Chapter 143: Buying Time.

Everything kicked off with a bang. The very moment the Exodus Engine was put into high gear, the very realm began to shudder. The sky itself quaked and filled with minuscule cracks. Energy pumped into the monolith and rapidly filled the vault with thick clouds of magical energy. The very earth shuddered at the same time, the land in the distance, once vibrant began to dim.

At the center of it all, was the aged ancestor. His eyes shut, helping to contain the sudden rush of energy. He seemed unconcerned, even as the ambient energy was enough to cause our ears to pop from air pressure differences. Where the air began to crackle and spark with motes of volatile magic. Where it was thick enough, it felt like we were wading through a thick soup.

The vault was more than enough to contain that rampant energy. And with the ancestor working to help focus and direct it, right into the Exodus Engine, well, it promised to be quick.

We’d already been in this realm for a few months now. A few more days wouldn’t cause us too much trouble. At least… it shouldn’t.

The very moment the Exodus Engine started, reports came in of entropic entities swarming the walls. Defenses were activated, soldiers lining the walls began to fire arrows. And we, we were deployed.

Standing atop the wall, for the first time, I was able to properly see the results of my new upgrade. My new bullets punched through the beasts below with ease. Blowing off heads, or chunks of flesh without much trouble. At most, it would take two or three shots to down a normal monster. A big difference from before, where it would have taken dozens, not unless I hit the core by chance.

Every moment was spent refilling my stock. Stashing newly made bullets into my pouches, or storing up explosives. The grenades put in work, clearing entire swaths of the creatures. Especially when I made sure to fully upgrade them, especially since the grenades themselves were also capable of going up to the fourth tier.

Honestly, there was a whole world of difference from my initial tests, and what I was seeing. fragmentation grenades mulched entire zones. Concussion grenades, though less lethal, were capable of stunning or beating down even bigger creatures if aimed right. High explosive was capable of shattering even armored hides and essentially vaporized tougher monsters, though the area was small, it was effective. Whilst Piercing Grenades were uniquely effective against larger beasts with lots of mass, literally blowing them into meaty chunks, though if they missed, it still left quite the impact.

I didn’t have the luxury or need to test the other types, but… it was only a matter of time at this rate.

My phone was constantly ringing. With Diana giving me new directions constantly. Having me reinforce overwhelmed areas on the wall.

I moved fast, in part due to my ability to simply skate along the ramparts. Our losses were minimal for the most part. If anything, the piling dead creatures only sped up the Exodus Engine’s charging speed. The obscene amount of magical energy flowed into the ley line below our feet and right into the gluttonous engine. Granting us more time as the surplus energy slowed the degradation of the realm.

All too quickly though, we ran into a bit of an issue.

With a call, Diana called me up to meet with the generals to give my own thoughts. Afterwards, Diana told me what the issue was.

“We’re defending too well…” Diana said, with the generals all nodding in agreement. “Which isn’t an immediate issue, but we’re still in the initial phase of the invasion. The moment the next phase starts, we’ll lose the outer wall in an instant.”

What followed was a quick and dirty briefing. I was shown maps, as Diana asked for my opinion of all things. Perhaps it would be better to convene everyone, but with me acting as the roving hammer, whatever our plan was, I’d be at the head. Which is why Diana brought me into the discussion.

It did help that I was familiar with the city map. And a quick look gave me an idea of the troop distribution and where all the magical girls from our group were.

“What was the plan?” I ask, since we had consummate professionals here, in the form of generals.

Detailed plans were given. Most of them involved straight up abandoning the outer layer of walls and starting a coordinated retreat to the next layer. Notably, the plan relied heavily on us holding back the tide while the forces moved, only…

“There are far too many moving parts for this to work without a hitch.” I said, which was a bit surprising even to me. The plans looked well formulated, and with me at the helm insuring nothing went wrong, I was sure I could get everything done well.

Only… my recent experience running a city, though brief, taught me a valuable lesson. And that being, don’t expect much. I didn’t know any of these people, and the army itself was mostly made up of a mix of the provincial capital’s army, and the other three clans. So many different forces all working together in a single operation was a recipe for disaster.

