It has been done. The Shattered Moon forces protecting the inside of the dockyards have been crushed by the surprise assault launched by the Marines from the sky itself. Whilst the battle still waged on through the rest of the dockyards, most notably the perimeter walls where the Foedosian warriors continued to stubbornly hold the majority of the Atlesian regiment at bay. Attacking those Lunie defenders would be too much for the Marines who had managed to break past their lines, only a platoon in size and had only seen success thanks to both great luck and skill. Fortunately Shattered Moon reinforcements were small and easily dealt with, the defenders either not wanting to risk diverting forces away from the frontlines or they simply did not know that their lines had already been breached.
Nebo laid his eyes upon the largest of the Shattered Moon warships that they had been tasked with disabling. It was certainly of an ornate design, majestic really. Seeing it fly would’ve been awe inspiring. It was primarily silver in colour with red accents, lacking any sort of visible propulsion similar to Atlesian Warships. But neither did it have the spiny dust projectors common in Atlesian Warships, as they were necessary for stabilising the warships and directing them through the air. Instead, from what limited knowledge the young Marine could draw on, Shattered Moon warships made use of oversized gravity dust gems to levitate and manoeuvre. He didn’t know how they functioned exactly, but did know that it provided the otherwise lightly armoured warships with terrifying manoeuvrability and speed.
The other three Foedosian warships have been disabled, disconnected from the dockyard’s dust reserves before being boarded. Each gun on the exterior was fitted with plastic explosives and destroyed before a small team of Marines made their way over to each ship’s power plant to detonate the gravity dust gem. Describing the resulting explosions that followed as cataclysmic would be an understatement, even at a ‘safe’ distance a few Marines were still killed by the first blast and several more injured. The first blast severely damaged in her second warship and the third was taken out in the same way as the first. Leaving only the warship Nebo was gazing upon.
Information received from the ANS Hailstorm, who in turn had received it from multiple other Carriers attacking other parts of the continent, have confirmed this particular Shattered Moon warship to be something special. Not one has been shot down before. Each one someone managing to escape destruction through methods Nebo was not privy to being told. Command wants this warship captured *intact* so Nebo’s squad are preparing to board the airship and sweep through each compartment, dealing with its crew in any way they deem fit as long as it doesn’t wreck the ship. A daunting task, considering the high likelihood of an infamous ‘Knight-Commandant’ being encountered.
Another thing Nebo was told little about, a Knight-Commandant simply being something he overheard a Specialist mention to Colonel Eisenhower. All he knew is that they were Specialist Killers, and that the majority of the Specialists killed during this particular Operation were killed by a Commandant. Any fear that was aroused by this was non-existent. It was too late to be scared and Nebo no longer felt the need to. Again feeling as though some sort of him was actively forcing back this fear and it certainly was not an after effect of the Tranquil injected into him a few hours prior.
”Specialist H.” Nebo heard Sergeant Alberich address the Specialist that would be accompanying them. He turned his head to look at said Specialist, spotting the greying man he had saw during the battle earlier. His entire squad had gathered just outside the warship minus Schloss and Danila, the latter having been caught by the previously mentioned gravity dust explosions and has had most of the lower half of his skeleton pulverised. The former got shot in the gut by a Lunie Man At Arms. “You’ll he taking point, since you’ve got more aura then the rest of us combined. We’ll keep the maggots off your whilst your fight the big boys.” The Sergeant said with a surprisingly formal and respectful tone, which was understandable as the Specialist more likely then not outranked the Sergeant by a significant margin. “Me and Nebo are capable of holding our own against a Knight, so you won’t have to carry us.”
In response the Specialist simply let out a huff and a nod. Glowing white eyes set themselves upon Nebo soon after, the Specialist turning to face him. It was then that Nebo noticed the jaggedscar over the Specialist’s throat, an injury caused by a scorching beam that had grazed yet still slit the Specialist’s throat. The damage to the man’s voice box must be what’s causing his silence. The Specialist then looked away, Nebo only barely catching the sight of the man’s white eyes change to a light grey colour.
