The Northern Winds native this so above the hemisphere was as black as the darkest of nights for Stryder Group and the SEAL Teams. No exceptions were made to whatever and whomever they came across. The only they are destined to spare this day from the silent ire of their suppressed weapons was their captured brethren or the valuable Magical Artifacts and they still have a long way to go before reaching any step close to where they were.

Most of the infiltrators were anxious behind their stoic breaths that glistened from their heated lungs. Normally they would have had an actionable practice before executing the mission proper but circumstances demanded a rapid insertion. But they weren’t the best of the best that the United Federation had. It was par of the course in the name of being ‘Tier-One’. Room to room they silenced everything and everyone in their path whether valuable or not. Thieves of the Night they were on that pearlescent wintry day.

Karliah’s Intelligence was faithful on much to Samantha and the SEAL’s relief. Many of the likely booby traps, meant to deter those who managed to break through the outer walls were easily defused with a flash of the fingers from the magical trickeries the Mystic Three could defuse. Their endeavors were given assistance from far away by Dr. Mahelona’s latest inventions. Called Rune Calibrators, were hand held devices, modified from Engineering Diagnostic Scanners to manipulate small amounts of Mana whenever pointed to a Mana-Influenced place. These allowed the SEAL’s to quietly dissipate Unbinillium from magically embedded traps to render them inert.

Living means of detection, people such as sentries, resting-legionnaires, refugees in such could blow the lid off this operation before it could truly begin. It was with reluctance but cold calculation they had to be disposed of swiftly much Karliah’s and Aliathra’s sorrow. A swift slash of the blades, long and short that the Infiltrators wielded was at the end of the day, an efficient alternative to the fortuitous happenings of a few simple divinations of magicks to enslumber whomever they encounter. It requires Gliesian finesse and some luck rather than Federation routine.

“Curse our luck.” Iris peeked over the corner. “There are dozens of them.”

Just beyond the next hallway was an entire chamber of Soldiers, mostly Ethuilen Elves who had set up a makeshift Barracks across each other. It was a homely reminder for the Elven Princess of her homeland thanks to the adornment of flags, a relaxing scent of dried flower petals and Elven grace. Many of them rested on their bunks, whilst others passed their time off with a few leisurely diversions of cards. Some sported a few wounds or were taking some of their daily doses of prescriptive supplements from their Apothecaries to boost their overall health. All unaware of the lurking predators in the dark that seeked to penetrate this paramnesia of sanctuary.

There was no way around them unfortunately as the Infiltrators quietly nodded. The fortress’ design to be the most impregnable of bastions in the world. Nobody could go around, through, above or below.

“Cloaks or screenings will not work with the girls hanging on with us. Elves’ill sniff them out. Crocker turned around his neck and whispered. “Can any of you guys know some tricks? Like I don’t know, a teleporty spell?”

“Nay, even in short distances, it will create too much noise.” Karliah disagreed.

“Fine then, lets hit them with a mute charge and end them quickly.” Kayin cocked his MAR-5 Assault Rifle at the ready.

“Halt! There is no need to shed more blood than what is necessary. For Clovich’s speech to have a better chance on sparing as many people as possible, we must keep our hands pure of blood. Save our energy for the battles we cannot evade but fight. Never those we can avoid if we can help it.” Aliathra recited a piece of wisdom she had learned in her many decades of knowledge. “Allow me.”

Magic conjured around the Elf’s hand. It was cloaked in purple yet glowing light. It’s presence giving an unnerving chill being felt by everyone around her.

“Dúr gador… cin bel-assi… estel.” Aliathra chanted slowly. Drops of sweat beginning to burn its excess off her skin.

The Elf’s eyes glow red as she turned around the corner. Her conjuration discharged from her hand and flew around the corner to the Elven Barracks. The energy perforated around the room, infecting everyone with its illusory presence. The elves in the room starts falls into their knee or fall head first into the floor in mass collapse coherent with their mouth drooling and tears flowing from the eyes.

“They should not be able to bother us. Onwards.” Aliathra nodded as she walked reservedly into the middle of the Barracks.

Under her spell, the Elves blankly turned their gaze towards her. But instead of drawing their weapons and sounding the alarm, they shuddered fearfully at Aliathra’s presence.

