Chapter 227 – Battle of Denyr: The “Moonfall” Protocol

Phosi - Teams “United in Death” and “Red and Blue” - Day 16 - 105 Days Remain

I crawled out of my hiding spot and quietly walked over to Anika, Caei, and Aki, trying to pull a Chirpy-ran-into-a-wall-and-pretends-it-was-all-okay manoeuvre.

Aki smiled sourly, walked over to me and thrust one of the rifles the Jägers were using into my hands.

‘Do you know how to shoot?’ Anika asked.

‘I DO NOT USE W-’ I began, but the growing heat around Aki told me to back away.

‘You do now,’ she simply said. ‘The enemy was ready for you, and due to that, Anika had to handle nearly twenty men on her own.’

‘Not the first time I took twenty men,’ the Ghûl replied. ‘In a fight.’

So… to stay with the group, I have to continue humiliating myself.

The thought made me want to drop the gun, turn on my heels and leave.

And then what? Be lonely again? Lose all reason to do anything? Sure, I could still investigate my past, but what for? It only mattered so much without anyone to share it with. To apply the knowledge to something.

With the morsels… at least I am something.

I looked at the gun, and a long-buried memory resurfaced: my dad taking me hunting. Well, he managed to do it twice before my mom caught wind of it and stopped it, but I had a lot of fun during those.

Then, to my great sorrow, I realised that I couldn't remember how either of my parents looked and for the first time in forever really began to miss them.

Droplets of acid fell on the gun and left slight burns on the wood. Then a few more.

What's happening?

The realisation of what it was made me chuckle internally. After all, it had been over five centuries since the last time I cried.

Deirdee - Team “Covert Angels” - Day 16 - 105 Days Remain

It was both a relief and an insult that Kart and I didn't warrant a special response. Just a few losers that I incinerated with my wings, something that ate so much mana I could maybe do it once a day.

Then again, I was never seen in public having those before dying. So I was probably dismissed as a funky swordswoman. Their mistake.

The one thing that the Hellborn transformation did for me was remove the blocks the Blood placed on me spellcasting-wise, meaning I had fewer issues casting and learning spells. The issue was more with my mana capacity. It just wasn't there. Don't get me wrong - I did have more mana than before the transformation, but out of the ten of us, I ranked eighth, only being stronger than Anika and Kart, neither of whom were mages.

It will only make becoming the world’s most unlikely Archmage all the sweeter.

Captain Telieth - Aterian Jägers Second Battalion Company C CO - Day 16 - 105 Days Remain

‘Sir,’ Rylan, their company's Diviner, came bearing what was probably more bad news, ‘The First Platoon has been completely wiped out. Judging by what I’ve seen through the [Scrying Mirror], The Dancing Blade has shown some unknown powers. She's possibly another Hellborn.’

Fuck. So that's that.

‘Send a word to the Battalion and Platoon HQs. Initiating the “Moonfall” protocol.’

The dwarf then extended his hand towards the Diviner.

‘If we don't speak again, it has been a pleasure.’

Phosi - Teams “United in Death” and “Red and Blue” - Day 16 - 105 Days Remain

For reasons I could not understand, sentimentality perhaps, the rifle has almost instantly become my most prized possession. I even chose to give it a name - Remembrance.

Another example of pointless sentimentality. But it fits, and the day is weird enough for me, so why not?

‘I r-remember shooting a gun a few times,’ I finally answered Anika’s question. ‘But it has been a while.’

The ghûl nodded.

‘We don't have time to teach you right now, but I’ll get to it once we deal with those bastards,’ she said.

Aki - Teams “United in Death” and “Red and Blue” - Day 16 - 105 Days Remain

It was weird to see Phosi, I assumed, cry. I didn't want to ask, because I had a few more tattoo ideas and I would need my skin to get them.

In general, I’d rather keep all my remaining fleshy bits. I like having those. Some of them have fun uses too.

That being said, the change that Phosi underwent made the risk all worth it.

Perhaps staying among people really makes her remember her humanity? Elfity? Something along those lines, anyway.

We were in the process of searching the corpses for ammo, and I also nabbed a pistol with a smooth, round magazine in front of the trigger from the body of the squad leader. It could be reloaded using something called “stripper clips”, which looked nothing like an undressing person.

‘Hey, guys, what's that?’ Caei suddenly asked and pointed at the plumes of smoke rising into the air.

‘FUCKING RUN!’ Anika screamed.

Lilyth - Team “Demon Furry” - Day 16 - 105 Days Remain

The shrieking I heard in the air made me want to hide. It sounded so familiar, but I had no idea where I had heard it before.

Luckily, Savri knew exactly what was going on as she tackled me to the ground and ordered:

‘BARRIER! NOW!’

I followed her orders without question, and given the urgency in her voice, I put up multiple layers. At the same time, Savri crawled up on me and cast a barrier spell of her own over us, this one reinforced with [Stone Shield] and [Ward].

This proved to be barely enough, as heartbeats later, something impacted next to us with a thundering roar, and I felt a series of powerful explosions rock the ground and go through my barriers like a warm knife through butter.

