14. The Last Stand

"Come on you ladies, move your asses! Go go go!"

William Tremblay, alongside most of his fellow soldiers, had to make a conscious effort not to obey the sergeant's orders as he hurried his men past William and his comrades. Even if boot camp was a memory of the past some things would forever remain with him and if a sergeant screamed for you to do something then you better do it.

William, or "Willy" to his friends, had started that day like any other. Running, drilling and waiting and then waiting some more as the army was wont to do. Of course they hoped for an escape from monotony, maybe a chance to be allowed to go into the town for some time off. They had gotten their desire and then some.

And now they wished they didn't.

"Get out of the way, we need to get those tanks in position!"

The base was currently a hive of activity. Hundreds of men and millions of dollars in hardware were being mobilized as fast as humanly possible. And while sirens weren't blaring it was only because power was out and the generators had yet to be started.

It was a sight of controlled chaos, where man and machine moved as part of a greater whole. Where the powerful giant known as the canadian military was woken and readied to fight. The reason for this? It was but one word.

War.

Willy didn't know what had happened, nor did he really hope to find out anytime soon. All he knew was what they had been told by a friend who was present when the General received the message. Just before power had gone out an order had come from high above, telling them to mobilize and prepare for combat, and so they did.

It was a week day and thankfully most members of the garrison, those of Willy's own Royal 22nd amongst them, were on the base and those few that weren't had or were in the process of hurrying back to it.

As it was Willy and his fellows were currently in the "wait" phase that came after hurrying. Watching over the last few tanks not yet underway as the maintenance crews rushed to get them moving.

"This shit is freaking me out, who is attacking? The Americans? The muties? Maybe is it... Doom?" Asked Lucas, the FNG of his unit, as he looked from side to side at the darkened base.

"It doesn't matter who it is, we will give them a trashing when they show their faces. Especially if it's the muties," answered another soldier.

"Yeah... no, I definitely don't want to mess with them muties. Even moreso if that freak Magneto is involved."

That got a scown from more than one of the others, what they perceived as someone admitting fear turning him into a perfect excuse to deny their own with false bravado.

Willy couldn't fault Lucas for his reluctance to face against Magneto or any of the other heavy hitters. The idea of dying a painful and meaningless death against some wannabe god not too enticing for him.

Give me a human enemy and a gun and I'll make it work out. Not some bulletproof freak.

"Come on guys, just think about-" started Lucas before Willy cut him off.

"Lucas, shut up and move your lazy ass! Can't you see the next tank is about to come out?"

Lucas, who had walked right in front of one of the tanks as it tried to advance, blushed (or so Willy assumed, as it was too dark to see) and stepped aside. The tank, one of the new Leopard 3, swiftly got going without ever missing a beat. The bulk of its gleaming grey armor and heavy energy cannon as much of an awe inspiring sight as the first time Willy had seen them.

When he joined the military Willy's dream had been to drive tanks, but the whims of destiny ,and military bureaucracy, had seen him turned into an infantryman instead. And while he wasn't exactly displeased by this development a part of him couldn't help but dream about that lost chance.

"Even then Lt, do you know nothing of who is attacking? Or maybe why power went out? That's totally suspicious!" Continued Lucas, trying and failing, to hide his embarrassment.

"I know what I need to know and nothing else and so will you. And you are getting a little too familiar with me. Better keep in mind to respect military decorum respected or I will see you cleaning latrines for the rest of your tour" in truth Willy was just as confused as his subordinate but didn't feel like admitting it.

Knowing he had pushed too much Lucas wisely shut up and went back to 'guarding'. Which in truth didn't amount to much as any attack would either involve an airstrike or would be faced by those in the outer perimeter, making Willy's men useless in both cases.

Not that I should mind that much, in times of uncertainty is best to wait for things to become clear before acting. You never know what may happen otherwise.

Just then the lights came back on and the darkened base was bathed in white artificial light. The previously partially obscured men and machines now clear as, if not day then at least twilight.

