What remain was to make haste, interactions between Arms Masters excluding Fuyukohime mattered not since everyone was thrusted into the battlefield with little to no briefing.
Adaptivity mattered more for the assumption of a Soldier to accomplish the task at hand that the Chinese has despicably roped them into. As the air to the bird, sea to the fish and so is contempt to the contemptible, dying is not an option and the matter itself would cry on deaf ears, unsettled and dying itself without honor is wack. If Fuyukohime moved without being told, then Rin stomached to rationalized her facade, just maybe, not get too engrossed with the disguise.
Rin went full throttle and touched the earth beneath her which was clad in sea water, geysers clad in chain started multiplying as they protrude from the surface and to those enemies caught in the crossfire would unwittingly fall into their conditional wintry doom, which some indeed fell as they were frozen in their tracks and entangled in chains.
It seemed that because of the terrain, Rin can produce more ice than she normally does.
"Fuyukohime. I'd encourage you to commit friendly fire against me, lest I get mortally wounded, victory would be distant. I'm sure the J.S.D.F has told you about my specialty and the conditions are fulfilled as you're within my icy platform."
Lingayen Beach, Municipality of Lingayen, Lingayen Gulf
As the counterattack got underway, with the Arms Masters and ordinary troops being able to fire out of the Wall of Light while the enemy can't fire in, the foes on the beach began to die in droves, their advantage in firepower negated by Ari's defensive power, which made her the woman of the hour - Well, the literal current hour, as the others were starting to prove why they deserved a military rank; not just Noel, as Lucy supported Sophist by blowing up four dozen or so folk (some of them in a tank and amphibious assault vehicle); more of the enemy would have been killed if they weren't spread out (because they weren't stupid when confronted with Arms Masters).
Sophist himself exacted a gruesome toll on the enemy armies, but the Chinese were learning how to fight him by directing Sonic Weapons to try and break his concentration and thus bring him down; they can heal his hearing later if they capture him. They also began hurling flash-bang grenades just outside the range which he showed, hoping to blind the kid with bright flashes of light. If that didn't work, they'd just use their boats' floodlights and aim them at his eyes.
As for Ari, he'd find that the flanking force on Labrador Beach was barely being held back by the artillery from the east while the boats trying to go upstream were making good headway, having downed two Filipino Helicopters sent to intercept them. Princess Fukuyo, meanwhile, managed to bring down a tank and several scores of infantry, her kill count rising to a hundred enemy casualties in just a minute, especially with the help of her bodyguard, Rin, and her geysers of pure ice which caused additional havoc to the enemy.
Hanni's performance was unexpected, the young girl also bringing an additional source of cold to the Chinese forces that caused them to yearn for a warmer, swifter death. However, the consequences were that snipers, on several boats which were at least a hundred meters away, were firing at her now, and unless whatever entity was possessing her also gave her superhuman reflexes, she was going to be severely injured, and the only saving grace was that the Chinese didn't want to kill her for some sinister reason, so the shots were aimed at nonlethal areas. If those failed, the enemy would shoot giant nets from closer boats, giant nets which carried an electric charge that can stun most Arms Masters (never mind that electronics could be frozen, thus partly negating the nets' potency).
Nemo would suffer a similar focus; shot in the arm, the Chinese saw him as easy pickings, launching more giant nets at him, and if he was able to dodge or cut through them despite his wound, several bolas would be shot at him, also from boats. If those didn't work, knockout gas shells would be launched at his position, and if no one moved to save him then, a battalion of infantry specially trained and equipped for capturing Arms Masters would land on the beach, their black armor (made of high-end polymers with little to no metal content) highlighting the stun rods/cattle prods they carried in their dominant hands, the ropes, cuffs, and zip ties on their belts and backs, and most ominously, the shock collars they had on their free hands.
Regil and Regina's inflicted carnage was expected despite being great, although Regina choosing to attack the aircraft with mundane weapons was a pleasant surprise which proved that said weapons were still deadly in the right hands. This was further proven by the Philippine Army, which joined in the counterattack, firing small arms and artillery from behind the Wall of Light and wreaking havoc amongst those who tried to outflank the barrier. Noel, his melee options exhausted, was even using a mundane weapon himself, a Floro MK-9 produced in the Philippines itself by Filipinos.
But there was still some neglect of the enemy's airborne assets, part of which came from the Arms Masters being 'optimized' for ground combat, powers-wise. Another part came from the fact that the ground forces were that much closer, and many of them were losing heart due to the Wall of Light stymying their tactic of trying to fragment and isolate the Arms Masters, the tactic which seemed to be winning until Ari put up her barrier, which was able to withstand more Fuel Air Bombs and other forms of ordnance. However, fighters, fighter-bombers, and strategic bombers had already begun to just fly over the Wall of Light to try and bombard Lingayen City itself, whose air defenses were woefully inadequate to withstand a serious assault.
((Section written by Lewascan2))
Location: Lingayen Beach, Municipality of Lingayen, Lingayen Gulf Interactions:@Senhara@Double
There was something rising, a strange feeling in the air of one portion of the beach battlefield. As Regil's Queen bestowed its empowerment upon the battlefield at large, simultaneously, it seemed to trip upon something, which flared in response. As several squads of mundane soldiers scrambled through the trenches to achieve a more ideal position to support the Austrian siblings (and Ari in particular), they moved with unnatural alacrity, rifles occasionally barking over the tops of the trenches with a focus and accuracy. One extraordinarily well-timed grenade chucked by Corporal Castro's squad plunked down into the top of one of the aquatic assault vehicles flanking Ari, eviscerating the gunner and the driver alike with a sharp boom. The driver seemed to have been moving to avoid it the split second it was thrown, but the angle the grenade bounced off the flat top of the vehicle only ensured the gunners had even less cover before it detonated mid-air. The treaded vehicle stuttered to a stop, smoking furiously.
And the allied mundanes weren't alone in their abruptly heightened performance.
Whatever was happening was most certainly not Regil's doing, as even the nearby enemies seemed swept up in the fervor. It was like suddenly everyone was simultaneously granted access to mild bullet time... but without the speed to keep up with it. Laser-focused troops on both sides exchanged ammo with accuracy that would have made range masters shed tears of joy, and casualties began to rack up with alarming acceleration. But for nearly every casualty... there was an odd survivor. Soldiers took incapacitating shots, wounds that would have stunned or shell-shocked from the shock, trauma, and pain, and simply... kept fighting. There was a wild-eyed determination infusing every warm body, energy, and stamina that could only be compared to a full-throttle constant injection of adrenaline.
And it was this shot of energy, endurance, focus, and broadly heightened senses that swept through the Lucy and the Justis siblings.
Lucy, having just unleashed a massive Burst of force, would find that her stamina had not been taxed nearly as much as she might have braced for. Ari, in turn, would find that the ongoing bombardment upon her shield didn't seem to carry as much recoil as it had moments prior. Maintaining her Wall of Light became nearly as easy as breathing, a second wind injected straight into her veins.
Whatever was occurring was clearly far more indiscriminate than Regil's Queen. And moreover, it was clearly widespread. Unfortunately, given the barely organized chaos of the battle and the distances between many skirmishes, it was difficult to tell exactly where the effect began and ended for those within it. If there was a source to be pinpointed, they weren't obvious. All that could really be said was that it had rolled in out of nowhere, absent one moment and there the next.
No, the only question to be answered was: Who would take advantage of this mysterious enhancement best to gain the upper hand? Meanwhile, the skies over Lingayen were filled with fire and ash.
Missiles from jets, drones, and warships alike screamed overhead, pounding firepower into countless beachfronts across the breadth of the gulf and sending helicopters hurtling down from the sky in deadly balls of flaming debris to crush the unwary and set the city alight. Not every front had a magical shield to ward off the worst of the Chinese assault, and the effects were being felt. Other groups of Arms Masters, mercenaries, and Philippine soldiers alike fought valiantly, but the fact of the matter was that China, having undergone rapid and militaristic advancement on top of already having a far greater capacity to arm and train vastly superior amounts of manpower, was far and away beyond what they could hope to truly contest. And worse...
The enemy hadn't even deigned to deploy their own Arms Masters.
Whether that was because they simply had the gall not to even bring any or because said Arms Masters didn't think the current conflicts were worth their time was unclear. Or worse, the enemy may have simply been conserving their strength, looking to wear down the defenders through attrition before crushing them in an abrupt and final blow with overwhelming firepower. At the least, all across every front of the gulf, something strange was occurring. All around, defenders gradually began to notice enemies disappearing. Specifically, the wounded. The dead. Destroyed weaponry and vehicles of war. The roar of battle prevented them from being overheard, but many an incapacitated Chinese troop would bark into the radio in their native language or make an odd gesture, only to suddenly disappear without so much as a displacement of air, as they had never been there, to begin with.
And despite this, the constant whittling at the enemy's resources, it seemed as though there was no end to them. Wave upon wave of enemy forces broke upon the Philippine defense, an unending stream of aquatic and aerial transport craft flowing into the gulf from the direction the Chinese warships loomed, unleashing their own unending bombardment against the shores.
They were attacking the city. The city they were meant to protect.
Kaitlyn felt a burning in her chest. Gritting her teeth, she returned her attention to the battlefield, lending her aid to those she could. She still matters. She can still make a difference... They just have to deal with the beach forces first, and then they can help those in the city.
Silently, Kaitlyn prayed for those already lost.
Most of the Arms Masters were, predictably, terrifyingly efficient murder machines. Kaitlyn wondered if they felt any remorse, or if 'superhuman' went deeper than surface-level. Watching the princess incinerate soldiers and the little brat practically dance on the battlefield lead her to believe the answer was yes.
Did that make them less than human?
"Sir!" She fumbled with her radio, and this time she managed to hit the correct button in just a couple seconds. She'd been surveying the battlefield- largely disregarding the tanks now that they seemed to be getting pulped under concentrated fire- and focused instead on... Sigh... That same Arms Master from before. And... A child? God, she knew Arms Masters could be young, but to send a child onto a battlefield... "The enemy is attempting to neutralize the gravity Arms Master, designating AM-One. They are utilizing sonic weaponry, and other tools for incapacitation."
Withdrawing binoculars from her toolbelt- privately purchased. Thank God the Philippine Army gave her that much freedom- she also got a better look at the weather phenomenon that was the child. She could feel a pulsing in her head, and her hands shook slightly. She didn't pay it any mind.
"The juvenile Arms Master is injured and is sustaining heavy fire... Snipers on the boats."
She let out a shaky breath, rubbing her eyes.
Her intel relayed, she waited to hear back from Corporal Castro as she began firing on the boats. She didn't expect to actually hit anyone, but hopefully the threat of a stray shot would be enough to make them back down.
Corporal Castro perked up from his vigil of the shield-wielding Arms Master and looked in the direction Kaitlyn had gestured. His jaw worked in a motion that suggested he was grinding his teeth in frustration at the sight of the child soldiers outside the edge of the barrier... the all too distant edge. "Damn it," he hissed, glancing around at the lingering enemies within the radius of the barrier. They had mostly been picked off now (with strangely few corpses all of a sudden, living or weapon alike), but that just meant most of the enemy was outside the barrier instead... and only had precious few targets to focus on, bereft of other options.
"Damn it all!" he snapped again. "Hate relying on that shield to stay up, but we're not hitting shit from here!" He was clearly struggling to act. Every instinct as a soldier clearly told him that staying in the trenches as a safety measure was the ideal course of action. On the other hand... "Alright, men, we're making a leap of faith!" He gestured forward, his finger pointing at an overturned FMC M113 armored personal carrier, smoking over the top of one of the further forward trenches. "It's not much, but it's better than nothing! We're moving in!" He scrambled to the top of the trench, still crouching. "Stay low, and fall in! The brats outside need fire support, and dammit, we'll provide it!"
Kaitlyn was shook out of her reverie, jerking to attention with wide eyes.
They were leaving the shield?
"Y-yes sir!"
Falling in line, she supported her unit with cover fire then knelt just beside the end of the ruined vehicle, now paying much more attention to the shots being fired her way. She still concentrated her fire on the boats, though, but split her attention to take pot shots at soldiers targeting the child as well.
"Are we... Is the military really allowed to deploy children on the field, sir?"
Castro spared her a glance at the words, before stiffening, as if he suddenly comprehended them through the chaos. As the squad approached the overturned armored transport, he shot a look Katelyn's way, before focusing his expression back on the children they were moving to support. His expression darkened, before, growling lowly, "There are times and places for that discussion, Private Price... and there's men with far louder voices than me having the final say."
He sent a couple shots the way of the soldiers menacing the boy with the large sword. "And those times are neither here or now... no matter what anyone might wish otherwise." His shadowed gaze met Katelyn's briefly, as he ejected his rifle's spent clip and slid in new ammo. "Save those thoughts for later, and focus on living to have that discussion. I can't have my men distracted, and your ideals are no good to anyone if you're dead."
Crouched behind a tank turret as she is, lightly suppressed from the beach as they are, most of the snipers can't get a clear shot on anything but the girl's head - their orders and their training have had them come to see this as a bad thing. But from the right elevation, from the right angle, far enough out of the defending soldiers’ way...
When Hannie is hit, she feels, more than anything, the force of the shots. Two huge rounds burrow clean through one shoulder and the opposite upper arm, and her body fails to register these as wounds, as being painful. She does feel her balance suddenly shifting in the wrong direction. She notices when she tumbles off of the tank and is not able to catch herself on the fall to the ice. She can't move her arms. Seconds pass. She finds herself in a slightly different position, firmly grasping Kirvella. She must have dropped it. A miscalculation. There is a crackling, a crunching. Hannie tries again to lift herself up. No movement. The crackling continues, unnatural ice filling the wounds and carefully integrating with her body. The ground under the dagger begins to flow strangely as it approaches that energy point where typical physics become inapplicable. It has begun to hail in Kirvella’s area of effect. Humbled, but not defeated, we rise. The crackling settles. Hannie pushes herself off the ground and sits behind the tank, soft misty fog drifting from what had seconds earlier been crippling injuries. Autonomically, she lets out a hitching sigh.
No sense in leaving anything to chance. A nearby boat is ordered to fire the net. It comes as deep into the cold and suppressing fire as its crew can bear – with the assurance of a second chance keeping them steady – and launches its shot, before turning and leaving in a hurry.
Unhappy to be pinned down and satisfied enough with the damage she's caused, Hannie reels her mostly-renewed arm back and throws her dagger. By the time the net lands, she is already among the very front of the advancing friendly line and throwing again: a strange small figure blinking into being, once again in the line of fire, but this time going the right way to leave it. Someday there will be nothing but ice left of you, child.