When the SEAL’s emerged from the cover they were at first amazed by the Elf’s ability to pacify such a large amount of tangoes so quickly.

“Strange…” Aliathra paused mid-way to her stroll. She noticed her kinsmen’s teary eyes follow her as she moved ominously. “They shouldn’t be even aware of our presence.”

“No--No… Shall… Pass…” one of the Elves began to drool, alongside his eyes beginning to crack open with tears streaming below his cheek. His barely coherent sentences degrading into an animalistic whine. “Paaaa---"

“Looo----” another began to mumbled insanely the longer her blank eyes stared on to the SEAL’s visages. Her reverberations accelerating with every passing moment.

Sensing something was wrong with her spell, Aliathra stepped closer to one of the enchanted Elves and examined their eyes further. When her azure irises met theirs, she saw to her horror what she had done. Soulless, cold and alien eyes with tears breaching away from their eyes slowly, the irises of despair. They even began to drool loosely from their mouths like docile livestock.

“How long will this spell last?” Samantha asked the Elf.

“Nenya… have mercy… what have I done?” Aliathra recoiled, her face depressing into distraught in an instant.

She looked at the agonized faces of her kinsmen. The Magick permeating upon their now besieged minds was of not just infirmed pain that a Healer can solve in a few minutes. But of hellish torment if not casting permanent mental damage to their fortitude. The spell must have had a miscalculation of her judgement by a few joules of her Mana Input. It will take a very long time for the effects to wear off. A very long and agonizing time for these poor elves.

To see their Invaders march pass them with impunity alongside the ‘Corrupted’ Princess was the greatest of dishonors that these proud warriors could ever be ashamed of bearing. The longer the enchanted elves were exposed to the Soldiers, the greater their descent into madness became. Until they reached the event horizon of their despair, shattering their minds forever. To Aliathra’s horror, the bright life within their eyes faded into a black irreparable nothingness. What is just only a few minutes in reality was in their minds, a tantalizing agony of months within Illusion spell’s grip.

“What exactly did you do to them?” Kayin asked the Elf.

“Thidar’s Shackles. It is a spell I had been experimenting on for a while… to help pacify anyone we may need to capture peacefully without the trying to fight back. I… I learned it from you… from that Animation from your Television with the Red-Eyed person.” The Elf explained.

“Which one?” Samantha furrowed her brow.

“The one with that little Rogue boy with the spiky gold hair and orange clothing.” Aliathra answered. “I forgot the name, but I got the idea for this spell there.”

“You’d…You… did… holy shit! You actually casted the Moon God Technique?” Samantha’s face paled in horrifying realization. It was one to watch terror in front of a fictionalized screen, it was another to see it with your own two eyes. Her eyes darted, red and sweating with tears to the Elven Girl, mustering any words she could to tell her of what she had just done.

“You mean that one torturing spell from that show… I mean… Anime with the little Rogue… or how you call it… ‘Ninja’ they call people like him there? That little lad aside, there was this one mage… with this sinister red eye of his can make a few seconds in reality feel like months of torture. Just by looking at them! How devious!” Iris nodded along Samantha.

Aliathra bowed her head. Confirming her assumptions and Samantha’s abhorrence.

"How can you Earthlings create such a horrific spell like that?” Karliah fearfully asked Captain Rose.

“You sometimes terrify me Alie. And I am supposed to be the one that’s ‘terrifying’.” Iris blurbed.

"Magic does not exist in our world so the spell Aliathra just performed is just a product of imagination for entertainment purposes until now. We can think up some of the strangest of things when we put our heads into it.” Samantha answered. “Again… that is uncalled for Alie. Do not do that again.”

“This… this… this is too cruel Alie.” Samantha reprimanded her. “We need to… end them cleanly.” Samantha swallowed her throat for a drawn-out moment before she slides her hand across her neck. Their hands will be bloodied much more today as the Elf had feared.

The enchanted Elves meanwhile continue to moan miserably behind them. Their broken aura’s emitting a disturbing resonance amongst the SEALs.

“Poor bastards.” Clay huffed.

“Just one shot. Dios-Mio…” A SEAL Team cocked his silenced Pistol at the ready.

“Hold on! Can we not stop for a moment and dispel this?” Karliah protested.