"All units to prepare to move, we are marching into the city. Your officers will give you your orders, General Fleming out" the sudden radio message surprised Willy, especially as it came from the base commander instead of one of the typical comms officers, but he quickly composed himself and got his men moving.

"Come on, you heard the man. Get going ladies."

The hurrying of hundreds of men and machines intensified as the lethargic giant that was the military finally woke up, the return of the lights a symbolizing the canadian army's readiness to face any foe. Tanks formed up and entire battalions of infantry got ready to move

It was an impressive display of power only rarely seen by modern soldiers.

Then why do I feel such unease?

Even as they boarded their Infantry fighting vehicle, or IFV for short, Willy couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

Willy shivered and the cold night air had nothing to do with it.

---

​

Dawn was already drawing near, the pretty orange colour of the sky replacing the darkness of the night but the city remained just as silent but for a few cars and pedestrians rushing to their destinations as they tried to avoid the military convoys taking position all over the city. Much like the base before, the city's power supply wasn't working and amongst their duties, the many units taking position all over the city were to deploy portable generators to key areas, like hospitals and other public facilities.

Willy's platoon had been tasked to watch over a side street leading to where the command centre of their forces had been established and as of yet nothing noteworthy had happened, with the biggest incident being one obviously inebriated man yelling at them for "turning off the city's damm power".

"So Lt, what do you think? Maybe it was an exercise after all?" asked Lucas, clearly having recovered a modicum of confidence since Willy's last rebuke.

"What I think is that you should keep quiet and do your job," Willy answered, not even bothering to look at the soldier besides him "and now I am ordering you to do just that."

It had been hours since they had first marched into the city and command had yet to give any new orders besides continued iterations of 'hold your position' and Willy's men were on edge, especially those like Lucas who lacked actual experience.

"Lt, I got something on the radio!" yelled one of his men from inside their three LAV-V IFV's.

Willy, who had been standing besides the vehicle, rushed inside as quickly as possible and was greeted by a man operating the vehicles long range radio.

"What is it?"

"Listen up sir, you won't believe this," answered the operator.

Even if he didn't want to show it, Willy was just as worried as the rest. Whatever was happening wasn't normal and their lack of knowledge could become a risk for him and the men under his command. It was for this reason that he had ordered his radio operator to search for any civilian channels and see if they could find out anything. It seemed to have worked.

"It's from a news station, they said something about the war and the PM giving a speech" said the radio operator ad he passed Willy the headset.

[Bzz We are… bzz… reporting liv...bzz… Prime minister bzz declared un... bzz ...der... bzz]

The quality was awful and full of static, making the reporter's, or at least that's what Willy assumed they were, barely understandable.

"Can't you get a better quality?" asked Willy to the radioman after the transmission turned into static.

"No can do sir, there is something interfering with the comms. We can barely get a decent signal from here to the base and I think that's coming all the way from Ottawa," answered the man apologetically.

Damn it all, we need to know what's happening.

"It's ok, just keep working on it," he patted the man in the shoulder once before exiting the vehicle.

He wanted to light a smoke to help with the stress, but he had foolishly decided to quit not long ago and now he wasn't carrying any.

Should I ask the men? No, can't admit why I don't have any. I guess I'll have to man up.

Saddened by the burdens of command Willy looked up at the beautiful sky. Winter was already ending and the sky thankfully remained free of rain clouds or worse, snow. Willy could only shudder at thinking of their current situation but under a heavy downpour or snowstorm.

"Huh, was that a cloud there just then?"

The question came from one of the other men taking a break and prompted Willy to look to where the man pointed. It was true, a rolling mass of darkness had formed right above the city centre where there was nothing before and for a second Willy could swear he saw a face emerge from it.

"What the fu-" but before he could finish a sound like a thunderclap resonated all around them. Men fell down grabbing their ears and windows cracked slightly from the force of it.

"BeHoLd, FoR wE cOmE BeAriNg a MeSsAgE fRoM HiS sUpReMe MaJeStY," once he finally managed to look up once again he saw that the faces he thought he had imagined were anything but. Now the dark stormcloud high above the city had turned into a nightmarish mishmash of monstrous faces, their terrible voices speaking as one.

