The Abyss of War, Book One

The second offensive

I was startled out of my sleep by a boot to the rips and a gruff "Get the fuck up Sergeant-Major." Wincing as the pain that had disappeared suddenly flared up as my abused ribs screamed out in protest. Groaning as I sat up, I looked into the face of someone I hadn't seen before. He must have seen the quizzical look on my face because he answered the unspoken question, Who the hell are you, and why the fuck are you kicking me? 

Unlike the majority of imperial soldiers, he wasn't clean shaven, and looked a lot older than the standard fifteen to seventeen. He easily stood at an imposing 6'1 and had dark black hair and even darker eyes. A prime example of perfect imperial standards. He then gave me the standard condescending look of most officers before stating, 

"I am Major Darren Voya. I will be leading the vanguard squad during this offensive. You have been assigned to my squad. You have four minutes to gather your gear and meet the rest of the squad at the main road leading to the inner city. Do not be late soldier." 

With that, he turned on his heel and strutted off towards the road leading out of the square and towards the inner city. Shooting a quick glare at his back I gathered my assault rifle, pistol, and short-blade before walking down the hill to the place where the square ended and the city once again began. Finally reaching my new squad, I quickly checked who I would be working with. No one I knew, made sense. 

Squads were normally scrambled due to injuries and deaths. Shortly after I arrived to the area my squad was waiting, they began to walk passed the protective barricades and into the city. Once exiting the barricade, everyone was ordered to switch their HUD to thermal imaging. Quickly following suit, we jogged through the darkened streets. Even though it had to be twelve o' clock, the looming skyscrapers blocked out most of the light, making the sky look even farther away.

We were ten minutes into our advance before we ran into the first issue. Five rebel soldiers rounded came darting out of an alley way to block our path. Our HUD's immediately locked onto their heat signatures as Major Voya made a short hand gesture. The gesture, taught to ever imperial soldier translated into get behind cover.

 I rolled to the side narrowly dodging a hail of bullets that skated across the pavement behind me. Taking shelter behind an overturned car, I awaited further orders. 

"This is Darren, all units engage." 

As I was ordered, I quickly stood up and opened fire. Just as I did this several other members of my squad did the same, the result was three rebels dead and two in retreat. Nodding his approval, Major Voya then gave the advance signal.

We set off at a jog, soon the looming spire of the city citadel came into view. As we were one street away, Major Voya ordered us to hide. The squad quickly and easily broke and darted into cover. I quickly rolled into a side alley. 

A few seconds later an armored patrol truck rolled by. They had been increasing in frequency as time had gone by. Meaning that the rebels were either aware of the advance squads into the mid and inner city, or they were sending out patrols regularly. Whatever the case, it had slowed our progress considerably. The squad finally reached the citadel at three twenty. Major Voya turned to us and said, 

"We'll wait for all squads to get into position, then we'll begin the second offensive. Our objective is to secure the ground. Then high command will advise us on how to deal with the citadel's upper floors." 

I nodded my approval as did the others. Thirty minutes later, a message came through the comm-link. "All squads, advance!" Major Voya gave the advance gesture, then charged out into the open. I followed after each of my squad mates had run out before me. Once I entered the citadel square, it was utter chaos. Bullets were flying everywhere while several advance squads engaged in close quarters combat. The squad I was in made a bee line for the front door. Sadly, a small army of rebels decided it would be a good day to block our path. Needless to say, Major Voya was not impressed. 

The first rebel soldier who stepped out to block his path ended up with the butt of Major Voya's gun rammed into his teeth. The solder stumbled backward shouting in pain, although he was quickly silenced by the sound of a gunshot. Several others tried to approach Major Voya, and all were either left with massive amounts of head trauma or lethal gunshot wounds. Three rebel soldiers decided to charge me while I was dispatching one of their comrades. As I raised my assault rifle to obliterate the lot of them, I pulled the trigger and heard a soft "click".

My blood instantly ran cold, they would be on me soon, and I didn't have enough time to reload. So I did the one thing my teachers at the imperial academy told me to never do. I chucked my gun at the first imperial soldier. My aim was off though and it caught him in the legs making him stumble. Although the minor distraction it caused was enough for me to pull my pistol out of its holster and my blade out of its sheathe. 

Within seconds the three were upon me. The first one to reach me died choking on his own blood as my bullet ripped through his throat. The second stepped too close and was promptly eviscerated, my blade ripping through his stomach. The final soldier who had stumbled over my thrown assault rifle attempted to grab me by the shoulders in order to slam me backwards. 

I swung my blade sideways and caught him just below the temple with the black steel pommel cap of my blade. Reeling from the blow, he attempted to pull his knife and stab me. He was too slow as I ripped his throat open with a quick swipe.

Looking around the citadel approach, I noticed that the fighting had begun to die down. The rebels were either dead or dying. Those that had somehow survived the fight were surrendering. A worse fate as they would soon be handed to the intelligence division of the army. Death for the survivors would be a kindness, although everyone makes their choices. 

Suddenly I felt a similar low rumbling as the command ship approached. Looking skyward I saw its guns pointed directly at the citadel. However a gut feeling told me they weren't going to ask for a surrender of the rebel leader inside the citadel. No, the command ship was here for one reason and one alone. Destruction.

-----Authors Note-----

Hello! Thank you for reading! Hopefully you enjoyed the chapter!

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I try to update at least once a day. Although today might be a bit odd since Fate Stay Night is coming out on Mabinogi. Anyway, if you have any questions or suggestions lemme know ^-^

*Edited*