Chapter 55: Operation Scorched Earth

Ash was brought back to Paradiso unconscious and that is already something huge. So everyone went to his hospital room and they demanded that the ones who followed him explain what happened.

And when Margaret told them that Adele died in the seemingly simple rescue mission. Enciades was the first one to react, gasping with wide eyes.

She is technically one of the three legal sisters in law of Adele and Enciades has sisters herself.

The leopard felt for him the most. She knew what it was like to have siblings. And the pain of them drifting apart bit by bit wasn't similar to his. But it was related to siblings and it hurt like a motherfucker.

So losing his only family left on Terra shocked her to the core. "We prepare for a funeral. I heard from Platinum that not even a corpse is left. She died of oripathy." Margaret almost teared up.

She too has a sister, and Maria was in the operation. Margaret can't imagine her dying for a stranger and turning into originium dust right at her very eyes.

"We will prepare for a funeral, she deserves a grave and a memorial." Degenbrecher stood up and left the premises.

Everybody else agreed with her and they slowly began to trickle outside as well. "Are you staying here Shining?" Liz asked the Sarkaz and she nodded.

Platinum and Shining were the only ones left and they were quiet.

"I almost had her, you know? But I let her escape." Shining was looking at Ash and held one of his large hands.

"I do too. If only I used an armor piercing round the first time." Platinum frowned. She has never failed an assassination before. Her track record is a hundred percent.

"That sucks I guess." Shining squeezed his hand and Platinum just nodded.

Everyone in Paradiso heard about what happened and they also sent messages throughout the world that Neo-Reunion was public enemy number one for Paradiso.

Any nation would be rewarded handsomely for turning in their cadres and apparent leader Talulah.

The twin empresses and Gertrude quickly went to Paradiso and they held a ceremony to cement Adele as one of the most important members of Paradiso.

Being a researcher that saved a lot of lives by spreading awareness to villages that aren't in mobile cities.

Leithanien was also thankful for her contributions to children. She used her exorbitant pocket money from Ash to establish orphanages all around the empire.

In front of a memorial, close friends and acquaintances gathered to mourn her passing.

"Neo-Reunion... Leithanien will be having talks with Ursus about these people." Soleil squinted her eyes.

"We have been a bit lax Soleil. I guess it's time to use the military to good use." Luna was already planning on sending out campaigns to hunt down their members.

"The Silverlance pegasi and Armorless Union will also be making a move. Care to share information?" Mlynar gave the two organizations news about it.

And of course they accepted. Especially Armorless Union, the public might not know it. But the campaigning knights and assassins are knowledgeable about Ash's reforms for Kazimierz.

"Why yes grand knight, it will be a pleasure." The twin empresses nodded at him.

"I'll be your middle man, run everything to me. I have nothing else to do nowadays." Gertrude wanted to take part.

The days passed by and more civilians enlisted in the military.

Majority of the populace of Paradiso were inflicted by oripathy. And the thought of a terrorist organization that promote conflict rubbed them the wrong way.

Paradiso's factories revved up their production of weapons and their stockpiles of munitions and firearms were ready for decades of war.

Ash wasn't waking up though and now, it was Skadi and Specter who were guarding him.

Not that he needed it, especially with squad leaders of his ghosts being around him 24/7.

Skadi put a hand on his chest and she frowned. "Specter, can you feel it? His overwhelming sadness and fury?" Skadi looked at Laurentina and she clasped her hand.

"Master, may the heavens give mercy to your enemies. Because I won't." She closed her eyes in prayer.

"There's been some rumors around that Margaret found a lead on where they're going." Skadi squinted her eyes.

She might not have known him and Adele long. But one thing is true, they're their friends and the abyss hunters do not abandon them. Especially at their time of need.

"Ash..." The orca could feel her emotions resonate with him. Her family had been murdered and her comrades swim at the bottom of the ocean. Their guts spilling in the water, making it saltier and fishier than normal.

"Specter, we will go for a hunt." Skadi looked at her insane comrade and the nun opened her eyes with a grin.

"Then a hunt you shall receive." Specter was giddy at the thought of mass slaughter.

__War Room__

"According to our spies, Rhodes island spotted infected going to Lungmen after the catastrophe in Chernobog. There are also sightings of Neo-Reunion making their move towards there." Margaret led the meeting.

"Wait, we have spies in Rhodes island?" Degenbrecher was quite surprised at that.

"Yes, courtesy of me." Shining nodded at her. It was the group of Ursus students that she left at Rhodes island.

They were all too happy to spill some information for being saved by the Sarkaz. She left another phone with them and has been contacting the bespactacled girl that looked smart, named Anna Morozova.

And Rhodes island has been preparing to move towards Lungmen. And unlike Chernobog, they can receive the help of the Lungmen guard department. The police of the city.

"So, when do we go?" As an established merc, Mudrock knew they would be storming Lungmen and they will bring their most elite squads.