"YoUr gOvErnMeNt HaS sEeN HiS gLoRiOuS LiGhT aNd BeNt tHe KnEE. Do As ThEy sAy aNd Be SpArEd, rEsIsT AnD bE DeStRoYeD. tHe ChOiCe iS YoUrS."

Having delivered its message the monster flew up and disappeared from sight. Leaving behind scared and confused civilians and soldiers alike.

It was then that all hell broke loose.

---

"MEDIC, I NEED A MEDIC!" the screams were deafening, as bullets and ordinance detonated amongst the city and the wounded and the dying screamed for release.

Willy felt the LAV shake as it ran over a small cluster of skeletons, grinding their bones to dust if they were of the weaker variant or temporarily putting them out of commision if they were not.

The situation could be summarized as a disaster. Radio discipline was done for, with all channels full of units asking for reinforcements or orders as they either retreated or were surrounded and destroyed. Willy's platoon was currently of the former and had barely escaped becoming part of the later. Even then they had lost almost two thirds of their forces and two of their IFV's while barely making a dent to the enemy. Ever since the monster had spoken their lives had been nothing but hell.

And it's only been twenty minutes, God dammit!

After the cloud monster had spoken something that looked like portals had opened all over the city and what could only be described as undead had poured from them. At first they had managed to hold them off, with the creatures being too slow and fragile to overwhelm their firepower and with only a few of them carrying firearms while the rest depended upon melee weapons straight out of a fantasy tale. But they were relentless and kept on coming no matter the losses and Willy's men starting taking losses of their own. A wounded here, a casualty there. They could hold but only barely.

That's when they came.

They wore suits of immaculate full armor that seemed to radiate light of their own and carried and assortment of pikes or LMG's. Bullets simply bounced off them and their movements were everything but lethargic, their speed similar to that of a running car.

In less than a minute half a dozen of Willy's men, his friends and comrades, lay dead either by bullet or blade.

Even worse, Willy saw something else coming out of the dark portals from which the undead came. He couldn't see it well but he knew it was big and that whatever it was it could only be worse. It was then that he called the retreat.

Sadly, it was a little too late.

Two of his LAV's disappeared in a ball of smoke and fire and the one he himself was riding only avoided that same fate by a close maneuver that saw the front of a store hit instead.

Ever since they had fought a fighting retreat, for it was not a full rout yet even if Willy knew they were painfully close to one. To make matters worse the skeletons weren't only coming from outer parts of the city as first believed, but had opened the same portals behind the canadian lines and had thrown the entire structure into disarray.

"How much further?" Willy asked the driver, as he applied pressure upon Lucas' stomach and tried to stop the blood flow.

"The park where they set up the FOB should be just around the corner."

"I- I heard they… they have the reserves of the 12e stationed there, they… they will take care of those fuckers. R-right Lt?" Lucas was almost delirious from pain but whatever the corpsman had given him before a round had punched through the LAV's armor and caught him right below the eye, seemed to be working.

"Yes, they will. Just keep down and try to breath" answered Willy as he softly pushed Lucas down.

"We are through!"

It was as the driver said, as the IFV finally came to the great open space where the heart of the force was deployed. Dozens of tanks and hundreds of men were waiting for them. They were saved.

And then they weren't.

It was a massacre. Machine Gun nests had turned into slaughterhouses, vehicles were burning and the violated remains of dozens of soldiers were spread all around as if a sick artist had decided to paint the entire street with gore. More impressive, if not as sickening, were the smoking remains of two tanks buried deeply into the third floor of a near building.

"Sir, w-what should we do?" asked another of the few surviving members of Willy's platoon.

"Just keep driving for now and-"

"Look out!" the warning came too late, for amongst a pile of bodies one of the armored skeletons rose and in one swift motion struck the speeding LAV.

The blade struck true, cleaving through armor and the tires after it, like a knife through soft cheese. The LAV, which was moving at a considerable speed, rushing past the creature even as it lost half of its support, only to crash against a lamp post shortly after.

