"This is some of the worst fighting I've seen since the city!" Heskins roared through the chaos.
The earlier probing attacks in the middle of the night showed that most of the enemy forces were in the rear, waiting for the trenches to overrun before they countered. With that likely happening, the Port-O-Bea commanders and organizers of the battle decided to send a small wave to take out the first fortifications and lure those reinforcements out. That strategy worked quite well at first, although costs were much higher than anticipated. But it was the only distraction their forces needed. With much of the enemy converging near the middle, their flanks had fewer troops stationed and would give way to some of their stronger fighters, like the Viligantes of Power to put in the work to enter the city. It still wasn't going to be easy for them either way.
"We're doing alright, stay focused!" Sera shouted back, as blades of light launched across the road they were behind.
It would be a short climb out of the ditch that would level out to one of the northern roads into the city, with the other side consisting of around three hundred Reserve Guards. While that was such a small number for them, the main issue was that they didn't have many ranged attacks, due to the group splitting up on both flanks. Sera, Heskins, Hops, and Fonda were holding down this area alongside about two hundred other soldiers, but the resistance was tighter than expected. Already, have ten of their men fallen in the ongoing assault and things could only progress worse from there.
"So no one really thought about the difference of power between the chosen groups? Like who really decided that?" Hops was peeking above, holding a stolen rifle from one of the dead Reserve Guards from the trenches.
"I don't know, how about you blame Jamal and them after we advance further." Fonda was struggling to hold control of two of the Reserve Guard closest to their forces without getting shot at, letting them spray randomly at their own brethren.
"Well, if we do manage to get past this, it should be a clear shot towards the outskirts of the city and the highway." a nearby soldier reported to them.
I bet Jamal, Leon, and the rest were doing just fine, Sera held her frown as the blades of light managed to hit a few of the guards, bringing grave injuries but still alive and able to move for a bit longer. Just as she so ever intended. This was definitely going great for them.
.....
"Nice one!" Leon roared above.
Floating overhead, Jamal was raining fireballs onto the weakened fortifications set only a few miles away from the highway. The man held a tight grin on his face, as his work was deadly, as it showed below. The ground was littered with burning bodies, and the many soldiers still breathing and alive were hiding in what was left of their stone pillboxes and trenches. He expected more of a fight than this, but this was just a bit sad. At this point, Jamal was treating this as a little game, seeing how many points he could rack up before they all retreated and disappeared.
Meanwhile, Alice was perched behind a destroyed carr, her book glowing with energy, as a multitude of large boulders shifted out of the ground and past the flaming man. Anyone still in the open was immediately crushed or forced to stay put and hidden or risk getting killed brutally. How could they not be enjoying these moments with each other? Things were going as they hoped for, and things weren't going in their foe's favor.
"We're getting an alert of incoming rockets! Everyone find cover!" one of the soldiers responsible for transferring messages informed the Viligantes and the other troops nearby.
Rockets, Jamal was confused, as he had never known that Youden's army would even use such a thing. He recalled in his youth with them being mostly referred to as fireworks, being launched into the sky during celebrations and other holidays. This nation was always using something new, changing forms of entertainment into weapons.
"Come down Jamal!" Leon covered his mouth so Jamal was able to hear him properly.
Not even waiting, the man fired a few more fireballs, before his quick descent behind cover was secured.
"Appreciate it y'all. I was having too much fun out there."
"I was sure you'd say such a thing. Just don't die on us yet." Alice kept her head towards the sky, seeing small lights moving in their direction, "Time for me to do my part."
Leon watched as Alice's body start to glow with a light aura and her book illuminated alongside her. As time progressed, a transparent shield was being created above them, while Jamal backed up just enough to launch his own fire into the sky, hoping to blow up even one of the projectiles. Those few moments were critical, as when Jamal couldn't do much with the shield covering overhead, the rockets accelerated fast into it. The ground shuttered with each hit, as any loose structures on the battlefield were quick to be demolished from the vibrations alone. One quick look at Alice showed that she appeared to have a little struggle with the incoming barrage, although she was starting to sweat from the intensity.
"You good?" Leon asked as he peeked above to see a few of the Reserve Guards attempting to push forward with the distraction above.
Not letting any attempts slide through, Leon was quick to hold his arm forward and prepare his middle finger for a flicking motion. Concentrating his energy on that one point, he braced his right arm with his left, reducing the shaking immensely. He was going to aim to use around five hundred times his normal strength, as the troops were still a good distance away but closing in.
"Here it goes!" Leon got the perfect shot lined up, before conducting the motion.
The attack was so powerful, that Leon launched a few feet into the air and fell flat on his back in a matter of seconds. Large plumes of dirt and debris were raised into the air, as the troops rushing in the open got hit by the powerful air burst, piercing through their skin like a bullet due to its concentration. The costs were well worth the risks for the most part, although it caused painful bruising on an already damaged hand, even though Leon was able to toughen it out.
"Good stuff." Alice let the final rockets crash into the shield, before dropping it. "I'm sure everyone else is doing as good as us."
"Yeah!" Brat was coming back from the sky, in the form of an eagle.
"Let's hope so." Leon huffed from that one attack only, "I'm not sure if I can keep doing stuff like this in the long term."
"You know your limits. Just be smart about it." Jamal lifted himself over one of the destroyed carrs to see no more enemies in their vicinity. "We still got a lot of work to get done, so let's get the real deal going!"