slithering out of their bodies as the flesh of the pieces of dismantled military equipment that held it all together began to fire back once again, using Anti Magical rounds. The magical barriers erected by the Mages began to crack and heavy artillery rained down on the ruins, causing some of them to fall completely, crushing entire trench lines and the high vantage points the main defensive lines that had been abusing were gone in a mere second.

  From a soldier below, they looked like robots, but rather than having joints and circuits, it was all badly molded flesh and bones. Having the composite armor of the tanks they ripped the sections off, the main battle tanks of Thomas weren’t as effective as before, coupled with their bipedal mobility and capacity to climb up trees and take cover, Thomas had to rush to his Command tent that sat inside the remains of a once massive ruined statue.

  “CENTCOMM, This is General Yamaoka, I am requesting for an immediate sortie of any available aircraft on our flanks.” A reply quickly came and aircraft was sent to his sector but midway through the flight, the planes began getting painted by modern Anti Air weapons. “General, our aircrafts is reporting that Friendly Air Defense is currently locking onto them. Request to check IFF." This made him confused as missiles began flying from the forest and into the sky.

  “General! Multiple planes are performing evasive maneuvers! What is happening down there? Why is the Air Defense shooting at friendlies?!” he turned around and Mars knew what she had to do. Dropping the plate of raw meat. She dashes out of the ruins and off to the skies, the Dragon targeted the Anti Air defenses in the very back, composed of former towed SAMs now taken over by flesh and tentacles that’s shooting off living ground to air missiles, the larger long range ones from Rostock meant to shoot down high flying bombers didn’t even annoy her and with a single swipe of her fiery breath the backline was cleared

  “Yes, that is correct. Flesh creatures have taken over military equipment and are actively using it against us. We’re talking about Smoothbores, Autocannons and even Anti Air.” as if no one could believe him, the frequency was just silent as the fighting became more like two sides with modern conventional armies clashing against one another but the numerical advantage of one side was overwhelming and slowly, the Demons were once again advancing even with the air support coming in and dropping guided munitions on them.

  “Sir! They're coming from our South! They’ve gone around the Western valley formation and are spilling down from there!” Thomas' eyes open wide with the sudden news as another soldier comes in. “We’ve received urgent reports that the Eastern Theater has met a complete collapse! The Dragon Guilds did their best but were overwhelmed completely!” This made the General of the Shine Guards sigh in disbelief. He looks at the map of the continent and slashes off the great rainforests of the East Schon. With now, the only remaining Campaigns being the Central and Western Theaters.

  With the more grim look on the continent as nearly the entire place has been taken over, he is forced to sit down and stay silent for a moment. Massaging his eyes and forehead. “Who can we send to the South? We’ll be cut off again. They keep encircling us over and over again.”

  One of the soldiers who was still listening in the radio salutes and stomps his boots. “Sir! General Jackson has taken up positions to meet with them. He recommends we take out as much as we can and make a retreat.”

  “To where?”

  “To the Central Schontic Military Depots.”

  “Sooo… we won’t be fighting all the way to the desert… This destroys our schedule alot, thank you. Return to your post and begin to pack up everything.”

  On the very tail end of the valley formation, where the mountains settle down to the vast wilderness of tall trees, Jackson inside the thick of it is back fighting. The assault they were facing was not that much, but the sight of rocket artillery firing into the skies and hitting Thomas’ trench lines did not call for much hope as the General sat in a foxhole in his Knight armor.

  Breathing in and out, the man just saw the forward reconnaissance units of the Demon army lay dead on the grass. Their dead mounts lean into the thick bushes as a silence falls on their lines. “General, sir. Permission to speak.” he looks at the player wearing a worn uniform and vest and nods. “If we fall before the Portal, what’s the plan?” looking at the Zavaldian National Guardsman, Jackson shakes his head and puts his hand on his shoulder. “We won’t. The Demons will crack first before we do. Believe me.”

