Ridgeline City Battle (Sergeant's Rationale)

Aieria, who had been nearly done with her second group of wall defenders. Dropped the body of a slowly dying man from her beak. "You humans are lucky, you get to live a little bit longer." She said with a glare. And while it may be difficult to grasp the expressions of other races not your own, this one she wore was clear as day; Ecstasy. "Killing you all has been quite the fun experience. A shame I'll have to put it off for a little while. Oh, please don't die too quickly. My sisters and I are just so excited to hear your screams." She continued, spreading her wings, taking to the skies. 

"THEIR MONSTERS! ALL OF THEM! ACK!" The man who fell from Aieria's beck yelled with all his last remaining might. The insignia of a major adorned the collar of what remained of his uniform, sliced to ribbons just like his body. "MEN… Flee… We can't win against those monsters. The young one… Maybe… But, we never had a chance." He finished, muttering through gurgles of blood, before the life truly left him, his eyes becoming a clear indication of this.

This last order of the Major would fall on deaf ears though. No one could hear him through the blood. So the last several guards on the wall succumbed to fear, their hands covered in the blood of their fallen, but they didn't care anymore. 

"IT'S ALL OVER!" A low ranking Guard screamed with abject terror. The others looked at him and realized the same, all save for one, a brand new 2nd lieutenant. 

I have to find a way to turn this situation around? There's no way… I was only just promoted 3 days ago… And now I'm the site commander… How did this happen… Here's hoping my training is enough to get my mouth to move… I have to give orders… 

The lieutenant had finally snapped out of his inner thoughts and looked around at the situation. He gulped, shaking with horror, then turned to face the other guard who just screamed out. However, it was too late… The man had been reduced to a corpse, having been overwhelmed with fear, the body took over and ceased all of its functions to no longer feel the pain. The now dead guard likely didn't even know he died. 

"MEN! We stand no hope of holding this wall! Gather what weapons you can and follow me to rendezvous with reinforcements. On the other side of the tower! We need to be quick if we want any chance…" The Lieutenant ordered as loud as he could, then fell silent. Can we even survive?

"It's Hopeless! We won't survive this battle! Lieutenant! Give the order to retreat and capture the city lord! If we want any chance of survival we have to give up the one who ordered the provocation attack!" A Highly ranked sergeant yelled back, priming something from his pocket.

"We can't do that! We would die as traitors of the empire!" The Lieutenant shouted back. 

"It was the idiot City Lord that ordered the attack in the first place! He is the only traitor to our Empire for provoking such destructive monsters! Those monsters used to protect us! We used to have mages with enough power to give us an edge." The Sergeant yelled back, refusing this idiot of a lieutenant's orders. "Now all we have are tiny pea shooters that can't even leave a scratch on the weakest point of any monster, THE EYE!!! And you think we can do anything with this garbage! You're a fool!" He continued. He pulled out an order token given only to high ranking sergeants. "I'm using the authority granted to me to take command. Any resistance will be met with a death sentence. Now gather weapons and we're going to assault the City Lord's Mansion!" He ordered. 

"You can't use that on an officer!" The Lieutenant angrily snapped back, raising a weapon along with his voice. 

"Hmm, yes he can. You're not a captain. And thus don't have the required experience to lead in battle." A chirping voice that sounded just like the voice on the speaker system said in a giggly sort of tone.

The guards looked over to see the miniature form of terror incarnate perched upon a crenellation, just staring at them. But there wasn't any killing intent, just a sense of amusement in their eyes. 

"You… You're the little one! VITALIANA! The one who made the city square look like hell opened up…" The Lieutenant said in an unusually shaky and terrified voice. 

"Ahahah, that's right." Vitaliana laughed, raising a claw to inspect it casually as if she was just having fun and enjoying the moment. "I heard there was something interesting happening over here. You know, that order token isn't something you can resist. Even a first lieutenant must obey it. I believe it was a countermeasure to make sure idiots don't remain in command over a battle for long if at all." She continued, rubbing the back of her head with her wing. "But, you know, I wonder… I asked my Eldest sister and she thought it would be fun to let you try and capture the city lord. So we will give you a chance. If you do manage to do so, you and your families will be spared. However, that is if your families manage to survive throughout the time you use to carry out your little rebellion." Vitaliana explained cheerfully, devoid of care for the lives of which they were talking about. 

The Sergeant had a glimmer of hope in his eyes and thought of a question to determine his decision. At first it was just a faint hope to spare their souls from torture and destruction but now it was actually something they could actually do. "If what you say is true, then I'd like to ask; Can we recruit others to our cause?" He asked, curiously hopeful. 

"Huh? Why would you think that's possible? Only those who survive this ordeal could understand what your mission is. So no. And since you asked a profoundly stupid question…" Vitaliana smirked… "Only those who survive the mission will have their families saved from death. However, if you die during the mission, I promise they will be tormented." She continued explaining. "Conversely, should you await your deaths here nothing will change." She finished and flew away.