"Tomorrow, we travel to Lungmen at 800 hours. A squad of silverlance pegasi incognito will be coming with us. Every squad will have a banshee for crowd control." Margaret gave everybody their mission parameters.

Teams of four will be formed. Every hunting team will have a silverlance pegasi, a banshee, a defender, and a caster from the Leithanien royal guard called empresses' voices.

And their mission was pretty obvious. Absolute annihilation, Lungmen will just have to be compensated for the trouble.

Nian refused to go, because tensions will rise with Yan. Especially with the Sui regulators. Thinking that the Nian dragon has rebelled against them. But Kjera would be roaming the skies and she is tasked by trapping Lungmen.

And there were no other plans, just objectives. Kill as many as you can, there will be no prisoners except the cadres that Paradiso has other plans for.

"Shouldn't we contact Yelena or Patriot for this? Give them some PR so that they'll be separate from Neo-Reunion?" Degenbrecher remembered Reunion.

"You're right, we send a group of choppers to the north of Ursus STAT." Margaret ordered. She was sure that Patriot, Yelena, and Alina want to talk to Talulah.

Something was fishy about the Draco. She formed Reunion in order to fight for the rights of the afflicted.

She is a sweet little thing that doesn't really like to fight. It was only a last option for all of them really. Especially because Patriot is so weary of fighting. That's why he left Kazdel all those decades ago.

Margaret and Degenbrecher prepared to meet with Patriot and the original reunion. They prepared dozens of choppers in order to bring in all of them.

__Northern Ursus__

Doing a perimeter search, Deliverance's retrieval team quickly found Patriot and their group.

And seeing their signature chinooks, Patriot and Yelena met up with them.

Margaret and Degenbrecher went face to face with Patriot who is actually a bit smaller than Ash right now.

"Buldrokkas'tee, how are you doing?" Margaret shook his large hand and the wendigo Sarkaz nodded at her.

"Good, Reunion has been steadily growing and we are training all of the members well thanks to the regular supplies penguin logistics sends us." Patriot was thankful for that and looked at their members.

They can take on Neo-Reunion's fighters 5-1. There was no contest. Their members have been trained by veteran war heroes of Ursus.

"How about you? Especially Ash? We've gotten news that Kazimierz has changed tremendously." Yelena looked for him because what they went for seemed to be important, but he wasn't present.

"I wish I could say we are alright too. But Adele... She died. Let's go somewhere comfortable to talk." Margaret gestured for them to lead them in their base.

Patriot, Yelena, and Alina gasped. They needed to know what happened.

Sitting inside of their base. Margaret gave them some files. It contained reports of what happened to Chernobog. Margaret and Degenbrecher let them read it for now.

"T-Talulah? No way!? She might have split with us, but she's not aggressive at all! There was one time that she acted in a fit of rage, but that was understandable. Unpleasant, but understandable." Alina couldn't believe it.

"I was right, something is wrong with Talulah..." Patriot squinted his beady red eyes.

"What do you mean?" Degenbrecher raised a brow and Patriot sighed.

"This has the deathless black snake written all over it. Did you know that Talulah is the daughter of Victorian and Yanese royalty?" Patriot asked and they were surprised about that.

Not even Yelena or Alina knew about it. "She most likely have told Ash, they were training often and were really close. A duke from Ursus named Kaschey abducted Talulah actually." Patriot began her story.

"Talulah has a half sister in Lungmen. A Lung named Ch'en. When they were kids, Kaschey attacked Lungmen but was thwarted. It was a hollow victory though." Patriot winced.

"Talulah's father, Edward Artorius was executed by Yan's orders. Kaschey's aim in attacking Lungmen was to kill him after all. It would raise a war for Ursus, Victoria, and Yan." Margaret and Degenbrecher frowned.

"Kaschey kidnapped Talulah, strapping bombs on her so they won't be able to take her back. Then, their uncle Wei Yenwu was forced to kill his best friend due to Yan's pressure." Alina blinked at that.

"The duke then raised Talulah as his successor. To wage war and remake the Gaul empire. To make Ursus great again. And there are some rumors surrounding the man." Patriot thought there might be some truth to it.

"What's the rumors about him then?" Margaret tapped the table impatiently.

"He's immortal... And that he transfers his consciousness. His predecessors were all like that. They were taken in by the Duchy and the duke dies after a decade or so." Patriot heard of it before, there is a pattern for succession.

"Isn't that impossible? How can that be?" Alina was shocked.

"No... That's possible. We have a confessarius with us. You know what they can do, right Patriot?" Degenbrecher looked at the wendigo and his eyes widened.

"How in the... No matter, yes. They dabble in cruel experiments and souls. So I know this rumor can't be just a hoax. Wait, so that's how she was able to kill him that easily..." Something in his mind clicked.

"Explain." Margaret squinted her eyes. "There were no emperor's blades that hauled her back to Ursus when she escaped. They're the nasty royal guards. They would defeat her easily. That means they let her go." Everybody went into deep thought.

