Chapter 120 - Black Pillar
A group of soldiers looked into the distance. It was Squad 39; the one Arthur had abandoned. Now with one of its members deserting the battle, their morals were all times low. The eastern winds made their white robes flutter as they expected to see a change in the horizon any second now.
"Damn it, he said 'don't defeat yourself before the battle even started' but still fled the scene before it even began." One of the soldiers, a wild-orange hair young man grumbled to himself. His name was Izhan, a newly-registered awakener who has risen to the rei-rank recently.
"Some people are hypocrites." The handsome man next to him answered without lifting his gaze from the horizon. Izhan wanted to empathize with the deserter, since he also felt afraid, but couldn't bring himself to. After all, here he stood despite his fear, waiting for battle.
'I'm a brave man, right?' He asked himself as he imagined his girlfriend answering, telling him 'the bravest of them all.' He smiled warmly as he vowed to survive this to take care of her and their expected son.
"Take positions!"
A shout came from one of the captains like thunderclaps and the soldiers tensed before taking hold of their positions. Two awakeners were assigned a mana gun on top of the wall and they would take turns refilling and using it. Even though mana cells were used to supply the guns, there would still be some mana needed to fire the gun.
Izhan, along with the handsome man he got to meet and was called Leo, took one of the mana guns and started loading it with cells. They waited, looking toward the horizon that was blanketed with green as perspiration covered their faces.
The minutes stretched until they felt like hours yet indistinguishable from each other until they turned into one long thread of nervousness. After what felt like ages for the soldier, they finally heard it. An ugly clinking of metal and gears shifting, followed by a loud noise as if a grenade was exploding.
Izhan tried spotting anything on the horizon, but he couldn't just yet. His sightline shifted toward the grains of sand on top of the mana gun, slightly shaking with each loud noise. The shaking got stronger until he felt it in his body, prominent and clear, shaking his very core.
These were a result of each step the giant monster took in their way. He had already seen pictures of it on social media where they prayed for the survival of the Union, but he doubted prayers would help them at this point.
His hand gripped tighter at the mana gun, allowing the cold shining steel to bring him comfort. Then, as if his eyes were deceiving him, he saw one of the hills, or what he had thought to be a hill, move.
He cursed his lack of focus as he was sure that he was seeing things. However, the loud shout from the captain proved that the hill was truly moving.
"Target spotted!"
The words sent shivered in the hearts of the soldiers as they saw the wavering hill in the distance. When it got a bit nearer, its appearance was revealed. Just like in the photos taken by the drones before they were shot down, the Calamity Spider looked like a giant piece of broken rubbish with all the gears and metals protruding from its surface.
However, even from a distance away, the glimmering lights of runes were there for the world to admire. A dome of gears and runes that moved, how could it not be feared?
"Ready your guns!"
Each squad leader commanded and Izhan gripped the handles tighter as he started sending mana into the gun. However, before they could fire the mana guns, the world was dyed with terrible orange. The fire consumed everything in its path as snake-like pillars poured out of the Calamity Spider.
"Barriers!"
A shout from behind brought Izhann to his senses. The barriers teams started pouring out their mana as well as using mana cells to protect the fortress. Even with the golden light protecting it, the fire still seeped through the barriers and damaged soldiers and weapons alike.
Luckily, everyone here was a rei-ranker. They protected themselves and were unharmed in the first round of attacks.
"Mana guns, fire!" The commander shouted again and Izhan pulled the trigger. The long barrel that looked like a silver canon started glowing brightly as he felt his mana ignite the mana bullet. With a collective thundering bang, the guns were filled as thousands of bullets rained on the Calamity Spider.
The giant weapon didn't flutter even being bombarded by mana bullets, even though its surface was burned black or dented. Some runes were disabled but the Calamity Spider kept moving, firing another volley of fire.
This time, the soldiers weren't that lucky as some of them screamed of being burned by the blazing fire. The two sides kept attacking each other until the Calamity Spider was close enough.
Izhan reloaded the mana gun as he heard the General's shouts from below the wall. As he peeked, he saw the Vetus-rankers dashing toward the Calamity Spider themselves. There were several mechas in the lead that started evading the Spider's attacks while landing attacks of their own.
They attacked the metallic pillars that the spider used to advance, but the damage was too little to change sides. They were being overwhelmed by the runes the spider used to attack them.
However, their mission was to delay the calamity as long as possible. It was expected that the empire would time its main attack with the weapon, so the king and his vessels were sure to be fending the attack on the south-eastern border. They needed to buy time until they were successful and send reinforcements to aid the eastern fortress of Blacksilk.
'At what cost?'
Izhan wondered as he looked at the injured, those still fighting, and the corpses. The families of the fallen would be rewarded handsomely and bestowed with great honor, but it seemed so little to the loss of their loved ones. However, this was their duty to protect the kingdom. Otherwise, the city behind their backs would be one out of many.
Suddenly, the spider stopped moving and the fire ceased coming their way. It was a momentary silence that brought dread instead of comfort to everyone present. It was then that gears shifted and turned until six giant plates formed a hexagram on the front side of the spider.
What happened next made Izhan and the soldiers look in horror. Over two hundred meters high wave of water appeared in the middle of the grassland, starting to swallow everything in its way. This was no simple water runes, but a circle that summoned a tsunami that would destroy these lands with its impact.
"Heavens show mercy…" Leo who was standing next to him muttered in disbelief. Izhan knew he was not that religious, and neither was Izhan himself, but indeed, may the heavens show mercy.
Everyone's despair was unquestionable but it took moments for them to start raining bullets and constructing shields again. However, they knew it was futile. The tsunami was so terrifying and yet it kept growing as the runes supplying it kept pouring out water. If things kept going this way, it was no doubt that the whole fortress and city would be destroyed by the crashing waves.
As tears glistered in Izhan eyes, roaring and shouting bullets after bullets, he heard a rumbling in the sky. However, there was no cloud or any signs of thunder. He, along with everyone else present, turned their heads upward.
The sky was clear until, from somewhere unknown, a black pillar of light descended in front of the tsunami. It didn't fade but the black energy, not mana by any means, started gathering on a lone hill facing the tsunami.
As everyone's faces were filled with confusion and questions, they stared into the small hill in the distance. On top of it, a mecha stood there grandly. They could see a figure standing on top of the mecha's head raising their arm to the sky. Their robes fluttered and they couldn't see anything but their back, but the scene sent chills in their spine.
A lone figure facing a crushing tsunami. The contrast in their sizes was so worrisome yet so blood-boiling. A testimony of standing against the odds no matter how life tried to take you down.
Then, everyone saw the figure with the white robes slash downward with his dagger. The black pillar followed suit as it descended on the tsunami, cutting it in half. The water split apart as the black energy kept traveling unhindered.
The Calamity Spider revealed itself again behind the water, meeting the descending pillar heads on. There was a moment of pause before the pillar started defragmenting the dome's surface, cutting apart its runes like useless threads. The hexagram was broken and a giant gash appeared in the Calamity Spider.