'Thirtythree' Nil had started counting after the first few hours, there was a lot to do for the unprepared anti-air defenders, but it was very repetitive and that was fucking with Nil. 'Thirtyfour' the bomber slowly fell from the sky leaving a trail of flame in its descent, there were now many of these bombers flying over, they were larger and slower targets than jets so naturally Nil began targeting them. 'Thirtyfive' thirtyfive planes she counted so far and also the amount of chocolate bars she would eat back at HQ, at least if there were enough left, of if they would go back to HQ at all, if only Nil started counting earlier she could have eaten fifteen or maybe twenty more, well it was no use now, Nil wasn't going to change the rules of her little game while in the mid of it.
'Thirtysix' the anti-air corps had been tasked with an impossible task and everyone knew it, even if the city was equipped with a few more AA missile launchers and interceptor jets it would hardly make a difference, the chinese were starting to cover the city's sky and shower it with their bombs. 'Thirtyseven' the scenery wasn't pretty either, as would be expected most emplacements and large vehicles had already been destroyed by precision air-to-ground missiles, the soldiers had all scattered in the trenches and foxholes that littered the ground, hiding and shooting their MANPADS before going back to cover again. 'Thirtyeight' Nil was doing pretty much the same thing, just shooting more than a single projective each time, moreover she had her hair fully hidden under her coat with a hood and cap on top of it all, it was very uncomfortable but at least it covered her glow from jets and drones.
'Thirtynine' but at the end there was only one thing that every soldier stopped to look at, even if for just a second, the Wall of Light being bombarded from a distance, it was truly spectacular, huge explosions rumbling and cracking on an impenetrable barrier, a display of lights and distant noise that would be deafening for anyone close to the barrier, also a reminder that even with everything that had been thrown at them real hell was over there, not further away than a mile.
'Forty' it was time to take break, just a minute to look at the barrier while it was being bombed, there wouldn't be a scarcity of bombers anytime soon and if the battle kept going for so long, could she even eat that much chocolate?
"Approaching Filipino airspace." The pilot at the head of the formation, Captain Tuan, broadcast to the remaining aircraft. The southern-most area of the South China Sea had mostly been under ASEAN control, so the flight to the Philippine mainland had been relatively uneventful and remarkably chatty. Doing nothing the entire 3 hour would perhaps drive people insane. But now that the message was broadcast, chatters cut off immediately. "Lotus Squadron to Manila. This is aircrafts of the VPAF, would you kindly allow us to land at your strip for some pork belly?"
A moment of silence lingered the captain's cockpit, before the request was answered. "This is Commander Darna, thank god you are finally here." The woman sounded a lot less amused. "You are welcome to land, but there's not any time for food. We will need you in the air as soon as possible."
"What's going on?" The captain asked.
"Lingayen is under heavy bombardment. It may be overrun any minute now." Her reply was grim.
Tuan briefly glanced down at his terminal. "I assume they needed a bail then?"
"Affirmative."
"We still have quite a bit of fuel left. We can head north immediately."
She was silent for another few seconds. "Permission granted. Second Lieutenant Noel Alonso is in charge. Contact on approach. Good luck and god bless you."
All 8 crafts heard the transmission, and proceeded, in perfect V-shaped formation, to turn North to head towards the battlefield.
"Second Lieutenant?" Spoke Senior Lieutenant Hoang Van Cuong, piloting the third aircraft on the left side of the formation. The emphasis on the ranking is because he technically outranked this guy. "Don't tell me this guy's in charge of the city's defense."
"How much are you guys willing to bet..." A voice echoed both in the comm channel and right behind him. The only foreign-blooded pilot of the squadron, and Cuong's co-pilot, Lieutenant Nikolay Phan. "That this guy is also a kid. Out of every junior officer possible"
"No way..." Another pilot replied. "Dinner's on me tonight if he even is one year below 18."
"Tch. That's not as good of a bet as you might think." Cuong replied, slightly amused. "As insane as it sounds."
"So you're on my side then, Cuong?" Nikolay replied.
"Whoa whoa, I never said I wanted in on your gambling spree." He retorted from in front. "My money's precious, ok?"
"Come on, it's food! And it's the Philippines. Better have a free meal while we're still here and alive to."
"Alright alright, settle down." The captain commanded. "We'll be in Lingayen in 10 minutes. Contacting the city." << Thank you @Letter Bee for contributing to this section >>
The plane contrails left an uneasy sight for unaware ground forces and volunteers below. Despite being told they were friendlies, they looked nothing like allied jets. In fact, they were Russian jets. Eight SU-30MK2 over the mountains, coated in azure paint with pink lotus emblems on their tails, flew in from the south. No Filipino fighters intercepting them, none flew with them either. They just waltz in like cars in an empty parking lot.
Noel, who were in the middle of fighting in the Wall of Light, heard a strange accent came over his comm.
"This is Captain Tuan of the VPAF's Lotus Squadron. Is this Second Lieutenant Alonso?"
Noel stopped firing his submachine gun to answer the radio, saying, "Lotus Squadron! You came at the right time! Enemy airpower is being focused on the municipality behind us, while we have reason to believe that an Arms Master is being used to aid their conventional assault from afar. If they burn down our fallback position," aka the municipality of Lingayen, "We'll have nowhere to go should the Wall of Light fall; would you guys mind culling the enemy bombers?"
"Understood." The captain replied curtly, hearing the gunshot in the background. "Alright comrades, you hear that?" He said, switching frequency back to the pilot's. "Climb to nine thousand."
"I hear free dinner~" Nikolay excitedly spoke. No confirmation until they meet the guy, if ever, but if that voice was any indication, this boisterous co-pilot likely won the bet.
"I hear free dinner too!" The same pilot that made the bet also said. "Look at that."
It wasn't the bet he was referring to, however. Above the squadron, thirty, no, fourty aircrafts, flying in a rather...familiar formation. At least to the squadron. This was exactly what they were doing in Vietnam 11 months prior. Flying close and massing numbers. It did work pretty well here, since there were still no signs of the Philippine's air force yet, and electronic countermeasure could go some ways against ground anti-air. But oh are they in for a big surprise...
"Split up, we'll do a 'double attack'." Captain Tuan called over the radio. "Lotus 2, 3 and 7, follow me. We'll go first. Lotus 4, you're in command of the second group. Commence assault!"
"Roger!" The pilots replied.
Four aircraft immediately broke loose from formation, spread out and began to make rapid ascension towards the bombers. Some broke straight through the clouds right into missile range of the enemy formation. Chinese jets were caught by complete surprise and barely responded when the first SU-30 loosed 2 missiles into the Chinese bombers, sending the monster slowly tumbling to the ground in flames. The second one that followed shot down an escort jet that strayed too close to his line of shot. Both climbed above the Chinese formation only to dive back down with their cannons. The third one did not have a good angle so it subsequently missed their armaments. The fourth one approached from a much shallower angle, but allowed a missile to cleanly bag a bomber.
Meanwhile, the remaining 4 SU-30s lurked beneath the clouds below. The food tonight looked increasingly tasty.
Location: Lingayen Beach, Municipality of Lingayen, Lingayen Gulf Interactions: None
BGM:Bipolar Nightmare (NieR: Automata), remixed by FalKKonE still playing
The Meitners were both driving the battlefield in their own ways. Regil, the youngest, held his position behind everyone as much as he could muster, trying to protect himself and the Queen from the Chinese Army's attacks. After all, her aura was bringing the Noble Arms a chance of victory. As for Regina, her continuous and offensive carnage in the skies was proving itself to be effective, even if she was leading one rogue aerial unit against many of them. Despite the risk of being an easy target to hit stacked against her and her soldiers, they braved the incoming assault as much as they could ever muster.
However, they weren't invincible, only human beings at the end of the day. Whether they were wielding Noble Arms or not, it didn't change the fact that we aren't talking about superheroes. Sure, the Arms themselves managed to make a very powerful impact on their natural aptitudes, but it didn't make them invincible. And what's worse, the Chinese Army kept coming at them without any sign of stopping. More and more reinforcements came over the sea, and it wasn't exactly possible for them to keep firm control of the battlefield without taking account of the next waves coming at them. It was almost as if their efforts were all to naught. But even so, both siblings were determined to win this.
(I can't shake the feeling this is all just the beginning of the fight. We're not even close to diminishing their forces, even though we're standing up just fine. But my focus can't waver, not right now.) Regil thought.
(I'll keep shooting, and shooting, and shooting. It doesn't matter who comes in my way. I am Regina Meitner, Specialist of the England Military Army. I'm not letting these Chinese bastards get the best of me.) Regina thought.
The arrival of another aerial squad allied to them from the clouds gave them a chance to breathe, though. It was a close call, but the aircrafts were being bombarded from left, right, up, down, back, and front. If these were fireworks, it'd definitely be a show to behold. However, it wasn't a celebration, so the explosions weren't beautiful, but ugly.
"Good, reinforcements! Now we can do some damage to those aircrafts!" Regil spoke, happy. The Queen kept shooting its lasers at the aircrafts, exploding them.
Regina's unit followed through as she and her soldiers kept firing rockets and hitting some of the aircrafts. The sudden stupor caused by the arrival of the aerial reinforcements made it better for them to keep on the offensive since the enemy now had something else to worry about.
"Specialist, more aerial reinforcements! Shall we join them?" The pilot asked.
"Of course not. Now those bastards will have another thing coming. But I'm not stupid enough to go into a jet fight with a helicopter." Regina answered.
"So we're landing to help Lord Regil, who's down there on the field?" Another soldier quickly pointed.
"... Yes. I think I need to give instructions to him since he's not following my words." She said.
The pilot obeyed, descending the copter from the airfield and landing it directly towards Regil's position.
"H-Huh? Is that...?" He spoke.
All of her squad got down from the copter, already armed. They stood right in front of Regil as Regina came to meet him.
*BGM fades away*
"S-Sister?!" Regil questioned, surprised.
"I told you to brace yourself, not to be lenient on the enemy. You're a Meitner, act like one." Regina spoke, coldly.
"The enemy's aerial unit is close to invading the city. If I didn't stop them now, they would've-" Regil tried to argue.
"Leave the air to me, my squad and to this other unit that just arrived. Focus on the ground, stat." Regina ordered.
"B-But if I stop attacking the air, they will-" Regil, once again, tried to argue.
"Regil, I didn't ask for your intel. Do as I tell you." Regina gave her final word.
"H-Hold on!! Regina, let me finish-" He tried to speak, but she already ended the transmission.
"Specialist, we await your orders!" The pilot spoke.
"We're taking advantage of the moment, because we're going to engage the enemy in all directions from down here!" She ordered.
"Roger that, Specialist!!" The pilot responded.
"Launchers, keep bombarding those bastards down! Snipers, I'm rejoining you! Kill the falling stragglers, aim for their vitals! And if you get the opportunity, pierce the windows with our bullets and kill them directly from inside the plane!" Regina ordered.
"Affirmative, sir!!" The soldiers responded in unison.
Regina once again grabbed a rifle and joined the snipers. She shot the falling stragglers in their heads, neck, lungs or heart, whatever was quicker to hit. With her attack, it wasn't just gunpowder raining down, but bodies started to fall from the sky too, at a faster rate than before.
Regil watched with horror as he finally got a glimpse of his sister as she invaded the air. But it wasn't just because of her seemingly merciless slaughter, but the war itself was taking a scheme that he couldn't believe. Even though it was the enemy, the soldiers were also humans losing their lives. Even though it was either him or them, this was a scenario that he always avoided to think.
(... I-I can't falter now. Regina's orders were sound. I have to help the others down here too.) He thought, still shocked.
He shifted his attention to the ground and ordered the Queen to shoot her lasers at the tanks instead.
His Sword and Her Shield. Together their shining lights serve as the proof of their bond and their strength. ~ Dorian Justis
The Austrian man drove a bit closer toward his intended targets. He noted that he hadn't actually left the confines of Ari's wall yet, and decided that he needed to use that fact to his advantage. There was eight craft in all. Six of them looked like gunboats and the other two looked like landing craft, probably carrying a tank and light vehicles. Those two landing craft needed to be the priority, sinking them would prevent the Chinese from getting any extra vehicles on the ground in this region and significantly weaken their advance, at least on this side of the river anyway.
But those Gunboats would pose a problem. In any other scenario Alain would just have tackled the enemy head on. But he didn't have the luxury of such grandiose recklessness. Not in actual warfare like this, anyway. If he charged head on those Gunboats would open fire and obliterate him. So he needed to strike from a distance, preferably from behind Ari's Wall of Light so he could stay guarded from the Gunboats' inevitable retaliation.
"Hmm, there we are..." he muttered as he spotted a bridge that crossed the river. As luck would have it, the bridge was covered by the Wall of Light. Not all of it, but enough for Alain to position himself in a safe zone to strike from. Of course, getting there would be a bit tricky. There was at least a decent chance his bike would be spotted and fired upon by the lead Gunboat. But as long only that one boat fired, Alain was confident he could maneuver around the lines of fire. He just had to be quick about this. And so he hit the gas of the bike and took off in a mad dash toward the protected side of the bridge.
It opened fire, just as he thought it would. Alain had to swerve between lanes in a serpentine manner to avoid fire and even utilize the wide blade of his Claimh Solais to occasionally block incoming shots. But in a daring maneuver, the Arms Master drifted sharply into turning onto the bridge. That through off their shooting for at least a moment. And luckily for him that moment was just enough for him to floor it and reach his destination. That was when he hit the brakes and stared at the distant ships in confidence as their fire now only met with the seemingly impenetrable Wall of Light.
Alain held the blade of Claimh Solais close to his face and closed his eyes as if giving a small prayer, "On my life and upon this Sword... I swear to defeat them." he said aloud as the glowing light around his sword grew stronger, bigger, and more radiant. Then his eyes shot open with a fierce expression, "CLEANSING LIGHT!" he cried out with a deep baritone voice. He swung the blade forward, and in doing so a piercing blade beam shot forwards. It was an easy 30 meters wide in total, a little over half the length of any one of those incoming boats. And the beam was aimed for the lower hulls of one of the landing craft.