And apparently, the generals agreed with my statement. But that quickly put us on the backend again, as to how we were going to deal with this issue.

So, as I looked at the map, I considered an option. “What if we make an opening in the wall?” I ask.

The generals scoff, at first, but one actually pauses and considers.

“It might be do-able, but how do we contain the damage to only a single section?” They said.

“What about Terra? We also have a few magical girls that can do some serious damage, especially to structures. Have them localize the damage to a single section.” Diana fills in, and just like that, the meeting comes back to life.

Plans are quickly made, the map goes through so many shifts and changes that I find myself lost, and glancing over, it was clear even Diana felt the same. And before we knew it, they hammered out a plan that honestly, sounded workable.

Only…

“I don’t think the sectioned off part of the city needs so many troops.” I say, to the shock of the generals.

The plan was rather simple. Selectively demolish sections of the city to create a funnel, forcing the monsters to take the path of least resistance towards the city. Using that to lessen the pressure on the rest of the walls and initiate a stage-by-stage withdrawal.

Initially, they planned for a few of us to hold the fort, along with a sizeable number of soldiers, but…

“I could probably hold the gate here.” I point to a single section. “Just pair me with a magical girl capable of dealing with large groups and I think we’ll be golden.”

“You sure?” Diana interjects. “Even with the controlled demolition, a lot of the fighting is going to be in close quarters. The outer part of the city is rather, dense. And we need your soldiers on the inner-city defense.”

“I’m aware. But we need to limit the number of troops we put into action during the retreat. And, the tight alleys will make it easier for me to funnel them in and kill them as they come. That and even if a majority of my soldiers will stay back, I can bring my gatling gun and use up the lesser munitions. Since, they’ll likely be useless in the later phases.”

She considered. The generals had no real idea what I was talking about, which made sense. Honestly, in my current state, I couldn’t command all of my soldiers even if I wanted to. The best I could do is give verbal commands and hope they follow them, but… a small, contained group? I could easily handle that. Especially with a silver in tow.

They could easily take command of a small contingent. The gatling gun, along with the gun wielding soldiers. I couldn’t bring Luna and Estrella to coordinate as I needed them to coordinate the terracotta soldiers holding the backline in preparation for the final phases of the battle, along with the bone golem that was idling around. As for the remaining stone soldiers, and those that had stayed behind in the town, they’d be fine to sit back as well, as they’d be more important in the later phases.

Which left the ice-type soldiers wielding the rifles. I’d made a number of them, and were bolstered by the enhanced metal, which made them just good enough for this task. Especially since they now had access to my upgraded bullets.

The moment I’d upgraded my rifle, I’d made sure to show it off to the silver rank that had been making bullets. Just one look was enough for them to copy the design. The only issue was, the old bullets were nothing compared to the new ones and the soldiers could only make lower tier bullets, but the silver rank had some time to build up their supply. That, and I could make use of the lower tier bullets now, while the enemy was weaker, and while they were still effective, while keeping the higher tier bullets for the next phase. So, bringing them along could be considered a win-win.

After a long moment, Diana let out a sigh and massaged her brow.

“That might actually work…”

The generals looked skeptical, but the plan was quickly hammered out. Messengers were sent to start the process of ordered retreat, and I made my way to the outer city and started prepping the place.

Tier one mines could last for some time when given juice, but tier four? They could probably last days at full charge. Not that I needed them to last that long. While progress was made, I went about mining every single side alley and borough. Doing my best to turn the entire place into a death trap. As for the main road, I kept it as mine free as possible, except for near where the breach was going to be. After all, it was going to be a different kind of killing field. Getting the gatling into position by the gate wasn’t hard. Alongside it, were all my gun wielding ice soldiers.

They were lined up and after a few drills were perfectly capable of volley firing without getting in each other’s way. With the first row crouched, and the second standing, it wall worked out.