“Nay, will take too much time. They are all Opfor anyways and will waste too much time. To be honest, even this is too cruel of you Aliathra.” Crocker shot down the proposal. “Sometimes you scare me… all three of you lot.” His eyes darted to the Mystic Three.

“Just do it. End them cleanly. Then let’s get back on with it.” Samantha bit her lip. She knew her team-mate swore she wanted to spare as many of her kin as possible but alas, the reality it is, they are enemy combatants that must be incapacitated in any capacity, temporary or permanently.

“Alie, I am so sorry.” Rose turned to her friend. Knowing that such a horrid sight would shatter her heart again.

The muffled thud of the SEAL’s silenced weapons left a disturbed echo that will forever haunt Aliathra’s ears. An echo of her failure to save her kin, now fell into a tragedy. No matter how she framed this entry in her long-aged life, she is at fault of their deaths. Closing her eyes she muttered a silent prayer to Tivna, Goddess of Death to grant her kinsmen’s souls a warm welcome to her Garden.

When she opened her eyes again, she counted thirty of her kin bodies fall upon the floor, single shot of the Federation’s Bullets smiting them dead. It was over as soon as it began. The SEAL’s began to take point to the door leading to the split-off point.

“Spearhead this is Stiletto 4-1. We have arrived at the midway point. It’s all quiet right now, we should still be under their radar.” The SEAL radioed.

“This is Stiletto 3-1 activity by the Battlements seemed to not have changed much either. You guys are still in the clear, get moving.” Radioed in SEAL Team 3’s Leader whose men were in charge of Reconnaissance from afar.

“All teams, proceed as plan with the mission. We got time tables that were overdue weeks ago people.” Major Holyfield’s voice gazed imposingly upon the Infiltration team.

“Captain Rose, this is where we split off now.” The Team Leader turned to the woman in the Hecate Suit.

“Let’s go?” Samantha said.

“One moment…” Aliathra paused her. “Neneth, Mother of all Creation forgive us for our tresspasses and grant eternal rest and consolation for those who now journey to the Garden. Please… forgive me… grant me strength for this crusade I have embarked. May my burden… burden… be carried through so that more can bathe in your merciful embrace… especially my brother…” she prayed silently.

She knelt down to one of the bodies of her fellow kinsmen and tore out his religious pendant. She then proceeded to crawl around the barracks looking for more of these pendants for her to claim onto her pocket.

“What are you doing?” Diaz asked her.

“When we get back. Can you and Sam come to my house? I wish to do something with these pendants these Soldiers carried. There is something I have… must do with them.” Aliathra said.

“I will help you.” Iris nodded.

“Yeah, me too. Make this quick.” Diaz volunteered.

They managed to quickly grabbed the Religious Pendants the soldiers held on their persons before giving them to a bereaved Aliathra. A small smile of comfort escaped her lips. She whispered to each of those pendants with an indiscernable prayer to her Godddess before she placed them on her satchel.

“I will not… I must succeed this day.” Aliathra nodded.

[-]

The journey downstairs to the Dungeon was uneventful much to everyone’s easied breath. Outside of several sentries that was no difficult to pass by from or dispose of, the lower levels of the Wall were nothing that Stryder Group and the SEAL’s couldn’t worm there way through of.

After dispatching a trio of sentries guarding the entrance to the Dungeon. The UFEAF Special Forces Teams poured in.

“Approaching Objective Oscar-November-Echo…” a SEAL radioed command.

“Y-You… W-We are here!” cried a voice in English.

Pushing through the dark corners of the dimly lit prison, Stryder Group found at long last, with the revelation of their tactical flashlights their imprisoned comrades.

“UFE Navy SEALS. We are here to get all of you boys back home.” The SEAL Team Leader informed the very grateful 88th Brigade Rangers.

“Took you long enough…” one of the Prisoners. A Man stood up to greet his rescuers. Beneath the silhouette of his ragged clothing, Stryder Group, especially both Samantha and Aliathra stared in horror at the sight of his poor state shared between him and his fellow comrades.

He was malnourished, bruised and legs trembling of days if not weeks long of abuse by his captors.

“Ten… Eleven… Twelve… Where’s the rest of you?” Samantha headcounted.

“Elliot, Davies, Alvarez…” the man weakly sputtered as Sargeant Crocker tore away the locks to their cell. “Just us twelve that is left… so many… I can… still hear… their screams.”

