POV: Third Person
Streets of the Capital City of Genosha, near the Royal Castle
At the Start of the Battle. 2013
"FIRE!"
Nordur's shout was quickly overlaid by the roar of the tank shots behind him. Twelve energy shots flew over the soldiers' heads at such a high speed that they only saw flashes of blue crossing the air. There was no sound of impact when the shots hit the target, just blood and organs scattered.
The twelve shots were not one hundred percent accurate, most of them hit the mammoths head-on, tearing them apart instantly, others passed through them hitting the ogres behind the mammoths. Either way, even though the shots were not one hundred percent accurate, they caused damage to the enemy.
"Order the tanks to retreat a bit, and fire as soon as they can!" He informed his lieutenant who was by his side.
The streets of Genosha were not a suitable place to conduct a large-scale battle. The width of the streets did not allow for a large number of tanks. If it weren't for that, Nordur would have more than two hundred at his disposal. Twelve was the maximum number he could use now, and even having a terrifying firepower, these tanks could not fire again without having to reload for a few seconds. And his enemy would not wait in the position they were in. He had to retreat the tanks to aim before firing again.
"Lances! FIRE!"
His enemy continued to advance with the huge mammoths and the ogres coming right behind, so Nordur ordered his infantry, who were behind him in phalanx position, to fire. The shots from the numerous lances were like a curtain of light hitting the enemy. Unfortunately, the lances did not have enough firepower to kill the mammoths or the Ogres, but they managed to delay the advance for a few seconds.
"FIRE!"
The second shot from the tanks had the same devastating effect as the first, managing to kill other mammoths as well as ogres, but they would still need a few more shots to finish off the monsters in front of them, and also the infantry of the dark elves behind.
"GRENADES!"
The soldiers of Genosha prefer to fight in close combat, this does not mean that they do not have explosive equipment like soldiers from other nations. Several grenades are launched into the air and fall to the ground near the enemies.
"Bomm! Bomm! Bomm! Bomm!"
Explosions from the grenades plus the shots from the energy lances that did not stop for a second created a great light show on the street. The dust then covered Nordur's view, but his men did not stop shooting, and shortly after the tanks fired again, even without being able to see, they all could feel the tremor of the mammoths' steps on the ground approaching.
Then the first mammoth came out of the smoke curtain and ran over the defense of the soldiers of Genosha, its advance is unstoppable, it looked like a high-speed steamroller, many soldiers were trampled by the mammoth, those with less luck had their bodies pierced by the ivory tusks of the animal leaving them screaming in pain hanging in the air.
To increase the chaos even more, other mammoths also joined the attack.
"Aim at the elves above!" Nordur shouted to his men.
One of the mammoths also came in his direction wanting to destroy his formation. Nordur did not wait for the animal to do this, he fired in its direction, the animal felt this and tried to attack Nordur using its huge trunk, but the general easily dodged. Then he used one of the animal's tusks as a springboard to jump over its head falling behind the elf who was controlling it, Nordur then twisted the elf's neck and took him off the animal.
He took control of the reins and forced the animal to go sideways towards another mammoth, causing them to collide. The tusks of the animal that Nordur was controlling pierced the body of another, killing it. He pulled the reins and made the animal face the battle to see his men in total chaos, the mammoths broke the formation of his soldiers. The Ogres took advantage of this confusion and are now attacking, they swung tree trunks using them as weapons, each blow of theirs made his men fly.
He was about to use the animal to attack the Ogres, but then he felt danger behind him. As a veteran soldier with many battles, he was faithful to his instincts and jumped off the animal. When he fell to the ground, he saw a huge Ogre hit his weapon on the animal's neck, killing it.
The ogre tried once more to hit the general, but he managed to escape by rolling between his legs. When he got up, he drew his sword and with one blow cut the two Achilles tendons of the monster, making it roar in pain and fall to its knees on the ground. Nordur was already waiting for this and thrust the sword right in the center of his back into his spine.
"BE CAREFUL, SIR!"
In a battlefield, you must always be alert to your surroundings. Even without his subordinate having shouted, he already knew that there was something behind him, so he rolled to the side avoiding the knife of the dark elf from piercing his back.
"So you're finally going to join the battle, you damned!" He said to his enemy.
Around him, several dark elves ran towards the battle ignoring Nordur. The elves were now taking advantage of the confusion and using the Ogres to attack the soldiers' backs. The elf who attacked before ran to his front, the general had to dodge quickly, since he was unarmed, he left his sword stuck to the body of the Ogre. He took his shield off his back and hit the elf right in the neck, after the elf fell to the ground he was hit by the general's boot right in his white mask.
After Nordur finished off his enemy, he turned to look at the entire battlefield, the scene was simply chaotic. Several of his soldiers joined together to try to finish off the ogres by shooting with their lances and piercing them with their swords. Those unlucky ones who were not lucky were grabbed by the ogres and "squeezed", some of them even had their heads torn off by the monsters' bites. To make matters worse, the dark elves, taking advantage of the attention of his men on the ogres, attacked them from behind.
Knowing that the situation could not stay like this for long, he pointed the shield to the battle in front of him. The glow of the shield was as if a small sun had just been born on the ground, the light crossed the entire battlefield illuminating everything. As his men were wearing helmets that prevented them from feeling the effects of the golden light, they were fine, but their enemies had a big surprise and were frozen for a few seconds. Time enough for his men to realize the situation and start to organize.