Which was about when my partner for the day joined. It was the one girl I fought near the beginning of the event, alongside Diana and company. She looked tired, very much like she wanted to hide away, with dark circles under her eyes. The shadow girl, whose name I never got.

“Prima.” I said, offering her a hand. She eyed it a moment before taking it, her grip surprisingly firm.

“Claire…” She said after a moment’s pause to brush a stray strand of dark hair from her eyes. “I’m told we’ll be holding this area?” Her eyes fell on my soldiers, the gatling gun. She likely saw it, but I could see she was curious to see how it would hold up in the upcoming assault.

“That about sums up our job. The moment the wall goes down, we need to kill and draw them in. Well, I’ll be the one drawing them in. I’ve already trapped the alleys and side paths to hell and back, so all we need to do is focus on the main road.”

She nods. “That’s good… If you can keep them off me, culling them shouldn’t be an issue.”

“Well lucky for you, I love the spotlight.”

She gave me a look, but I could see the slight smile on her lips. “Lucky for you, I do better in the background.” She replied back after another long beat.

With an accord, and a proper settling of our duties, we waited. Just before the wall fell, Diana gave me a call to confirm I was in position and that, yes, I was perfectly ready for what was to come.

After assuring her, that yes, I was ready, she hung up and the operation officially started with a roar as the wall began to buckle and shift from Terra putting the final nail in its coffin. The entire structure, rather, a section of the wall merely fell away.

The sound was deafening. With its fall, a wave of debris, a thick cloud of dust and dirt, and whatever else came rushing by. Filling the city to the brim. So thick was the cloud, that I couldn’t see nor could I hear over the sound of shifting rubble and the shaking earth.

As the roar died, a new sound met my ears. A steady series of pings, followed by rattling explosion. Slowly, surely, the sounds grew closer. Even with my vision still obscured, I knew what that meant.

“They’re coming!” I announced out. Claire was hunkered down, a sleeve covering her mouth and nose, but even then, she acknowledged what I said with a shout.

The ground itself shook, not from the now inert wall, but from the sheer number of monstrosities bullying their way through the main street. I’d lain down many mines along the path, with many more in the side.

Some had gone off prematurely, due to the force of the collapse, but many more were still active. I’d left the main road mostly clear of mines, but of those I had planted…

They were only doing so much.

With rifle loaded up, I aimed and prepared. The very first monster to break through the cloud of debris was shot through the skull by a shrill bullet that drilled through it, and into the cloud beyond. Leaving a small swirling trail in its wake.

With a pull, the casing was ejected and a new bullet slid into the chamber. The moment that was done another target came into being, followed by another, and another.

Each was hit with a shrill bullet. Each bullet drilled through them, leaving a small hole, but went through, impacting many of their kin behind. With how the main road was, the bullet went the distance, piercing through meat and bone with ease before losing momentum. In the process, maiming numerous monstrosities.

Unfortunately, it seemed these things didn’t care for each other’s well-being. The wounded at the front were quickly trampled by those behind. A rapidly approaching wall of slick, black flesh came barreling down the main road, right for us.

New rounds were fed into my rifle’s internal magazine. The moment the final round was chambered I let loose. Discordant cries were raised, only to scatter into countless voices when the shot split into shards of ice. Entire sections of the encroaching force were hit by the empowered shards. Literally pushing back the wall of flesh. The shards of ice went through, mincing and grinding all in its path.

Even then, it took barely a moment before the gap was filled.

I didn’t load, instead, my hand shot for one of my pouches and retrieved one, two grenades and tossed it right into their mist. Each grenade blew entire chunks of them into nothing but minced meat, or whatever it was they were made of.

As that happened, stalling the oncoming horde once more, the ice made world slow enough for me to properly take in our surroundings. I could hear a steady string of pings, followed by explosions from the sides. Not quite at our position, but they were getting closer.

By the time I finished reloading, the horde before us would be in our faces. Which meant…

“Claire!” I shouted and moved to reload. Hearing my voice, she stepped up. I felt her magic stir. And all at once, an army of spears jutted out of the shadows and impaled the oncoming hordes. Following after the spears were numerous shadow soldiers that carved into the monster’s ranks.

