AN: I still need to comb over this one again, so sorry if there's spelling mistakes!
October 21st, 629
As I stared at the starstruck army, I felt the excitement that radiated from Charon.
“Will you finally-”
“Not today.”
I interrupted what I knew he’d say, as he had already done a hundred other times before. I was pretty sure this machine was more eager to marry me than Umara was.
The Royal Guard and their private armies were scrambling. Although the war horn had been blown, the sight of the aerial supercarrier, the SC-1503 “Declaration”, had successfully overwhelmed them mentally.
Within minutes, their aerial forces had been annihilated, eliminating any amount of confidence it gave them, which had been significant if that foolish fourth captain was any indication.
My Sector 4 simply watched from the perimeter of Wonderland, silent, no indication that they intended to engage in combat while their enemy was disorganized.
I looked around, feeling my anger swell. This entire situation had already pissed me off beyond end. Knowing that the Crown was putting on this show, and then knowing that I’d have to play my part, had pushed me to the limit as it was. Then the bullshit that the Princess had spoken really knocked it over the edge.
The last day had been nothing but a devolving clusterfuck that I had no choice but to watch happen. I was tired from my work on Graves, was tired after months on the frontlines, was tired of seeing everything that I had to do and knowing that it would take everything I had to accomplish my goals.
I was tired, and I was at the end of my patience. I was watching everything I had built crumble around me in real time. Even now I was getting constant updates about the vault raids and activity from the Third Claw in the Capital. The King had already convened a meeting. I knew what kind of shit I’d be hearing from him pretty soon.
The army before me was nothing more than an insult to me. Not only did they dare to send a mess of untrained soldiers, but dared to make them all human. Sure, I could turn around and walk away, take everyone and simply leave this place. They’d comb through the ruins of Wonderland after the demolition charges went off and find nothing.
But I was done with this fucking charade.
After glossing over my Sector 4, I turned back around at the army. I gave them enough time to get their bearings, watching the commander rally them up and prepare to attack.
Before they could though, I flicked away my cigar, letting my helmet cover my head once more and stepping forward. Above me, the Declaration continued to hover, cannons trained on the enemy.
And when my voice came out, it carried a wave of Psyka that washed across the entire field for all to hear as if I were speaking directly into their ears.
“All you who’ve come to trespass on this facility, my name is John Cooper, and this is my warning to you. I will not kill those who are willing to muster the courage to stand down and retreat! Step away from your army and march yourself back from whence you came! If you advance on this place, I will not hesitate to cut you down! I do not give a damn that you are still human! Believe my words! You are not capable of resisting against the power that I wield or the hellfire that my Declaration in the sky can rain down upon you! Every single one of you who marches to attack WILL die! Every single one of you who refuses to retreat within this hour WILL die! Do not forfeit your lives in this meaningless battle! I have already disposed of everything in this place that your superiors demand you to retrieve! So retreat! This will be my only warning to you!”
“Ignore him!”
I heard the commander’s shouts come right after mine, but my words still had an effect as soldiers began to visibly hesitate.
“John Cooper has killed the Fourth Princess and the Captain of the Royal Guard! He has transgressed against the Crown and humanity! Do not believe his lies! Warlock division, FIRE!”
The Commander gave his order, and moments later, those warlocks from the Royal Guard slung their spells.
Massive balls of fire and lances of earth and metal were manifested and slung through the air. In a single group, they sailed across the field.
It was almost painfully slow.
It was embarrassingly weak.
I didn’t even have to give the command. Silently, shields flared in front of the tanks around me, creating an overlapping formation of invisible mana.
Those lances of magic hit those shields and detonated, turning to smoke and debris before my eyes.
As vision was obscured, I heard Polly’s voice chime on the TACNET.
“Permission to return fire, Commander?”
“Denied. All units, hold fire. Umara, let them see us.”
She followed my order, and with a flick of her finger, a burst of air magic cleared the lingering smoke, restoring sightlines.
The army, which had started to march forward, faltered at the sight of us completely unscathed.
“CONTINUE MARCH!”
Their commander nearly screamed his command, his voice echoing across the field, urging his soldiers foward.
Infantry marched toward us alongside their armored vehicles. Turrets were trained on us, not yet firing due to being outside their effective range.
Obsolete models.