  “INCOMING!” Everyone ducked down as something was thrown at the lines, the object falling onto a tree and breaking a bunch of branches as it landed into the soil. Peeking out of cover, the players notice it's a rotting corpse of a Goblin with an odd brown miasma covering it and with his gun up, a soldier approaches it. “For a first shot, that was accurate.” murmured one of the men on the trench as Bahamut then incinerated the cadaver without even a warning. “That thing oozed of curses. Do not get near those!” She then points her finger at Jackson. “Master, your mages need to put up physical barriers immediately.”

  Following her orders, a barrier was immediately erected as Goblin corpses began to be shot right into there trenchlines, the corpses accumulating on the edges of the circle as artillery suddenly became more ruthless, the sounds of shells breaking the sound barrier as it entered the frontline was now incessant and a massive wall of explosion followed afterwards and counter battery from the Flesh Warriors returned with there own Self Propelled Artillery.

  “Knight! The Central Schontic Military Depot has started to support us with all its got! We can hold them here for weeks! Their entire assault was destroyed!” Jackson though wasn’t in any position to celebrate as Goblin corpses alongside long range magic was being thrown at the flank, his eyes more fixated on the miasma that was even affecting the bushes and trees.

  Though Bahamut was burning and incinerating them with a bunch of other players with magic, the frequency and spread was becoming harder and harder to manage. He didn’t reply back to Yamaoka as Elizabeth and Alana both put their hands onto his shoulders and the miasma started to enlarge as it began to kill the local fauna. “Just what else do they have in store for us…?” turning to Elizabeth, her emerald eyes sparkled vividly up close.

  “My Lord, the forest must be burned. That miasma is not only meant for us… but for you, those of Earth.”

  On a large swathe of forest that’s been completely wiped slate clean off the ground was a gigantic munitions depot, the crates and containers filled with all manners of explosives and ammo was piled so high in some places that one could compare its height to large motels with the sheer volume of items on it meant to fuel a massive war for months with even endless fighting.

  With a large railyard in the center with gantry cranes busy loading up miles upon miles of flatcars with containers and disassembled aircraft and vehicles that’s packaged up like toys. The surviving artillery battalions and platoons from the collapsed armies on the flanks had all piled together into a line of cannons. Shells were thrown needlessly into ditches and dirt roads as the forest rumbled with the thundering aire of 155mm and 152mm shells. There were guns firing nonstop as everyone in the Depot was in a sort of organized panic.

  Navy planes coming from the ocean then swoop in, loaded up with Napalm on their pylons alongside thermobaric bombs. Entering the valleys of Schon with a fiery intent to deal as much massacring and morale shattering damage to the armies of the Cosmic GOds, they immediately began firing air to air missiles, shooting down various winged creatures that got past Mars as they dropped their payload onto the forestry, setting it completely ablaze. Jackson breathed a sigh of relief as the corpses were completely turned to ash and the barrier still holding up.

  Blazingly hot, the trees were churned up by the flames and turned into ashen remains in a single blink, the light of the bombs enough to blind everyone as it lit up the red tint that’s been invading the senses of every living creature. A small hint of normal colors returning just from the heat of the flame.

  “CONTACT!” Walking out of the flames was a familiar sight, the chromed out armor of the Demon Knights, marching towards them as the players opened fire with everything they got. Those with rocket launchers being the only ones who were able to deal damage as the Knights began rushing their trenches. “THERE HERE! THE DEMON ARMY IS HERE!” The screaming player was quickly dealt by a Zavaldian, punching the man as he was given a disposable launcher. “Aim for the center!”

  Galloping out of the fire was a lone Demon Knight on horseback, with its head down, the large vertical horns on his helmet seemed like a blade cutting through the flames. Wielding a long silver spear that has a dead bloated goblin skewered on it, with its mounts red eyes leaving a trail of red, it began to swerve through the gunfire, forcing the two Vampires to jump out of action as Jackson ran to a crate full of disposable launchers.