With great effort the survivors managed to climb out of the damaged vehicle, Willy coming out last as he dragged Lucas behind him. Only to find, to their displeasure and fear, that the skeleton that had attacked them was running at full speed towards the broken LAV. It was then that they instinctively knew they could not hope to run away.

But as they prepared to die a miracle struck, for a beam of coherent light struck them advancing monster, its armor becoming brighter and brighter as it tried to reflect the energy poured upon it before failing and boiling away, its wearer following shortly after.

This unexpected salvation had come from a trio of tanks, which Willy identified as the same Leopards 3 they had seen earlier that day.

A cheer quickly followed the apparition of the tanks, for men who had already given up their lives were given a second chance.

But their happiness was cut short for it was then that they noticed that only one for the tanks was facing forward, while the others were looking back and they were firing at something.

That something became clear a second later, as the rearmost tank was blown away, its front armor turned into a broken ruin and its turret completely missing.

From the place the tank previously occupied emerged a new monster. This one was no skeleton but it was a monster alright, the blood that covered its entire body slowly flowing to a great ball of crimson liquid levitating right behind it. Even as the monster turned what remamined of the tank while cackling madly more blood flowed from inside the broken ruin to be absorbed by the sphere.

The monster wore the skin of a young woman, and donned a victorian dress that seemed to unnaturally wash off blood as its wearer stepped through the piles of corpses littering the park. The monster's eyes were a deep crimson blood colour and its skin the palest porcelain white, as if to contrast with the deep red that bathed it.

One of the surviving tanks opened fire, its red beam hitting the creature head on. And for a moment Willy had hope, for he had seen that same cannon melt through heavy armor as if it were a blowtorch against butter. But his hopes were quickly dashed, as the monster came out unscathed and laughed even harder,

"What a nice tan, I thank you a lot"

Willy felt only despair.

---

Shalltear Bloodfallen, Guardian of the first three Floors of the Great Tomb of Nazarick and (self-proclaimed) wife of the Supreme one, Ainz Ooal Gown, felt nothing but complete and utter joy right now.

It had been but a few hours since the filthy humans had played right into her Lord's trap and He had ordered His forces to conquer this realm in His name. And right now she was having a blast doing so.

The humans defending this city were pathetic, their most powerful weapons causing no more than a mild sensation of heat. It was truly insulting to think that such beings had thought to oppose the Supreme one.

Ever since Shalltear had used the [Gate] spell to attack the site where their reserves, and more importantly, their leaders were hiding she had done nothing but swat one insect after another. Their blood bathing her in all its wonderful glory. It was simply too easy and she had simply lost herself in the carnage once her [Blood Frenzy] had kicked in. Their pitiful attempts at resisting doing nothing to her berserk attacks.

Of course Shalltear was not about to complain about them resisting. Her Lord had been very clear not to engage if they surrendered peacefully and as she was loathe to let them go without teaching them their place (and also having her fun of course) Shalltear found their resistance very welcome.

She hit another of the vehicles Demiurge ahd called "tanks", her nails shredding the flimsy thing they called armor easily. But this time instead of throwing the broken toy away she continued to dig through the broken machine, cutting away to its innards until she found her prize.

One by one she extracted the crew of the broken machine, their screams both amusing and annoying at the same time. The first man, who screamed the loudest, she just ripped the head off and drank deeply of the fountain his body became, letting the rest to be gathered by her Blood Pool. The second took his weapon, one of those 'guns', and pointed it to his head but to his terror, and Shalltear's delight, her hand caught the bullet before it could enter the man's head. This one she bit, the fear giving his blood a richer taste.

The last one didn't scream, nor did he try to run. Instead the man opened fire at point blank, his gun spitting bullets as fast as he could pull the trigger. Sadly for him said bullets had the same chances of damaging Shalltear as particularly weak spitballs had of damaging a tank. Then he went for the knife on his leg strap to try and stab her, something which she easily stopped.

