Fort Myers

Ray and the Harmony soldiers garrisoned the city and rested for half a day. They left 5,000 soldiers behind as they marched north towards Fort Myers. By now, they were down to 30,000 men. The coming battles would only grow more difficult.

They arrived outside of Fort Myers at noon. The rays of the sun were so hot as to make the men's skin boil. An occasional breeze blew across the grasslands, causing the grass to sway and the men to feel momentary relief from the sun.

"So this is Fort Myers." Dupe said as he stared at the city curiously.

"Mm." Ray nodded. "The first city in Florida that fell to the nightmares. They rebuilt it on the other side of the Caloosahatchee River.

In front of them were the ruins of the previous Fort Myers. The city had been destroyed by the Earth Nightmare. Demolished buildings from decades ago sat atop a hilly landscape. It was an unusual sight in Florida, since everything was normally flat. Beyond the destroyed city was the Caloosahatchee River, which flowed into the Gulf of Mexico. On the other side of the river stood Fort Myers. As one of the earliest cities rebuilt from a nightmare attack, it's structure was very different from others. The cast iron walls formed a large hexagon, with the side facing the river completely open. Much like how Steam Work City had a closing dome, Fort Myers had a closing wall. The easy river access made it ideal for gathering food and conducting trade. It was one of the few cities using steam-powered ships to conduct trade with its neighbors, whereas most cities had resorted to reliance on railroad tracks.

"What's the plan?" Dupe questioned. "I don't think rafts will work this time. The rivers too wide, and they've got a small navy stationed here. It's too bad we didn't have enough time to finish building our own navy."

Ray frowned as he considered the issue. "We don't have enough time to go east and circle around the river. Taking rafts downriver wouldn't make a difference either, since they'd just blow us out of the water." He stared at the river, waiting for an idea to come to him. The various wars of history he had studied appeared one after the other within his mind. Suddenly, his eyes sparkled as he decided on an idea. "We're going to build a bridge!"

"A bridge?" Dupe looked out towards the river and then back to Ray. He repeated this several times. "You're joking, right? Even if we deforest an area and build a bridge, their steam ships will just blow it up."

"That's why we're not going to use logs to build it." He turned towards Terra. "Can you make us an earth bridge to cross the river? We'll place the steam tanks up front and on the sides as you build it to give you cover."

Terra's eyes widened in surprise at her unexpected role. She glanced at the river, hesitation visible on her face. "I can do it..." She twirled her thumbs around each other in nervousness. "But it might take a while."

"That's fine." Ray nodded. "Let's get started then."

Terra stepped towards the raging waters of the river and stomped her foot against the ground. A yellowish glow covered her body as the earth beneath her feet stretched towards the water. She took another step and the earth expanded again. Then she stopped and stomped her foot against the ground repeatedly, driving a pillar of earth into the ground beneath the river. The bridge was wide enough to have a steam tank on each side, plus a dozen men between them. After the bridge made some headway, two steam tanks moved in front of Terra to defend her. Then she continued creating the bridge.

Nearly an hour later, they were halfway across the water. By now, the people of Fort Myers had taken notice. The alarms in the city sounded, and the city wall that faced the ocean began to rise up.

"Looks like I'm up." Ray stepped forward. "I'll see what I can do to prevent the wall from going back up. If it goes up, then we've lost." Plasma covered his body as he shot forward, leaving a silver trail behind him. As he got closer, cannon fire shot at him from the walls. He weaved and dodged as the skies lit up in flames. His ears rang from the sound, disorienting him, but he still flew forward.

When he finally reached the wall, what greeted him was a crowd of espers. There were at least 20 of them, which likely represented over half of this city's espers.

An old man with gray hair stepped forward. "You really think you can beat us alone?!" He bellowed in a deep voice. A whitish smoke appeared from his body. It floated against the ground, annihilating bits and pieces of it. The cloud of smoke quickly grew larger as it moved towards Ray.

"Tsk." Ray clicked his tongue. "I don't need to beat you." Plasma sprayed from his hands, forming a large hole within the smoke. He shot through the hole without hesitation. A plasma blade sliced through the old man's neck, beheading him. However, there was no blood. The old man's body turned to smoke and reformed in the blink of an eye.

"Ugh, you're one of those!" Ray complained as he opted to ignore the old man. He flew directly into the city.

The old man's body turned smoky as he followed. Two other espers also took to the skies to give chase. Unfortunately for the others, they couldn't fly. All they could do was lob attacks towards Ray or the bridge, but both were nearly out of range.

Ray neared the bottom of the wall that was rising into the air. He shot plasma towards the seams, sealing the metal.

"DIE!" A shout echoed as one of the espers caught up. Ray looked to his side and saw a wave of bullets made from green wind heading towards him. He hurriedly flew backwards but was slightly too slow. A bullet grazed his arm. Fortunately, it was just a flesh wound.

Ray immediately grew angry at the attacking esper, but quickly regained his wits. 'Gotta stay focused.' He told himself as he avoided the wind esper. 'This side's done anyways.' His plasma had sealed this half of the wall. However, the other side was still rising in a lopsided manner. If he didn't hurry to seal that side as well, then his seal would soon break. He flew towards the other end of the rising wall.

The third esper blocked his path. Their body had transformed into a shadowy raven. Each flap of its wings released corrosive wind which slowly ate away at Ray's plasma.

'Why are all the espers here so much damn stronger than usual?!' He shot plasma towards the bird-like esper, but it was easily dodged.