And after the first blade beam, Alain launched another. And another. Wide beam after wide beam from each swing of his mighty sword. The beams lancing toward the boats where they would hopefully slice deep into the hulls. His aim was simple. Cut holes and openings in the armored hulls, forcing the boats to take on water and hopefully sink. All the while he would remain safely guarded from their return fire behind his sister's shield. In some ways it was as if Ari - despite being a distance away - still very much had her brother's back. And moments like this, the old man had taught them, were the ones that proved just how strong the two were when their power was used together.
Flashback Collab - Chapter One, Desperation in Lingayen, Part Zero
Enroute to Lingayen, Phillipines
Hannie's PoV:
Things have started moving so fast. Just this morning, Hannie was back in Australia. They told her she might have to leave a month back, but she thought there might be another warning. Or that they'd just forgotten it. Wake up. Have breakfast. Now get on this plane, you're going to the Phillipines. Huh? It's been a few hours of just being herded around now. No one seems to have the time to explain what's going on for her. She feels like she knows, but... she'd rather not be right. Now get in this truck with these army men. Take some ice cream. Good girl. Good luck. With what? Now it's moving.
It feels dark in here. It isn't really, but there's something wrong with the atmosphere. Hannie holds an ice cream cone and stares at the floor, the smallest figure present - not necessarily by much, but something about her makes her feel yet smaller. The soldiers are quiet. Are they staring at her? Are they leaving the air open for an Arms Master? Or is there just nothing to say? After a while, Hannie looks up to scan around. Are they all army guys?
NPCs
The Truck's Radio was broadcasting the worst news possible: China was invading in what they call a 'territorial protection operation' and it was taking the Philippines' premier Arms Masters to protect the country from a now-constant bombardment of ballistic missiles and other long-range weapons, as well as the might of the Chinese Navy.
The Philippines' own naval forces were concentrated in the west, trying to bar the way to Manila Bay while its air force was barely holding on.
As the 'Government of National Salvation' scrambled all its remaining forces, it became clear that the main thrust of its defense was on Lingayen Gulf, where the Japanese had landed in World War II.
And (more) Arms Masters were their only hope.
Qingshe's PoV:
Another battlefield, another front of the war... and another group of stagnant hicks in dire need of uplifting in the face of Chinese aggression... It was hardly anything new to her. Rather, if anything, it was the same thing she had busied herself with these last 10 months after she finished wallowing in her own indecisiveness.
Fingers clad in emerald-hued false claws tapped a stuttered rhythm upon the surface of a sleek electronic "pad" of sorts with a very distinct, glowing green-on-black cyberpunk aesthetic. The screen's dim light helped illuminate the owner's somewhat more sparsely inhabited corner of the vehicle. "Somewhat", in that the transport was cramped enough as is, and there wasn't a whole lot of room to distance oneself from less palatable company... subtly or otherwise.
That didn't mean some didn't try, no matter how that would reflect on their "comradery" or willingness to supply it.
Reptilian eyes crinkled into silent smiles at the soldier currently keeping a whole seat's worth of space between himself and her, and she smiled impishly at the shiver (in fear or... perhaps something else?) that he rather impressively managed to mostly conceal. She licked her lips in a hungry manner that left little intent to the imagination, before mercifully relenting her teasing of the poor human man to pan her searching gaze over the transport's other inhabitants.
She could see them... the other Arms Masters, the diamonds in the rough among the common chaff, and her mouth watered with venom at the thought of- No, this really wasn't the time. But later? Later, she promised her cravings, humming cheerfully to herself with a lilting, almost musical whisper in the cramped air.
Eerie techno-green light played against the walls beside her from her salacious dress-like "armor", as she leaned back and grinned.
"My~, it sure is optimistic in here~" she tittered, her soft Chinese accent flavoring each syllable.
NPCs
The soldiers began talking among themselves in Tagalog/Filipino and a few other local dialects/languages, but one, who spoke accented English, finally replied to Qingshen, "We're being sent to die; why would we be 'happy'?"
Hannie:
Hannie quietly looks down again and starts eating her ice cream.
Qingshe:
The unnervingly unnaturally beautiful young woman pouted in faux offense at the disheartening reply, her hungry, golden-red, slitted eyes almost visually waning between languid blinks into a moderately less predatory red-tinged blue.
Shortly thereafter, she merely shrugged and smiled with almost insulting brightness. "And here I thought humans were supposed to be adaptable, the ultimate underdogs, developing strength in adversity~... Evolving..." She grinned, eying the present Arms Masters, before waving her hand dismissively. "But if you're so resigned to being prey, then by all means, at least do yourself the favor of not worrying about the inevitable slaughter, hmmm?"
The words were far from encouraging, but they weren't intended to be. It was rats like these that natural selection would weed out by the end of things, so what concern was it of hers how they wasted their pointless existences? They didn't even have the decency to donate themselves to her research. At least then their deaths would have purpose.
Moreover, from a tactical standpoint, it would be foolish of her not to nip such talk in the bud. "Hope"... Such an ephemeral, irrational concept, yet all too important. A fighter with conviction and the belief that they could -would- win was worth ten of those that thought otherwise. The Chinese had no reason to believe the latter and so were already at a large advantage. The last thing the Philippines needed was nihilism crippling their few fighters' will to act.
Qingshe giggled cruelly. "If you're going to die, don't drag your comrades down with you. Be worth something more than nothing, and at least have the dignity to shield those with the will to win where you couldn't."
NPCs:
The soldier muttered, "Maybe it'd be easier if we can make weapons out of our souls, then."
Qingshe:
With her acute hearing and the generally restrained noise level of the transport, Qingshe had no trouble perceiving the soldier's words and leaning back, crossing one slender leg over the other, her strange cyberpunk "dress" notable in that it only formed a ruffled "skirt" from the knees down.
"Mmm~," she agreed noncommittally. "Maybe~... or maybe not~." Cupping her chin with one palm, false claws delicately traced her jawline in thought. "Don't underestimate humans... Our potential is limitless... Noble Arms are proof... and by no means the only kind."
She had little more to say on the matter. She was here to help these people, but she wasn't about to hold their hands. If they couldn't understand that much and extrapolate what was important from there, she felt by no means obligated to elaborate without direct prompting.
Sitting in one of the four corners was Nil, who now tried to get more tucked in the corner than she already was.
Her gaze was initially fixated on the child, or to be more precise her ice cream, everyone could use an ice cream right now. At moments moving her head to look at soldiers, they were also looking at the child in what was certainly a look of horror at what they had come to and what they were going to be up against, Nil preferred to believe they were also hungry and thinking about the ice cream.
Then they started talking, the soldiers were now arguing with a woman with weird green claws who sat all alone as if everyone else hated or was afraid of her.
Looking back and forth between the ice cream and the ongoing conversation Nil noticed the woman had some green glowing things on her, did no one tell her she had to cover that because of 'air attacks' or whatever Nil had been told, maybe everyone hated the woman also back at HQ, were they treating her like this for fun or because she's one of the bad guys? Nil concluded she couldn't be one of the enemy otherwise she would be on the sea right now, not in this truck, but them why was she so hated?
Hanni:
Maybe it's too hot for ice cream. Maybe she's just eating too slow. Hannie lets Kirvella come to her hand and runs the currently-silvery blade over the melting dessert. She wasn't listening too closely for a while there. The discussion felt like it sort of breezed past the words "we're being sent to die," in favor of whatever this... She peeks up at Qingshe. Is there a word for her? In favor of whatever she wanted to talk about. Hannie's really here. In this truck of people being sent to die. Hush... She reflexively dismisses Kirvella. It makes her feel only a little better. "...um." Oh, why is she saying anything? Does she have to? "We're... uh... fighting other humans. They have potential too." She waits for someone to admonish her for stating the obvious.
NPCs:
The soldiers all look pointedly at Hanni, almost glaring at the reminder of the humanity of their enemy.
Hannie:
Hannie catches the glares for half an instant and makes a laudable effort to phase away through the wall behind her.
Nil:
The child SPOKE!? Nil was shocked, stunned and completely stupefied by this child preferring to speak instead of eating the obvious ice cream in from of her. Did the child know how to eat? she was taking a lot of time and she even tried to cut the ice cream with an ice knife, probably no one taught her the sanctity of food and rites like 'proper' and 'etiquette'.
Maybe this conversation was important somehow, Nil should hear what they're even talking about, even if for just a few seconds.
Qingshe:
Long green hair swayed with the motion of a head turning, as Qingshe eyed the source of a brief -but notable- drop in temperature with renewed interest. Shortly after, the snake-eyed woman smiled all too brightly at the assertation made by the small, huddled girl.
"Yes~!" she chirped, lightly clapping her hands in a manner reminiscent of a teacher praising their favorite student. "Exactly so, of course~!" Her eyes were a mellow green tinged with gold now, as they conveyed a certain edge of seriousness to her apparent elation.
Her tone became almost... educational, as she leaned forward eagerly, propping one elbow on her crossed knees and her chin atop the connected hand. "Of course, thankfully, Noble Arms tend to favor the... misfortunate. Despite their numerical superiority, they are far less likely to birth fresh Noble Arms on the battlefield than every one of you. Even so..." She sighed with faux drama. "What potential they have has unfortunately been long-since greatly explored..." Her reptilian eyes squinted in anticipation, their hue draining into yellow. "But that's what I'm here for, to rectify that advantage by hook or crook~."
NPCs
The mood lightened; the soldier who spoke English began chuckling, and translated what was said to the rest of his folk, who began smiling.
Hannie:
Hannie scans the room for the punchline to the joke she must've just missed. All she finds is more people looking at her. Wait. That one's just looking at her ice cream. Well, her appetite doesn't seem to have been keeping up with it anyway. She offers it across the aisle to the highly focused stranger. "I'm, uh..." She almost says "scared to die," but the mood just lightened. She's silent for several seconds while she thinks of something else. "...glad you'll help." It's a safe bet. The, uh... green... person, was probably talking about helping.
The Truck was moving closer to Lingayen City, close enough that the people inside can see that soldiers and civilians alike were helping dig trenches and place what Anti-Air systems they can afford (including one Israeli SPYDER system) wherever there was space. Barbed wire and large spikes, as well as concrete Anti-Tank 'hedgehog' barricades, were also being placed.
At least there were preparations...
Qingshe:
There was a flicker in the confined space, as -between one moment of splattering dessert and the next- the fragments seemed to disappear mid-flight. No. Not quite disappear so much as they were snatched out of the air at speeds barely perceptible to the naked eye. The floor was no longer a steely grey, but instead an inky, bubbling black flecked with green. It was there that the last flickers of what were once small writhing tendrils -the tips headed by fanged mouths not dissimilar to chest-bursters straight out of Alien- could be seen retreating into the void.
Tsking her tongue in a chiding, strangely motherly manner, the tall woman in the cyberpunk dress had moved. It was hard to find a better word to describe the serpentine swiftness with which she'd suddenly gone from being in her seat to standing next to the two Arms Master girls... with a hankie in hand?
"Jesus, Qingshe! At least try not to rile the troops!" one of the higher-ranking soldiers exclaimed with a startle, several of his comrades echoing his alarm before acknowledging the lack of actual threat and returning to tense annoyance, intermixed with -for some- reluctant amusement. He clucked his tongue at the unrepentant smile he received in return from the now named green-haired woman.
Instead, those golden, slitted eyes returned to the younger girls. "Oh, my my~! How uncivilized~" Despite the words, there was a purr of interest(?) to her voice that -if one didn't know any better- they might compare to the rattling of a viper. "Honey, if you wanted a treat of your own, all you had to do was ask~!"
The blackness on the floor had retreated till it ebbed tidally merely around the edges of the hem of Qingshe's dress, like a mockery of a shadow. From its mass, a thin cylinder crawling with glowing green lines extended up from it to the voluptuous woman's hand... before the top opened like a tube and expelled an ice-cream cone identical to what the melted mess used to be.
Extending the hankie to dab the mess around Nil's lips with a kindly smile, she plucked the cone from her shadowy cyberpunk appendage with one ebony-gloved hand and offered the fresh treat. It was... visually somewhat odd behavior, given that there appeared little if any difference in age between her and the snowy-haired young woman, but the latter's own prior actions lent an air of unusual genuineness to the gesture.
The offered dessert was strangely well-chilled as though it were fresh out of a fridge, and -were it to be tried- one would find the flavor to have suffered no loss, despite the odd origin. In every conceivable way, it was an identical, flawlessly reproduced product, edible and enjoyable in all the ways that mattered.
Hannie:
Hannie begins to smile at Nil's strange eating behavior, and that smile is promptly killed. She makes no successful effort to conceal how the shadowy apparitions unsettle her. She watches them with wide eyes, and remains frozen after they fade away. Is this what Arms Masters are like? Kirvella's scary, this gir- wom- Qingshe's scary, the white-haired girl... well, she seems okay, but she looks kind of creepy? They can't all be like this. Can they all be like this? Can she get used to working with people like this?
It's doubt after doubt piling on. She might die from her own anxieties. She never should've spoken up. being sent to die all those people staring at her they didn't even let her talk to mom before they sent her to d Hannie drops the cone. it's so crowded in here the way they looked at her what were they thinking what's Kirvella going to do out there why are they at war why why why why
There's not much room on the seat, but she brings her knees up to hug as well as she can. A ragged breath narrowly escapes her before she lets her face fall into the soft fabric. She should try to cry quietly. She'd rather not disturb anyone.
Nil:
Nil didn't expect the green woman to just... teleport across, likely no one did, Nil was startled by this unexpected situation, when and how did she move so fast but more importantly why? was it the ability of her stand Noble Arm?
Nil was shocked for a few seconds and could barely understand what the woman was saying, was it related to their earlier discussion? did she do anything wrong? why is everything so green right now?
Then the green woman just... materialized a new ice cream, that was just as unexpected but this time rather than being shocked Nil gave a hasted 'tank you' in danish before eating the frozen dessert in two quick bites, trying and failing to be less voracious.
'Thanks' she said right after this time in english, realizing that's how she was addressed just a second ago, a bit less on the edge Nil now just sat in her corner slowly gnawing at the handchief she was offered.
NPCs:
The truck was on the outskirts of Lingayen City, and had to stop at a military checkpoint, where two soldiers can be heard gossiping that the Chinese Fleet had appeared over the horizon and that the northern part of the Philippines was being bombarded by planes and targeted by missiles. Nevertheless, when the truck driver rode up to them, they snapped to attention and one of them asked in better English, "We've been notified there are Arms Masters in the truck; what are their names and general ranks?"
Qingshe would privately admit, the brief surge of nervous pheromones that drifted into the air as a result of her teasing almost made her purr in anticipation. Although... She resisted the urge to raise a single brow at the youngest Arms Master among them, the almost frail-looking girl, who now huddled in fear.
