Ruthless Counteroffensive Pt 1

Late Morning

Base Level, Strategic Military HQ

Xerxes, Eastern Empire

BAROOOM!

"GO GO GO!!"

"Watch the left flank!"

"Shit! Fuck!!"

"She's a monster!!"

"You're damn right!" Garmstrong slashed through the man's arm, his hand and gun falling to the floor. She kicked forward, his ribs audibly snapping as he blasted backwards.

Clicking to her left had her ducking without pause, a short volley of gunfire cutting through the spot her head had just been in. Garmstrong spun then, her gaze narrowing in on the source.

Another soldier, armed with two handguns, met her gaze.

He was trembling.

And rightly so. Because in about 2 seconds, he was going to see Hell.

Before she could make him regret his decisions in life, a wave of electricity engulfed him, zapping him to the bone and frying him into the next life.

"Apologies, General!" Charger called, slapping the floor and raising a cage of lightning all around them. "I'm going to take out as many of these traitors as possible, so you'll have to be a bit quicker if you don't want to miss out!"

"Tch." Garmstrong whipped her blade to the side, the blood of Drake's treasonous followers splashing against the earth. "Push up on that wall you just blasted open, if you want to be a hero. Go be an excellent decoy for us, Colonel."

"Understood!" Charger snapped off a salute, the lightning disappearing as he bolted off to the side.

Garmstrong suppressed a sigh, already looking around for a new target.

God, this was a shit show.

Half of her soldiers now working to kill both her and the half that decided to remember their actual fucking duties and the proper loyalties that had been instilled in them.

HQ was a literal warzone. And it was all Lieutenant General Drake's fault.

Her office was destroyed. Garmstrong had to blast through the floor herself to avoid being turned into paste by one of Drake's pets. Several hallways existed where they hadn't before, explosions and attacks from a good number of her own goddamn soldiers – Scylla's soldiers now, it seemed – shattering walls and busting through floors until sections of HQ resembled concrete Swiss cheese more than a military base.

That was equally true of their current location, with craters and holes and piles of rubble and bodies decorated the large entrance hall. It used to be a lovely area. Now, the carpets were singed and drenched in blood, the ends of the area and any furniture that may have once existed having been turned over and broken and busted up and stuck together, until makeshift fortifications and walls and odd facsimiles of cover took up the available space.

Honestly, the only bright side in the past few hours was finding a pair of still-loyal soldiers through whom she'd been able to send out a message across the rest of the base.

"Traitors of Xerxes! This is your former commander, General Garmstrong. I order you to lay down your arms. If you comply, you will be let off with mere punishment respective of your actions. Any further treasonous activities will mean death. I call on all soldiers still loyal to Xerxes and to the Eastern Empire: take up arms and drive out these treasonous bastards! Do not falter!"

That had been just past midnight.

Now, it was late morning, and they were still laying siege.

The four gates leading to outside the centermost section were guarded, and the innermost foyer was under the heaviest blockade imaginable.

No doubt, they were sealing off the lower levels.

Garmstrong would be impressed with their resilience, if it weren't her own former subordinates working against her. And it didn't help that Shades – the creator of the beasts that had been terrorizing her city for the past few months worked for Drake, go figure – were attacking at intermittent points as well.

The first few of the beasts had been formidable, that much was true. Now though, they were little more than cannon fodder. Almost like they were being created and sent out on the fly.

Still, they were at the point where even cannon fodder could be deadly.

As it was, the couple of squadrons she'd managed to gather up were only just now scraping a dent in the annoying formidable defense. Charger had just recently sparked and detonated part of the enemy's ammunition stockpile and blown-up half of an outer wall, giving another avenue of approach should they choose to take it.

That was likely what the enemy expected. Good. With them now having to guard multiple areas, they had to spread themselves thinner. Of course, that also meant Garmstrong had to spread her own forces thinner in order to force a two-prong attack.

Too bad for them, though. She wouldn't be doing that.

The only force she'd send there would the Colonel. He could manage just fine on his own as a distraction and as a potential threat. He wouldn't be able to break in the rest of the way by himself, even with a slightly thinner defense, but that wasn't his goal.

The goal was to give the opponent the idea of a two-prong push.

With that in the back of their foes' minds, the rest of her forces could push directly forward against a weaker line.

Slightly weaker.

It would still take some time, but they would get through. And when they did…

When – not if, but when – they got out of this, she'd make damn sure every soldier that hadn't turned out to be a treasonous bastard would get an equivalent promotion and pay raise. Every one of her soldiers that died for the cause would get promoted twice over, and their families would be delivered a hearty recompense for their brave child's actions.