  Bahamut walks in front of its way, lifting her hand up and revealing her palm, a massive laser beam is emitted from it. Its width and girth far surpassed her Humanoid height and as it approached the Demon Knight, a small circular shield was thrown from behind the fire and into its pathway, causing a soil eroding shake that moved even the tectonic plates below them as the beam is directed upward as the ground below them shatters like broken glass.

  Elizabeth then hops out of the barrier to intercept it but the Demon Knights with their spears and longswords stood in her way. Stabbing her into pieces as Alana jumped high, Blood Roses growing from the ground.

  Jackson saw a faint glimmer of something shiny, making him throw the rocket launcher he has up into Alana’s face as it's struck by a curved sword adorned with unknown sigils and etchings.

  The explosion the warhead caused was more than enough to make it miss her, the silvery blade that came from afar bouncing off the barrier and off to the sky. “Who the fuck threw that?!” The sword merely continued its path after the deviation and returned to the fire. Jackson, left alone with his question as Alana’s Roses bloomed in full and exploded into a million shards, spiking the Calvary Demon Knight’s mount into grinded up swiss cheese but the Demon on top hops off the horse, its shiny armor pricked by the shards of the Blood Roses as it continued forward.

  “GAS MASK ON!” Him with some other players then ran out of the barrier to stop the Knight on its tracks. Jackson with a murderous stride jogged past everyone and with both hands on his Rapier, he swiftly changed his stance like a professional and met his blade with the Demon’s neck, lobbing its head off cleanly as the players grabbed the spear and just as they were about to turn it around, and Jackson’s attention turned to helping Elizabeth. A tiny silver beam that’s smaller than a bullet hits the bloated Goblin corpse and it explodes. “MASTER!”

  Rust fills the air, and a creature of gargantuan size looms in the horizon, its head peering over the valley mountains as it slowly walks, its body covered by the terrain as Jackson’s eyes, alongside the players present turns to where the wall of napalm fire used to be. Standing there, a lone person in spiky Knight armor. Full black, it's adorned by vile demonic logos as it lifts its head up and behind it, ten foot tall Demon Knights in blackened armors, tattered capes flying vividly behind them as they draw out their Dark blades.

  Its lanky figure stood silently in between the extremely tall Demons, the rusty storm strengthened as the players around Jackson began to turn pale. His eyes widened inside his Knight helm, screaming from the top of his voice. “GAS! GAS! GAS!” Before the soldiers could understand what was happening to them behind the safety of the barrier, they dropped face first into the ground and the darkened Knight from afar tilted its head at the last man standing.

  With a blink, he finds himself back on the frontlines, Elizabeth shaking him violently as tears fall onto his helmets. “MY LORD! PLEASE!” Alana and Bahamut soon join her as the Dragon shoves her arm in front of the Queen. “Stop, Master is fine.” looking into the slits of his helmet, the eyes of the man were alive and well. “What… what happened?” He then raises his hand which Alana took, helping him up.

  “My Lord, after all this, I shall lead a campaign to fully exterminate the Kingdom of Vitas and wipe them off this planet. I pledge this to my womanhood and my duty as your servant.” he shrugs his head and pats the Queen’s shoulders. “After all this, forget about this crap and live a quiet and happy life for me, will you?” He looks at the fire still ongoing and the handful of dead Demon Knights and the bodies of the players around him.

  As he was about to help them, Bahamut’s hand grabbed his arm. “Master, don’t. They are cursed and infected at the same time.” hearing this made his eyes squint and turn to her. “What? Just like what happened to me before?” she nodded as his eyes widened at the sight of the players, pale and thin, their eyes were bloodshot as they couldn’t even find the energy to speak. “So, what? This will follow them even after respawning?” with a nod, Jackson just lets out a huge sigh.

  Looking at the trenches, the players there were all donning their MOPP gear, covered head to toe for chemical warfare. “What are we supposed to do with them?! We can’t leave them like this!” Bahamut then reaches out her hand and the soldiers become frozen into a box of ice. “The only thing we can do now is keep them safe, Master. This viral outbreak needs to be quelled at all costs.” A humvee then drove right up to the barrier, stopping behind the trench and getting out of it was Yamaoka. “We need to go now.”

