Assault ; First Battle ; (Spoiler Title at the End)

As I stand on the deck of the giant flying ship, I look into the distance, where the fort is.

Turning around, I am met with the sight of numerous battle-ready men with enthusiasm evident in their eyes.

"Victor," Krul who's beside me voices, "Are you sure that engaging them head-on in such a manner is a good idea?"

"What do you mean?"

"This ship," she responds, "It was theirs, right? Wouldn't they have countermeasures prepared against it?"

"There indeed is a great possibility of that, however, it's not like we're going to be using this ship to win this battle.

"It's just more practical to transport these guys over this way."

Krul looks over at the plethora of men on the three ships and nods her head once before looking back at me and saying,

"You're planning to take over the whole kingdom, right?"

As a response to her inquiry, I shake my head slowly before replying,

"That's not what I have in mind at all. The plan is simple. Destroy every town and city I come across and rule over those that surrender. All in all, Gallia will become a relic of the past by the time this war is over."

"How cruel," she remarks with a smile on her lips.

"They were the ones who messed with me, so it's only natural that I return the favor, no?"

As silence ensues for a few seconds, Krul looks around a little, particularly at the girls before turning her head to face me and ask,

"Where are the two Angels?"

"Oh, you mean Gabriel and Aruru? Well, I commanded them to fly ahead and act as scouts."

"Scouts? Aren't they capable of wiping out the men garrisoned at the fort on their own?"

I shake my head and say,

"That's incredibly risky, as you never know what weaponry your foe might possess.

"The only way that they could take down the fort without risking their lives so much would be by attacking from a distance. However, that would destroy the fort itself, which would defeat the purpose of this attack."

Krul takes a moment to think before saying,

"You're planning to use the fort as a checkpoint."

"That's right," I reply with a small smile on my lips, "We will seize the fort and use it as a temporary base of operations for the war with Gallia."

I took a moment to consider the recent proposal that Henrietta made, and came up with an idea.

We will take over the fort and have Henrietta's subjects build something similar to the Aerial Network in Albion.

Once that's done, we can easily have men transported to and from the fort.

"Victor!" I suddenly hear a loud cry as Yuno who was on another ship leaps over to the ship that I'm on.

As soon as she lands, she speedily closes the distance between us and embraces me before the eyes of the curious soldiers.

"What's wrong, Yuno?" I wryly ask her while caressing her head.

"Nothing at all," she replies, "I'm just delighted that we're going to be battling side-by-side once again."

"Right," I say as distinct memories begin appearing in my mind one after another.

Those are the only memories I have of us fighting side-by-side, however, I'm sure that there are many more that I can't recollect.

Setting those thoughts to the side, I begin to think of the upcoming battle.

Our foes are pretty much done for, as I refuse to believe that they stand a chance against three Codes that have actual battle experience.

As this notion passes through my mind, I look over at Siesta who's quietly standing nearby with a smile plastered to her face.

For some reason, she was very determined about accompanying us in this war.

When I asked her about it, Siesta insisted that something was 'informing' her that she must accompany us.

Normally, I would pass such a thing off as nonsense, but this time it's different. She's a Code whose abilities are yet to be known.

Surely, this feeling that she had must be related to her Code in one way or another. So, I thought that it would be fine to take her along if that's the case.

Even so, there is a chance that something unexpected may occur and may catch me off guard, so I have to be cautious at all times.

[Father.]

"Gabriel? Is anything wrong?"

[The fort is equipped with cannons that seem to be designed for taking down large bodies.]

"For example a flying ship, huh?" I mutter to myself as I take a moment to think of what needs to be done.

"Gabriel, cooperate with Aruru to swiftly get rid of them when I tell you to do so."

[Understood.]

The reason I have her wait instead of instructing her to destroy them at this moment is that the element of surprise is crucial for this battle.

I will have Gabriel and Aruru destroy them right at the moment we are ready to initiate an assault.

---

"Your Highness, we are prepared!" Yvonne respectfully informs me while kneeling a meter away from me.

"Good," I say, "Activate the illusory stones."

"Understood!" she responds before getting up and turning around to face the soldiers a dozen or so meters away from her.

She then raises her arm and gestures some orders to the men.

Having received their order, the soldiers get to work.

In a matter of seconds, the ship suddenly begins turning invisible as a circular sphere of energy appears around us.

Using Clairvoyance, I can tell that the two other ships have also become unperceivable.

"It seems like we're ready," I mutter to myself before saying, "Gabriel, initiate the attack."

[Understood.]

A few seconds later, the earth trembles as a noise resounds in the distance.

I turn around to face the men before saying in a loud voice,

"Are you ready?!"

As a response to this, the soldiers all raise their weapons and shout out a battle cry.

Nodding my head, I turn around to observe the fort and the state of chaos that has ensued from the attack just now.

"Let's do this," I say before jumping off the ship along with Yuno and Krul.

"Aruru, you come over and watch over the ships."

[Okay!]

"Gabriel, provide support from the sky."

[Understood.]

Now that I have relayed my orders, it's time to show the enemy what true power is.

Using telekinesis, I hold the bodies of the two girls near me before flying over to the fort.

Once we're close enough, I let the two down meanwhile I continue flying toward the fort at max speed.

Then, I punch the outer wall with enough force to break a part of it down.

