Embrace The Ether

All he needed to do was wait out the enemy and survive, and sooner or later he full-heartedly believed reinforcements would arrive. He had to believe that because otherwise, the entire fight was for naught.

Almost instantaneously as he dived out from his cover, he was spotted. Several blasts came to his direction as the enemy forces began to move on his position. If he didn"t hurry he"d find himself overrun.

"s.h.i.t!" He shouted, pulling a heavy plate of metal out from the ground as he used it as a sort of shield alternative. The metal was still hot from the crash, but he toughened through it so that he would have a defense. He ran, holding the metal above himself as the soldiers within the tower aimed at him. It didn"t take long for the ground around him to be ravaged by enemy fire as the metal plate he had blocked multiple shots.

Thankfully he was quick on his feet, otherwise, he might"ve ended up with a few extra holes pierced throughout his chest and limbs.

"Remind me again why I even accepted this job…" He snarkily complained to no one in particular, "I could"ve sworn I was comfortably living in a nice room before we went to meet that f.u.c.king Mercer. I had somehow acquired fame, and didn"t have to worry about anything..."

A voice kicked onto his radio with a barrage of static, interrupting his ramblings, "Deus, is that you causing all that noise? I hear a lot of gunshots, and it"s not at us..."

It was Elias talking, of course. He never seemed to hesitate when it came to using the radio to complain to Deus. Perhaps it was his way of staying calm while everything around him goes wrong.

"Well s.h.i.t, you"re the one who wanted me to join forces with you, so I had to leave my safe little cubby-hole," Deus spoke in a rushed tone, exhaling deeply as he tried to catch his breath. "Hmph, hold on for a second…"

He lowered the radio onto his belt as he turned his attention towards the tower. Many soldiers could be seen from atop the ma.s.sive structure, all of them shuffling around in an organized manner. Dozens were within eyesight as at least half of them fired down from their vantage point, trying their best to take potshots at Elias and Deus. From their fortification, they seemed impervious, which they practically were.

Deus pulled out his hand-cannon and lifted it into the air, using the plate of metal as if it were a shield to hide his body behind. He fired several shots wildly, not having any specific target in mind, more so the area itself was his target. He knew he didn"t have to kill anyone, he just had to provide return fire.

Almost his entire magazine had been fired at the enemy tower, and yet he was only able to hit two or three soldiers as the rest of his rounds collided into the side of the structure.

The few he shot didn"t even face any fatal injuries, either. Instead, they were simply pulled away from the edge by their allies and their spots were filled by replacements. At most he delayed the enemy by a few seconds, but beyond that, it was more to vent his own anger.

He knew he couldn"t take everyone on, and he never intended to from the beginning. In fact, some may even consider his actions a waste of ammunition, but it was exactly what he needed to provide himself with a second wind of energy.

He lifted the radio device back up, "Alright Elias, I"m about to join up with you, so try not to shoot me, if you can."

As he said that he gave a single firm kick into the ground as if to brace himself as he flailed himself through the air, propelling himself through with a wild jump. He quickly broke through the cliff-edge and appeared within eyesight of Elias"s squad.

"Boss! That other fellow, I"ve spotted him!" Nirox shouted out as he caught sight of Deus tumbling down toward them, the ground erupting in gunfire behind him. It was almost comical how the world seemed to engulf itself in explosions and gunfire mere moments after he pa.s.sed by.

"Prepare to open the barrier, we"ve got to let him through!" Elias ordered, moving toward where Deus was so that he could be there to greet him.

The barrier opened briefly, forming an almost doorway in the middle of the energy field, only a mere eight meters in front of Elias. As it opened a barrage of enemy fire made its way through, pelting the desert sand as Deus and the rest of the crew managed to maneuver around it.

Deus landed within the barrier, the gap behind him filled itself as he pa.s.sed. His landing was firm yet hastened. As he gathered his footing, bracing himself to meet with Elias, he lifted his head to take in his surroundings. He still wasn"t sure how everything would work out, but he held faith that Elias would take him at face value and not hold him at a distance.

No, he believed Elias couldn"t afford to hold him at a distance, not in this environment. They had to work together to survive, that much was clear to everyone.

There was no longer any room for error, especially when it came to Elias and the clan he represented. If everything worked out as intended, their clan leader Roland should be making his arrival any time. If Roland arrived only to find Elias distrusting of Deus, that could spell disaster for him.