The fragile man weakly stepped forth and grasped into Samantha’s embrace. Savoring the taste of his salvation at long last.

“Neneth have mercy on them all. Come to me.” Aliathra stepped forward. Restorative energies conjured into her hands as she went to work alleviating the most immediate of injuries that the Prisoners had suffered through. She was reviled, but maintain her poise when she was presented one legged soldiers, broken bones and floods of dung-ridden infections across their semi-butchered bodies.

“Bollocks.” Crocker cussed out, his breath respirating deeply. “I never saw injuries like this when I was touring Eridani. Mother and Daughter, Hopkins their last names were, victims of traffickers. Learned of them from an anonymous Tip. Saw them hooked to a wall together in an Illegal Den I raided. I can still remember all the blood… muck and… sorry… the smell of this place reminded me of them. The horror being there all alone… scared and being torn apart and forced to put back together. Trying to scream for help but nobody is there to listen? I want to strangle the sonuvabitch who did this to them.” He gnashed his teeth. His hand forming into a crackling knuckled beneath the fingers of his Hercules Exo-Suit.

“What happened to them now?” Kayin asked.

“Doctors says it would have been a miracle after all what that little girl and her mother went through to come back… after 5 years in that shit hole. The Boss of that place, ‘Caesar’ he calls himself... died shortly in prison after getting a life sentence.” Crocker added. “I can still remember their four… cold… cold eyes.”

“What matters is that they were rescued. Not many folks like them are so lucky. But then… maybe I shouldn’t say much after what you said happened to them...” Kayin lowered his head and pouted his thick lips.

“Remember kids, do not ever leave a soul behind to the dark. Or you hate yourself for the rest of your life when you do find them again.” Crocker raised his head. “What we did here today, is one light shining upon this… this dark… dark world.”

“They took our Guns, our Clothes and even our Dogtags too Captain Rose. Gave them to some robed people for ‘Study’ of sorts by the way they looked into our stuff. That and our guns and equipment. I think they mentioned they will take them to a place called ‘the Arcaneum’ or something like that?” another prisoner testified.

“Knowing them, they probably think those name badges you never part with are some kind of ‘Soul Phylactery’ of sorts.” Iris commented.

“I see.” Samantha nodded as she turned on her Radio. “This Captain Rose, sitrep. We got the first Package. Only Twelve of the Eggs are still unhatched. Over.”

“Not the best numbers I had hope for Captain Rose. But these boys been through all the hell I just cannot imagine.” Colonel Polonsky nodded. “Get them all Home.”

“Additionally, the Twelve Eggs reported that their equipment were confiscated off to the Arcaneum at the upper floors. I need you to keep an eye for their stuff. Destroy them and then find those Dog Tags.”

“Affirmative Captain Rose. I’ll keep an eye out.” SEAL Team 2’s Leader, one of the Spec-Ops teams assigned to raid the Arcaneum nodded.

“Super Ospreys are now inbounding to the extraction point. Do not be late.” Major Holyfield added.

“Can any of you hold a gun? We need to get you all out of here.” Samantha drew her sidearm.

“Yes… I don’t want die this shithole.” One of the Prisoners took her Gladius Pistol from his hands.

“Shield Father, Spear Head, we are moving into the Extraction Point.” Samantha radioed.

“Let’s get the hell outta’ere then!” Obediah grabbed up one of the Prisoners who couldn’t walk over his shoulders and began to carry him off.

[-]

“You wish to leave with your entire army with you… now at our darkest hour?!” Marshall Huguet yelled to Prince Valorion.

But his Elven counterparts, their general, advisors and lieutenants all nodded in unison, confirming the Marshall’s worst fears. His foreign allies had not stomached the news of the sudden takeover of their homeland. The imperious pointed-ear Knights and their Warriors had spent most of the past few days not attending to their duties as soldiers would but frantic letter writings to their loved ones clogging up the Mailing Birds Nests and the slough of lamentations of many more of them cracked the armor of the otherwise impregnable fortress of Ghana’s Wall.

"You cannot just abandon us in our hour of need now! Without your forces, we will be crushed the Otherworlders. And if Ghana’s Wall falls, your homeland of Alfel-Nora will be next!" Huguet screamed.