And every shitty fucking traitor that decided power was worth more than loyalty to Xerxes and the Empire and most of all, her, the likes of which had brought them up from nothing and made them the best and strongest non-augmented humans in the nation, would find themselves executed and their name disgraced for all time.

"Move your asses!" She called, stabbing her sword into the ground. One of the runic arrays on the blade glowed, and a wave of earth rolled forward, growing and accumulating until it reached halfway to the ceiling.

It crashed down, the mudslide smashing through one of their enemy's not-so-makeshift defensive installments. Even as her attack was still flowing through, countermagical efforts were already going into effect. Before any of her soldiers could capitalize on the brief breakthrough, a new wall had been built up and reinforced, materials pulling in from the ground outside the installment.

This had been the case for most her attempts at breaking through.

That was fine.

Each time her foes rebuilt, more and more material for their defenses diminished. The earth around the installments was growing increasingly deep. If they ended up pulling too much, then the foundation of their defensive walls would falter, taking the defenses with them.

Again, it was just a matter of time.

…Assuming they had enough time in the first place.

With how things were looking, they might just need a miracle.

-=-=-=-

Tanya sighed.

"I can't be bothered to figure out who's on what side here. I have neither the desire nor the time."

She strolled down the hallway, unconcerned with the multitude of guns and magic spells being aimed her way.

"Don't come any closer!" The closest man to her shouted, his shoulder plates denoting him as a Lieutenant Colonel.

"Oh?" Tanya raised an eyebrow. "You're clearly scared out of your mind. Yet, your hands don't shake even the slightest bit. You're well disciplined; I can respect that. Not that it will save you."

Bang!

The spent shot clattered to the floor, her active barrier fading immediately after.

"Hah?!"

Now the man's hands shook.

"Listen, I'm not exactly trying to get on General Garmstrong's bad side. I'm actually in a hurry, if you can believe it, so I'll just save us all some time and jump to the ultimatum. Leave now and I'll let you live."

Tanya raised a hand, pointer finger extended. A ball of spinning magic appeared above her fingertip.

"Alternatively, if you're loyal to Scylla, feel free to stay and die."

A few of the soldiers exchanged glances, before lowering their guns.

Smart. Unless it's a ploy, in which case they've only delayed the inevitable.

"What are you doing?" The Lieutenant Colonel yelled at them.

The more intelligent of his soldiers continued to ignore him, instead lowering themselves to the ground as well with both hands raised in the universal "Don't Shoot" sign.

The Lieutenant Colonel though… not quite as intelligent as his subordinates. So then, it's… okay, five that appear to have acceded. That leaves… three, five… seven to take out. Simple enough.

Tanya stretched her arm out.

"Bang."

A hallway did not lend itself well to group encounters. With enough people, the area got too crowded, and it only made sense that you'd get stacks of soldiers in front and behind one another. With that in mind, despite being outnumbered, Tanya had the clear advantage of mobility in the enclosed space.

Not that mobility was a factor here.

She only needed three shots for seven soldiers.

Of course, it didn't matter the circumstances. Against cannon fodder, Tanya would always have the advantage. In her old world, the importance of quantity and quality of soldiers varied depending on the battle. Often, it was the individual excellence that carried a mage battle, but equally as often it was the larger mage group that guaranteed victory.

However, in this world, the power scaling of magic was much higher. Quality was vastly more important than quantity here, in basically every situation.

Needless to say, Tanya fit in the "quality" department quite handily.

Now then.

"Oi, you." Tanya singled out the closest one to her.

"A-ah? Me?" The soldier pointed at herself.

"Yes, you. How do we reach the lowest levels from here?"

-=-=-=-

Same Time

Near Eastern Gate, Strategic Military HQ

Xerxes, Eastern Empire

Slash!

Mary kept moving, the three Shades behind her collapsing into piles of bloody limbs and shadowy mist.

Dust and specks of red mud dirtied the calves of her pants and her boots, the latter of which were heavily stained in crimson despite the fact that none of the Shades had even gotten close to touching her. Nor had she attacked any of them with kicks or legs strikes, having simply cut through any foe in her way on her mad dash towards the centermost section of Xerxes.

She took a moment to catch her breath as she slowed to a light jog, barely winded but recognizing the necessity of the motion anyway.

After all, she'd finally arrived.

The eastern gate of Xerxes Military Headquarters' outermost set of walls towered above her to the left and right. That dome of red energy over the entire center area blocked the space between, the physical gate itself sitting wide open. Empty.