Last minute checks were made as they began to head towards the docking tubes that led into the Foedosian warship. Calina walked besides him alongside Borya, Nebo finding himself dwarfed by both. For an Atlesian he was a tad bit short despite being rather tall by the standards of other Kingdoms. He stood at a respectable five feet, ten inches, whilst both Stal and Calina were both half a foot taller then him at the very least. But that mattered little to Nebo. Him and Stal had already loaded their shotguns with buckshot shells, Borya having switched his shotgun to a fully automatic firing mode. Calina had simply just slapped in another capsule full of lightning dust into her rifle.
Several other squads have already boarded ahead of them and Nebo’s squad will be the last to go. Strangely, no enemy sightings have been reported by the other squads and the ship has been quite barren so far. Nebo’s squad will be going through the ship’s nerve centre and may be where all the ships crew may be boarded up. If they do end up encountering anyone hostile then the other squads should be near enough to reinforce them.
Specialist H went through the docking turn first, brandishing a seax like blade glowing a sickly green that illuminated the tube’s dark corners. A faint, green wave followed the blade as it was removed from its scabbard, a hiss emitting from the grey scabbard alongside a small puff of barely visible gas. Alberich was right behind the Specialist with his machine gun shouldered alongside Stena who no longer had his shield, the device having been damaged earlier. The only reason he was still moving ahead of Nebo was his heavier armour, his role not requiring much mobility and as such he had the benefit of some added plating that will allow him to take a few extra hits.
They were met with pure darkness when the doors at the end of the docking tube opened, a cold draft meeting them as the entrance intro he Foedosian warship was bought but a gaping black hole “Use helmet night vision. Don’t want flashlights to give us away.” Sergeant Alberich ordered, each Marine pressing a button on the side of their helmet to activate their helmet’s built in night vision whilst the Specialist equipped a pair of goggles. Night vision was a feature Nebo was unable to use the night before, the bullet that had knocked him out having damaged his helmet to the point where trying to activate its night vision would’ve been pointless
They were met with an unusual sight. As his eyes adjusted to the green filter that had come over it Nebo could begin to make out the interior of the ship’s corridors, a very ornate and painstakingly sculpted interior. Nebo had his shotgun shouldered as him and his squad entered the ship, the docking tube closing behind him. The interior was Gothic in design, the hallways wide and tall with the ceiling being ed by pointed arches, like as if though the Atlesians had just walked into a basilica instead of a warship that could easily knock one of their own frigates out of the sky. The walls were covered in elegant engravings of strange letters that glowed a bright green thanks to Nebo’s night vision, their glow getting dimmer the further away they were.
”Didn’t know we were heading to church.” Calina joker over their squad’s intercom, the Marines moving in synch with each other whilst they aimed their firearms towards each corner and separate hallway they ed, relying on the Specialist moving ahead of them to lead the way. “We sure it’s not a war crime to attack this place?” She joked again.
”Place is like a fucking cathedral.” Stal added, stating the obvious.
”Because the Lunies knew that they gotta keep their gods close after they decided to fuck with us.” Borya also responded, the other Marine’s giving his massive railgun a wide berth.
”Must be a bitch to maintain though.” Nebo commented as he jerked his shotgun to the side to aim down another corridor that they ed. “And to build. Must’ve taken them years to put together.”
”A lot of effort for just one ship.” Alberich butted in, his head briefly turning to the side to glance back at the Marines. “Something’s not right.” A statement which Nebo could agree with.
The air felt cold, holding a chill that went straight to the bone as if the air was trying to leech the heat out of him. It only got worse the further they walked, the air seeming to get heavier and heavier whilst the time it took for him to re-aim his shotgun down another corridor got longer. Like his Sergeant had just said, something was not right.
”Doesn’t seem right to have something this artistic to be flying into battle, even by the Knight’s standards. Wonder wh-“ Calina started but was cut off, causing Nebo to spin around and aim his shotgun where he had last heard her voice. She was gone.
