Sparks erupted as the lightning sword slammed against the arm shields of Nox, causing him to stagger backwards from the sheer force. Kyle did not give any chance for Nox to recover, hacking away as he swung rapidly.
The two fought across the raging battlefield, with the strike force under Kyle engaging in a brutal brawl with the guards and officers in the command area. Explosions and bonfires served as the backdrop as Nox desperately tried to block every single attack.
This time, Nox could hardly find an opening for his poison-laden tip to pierce through Kyle’s armour, unable to inflict the same destabilising agent. He also noticed that Kyle’s strike force had a similar set of armour, albeit less heavy with a more sparse engraving style. Each of them wore a mask, no doubt to protect themselves against chemical attacks.
Parry and blows were exchanged, though Nox was slowly being pressured, countered by Kyle on every attempt he made to attack or to gain an advantage. The Version 0 exosuit was far stronger than Nox’s armour, preventing Nox from being able to do any serious damage.
This isn’t the only trick I have! Nox activated his armour’s self-heating engraving, causing the surface of his metal gauntlet to heat up tremendously. Concentrating the energy, Nox punched as hard as he could, with Kyle using his vambraces to block as well.
The heat slammed against the metal, causing a sudden thermal shock due to the abrupt rise in temperature. The engravings hidden within layers of the armour began to crack, disrupting the flow of arcia energy and reducing the efficiency of the armour. Kyle’s eyes widened, immediately taking a step back as he focused on the burning fist of Nox, trying to avoid it.
Nox grinned, knowing that he now had a threat vector. He lunged at Kyle, taking the offensive in the fight as he continuously tried to grab onto Kyle, relying on the thermal shock to create internal stresses within Kyle’s thick armour, hoping to weaken it.
Kyle had no choice but to block a few hits that he was unable to dodge, causing blackened marks to appear on his armour, where the steel had warped slightly. Each one represented a weakness in Nox’s vision, with his follow-up punches targeting them again.
Screams and shouts of fighting filled the atmosphere as the mineral ants under Kyle’s command fought in tandem alongside their partners, allowing them to decimate the soldiers, who’s rifles were inadequate for fending off such thick armour. The venom-spitting hornets ruled the skies, using their globs of acid to target the mortars and anything that could threaten their air superiority.
Mortars, machine guns, and additional armour meant for the war machines were melted down to a sizzling pool of liquid, the soldiers at a loss while their equipment was being ravaged.
Despite Nox having the advantage, he could not seem to beat Kyle, who had overwhelming strength and equipment prowess. “Kris Greyborn – who exactly do you work for?”
“We can talk once you’re in chains.” Kyle already intended to capture Nox, with him being the overall leader of Nest in the entirety of Versia. Just as he stepped forward to launch a counterattack, three grenades were hurled towards him by supporting soldiers, exploding on impact with his armour and enveloping him in a ball of flames.
"Never said this was a duel." Nox grinned, grabbing a machine gun and firing with the supporting soldiers into the resulting dust cloud; the bullets flared against the point defence system, which had far more handling quantity thanks to the sheer amount of arcia energy stored in the Advanced Arcia Crystal.
Nox fired a total of two hundred rounds, all of which were intercepted by the point defence system. Before he could order a reload, Kyle had already burst forth from the dust cloud, charging right at Nox as tendrils of smoke clung to the edges of his rugged Version 0 exosuit.
Penchant for Violence! Aero Shoes!
Kyle’s strength and speed increased significantly, time slowing down slightly as his brain thinking frequency improved, allowing him to register images much faster and in slow motion. Another grenade was hurled at him, but this time he narrowly avoided it, utilising his high DEX and INT stats to both move fast and react faster.
Intimidation Aura!
Capitalising on the frozen fear of the soldiers, Kyle swung the lightning sword hard, aiming right at Nox’s neck.
Nox was unaffected by the intimidation aura, ducking backwards and taking a step towards Kyle, entering his arm range before throwing a molten hot uppercut at Kyle’s stomach,
Instead of committing to the swing, Kyle quickly used his elbow to knock away the incoming hand, before grabbing onto Nox and twisting him into a lock, a bear hug that threatened to squeeze Nox to death.
“ARGH!” Nox roared in pain as Kyle squeezed with all his might, attempting to crush Nox’s bone in one fell swoop. However, the armour proved too rigid, making it difficult for Kyle to injure Nox this way.
Nox channelled the armour’s engraving again, forcibly raising the temperature until the surface of the metal became red hot and forcing Kyle to release Nox.
Kyle quickly followed with a lightning sword stab, but Nox easily avoided it to the side, retaliating with his own leg kick aimed at Kyle’s waist, slamming sparks as it collided with the hardened steel surface.
Grabbing the ankle, Kyle dragged Nox through the air in a spin before slamming him down onto the ground with a loud cracking thud, the bones in Nox’s body fracturing from the impact as Nox gagged, blood and saliva gurgling out of his mouth.
Just as Kyle was about to slam him for a second time, the ankle heated up significantly, causing Kyle to wince slightly as the heat scorched his metal gauntlet, transferring the heat to his palm. He dropped Nox onto the ground, who immediately scampered away, drinking a hidden health and stamina potion found in his armour by chugging the small vials.
