Midnight Assault

“Prioritize the location of their castors!”

Waves wished in the sea as the bots approached their destination. The crew on deck pulled out small cylinders from their tool belts, putting them up to their eye and looking out into the distance. Normally only those with the rare ability to use light magic could morph their view to serve recon purposes. However, the new king had brought forth many new creations during her time on the throne, such as the telescopes they were now using, the steel boats they traveled on, and the turrets that began to move.

“A few casters have been spotted walking into a dome-like building.” a crew member said, looking down at the floor as they faced the authority figure.

“How far off?”

“Two clicks south.”

Milandra looked at the sea fog, now knowing and calling it the Marine Layer through the newfound knowledge she could access.

{Shuna?}

[If there’s more than one, at this hour…, it’s probably an outpost.]

{An outpost of casters.}

[There should be more scattered around, it’s best we have each boat target them all at once.]

“Look for more buildings of similar shape! We will take them all out in one unified shot!”

””””“YES MY LEIGE”””””

The ship lit small flames and turned them off in short and long sequences, informing the other boats of their king’s orders. A communication also introduced by the current king.

Moments later, square bases began to rotate as hollow tubes began to point in different directions, now aiming at the dome structures coming into view.

A deep sorrow was seeping into Milandra’s heart as she looked at the city. She felt sorry for her actions, for what she was about to do.

{Stop IT!}

[What. Do you want me to feel happy?!]

Milandra clicked her tongue in annoyance. Over the past 2 years the sharing of emotions was the one thing she despised out of her cohabitation with Shuna the Japanese Human. Her information was powerful and vast, having led to many great improvements to the nation of Menak. Through her, demon-kind turned to support her overnight, recognizing her as one of the strongest kings and the one to put an end to the War of Kings.

Sets of six began to gather around the turrets, demons making sections of the barrels spin at an incredible speed and cramming as much as they could into the chamber at the opposite ends. They worked in pairs, two charging the shot, two creating a rifling of wind inside the barrels by spinning it, and the last pair extending the rifling as a gentle breeze, straight to their targets. Each turret held two shots and cost an immense amount of nama to use. Yet the demons willingly gave their nama up to the king who had taken their country’s military power and tripled it overnight.

“The turrets are ready and pointed at the dome structures surrounding the city, my liege.”

“On my signal.”

An armored woman climbed up the city wall, her body sluggish and slow. She seemed to be taking the stairs at a snail's pace, having been out all day training she exhausted herself and then some. The captain of her platoon had been providing intensive training all day, acting on the excuse that the demons are getting stronger. She scoffed at the idea. Demons were the lowest of all races because of their use of their consistency and stagnation. The humans had prided themselves in their production of greats, only possible by the randomness and variety in the skill and talents they were born with; their mana pool, the holding of a rare passive skill, and over all talent with weapons that can be nurtured. When humans are compared to demons, demons are always described as weaker. Their nama pools are more consistent, lessening the chance for greats to fly above the many. It is a known fact that for every immensely powerful demon, there are eight humans of the same ability.

“Honestly, this damn war has gone long enough.” She said out into the dark streets.

“If it wasn’t for that damned furia.”

Her face scrunched up in anger and then slowly degraded to a tired expression. She remembered her exhaustion as she made the final step up. Dragging herself to the edge of the elevated street, she looked at the building just a few meters out. The Order’s training grounds that she’d spent the entire day in.

“Fire.”

The knight heard a gust of wind in the distance and was then met with a jet of flames shooting through the air at an incredible speed. It was spiraling so fast that she couldn't even see; the moment that the flames made contact with the dome building. The flames tore into the building, melting the cobblestone like butter before congesting and accumulating inside. An intense explosion sounded, much louder than any explosion she’d ever heard, covering the whole building in smoke and flames. She turned to see where the flame had come from and felt the wind push down on her as her heart sank and knees trembled. Distant fires were spreading through the city; looking out at sea and seeing a fleet of massive ships appearing in the distance.

She ran for help, yelling “We’re under attack” at the top of her lungs as she made her way to the main base, the Kings’ Order’s headquarters.

[Don’t send them all out yet.]

{Why?}

[...]

Shuna’s emotions continued to mix with Milandra's, making her both want to and not want to help her.

{Shuna.}

[...I see something.]

Shuna raised Milandra’s arm, using their telescope to find the person she saw. Through the flames spreading in the city she used Milandra’s mouth to give an order.

“Boats four and five, disembark and begin the assault.”

{What are you looking for?}

[There.]

Their view landed on a moving armor, a knight running down a street slightly elevated from the rest of the city. They saw her rushing in a panic opening her mouth constantly, a yell they couldn’t hear.

{You want to waste a bullet on her?}

[No.]

The girl arrived at a building, similar to the others on the street. The moment she rushed in, lights began to turn on within, illuminating the curtains and shiny through the glass. Shadows began to move around, running past the windows.

[If you want to win…]

The doors busted open and men in white clothes began to pour out.

[...you have to destroy their HQ first.]

“All units, aim 3 clicks north and veer 20 centimeters upward!”

Milandra raised her arm and aimed at the building. She summoned a ball of fire in front of her palm and spun it around, stretching it into an oval; releasing it once it began to resemble more of a spear than a sphere.

—--

“But sir! We have to evacuate! We’ve been caught off guard!”

“I will not lose face over some surprise attack! We’ll pull through just fine!”

—--

“Target will be marked by my flame, open fire after confirmed contact.”

—--

“Please sir! They're different than before! They must have taken out our vanguard to get this far inland! Their power is on a whole different level!”

“I was appointed acting head of the King’s Order by the king of this nation! I did the work, played the game, and won with amazing results! This is just a hiccup, a flaw that should have never happened! Instead of evacuating we need to find a way to show that it wasn’t my fault!”

The man shook his legs up and down, thinking at light speed as his subordinates began preparations for inland defense.

“Sir all our outposts are-”

Glass shattered down stairs as smoke began to creep into their room.

—--

“Boat 1: Contact confirmed.”

“Boat 2: Contact Confirmed”

“Boat 3: Contact Confirmed”

“Ship Captain Boat 4: Contact Confirmed”

“Shipa Captain Boat 5: Contact Confirmed”

—--

“YEAH? Have you contacted them yet?! Those slackers are in for a world of pain for letting that shot hit us!”

“THE OUTPOSTS ARE ALL-”

A light blared through the window, shattering the glass in less than a second and stopping in its tracks in a second. The bright flames congested as the acting head of the King’s Order and the female knight still looked at the broken window, slowly moving their heads to follow the flame only a second passing between here and there. In the next second, the room filled itself with light and the knight and acting head became nothing more than dust in the wind.

The explosion tore through the building in an instant, killing and and all within a few meters. The attack had removed their strongest obstacle and left them with nothing but the masses to kill along with their home; the city they loved so much.

[We can go all out now.]

“All units attack! I want this city in ashes by sunrise!”

—--

At the same time:

In a shack at the edge of the city of Jandra a man rushing from the Order’s headquarters slammed the door open. He hurriedly kneeled down and shook the four beds within, waking two young boys and two young girls.

They each wore a headband with a Jewel right in the front of it. The headband was so big that it drooped down to cover their eyes, which they’d now grown used to, which led to an unnerving scene unfolding as they each greeted the hurried man and stood up from their beds like military cadets.

”””“What is my order?””””

The four blindfolded children asked monotony, as if indifferent about their situation. The order had traveled all over to find them, one of which was a golden haired boy who had a fake arm.