Well, more fear than she already was.
The raven-haired girl had been practically oozing tension from the moment she'd stepped into the transport, tension Qingshe could quite literally smell. It had only gotten more pungent the moment the girl had caught sight of her shadow's helpful antics. The timing was far too coincidental to be anything else, and Qingshe lightly pouted at the conundrum.
Just what was it with small creatures and running away from her? Well, obviously, what other response to a predator was more natural? Not that she was a predator to these people... not this time. Children should be allowed to be children. Even the ones that weren't quite apparent...
She glanced at the snowy-haired younger woman girl currently inhaling the fresh ice cream... and chewing on the hankie... and acknowledged her thanks with slitted eyes crinkling into a warm, amused smile of amber. "Oh, my pleasure, dearie~."
The Downward Descent would have had a field day with such a precious feral thing. Ah- Aaaand, just like that? There went her good mood. Just thinking about those animals was nearly enough to send her into apoplectic fits, not that it showed outwardly. Even so, the air seemed just a touch chiller than it was before, this time not at the frail girl's behest.
Regardless, she all but slunk into a seated position to Hannie's left... atop the thigh of one very (un?)lucky regular soldier, who made strangled noises of protest(?), as she wriggled and made herself comfortable, looming over the frail girl with a feline laser-focus to her serpentine gaze.
She leaned forward till no more than inches separated her face from the girl's pale visage, humming cheerily with a low purr that could barely be heard over the rumble of the transport's movements, certainly not by those more than a single seating away. The soldier she currently availed herself of as a cushion swallowed audibly to her perked ears.
"Lucky bastar-" she heard another soldier mutter before being firmly elbowed in the gut by his neighbor, much to her amusement and mildly restored mood.
Her shadow burbled silently and thrummed with a barely perceptible electric hum, as she smirked and idly played with some of its mass that had spread to the seat and wall next to her, the ebony and lurid green deforming and resetting mindlessly in her grasp.
The delightfully cloying scent of fear was almost overwhelming so close, intoxicating even, and Qingshe had to resist the urge to deliberately stoke it higher. Some instincts... really were too troublesome sometimes. The price of progress perhaps. Instead, she pouted and allowed her shadow to wriggle away into near nonexistence, only maintaining a small puddle on the floor, out of visual sight of the huddled child.
The sound of the checkpoint inspection was acknowledged and discarded, as she heard all she needed to from it. "Lei Qingshe: A-rank, Hannie Cavalet: C+-Rank and Nil: C-Rank. No last name on that one," the driver rattled off without hesitation. A couple wide eyes from eavesdropping soldiers turned her way, to which she cheekily wriggled her fingers.
Beyond that, it wasn't much the serpentine woman's concern, as her golden gaze -having briefly drifted to the front of the vehicle- snapped back to the girl she sat beside. "Hannie Ca~va~let~ That's you, huh~?" her lilting Chinese accent sounded out inquisitively in a manner that gave the distinct impression she was tasting and savoring every last syllable, like merely the act of learning something so simple was a delicacy of verbality.
NPCs:
The checkpoint opened, with the soldier in charge remarking in Filipino, "It seems we have a chance, then."
His compatriot remarked, "Yeah; 'the kid' would be happy to hear about that..."
A reference to Second Lieutenant Noel Alonso.
Hannie:
Hannie considers, from a variety of standpoints, the good it might do not to respond to her name. She could just stay curled up here and keep crying and never let anyone move her. That'd be nice. It won't happen though, will it? She extricates her face from her coat, wipes her eyes, sniffs. Maybe some other time. Her ears, and the eyes of most of the men in the truck, have told her that Qingshe is speaking from beside her. That's enough - she doesn't need to look. It's like a stalking panther or a monster in a dream. It'll get aggressive if she looks. Even at the corner of her vision, those slitted eyes so close... Her reply is quiet, and has to push through a few false starts in her tightened throat. All that for a little, "mm-hmm." She watches Nil teething on a sheet of fabric. It's the least confusing, dreadful, imminently frightening thing there is to watch right now.
Nil:
Nil had become a bit curious about the other Arms Masters, especially since their names were told outloud by a soldier to the checkpoint guard. Hannie Cavalet and Lei Qingshe, both female names but one was from the west and the other chinese, so it was probably the two other girls in the truck, odd how all the girls had NAs. It became became clear who was who when they started talking with each other again, not like it would be hard to tell who came from the west and who came from china.
Qingshe left had left her ice-cream-making shadow on the ground, why didn't she dismiss the shadow entirely? why is a chinese here to fight other chinese? will the shadow make more sweets? Nil pondered these questions while gulping the rest of the hankie.
NPCs and Noel:
The truck finally arrived at their destination, and opened its door to allow the people inside out to where the temporary HQ of the defenders were. A soldier led the way inside, before gesturing for the Arms Masters to come in.
Sison Auditorium in Lingayen was once the cultural center for the entire region (which in turn was made up of two to three provinces), a neoclassical building from the 20s and renovated twelve years ago back in 2010. Now, however, it served as a makeshift barracks for Lingayen's defenders, including the Arms Masters, at least temporarily. At least the stage saw some use, though, as the projector screen showed the situation all over Lingayen Gulf and the rest of the Philippines.
A boy was giving the lecture, his unique clothes and armor marking him as an Arms Master, and the Second Lieutenant's chevrons on the shoulder of his sleeve marking him as their commanding officer. Upon seeing Qingshe, the boy nodded in acknowledgement, as though to a superior, and spoke, "Your coming here means a lot."
He then looked at Hannie and Nil and greeted them with a wave, "You two; I'm glad to have your presence as well. I presume the trip went without any problems?"
'What a precious little thing~! Oh, I could just Eat. Her. Up~!'
Serpentine eyes crinkled into smiles to accompany her lips, as Qingshe cupped her right cheek with the respective hand, her elbow resting against the transport's wall. "A pleasure, dear~. My name is Qingshe, but then... I suppose you heard that~?" Humming musically, Qingshe eyed the tear streaks on the girl's face and resisted the sudden urge to lick them.
Instead, a portion of her shadow manifested from beneath her posterior to dribble over her soldier-seat's legs behind her, to his amusingly distressed squirming. Her free left hand reached back to delicately pluck a neatly folded ebony hankie from the mass, the shadow retreating once more, as Qingshe offered the fresh second hankie -a seeming clone of the first- to the huddled girl with color-streaked raven hair. "A pretty thing like you shouldn't be in tears," she said with a strange tenderness, her slitted eyes bleeding into a soft green. "There's far too much ugliness in the world to tolerate the beautiful staining themselves."
Her gaze drifted to the oddly childish woman, who was busying herself with consuming the hankie she'd been given wholesale. An equally amused and interested light edging into her expression, Qingshe idly considered putting a stop to that but then dismissed it. If anything negative came of it, it wasn't like she couldn't take responsibility later... assuming the girl survived the slaughter to come.
That moderately sobering thought turned her attention back to the ravenette, as she vocalized a wordless noise of cheery contemplation. "Mmhmm~! So, little Hannie~! If my ears don't deceive me, your accent would make you one of those Aussies, as they say~?" Her tone was filled with a boundless interest, as her eyes rapidly shifted to an anticipatory amber. "Oh~! Is the wildlife just as wonderful as I've heard~?"
The transport coming to a halt put a pout on her face, as disembarkment was engaged. The interruption, however, hardly quelled her eager disposition, and so she all but sashayed alongside the girl bundled in warm clothing, her own state of rather... less than warm... or modest dress providing a distinct visual contrast. All the while, she continued to direct her attention the girl's way, all but begging for engagement and answers.
The sight of their destination, the auditorium converted into a makeshift barracks for the local defenders, briefly provoked an odd smile and a "How quaint," before her attention was back on the comparatively small child, golden eyes gleaming.
Even so, despite her interest in the withdrawn ravenette and the alabaster-haired girl, Qingshe couldn't help noting the reek of tension in the air, as they were guided further into the premises. An understandable state of affairs perhaps. After all, already the news had drifted in that the Chinese offensive had engaged with the nigh-defenseless northern Philippines. They'd not yet hit Lingayen yet, but that was nothing less than a matter of time, an hour at most, if even that.
Qingshe tilted her head, snooping on the airwaves. Even despite the lack of truly comparative opposition, the Chinese were still making progress at a speed that could only be called unnatural, utterly overrunning anyone and anything that stood in their way, and it wasn't hard to guess why.
Arms Masters.
A staple of any competent, non-suicidal military in this day and age. Whether anyone liked it or not, times were changing, and humans -Arms Masters- were the new atom bomb. Only a fool would not cultivate that resource. And, as it so happened, some were far more "blessed" with options and "rolls on the gacha" than others.
China's egregiously enormous population was an advantage that couldn't be denied in this respect. And their methods of recruitment were harsh... but effective. With no need to worry about paltry, trivial things like "volunteers" or "willingness", they could easily militarize any and all assets that the government decided might be worth investment.
Like her...
Qingshe shook her head lightly, as the auditorium and stage proper came into view. A fairly distinctive speaker, one Noel Alonso, a mere teenager, was giving a strategic briefing to a number of enlisted personnel of various ranks. Golden eyes tracked across multiple uniforms, and the voluptuous serpentine woman couldn't help the edge that made it to her otherwise pleasant smile.
Nothing higher ranked than the Second Lieutenant on the stage to lead this merrily hopeless band. And she couldn't imagine that many of the adults present were exceptionally charmed by that fact. The situation really was as desperate as advertised, huh? Even with the likes of Qingshe among them, relief was intermixed with the innate wariness at their arrival, as Noel called attention to the trio of fresh Arms Masters with his greeting. Qingshe spotted recognition in many a gaze, smelled spikes of fear even, but one and all seemed ready to keep their composure and... and least tolerate her existence for time being.
Qingshe finally relented her loitering around Hannie to smile wryly and nod in return, her slitted eyes shifting to a murky blue edged with gold. She raised a brow at being singled out -perhaps understandably- by the boy ostensibly in charge of this haphazard resistance, and she felt in turns amused and miffed by the treatment of the girls beside her, greeted almost as an afterthought.
She wondered at the nepotism. Was it because of who she was representing? Because of her status as an Arms Master? Her power? Reputation? Rather, wouldn't the last one be a point in the opposite direction? Impossible to say for sure without perhaps tastelessly inquiring directly, and so she would hold her tongue.
Instead she merely folded her arms beneath her chest and cocked her hip, one hand extending up to cup her chin. "Oh, none at all, Lieu~ten~ant~!" she chirped, before pouting playfully. "It's been almost too peaceful in this lovely city~. Not even an assassin to pass the time~!" Her eyes glimmered with naked anticipation. It perhaps ominously went without saying, but that peace was all too inevitably to be shattered.
It was truly going to be a terrible waste of lives, resources and time... but perhaps she could find some level of entertainment in the absurdity of it all. 'Silver linings,' Qingshe concluded grimly with a smile she wasn't sure she felt.
Noel:
Noel nodded, then said, "Let's just say that I have been cutting off the heads of saboteurs both highly and lowly placed since the establishment of the 'Government of National Salvation'. From the halls of power in Manila to deep in Visayas and Mindanao and then back to this place, I and a few others spent a month taking care of the worst rot."
He sighed and spoke, "There were assassins, but none who can match me at night and few who can match me at day. Either way, will you be taking command of the defense from me, or can I keep it? I've been told you might outrank me militarily due to your... experience."
Rin:
Suddenly a shift in the atmosphere marked a cooling sensation.
Wholesome as these moments deem, one must cherish it before the unknown takes it all in the upcoming fateful mission that the Arms Masters will partake.
"Assassins. Right. Now that's a term I've never heard for quite a while."
Out of the blue, Rin joined the conversation with her colleagues.
"Survival is no respecter of experience, boy. One cannot tell when the ice melts, even if it is as durable as a diamond, it will break and crumble but if you master your fate, that diamond will be unbreakable and fresh from the furnace."
Rin
Rin showed honor and compassion through her bewitching glance and smile towards Noel as she slightly nod.
Having been introduced to the woman named Qingshe, who was surprisingly tall and towered most.
"Rumor is: Someone smart is a snake. Someone clever tricks the snake. Someone brilliant invents the snare. Life is a game in every level.
Just a poem I have out of the blue, pardon me for any misunderstandings. " Rin laughed at her own amusement.
She greeted Qingshe in her culture's way of welcome.
Slowly but surely, Rin tip-toed and reached the tall woman's face and caresses it, not that she's about to kiss her, though the double meaning implication might say otherwise.
"I'm honored to meet you Sifu Qingshe." Rin said in a cool and calming voice.
Hannie
Hannie's responses to Qingshe's questioning are short and sparse, quiet and without eye contact. Mm-hmm. Yeah. The wildlife is fine. She's not trying to be rude. She is being rude, but she doesn't want to be. It's just - everything. Nevermind what her interrogator is, she's going to war. Nevermind the war, her interrogator is the most freakish thing she's ever been forced to think of as human. No, that's a terrible way to put it. Very mean. But... It's safe to say that she has a few hangups right now that aren't going away however she gets pressed.
She nods and mumbles and shuffles her way into the auditorium, breaking away from Qingshe as soon as Noel has her attention, in favor of standing around Nil. The harmless kind of weird is much more her style. She has nothing to say, but she eyes the crumbs of soggy fabric on her mouth like she might.
Rin's abrupt entrance draws her back to watching the People Who Matter, though listening to them doesn't feel like it does her much good.
Flashback Collab, Part Six
Qingshe:
Arms Masters truly were a breed apart, and somehow, no matter how many she met, the occurrence managed to remain a novelty.
The waifish ravenette bundled away against a cold only she could feel. The borderline feral, pale girl with her bone-white hair and tribalistic markings running across bare skin. The woman with similarly unnaturally-hued hair, dressed more akin to a businesswoman or "bodyguard" of some stripe. The grey-haired boy was even armored.
No matter what others would like to believe, the truth was that even after the better part of a century, humanity had yet to adjust to the inevitable encroachment of the future. Isolation and prejudice, driven by envy, fear and pointless superiority complexes on both sides had widened that gap inexorably. Honestly, the only reason lasting peace was possible was that normals had been stricken with hopelessness, with the knowledge that Arms Masters were inevitable... and far more powerful than them if given reason to believe that destruction was the only way to create a world that would accept them.
As the saying went: "A child would burn down a village to feel it's warmth." A similar principle was what kept the peace from the normal side. However... the same was not so for Arms Masters.