”Oh Blya-“ Nebo was cut off too as he spun around to look back at his squad, finding them gone too. But that was not the only thing that changed. The corridor was lit up, a bright golden light at the very end of it that almost blinded him. The engravings on the walls seemed to move, some slowly whilst others shot forward in a fast moving stream. “What th-“ Nebo felt something hit the back of his head, like the stock of some sort of heavy rifle that caused his aura to flash but only inflict negligible damage thanks to his helmet’s padding.
He shot around and fired his shotgun, the wide spread grazing the side of something that did not look human. It was like some sort of cross between something demonic and angelic, eyes that lacked pupils glaring a bright blue and a white, a feathery face lined with gold and a maw filled with pearly white fangs. He saw an arm with dark red skin partially obscured by golden scales and white feathers reach down and slap away his shotgun with a hand tipped with silver claws, an unholy shriek leaving its tooth filled maw.
A rifle enshrouded in blue flames was raised and pointed at Nebo after he felt himself being shoved away by the abomination before him, his shotgun knocked out of his hands despite the ironclad grip he had held it in. And as he stared down the flaming barrel of the abomination’s gun, he felt a surge of fear enter his mind. He was terrified.
His verdant green aura soon came into a view, his left hand nothing but a white and green blur that came up and smacked aside the fiery gun with such force that he nearly lost balance. He stepped forward, seeing nothing but rage on the Abomination’s face as his first punch hit its gut before a second one went around and hit the left side of its head. Those were the only two hits he managed to successfully land before the Abomination recovered and began to fight back. Nebo found himself ducking and blocking blows from the Abomination whilst it did the same, fighting in a strangely similar way to Nebo and very much unlike the Foedosian method of CQC he was used to.
He felt a fist hit his jaw and another hit his groin, yet the Marine didn’t step back and began to push the Abomination forward. Again his arms were a blur as he slapped aside the Abomination’s blows and rammed a fist into its ribs, witnessing it buckle back whilst his left hand grabbed the bayonet from its scabbard. He immediately went in for a stab only for the Abomination to grab his left wrist with both its hands, attempting to twist it. It must have been shocked when nothing happened, Nebo’s mechanical left hand not budging a bit. He hit the Abomination in the throat with his right fist as hard as he could, a sound similar to shattering pottery being heard as the Abomination let go off Nebo’s wrist and went to clutch its own throat. This action allowed the Marine to bring the bayonet straight down on the Abomination, the blade hitting its forehead and piercing straight through.
It felt almost as if though Nebo’s own skull exploded as an agonising headache came upon him, causing him to let go off his bayonet and fall onto his back whilst clutching his, quite suddenly, helmet-less head. As that happened, the Abomination burst into a golden flames, an unholy wail coming from it as it began to disintegrate.
”Nebo!”
The Abomination spit out the name amidst its own wails, the flames soon vanishing as its body simply just ceased to exist whilst the melted remains of his bayonet hit the ground where it once stood.
”BLYADBLYADBLYADBLYADBLYAD!!!” Nebo cursed repeatedly in his native tongue, his eyes forced shut yet a variety of different colours, new sensations, and blurred images flashed before his eyes as he began to spasm on the floor. His skull felt like it was trying to tighten around and crush his brain whilst a knife rammed straight through his forehead. Then, all of a sudden, the pain was gone.
He opened his eyes to see the green filter of his night vision, his body rising to its feet on its own accord. He looked over to where the Abomination once stood, only to see a dead Stal with a bayonet rammed into his helmet.
There was bright flash that blinded Nebo for several seconds, the headache returning as he felt his body move on its own without his conscious input. By the time the flash was gone he was running down a fully lit corridor with his shotgun back in his hands, the green filter of his night vision gone as he began to sprint down the corridor. His helmet had yet again vanished and a drop of blood began to leak down from his nostrils. The corridor he was running down began to increase in length, the golden light at the end of it growing dimmer as it stretched further away from Nebo all whilst a dark shadow began to chase him from behind.
