The Will of Humanity

Taking Straicia

May 31st 4001AF — 30,001AD/ACE high noon, Straician fortress city of Opranta

The Fulgur Gladii press onwards towards the keep, firing stormer rounds into the Straician warriors opposing them. The hundred cal high explosive and enchanted electricity rounds devastating rank after rank of Straician warriors, eviscerating them into red mist with each burst. Walls becoming splattered with the blood of the dead warriors, the wounded screaming in agony before some of them are trampled underfoot by the Fulgur Gladii. The lord of the citadel striding out with sword drawn, his eyes on Lord General Viktor Evandal as he advances on the tide of blue vechian armor. A ominous shimmer about the lord of the citadel, seeming to guide him out of the paths of the stormer bursts fired in his direction.

Lord General Viktor Evandal drawing his energy augmented sword and rushing forward to meet his foe, their swords clashing with a loud clang drowned out by the booming roar of thunder. Strikes being quick as lightning, forks of which dart across the sky. Dramatically framing their clash in a manner akin to the old stories, where great ships sailed under an endless sky hurling bolts of fire and lightning at their enemies. Around the swordfighting combatants the Stone Hounds legionnaires and warriors of Straicia continue their own bloody battle, stormer rounds crossing bolts, balls and arrows midair. The Straician weapons fire shattering on the vechian plates of the Fulgur Gladii armor, stormer rounds finding more purchase against the rain soaked steel of the Straician warriors. Screams being brief before the rounds penetrate and explode, splattering bone and pieces of internal organs along the ground in a spray of red. Lord General Viktor Evandal working tactically to overwhelm his opponent, still framed by forks of lightning as their deadly dance of blades continues.

Blades clashing in a series of slashes, blocks, thrusts and sweeping arcs. Both opponents barely gaining an inch on each other, their armies fighting on around them as they seek the same goal of completely defeating their foe. The lord fighting well for a mortal man facing a twelve foot giant, right up to making one fatal slip that Lord General Viktor quickly takes advantage of. The lord of the citadel falling to the ground, a look of shocked horror on his face as his torso has been cleaved in two at the midriff. His blood forming a rain diluted puddle that mixes with the blood of his fallen warriors, the remaining defenders of the citadel becoming two groups instantly. One that turn their weapons on their comrades and join the Fulgur Gladii in pressing to take the citadel, the other continuing to resist as they're pressed closer and closer to the keep.

The fighting intensifying as the warriors and Fulgur Gladii start up the steps of the keep, the streets paved with the blood and other viscera of those who have already fallen. The citadel's keep being well defended as the armies pass through it's gatehouse, the Fulgur Gladii and their impromptu allies soon reducing the defenders to a small pocket that is quickly dispatched. Freeing the citadel to fly Emilia's phoenix banner proudly, whipping in the storm winds as an act of defiance against the natural phenomenon raging around the citadel. Emilia herself moving in with Lord Generals Mário Castilho and Korin Hata and Lady General Willow Carter flanking her with their legions, inspecting the streets and buildings as she passes. Noting people already getting to work cleaning up the miscellaneous remains of those who opposed the Fulgur Gladii, some of which are unrecognizable.

A number of doorways containing the weeping forms of young women, the bulk of which have husbands who died in the battle. The keep being repurposed as a strategic operations centre, with the maps being left in the mobile command tent. More technological maps being set up to work out their next battle, and determine how the campaign in Straicia is going. Emilia noting that the areas being taken by light infantry are getting bogged down due to tactics and the fact that the Straician army knows they're coming, and have time to prepare for the incoming assault. Straicia knowing it'll be the easiest to shore up against the light infantry than the Fulgur Gladii, the thirty millimeter L3 rifles not having the same penetration power of the hundred cal stormers used by Fulgur Gladii. Thus they are seemingly focusing on the light infantry, labeling them something that has Emilia thinking about naming that branch of her military that phrase in order to use it as a badge of honour. This phrase being Oxirkus Olia, the Straician phrase for national traitor trash and being oddly fitting for her light infantry as they betrayed their home nations to fight for her.