"We had already made our decision, Marshall. I am sorry that this has come to this. I have already arranged my Galleons for our departure for our new campaign to liberate our homeland!” the Elven Prince apologized. “There will be no further discussion, I will depart for the port by tomorrow morning. The situation as is here in this fortress is doomed from the start. It is more valuable use of my troops if they return home and liberate Alfel-Nora from the Dark Elves and those traitors from their taint and cruelty." Valorion firmly placed his foot down.

"Then how we suppose to fight back when these Otherworlders besiege us?" Faithleann asked.

"Why don't you ask the Daosne to give you some hands or your mercenary friends from Sakposai? They will gladly sell themselves for your coin already given your history." Valorion stated.

"Surely you jest? What makes you think those Beastmen would agree to help us? They would side with the Otherworlders without the second thought already. I saw several of the Centaurs already fighting alongside them already. Our Allies from Sakposai of the Eastern Deserts would take too long for them to send any aid to us if they even wish to.” Huguet answered. His hands shakening as he is beginning to lose all of the cards, he could play dealt to him.

"Well, there is nothing more I can do! Once again… I am sorry that things have to come to this. So may the Twin Gods of War and Nenya bless your fate" Valorion shrugged his shoulders and then sympathetically bowed.

"Don't you dare leave us to our fate!!! If you leave now, The Legion… will....", Huguet stuttered, his poise cracking beneath his crumbling castle.

"Will do what?" Valorion scoffed at him. He knew fully-well that the Marshall and the Slaegian Legions have nothing to bargain with the Ethuilen. As far as the current table of had shown in this Gods-cursed war, only Valorion had the largest, the most united and most cohesive army in all of the Ysanigrad Continent.

Huguet stiffened his tongue, there would be no fruit he could toil from with such a hostile soil that is to to start an unnecessary conflict with the Elves over something they have all unanimously decided to do. He could only watch helplessly as Valorion and the rest of his Elven Entourage leave to prepare for their departure from Ghana Wall.

"What can we do now? We lack the manpower to properly take the fight against the Otherworlders" Findrum debated for answers.

"The Fortress is doomed Petur.” Mita argued. “Our best course of action, the way I see it, is to retreat with what we can bring with us and seek refuge at Sakposai at the Aitesae Desert.”

"Enough with your foolish speech, Crow Master! Why did we invite you here after that jestering you had done last time?” Faithleann shouted back. “Maybe it is time we investigate those old scriptures of Caldell’s Sword? It could grant us Salvation!” he whimsically suggested.

"Silence!” Huguet roared. “Both of you!”

The bickering Crow Master and the Chosen One had

“We have to think something to keep the Elves here with us! Anything?!” Huguet asked for counsel of his subordinates.

But nobody answered, the further more they tried to concoct a plan, a grain of hope within the darkness brought before them, only seemed to have them plummet further down it instead. All options had burnt, spent or were too impractical to cast in such a short period of time…

Mita stormed off, not bothering another word with anyone else. If they won’t see the writing on the wall. Then it is all likely up to her to convince as much as she can of her radical plan.

But first off… as she descended downstairs, she suddenly caught a whiff of her new eldritch senses that is her Vampirism of something… abundant… yet so prosperous.

“Blood? Fountains of them?” Mita fought the ability to indulge her instincts… but yet such a high volume of it being scented now was suspicious.

Too suspicious.

[-]

“Spearhead, Shield-Father, this is Stilleto 5-1. My Hornet Drone found something important to report.” radioed one of the Bravo Team SEAL Leaders. “It looks like this ‘Alliance of the Light’ is more fractured than we thought.”

“Go ahead, 5-1.” Polonsky lended his ear.

On Clay’s radio, Stryder’s Communication’s Specialists beckoned Aliathra to closer to him to listen.

“Drone caught a few loose lipped Slegs mentioning that their supposed ‘allies’ the Elves are leaving the Fortress tomorrow.” the SEAL reported.

“Leave right now? Why so?” Polonsky furrowed. The Elves were doing fairly well putting the advance of the UFE forces to a crawl the past few days. Why withdraw the chips on the table right this moment when the whole defense of Ghana’s Wall pitches upon their reinforcement.