He had fallen into a sprint, his legs kicking against the ground as fast as they possibly could all whilst being pushed even faster then that by his aura. The engravings on the wall began to shift and form together, the letters soon becoming ones that he can recognise yet none formed any legible words. He managed to stay ahead of the rapidly encroaching shadow, the vast corridor still stretching further away but the light at the end of it slowly got brighter. The engravings began to wriggle like worms, some spasming sporadically as they began to sluggishly form words as Nebo got closer to the light.
As the light became blinding, the engravings began to form sentences that were partially obscured by the bright light. Nebo found his eyes looking away from the light and onto the walls, his mind trying to understand what the engravings said. He could feel a painful headache set upon him as he tried to piece together the words, his heart rate increasing dramatically a-
His vision suddenly went black as he felt his head collide with something, his body falling onto its back. As his back made with a cold, metallic floor, his eyes opened wide to see Sergeant Alberich above him. A trail of blood was leaking from the Sergeant’s nostrils, but that wasn’t what caught Nebo’s attention. The corridor had changed. The extravagant, Gothic architecture vanishing and being replaced by the silver and red colour scheme that was seen on the exterior of the warship. Nebo’s eyes soon fell back onto his Sergeant as the barrel of his machine gun was levelled at Nebo’s face.
”SERGEANT!” The young Marine managed to blurt out before a bullet could be shot, Alberich’s eyes widening. He let go of his machine gun, letting its sling prevent it from clattering against the floor, and lowered a hand for Nebo to help him up.
As he was pulled to his feet Nebo took note of the bodies of the rest of his squad, the body of Borya lying down in a pool of blood whilst Stena and Calina were also lying down but still visibly breathing. “Fucking... Demons...” Alberich said, his breaths frequent and his left eye lid was twitching uncontrollably. “They screamed like fucking banshees and began attacking each other whilst that coward of a Specialist pissed off.”
”Stal is dead.” Nebo replied, feeling his heart sink for a brief moment. “Exactly like you described, demon, unholy wails...”
”The Knight-Commandant!” Alberich hissed, shouldering his machine gun as he turned his back to Nebo. “That had to have been fucking with us! On me! We gotta back up our Specialist!”
”Yessir!” Nebo responded, him and the Sergeant sprinting back off down the corridor once their composure was regained.
Whilst their Specialist certainly did not look like a push over, a Knight-Commandant was by no means one either. He could now back to presentations back on the ANS Hailstorm, where his unit was being taught about their Foedosian adversaries. The rank of Knight-Commandant was one of the higher ranks a Lunie Knight could achieve and are believed to be on par with an S or even a SS rank Huntsman, which is why they were capable of easily dispatching their Specialists even on their lonesome.
As they turned a corner, the flashes of sickly green he saw indicted they were close. There was a sword fight going on, the sounds of blades clashing with each other repeatedly at insane speeds only possible for aura enhanced duellists being incredibly prominent. It overshadowed a deep hum that got more noticeable as they approached what would be the heart of the warship, the hum feeling as though it was vibrating Nebo’s own bones as he and the Sergeant burst into the room.
The Specialist was really going at it, a white glow emitting from him as the green blur that was his seax clashed with the silverish, golden blade of a figure very much similar to the Abomination he had witnessed earlier, but much, much bigger. It was the Knight-Commandant, dressed in a white gold armour with a feathery, almost angelic design that was a stark contrast to the dark purple, greys, and reds of the Shattered Moon. The insignia of the Shattered Moon was not visible on the armour, instead it had the symbol of a pair of platinum wings tightly bound by a golden halo. A Knight from another Order, one that was d with the Shattered Moon.
Nebo and Alberich found themselves standing still in awe at the spectacle in front of them. Despite his blade being tiny in comparison to that of the Commandant’s the Specialist was still keeping up, even managing to slip past the Commandant’s guards and scratch its armour. The Commandant’s sword in particular was what drew Nebo’s attention. It was chipped. Despite being bought but a blur, Nebo could briefly make out the distinct lack of an actual tip when the blades of the two fighters clashed and locked together. The sword, at one point, must have been much longer, perhaps twice its current length. It radiated a strange kind of power, the Auras of both Nebo and Alberich flaring in synch with the each clash of the blades.
