Army of the Damned

VOLUME 17 Chapter 2

Work immediately began as players got their shovels out alongside their skeleton soldiers.

Foxholes and dugouts were immediately built into the small patch of fields in the endless forests of Schon. Mages were then sent to use their magic to make trenches with sandbag protection. In the center, bunkers were built by them as trucks arrived dumping Tank Traps and Barbed Wire.

Thanks to the endless toil of the skeletons, it didn't take long for a perimeter to come together and Jackson sitting inside a freshly built bunker by the small mounds on the flat terrain. Mortar pits were also dug in as Squad Leaders briefed their men on the new coordinates as jets and helicopters were constantly flying back and forth from the valleys.

Artillery has also not been silent since the day they went into Vitas itself. The guns fired day and night, shells whizzling high above them would be a constant source of annoyance for the more fresh troops from the Men of the Woods. Unable to rest properly as distant sounds of explosions weren't stopping and many having to continue doing work with no sleep still.

Jackson himself could feel a bit tired already, only having eaten Ready to Eat meals. His arms slumped on the deployable metal table as radiomen came in and set up a Communications Post.

"M'Lord, if you really need to, you should sleep. A leader needs to be in the right headspace if they want to make good decisions."

"Arrrugghh... don't worry, Alana... I'm already used to this... well back then. I'm sure I'll get the groove on it again. I did it before, this far younger and more fit body should be able to do it better."

"My Lord, you should be like Bahamut." he turns around and sees the Black Dragon had already been sleeping. "Eh? So it's only Mars right above us right now?" She was snoring audibly, the noise of the players setting up long and short range radios unable to disturb her as she dozed on the metal chair. "She really has nice hair, doesn't she, My Lord?"

"Oh yeah. Dragons naturally don't have hair. Any that did were mutations as they adapted to their biomes. When they got used to having a Human body, they really took great care of it." Elizabeth would then approach the sleeping Dragon, admiring her straight long black hair as if it's given top notch supermodel care everyday of the week.

"M'Lord, you should know that you're also fighting for beauty like that." squinting his eyes, he turns to his very back to look at Alana. "The Cosmic Gods have no concept of Worldly beauty. You've seen it yourself, have you not? If they do have such, it's probably so alien that it's disgusting to our eyes." she crossed her arms, holding herself. "The Cosmic Gods only take from what is here and try to make their own far more volatile and vile versions..."

He gave her a smile and a nod as he turned his gaze back to the sleeping Dragon. "You know, Dragons don't let anyone touch their hair without explicit permission." Elizabeth, who was looking at her beautiful black hair, recoils back as she turns to him. "They never had hair so they see it as a form of power itself. The more beautiful your hair is, the higher other Dragons look at you."

"Master..." she then awakens, yawning and stretching her arms and legs. "We keep our hair like this because beauty is power in of itself." he tilts his head as his eyes squinted at her. "Wait, really? So we interpreted it wrongly after all this time?" she shrugs her head. "No, just differently. Chosen Ones are to caught up with our addiction with power and conquering when such concepts are not regulated to invading, killing, and fighting. It's also in how one looks and behaves."

She then stands up, swaying her hair like a model. "One of the main reasons we kept Mankind was not only because of your propensity for violence but also because of your beauty." This made Jackson lean forward, his chin on his two hands. "Wait, really? Dragons saw us as beautiful?" Bahamut then walks to the slit of the bunker, overlooking the valleys of Schon that surround the vast forestry there. "Of course, Master. Why do you think our cities float? We see this as beauty too and want to preserve it. We fight with such a show that it could be entertaining to many others." She turned her head to him and gave Jackson a smile. "Beauty is found in divinity itself too, Master. Beauty is ancient and primordial, the world is full of it and so is the ancients. Albions glistening platinum scale armor is a prime example of this."