Suddenly, the old man appeared in front of the bird. His body turned to smoke while the bird continuing flapping its wings. The smoke and corrosive wind mixed together, traveling much faster towards Ray.

Ray prepared to fly backwards to dodge, but the esper that fired wind bullets blocked his path. 'Forceful breakthrough it is.' He sighed as the plasma covering his body condensed, forming a stronger defense. He charged straight for the cloud of smoky corrosive wind, penetrating through it. His plasma quickly vanished as a result. "AGHH!!!" He screamed in pain. By the time he came out the other side, his skin was covered in burns. Even some of his muscle was visible from the damage. "Ed is so fucking fixing this when I meet him in Orlando!"

He finally reached the other end of the rising wall. His plasma quickly sealed the metal, preventing the wall from rising any further. Now their bridge would give them access to the city as long as they managed to finish building it. Ray wasted no time as he fled from the espers and city.

The three espers from before continued to chase after him. However, he managed to quickly reach the bridge. A barrage of shells fired from the steam tanks on the bridge. Several shells hit the old man, but his smoky body quickly recovered. The other two were not as fortunate. Their bodies exploded into a mess of gore and fell from the skies. The old man glared angrily towards the bridge before quickly falling back. He wasn't invincible. If his mana-core had shattered, then he would have been just as dead as the other two.

"Ugh." Ray forced himself to stay standing after landing on the bridge. It would hurt morale if the commander showed weakness. He forced himself to smile widely as he gloated towards his officers. "I'm pretty damn amazing, right?"

"The steam ships are coming." Dupe pointed towards the city. A fleet of nearly 20 small ships surrounded 2 large ships. The large ships were each the size of a football field, with the smaller ships only spanning 5 meters or so.

"What do we do?!" Terra trembled as she continued constructing the bridge.

"Just keep going." Ray ordered. "The ships use steam cannons. It'll be difficult for them to breach the steam tank armor."

The ships soon got closer. The smaller ships were each equipped with just a few cannons. However, they did not fire on the bridge. Instead, they were busy focusing on slaying any river mutants that attacked their boats or the larger ships.

The two larger ships had steam cannons situated on all sides. Three of the front cannons were over 10 meters long. The bombardment of shells shot towards the bridge, slamming into the tanks. The smaller cannon fire barely created dents in the armor. However, the volley from the larger ships was so numerous as to directly knock tanks and soldiers off the bridge. Additionally, the three long cannons were even capable of penetrating the tanks, directly killing the soldiers hiding behind them.

"Keep going!" Ray ordered as he ground his teeth in frustration. He forced plasma to cover his body once again, scalding his injuries in the process. He flew into the sky but did not attack the ships. They were better equipped than the city walls, and he had no desire to become meat paste. Instead, he focused on destroying shells shot towards them. There was little he could do about the numerous volleys, but he could easily concentrate on destroying the stronger shells fired from the 3 large cannons on each of the two large ships.

The bridge continued to grow longer. Bombardments of cannon fire came from the city walls as they got closer. The soldiers had to hang further back, allowing the steam tanks to take the brunt of all the damage. Casualties should be high in a situation like this, but surprisingly they were not. With only 12 soldiers fitting between the tanks, and the line stretching back all the way to shore, there were few casualties even when the enemy successfully shot past the tanks.

They got closer and closer, and soon, they reached the lowered wall of Fort Myers. The bridge connected to the city port, and the steam tanks rolled forward.

The Fort Myers army was already waiting for them. Their steam tanks and mechs formed a solid line of defense. Unfortunately, they valued the city too highly. The lines were easily broken as the Harmony steam tanks concentrated fire on the tall buildings between the pockets of Fort Myers forces. The buildings quickly collapsed, shooting heaps of dust into the air, and thus lowering visibility.

The Harmony mechs took advantage of the chaos to break through the enemy lines. The steam tanks continued concentrating fire on the buildings. Their forces were only growing greater as more tanks and soldiers made it across the bridge. The mechs behind the enemy lines attacked the back of the Fort Myers army, forcing them into facing a two-pronged assault.

The Fort Myers espers had no choice but to join the front lines and support their forces. They were already on the verge of collapse due to their poor positioning. Most espers could not withstand the overwhelming firepower, and so they died like any other soldier would. The smoky old man fought bravely for a while, single-handedly creating a choke point between the bridge and the city. Unfortunately, he quickly grew exhausted. His body turned to white smoke as he floated into the air, choosing to abandon the battle.

The Fort Myers forces got pushed back farther and farther. Their numbers dwindled as they struggled to handle the two different fronts. Soon, they rose a white flag in surrender, which Ray gladly accepted. He walked forward to meet with the man that had raised the white flag. "You made a smart decision." He smiled as he placed a hand on the man's shoulder. "Many more lives would have been lost if not for your timely surrender."

The man's face contorted as he looked at the remains of the battlefield. Dead bodies were everywhere. However, the results could have been much worse. In truth, this was a relatively tame battle. He sighed while shaking his head. "I hope you'll spare my family."

"Spare your family?!" Ray questioned in confusion.

"Right." The man nodded. "I'm the mayor of Fort Myers."

"Hmm?" Ray frowned as he examined the man closely. "Aren't you an ordinary human though?"

"I am." He nodded. "But my father is not. You probably saw him. He was the esper using the white smoke. He's a close friend of the governor."

"Tsk. That bastard!" Ray snorted. "I'm not so petty as to hurt your family. Since you surrendered, you'll be treated properly as a prisoner of war."

"Thanks." The man nodded, a slight smile on his otherwise grim face.