They had calvary as well, all equipped with warhorses or warbeasts. They were few in number, but they flanked their forces and threatened a pincer attack.
Obsolete tactics.
It was disgusting to see. These soldiers hadn’t seen combat in years, sitting nicely within the confines of their noble territories. They were slow. They lacked the wartime grit that every soldier gained from the field. I could feel it in their collective aura.
And they refused to retreat.
They needed more to convince them that they should.
Totenstahl appeared in my hands, and I trained its barrel on those before me. As that army marched toward us with hesitant steps, as the warlocks refused to fire more magic out of fear for our impregnable defenses, I took aim.
And Totenstahls barrel lost its heat, going cold as its trigger refused to depress. I could feel it in my soul, feel its defiance against a violation of our contract.
To use the spirit as a weapon, to kill those who seek to kill me, to kill the targets of my hatred and wrath.
With prejudice.
I almost refused to believe it. I could only kill those who sought to kill me. Perhaps the Royal Guard was already prepared to, but they were not the majority of the army before me. And it seemed, through knowledge that only the spirit seemed capable of acquiring, that those I was taking aim at did not seek my death.
It didn’t matter how much I hated this situation, it didn’t matter how much wrath I felt in my soul, as long as one of those conditions weren’t met, Totenstahl would not fire. I truly didn’t know how it was making its judgement, but as a spirit, it was making its own call.
Perhaps it didn’t care that some of those among that army did in fact seek to kill me. So long as it knew that others didn’t, it would refuse to follow my desires.
The rejection I felt from it was unbearably annoying. But perhaps that’s what I expected.
After all, there was a reason I continued to refuse Charon’s marriage proposals.
“Fine. Have it your way.”
I sent Totenstahl away, and I brought out the other spirit I had called on.
An even larger suit appeared before me, one designed by the same MONARCH program as the suit I currently wore. Meant to be used as an extension of the primary MONARCH system, the JUGGERNAUT Exomechanical Heavy Weapons Platform could be worn by the MONARCH to amplify its combat capabilities.
Measuring over 10 feet tall and featuring proportions opposite to the slim and fitted exosuit, the JUGGERNAUT was a wearable tank. Thick titanium alloy armor, reactive composites, full neural integration, its own heavy reactor for power, and an advanced mobility system that granted it agility betraying its bulk.
Its entire back was opened up for me, and when I stepped into the platform, Charon integrated with its systems flawlessly, my HUD lighting up with new information, and more importantly, weapons made available to me.
My HUD completed its diagnostics when the platform closed around me, and I took stock while stepping out beyond the formation around me.
The heavy bulk of the JUGGERNAUT created deep imprints in the ground, my arms moving around with a heft that didn’t exist with the MONARCH. I raised them, and two large caseless miniguns with a liquid propellant and magcoil hybrid system under my forearms were brought to bear. Each were chambered in .50 cal and were designed around advanced active cooling systems capable of sustaining 6000 rpm for multiple consecutive minutes. Each minigun was linked by belts to ammunition storage on my back.
And above that ammo pack, resting on my shoulders, were two actuated missile pods. Each was armed with six high yield missiles that could reach supersonic speeds within a few hundred yards.
They raised themselves as Charon acquired targets, which were spread to deal maximum damage with each missile. Psyka flooded from my body at the same time, charging each weapon, missile, and bullet to enhance their properties.
Then, I spoke through my suit, amplifying my words with mental magic.
“RETREAT.”
My demand came with the order to launch, Charon igniting the missiles, all twelve of them snapping away from the pods.
They rose to the sky before arcing down and going to full burn, slamming home toward their targets. Their explosions created massive shockwaves and balls of fire that annihilated the people within them, maimed those nearby, and threw any others across the field with the pressure blast.
My missiles reloaded themselves, more summoning from the dimension, charging with Psyka as the two miniguns spun up.
I saw spells start getting slung from the army, all of them heading straight for me.
I simply stood there, letting them pepper my armor. They couldn’t have felt any more powerful than Authority 5 or 6.
Weak.
The dust cleared, and I spoke again.
“RETREAT.”
My voice snapped across the field, and with it, I pulled my triggers.
The suit reacted to the recoil instantly, Charon holding my aim steady with automatic adjustments. The rotating barrels blazed with flame as tracers flew across the field, hundreds and thousands of rounds shredding the front lines of the army.