  Behind him, there were ghostly creatures floating down from the skies, though Mars was doing her best with that she got, using her Divine and Godly powers to keep the air clean for planes and helicopters to be able to provide there support to the hundreds of thousands of skeletons as the night fully passes and the convoys of trucks still kept pouring into the frontlines.

  Translucent creatures began appearing out of thin air, close to the trenches, a swipe of their swords wiped out entire trench lines, the blades cutting through soil and any physical object. Mars had to change her attention to below, but as so above, the Dragon had to usher in an Ancient Spell, causing a rapture to occur within real space as flames from Tur’s Hell is released onto Threa.

  It burns up everything living and nonliving, the ghosts that were appearing were eaten up by the crimson flames of Hell itself. Its colors are the same as hers as she turns into her Humanoid form. The black latex bodysuit she’s wearing reflects the fires of another world as she lands down below.

  Elizabeth’s Assassins were in there, aiding the Mortar pits just behind the main trenches with the horses Bahamut had given them. Throwing it new coordinates and correcting hits with near perfect calls while using their shape shifting mounts to plug holes the replacement of skeletons left behind as the magic barrier has been overwhelmed from the physical and magical firepower being thrown by the Cosmic Army. It was an absolute terror for the players, watching the skeletons needlessly replace the dead by the second, it was a factory line of bones replacing bones.

  But even with this, the Demon Army was still advancing, now only a hundred meters away as all of the mines they’ve laid down has been detonated, the bodies of the Undead and Abominations littering the forests as Goblins and Orcs tramped on there corpses, the Demon Knights though still behind them as they kept there shields up. The artillery of the players being stopped by their own mages' physical barrier.

  Meanwhile, the ones the players had erected were constantly flickering as Mars spread her red wings in full, flying South and leaving behind the brutal fighting at the frontlines just to arrive at the rear where her Master was.

  Wearing a Hazmat suit, Thomas’ walks out of the circle with Mars just arriving in perfect time and the two of them look down on the pale players that've been frozen. “I heard the transmission… but we need to go, Jackson.” He could only grasp at the faces of the people as a truck arrived to load them up. Jackson was too busy talking to Bahamut and the Vampires to give him any attention and the fighting on the main defensive line has reached a new peak, with the lights of the fighting there even reaching behind their main camp.

  As the players in their yellow hazmat suits picked up the bodies, Yamaoka stood straight up, clapping both his hands and bowing with his hands on his sides. “I pray for your speedy recovery.” As he raises his upper body, he looks to his side and notices Mars is gone.

  Turning around, Jackson had the same reaction as he was, looking around for where Bahamut might be and Elizabeth’s long lanky arms slowly raised, her nail pointing at the battlefield where the two Gods were at each other's sides, observing the burnt corpses. Thomas and Paul both walked to the two, and kept their mouths shut.

  “Ah, this is not an easy one to deal with.” Explosions caught both of their attention, the main defensive line was once again getting overrun by Ghosts and this time, the Dark Wyverns and Terrordactyls since they both were no longer providing air cover, leaving it to the planes and helicopters whose numbers were a dwarf to the strength of the Cosmic Gods. “It infects to rot the body, and curses the divine soul within it. Could this be what they’ve learned from the Three Kingdoms Robot incident?” They ignored the falling lines as they both used their Dragon bodies to channel magic from the ancients and deciphered the curse that had landed upon them.

  “And the recent catastrophe in Woodstock?” The Main Defenses were now completely gone, Demon Knights had reached them as the bones of the skeleton army were piling up into huge mounds as most players were too cowardly to stand and fight, many retreating and running away, those standing being some units of Zavalda. “They learn far faster than we expected, Bahamut. Hundreds of thousands of skeletons lay dead here and the surrounding valleys now for the day and a half of fighting we’ve been in. They won’t survive the next one.”

