Sigma/Star

Chapter 136: Into The Breach

"Things seem to go from bad to worse, don't they?" Porter's sword sliced the head of a Bahari clean in half, leaving only its lower jaw attached to the body. He had moved his conversation with Marian to the side, letting him place more focus on the swarms of enemies in front of him. When it came to the Jahari, you could never look away, not even for a second. That's what had cost Porter his friend before, and he wasn't about to repeat that mistake.

"The last I heard from you was a plan to never listen to me again," Marian sighed, folding his arms across his chest. He was still on-board his warship up above, as crew members shuffled past him in the background to tend to urgent matters.The skies above the Breach had become a firestorm, filled with gunfire and explosions as the massive floating worms of the Jahari tried to grapple with the numerous warships in charge of overseeing combat. Carnage and debris rained down on those below, as chunks of mechanic vessels and biological creatures crashed into the earth.

"I'm mostly sticking to that plan. You called me after all." Porter dodged out of the way of a massive cannon firing, its bullet a conglomerate mess of biological components. He didn't know what would happen if it hit someone, but he didn't want to be the one to find out.

Marian turned his his seat, answering a tap on his shoulder from a reporting soldier. Porter took the opportunity to reengage with the fight in front of him, leaping over a cluster of Bahari to dive into their backlines, coming down like a whirlwind, shredding through body parts and pulsing hearts as he cleared space for himself. "I just didn't expect to find you here, of all places," Marian said, resuming his conversation. "It's now a massive headache for me to figure out what to do with you. And I have to assume you brought some friends with you."

"You would be right."

Marian rubbed his face, clearly under tremendous stress already. "I hope you understand the severity of this assault on the Breach. This isn't just some minor incursion you're messing with."

"I wouldn't be here if it didn't matter," Porter replied. Electricity danced across the White Storm as he ramped up his efforts, shifting between targets and dispatching them with ease. But for every kill he earned, six more Jahari were there to take the place of their fallen comrade. Their numbers seemed endless, and Porter was so embroiled in them he was constantly surrounded by them. He would catch glimpses of allies around him, a flash of Artisan armour, an Enian Goliath being felled, in between the mass of bodies around him.

Most of the Bahari seemed to ignore him, surging past him to find new prey. Only a few would stop to fight him, most of the time diving straight at him as they ran forwards. He knew was getting closer to the hole in the earth, to their source, as they poured out with little regard for anything in their way. It seemed they were relying simply on the wave of bodies to overtake Porter and crush him.

"I'm well aware of how powerful you can be, when the time is right, so it's not really of interest to me to get in your way. If the purpose of your visit is to kill Jahari, then I'll only be keeping an eye on you."

"That's significantly less scoldy than I expected out of you, general." Porter ripped another Bahari in half, and had to spin immediately to deflect an incoming attack. He was struggling to deal with the constant changes in weapons and attack patterns out of the creatures. Most of them struck with razor sharp claws, but some possessed different forms of armaments that required a different range of defensive moves to turn aside. And then there were the angles of approach. Since not all Bahari passing by were aggressive towards him, but they were a constant flow, it became impossible to determine which one would be the next to strike and which one would just continue moving.

"However, I'd like to ensure you remain on our good side, so I'll be watching from a bit closer than you had hoped." Porter shook his head in the cockpit but let the call with Marian end. He had seen the general beginning to stand before ending it, knowing that he was going to be getting a visit from the Archangel soon. That was to be expected though. Marian was the greatest fighting force the Enians had, and it would be a waste to keep him up in a ship when this was meant to be the final assault. Some of the chatter Sigma had intercepted already indicated the leading general for the Artisans was already engaged in combat, and Eastern United States warlords had shown themselves on the other side of the Breach.