They knew they were different, and that sense of isolation, of "being special" tended to leak into all of them, no matter their origins. In the modern day, with a crisis of both mental and physical health, the problem was exacerbated, resulting in a plague of "Chuunibyou" behavior in flashy clothes and attitudes. Thiers was a world where the fantastical was real, so why wouldn't any child see themselves as the "protagonist" of their own story, for good or ill. From Qingshe's experience, Arms Masters couldn't help a subconscious acknowledgement of their superiority, even those that openly expressed opposing viewpoints.
Because, objectively... they were wrong. And everyone knew it.
It was a powder keg of truly titanic proportions.
One she would neutralize, no matter the cost.
But not today. Nor tomorrow. Not a month, nor, realistically, even a year from now. No, such ambitions were for another place and time. Here and now, before she could go about correcting humanity's mistakes... she had her own to worry about.
Qingshe raised a thin emerald brow, smiling but internally baffled at Lieutenant Noel's abrupt offer to transfer command.
'Impulsive,' she couldn't help thinking. Those were far from the encouraging words of a confident -if realistic- commander she needed to hear. He was young, too young really, but even despite that and the discontent she could spy in the eyes of some of the troops, there was enough legitimacy behind him and his appointment to the position to keep things in order. Quite frankly, she worried of a revolt if someone of her infamy -and a foreigner, no less- were to take command.
Defector or not, here to help or not, she couldn't erase the past and the crimes against humanity she had been responsible for, both directly and indirectly. The fact that she was Chinese at all was surely to engender resentment within the hearts of the populace under siege, and that was even if one discounted the prejudice against Arms Masters, especially powerful ones. They couldn't help it. It was only human nature.
So, of course, Qingshe shook her head in denial. "Worry not, Lieutenant. Your command will be sufficient. I may have experience, but that's primarily in leading a... research team, not an army. Warfare is distasteful to me." She smiled mildly at the quiet exhalations and muttered expressions of relief her enhanced hearing managed to pick up among many of the troops. Tapping her jawline, she nodded, "As I'm sure you were informed prior, I am ultimately but a foreign consultant and contractor. I can provide advice, opinions, but this command structure has no place for me."
A chilling sensation turned Qingshe's attention to Han- No, not the bundled girl, who even now seemed to almost be trying to hide-without-hiding behind the "Nil" girl away from the other Arms Masters. Rather, it was the newcomer she had spied upon entering the atrium. She'd somewhat suspected another Arms Master but had possessed no means to assume for certain until the latter's approach.
After all, dyed hair was hardly an unusual fashion choice in the wake of Arms Masters appearing. In fact, it was even a somewhat useful defense against mugging for some people, as it was an easy way of planting the sneaking, quiet thought of "what if that color is natural" in any ne'er-do-well's head. Rather useful for reminding scum of their mortality. If there was anything good to be said about the rise of Arms Masters on a large scale, it was that mundane crime in the modern day had suffered a steep decline... what with all the wannabe "heroes" looking to fulfill their comic book fantasies.
Qingshe languidly blinked that train of thought away and refocused herself on the matter at hand, namely that she was being addressed by the newcomer, one "Rin" according to the Lieutenant... from Japan. Despite the charming little greeting, Qingshe truly couldn't help internal skepticism. It was no secret the enmity between Japan and China, and given the invasion of Japan a month ago, which was still ongoing, Qingshe found it difficult to follow the logic of that overt cordiality, even with her defection.
Although... then again, amongst those of sufficient rank, it wasn't exactly a secret that her last location was Japan. When China had leveled her own biological and mechanical advancements against their most hated neighbor, of course she had been eager to intervene, stem the tide... and take back her property. Such was her task, to head to the front of each new corner of the war and shore up their defenses against her misspent youth and China's other advantages.
Outwardly, however, she merely returned Rin's level demeanor and little "riddle" with a sly, closed-mouth smile. "Sifu? My, now that's not a way I've been addressed in a long while~," Qingshe replied. Truth be told, given she'd not stepped foot in Chinese or Qing controlled lands in the past six months, she'd barely spoken Chinese at all, except to touch base and get new directives.
Qingshe's slitted eyes were seemingly trying to decide if they wanted gold or blue with their red tinge, as she lightly placed her unclawed, ebony-gloved left pointer finger on Rin's sternum, gently arresting any further encroachment on her personal space. Despite Rin's actions, she could smell no lust emanating from the shorter woman, except perhaps on an objective observational level. Which meant the one before her was either genuinely gracious in temperament... or a creature of similar social acumen to Qingshe herself.
'How frightening,' Qingshe observed internally with a smile that now lightly bared teeth. She would have to be on her guard until she could determine the truth of things.
"I wonder then, Rin-san was it?" Returning the favor of a culturally appropriate welcome, her extended finger applied a deceptively gentle pressure, not enough to shove, but certainly enough to force the other woman to either stop using tip-toes or step back. Her serpentine eyes now gleamed gold, as she straightened up to her full height from her prior languid slump. "What does that make the snake that eats the brilliant and snares the clever?"
Her body shifted. Not a lot, but enough that she no longer faced Rin head on, a subtle dismissal, as her gaze mellowed into a yellow-green towards Lieutenant Noel. "Mah~ As much as the pleasantries are amusing, our time is short." She cupped her chin with a placid smile. "Were you informed of our tactical value prior? If so, then you may be aware, given the situation, mine is in logistics. Materials. Weapons."
Noel:
"I have," Noel said. "Let's just say we have a bigger chance to win now. This is 29 July, and tonight will be a New Moon; one of my powers is to spread a plague of madness against an entire enemy army when the New Moon is in the sky; even E to C-rank Arms Masters are affected. The original plan was to see if we can hold out until then; if we do, we'll have inflcited a defeat on a sizable portion of the People's Liberation Army. But now, not only can we probably hold out until then, but defeat them earlier."
He then sighed and said, "The plan is simple: Oppose their landing on the beaches, then the ground beyond, then retreat to the city and hold out until nightfall. If we can get ten or so Arms Masters of C to B-rank strength in our forces plus luck, we'll be able to make it." Then Noel looked at Nil, Hannie, and Rin, before saying, "Nil has performed Anti-Air duty before for other ASEAN countries, while as for Hannie, I've been informed that her NA is ice-based, same for some of Rin's abilities. That means they are capable of working together..."
Flashback Collab, Part Seven
Nil
They had been in this large room for a few minutes already, a blessing for Nil's ears over the rumbling of the truck, but as soon as they got in they had been greeted by two Arms Master and began discussing with Qingshe, the chattier of the group.
Nil slowly made steps towards the rest of the barracks, not like the discussion was loud or irritating, rather Nil was simply curious about what the rest of the barracks looked like.
Adding to it the small girl seemed to not want to be close to the conversation, or maybe someone in particular "Should we go take a break?" Nil asked Hannie in half-baked English.
Hannie
"Huh?" Hannie blinks, taken out of the somewhat absorbing effort of following the conversation. She looks from Nil, to Noel, back to Nil. One of these choices is a lot easier than the other. Maybe staying around and listening would be smarter, but... "Um. Okay. Where are we going?" She glances back again to see if anyone's watching. This feels naughty.
Qingshe:
Qingshe made a wordless utterance of curiosity, as her left ear perked up. It seemed the children likely were off to do as their adorable kind were want to: explore and generally make a mess. Well, she hoped not, but she wasn't sure how much she would bet on the opposite, given the temperament of one and the likeliness of the other being led around by the nose.
Outwardly, she gave no bodily indication that she had noted that suggestion to leave and the acceptance thereof. Meanwhile, a thread of her shadow, the length of a hair and all but invisible, began to slide across the floor, guiding itself along the fissures between tiles to go even more reliably unseen. It's destination? To weightlessly grip the bottom both girl's shoes and then trail along behind them like toilet paper. She would keep an eye on them.
To Noel, she hummed aloud, before nodding with a light creasing of her brow. "The plan is to hold out on the beaches and rely on a single, conditional ability to save the day?" That seemed like a remarkably bad idea, but it also was one of the only options they had. Folding her arms, Qingshe closed her eyes in thought, before musing aloud, "Given the speed of the Chinese advance, we have less than an hour before our forces must contest one far superior, both technologically and numerically... for what will be hours. Ally morale is low, aside from desperation, and enemy morale is high. And worse..."
Her golden eyes opened, and for once, there wasn't a humorous glint in them. "Judging by the pattern of prior invasions, we can reasonably expect multiple A-Rank Arms Masters to be leading the charge." She sighed. "China has Arms Masters to spare, and from a strategic standpoint, a lightning war at immediate extensive cost will still be less detrimental down the line. They're already fighting the war on at least two separate fronts. They'd only gamble on a third if they intended to crush it by any means necessary."
She twirled a lock of her green hair. "Which is to say, of course, that any plan that relies on time is sure to be one that will collapse under the unyielding pressure. Even with me here, we can only take so much, especially given the inevitable bombardment and our glaring lack of consistent and widespread Anti-Air defenses. Additionally..." Her eyes narrowed. "How certain are you that they don't know your plan? Assassins are one thing, but what about spies? If you are ultimately the linchpin of a defensive victory, then that's a singular, all too vulnerable fault point to exploit."
She lightly chuffed with a grim smile. "Unless you have some particularly special gems in your back pocket, not even a dozen Arms Masters will do more than delay the inevitable."
Her words were grim, but internally, she wasn't too worried. In fact, while she perhaps did not exaggerate the threat facing them, she downplayed her own effectiveness. But that was a necessary sacrifice. Her task was ultimately to ensure every nation she visited could stand on its own two feet when she left. There was no sense hand-holding them beyond the necessary.
Kaitlyn Price
Unlike the Arms Masters, Kaitlyn arrived to the Auditorium with her own unit. The ride was silent, for the most part- or she was, at least. Some of her unit had opted to comment on their kids, or recent news.
Kaitlyn preferred not to think about what was to come. Or just... Not think about it too hard.
Shortly after arriving, she noted just how... Spacious the room felt. It reminded her, vaguely, of her highschool's auditorium. A disorienting juxtaposition when she compared the innocence of youth to the grim realities of her present situation.
Just don't think about it.
And it's doing just that- stalwartly fending off fending off nagging spectres of the past- that two curious extraordinary-peoples may encounter her, nervously thumbing the copper needle in her hair as she studied the bizarre light fixture on the ceiling.
How did they get it to hang like that?
Of course, she'd decided to do some research as her unit dispersed to entertain themselves. Digging out her phone, she was surprised to find the building was only a little over 100 years old. She'd passed by some houses back at home older than this place.
Noel:
"China has suborned many members of our government and military and economic class; in short, the elites," Noel said. "Even a few Arms Masters have fallen prey to temptation, although I'm supposed to be discreet about that. So they probably know my power and have a ready counter to it or are targeting me."
He sighed, "To be honest, our superiors talk big, but the Government of National Salvation has made plans to relocate to Australia; if my power does not work or is countered, the plan is to withdraw all Arms Masters, plus what members of the Philippine Marines we can spare, and repeat our actions in the Philippines Campaign against the Japanese - A fighting retreat to the Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor Island to buy time for the escape to Australia along with how many of our citizens are able and willing to become refugees in foriegn lands."
Noel's eyes sparked with a mixture of disdain and defiance. "But as for me, my personal plan is to lure out whoever can counter my powers, get an Anti-Material Round or several into his head, and then use that power come the New Moon. If that fails, I'll cover the retreat to Bataan myself."
Flashback Collab, Part Eight
Nil
"Somewhere" Nil answered almost taking Hannie's response as a yes. Nil turned and walked away in a manner that is not very subtle but also that doesn't make much noise, someone who wasn't looking would hardly notice it.
Looking around it was plain just how large the room was and also how astonishing is the contrast between the colorful ceiling and the hastily placed bunk beds laying on the side.
While wandering about Nil instinctively approached the Americans that just entered, like a moth to flame. Nil stood on the side away from the larger crowds and their fanfare and closer to a soldier silently staring at her phone.
Hannie
Hannie peeks out from behind Nil to look at who she's looking at. She looks up at Nil's face to be sure that that's who she's looking at. "Why are we staring at her? She looks busy." No answer. Nil just staring, the soldier not noticing, looking up at the ceiling, back down at her phone. She inwardly sweats. She was made to cause awkward social standoffs, not... be left to fix them. It's so much worse from this side of things.
She tugs on Nil's sleeve. She looks desperately at the distracted soldier. Is this really going to be up to her? "Um!" she says - or tries to say. It comes out more like "um." She shrinks behind her friend for protection. "Helloooo?" she manages to call out, from cover. "I-I don't know why we're here!"
Kaitlyn "The Spooked" Price
Kaitlyn jerks her attention away from her phone, blinking, wide-eyed.
"... O-oh!" She looks around- maybe one of her squadmates were around? Alass, no such rescue from impending social awkwardness was within sight. She's on her own- "Um..." She swallowed, pocketing her phone. "You're talking to me?"
She looks between the two, noting, with some dread, that the older of the two was... Suspiciously quiet. Judging.
"C-can I help you?" She asks, thumbing the copper needle in her hair.
Then her breath hitches, and her eyes widen a little more. It doesn't take more than a cursory glance- or, in Kaitlyn's case, a thurough examination- to realize these were Arms Masters.
Oh no, the battle isn't already here is it? She checks her phone.
No.
Then why do they need her? She's just an ordinary foot soldier!
Maybe they're lost?
In a military encampment?
Kaitlyn notes that one of them is a child, of all things. Why is a child here? Does she even know what she's signed up for?
Oh God, what did I sign up for? Is the Phillipines Army really okay with this?
Maybe it's nothing? They're just lost. She'll give them directions and then... Start praying. Or something.
Qingshe:
The serpentine woman frowned. "Yes, I suppose assassins would, at minimum, imply they have acknowledged your existence." And depending on how long such attempts had been going on, they may have a fair grasp of his Noble Arm's powers... assuming they hadn't simply engaged in some good old-fashioned data espionage of his classified records and learned everything about his capabilities.
After all, that's exactly what she had already done, herself, after being informed that an Arms Master would be helming the local defense.
She wondered, how much did China already know about the Philippine's preparations? Her own arrival wasn't advertised, but she didn't particularly do subtle. Would the enemy escalate preemptively in response to her presence? She'd made herself a serious thorn in their side on the other warfronts, so they certainly had a pattern of behavior to judge from. Would they consider escalation worth it? Too many unknowns.
