Tear A Path

Even in the face of such a daunting presence, he was proud to say that his own men"s pressure was able to match up to them. After all, the back up he"d brought this time were veterans of war, having been in many battlefields especially after the change.

Though the experience of some who used to be civilians in the old world couldn"t match up to the battle hardened warriors of the other side, there was a slight confidence only a gun could give that kept them standing straight. Mototsune knew this all too well as he patted his own handgun that was in his holster right now.

The air was electrifying, as if it"s properties had suddenly changed, each side feeling the blood rise to their throats, their legs twitching for a command to set them on a straight path of ma.s.sacre. Fingers gripping their weapons tightly... far too tightly.

It was a little too strong. Even as this one man recognized his blunder he could not undo what had gone an inch too far into his trigger as three bullets shot out of his automatic rifle.

The moment the loud roars of that gun was heard, the rest of the men followed suit, unloading their bullets into the enemy force who reciprocated by going into a full charge.

The beginning of this exchange was won by the other worlders, as from within their army"s ranks, several heavily armored men emerged to take the front line with Jeral in the lead. Their armors absorbing the impact like a drop of water in a tub as their side quickly closed in, Travis"s and Alos"s men close behind.

Safe for the few men who were originally under Bartram, the rest didn"t panic as they stepped aside, revealing one man in each unit who was holding on to a hefty gun with a really big barrel, grenade launchers.

The other worlders continued their advance, each man rushing to get his first head in the battlefield, to have his first drink of enemy blood. The previously green gra.s.sy fields, now blotted with rapidly moving dots of silver. They had believed those to be similar to the previous weapons. Though they had many interactions, they had yet to see one of this kind. Their faith in the heavy armored squad was strong, though misguided. They only figured something was wrong the moment a series of pops rang out.

Some canisters landed near their feet, a few soldiers owning their next decision to be an act of curiosity. Only the captains who had been acquainted with grenades during the last a.s.sault felt the danger of those things and screamed at their men to jump away. But it was too little too late as the components that made up this small tube like contraption fell apart in front of their eyes, each releasing small clouds of smoke into the area.

At first a few captains were relieved that it wasn"t the explosive kind that some of their fellow captains had fallen victim to. The more perceptive ones wondered why they would use such a thing in open field combat or if their weapons had malfunctioned.

That was, until the men who were at the front lines began to act peculiarly. They started becoming shifty, trying to dig their armored fingers into the small gaps in their helmet. Then they became more erratic, frantically trying to put their fingers into gaps of their armor as if trying to get to their own skin.

Fumbling with the straps on their armor, some just outright took off their gauntlets so they could pluck all of their equipment off. Others began rolling or flapping around on the ground as if it were a hot skillet and they a fresh piece of meat.

Those at the rear wondered what was going on, at least until the first man had released his helmet. His face was contorted in pain, maybe. They a.s.sumed this to be the case, as they could no longer actually identify the featured that should const.i.tute a human face seeing as how most of it had been swollen shut until it all looked like a glob of raw meat.

Those who had taken off their armors had begun to exhibit the same features as the parts of their bodies which were situated at the gaps of their armor began to turn bright pink, swelling up and giving them an extreme amount of discomfort.

Both sides watched dumbfounded as the humans in front of them began to all deform in similar states. Even Mototsune who had issued those weapons was trying not to throw up his breakfast. They were pa.s.sed on to him from his superiors under the guise that they were similar to a combination of tear gas and pepper spray only slightly more powerful, made to debilitate the opponent. This was not slightly in any expression of the word.

A few men who had been the closest to the canisters when they broke apart began to claw at their skin, maybe hoping that skinning themselves and having the muscles and flesh underneath exposed to be less painful.

Even as the world changed, such grotesque images had rarely ever been seen by any of these men, at some point both sides stopped their advances and attacks from sheer wretchedness of the state of their fellow man.

But it only lasted a moment, somewhere in the crowd a person forgot to observe the pause that had landed over the battlefield. The bullet sprung out of it"s barrel, the blaring roar it gave off a little too deafening at this moment as it echoed across the scores of awestruck men.

It hit nothing, finding itself in the ground, far too many meters away from the nearest body.

Though that was the case, that single shot still lit a fire under the opposite army.

The combination of the sight of their comrades in such a state and the stress of war itself pushed all of their minds into overdrive, rushing as fast as they could at the enemy.

At a critical moment, humans have always had the fight or flight reaction. In this case it was clear which one overcame them. In their minds the only thing that any of them could consider was that in order to survive this current ordeal, their only chance was to reach the enemy before they were wiped out. "Kill them before they can kill us."

The moment that thought had crossed their minds.

It all went to h.e.l.l.