Lowering his rife and finding a seat against the cart, Thompson's gloved hands traced the weapon now sitting in his lap. The tan paint had begun to fade, and the black undertone had begun to etch off from the rough treatment it had underwent for the last two months.
Looking away from the weapon in his lap, he could see the silhouettes of the retreating attacks against the serene view of the growing orange horizon. A frown grew across his face as he felt the cold wind biting at the exposed skin on his face. His goggles slowly turned off as he coughed. "We'll find a way. If we can stop this "Demon Lord" and buy time to prevent his armies from marching on the capital, I believe your kingdom will have a chance."
Controlling the horses and bringing the cart to a slow stop less than two hundred meters away from the east gate, Lecca kept her down as her expression fell. The thought went through her mind in a single second, yet she had to accept the reality that the men under her command would eventually leave. She was no leader, so what she worried about was "when" they would leave. Such a thought spiraled in her mind in that second the cart came to a halt, and the men began to step onto the ground.
With the assistance of Green, Mike slowly clambered out of the cart. The pain in his chest had somewhat subsided, but at his point, it would remain due to his ribs possible being broken alongside internal bleeding. Though he supposed he hadn't sustained any critical or fatal injury as he had yet to fall over dead. He spotted the princess looking at him with a distant gaze. Not knowing what to do, he just simply grabbed his rifle and turned around towards the gate where Thompson had greeted some of the Corps members that ran the distance from the settlement's center along with knights Eugene, Marco, and Anne.
Walking in the under the burnt sky, Mike with the princess and Rangers behind him, climbed atop a small observation tower near where they stopped. Upon reaching the third floor, the cold air picked up due to their elevation, and a small amount of smoke poured in their direction as the wind direction changed.
Upon reaching the top, the harsh rays of sunlight bounced on their position. Leccamaradel used her free left arm to block the sunlight and wind, yet after her eyes adjusted to the light exposure, she lowered her arm and returned it to holding her lever-action rifle in the low ready like the Rangers beside her. Beyond the damaged stone wall that guarded Stragea, the lands just on the other side of the wall were damaged, scorned. Dirt, mud, and bodies covered the destroyed grounds, the golden-green fields were there, yet between their current location and the heaven like grounds, a large stretch of desecrated land of death separated them from their supposed "final destination."
"Lieutenant, sitrep." Thompson said calmly as he watched the Corps members below chase after the few remaining stragglers.
"Captain." Patterson said stepping up to him with a worried expression. He spoke in a soft voice, "To put it bluntly we're not equipped to fight anything, especially a brigade full of monsters from some "Demon Lord". I'm having some reservations about this mission, so perhaps we should rethink our involvement with the king?"
"You know we can't Patterson." He argued. "We need to find some way back, and for God's sake it would be a mistake to let go of the only country wiling to take us in for now."
The two fell silent as a loud humming noise came from the sky. Collectively the eight looked up into the orange-blue sky.
"Is that fast air?" Green asked as several shapes emerged from the large-scattered, grey clouds.
"What did the fucking air-force come with us?" Richard commented as he slowly stepped towards the staircase on the opposite side of the building.
"Are those World War Two fighters?" Mike asked aloud as the arm holding his rifle fell to his side.
What appeared to be a formation of bombers slowly crawled over the shattered skies above. One of the unknown air vehicles began to rapidly descend towards the ground.
"Is he doubling down on us!?" Malkovich said alarmed.
A flood of voices flooded Lecca's ears.
"Holy shit!"
"Get to cover!"
"Move it! Move it!"
"Get off the fucking building!" Mike screamed as he grabbed Lecca and Green, the two nearest people, and dragged them towards the staircase.
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Publicly Available Information: Air Power:
Many nations all over the world have a form of air power. While most "modern" nations use commonly found reptiles commonly referred to as "Wyverns", there are some nations that have attempted to use more mechanical and scientific methods to attain flight and air dominance.