”Nebo... We ain’t going to be much use here. Keep your weapon aimed at them. I’ll go position myself behind them.” Alberich said, weapon remaining shouldered as he cautiously began to move around the two Aura powered death machines, giving them a wide berth, and moving to the other side of the room. The two fighters certainly did notice the presence of the Marines yet were content to ignore them. If the Marines respected their right to duel each other, one on one, then it’s likely that the Commandant would refrain from killing them both. Until he was done with the Specialist at least.
And the duel continued between the Specialist and the Commandant. The exact details of what was going on was imperceivable to the Marines as they were simply too fast. They couldn’t tell which side was winning as both the Specialist and the Commandant would only land the occasional hit. The Specialist managed to get a good few hits in, slipping a punch through the Commandant’s guard and hitting his helmet. The hit was enough to daze the Commandant and give the Specialist the opportunity to land several more blows, a shoulder plate being shattered by a lightning fast strike from the Specialist’s seax.
Golden flames shot out from the Commandant’s broken shoulder plates and singed the Specialist’s beard, blinding the Specialist too and allowing the Commandant to ram the fragile looking yet surprisingly durable pommel of his chipped sword into the gut of the Specialist. The Commandant became a blur after that, the Specialist getting launched and would collide into a wall before seeming to instantly recover and rush back over to the Commandant.
The stalemate seemed to have returned, but it was broken just as quickly. The Specialist’s seax was met with a blow that could have finished the fight right there, the Commandant’s heavenly blade cleaving straight through the seax in a sudden burst of speed that surprised even the Specialist. The chipped blade hit the Specialist’s shoulder, being stopped by a bright white aura yet clearly not for long. The Specialist pushed the blade off his shoulder and shot out a now clearly robotic arm, punching the Knight straight in the solar plexus before a kick to the stomach forced the Commandant to step back.
”FIRE!” Alberich suddenly barked out, his machine gun letting loose a hail of bullets whilst Nebo quickly followed with two swiftly fired buckshots that would’ve made his shoulder scream out in pain if it wasn’t for the adrenaline and his shoulder’s lack of a mouth.
The Commandant’s armour began to fall apart with each shot that hit it, Nebo’s buckshots having tore away a good chunk of its chest plate. The Specialist, who had quickly stepped back, had drew his own firearm in the form of some sort of bulky handgun that fired off a projectile that hit hard enough to almost floor the Commandant. Yet despite all that the Commandant still refused to fall, its blade swinging up to block the bullets from the Sergeant’s machine gun before swinging up to its left to deflect a shot from the Specialist’s own firearm with no damage done to the blade.
Unfortunately the shot that the Commandant had just deflected was still moving at a high velocity, and had hit Nebo straight in the chest. This was enough to knock the Marine off his feet and cause his third shot to miss the Commandant entirely, the scattered projectiles grazing the Sergeant and throwing off his own aim. Nebo’s ceramic armour plates that had protected his chest had completely shattered, the deflected bullet having ruptured his armour.
The Commandant blitzed forward in a flash of gold and was right upon the Specialist with its sword raised high and quickly coming down, until another flash of gold was seen and Sergeant Alberich collided, shoulder first, with the Commandant. This didn’t knock the Commandant off its feet but had caused it to miss its swing, allowing the Specialist to unleash several rapid blows on the Commandant’s upper body with the final hit causing the Commandant’s helmet to be sent flying off. It revealed a face that wasn’t human, an unnatural, demonic and angelic one like the one Nebo saw as Stal earlier.
The Commandant attempted to lift its sword again but was hit in the temple with a crushing blow by the Sergeant whilst the Specialist grabbed ahold of the Commandant’s weapon arm, repeatedly elbowing the arm either in an attempt to dislocate the arm or disarm the Commandant. Seeing this, Nebo pushed himself of the floor and rushed towards the grappled Commandant in a flash of green. He stopped himself before impact and grabbed ahold of the Commandant’s weapon arm with both hands, wrapping his right arm around the Commandant’s forearm before his mechanical left hand let go and began to repeatedly punch the Commandant in its ribs all whilst the Sergeant did the same but to the Commandant’s liver.