Even the one Savri cast didn't prove strong enough, and a few pieces of scalding hot shrapnel bit into my flesh.

The worst part was, however, that despite all the ringing in my ears, I could still hear the shrieking above us.

Savri - Team “Demon Furry” - Day 16 - 105 Days Remain

Those fuckers needed to die. There were no “ifs” or “buts” about it. But first, we needed to survive. The salvos in the air right then were directed to other places, so we had a brief window of time to seek cover.

I pushed myself off Lilyth, something that sent a massive spike of pain through my side, and looked around. Our immediate surroundings were… not great. Ruined houses, bodies, screaming people, craters…

Fuck. Not again.

Was I doomed to go from one warzone to another forever?

“Only the dead have seen the end of war,” the old Santayana quote pushed itself to the forefront of my mind. What is it that Lilyth says Ere keeps telling her? “All it takes is all you got?” Let’s give it my all then.

I finally noticed a good hiding point: a house that, other than shattered windows, looked undamaged.

I dragged Lilyth to her feet, an action that sent more pain through my side and led her to the building.

Then I returned to the street for one of the civilians, a woman who was wandering around aimlessly.

I was about to go for another run, this time for a teenager cradling a dying girl that looked maybe ten, but then someone wrapped their hands around my waist and dragged me to the ground. I tried to struggle, but seconds later, something shrieked past us, and there was an explosion a bit further down the street. And another. And another.

Persephone - Team “Sisters in White” - Day 16 - 105 Days Remain

‘MAKE IT STOP!’ Ren cried out, covering her ears.

I had to agree. This wasn't the first bombardment I had to live through, but it was definitely the worst. Having to survive a magical barrage had nothing on whatever horrors those… hellish shrieks were heralding.

We were huddled in a store in one of the side alleys, something that made me realise how much luck mattered when it came to survival. The only reason the two of us were in that building to begin with was that we were helping the proprietor walk his wounded wife there. If we stayed in our impromptu first aid point… There wouldn't be much left of us, I gathered, and having been blown into chunks once already, I didn't want a repeat experience.

As for the people still left at the aid station… all I could pray for was that their deaths were quick and painless. They likely weren't, but a woman can dream.

Finally, after what felt like hours but turned out to be three minutes, all the sounds of bombardment ceased.

Is it over or just reloading?

My musing was confirmed by Anika’s message on the radio:

‘They could be planning a double-tap. STAY. THE. FUCK. IN. COVER.’

True to her words, about ten minutes later, a second, shorter round of shelling began.

Then, finally, it was over.

‘Persephone!’ Anika contacted us on the radio again. ‘Go find those launchers and nuke them! We are sitting ducks until they are gone.’

I had no idea what ducks were and why their sitting mattered, and only a vague one what “nukes” were, but I got the gist of the request and was happy to show those motherfuckers how fun being on the receiving end of an artillery barrage was.

Anika quickly told me where they saw the missiles originate from, and I told them the place they could meet up with Ren. Aki quickly overrode that one and asked Ren to go and check up on Lilyth and Savri since they couldn't raise them on the radio.

Fuck.

Rennie seemed less than thrilled about having to leave the relatively safe shelter, but understood the urgency of having to find our missing comrades. Hell, she took off even before I did.

Savri - Team “Demon Furry” - Day 16 - 105 Days Remain

‘Why did you stop me?!’ I screamed at Lilyth. ‘I could have saved him.’

‘You couldn't,’ she replied coldly. ‘There was not enough time.’

I wanted to lunge at her, but then the unidentified pain in my side decided to remind me of itself. A quick look down told me everything. There was a long, jagged piece of metal, likely a piece of a missile, protruding out of my body.

Huh. Where did that come from?

Acknowledging the wound was probably the signal the pain receptors in my body needed to turn on again, and boy, was I in a sorry shape.

Adrenaline is a helluva drug.

I suddenly felt very lightheaded and began to sway on my feet. Lilyth grabbed me and helped me against the wall.

I nodded my thanks and asked:

‘Could you please apply the pressure to my wound? I will quickly close it, but I’d rather not lose much more blood.’

The furball wasn't exactly gentle, but I somehow made it through ripping the piece of metal out of my fucking stomach without passing out.

‘The worst part is,’ I said after closing and healing the wound, ‘is that I cannot fully heal us right now. We need to pull out all the shrapnel first, and we are in no condition to do that.’

‘Shit,’ Lilyth spat and tried to wipe a nasty cut she had above one of her eyebrows with the back of her hand, which only smeared the blood around.

She looked as if she wanted to say something else, but just shook her head.

“Shit” is as good a comment as any.

We sat there for a moment in silence, and when there was a brief lull in bombardment, I said:

‘We should check in with the others.’

Alas, the large piece of metal sticking out of the radio said “No” to that.

‘Shit,’ I spat, we looked at each other with Lilyth and began to cackle like maniacs.

Once we caught ourselves, I simply leaned against the wall and patted the ground next to me.

Lilyth quickly joined me.

‘I guess this means we are out of the fight then, furball,’ I sighed.

‘It would seem so, pinkhair,’ she replied. ‘It would seem so…’