  “No matter. I believe in the Heroes, we shouldn’t sway our attention from what’s at hand. The second war happening the Heavens and the Hero Party in Harelm is drawing out their strongest units still, we can hold out if we continue to try. This curse is weaved by hands not from any of the worlds we know or feel." As the main camp has been completely cleared, the last trucks about to leave as players are running to fetch a ride, Mars nods as Dark Wyverns go around the two Dragon Gods. “Hm. But I fear as the Units meant to be used against the Gods that created this world are freed and are sent here, can we carry such a burden?”

  Turning their attention away from the ashen corpses below and to the two men, Bahamut lands in her Human form. She lifts her hands up to touch the cheeks of Jackson’s helmet as Mars takes Thomas away. “Master, you must only remove this armor when I’ve properly cleansed it. Under no circumstance are you to take off any part of it, alright?” he nods as he takes out the glass rapier from its scabbard. “Bahamut, how much can you buff this? It's a meteorite, right? It shouldn’t shatter like the silver sword we tested on, way back then.”

  She laid her hand softly on the side of the blade and smiled under her veil. “This is not only made of perfect material, but also had a lot of soul poured into it. I can buff and power this up as much as you’d like, Master to no detriment of its edge." The man’s only reply was a happy grunt. Sheathing it back, he returns to the safety of the barrier and soon, darkness dawns and the shelling wasn’t stopping on Thomas’ line who with Mars had managed to save the last few meters of the rear trenches.

  Minute by minute, hour by hour, hundreds of shells were constantly being fired kilometers behind friendly lines, the barrels of the guns, an endless crescendo of death as not even the wavering darkness was enough to stop the sparkle of the muzzle from silence as more skeleton soldiers were needlessly thrown into the fire, the last units remaining were fighting in tooth and nail, some literally respawning and finding themselves in the thick of the fighting.

  The entire time, Jackson was constantly looking out the slits of his entrenched position. With a roof made from wood logs, flares lit up the area beyond the barrier. Bahamut, asleep in a cot on the corner while the two Vampires were leisurely enjoying their time inside the comfy wooden bunker. “M’Lord, would you perhaps be interested in some tea?”

  He shrugs, his attention not taken away from the frontline. “We have straws for you to use, M’Lord.” he once again rejects the offer. Taking a pair of binoculars, with its night vision on, he scans the treeline as players on the trench a few meters in front of him were sitting down on benches and makeshift chairs from crates and cans. “Did they focus all of their effort on the main thrust?”

  Most of them have removed their gas masks, letting in the natural clean air as the red of the morning day was finally gone and replaced with an insane darkness. Even though it was a miracle, they’ve reached a second night at the second line of defenses and at least they weren’t seeing pure red and instead, a familiar yet odd blackness.

  “To call Artillery Callsigns, hold fire.” Hearing Thomas’ order, Jackson looks at the radio next to him. “Adjust fire to creep away from the line.” and as a reply of the Artillery Commander came, a familiar voice butts into the frequency. “Jackson? Jackson? Paul? Are you there?” hearing the voice, he quickly takes the radio’s mic and replies. “JOHN!” He stumbles on himself as he smiles upon hearing the voice. “John! My man, What’s up?”

  “Something horrifying has just happened. Some viral outbreak is wreaking havoc on the Port Towns. It’s suspected that Dark Elves started it. The Admiralty is planning on anchoring off to preserve the Fleet.” He tilts his head and leans it. “I’ve… I’ve already reported about an outbreak right on the center frontline though, they should’ve been aware. Are the Dark Elves that good?” he takes a chair and sits down, facing the radio.

  “No, this is different. Though, the majority turns pale and weak, the things this does to the local populace, the natives. Many die within a few hours, but some of them turn into violent monsters. They're still smart, able to use weapons, open doors and the type. Look, they're just planning it right now but I suggest you start looking into a full retreat. Most have already left, it's just us now.”

  “But… this would mean we’re giving up Schon far before the projected day. We’ve actually lasted long here, we just need to pull off another day.”

