Khan knew that word. He had seen tanks passing through the Slums from time to time, but he found an unfamiliar vehicle when he jumped on the steps next to him and inspected the battlefield from behind the transparent barrier.
Khan couldn't see much from that position. The opposite barrier was nothing more than a black line that hid the enemy trench, but that only made the tank easy to find. The vehicle had a spider-like structure, with four huge legs that featured spiky wheels halfway through their bodies. A simple cubical cabin stood on those thick limbs, and a long fuming barrel came out of it.
The tank had crossed the barrier with two legs to make better use of its height. That exposed it to the enemy fire, but Khan noticed how the bullets that fell on its surfaces didn't leave any mark. The mana spread over the black metal and dispersed most of its power before it actually hit the vehicle.
'Does it repel mana?' Khan wondered before dismissing that thought.
The enemy trench was one hundred meters from his position, so his senses could be slightly unreliable, but the tank contained enough mana to make his inspection accurate. Khan could immediately notice that the mana didn't occupy the actual materials that made the vehicle. Most of it was somewhere inside the cabin.
Khan felt his mind slipping into the mindset experienced in the muddy valley. Mana was everywhere on the battlefield. It had different forms, but he could still sense it clearly. He could even recognize the iconic taste of its synthetic version since the magazines of the rifles and tank relied on it.
The bullets were fast, but they couldn't escape his senses. Khan could listen to the song played by the mana, and his mind inevitably immersed itself inside it.
The tank turned its barrel toward a different spot of the opposite trench before amassing power. Then, it released a giant bullet that blew up part of the barrier and filled the channel with painful cries.
Khan turned to his left to inspect the aftermath of the explosion. The bullet had fallen closer to his position at that time, causing a wave of dust and dirt to engulf the area. Still, he remained able to sense the many projectiles that flew from both sides of the battlefield.
Injured soldiers ran outside the cloud to reach protected areas of the trench. They supported each other during that messy march, but Khan noticed how some of them were already dead. Those troops simply didn't realize that until they lay their companions on the ground.
The scene was gory and merciless. Missing limbs, maimed bodies, large injuries, and blood filled Khan's vision, but he barely felt anything. He almost couldn't believe how used he had become to those images.
Moreover, the situation there was different from Nitis. Khan didn't know any of those soldiers, and the Global Army had decided to join the war between Guko and Stal to pursue personal benefits. In his mind, those deaths were partially their fault.
Khan's eyes flickered when he sensed a bullet flying in a straight line toward the soldier behind him. The latter was peeking past the barrier to fire at the tank, but the incoming projectile would hit him if Khan let things stay as they were.
Khan didn't think. He jumped toward the steps to his right and grabbed the soldier's military uniform to pull him down while he landed on the trench. The young man tried to complain after falling with his back on the ground, but the bullet that crossed his previous position made those words freeze in his mouth. He knew that the projectile would have blown his head if Khan didn't intervene.
"Thank you," The young man muttered, but Khan had already started to ignore him to glance at the battlefield past the barrier.
"Is the tank immune to bullets or something?" Khan asked while moving his eyes on the magazine of the rifle in his right hand. "Is it mana resistant?"
"What?" The soldier said in a confused tone before sorting his thoughts to explain the issue. "The rifles can't do much against the tank because their bullets aren't dense. The idea is to have larger magazines without losing deadliness."
"Spells should still be effective, right?" Khan questioned.
"It depends on the spell," The soldier replied, "But it's hard to find something that can retain its density after flying for so long. No one in this platoon can do it."
'The Divine Reaper should be able to cut through it then,' Khan thought, but a rough voice suddenly resounded inside the trench and forced him to move his focus elsewhere.
"What are you two even doing?!" Lieutenant Pouille shouted while walking toward Khan and the young man. "Jump back on the barrier and shoot down that tank!"
The young soldier quickly stood up and performed a military salute before contesting the order. "Sir, our rifles can't do anything against that tank, sir. We need air support, sir."
"There won't be any air support," The Lieutenant snorted. "We must hold our position with what we have, so get back on those steps and start firing!"
The young man wanted to say something, but an explosion resounded behind him and dispersed his thoughts. When the soldier turned, he noticed that Khan was already inspecting the area. The tank had fired, and another part of the trench had transformed into a cloud of dust that hid corpses.