"RAAAAARGH"
One of the ogres roared when a lance thrown by Nordur pierced his eye, killing him.
"Get organized now!" He shouted to his men.
"I want a hunting group on each ogre, and the others take care of the elves!"
His men obeyed the order as quickly as they could. A hunting group was something trained by all soldiers, it was used to deal with larger and stronger enemies. Simply, five people stood around the target using only their lances so as not to get too close to the target, the goal was not to kill, but to hinder their movements, the one who will give the final blow in this case will be the tanks.
The strategy worked better than expected, and finally the army of Genosha managed to create a balance in the battle, but that does not mean that the number of deaths decreases, on the contrary, it only increased in the brutal combat that was happening. After two hours of combat without rest for both sides, the streets once clean and empty of Genosha were stained with blood and with so many bodies on the ground that the army of Genosha had no choice but to retreat a little so as not to stumble over them. Normally when a soldier from Genosha dies in combat, the runes in their armor teleport him to the city, a mechanism made with the aim of preventing enemies from getting their hands on their technology, but as this fight was happening on the ground of Genosha, this mechanism was not working.
"Kill them all!" Nordur shouted, cheering his men on.
Even with his power, he sustained numerous injuries during the battle his shoulder, legs, and head were the primary targets of the elves. If it weren't for the gifts bestowed upon him by the king, he would have been incapacitated long ago. The situation remained at a stalemate, Genosha's soldiers defended while the elves relentlessly sought their destruction. The same scenario unfolded on other battlefronts; they were being pushed back by the elves, but they wouldn't be easily defeated.
The battle continued at this relentless pace until something caught the general's attention. In the sky, two energy beams pierced the clouds, heading toward the royal castle.
"BE CAREFUL!" he shouted, but his men weren't swift enough. When the two energy beams collided with the protective shield surrounding the castle, they exploded in a shockwave that hit them head-on. All the men were thrown to the ground. As the dust settled, a curtain of debris obscured their view of everything around them.
"By Odin's beard!" Nordur exclaimed as he got up.
Everyone—enemies and allies alike—had suffered from this attack; it had literally shattered the battle's equilibrium.
"Get up now!" he commanded his soldiers.
The dust cloud still hung in the air; it would likely dissipate in minutes. Genosha's soldiers, though equipped with advanced technology, were still human, and their recovery took a little longer due to their mortal bodies.
"HAAAAAAAA!"
The battle reignited. The elves recovered more swiftly and immediately resumed their attack, targeting those still on the ground.
"Get up if you want to live!" Nordur shouted again, dispatching an elf who was about to thrust a sword into one of his men. Alone, he couldn't save everyone who remained down, and after several minutes, Genosha's soldiers finally reorganized. But the damage had been done—many were wounded or dead.
As the fight resumed, another event surprised everyone: Níðhöggr appeared above the city, firing four shots at the enemy. Clearly, the aerial battle was reaching its climax. To compound matters, one of Svartalfheim's mother ships streaked across the sky, colliding with Níðhöggr. Fortunately, they were far apart; otherwise, everyone below would have been crushed by the debris.
Such events were a shock to those in the midst of combat, but after the explosion, things finally calmed down. The general once again positioned his men, ready to end this senseless struggle. The ogres had finally been defeated by the tanks, leaving only a group of dark elves organized in front of their enemy. Once again, as at the outset, Nordur and his men stood in a shield wall formation, prepared to receive the enemy's assault.
"COME ON!" Nordur shouted, eager to bring the fight to a close.
"Hahaha, the Asgardians certainly put on quite a spectacle."
A cold laugh emanated from behind the silent dark elves, who then made way for the man who spoke. He rode an enormous white tiger with massive bat-like wings, clad in armor of two contrasting colors. Malekith had arrived.
"So you're the fool in charge of all this madness!" Nordur taunted.
"Ah, something I didn't expect, an Asgardian who thinks he understands sanity."
"It doesn't matter. This ends now!"
Nordur knew that if the enemy leader fell, the entire army would follow suit. He attacked, leaving his men behind, sprinting toward the enemy leader. When he neared the foe, he leaped, aiming to plunge his sword into the man's heart. But the enemy leader remained motionless, merely staring at Nordur. At the last moment, it was his gigantic tiger that moved—a massive white paw struck like lightning toward the general, who quickly raised his shield. The blow hit him squarely, sending him sprawling backward.
"As I suspected, it won't be so easy," Nordur muttered, rising from the ground.
"You got one thing right, Asgardian. This ends now."
When Malekith utters those words, several dark shadows materialize around him. Four-legged beasts, all black and standing two meters tall. These massive dogs have red eyes and sharp, pointed teeth.
"My wild hunt hasn't tasted Asgardian blood in many ages. Take pride in being their sustenance," Malekith says, smiling.
All parties freeze for a few seconds, and just as the attack is about to commence, something else happens.
"Elves of Svartalfheim!"
A beautiful yet furious voice reverberates throughout the city. Although it's still daytime, the sky's light vanishes momentarily, plunging everything into darkness. But before panic can fully set in, another light emerges, covering the entire land. Now, the sunlight is golden, like molten gold.
"I shall be your death!"
The voice speaks again, and Nordur smiles. His king has returned.
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