  “I know, but Jackson. None of us have even imagined what crap there is capable of dishing out. The armies within your flanks are barebones, my planes are the ones carrying them and when they fall, you will be cut off. Mars and Bahamut are already being overworked and Bahamut most of all needs her Mana intact for when the Heroes revive literal ancient Angel Elves.”

  “A-alright. Tomorrow, we’ll begin an exodus to the Central Schontic Depot.”

  “No, do it by tonight. We still need your army for the fight in the Portal Fortress. We’ve already expunged enough units here, Paul.” Hearing his friend audibly stand up, Jackson leans forward even more to the table. “For the three days you’ve been fighting there, we’ve lost almost all of our standing armies, we’re talking about the Army of the Damned being taken out in a week of fighting. No, don’t push it anymore. I know you can do miracles, but save the rest for when we’re at the Portal Fortress.”

  As he was about to return to the mic, his hand stopped and brought it back to his mouth. “Wait, John. How bad is the infection? And what’s the overall state of the campaigns?” After a few seconds, the Air Admiral replies. “It’s mostly contained since we’re practically blowing up anything that tries to enter the shores but their numbers, it's been steadily increasing by the thousands every two to three hours. The Western Theater, in the desert, is on its last legs.” with a heavy sigh, the General just nods in his place. “Alright, thank you. Centurion, you hear all that?”

  “Yup, we’ve already moved the main camp to the Depot as you ordered yesterday. It’s just a skeleton crew behind us anyways. Knight, do you think they're still preserving their forces?” silent for a few seconds, Jackson’s gaze turns to the empty dark forest and into the radio. “I think so. But that could mean even though their armies might look infinite, it still has some end. Either that or they just know we’re not even worth their main army… the fact that we’ve only seen a few companies of Demon Knights is insane to me after all we’ve thrown at them.”

  “I wonder… nevermind. I shall do as you order, Knight.”

  As the night came, only a handful of sporadic firefights occurred. Most of the players were given a rare moment of respite as the shelling didn’t stop, even with the looming closing of there retreat path and the shorelines being encapsulated by the outbreak, the fighting had mostly been regulated to small skirmishes and on the main frontlines, mere low minions being sent to the artillery zone while the Demon Army and its Knights stood far behind the killzone.

  By the break of morning, the last trucks arrived to the clearing behind them, picking up the armor first, loading them into trailers as dump trucks used by the Engineering Brigades and Sappers dumped hundreds upon hundreds of mines and the trenches slowly became empty as the ones left were those tasked with planting explosives as the air was being cleaned up by the Dragon Gods.

  As the Demon Army began its mop up of the Second Defensive Line, with the only eerie sound of the artillery landing into the forests as the occasional jet could be heard flying thousands of feet above them as the Dragons kept on spending their Aerial units.

  Some of the Goblin Parties were unlucky, with guided munitions being dropped into them. The Demon Knights then crosses the magic barrier of the players, reaching the tank traps and barbed wires where they send countless of their minions to die as fodder. With the Demons just walking over a tired and spent Outworlder army.

  Jackson in his place just staring into the red forest, his eyes locked into the deathly empty treeline and the uncollected corpses of the enemy and there own, the skeleton soldiers that they’ve collectively worked so hard in building had done there job, with the Demon Knights trampling on there bones tucked behind a set of uniform and body armor. He just looked at the approaching enemy army.

  Their long range magic has long shifted behind him as he was now so close to them that he could clearly see their makeup. With the Giant Knights far behind with their tower shields up to defend the Hell Priests and Mages, the ones in the front being Goblins and Orcs after the Undead and Abominations. Only then will you encounter the Demon Knights and yet, it's just those in full plate armor. The man looked around for the Super Demons that wreaked havoc on the surrounding units.

  With the vast trench network all but abandoned, where every inch was a pile of dead skeleton soldiers. The Knight General just sighs as he turns around to the main camp that was just now a parking lot for the last players.