"Oooh, I think I'll save you for later [Paralysis]" spoke Shalltear, freezing the man where he stood.

It was then that she noticed the last tank, which had abandoned any attempt at engaging her and was now simply trying to run away. Their game had been fun but it seemed ehr playmates were now longer up to it. To make matters worse she was running off fumes by now, her [Blood Frenzy] having already ended a while ago.

So instead of running after the tank she bent down, grabbed a discarded piece of armor from the one she had just shredded, pulled back her arm and then threw it with all her might.

The sonic boom from the hypersonic projectile shattered all remaining windows in the area alongside the eardrums of her unfortunate prisoner. The tank on the other hand crashed against a nearby building, its armor caved in and burning from the plasma created by the impromptu anti tank round.

With the last enemy finished Shalltear allowed herself to sight. She was tired, mentally if not physically, but tired alright. She just hoped that all her work would be worth it.

I wonder if Ainz-sama will be happy with my performance? Oh, just thinking about his dominating presence as he praises me makes me feel so…

And so, surrounded by the mutilated remains of her enemies Shalltear Bloodfallen, true vampire and Guardian of Nazarick made a face no maiden should ever do as she fantasized about her Lord and what he would do to her, both as a reward or punishment, as she didn't exactly mind either.

Oh Ainz-sama you are so beautiful, of course I would love for you to-

"Shoot her dammit, shoot her!"

The yelling took Shalltear out of her daydreaming and caused her to finally notice the dozen or so men standing not forty metres away, one of them, who by the smell and appearance was bleeding profusely, was yelling something as he pointed in her direction and one of his fellows tried to hold him down.

Tch, filthy insect, she thought as she moved to where they stood. What to her looked like a leisured jog to them probably looking as if she had teleported.

Shalltear was about to turn them all into shreds when one threw down his weapon and raised his hands. Eve then Shalltear was ready to kill them all for bothering her during her (imaginary) time with her Lord. But either as a stroke of luck for the humans or by sheer chance she remembered her Lord's command from before the assault begin.

"Shalltear, if any of the enemy were to surrender you are to accept it without question as long as your safety or that of Nazarick or its assets isn't compromised. We are after all magnanimous and completely unlike these barbarians" and like always her Lord's words were full of wisdom.

It took a great effort but Shalltear's hand stopped just before the first one lost his head.

---​

Willy's eyes remained closed as he waited for his death to come. He had doubted but a second when the monster had looked their way but he knew, not as a soldier but instinctively as a human, that they would not survive if they fought. Whatever that thing wearing a girl's skin was it was not a human but a predator, one so big and bad that they could never hope to face it head-on. So Willy had proverbially laid down and offered his unprotected stomach, he would either die quickly or not but there was nothing he could do about it.

Slowly he opened his eyes and found himself looking directly into those of the very petite, as he now noticed, monster, Her red blood eyes staring deeply into his and filling him of an instinctive fear like he had never felt before.

"This is your lucky day worm, for in the name of our great Lord Ainz Ooal Gown Supreme one, leader of the 41 Supreme beings and King of Canada. I, Shalltear Bloodfallen, accept your surrender.

His strength having left him, Willy fell on his knees and promptly lost consciousness, his last thoughts bizarrely focusing on what the monster had said.

King of Canada eh?

AN: Surprise update mothefucka!

I've just wrote most of this in one go and God Ainz but did it take some work. I will never understand those who write long chapters easily one after another. Anyway, this one was mostly one of the "locals" pov in the Overlord style of telling how horrible Ainz and co are from another's perspective, sorry if it's not to your liking but I promise next chapter will be mostly people from Nazarick or proper Marvel characters! I want to get back to writing as God Maruyama intended so I am doubling down on my efforts for this fic and "Young Girl's ISOT" (in case someone reads more of my shitty writing). I also tried adding some pictures to see if it helps a little with immersion (and my shitty descriptions), maybe I will add more later. But for now I must return to my planet go to sleep as it is 3 am. Stay tuned for the next update!

PS: I didn't proofread this, so it will probably be awful. Gonna check it later.