Qingshe ran one ebony-clad hand through her emerald hair, her anxiety otherwise contained. There was so much to prepare for and so little time. If the enemy A-Ranks decided to hold nothing back, then it was all too likely that the only thing left alive in the ruins... would be her. Wouldn't that be ironic? Coming here to salvage things and being the reason that it all went to shit.
She let out a small titter of giggles, shaking her head. "The Government of National Salvation..." What a joke, she wanted to say. And hardly a funny one either. What a pretentiously grandiose name. Instead, she continued, "A retreat is in progress? Good. Your leadership at least acknowledges reality." Tapping her jawline, she sighed. "I'm hardly a military strategist, but that is sound thinking. Perhap-"
She paused at the Lieutenant's last statement and shot him a look of restrained incredulity. "Using yourself as bait? When they presumably have the resources to counter you? When you are the singular critical asset upon which success rests?" Her expression tightened, before she raised a single brow. "You must crave a humiliating end, boy."
Her golden eyes darkened. "Lest you dismiss the obvious. The enemy is under no obligation to humor your archaic little duel challenge. And you are just as vulnerable to being picked off from afar, whether it be by bullet... or artillery." She chuffed quietly, shaking her head with a sardonic grin at the youthful arrogance of it all. "Rather, in the first place, you shouldn't be anywhere near the front lines under any circumstances until night falls. That would be the ideal course of action."
Because as an asset, he objectively was worth more alive than any amount of lives that would lost without him leading the charge. Qingshe knew perfectly well why that logic wouldn't be accepted, but she had to point it out nonetheless. It was the rational course of action, and she'd be a poor consultant if she did any less.
Meanwhile, her shadow thread continued to feed her information, other similar scouting lines beginning to stealthily crawl across the makeshift barracks, mapping the interior and getting a feel for the equipment and resources at her disposal, living or unliving alike...
Flashback Collab, Part Nine
Noel:
Noel nodded and spoke, "Hmm, all of this is true. If that's the case, then we just maximize enemy casualties and hope."
He was genuinely left speechless by Qingshe's own words.
Rin
Qingshe is one heck of a woman and seeing the obvious that Noel himself was left speechless, she couldn't help but chuckle a bit.
Though these group of relations are important, Fuyuko's life is top priority, given that both of them are Japanese and it would be a dishonor if she doesn't lay her life down.
Out of the blue and after some time, Rin appeared behind Noel.
"Sounds assuring isn't it? Hope is something that is close to faith." Rin sucked on her lollipop afterward, she got some Munchies with her and offered two to Noel.
" Boy" Rin paused for a moment and then addressed Noel by his first name. In Japanese, first name basis either mean you're close to that person or acknowledged them as an equal.
"N-Noel..."
"Isn't love one of the reasons why both factions are at odds? War has a lot of stupid reasons and if you think about it, they love their country as each of us love our own. "
Noel:
Noel smiled at that and said, "This is true, Rin. But at the end of the day, only one love can win."
Rin
Rin smiled and laughed a bit.
"Reminds me of my homestay wards, you seemed to be keen on Teleserye, the way you said it sounded promising like a Prince Charming of a Main Character." Rin couldn't hold her tears from laughing at Noel's delivery.
She calmed down for a bit.
"We shall see how this power of love then."
Noel:
"You watch Filipino Soap Operas?" Noel asked. "Even I find those cringe."
Rin
"Tell me about it, the cringe levels are comparable to Japanese Manzai. " Rin fidgeted and gulped, savoring the strawberry lollipop flavor and let off an embarrassed sigh.
"Had to learn some Tagalog to operate you know. In all due respects, I guess we're having this conversation in a way to settle our anxieties in this warzone. Let's focus for now."
Noel:
"I heard a little about your Chains. Can you impose a 'condition' on the Chinese A-Ranks once they make an appearance?"
Rin
"Yeah, all sorts of condition. Just like an Author, imposing retcons. To what type of condition do you have in mind?"
Noel:
"If by chance, you can strike their A-Ranks, possibly if I ignore Miss Qingshe's advice and make myself bait after all... Can you impose a condition to prevent them from manifesting their Noble Arms without serious harm to them?"
Rin
To her confusion, she wondered if such a thing was possible.
"No? I don't think I can do that and even if I could, there's always a bad storm that will approach. But if you like, conventional pressure would do the trick, I can alter the mass and shape of my chains anyway. "
Noel:
"I must have watched too much of your Anime, then," Noel said to Rin. "Guess that closes one possible tactic."
Flashback Collab, Part Ten
Qingshe:
Again, the strange, suited Arms Master woman that had all but propositioned her spoke up, and Qingshe's demeanor grew progressively more closed off and subtly irritated with the conversation's progression.
Things had first devolved into barely veiled flirting, followed by time wasting small talk... and then by blatantly disregarding her advice, seemingly out of hand. This was the quality of leadership around here? This was what she had to work with?
Qingshe's arms crossed, her golden gaze beginning to bleed into a burnt orange. Hope? Love? What absolute nonsense was this? Was this Lieutenant about to throw away his life and the lives of his subordinates for what was, at best, a gamble of disgusting proportions? Was he actually intending to meet the numerically and technologically superior enemy in a straight fight on the beaches with trench warfare as their best attempt at cover? Shouldn't guerilla warfare within the city itself have been the first resort? He... was a legitimate commander, right? He'd been appointed the position by merit, right? Qingshe had assumed so, but...
The absolute waste of, just... everything at his disposal, equipment and lives alike, made her lip begin to curl in disgust, before she suppressed it back to neutrality. She resisted the urge to bristle, as her gaze landed on this... "Rin" individual again, the one currently undermining her efforts to make something workable of this shitshow.
Eventually, after a strangely pointed question and denial regarding Rin's abilities, Qingshe managed to find her voice again. "If you're both done with the fantasies, perhaps we can discuss strategies of actual worth," she said, briefly raising a single brow. "The hour is late and the enemy imminent. Unfortunately, I can't imagine abandoning the current strategy entirely is possible without consequence. So, what resources have you not committed to the beach? What does your Anti-Air complement consist of?"
Lucy:
A new girl steps in, right after Qingshe finishes her request. This one is in full combat gear already. Unloaded rifle slung around the back, pistol in it's holster, vest and pads in place. This person looks like she's ready to go to war. "I have to agree, without a plan, we'll all die. Not even the best warrior could save us then. We need to plan effectively, I don't intend on dying here." The funniest part? This girl has only one arm, yet is preaching about fighting effectively. She sits down nearby to the rest, pulling a nutrigrain bar out of her pocket, opening it, and chowing down. She looks slightly displeased by all this, each bite seeming more frustrated than the last.
Noel:
"The Philippines' military modernization program included a purchase of only three Israeli SPYDER systems, one of which is in Lingayen City just in case the Chinese decide that the municipality's economic value is worth less than smoking me and any Arms Masters out should we attempt guerilla resistance here," Noel answered Qingshe. "The Armed Forces of the Philippines as a whole were oriented towards fighting internal enemies - Communist and Muslim terrorists - and only very recently began focusing on outside threats. Our Infantry and Marines do have MBDA Mistral shoulder-mounted systems from France, as well as LIG Nex1 Chirons acquired very recently. How much? 300 of each for this theatre; which yes, isn't enough."
He then sighed, "We also have Nil, as well as 'Sophist the Agitator', an Unregistered Arms Master who volunteered to help us; he can fly and has control over gravity, and that's the extent of our AA capabilities."
Rin
Personalities gauged, she observed. So this is what it means as the saying goes, ones true colors, showing, near death's door. Noel tries to picture himself as a good person, he's naive and overly accommodating.
Qingshe looked like she's up to the task but something tells Rin that, it's as if she's trying to win a game.
This new girl that entered (Lucy) , Rin kept her guard on, she reminds her of a certain Kunoichi.
Then it goes back into full circle.
Noel...out of all the participants, Rin found him the most interesting.
"If I may, if the air is the prevalent responsibility, not that I'm one to segway but let's not forget that like Japan, China is no slouch, when it comes to infantry. The sky might not be kind but the land would be a deciding factor for all the horde that may arise, there's gotta be a common ground to balance."
Flashback Collab, End
Hannie
The weather outside is dim and moist. It looks like rain might be on the way, yet not a drop has yet fallen. Meanwhile, in a nearby room with a pretty big light on the ceiling, wide eyes meet past the immovable medium of Nil, standing tall and unreactive between two short and very reactive girls. Echoes of a silent, anxious staredown. The echoes, presumably, are inside Nil's skull.
"...um," says Hannie. Once again the sound doesn't come out loud enough. "C-can you talk to us? Should we not be here? Sorry..." She's pretty sure she's blushing. She mumbles something even she doesn't really make out. In another place, not so far away, the leaders of this operation exchange many words and little meaning. There are few words here, and there is no meaning.
Dark clouds tumble over themselves in slow motion, refusing to yield true rain.
Kaitlyn Price
"No! No, you..." She hesitated to say she had more of a right to be there than some common private, but in truth, she didn't feel someone so young should be anywhere near a battlefield.
"If the lieutenant is okay with you being here... I guess it's fine."
She fidgeted, looking around, never quite meeting eyes with Hannie.
"Um... I'm Kaitlyn, by the way. Private Kaitlyn Price."
She looked around.
Isn't there someplace more appropriate to hold a conversation?
Nil
this isn't too bad Nil thought while looking at the girls having some sort of awkward conversation, at least they were mostly quiet and no one was upset, when people are like that they become loud.
Nil started wondering if the group in the war room was this quiet, well maybe that would be the case if they were just discussing strategy and no one was derailing whatever conversation they were having.
Nil had been listening to the girls in front of her but didn't feel like interjecting herself, it's not like this conversation was really going anywhere... or even started really. Until the little one made an extremely shy plead for help with their conversation, Nil looked back and forth between Hannie and the girl sitting on the bench for a couple of seconds, looking almost panicked while doing so.
"You have... chocolate?" Nil finally blurted out in her typical shitty English, this was truly the best she could say, responded Hannie's plead, moved the conversation and maybe she was going to get some chocolate. Nil was pretty satisfied with the three words she just spat out.
Kaitlyn "The Lost" Price
Kaitlyn blinked, staring blankly at the tall and imposing lady for several seconds. Those gears were a turnin', and when they finished-
"Do I have... Chocolate?"
Did I hear that right? Is this imposing, superhuman Arms Master asking for chocolate? At a time like this? We might all be dead or dying in the next hour, and she wants bloody chocolate!?
Alright... Calm down, Kaitlyn. It was an innocent question. If... A bizarre one.
"Um... I have hard candies?" She said, stating it more like a question than a legitimate response.
She dug into one of the utility pouches, not housing things she'll need to stay alive in the upcoming battle.
The battle she's not thinking about. Because that would stress her the fuck-
"Here!" She beamed at the two, thrusting a hand towards them holding said candies.
don't think about it
"I-I have mints, too! And... Gum."
She paused, realizing she may have been acting a bit... Odd.
"You... Uh... You like gum?" She asked, turning her attention towards the less intimidating of the two.
Hannie
Candy... She's already had ice cream. Well, part of an ice cream. A very small portion of ice cream... before... um. Candy... The soldier's acting kind of weird. Is she doing that thing strangers do? Candy... ...is this worth resisting? It's not... It isn't. She creeps out from behind Nil for a better look.
"uh." The customary inaudible exhalation before she rallies herself to speak clearly. She feels more exposed than she expected. Her voice still comes out quiet. "I... I had gum before. Once. I think I spat it out. I like mints?" There was that guy at one of the laboratories who thought it was funny to give her mints, because of her power. Eventually, it stopped being a joke. He was nice. "And I guess hard candy, sometimes. Depends on the flavor." She's being picky. "Sorry if I sound picky." She shoves her hands into her coat pockets and tries to find eye contact. It isn't easy, only half because of the struggles on her end. But this lady feels... easier to look at than most people.
Kaitlyn "Mildly-Less-Anxious" Price
Kaitlyn found herself smiling as the little one spoke up.
There you are~
"No, it's alright. I can be picky too." She let out a little chortle, kneeling down to be more level with the little thing. "I've got butterscotch, those weird watermelon things..." She sorted through her pouch, showing off each one.
"Oh, a caramel cream."
She'll be keeping that one.
"I think I saw a little shop around here. They probably have more stuff. You wanna go get some?"
Why is she buying a child sweets? Is this... Should she be doing this? She hasn't even gotten the girl's name yet!
NPCs:
The small store set up in the auditorium for the sake of the current occupants also sold various brands of potato chips and other junk food as well as canned goods and also had a fridge for sodas and beer.
Nil
That question sparked a response, from both girls actually, truly everyone loves candy.
a candy shop? now that is an interesting place to go to, it's where people exchange candy for paper and everyone knows paper doesn't taste as good as candy.
"let's go there!" Nil said elatedly, breaking both her monotonous silence and posture to start walking in a random direction, almost surely the wrong one.
Hannie
"Ooh..." Hannie says, looking over all the candies. "Oh," Hannie says, considering the offer to go shopping for more. "Oh?" Hannie says, watching Nil hurry off like she knows where she's going. "Uh," Hannie says, looking from the departing form of her fellow nation-saving superweapon back to Kaitlyn with slightly more than the usual uncertainty in her eyes. She seems to have run out of words. She may need a second to restock.
Kaitlyn "I Got This" Price
"Oh, uh, wrong way!" She called out, standing back up. She took a step towards the departing Nil- paused to reconsider- then decided to just wave her down.
"Wrong way! The shop is this way!"
She'd spotted it just through a cursory glance around the room, quickly identifying her target.
Which was food. Or candy, in this case.
Some small part of her was slightly unsettled by the source of this instinctual assessment. As if some part of her had been permanently altered by events in her life.
Hoping that she heard her, Kaitlyn looked down and offered her free hand to Hannie. Such a shy, small thing without her guardian would probably get lost pretty easily in such a busy place.
"Um... Is there anything specific you want? Don't worry, I'm buying."
Hannie
Maybe she's getting a little swept up, or maybe she's just used to following people around. Hannie takes Kaitlyn's hand easily. She considers yelling after the wandering white-haired girl, but she doesn't know her name, and... well... she just doesn't want to yell, really. "I- I like mints. And... cherry flavor. And blueberry. And, lemon. Um." She goes down the mental list of hard candy flavors she's tried and liked. Actually, are there any she's ever disliked? "...I like... candy." That ought to cover it. It always beats scientist food.
Nil
Nil kept walking for a while then heard being called out, the other two were going in the opposite direction that's where the candy shop is she thought while turning to follow them.