“From what the UAV heard, there’s a ‘Coup’ in Alfel-Nora of sorts. And the Elves are being compelled to turn back and defend their homeland. They probably di-di-mau’ing now we are closing in on them.” the Team Leader explained.

“A Coup? Alfel-Nora? My home? My Family? What in Nenya’s name had happened?!” Aliathra’s eyes widened, knocking her focus on the mission away from healing the injured POW’s she had rescued. Denial swam into her head as she listened further.

“Not so sure the rest of the details. But we need to focus on our current objectives right now.” the Bravo Unit Leader coldly replied, fitting the tier-one professionalism of the SEALs.

“I can confirm on 5-1’s intel. I am seeing a whole bunch of Elves packing up their camps already. They are going to di-di-mau before the day’s end.” Charlie Unit added to Bravo’s findings.

“Interesting find Stiletto, we will investigate further once we finish up with the operation. Move out!” Major Holyfield nodded.

“Mother, Father… Sister… Brother… Valorion…” Aliathra muttered, her head depressing into distraught of the devastating news. Iris placed her hand on her back to support her.

“I… I am so sorry to hear that.” Iris shared into her sorrow.

“Bravo Unit in Objective Tango-Whiskey-Oscar.” The Radio roared further into progress.

“Your clear to move in on the target.” Major Holyfield gave the go-ahead.

A click of the door, a loud bang and the percussion of gunfire erupted from Clay’s radio as Stryder Group and the Alpha Unit SEAL’s guided the Prisoners into the extraction point.

“This is Bravo Unit. Our Objective is secured.” The SEAL reported.

“Samantha… there is much more Artifacts in here than I had thought.” Karliah’s voice emerged from the Radio.

“Bravo Unit, grab as much as you can carry.” Holyfield ordered.

“Don’t forget to find the 88th’s old equipment too.” Colonel Polonsky added.

“Affirmative sir!” Bravo Unit responded.

“Looks like this mission is gonna be smooth. Gone in sixty seconds.” Diaz chuckled.

“Spearhead, I don’t think that would be necessary for the latter. The enemy kinda did most of our job for us.” The Bravo Unit’s SEAL Team Leader commented. “The study room is full of bullet holes and traces of explosions from grenades blood stains on the wall. I even see a bunch of MAR-A5… uh… parts all smashed up around the table.”

“No surprise, these idiots don’t know shit on how Guns work.” Obediah crudely remarked.

“Sounds like your average day in Doctor Mahelona’s Lab too.” Samantha chided.

“Most of the rest of the stuff have been disassembled... very… uh poorly. All broken up as if they had to force them apart with. Carlisle, Peters get the thermite onto that stache and get ready to detonate it on my word. Leave no trace!” the SEAL continued to report.

“Hey! I think I found the Dog Tags you mentioned too. All ten are accounted for.” Bravo Unit’s Co-Leader added. “Hey someone help Karliah open that vault!”

A heavy sliding noise could be heard on the radio clearly. It was slow and lengthened that it took the great effort just to force open.

“And we hit the Jackpot. Magic Scrolls, Magic Armor… Magic everything!” A grin could be easily imagined on the enthused Spec-Op soldiers face as he continued.

“This is Alpha Unit. All Twelves Eggs have been secured.” Samantha’s SEAL colleague had just by then already arrived at the extraction point where four Super Osprey’s awaited. They Ushered in the P.O.Ws to their seats who are now being thankfully given proper medical attention from the Medics who are held on standby to attend to their injuries.

“Affirmative Stilleto 1-1. You have new orders. You are to be redirected to rendezvous and assist Bravo Unit in extracting those Artifacts at the Arcaneum.” Holyfield updated the mission’s paramaters.

“High Command wants that place wiped clean when we leave. Steal anything not bolted down and thermite the rest.” Polonsky added.

"Good, we can use some hands to gather some more of the artifacts. We will go to the extraction zone to…” The Bravo Leader said but he is interrupted by the ominous ringing of a bell.

At first, it was no louder than a singular heartbeat. But as that heartbeat quickened, more bells united in its chorus. Their collective voices combining into one great arousing hymn that the fortress heard and now heed the call. Everywhere the Fortress’s blood spilled forth into formation now readying their weapons, their magicks and people to the infection that infiltrated its sacred body.