All they got were a few demonic hisses and gurgles.
The Commandant’s sword began to glow, began to burn. Nebo felt himself get lifted up with the Commandant’s arm as it swung upwards, cutting off the Specialist’s prosthetic arm. The Sergeant’s entire weight was lifted up by the arm he had grabbed, the Sergeant failing to maintain his grip and had slipped off only to then be grabbed via the leg by the Commandant. He was slammed down into the floor hard enough to dent it considerably all whilst Nebo pulled himself up higher. He was able to kick the Commandant straight in the face as it turned its head around to glare at Nebo, the Marine being rewarded with a similar fate to the Sergeant. He was grabbed by the ankle and pulled up before being thrown to the side, slamming into the floor with more then enough force to leave a human sized dent in it.
Nebo immediately drew his sidearm and aimed it at the Commandant, watching it raise its sword to prepare to bring it down upon the crippled Specialist until the four .45 A bullets left his sidearm’s barrel and hit the Commandant straight in the dome. This did nothing but shift the Commandant’s attention back to Nebo, giving room for the Specialist to whip the side of the Commandant’s head with his own sidearm before firing a shot straight at the Commandant’s head. Sergeant Alberich had used this opportunity to get back into the fight too, drawing a six inch knife from his boot and thrusting it into the Commandant’s neck.
The Commandant’s fist swung around and hit the Specialist straight in the temple, unfazed by the hits it was taken. The Specialist was launched to the aide again and the Sergeant was grabbed by the neck. The Commandant lifted the Sergeant up all whilst Alberich continued to stab it in the face. When it became clear it did nothing, the Sergeant threw the knife aside and reached for something on his chest plate, just before the Commandant’s blade was rammed through the Sergeant’s stomach.
The sword met no resistance at all. Alberich’s armour and aura didn’t even slow the blade down as it went straight through until the sword’s crossguard was pushed into Alberich. The Sergeant gasped, head keeling forward as he spat blood down upon the Commandant’s gauntlet. He was done for. Dead.
But the Sergeant still grinned.
He stared straight into the Commandant’s eyes, his grin only growing wider as his two arms lifted to reveal a grenade in each hand, each one flashing a yellow and purple.
”Come meet me at the bar... Ne-“ Alberich’s final words were cut off by an immediate dust explosion, the Sergeant and the Commandant being engulfed by a bright flash of light all whilst bolts of lightning struck out, lashing against the walls and narrowly missing both Nebo and the Specialist. The Commandant’s sword flying out the concentrated mass of lightning and zero gravity and piercing the floor next to Nebo like butter. The room they were in shook and rumbled, the lights flashing on and off before their bulbs shattered.
And when the flash was gone, and the effects of the dust have dissipated, the Sergeant was gone. He was now bought but a few scraps of Marine armour and ash. Miraculously, the frontal plate of his helmet was still intact. But, so was the Commandant.
The Commandant had fallen to its knees, a gold coloured blood dripping from various wounds. It’s armour was gone, evaporated, leaving only a few scattered plates that began to fall off as it slowly stood up.
Nebo’s eyes glanced over to the Specialist, seeing him knocked out cold by the Commandant’s fist prior to the explosion. He saw the Commandant turn its attention to Nebo, eyes glaring hatefully. He had to move quickly. He jumped to his feet and, without thinking, grabbed ahold of the Commandant’s sword.
Colours, blurred images, new but dulled sensations overwhelmed his senses as soon as he grabbed ahold of the sword’s hilt. Incomprehensible things flashed before his eyes, his entire nervous system screaming out in agony as his brain felt as though it was being fried by the constant stream of information that was overflowing it. He could hear new sounds, hellish wails of some sort of demonic beast, the sounds of a battlefield full of warriors engaged in melee, the earth shaking roar of a powerful beast, and even the sound of a children’s choir strangely enough.
The last thing his senses processed was the sight of him running the Commandant through the heart with its own sword, the sound of the blade sinking through scaly flesh followed by that of blood being boiled. After that everything just went black, his body collapsing shortly before the Commandant had.
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