The small one was closely following the woman with a military uniform the small one was called... Hannie, right? was it normal for her to follow strangers? this doesn't seem too normal for children of that age.
Then again it's not like Nil could blame her, she was doing the same thing basically but it might be worth it to keep an eye on them while trying to get some candies.
NPCs:
Kaitlyn had enough Philippine Pesos to buy literally everything in the store; 1 US Dollar was 55 Philippine Pesos and 1 piece of candy was literally 1 Philippine Peso. Kaitlyn had 50,000 Philippine Pesos; perhaps 80,000.
Kaitlyn "Momma" Price
She speaks... Really simply. How old is she, even?
Kaitlyn dug out one of her cherry candies and passed it along to Hannie on the way to the shop, watching out for... Something.
She couldn't explain it, but she had to make sure there weren't any threats around. Especially with a child here. She should probably keep her close by until the battle starts.
And then what?
Well... She can't keep her out of the fight. She IS an Arms Master...
...
"So, uh, I don't think I caught your name," She said, idly browsing the assorted goods. Some of it looked interesting- she hadn't really had the time to sample Philippines cuisine. Or sweets, in this case.
Hannie
Hannie unwraps the candy and pops it into her mouth as quickly as it's given to her. The word "stranger" echoes in her head again, but she pays it no mind. Isn't that how they get you? Oh well. Yummy candy. She lets it melt for a while.
She pushes it to the side of her mouth to speak once addressed. "I'm Hannie," she says. There's some energy in her voice now. She peeks over the counter, her view of the other side more limited than the army girl's. "Um, Hannie Cavalet. C-rank." Sometimes her grade is more important than her name. An army place seems like that kind of situation. She looks over the wares for a while before remembering that other thing she's supposed to do. "Oh, what's your name?"
Kaitlyn "No Powers" Price
"Hannie?" She smiles, giggling to herself. "That's such a cute name! I'm Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn Price... Er, private."
Here, she blushes, chewing her lip as her free hand came up to brush against her hairpin.
"I'm... Just a private. If that's okay."
Hannie Cavalet. C-Rank
Hannie is quiet for a while, trying to remember what a private even is. There are some who might take this silence as judgmental. She gives up after getting as far as "a low army rank." "Private Price," she says. "That rhymes- no- that's... uh, alliteration! And I'm, um, C Cavalet?" She quickly considers the poetic value of the phrase C Cavalet in comparison, and concludes that it may be best to carry on.
"A-anyway, what's back there?" She jumps up to try to see more.
Kaitlyn "Private" Price
"I think I'll just call you Hannie," she said warmly, squeezing her hand.
"Now, let's see..." She makes a show of looking over the assortment of candies.
"They have... Y'know what, why don't I just lift you so you can see better?"
Kaitlyn can probably carry someone that small. Hopefully.
Hannie
It isn't easy. Hannie is small, but she's bigger than most people who get lifted up by adults. It does mean she doesn't have to go much higher to see everything, at least, but the effort is moderately and increasingly uncomfortable for both parties. This isn't going to last. The store manager steps aside to let her see everything but the alcohol. Hannie hurries to assess her options. It's overwhelming. It's too many unhealthy things, too much pressure to act fast! Umm! Her hand flies out to indicate a jar of green wrappers that say mint on them! "That! - You see?" she strains, her body struggling with her own suspended weight.
She has a flash of realization that this is probably the exact wrong thing to be panicking about right now. She quietly pushes that aside.
Kaitlyn "Uncomfortable" Price
"That?" She grunts, quickly identifying the candies in question.
She sets Hannie back down, her muscles silently thanking her.
Well that was mildly uncomfortable.
"Alright..."
She withdrew the appropriate amount of currency, exchanging it for a good handful of the candies.
That ought to keep her satisfied.
Kaitlyn herself got some of those peach-looking gummies. Maybe they're like the ones back home? Like at Cracker Barrel.
Hmm... Is there a Cracker Barrel in the Philippines?
"Anything else?" She asks, hoping that they were done here. She was sure satisfied, at least.
... *Wait a minute, where did the other one go?
The way she was acting, Kaitlyn expected her to have best her to the cart...
Hannie
Mints. Mmm. "Mm-mm. Thank you!" Hannie stashes the mints in her coat pockets. She still has the cherry candy to work on. She remains, for now, oblivious to the inevitable mild catastrophe of whatever Nil is up to, taking Uncomfortable Price's distraction instead as a cue to aimlessly watch the people of the auditorium move.
Nil
Hurrying to the candy shop Nil saw the others were already taking candies for themselves, hopefully, some are left.
Nil has no paper to buy candies, big problem, maybe she could give them something else they might want, after all the whims of other people are difficult to understand. Some want specific things, others want nothing that is material and many want paper, also what are they doing with those metal disks?
As she arrives Nil pulled out a military hat and two broken pencils and puts them on the desk "This good?" she asks hoping maybe they wanted them.
Kaitlyn "The Confounded" Price
'You have... Chocolate?'
It was the chocolate deal all over again. How did this lady function in society? Or were Arms Masters just kept in isolated bubbles, only called upon to wreak havoc upon a nation's enemies?
"Um..." Kaitlyn briefly looked down at Hannie, gently taking one of her hands, just incase she drifted off or something, and approached the bemused cashier.
"H-here... Just give her whatever she needs," she said, nervously side-eyeing the Arms Master as she laid down a sum of money on the counter no sane person would ever use in one sitting. Unless you were this lady, probably.
Kaitlyn, being a part of... Her specific team... Was rewarded with quite the stipend. A stipend that Kaitlyn almost never used for herself. Almost all of it goes back home, but it's nice to be able to buy trinkets and snacks here and there. Especially when she's nervous.
... While she was at it, she may as well make sure Hannie has some level of financial independence, too. She doesn't know what kinds of things young Arms Masters buy, but she does know that Hannie wasn't able to afford a basic ration of sweets.
"Hannie."
Kneeling down, she withdrew the last of her pesos and handed them over to the child. She tried to project a serious air.
"Just incase you need something, I want you to have this. Okay? Don't spend it all on candy."
Hannie
Oh... there's Nil. Somehow she's not surprised. Hannie looks startled by the subsequent money offer. She takes it with a moment's hesitation, and nods, candy still in her mouth. She's not sure what she'll do with this. She looks at Nil. She goes to Nil. "You pay with this stuff. With money." She displays her new money. "Like what she did for you." She looks over at the counter. "Unless they want pencils and hats?"
Lingayen Beach, Municipality of Lingayen, Lingayen Gulf
As the People's Liberation Air Force (Technically the People's Liberation Army Air Force, but that was more of a mouthful) was routed by the valiant Vietnamese Lotus Squadron, their innovative tactics, and their jets, Nil's efforts would be aided, then rewarded, as the City of Lingayen was rendered safe for yet another day. As the tide turned, the platoon of soldiers menacing Nemo was mown down by fire from Captain Castro and Kaitlyn, their lives as 'Arms Master Wranglers' cut short in order to allow the child Arms Master more time to recover and either continue menacing his attackers.
Alain, meanwhile, was destroying the boats moving up Lingayen Bay with careful blasts, thus further keeping the city beyond the defenders' lines safe. A battalion of infantry with light machine guns and RPGs had followed him, and were supporting his efforts.
However, as the battle raged, then slowed down, the enemy themselves were vanishing. Corpse after corpse. Wreck after wreck. Troop after troop. Over the course of the past several minutes, the battlefield had drawn to a distinct quiet all across the gulf. It was a silence fit to wake the dead, as the Philippine Army found itself suddenly staring at beaches devoid of opposition.
Out on the water, Chinese transport ships bobbed without movement, their engines hot but movement idle. The sun beamed down with a heat uncharacteristic of dreary weather and more appropriate to the summer month that it was. The glare of the ocean blurred the horizon, the dark shapes of proper warships lying in wait to begin the dying bombardment once more.
There wasn't a cloud in the sky.
There had been before.
The sun grew brighter.
The second sun.
High in the sky, far larger and closer than it had any right to be, a second "sun" seemed to loiter, a searing heat able to be felt all across the gulf. The cloudy day had evaporated, the zone over the ocean hazy with heat waves.
The sun bulged.
A searing beam, a titanic ray of light that left spots in the vision of onlookers, lashed out like a whip towards the eastern shore of the gulf. It traced all across the strip of sand in a flash, a speed akin to someone standing at the epicenter of the sun and merely drawing their finger across their vision. A molten trench trailed in its wake, greenery igniting violently and the nearest buildings to the shore shaking and going up in bursts of flame.
The beam met Ari's shield with a shriek and chest rumbling roar. White-hot flames washed over the titanic barrier, turning blue with licks of orange as they expended their initial payload of force. The barrier seemed to glow brighter in response, straining against the tidal wave of destruction, but it held... for now.
Meanwhile, outside the dome, at the fiery beam's approach, a massive shadow had bled into existence around its edges. It was almost as if it had waited to act till the moment it had the blinding flash of the incoming attack to use as cover, but act it did nonetheless. Allies of the Philippines near to the light dome, close enough to reach the shoreline would find a crackling ebony ooze, swirling with green, to rush over their feet like a wave. A feeling like being on the edge of receiving the greatest static shock of one's life thrummed through their bones, raising goosebumps on skin and making hairs stand on end.
And with a sudden, chilling yank on the feet buried in the "liquid", they would find themselves plunging into the depths with a firmness quicksand could only envy. There was a brief sense of vertigo and falling, as those snatched were thrust through a whirling kaleidoscope of black and green... before being spat out again within the bounds of the light barrier.
Nemo, Hannie, Kaitlyn, and her Corporal's squad, and many others besides who had been in reach before the onslaught of destruction. All of them found themselves safe and sound... if potentially a bit sunburned.
All around, the shadow had somehow penetrated the barrier -perhaps by digging under it, considering its strangely fluid nature- and now ebbed with a hair-trigger tension around the feet of the defenders within.
It has been a long-held principle of warfare that only a desperate or supremely confident army keeps no force in reserve. A reserve sacrifices immediate utility for flexibility that the rest of the army, pinned down in engagements, entirely lacks. Fresh and energetic from anticipation, it can engage to support a battle at its critical point in the moment that that point proves critical, striking an exposed flank or a buckling formation or reinforcing such a weakness in one’s own formation to turn the tide.
Thus, possibly the most crucial aspect of a reserve’s capability is their power to strike at a time and place of their choosing. For such a reason, cavalry and elite medium infantry have often performed this role throughout history. Of course, these are limited in scope; a truly ideal reserve would be unseen by the enemy and so unable to have their responses predicted, while retaining all of the striking power and flexibility of target that more conventional forces are capable of.
Caroline Lidmann fell into her position in a crouch. The warp from her prior location was smooth and practised, dropping her inside a bush on one of the hills to the West of the town of Labrador. After hearing a similar soft thud behind her, she centred herself and lifted her gaze to watch the attack through Charter. Yeah, ‘less they’ve found some way to replicate or project Arm powers, they’re definitely here… Come on, come on! She scanned across the bow, then the bridge of one of the Chinese transport vessels but there was no sign, not yet; nor had she felt the familiar tug of Charter pointing her towards a vital target. All the while, her other senses reached out to her surroundings, a habit she’d picked up after one too many times being outflanked while in this precise state in training – she not only heard but felt the blasts, echoing off the hillside and transmitted through the ground.
Her spare eye flicked sideways for a moment. Her teammate – one ‘Nil’, who she’d only met shortly after teleporting into Lingayen and apparently spoke too little English or Filipino to communicate with beyond very basic small talk and battlefield orders – seemed remarkably calm, almost absurdly so given the context. Callie had seen pre-battle jitters in almost everyone she’d trained alongside – they were nothing to shrug off – but this girl was just sitting there, still and silent… Worse in this moment, her Arm glowed, something not entirely conducive to stealth. Hopefully nothing to worry about, and what she’d heard about it would work extremely well in combination with Charter, but it did put her on edge ever so slightly.
She shook her head, then returned to surveying the area. Those aircraft are tearing into the city… Response seems capable, though. Back to the ships… Still nothing.
Wait, what’s –
The heavens unfurled, and from them speared a beam of brightest light.
“Okay, we’re doing this!” Callie pointed Charter down to the bay; in an instant, her focus zoned in on one of the warships, isolating. Deck gun fore; VLS fore; VLS aft. The next: Same again. The next: Deck gun fore; ASM mid; SAM mid. Then the next, then the next – for each, distance and angles gauged, instinct granted by years of wielding her Arm; all the while, her other eye squinted against the light of the beam.
Alright. Now.
Energy projected; space warped. Callie felt the familiar pulse sapping her, only barely – she didn’t need a large portal here. Instead, high above the battlefield, a forty centimetre-diameter circle of space right in the path of the beam was suddenly next to one of the Chinese ships on the edge of their formation, as Callie joined near a league in half a tenth of a second. Light lanced out from it, aimed to burn through multiple ships’ armour, the geometry aligning the strike with as close as possible to where she thought each of their magazines were.
Then, as the beam left her first portal behind, she made another.
Then another.
A word back to Nil: “Once the beam stops, I’m opening a shot for you – as many as you’re able to bombard them with.” Awareness open to await that moment.
And even as her mind and perception worked furiously, a third of her attention still trying to catch sight of the enemy Arms Masters aboard one of the vessels… Hope that learns you your lesson from… What’s that green –
(Due to being skipped without permission last round, this post is a double post to accommodate for lost time.)
"Holy shit!" A soldier's voice rang out, "That was better than expected..." the girl thought, glancing down at Daedalus, she didn't feel much from that. If anything, she felt good after that. "... What's gotten into you?" Not to stare a gift in it's face, she dropped back down firing at enemies. Two, three more dead. Lucy's fireteam was also putting in good work as well, dropping a few of the assholes on the other side of the beach. Then it hit, a bullet slamming into Daedalus, spalling off fragments into her vest. She was fine, her shirt though, definitely has looked better. Then it hit again, not a bullet, but a high, almost like a drug. Time indeed seemed to slow down for her, a bullet barely grazing her other shoulder. It stung, but something told her she would be fine. A third bullet flew by, passing through the arm of one of her comrades with... Silence? Somehow, that guy is still firing back, one of the others pulling him down to try and patch him up.