Overconfidence? Maybe they'd assumed no one could get past the Shades.

Mary shifted to a walk. Just a few steps from the barrier, her steps paused.

Without hesitation, she leapt directly up.

"Glycon, trap!"

Just in time. As soon as her feet left the ground, a massive serpent roared along beneath her, pouring from inside of the gate. It curled up, forming a half circle around the outside of the gate and stopping.

Mary landed, the large snake at her back.

Giant serpents… female voice…

A gasp drew her gaze forward.

"Mary?" A familiar blonde woman stepped through the red barrier, stopping a short way away.

Well, that tracks.

"Eve."

"You're… not asleep?" Eve sounded… oddly relieved. As if Mary wasn't pointing a katana at her. "This is… a happy coincidence. I had already accepted another love of mine's demise but look! Here you are!"

"You're working for Scylla." It wasn't a question. She already knew that, of course. Tanya had brought it up the other day. Speaking of which, "Where's Tanya?"

Eve sighed, her expression souring slightly. "Straight to the point then. Yes, I'm one of Scylla's Heads. And I've no clue were this 'Tanya' of yours is. Really, you'd be better off-"

"How about Tasha, then?" Mary interrupted.

"-with… huh?" Eve blinked. Realization slowly dawned on her face. "I- no. That… that blonde is your mentor? That ugly rat who nearly killed poor Nin?"

"Tanya's not ugly."

Why did I say that?

"And Nin deserved it, from what I hear." Mary brandished her blade. "And if you're in league with a monster like that, it sounds like you deserve it as well. Why are you doing this? What's your goal?"

"My goal?" Eve laughed. "Well, if my love is asking me… I just want power, darling. With enough power, I can care for my slither babies indefinitely, take as many lovers as I like, live however I like. It's really that simple."

"And Scylla's goal?" Mary pressed.

"Scylla? If you insist. You see, our organization's going to-" Eve cut herself off with a grin, "As if I'd just tell you, love or not. This isn't some adventure novella. All that matters is success; you don't need to know what that entails. So, what if Scylla has to break a few eggs to make that omelet?"

"That tells me enough."

"Does it?" Eve tilted her head. "Hm, hmmm… well, I answered a few of your questions, so answer a few of mine now, okay?"

She held out a hand. "Why must we fight, sweet one? Was our time together not exquisite? You're strong; I've known that since I first laid eyes on you on that train and fell in love. We don't have to do this."

Mary disagreed. "I think we do."

"No!" Eve clenched her outstretched hand, an almost desperate expression overtaking her for a moment, "I said I had already accepted the loss of you, but now I don't have to! Join me! Help me break this curse of mine!"

Curse? No, I think you're just insane.

"Run away. Come to me. Leave your guild, your home, leave Tanya or Tasha or whoever else you're with, and join me. We'll protect each other. We can be happy together. Scylla will make us stronger than you could ever imagine."

"We can be happy together."

Mary sheathed her katana.

Eve's eyes widened.

"Not happening."

Mary tightened her grip on the hilt, her eyes hardening.

"…Yeah. I thought so." Eve sighed, appearing genuinely sorrowful at her response. It was almost enough to make Mary feel bad.

Almost.

"I'm sorry." Eve said, "I know I love easily, and often. Too often, perhaps, yet I've never forgotten any of them. I'll always remember you. But if you won't join me, then you have to die here."

She kept her fist outstretched, extending the pinky finger.

"Python. Charge."

Her fingernail disappeared. Another serpent, smaller than the "Glycon" which was currently surrounding her and Eve, burst into existence.

Mary's eyes flashed, sparks of green flickering along her cheeks.

Then, she dodged to the right, narrowly avoiding the charging beast.

I couldn't cancel it?

Python swerved, parts of its coils brushing along Glycon's as it turned on a dime.

Mary jumped up this time, landing on the snake's head. Her blade flashed from its sheathe, slashing diagonally down.

"Python, roll!"

Mary nearly lost her balance, pushing off and landing atop Glycon. A shudder ran along the serpent, though no action was taken.

The serpent is a separate entity. Eve… summons them? Using her fingernails, it looks like. And then, controls them by some other means. There's no obvious connection, which means I can't exactly cut it off.

"Python, tail! Attack with your tail!"

Wait.

Now that she was paying attention…

There's a weird energy there. Through her commands. Is it a Skill? It can't be magic, since we're outside the red barrier.

Mary leapt forward, Python's tail slamming on her previous position. Glycon groaned, somehow sounding annoyed despite being a snake.