"Elias!" Deus called out as he approached, raising both of his arms into view so as to appear friendly and unsuspicious.

"Hm, I wasn"t sure if you"d be able to make it here in one piece, truth be told," Elias said matter-of-factly. "I had no intention of holding my breath for you… but it seems you survived in the end."

"Well, we still have that to deal with… not out of the fire yet," Deus spoke with a firmness as he turned to face the enemy tower. Even now a barrage of enemy suppression rained down upon the battlefield, but the energy barrier Nirox was holding seemed able to hold off the majority of it, for now.

"What"ll we do once that shield drops?"

Elias turned toward Deus as his face turned stern, "All we can do is move back slowly and make sure we don"t leave anyone behind… once we make it to our backup forces on the ridge we should be able to make some sort of stand," he paused for a moment as he shrugged, "I doubt we"ll have it that easy… I have reason to believe our backup forces are currently being tied down."

"I thought the same," Deus agreed. "When I tried to contact Droh, all I got was static. This whole situation doesn"t feel right, I"ve got a bad feeling that we"ve walked straight into a trap from the moment we arrived."

Elias nodded in acknowledgment.

"Speaking about that," Deus continued, "How exactly did we get shot down, anyway? I find it odder that there doesn"t seem to be any weapon capable of that insight... at least if I saw a giant gun, I"d be less frustrated."

"Mhm," Elias agreed with a nod, "If there was some big cannon laying around, at least we could sleep easy knowing exactly where it was and what it was... but with this... all we"re left with are more questions than answers. We need to know what happened, I"m afraid, but it won"t be that easy to find out."

Elias rubbed his chin for a moment as he thought.

"It would be best if our forces joined together, even if that means involving ourselves in another confrontation," he explained, "If our gunners back us up, and we them, everyone should be able to make it out of here alive. I"m afraid to say, however, that our attack may have been for naught. I doubt we"ll be able to investigate anything as we are now."

"Eh, I"m not sure about th"

"No time for discussion, we need to get moving," Elias interrupted, not letting Deus get a word in edgewise.

"Hmph, I tried to tell him about Roland, but he isn"t having it… maybe I"ll just let him find out later, and use it as some sort of tool later."

Their group had begun to move as one cohesive unit, to the amazement of Deus. He hadn"t expected everything to work so well, but clearly, the clan members held some sort of respect for Elias and the commands he gave.

Nirox kept the barrier secured and centered, while Atra watched over their flank, preventing anyone from overwhelming them. The barrier could outlast the enemies" barrage from a distance, but not a direct a.s.sault from up close. All the while Elias continued to fire a heavy rifle toward the tower as if trying to weigh them down.

"Deus, bring that hand-cannon of yours over here, we"ve got to hold them off!" Elias shouted as he shot.

In response, Deus ran over to Elias"s side as he fired several heavy rounds towards the approaching forces. The enemy covered the debris field, using the broken metal as a shield just like Elias and his crew were doing. Every step the clansmen took, the enemy took two steps towards them.

If they weren"t careful, they"d find themselves overrun from multiple angles. They had lucked out so far as the enemy seemed almost mismanaged, but for all Deus knew that in itself was a trap. It could simply be that they were hesitant because everything from here on was some sort of trap designed to destroy them.

"You, cover me!" Deus shouted as he called one of the clansmen to his side. "Hold fire there while I check the comms."

As he said that, the clansmen took his place, the man firmly planted himself against the ridge, rifle in hand. Deus pulled out his radio once again as he turned the station to a long-range setting.

"Droh, you hear me?" He shouted into the device. At first only static could be heard in reply, but suddenly the static morphed into what sounded like a voice. The words were unintelligible.

"Elias!" Deus shouted, "I got a response, but I don"t know what they said!"

"That"s good news, at least," Elias spoke back as a smile showed on his face for the first time in a while. "Keep pressing it, see if you can get some sort of sitrep. If we can get close enough, maybe you can have them call for backup…"

"Backup?" Deus tried once more to tell Elias about what was to come, "Speaking of backup… Elias…"

"Oh right, I"ll need to tell you the relay to use to reach the clan," Elias once more cut in before Deus could continue. "Don"t waste any more time, just keep trying and we"ll survive this."

"Hmph, can"t say I didn"t try..."

An explosion blasted dust and ash into the air, vaporizing the moment it made contact with their barrier.