The third bullet was even closer than the other two. If that trend continued, it would only take two more projectiles to reach their position. It seemed that the tank had every intention to destroy the trench methodically.
"We can't continue like this, sir," The young soldier complained after turning toward the Lieutenant. "We can only retreat without air support."
"Negative," Lieutenant Pouille declared. "Our orders are to hold this position, and that's exactly what we'll do. Don't make me repeat myself."
Khan glanced at the Lieutenant to inspect the expressions that seeped into his face. The soldier appeared committed and driven. He didn't look like the time willing to ignore orders.
"Did you hear me?" Lieutenant Pouille asked. "Get back on-."
The Lieutenant didn't have the chance to finish his line since another explosion resounded in the trench. The tank had hit an even closer spot now, and soldiers inevitably amassed behind Khan and the young man since they had nowhere else to go.
"Sir, we are getting destroyed!"
"Sir, we can't deal with the tank!"
"Sir, what are our orders?"
The soldiers shouted reports and questions that the Lieutenant didn't know how to address. A crack appeared on his expression when he glanced at the poor state of his underlings. He knew that the situation was hopeless, but that scene forced him to explain his reasons.
"Our superiors are trying to deal with the anti-aircraft gun behind the enemy trench," Lieutenant Pouille explained. "They can't do much until they take it down, and this area is too important to let the Stal have it. We have to buy time for them to find a solution."
"But we won't survive for long, sir," The young soldier next to Khan announced.
"I know," Lieutenant Pouille revealed as a tinge of regret appeared on his face, "But these are our orders, and we have to stick to them."
A wave of helplessness spread among the soldiers gathered behind Khan. The Global Army was basically asking them to die, and they couldn't do anything about that. They had nowhere to go, and they would be charged with treason even if they managed to escape.
"I won't die just because you ask me to," Khan scoffed before throwing the rifle to his right.
"What are you doing, Nitis guy?" Lieutenant Pouille asked when he saw Khan drawing his knife and approaching the barrier. "Our superiors didn't clear us for a frontal charge."
Khan didn't hear those words. He had cut away everything except for the mana on the battlefield. The Lieutenant was stretching his arm to grab him, but his focus remained on the tank. He felt the synthetic energy flowing toward the barrel.
The tank fired, and Khan jumped past the barrier. The massive bullet was fast, but it flew toward a spot to Khan's left, allowing him to sprint past it and run toward the vehicle.
Khan was running on the trajectory crossed by the massive bullet, so no one fired in his direction. The explosion in the trench had also provided him with some cover, so only a few Stal noticed his figure crossing the battlefield quickly. Those aliens tried to aim their rifles at him, but he was too fast, and the projectiles that tried to fly in his direction only ended up crossing his previous positions.
The symphony played by the mana on the battlefield filled Khan's mind and raised his concentration to insane levels. He found himself in front of the tank in no time, and his knife glowed with azure light as it performed two quick slashes.
Khan stopped right in front of the barrier. Strange growls reached his ears as the aliens inside the trench shouted orders, but they never got the chance to aim their rifles at him since the tank claimed the entirety of their attention.
Half of the tank's barrel separated from its main body and fell to the ground. Sparks also appeared on one of its front legs as it became unable to support the vehicle weight anymore and bent forward. The deep cut that had appeared on the limb made the whole weapon turn to its left until it crashed on the ground.
The event left everyone speechless, but the tank's fall didn't mark its end. A whooshing noise resounded from the cabin as its top and sides opened to reveal a huge two-headed alien that appeared too big for that seat.
The Stal punched its four arms to the ground to jump back to its feet. Khan could now inspect the huge alien in its entirety. It was almost three meters tall, and its dark eyes radiated pure anger as it pointed its two right arms toward him.
Khan inspected the event coldly and prepared for his first clash with a Stal, but a bullet suddenly pierced both heads. The alien fell lifelessly to the ground while Khan glanced at the opposite trench. He couldn't see much from his position, but he noticed golden hair behind the rifle that had fired that bullet.
The nature of his situation forced him to snap back to reality. A series of Stal had peeked out of the barrier to aim their rifles at him, but he moved before bullets could hit his figure. Khan had already found the few aliens that seemed stronger than him, so he charged in the opposite direction to deal with the weaker ones.
****
Author's notes: Yesterday has been a mess followed by 12 hours of sleep. I'm on the chapters now.. I'll do my best to recover the missing ones too.