“Retreat! Full Retreat!” Nox ordered, retreating with the remnant of the north brigade and his commanders.
Kyle immediately gave chase, but was instead called back by Feldon. [Boss, Makoa’s forces can’t hold out much longer!]
Makoa’s forces were serving as the distraction, but the measly thousand soldiers of Desham’s milita could hardly compete with the seven and five thousand strong enemy force, comprised of three brigades. Even with Hayden’s supporting artillery fire, Makoa was still fighting a life and death struggle.
Cursing under his breath, Kyle decided to not chase Nox, as he was not confident that he could kill Nox in a short period. Otherwise, he would run the risk of losing all of his forces in exchange for the leader of Nest. Not an option.
Kyle returned immediately, joining the battle in the South and annihilating the enemy with his overpowering Verison 0 Exosuit and Heavy Variant Rifle, decimating dozens of soldiers himself.
MG404: [System Message Killed: [Nest Soldier] +500 EXP]
Most of the Nest soldiers were killed instead of captured, and those who tried to surrender were immediately engulfed by their own engravings, their bodies immolated to prevent capture. Kyle only managed to use his Negation Field once, to capture as many Nest soldiers as he could.
The battle was over within a few hours, ending near the middle of the night as bright white spotlights shined over blood-drenched trenches and fields, scattered with fallen bodies and weapons, along with the charred remains of Nest soldiers.
Makoa grunted and winced as he bandaged himself, the town of Desham not having access to any form of health potions. Yul’s Tears were a rarity and not present anywhere in the Keru Forest or even the dungeon, so Kyle had no choice but to go around himself, healing them.
Drake chipped in as well, his herbalist concotions providing a weaker form of healing that needed time to take effect. The anesthetia and soothing effect of the salves helped to calm down the injuried soldiers.
While the medical section was filled with whimpers and silent screams of pain and suffering, the streets of Desham were brimming with joy and celebration.
“We won! We won against the fuckers!”
“Those damn Versian military cocksuckers think that they can just waltz in and take everything that we fought for? Fuck them!”
“Bring on the whole army – we’ll skewer them all!”
A sense of defiance surged through the city, though Kyle was not surprised by this effect. They were former slum dwellers after all – it’s a given they hate the government and military.
Kyle retreated into the council building, to perform a after-action report of the battle. Diya poured over the statistics of the battle, while Hayden gave updates on the amount of ammunition used as well as manpower remaining.
“The battle took a heavy toll on us despite the victory. Desham’s milita has dwindled to half of its former strength, not including the refugees who decided to join us in the fight.” Hayden spoke.
“Have the refugees replenish the ranks. Begin the whole training procedure again.”
“We need a better source of medicine and healing. As long as we don’t have healing potions, the backlash from battles are always going to be severe.” Feldon pointed out.
Kyle nodded, knowing that it was a detriment to his forces. In the Galactic Era, medbays would have always been available to bring a soldier back up to fighting strength in mere days. Now with no health potions in Desham, recovery of injured people would take more than months, and they may never return to their former fighting prowess.
“We should be worried – the Versian Military can come back stronger than ever. Now that they know we have weapons and technology, it’s an open secret now. I will not be surprised if the government makes us their first objective, seeing as they are stalled on every other warfront.” Hayden continued.
Right now, Kyle’s forces were in no shape to take on another pyrrhic battle like that. He needed to buy time for his troops, improve weapons and armour and train them properly.
“What can we even do?” Feldon lamented. “The Versian military outnumbers us by more than a hundred times – if they so much as concentrated just ten percent, we’ll be squashed like flies.”
“Can we negotiate with them?”
“After how you saw the Versian military division just attack us up front like this? The government wouldn’t be willing to talk to us at all!”
Kyle furrowed his brows, thinking to himself carefully before he was suddenly interrupted by Makoa, who rushed into the room urgently. “Boss, one of the messengers returned!”
“From Raktor?! Bring him in quickly.”
The messenger stumbled into the meeting room, gulping instinctively at the sight of all the leaders staring at him. He quickly explained the entire situation in Raktor, as well as how the Seven Snakes were embroiled in a civil war across the entire South Sector, fighting alongside the enforcers and the various Baron’s private troops.
A civil war in Raktor?! Kyle knew now why the Ardent Cretins had been stockpiling weapons and resources for a long time now. Feldon’s jaw dropped: “Are they planning to revolt while Count Leon’s forces are locked in Versia?!”
The overall chain of events began to fall into place for Kyle, as he rationalized the motives for each of the forces. “The Versian military is supporting the major gangs to destabilize Raktor. Count Leon is now caught in a pincer movement – move forward and he loses Raktor with low chances of capturing Tenar. Move back, and Versian military will begin to flank the other two counts attacking Versia, pushing them back. Or even worse, Versian military will begin to invade the Yual Dominion.”
“What in the world is even going on?” Feldon exclaimed. “So Ardent Cretins and Versia has always been in cahoots?”
Kyle didn’t reply, considering the implications of the plan. He did not believe Count Leon was unaware of this possibility nor this chain of events. Yet if Kyle wanted the war to drag on as long as possible, he needed to support Count Leon as much as possible.
“Prepare the stealth hovercraft. We’re going to have a meeting.”