Her barrel moved, focusing on the shooter. One, two, three. She felt like she had all the time in the world to line up those shots. One through the lung, the other through the gut, the third through the neck. That felt deserved, that guy just shot her allies, though she didn't think much of it, pulling out her empty mag and slotting in a new one. Something caught her eye, a lens glint? She flicked her rifle into that direction. "Crap." A sniper team. Her hand moves to tap the shoulder of the guy to her right, the guy she's been pestering a lot. Hopefully he's not too angry after this. "Shooters, patrol boats." She points to said boats, the soldier nodding, commenting back "We fire, then move two meters to the right under cover, pop up, fire again. You got it?" Lucy trains her sights on one. "Aye." They both open fire, Lucy then learns it's not just her who's more precise, it's everyone. Those shots land accurately, promptly ducking down, following the soldier, popping back up, then finishing what they could of the snipers off.
Lucy continues to engage the enemy. Some Arm Masters pride themselves on their Noble Arm, Lucy doesn't, guns are still a primary form of combat for her. She continues to send down enemies with her gun, thankfully everyone else is keeping some enemies tied up as well. That was, until she saw enemies vanish. People she swore she killed, vanished. Blink after blink, some of her fireteam was concerned too. "What do you think this means?" one asked Lucy. She merely sniffed in response, following with "Some kinda Arms Master. Never seen a tank vanish, though. One trick pony?"
"Don't be so sure about that, hoss." another said, "You ever see an entire army just vanish?"
"But, why would they disappear even the dead?" the first responded.
The girl sits down in the trench, setting her rifle down as well. "Maybe they can consume anything and everything to generate immense power." the one to the right comments in "Or they're rebuilding their army, I don't wanna go through that slog again."
"Neither do I, man, hopefully we can kill that guy if he is restoring an army. Where do you bet he is?" another asks
"Hiding, in a tree, or on a ship. Maybe even underwater. Could be a fish, I've seen one Arms Master hold their breath for a long time." the girl would consider out loud, tilting her head down and squinting.
"A fish? Don't kid me, how would they see everyone to return?"
"Hm, you're right." Lucy responds. She looks upwards, letting out a sigh. "Wait..." her hand clasps around her gun. "Boss?" one asks. "Clouds are gone." "What?" "Look, clouds are gone." "Oh man, why would they get rid of the clouds?" Lucy thinks about this for a moment. "Airborne attack, got rid of the clouds to see us all." one soldier freaks out a bit, visibly nervous and shifting in place "They're gonna try to wipe us out in a fell swoop?" The Arms Master mutters under her breath. "Cover, now. NOW." With that, the group scrambles for as much cover as they can get, sheltering in place. That's when they felt the heat, the raw heat from the sun. Lucy didn't spot it, because who would stare at the sun? But there was a second sun attacking them. Damn that soldier for being correct, tensing up against the sound of a line of fury wail against the barrier. There's no way that's staying up now.
After it passed, she pulled out her radio. "Arms Master Lucy, with associated fireteam... We're alive. Requesting tasking, I don't see any close enemies, tell me what to do." Now, she just hoped someone would give her something useful to do. "Fuuuuck..." A soldier groaned out, "What the fuck was that?" The girl sits herself back up, shaking her head. "Don't want to know. Don't want it to happen again." Her head cranes from side to side, spotting the resulting fires. "We're pretty lucky to be alive. We need to get out of here, this gift isn't gonna last long. Relocate, get near a vehicle." With that, she retreats from the line, her fireteam following her. There's nothing they can do here, if they don't get an evac call, Lucy would probably consider the commanding officer somewhat insane, though a thought creeps up. If they didn't kill whatever launched that attack, they'd just do it again. "Someone look around us." One soldier nods and does so, quickly yapping back "Clear, I don't see anything." "Unless we learn where that attacker is, there's nothing we can do, Daedalus doesn't have extreme range. All we can do is protect the command."
The jets flying on top were starting to vanish, Fortythree looking up in the sky Nil noticed how increasingly rarer easy low flying targets were becoming. Meanwhile high flying bombers were not only much more difficult to hit but they were also falling down one at a time, it seems someone or something is hunting them.
Bringing her gaze down to ground level Nil saw a blonde girl with a spyglass, they had been introduced briefly before, her name was Callie though weirdly her military rank wasn't said.
"Officer" Nil said hurrying after Callie, she had been told to stop AA duty and follow Callie if they met during the battle, Nil followed her into a small portal that was just made.
They were now in a forested area, a stark contrast to the muddy trenches they were in just a minute ago, the view here was ideal to observe the ongoing battle but they were also seemingly too far away to help directly. Somehow the sky was also clear of clouds now.
That's when it happened, a tremendous blast followed by a howling shriek akin to something trying to break the earth itself, the ray of light was crashing on the barrier of light in a bright and terrible show. Somehow the barrier was holding out, even if just barely like Nil's brain trying to recover from what it was witnessing.
Then she was called upon, it was Callie's orders.
"Forstået" Nil uttered while conjuring Stang and a couple of copies, ensuring they were covered by foliage while waiting for the right moment.
Meanwhile she started thinking about the extremely small group she just became a part of, who else was in this reserve group? It must be someone powerful, almost surely an arms master, if anyone else is even part of this group.
In response to the daring attack of the first four SU-30s, Chinese escort jets began dispersing to intercept the sudden intruders to the skies they thought was rightfully theirs. So caught aback by this sudden attack that the squadron neglected the presence of another four, all of whom very happy to exploit this mistake. Having barely any escorts around to contest the other predators, the Vietnamese jets darted through the clouds and pounced on the hapless bombers from below, bursting four into flames in seconds. Just like their squadron leader, they climbed above the Chinese formation before sweeping right back down on their preys. Three aircraft briefly broke away after their missile launch to avoid fire, but the one at the head of the formation saw their opportunity, fearlessly charged into the midst of the formation, weaving inbetween the bombers, unleashing volleys of machine gun fires onto their targets. The two gentlemen in the cockpits were Lotus 4, Cuong and Nikolay, commandeered their battle-hardened craft to continue its relentless assault. On its fuselage, ten lotus decals lined just beneath the cockpit warned enemy aviators of the fate that befell their counterparts.
Another bomber turned into a shooting star, as Cuong and Nikolay finally broke off from the bomber squadron, more to avoid the falling wreckage than enemy fire. However, the steak were running out, and the ungracious host seemed to dislike the guest's rapacious appetite, so the bombers began to turn around. Whether or not they wanted to do another bombing run or have had enough of eating missiles for lunch, the Chinese escort jets were back to save their comrades and chase away the squadron that was causing them this much pain.
"Heads up you four, these birds are coming back." The voice of Captain Tuan over the comm warned of their impending threat. "They didn't have their food, so they're pretty mad right now."
"Roger, should we retreat or engage?" Said Cuong.
"Wellll, we're here to bail our poor friends out, so we can't really let them have the skies." The captain replied.
"Say no more captain." He was just fine with that. "Comrades, break. Don't pick the same target, but feel free to call if you need any help."
The three jets accompanying Lotus 4 each gave their own affirmative response before pitching away from one another. The other four in the first group also did the same. Despite still being outnumbered, both men had no qualm or even were ecstatic for this fight. Bushwhacking the Chinese was age-old for the Vietnamese, but the fierce, fast-paced dogfight felt much better. In this new era of Arms Masters, a kid could best the most veteran of combat soldiers. No matter how many years one could train, people who were either born to manifest their NA or were among the super rich could just purchase one and overpower you. It's an ultimate game of luck, in the scale of billions. The blue skies is the only few place where that didn't matter as much. There is no purchasing or born into piloting a plane, let alone fight toe to toe with others in them. You have to put in the work, no matter who you are. And everybody falls out of it just the same way.
"Incoming hostile." Cuong announced.
"They look eager." Nikolay raised his eyebrows as he noticed how fast the jet was coming towards them. "Let's make this quick for them."
"One turn?" The black-haired pilot chuckled. "Risky, but sure. Preparing to merge."
Within seconds, the two planes passed by each other head-on with breakneck speed. The Chinese jet quickly made his circular turn, and the pilot could see the enemy jet mirroring him in the other direction only to hear, in horror, the missile lock alarm. The Chinese pilot was barely halfway through his turn when that Vietnamese Su-30 already bent its nose around pointing straight at him, drifting through the air with white vapours frothed atop its wings. A missile followed shortly after. Flares were deployed, but the missile found its mark, slamming onto the Chinese jet just behind the cockpit. Within seconds of challenging the Vietnamese aces, the pilot was dead.
"Hostile confirmed down." Nikolay announced, seeing the blip on his radar just vanish. "No parachutes. Looks like the missile killed them."
"Probably for the better. I doubt those guys down there would be kind to them." Cuong said, glancing down on the flaming wreck that was once a very capable jet piloted by a motivated aviator. "Quite a sudden death I'd say. I wonder what's the last thing they had in their mind there."
"I don't know, probably the missile." Nikolay shrugged. "Dinner's not over yet brother. Let's go for another one."
"No talking while chewing eh? Sure." The Senior Lieutenant rolled his eyes in amusement as the afterburner kicked in and the jet charged straight for another target.
The air battle continued to rage over Lingayen city, with the soldiers and remaining citizens watching on from below. The battle was daunting, only eight Vietnamese jets against dozens of Chinese's. But as the sky continued to be filled with white trails of plane and missile, the tide of the battle was slowly tipping over. Casualties littered the Lingayen city and countryside, with pilot corpses shot out by the Meitner's sniper team or the metallic handiwork of the Lotus squadron. By the end of the battle, all eight azure jets were still airborne, but not without damage.
"Uh-oh, looks like my right wing's flaps are shot out. Fuel's leaking too." A voice came over the comm. It was the captain.
"That was on me captain, they were right in my gunsight!" Another pilot spoke out.
"You ok, captain?" Nikolay asked. "Can you make it back to Manila?"
"I wish. Camp Abat's the closest base around here. They said they have a runway for us to use." Tuan replied, quickly turning his plane around for the base. "Lotus 8, I need you to escort me there. Lotus 4, you are in charge of Lotus now."
"Roger." Cuong replied. Two jets broke off from the battlefield and descended north east towards the base. Some opportunistic Chinese pilots saw this occurring and also broke off to chase the damaged aircraft. "Oh no you don't." The Senior Lieutenant quickly noticed this, however, and descended to follow them.
"Lock!"
"Confirm, launching missile."
A press of a button and a missile dropped from its pylon, quickly speeding off into the distance. To both pilot's surprise that missile did not track. It, in fact, veered off in a different direction altogether.
"What the..." Both eyes peered towards where that missile was going. Towards the sun. Another sun, one that's cooking the clouds above it like a stove. They briefly snapped back in order to get rid of the Chinese jet that was chasing their captain, cutting one of its wings clean off with their cannons. But once that was done, there was another problem to worry about: that sun. What is it doing?
All of a sudden, a blinding energy beam smashed into the gigantic dome down at the beach, the shriek could be felt inside the cockpit, on the yoke that both the pilots were now gripping tight, because what came next was a nasty force pushing from beneath their seat. The whole aircraft shook as both pilots tried to escape the air turbulence caused by this second sun.
The People's Liberation Air Force was now officially pulling back en masse. Within minutes, the only thing flying through the sky over Lingayen are some low-flying helicopters and the six remaining Lotus Squadron jets. It might have seemed like the battle in the air was won, but the pilots in the squadron knew that this wasn't over yet.
"Ground command, what's your status?" Cuong asked over the comm, once the attack had passed. "If you're still there, the sky's clear, awaiting further orders." If no one replied from that, well...they'd just have to figure it out by themselves.
Henri Janssens didn't fully understand, why he was sent to the Philippines. Laelaps-unit was supposed to be a European unit. It would have been more sense if Henri was sent to Ukraine, or maybe deal with domestic troubles. Global Mafia and the sort.
But he wasn't one to question orders. A soldier obeys. Not to mention that as he listened to the conversations around him, the full picture began to form.
This was no simple military crisis. Combined with the situation in Ukraine, it was effectively World War III. No one had said anything officially, but with two powerful countries, both of which had seemingly good ties, attacking their neighbors, what else could it be but another world war?
In other words, Henri was here as a show of solidarity.
Those thoughts had to pass soon, however, because the invasion was already under way, when Henri arrived. The first moments were intense, but nothing much that Henri and others couldn't handle. There hadn't even been much need for Leonidas.
It was probably likely that Henri wouldn't be in the front lines in the near future. There was another shielder among the Arms Masters, and the command didn't want Henri accidentally negating his defense. Instead, he would be in the city proper, protecting the civilians still in Lingayen.
It was soon proven a wise choice, as what could be best described as a second sun appeared in the sky. A Noble Arm attack if there ever was one.
"Fighting in Shade!" Henri shouted out of trained reflex. Luckily it seemed that it wasn't a very long lasting attack.
"That was too close" Thought Henri to himself as the strike passed. Those within his radius would be fine, but he needed to check if anyone else needed help. The ground zero was in the beach itself, but who knows what else it could have destroyed...
The moments - minutes - hours? The time from when Hannie first let Kirvella free to the time she collapses onto her hands and knees, breathless and disoriented, is entirely blank. She remembers dispelling her Arm on purpose. She remembers... pain, death, the cold. It's still so cold. She let it control her. Hopefully... hopefully she didn't do anything.
She's on asphalt. She's not on the beach anymore. She looks up, scans her environment. This is the city. Which way is the beach? Does she have to go back? The question lingers in her mind. She ought to challenge it. She isn't. Hannie rises to her feet, lost in the evacuated city of Lingayen. The wind touches her shoulders oddly. She looks. That's... ice. And those are... holes... all the way through. It's time to leave. It's time for Hannie to get out. She doesn't know where she's going, but she starts moving fast. She doesn't know these streets at all and can barely see where she's going, between the corners, the ducking away from overhead planes, and the simple confused fear.
It isn't long before things are taken back out of her hands, though. In an instant, everything is black and green and falling and charged.
She's back at the beach again. It's quiet - for half a second - and then it's roaring. Blindingly bright everywhere she looks but down, and down there's that dark stuff - that weird woman's bubbling dark thing under her feet - what's happening? She can't- She can't... She can't. Hannie can't understand what's happening. She can't do anything to help. She can't escape. She can't go home. It's so loud. It's so hot and so cold. She can barely hear the wheezing sob that escapes her. She tries to step out of the dark puddle but it follows her. She tries to look around and recognize anyone but they're all just dark silhouettes against the white and the screaming roaring. She can't. Hannie's knees give out on their own. She was going to sit down anyway. She falls on her side in this weird terrible bubbling stuff and squeezes her eyes shut and covers her ears and fails to try not to cry.
1x Laugh