"Damnit, We’ve been compromised. Drop what you have and just blow it up, we need to evac now!” the Bravo Leader shouts as his heart beat quickens the more the alarm bell sang its rousing song.

A fiery convocation then erupted several dozen feet away from the Extraction Point. Debris falling away as the Arcaneum, arguably the most important facility in Ghana’s Wall reduced into ashes.

“Hurry to that door. We can avoid most of the garrison through here." Karliah guided them.

"Bravo Unit, be advised. The whole damn Fortress knows you are all there. They are moving to intercept you." Charlie Unit reconnaissance the developing scene from their vantage point afar.

"Fuck! We are pinned.” The Bravo Leader curse. “We got company and they are not happy to see us!”

"Bravo Unit! Hang in there! We are coming to get you out of there!" Sam yelled on the radio. “Team Two, stay here and protect the Osprey’s. Team One, follow me to assist Bravo. Let’s double-time people.”

“Hooah!” Obediah cheered. “Let’s get loud!” he excitedly cocked his gun.

[-]

"Bravo, Alpha, this is Charlie, we are running low on ammo and we need to fall back soon. The Fliers are starting to realize they aren’t the only set of eyes here. They are about to close in our position. In about a hundred seconds tops, you’ll be on your own." the Reconnaissance Units of SEAL Team 3 said as he sniped the Hippogryphon, ending the beast and its subsequent rider with a .50 caliber shot to its torso.

The Elven Great Eagles however were still a challenge for the Sharpshooters to handle however, their erratic movement in addition to the Elven Gladehearth Knights mounted atop of them raining piercing winds towards them was unlike any foe the SEALs had encountered before. Their superfluous ability to sense the forested vantage point they hide upon a commanding view of Ghana’s Wall, quite literally through the grapevines behind them. The Eagle Riders were able to catch whiff of the intruding Charlie Unit and are descending to them for the attack. The Eagle’s erratic movement and the addition of Wind Magic imbueing their arrows made their shots pierce just as great as the Otherworlder’s bullets.

“Block that door!” Bravo Team’s Leader ordered. “Stryder we’re under heavy pursuit, we’re low on ammo and we took some hits but we managed to hide inside some kind of Armory. They’ll be surrounding us in about a sixty. Get to us quick!” he updated.

“There is no use trying to escape Otherworlders! We will cut down every last one of you for daring to invade our homeland! Legionnaires besiege that armory!” Marshall Huguet’s voice bellowed from outside.

The sound of gunfire, shouting and magical spell casting clashed behind the static of his Audio as the SEAL’s were forced back into a corner.

“Hold’on and wait for us to arrive just a little longer.” Samantha answered.

Stryder Group and Alpha Unit rushed as fast and discreetly as they could to their harried allies’ position, fighting their way through the now vivified as the fortress. It was hard for them to mole their way through the guards now their alert had escalated but the cloaking of their Shade suits and the step of their Geist Shoes mitigated their scent to a certain degree. That and not the assistance of the Mystic Three performing a few cantrips to aid their way through the maze.

By about a few dozen more meter’s dash, they had reached the place where Bravo Unit had taken shelter in.

Over a courtyard, opposite of them was their IR Beacon’s displayed on all of the UFEAF’s Helmet’s signifying Bravo’s pinned down position. Between them and salvation however was hundreds if about two-hundred-foot mobiles and of the Ethuilen Great Eagle’s hovering around the wounded SEAL’s like vultures awaiting to finish them once and for all. The Armory was beginning to go through a siege as several of the Elven and Slaegian Soldiers prepared improvised sieged battery rams and ladders to crack through the position. A siege that the SEAL’s know are not dressed to endure.

“Shit, I don’t know if we can actually handle all of these guys with just the sixteen of us.” Kayin sweated.

“Your time to shine Iris.” Samantha turned to the Vampire Witch. “Load one of your Grenade Launcher with your Acid-Cloud Rounds.” Captain ordered.

“I love using this.” Iris smiled excitedly as she grabbed her X2 MGL Grenade Launcher and loaded her specially concocted ammunition.

But as she was about to take aim of her Launcher, a blessed Crossbow Bolt flew towards Iris. Thankfully Diaz managed to parry with his sword the otherwise fatal shot mid-air thanks to his Rapid Movement Booster augmentations.

“Fuck! We’re made!” Diaz cursed.