"Mom, it hurts" cried a little girl covered by the warm embrace of her mother hiding behind a car in the midst of the government and calamities.
Blood and corpses covered the ground and in the air there was a smell of burning flesh that permeated directly into the nostrils of those who smelled it.
"Don't worry my child... everything is fine" the mother tried to calm her daughter in the midst of all the commotion, but in her voice there were slight traces of nerves, anxiety and above all panic. It was only thanks to the child's own innocence that she did not realize that her mother was equally if not more frightened than she was.
On the other side of the car where they were hiding, Faye sliced through a calamity twice her size with refined and graceful movements. She had recovered to a greater extent from her fight against Lloyd thanks to the government healers. However, her essence reserves would not recover as quickly, even if she had relics to help her.
Still, Faye didn't need to use essence to finish off calamities weaker than her. She could leave the other calamities to others.
When the last calamity died, Faye approached the car and looked out to see the mother and daughter duo hugging each other with their eyes tightly closed. Without disturbing them, Faye made sure they were okay before turning back and directing one of her subordinates to help them.
Finally, Faye took a breath as she looked around. Hundreds of calamity corpses lay in front of her, along with dozens of corpses of what were once her companions.
Faye clearly knew not to grieve over their deaths. They were at war, it was normal to die, but there was still some invisible burden that began to accumulate on her shoulders.
A couple of meters away from her she saw how two other captains from other squadrons were talking taking advantage of the little time they had to rest, so without hesitation she approached them.
"Squad 5 and 6 managed to reposition themselves with the help of reinforcements... squad 7 and 9 did not survive" said the captain of squad 4, while the captain of squad 2 sighed at the mention of the death of two of the squadrons.
Faye frowned slightly as she heard the same thing, then both captains realized she was behind them.
"Squadron 1 captain, it's good to see you safe" said the second squadron captain.
Faye nodded and then turned her head toward the end of the street. "What's the report on Khan?"
Both captains had different reactions. The fourth squadron captain frowned darkly while the second squadron captain sighed lethargically before answering.
"They have occupied several of our camps, plus most of the entrances to the city are under their custody"
Faye listened to all the details, by the time he finished the explanation, she turned her gaze towards the center of the city and noticed one specific large tower.
The city of Radford was built in a circle, where most of the main streets led to the center of the city where the most important buildings were located. One of them being the central tower of the government, from where all the instructions went out.
'What about the generals?, why aren't they acting yet?' Faye knew that four of her generals were facing Khan's four generals, but there were three others who were still in reserve.
Cursing the whole situation, Faye said goodbye to the two captains and approached her squadron. Most were resting, as they prepared for when more calamities came, while others were dead or out of action.
Among the squadron members, Tana and Lynn were still standing, though both were clearly tired. The two had accompanied her inside the castle when it was still a realm, they had survived dozens of adversities and Faye considered them very capable.
There was also Gril, who had died at Nathan's hands a little over a month ago. Something that had marked them more than anything else.
In peacetime it was not normal for members of the government to die, so both were not used to death. But when one of their closest companions died, and not exactly because of calamities, it affected them deeply.
Faye too, because he was the first of her subordinates to die. For that reason she planned to take revenge on his murderer, although for unknown reasons he had saved her earlier.
After a while of rest, Faye suddenly stood up from where she was sitting and looked in a particular direction, hearing rumblings coming closer and closer.
'A calamity?' Faye thought as she heard the noise getting closer and closer. Then, shortly after, from a street opposite the main one, several people emerged who Faye recognized as Khan members by their uniform.
"What are they doing?" asked one of her squad members as he saw the Khan soldiers appear on the main street.
The Khan members appeared to be pulling heavy chains, then it was revealed what was holding the chains.
A large calamity that Faye identified as third rank had all its limbs chained together and seemed strangely calm. The calamity was being guided toward the main street and was completely obedient to those pulling the chains.
The calamity looked like a mammoth with its two large tusks protruding from under its large trunk. The calamity had natural armor of the same material as its tusks that covered much of its body.
As she examined the calamity, Faye squinted as she saw someone sitting on the mammoth's head.
'Who is it?' As much as Faye tried to remember the man wearing a pair of sunglasses, she couldn't identify him. But it wasn't hard for her to tell his identity. Not just anyone could sit atop the head of such a large and powerful calamity, much less tame one.
'A general... shit' Faye cursed as the other squadrons moved towards her as they saw what was approaching.
On top of the mammoth, Glyn Farsa smiled at the sight of the government agents. He was one of Khan's four generals, but he was not someone who was particularly repulsed by the government.
Glyn was simply in Khan for a simple reason that everyone knew, and that was that he enjoyed power.
Years ago Glyn had tried to join the government, but because of his skills he was not received. Taming calamities was frowned upon, so Glyn had no choice but to start on the black-market taming calamities and then selling them.
In one of his many sales, the government that had been tracking him for a couple of years almost caught him, but he was saved and recruited by Marlon. Since then he rose through the Khan hierarchy to become a general respected by all.
Glyn ordered everyone to stop with a wave of his hand and sent a mental order to the mammoth to stop. At the same time, several calamities much smaller than the mammoth appeared behind it. The eyes of the calamities were completely white, and their movements were too abnormal.
Glyn signaled his controlled calamities to advance slowly to the front, then brought them to a halt.
Faye who had been silent frowned as she realized that the opponent she was facing could somehow control calamities. Knowing that they were at a distinct disadvantage against a general and a third rank calamity, Faye had no choice but to call for urgent reinforcements.
But the time it would take for them to arrive would be the time she would have to endure, and in her current state it was difficult for her to withstand such an attack.