The men who were inside are bewildered by the sight of me casually walking inside from the hole as they motionlessly gawk at me.

Shaking my head, I telekinetically crush the hearts of every single soldier that's within my range.

This results in the beautiful sight of a dozen or so men limply falling to the ground as life begins fading from their eyes.

I continue to casually walk toward my target, meanwhile, the men outside the fort are screaming and wailing as if it's the end of the world.

"You! Identify yourself!" a loud voice resounds, causing me to shift my focus back to inside the fort.

Looking over, I find a disgustingly muscular man accompanied by a few 'normal' men.

"Your enemy," I casually reply before using Holy Slash in an attempt to cut all of them down in one go.

Surprisingly, they all react quickly as they immediately get down on the ground as the blade of light barely misses their heads.

"Oh?" I voice, surprised by their physical speed.

"Origi," the muscular man mutters, startling me even further.

"You know me?" I ask the man with a neutral expression on my face.

His expression contorts into a scowl as he jeers,

"Who in this damned lands doesn't know the accursed god."

Accursed god? That's an interesting title.

Nevertheless, have I been here in the past? Either I have been here or someone that knew me has.

"Say, why am I accursed?"

Hearing this, a raged expression appears on the man's face as he shouts,

"Was damning a continent not a deed worthy of such title!?"

Damning a continent? The heck has happened here before?

As I'm about to inquire further, I notice that the man has brought out a vial and directly smashes it.

The next thing I know, the liquid in the vial begins to glow while giving off an extremely eerie vibe.

I don't know what this thing is, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

As such, I hastily move quite a distance away until I am a safe distance away from the vial.

A few seconds later, the spilled liquid abruptly explodes strangely.

By strange, I mean that nothing seems to take any damage.

However, that notion doesn't last long as the muscular man falls to the ground along with the other men.

A frown begins to form on my brows as I make my way to the bodies and examine them from head to toe.

They're dead. Every single one of them has stopped functioning altogether.

However, I'm strangely unable to find any injury on their bodies.

What the heck? Did this vial contain a liquid with soul-killing effects or something?

My thoughts get interrupted as the overly muscular man's body suddenly twitches.

Before I can react, his body moves at a ridiculous speed as he lands a kick on my guts with enough force to send me back a few meters.

I take a moment to stabilize my breath as I begin to think of what just occurred.

This man just moved at a speed that's faster than what my current body is capable of.

Abnormal. Way too abnormal.

The fact that I'm still unable to feel any signs of 'life' inside him makes it all the more abnormal.

All of a sudden a strange growl escapes from the man's lips as the other men begin to get up from the ground in a strange manner.

As I focus my sight on them, I notice that something about their physical appearance has changed.

Their eyes no longer have irises. They're completely white and seem to focus on nothing.

Hold on… Don't tell me…

As an odd notion appears in my mind, I use Clairvoyance to check the state of the matters outside the fort.

What I find startles me.

The majority of the soldiers that were garrisoned in this fort are now in a similar state to the overly muscular guy.

This seems to have given them an upper hand against the soldiers from Albion and Tristain, however, it's useless when it comes to the rest.

As such, Gabriel is currently taking them down one after another using light spears while she flies in the sky.

Meanwhile, Yuno and Krul are on the ground, physically crushing any enemy they come across.

I shift my focus back to reality just in time to find the muscular man dashing toward.

With his current speed, he is a much more dangerous foe than before, however, that's not enough for him to fight me.

As I prepare to use Holy Slash, the ground below my feet trembles before large cracks appear.

The next moment, a part of the ground falls off as a figure swiftly appears from within and drives the tip of her weapon into the center of the muscular man's chest.

"Saturnus?" I call out to her.

A burst of energy escapes from Saturnus's weapon, resulting in the man's body to explode into bits of flesh.

Saturnus turns around to look at me before saying with a smile on her face,

"I've come to support you, Creator!"

But, that wasn't the plan… Oh well, this situation is abnormal, so the plan wouldn't be that effective anyway.

Even so, repairing this fort is going to be a pain.

Saturnus seems to be hyped for battle as she swiftly turns her weapon around before leaping toward one of the men.

The man quickly responds to her actions by running toward her at a speed that's almost comparable to the muscular man's.

This causes Saturnus to suddenly spin her body in the air before hurling her weapon at the guy, which pierces his guts.

Before he can pull the spear out, Saturnus arrives right in front of him and kicks the spear as a burst of energy escapes from it.

The next moment, the man's limbs and heads suddenly seem to 'break off' as blood escapes from his body like a fountain.

Saturnus doesn't seem to mind getting covered in blood as she says in a mocking tone,

"Resorting to such cheap tricks to fight against the Creator. Despicable."

Now that I think about it, what exactly has happened to these men? Did they turn into zombies or something?

The state of their body is quite strange. Their internal organs have completely stopped functioning, yet here they are, fighting us.

Upon closer inspection, I notice that at the center of their bodies, they have a crystalline orb that's glowing in an eerie unusual white color.

Looks like their moving their bodies using the energy from these crystalline orbs.

Well, it doesn't matter in the least, as we're going to be taking down every single one of these guys.

Especially whoever is behind all this…

~~~

Complete Title: Assault ; First Battle ; Zombies?