Claire had chosen a strange item that had been sitting in the vault. A small, carousel-shaped item, that functioned as a shadow theatre of sorts. It had the ability to take shadows and release them at will.

Its combat uses were, questionable. Rather, it seemed to have been an expensive oddity. Here though, after so long, she’d harvested shadows from who knows how many soldiers, granting her an army at her beck and call.

With my final round sitting in my rifle’s chamber, I prepared for the oncoming onslaught, yet, Claire stopped me. With a wide smile, and another surge of magic, the soldiers moved again. In a unified manner, they all ripped their spears free of the monsters they had impaled and presented them forward. Now, with their spears down and aiming towards the horde they charged and met them head on.

Even as they moved, their forms rapidly disintegrated. Losing form, becoming mere whisps of smoke, but even then, the tips of their spears remained firm. Firm enough, that the horde slammed headfirst into a wall of them. Impaling themselves on the ranks of floating spear tips, and completely stopping their momentum, at least, for the moment.

“When’d you learn to do that?” I asked as I took a moment to check our surroundings.

“After our little fight, I put more effort into figuring out if I can give additional orders.”

“And? I suppose it worked.”

“Yes… and no.” She replied back, and notably, she looked a bit pale. “I have to… queue the orders. The first order isn’t too expensive, but the second order is almost twice as expensive, and anything beyond that gets prohibitively expensive. It’s a real pain, especially since I need to know what I want them to do beforehand.”

She said that, and yet, I could tell by her tone. She loved it. It was a forward thinking ability. In a way, I could see it as being useful, and as she said, a pain.

“Well, good work. We’ll hold them a bit more before we retreat. How many more can you do?”

“A few more without issue. I can’t give you an exact number.”

“I understand, just let me know when your running low. Now, hopefully it will slow a bit. And if we’re really lucky, by the time we reach the gate the flow will be manageable.”

“I’ll make sure to let you know when I’m running low and yeah… I hope this tide loses some momentum. I’d rather not get stuck between a rock and a hard place.” She said with a small laugh.

I didn’t comment. Not when the horde was already coming forward. A few measured shots, each singing their discordant cry did wonders to keep them at bay. Meanwhile, at our sides, I kept hearing the steady ping of mines going off, alerting me to their approach.

The ground beneath us rumbled from so many moving bodies, but… even over that, and all the other noises, I felt another kind of rumble at my feet. A rhythmic thump, almost like galloping, like something larger was approaching…

Shit…

“Claire, sides!” I yelled and without delay, we threw ourselves out of the middle of the road, just as a larger monster burst through. It was sleek, but in a different way. Segmented plates covered its body like armor, a head shaped like a spear, covered in spikes. The thing was charging on hooves of a sort.

It almost looked like a rhino that had been distorted and very clearly, corrupted.

Its eyes narrowed and shifted between me and Claire before settling on the star of the show, me. In that moment, it picked up speed, lowered its head and charged. Noticing this, Clair had her shadows burst out of the ground. Their spears punched into its legs and body, but did little to slow the monster’s charge.

I didn’t dodge, not immediately.. No not with it heading right for me. Instead, I reached into my pouch and retrieved a pair of particular grenades that I promptly threw into the air and bolted.

Claire made to move, but…

“Ignore it!” I shouted, “Its already dead!”

Claire shot me an odd look, but I was already moving, the monster followed soon after, only, after a series of pops and cracks, and the deployment of a parachute, followed by the sound of thunder and a sudden burst of hazy rime, the beastly rhino exploded.

Their head was almost immediately vaporized along with a huge chunk of its flank. By chance, the shaped charge in the piercing grenade had ripped through its body and destroyed its core. Instantly, it lost all control and hit the ground, digging up the paved road and sliding into a nearby building in the process.

“Holy shit…” I heard Claire say, right before getting back to work.

After all, this was just the start.