Knights were riddled with holes, chunks and body parts flying through the air. My miniguns swept across the line gradually, giving equal distribution, though giving special attention to the calvary. A little sustained fire and every beastly mount was brought tot he ground in bloody heaps.
After a full minute, I let off the triggers, the barrels smoking but not even close to red hot.
“RETREAT.”
Another reminder, and their commander started yelling.
“CHARGE FORWARD! He can’t keep this up! He’s by himself!”
My rebuke to him was composed of another volley of missiles. Half of them went straight to the commander, while the other half spread amongst the remaining calvary, killing the riders.
The commander was evaporated where he stood by the staggered volley designed to destroy any warlock barriers that may have been created.
“RETREAT.”
I continued marching forward, seeing the Royal guard start to flood forward. When the next set of missiles was prepared, I clamped down the triggers on my miniguns once more.
Lines of tracers were drawn like a solid line as I swept across those that charged forward, missiles raining down into the the denser clusters of their formation. I put most of my attention on the Royal Guard, but collateral was inevitable with the density of my fire.
Thousands upon thousands of rounds left the rotating barrels, the sound of that volume of fire making the experience particularly visceral, nearly supersceding that of the Declaration in the sky.
And then, after a few more minutes of sustained fire, I stopped. I gazed upon the army, now nothing but wounded remnants. The entire Royal Guard was dead, their remains scattered among the other thousands of soldiers that had been killed alongside them.
I felt a small bit of sweat bead on my forehead, the expenditure of Psyka pushing me closer to my limit. Saving Graves had taken most of it, and while I had gotten some time to recover, after advancing and expanding my pool of Psyka so much, it no longer recovered in such short amounts of time.
I hadn’t gotten any rest, and now, my reserves were running dry.
Not that it mattered. In just a handful of minutes, with some volleys of missiles and well over 60 thousand rounds of ammunition, I had either killed or fatally wounded 90% of the army. The rest were wounded, but would live. I wasn’t sure if there were any unscathed, but I didn’t much care.
Hopefully some of their healers survived. They’d need it.
I looked around a bit more, the missile pods stowing. My voice came out with the same mental wave that filled everyone’s senses.
“LEAVE THIS PLACE. THOSE OF YOU LUCKY ENOUGH TO SURVIVE, RETURN TO YOUR HOMES. THE KINGDOM HAS FORSAKEN YOU.”
I lingered for a bit longer, watching soldiers writhe on the ground amidst corpses.
Then I ejected from the JUGGERNAUT, stepping out and sending it away. I walked back to Sector 4, letting down my helmet and taking out another cigar.
I felt the rejuvenating smoke flush through my body, taking the edge off the exhaustion I was feeling.
When I got back, Umara walked up to me, the two of us pausing in front of each other.
“...You didn’t have to do that by yourself.”
“You might be my wife, love, but I’m not going to let you bloody your hands with things like this just because you can. Sometimes you just gotta let your husband do the dirty work. Call me old fashioned.”
I gave her a quick kiss, to which she responded with a light nod.
When we walked back to the others, I waved Polly over, gathering everyone and sighing.
“My job is done here. Sector 4 can stick around for the detonation before leaving. No reason to guard whats about to be rubble. We’ll all rendezvous outside the Holy See where the rest of Iron Legion is heading when they arrive. Until then, we just have to hurry up and wait. Maybe get some sleep too. I’m fucking done with today.”
“Sounds like a plan to me. Give me one of those.”
Polly motioned at me. After taking out another cigar, I handed it to her and gave her a light. She took a drag out of it and earned herself a quick cough.
“Fuck that’s strong. So, does this mean I’m out of a job?”
“Technically you’re still a part of the Kingdom’s military.”
“That’s a yes then. Well, if all we have to do is wait for the King’s decree, then I’m gonna hide at your estate for the time being. Not interested in getting assassinated at mine.”
“We certainly have the room. All of you guys are going to follow as well. No moving around before we know what’s what.”
I got no objections from my Desert Eagles, so after letting Polly distribute her orders, we left to board a helicopter that took us to my estate in the Whetted City.
Then, we simply waited, some of us sleeping, others drinking through my supply of expensive alcohol.
All I knew was that for the firs time in a while, I was getting a proper bit of sleep, my indignation giving way to exhaustion and resignation.