  He exits the forest and the air becomes loud with the sound of rotors. Turning to the side, Mi-24 Hind helicopters flew side by side with each other, in formations of 5 in a wing, the pilots swooped in low, the four pylons under their wings with bomb shaped devices began to open up, dropping mines with small parachutes.

  On their tail, the logo of the Rostock Guild’s Air Forces. The Griffin and Polearm on its claws as they peppered the entire forest with mines. Soon, fighter planes joined in, with their pylons having Mine Dispensers on their own trenches, the Demon Knights quickly rushing into cover. “My Lord, I hope your technology has a method of these things expiring? As the Vampire Kingdom will expand and Schon will soon face an age of Peace.”

  He turns to her and just blinks inside his helmet. “M-My Lord, you are aware these could be stepped on by the local fauna and future populace, right?” He then turns forward to the trucks dropping more mines. “Well… uhhh… I’ll be sure to pitch in to leave some Mine Defusal methods behind. With magic, you guys should be able to get these things removed far faster than us… I hope." She tilts her head and looks at the man. “You hope? My Lord…”

  “I mean… some of the stuff left from World War Two is still killing people ninety-five years later…” she just sighs as she turns to Alana. “Countess, do make a mental note of this. Be sure to alert the House of Lords.” with a curtsy as a reply, she facepalms. “I feel a sense of duty to remove this in the future but that is Monkey’s job now.” A mine resistant vehicle stops in front of them, Jackson opening the doors for the three women as he looks at the smokestacks created by the incessant shelling that had for once, calmed down and its sound replaced by the mechanical whirl of helicopters and jets.

  He was so tired that he slept on the trip to the Central Schontic Military Depot. The three hour and fifty minute ride was mostly met with much needed rest and relaxation as the fires of war and extermination were for once far behind them with the Demon Army mostly slowing down and seemingly recouping as the three flanks met on their second line of defense.

  They were soon met with a far larger road, flattened and widened with proper equipment, the drive to the Central Schontic Depot became smooth and peaceful, with Jackson who was taking full advantage of the small window of peace to sleep he had was awakened by Bahamut when they were already parked at the railyard, the Skeleton Generals were present alongside a face he wasn’t expecting.

  Hopping out, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing, spreading his arms in disbelief. “What the fuck?” John, now wearing his Multicam combat uniform, replacing the blue air force suit he had taken Jackson’s arms. The two tightly hugged it out. “Well, well, well, if it ain’t the man that sold the world for Royal Vampire pussy.” Treala then pops out of nowhere and joins in, Jackson being surprised by her tight figure in a new set of leather armor and Bahamut not even thinking twice and joining in. “Oy you sharp eared deviant! Don’t use your ancient woes on Master!” He and John just both sigh as he looks around the huge Depot that’s settled right in the heart of the continent.

  Mountains of crates and container vans were everywhere, as the path to the exit and entrance is through a complex and confusing tail of straight roads where one without a good sense of direction could easily get lost thanks to the lack of mountains or any terrain features due to how high the players had stockpiled there even with the trains running for days trying to recover as much as they could.

  After everyone has had their fill, Jackson smiles at him as he dusts off the ashes off his armor’s shoulder and looks at John with a then, blank stare. “I thought you were at the Cape of Good Faith, what the hell are you doing here? Do you know how far the journey is back to the shores?” His friend just puts his arm over him and smiles. “What? Do you know how much shit is piled up here? And come on, as if I am gonna leave behind precious planes… and uhh… they shouldn’t leave early if they know the man in control of the air forces is here.”

  Jackson nods with a content expression on his eyes as she sighs. “Uh huh, care to explain to me then why your planes aren’t flying as frequently as before?” John just chuckles as Treala rests her elbow on his shoulder. “A super mega demon swooped in and destroyed all of our planes while the Flesh Anti Air killed what helicopters we had left.”