"That's correct... Killing a duke of Ursus won't fly like that. There's something wrong with how she's acting." Margaret scowled and they have to bring her in to know.

"Let's just talk about what we're going to do for now. We'll be taking you to Lungmen, they're doing something there. And you already know that everyone would lump you with Talulah's group." Degenbrecher snorted.

Patriot put a hand on his head for the incoming headache. "We'll go, we need to change our reputation a bit. Come Alina, tell everyone to prepare." He ordered her and the woman nodded.

After packing their things, the members of Reunion boarded the choppers one by one and they went to Paradiso in order to be debriefed on the operation.

Patriot and Reunion shivered when they saw the fortifications of the military city. Turrets that were like the artillery in Victoria were craning left and right, looking for probable targets.

He also recognized the group of royal guards from Leithanien that were just silently observing things. Silverlance pegasi were marching to their barracks preparing their weapons.

They were loading up shotguns with buckshot and a one ounce slug for maximum damage. It was their mid-range weapon of choice, efficient.

Sarkaz goliaths were equipped with 50 caliber heavy machine guns instead of their normal large swords. And they could use it like it was a run of the mill assault rifle.

Their soldiers were decked from head to toe with gear and no expense was too much for the military.

Patriot thought that Ursus and Laterano would cream their pants if they knew what Paradiso was packing.

"A-are those bullets?" Alina pointed at a drum of one of the gau-8 avengers being loaded. Their bullets were the size of large beer bottles.

"I think it is, and I don't want to imagine what will happen to people if they got shot with that." Patriot replied and they quickened their steps. Their troops were getting antsy.

Being surrounded by the most elite forces who looked like they were going to war would unnerve even veterans. They could feel the prickling sensation of their rage and fury on their skins.

__730 hours, morning__

Standing at a podium, Margaret looked at their army that would march to Lungmen in order to intercept Reunion.

She slammed her swordspear on the ground. "We have lost our leader's last family on Terra recently. And Reunion has been the reason for that." Margaret squinted her eyes with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

"Do we let that slide!?" Margaret shouted and a synchronized no resounded.

"Should we do nothing and mourn for this injustice!?" Margaret riled them up and they stomped their feet.

"Who are we!?" Margaret's arts shone bright behind her as golden blades formed.

"Deliverance!" The army shouted and they slapped their logos on their chests. A sword breaking chains.

"We help the unfortunate, bring liberty to the ones chained down by fate! But we have been wronged... And Asmodeus Naumann, our generous leader always repays his debts. So we depart to do so... Dismissed!" Margaret let them prepare.

She formed a team with Sonus, their caster that will be handling crowd control.

Degenbrecher, their swordmaster guard that will cut down anyone in their path.

Margaret, the duelist dreadnought guard. The one who can take down almost anyone even the heaviest of soldiers.

And the last one was Mudrock. An enmity juggernaut defender. With her thick shield arts, her defense was nigh unbreakable and she could turn squads into paste with her large hammer.

They led the army and Lungmen has already received their message. Decline their entry and it will be an all out war against Yan immediately, they do not fear Yan.

The campaigning knights of Kazimierz and platoons of the most elite casters on Terra from Leithanien are ready to rendezvous on the eastern front.

Yan would fall in days and their spies already knows that their forces are ready to engage.

And at Lungmen, in a skyscraper. One Lung that looked more animalistic than others hit his pipe and huffed a small cloud of smoke.

"Ch'en, your sister just unleashed a hidden beast on us." Wei Yanwu sighed as he felt a migraine coming.

An old friend, the leader of the penguin empire already warned him about them. Paradiso might be quiet, but they're out for blood.

The sister of the emperor has been a casualty of a simple mission. They were at the wrong place at the wrong time.

And Neo-Reunion were creeping around in Lungmen. Which means Paradiso will come knocking at their gates and they would blast it off if they denied entry.

Kazimierz and Leithanien are also making their move. They would annex Lungmen in a heartbeat if they had the gall to reject them justice. Then Yan will soon follow, their logistics were goddamned insane.

They can wage war against any nation politically or through their military. And they had the full support of Kazimierz. Meaning the silverlance pegasi that can fight overwhelming odds will march.

Even if they could hole themselves and fortify their borders, their cities would starve to death. Wei's hands were tied.

So he made a call. "Ch'en, when you see people wearing clothes with a logo of a sword breaking chains, give them entry and full access to any area in Lungmen without questions. Yan's safety depends on it."

"What? Really?" A female voice was heard and Wei sighed. "Yes, really. They'll destroy Lungmen in a day and will continue on to Yan. That's how dangerous those guys are, let them through."

He ended the call and hit his pipe again. "And Yan's annual inspection will coincide with their arrival. This will be a fucking mess of epic proportions."

Wei clutched his head, the migraine arrived. Lungmen will be caught in a storm that it might just not survive.

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Thank you for reading everyone, ciao.