Could… could snakes make groans?

Not important. Focus on her. If it's through her commands, I should just take her out.

She sprinted towards Eve, the other's woman's eyes widening in terror. Mary shifted her grip, ready to alter her sword style on reaction to whatever Eve decided to pull.

However, instead of dodging, guarding, or calling another snake – in other words, the three things Mary was anticipating – Eve looked right at her, cupping her hands around her mouth and opening it.

There's a symbol on her tongue-

"Stop moving!"

The weird energy she'd only just noticed earlier filled her ears, buzzing across her brain. Mary froze for the briefest of seconds.

"Python, kill!"

Mary broke the hold, just in time to spin around and catch the roof of Python's mouth as it closed around her.

Her voice! She summons the snake somehow and then uses a voice-related Skill to control them!

Mary shoved upward, the slimy roof of Python's mouth shooting open. She jumped back, the wet maw snapping down immediately after. Mary jumped again as soon as she landed, flipping over Eve's position and slashing down at the other's head.

Eve dove forward, narrowly avoiding a rather bloody haircut.

Mary landed in a crouch, blade extended out to the side.

And control others, apparently. What's the criteria? Animals? Humans are technically animals, right?

She didn't give Eve another second to breath, dashing forward again and leaving cracked pavement in her wake.

Not that it matters anymore. Now that I've felt the energy…

Eve opened her mouth again. Green sparks flashed around Mary's eyes, zigzagging down her cheeks.

"Stop moving!"

Mary did not stop. Eve panicked, holding up a hand.

"LUCI!"

Another snake appeared, smaller than Python and just slightly shorter from the ground up than Mary. Its jaws snapped down, Mary's image fading away in its jaws.

Nothing happened.

"Did- did you get her-?"

Slash!

Eve blinked, pain exploding across her lower back. She collapsed, her legs no longer responding and keeping her upright.

Mary slid to a halt, whipping the blood from her sword with a familiar ease. For good measure, she pointed it behind her, at the newly arrived "Lucy", just in case it decided to keep fighting.

It did not. Neither it, nor Python or Glycon, reacted at all. They just… stopped moving, breathing and clearly some sort alive, but unresponsive.

I'd hoped they only acted on commands, but this kind of seals it.

She spun, walking towards her fallen foe.

"Fallen" was a good way to put it.

Blood poured from the woman's back like a morbid waterfall, a gash cutting horizontally clean across Eve's lumbar. Without pausing, Mary reached down, grabbing one of Eve's wrists and dragging her forward.

She was able to just walk out of this earlier, so…

Mary stepped through the red barrier without trouble. Immediately, the emptiness in her chest filled in, the comforting warmth of magic flooding through her flesh and bone.

Whoa, I love being right. It's an oddly new feeling.

She tugged on Eve one more time, ensuring the other woman was fully inside the barrier before dropping her. The woman let out a weak groan, the rise and fall of her back slowing with each breath.

No, you don't get to die yet. I can't interrogate you if you bleed out.

Mary crouched down, crimson flames licking along the length of her sword.

Though, I'm certainly not wasting any full potion on you. Sorry about this in advance. I know it's not a fun feeling.

"This is going to hurt." She warned unnecessarily. The flames cut off, the green magisteel nearly yellow from the heat.

Mary braced a hand against Eve's shoulders, the other holding her katana. After a beat, she pressed down hard, covering the length of Eve's wound with her superheated blade.

Eve thrashed under her hold, screaming herself hoarse. The smell of burnt flesh and melty blood filled the air as the skin along her back was violently cauterized.

Mary wrinkled her nose, pulling her sword back after a sufficient amount of time. She slid her hand down from Eve's shoulders, a soft green glow following along her fingers.

Eve quit thrashing soon after, the minor healing spell soothing her pain ever so slightly and ensuring her new burn scar wouldn't get infected.

I'm starting to think I've gotten too desensitized to this sort of thing.

"That's enough, I think." Mary stood, activating a short burst of water magic to clean off her hands. "I only healed enough to keep you alive. Your spine, though... well, I'm not worried about leaving you here. Not like you'll be going anywhere. Unless those snakes of yours get hungry, you'll survive."

She blinked, tapping Eve's side with the tip of her boot.

"Hey, did you pass out?"

Eve did not respond, her faint breathing the only indicator of life.

Mary sighed.

"That's fine, I suppose. I wanted to get information out of you, but…"

Another explosion rocked the headquarters, this one much smaller than the one from earlier yet easily noticeable from this distance.

"I think I can figure it out myself."

-=-=-=-