  “Fuck off John. I’ve had a long week already. The Flesh did not capture that many Anti Air.” This made the Admiral laugh as he looked at Jackson and the smile on his face faded. “Don’t we all? C’mon, lighten up. You know, I always thought you were into Dragons in Human forms rather than Vampires.” Seeing Jackson being too tired for it all, he sighs and a serious expression returns to his face. “We’ve slowed down, Iron Mountain is ordering for a full retreat, save our ammo for when it's time to level the entire shoreline… and many have decided we’re wasting our missiles. It’s not like we’re doing much of a dent. The only reason why your line lasted was because of the Dragon Gods insane AoE attacks.”

  As the two conversed, a second staff car entered the railyard at the center of the Military depot, the skeletons were at constant work, filling up as much of the flatcars with crates and spare parts. With the rarest and expensive things being put into the shortlist, but the more common things like crates for rifle rounds were left to be piled as high up as hotels. “Oh, well, I just did what I had to do alright? I know it's a mess right now but don’t worry, I still got some plans up my sleeve.”

  Thomas with Mars both exits out the mine resistant vehicle, immediately noticing them and walking to the General as the high ranking Skeletons saluted him. “Yeah? Wished you were back on Earth riding around in that fancy Rolls Royce of yours, right Jackson?” Hearing this, Yamaoka’s eyes squinted. “Huh? Jackson-sama, you own a Rolls Royce?”

  “Yama-” He facepalms, shaking his head inside his armored hands. “Hah? What’s with the sama all of the sudden? It’s not even something I bought. It was gifted to me by an acquaintance of mine from Iran.”

  “Gifted?!” he sighs hard as Jackson just crossed his arms. “By someone I used to fight with. I helped him in the Syrian campaign and lost contact when we entered Turkey since the Iranians joined with the Iraqis and Saudi Coalition Army.” shrugging his head, he looks at the sea of railcars behind him. “But still, Jackson-sama. A Rolls Royce in our decade… wow.”

  He points at the passenger cars that were left behind on the center of the switching station. “Can we just get on with the evacuation? John, why the hell are you still here? Can’t you see the frontlines are about to come here?!”

  “Yeah, well, we have a bunch of disassembled planes here and we have no ways of transporting them out… and I have an explosive plan for them.”

  “And the players? Are they all accounted for?”

  “Should be, all of the teleports in the Continent are now turned off. The Mage's Association and Ivory Tower of theirs says Schon is clear of players. Those still here are just bottlenecked by the transport issue, meaning there’s still people left behind but are behind friendly lines… what remains of those lines…”

  “Haaah… alright. But don’t stay here for long. Whatever crazy thing you have up your sleeve, be sure to get it done quickly. The Demon Army should be here in a few days to a week at least unless they pull something off their ass again.”

  He then turns his head to Thomas. “We’ll borrow those luxury cars for a bit.” though this made the other General lift an eyebrow. “Jackson, we'll load up an entire army into a luxury train?” he nods. “Why not? The skeletons which make up over ninety percent of our forces can be packed into freight wagons like mannequins. It’s just the vehicles that’re the problem.”

  John then looks at the railyard with his hands on his hips. “That’s going to be one long train...” Jackson thought with his arms crossed nods. “The rails to the shoreline are still clear right?” With an approving smile, he points his finger forward, Thomas going with Mars to begin ordering people around.

  “Still can’t believe you planned to fight all the way to the desert.”

  “Well…” he scratches his head, with John right beside him as the Black Knife’s soon arrive in their horses with the last of the players from Zavalda. “No plan survives first contact as they say.”

  “Sir Jackson.” He turns his head to look at Treala, Bahamut far too busy sniffing the air as Mars is gone with Thomas and the two Vampires are observing the Depot and its seemingly endlessness. “You shouldn’t fill yourself with much anxiety. In my Tribe there’s always a saying.” He smiles at the Wood Elf and crosses his arms. “A plan is only good for those who are not prepared. You are more than prepared, Sir Jackson.”

  An officer then walks out of the main building, on his hands, some photos as his face showed sheer anxiety. “Sir! Satellite images got sent to us from Iron Mountain! We know how the Demon Army is moving so fast even with the closing of the Labyrinths throughout the world!”