“Alpha to fall back by ten metres, let Charlie take over,” Aziz ordered curtly. Two distinct bodies of troops moved a few seconds after his order, bringing up a fresh new wall of defences. Having at least ten Palisades — one-use artefacts that projected a barrier of qi — were standard equipment for a soldier of Thunderbolt now, which had enabled Thunderbolt in sustaining minimal casualties up until now.

The slow flight had gone fine, right until Eo-Seu’s southern shoreline was in sight. The appearance of a few thousand fliers, spearheaded by a force of Knights that had been hiding after reaching their appointed destinations, had activated some sort of panic reaction. Soldiers in blue had suddenly popped up on the sea’s surface, a few kilometres beneath them, and started blasting out projectiles of blue energy at them.

Only the sheer inaccuracy of their first volley had saved the East’s first ever airborne division from utter destruction, but even then, their response had been less than ideal. If it hadn’t been night back then, Spring Fury would have ended prematurely, but even with this stroke of luck, most of the fliers took the follow-up volley with their Dynamos’ Shells head on, something that Thunderbolt would never do unless it was a last resort.

Charlie’s wall of Palisades lit up brilliantly as hundreds of shots collided with it. Aziz frowned. Though these artefacts were one-use, so long as their projected barrier wasn’t overwhelmed, they could recharge over time until they were deactivated. Theoretically, if rotation was conducted masterfully, troops with Palisades could hold off fire for a very long time…but the artefact was never designed to block over a hundred attacks from Soldiers. Only the constant shifting of Palisades around had helped in maintaining the defences’ integrity.

Captain Augustus barked out a few orders, and the positions of the Palisades changed. Meanwhile, Alpha Company, making use of the cover afforded by the hundred and sixty-odd Palisades, fired with impunity. Tens of blue-armoured soldiers crumpled and fell over, their bodies turning into blue light a few minutes later. Aziz glanced at the right wing, where Marie was leading Beta and Delta Company, and nodded in satisfaction as they too mowed down another set of opponents.

But despite their success, Aziz couldn’t help but feel dismayed. It was probably something that Marie was feeling, on the other side, since the operation had forced them into something like a static firefight. Thunderbolt, as far as possible, tried to avoid being forced into a static position. It flourished in mobile warfare, taking advantage of their superior mobility and range to harass and crush enemies as and when needed.

The one silver lining about the whole thing was that Thunderbolt was assigned to the flanks. The heaviest exchange of fire was in the middle of the formation, where the East’s Second Airborne Battalion was taking incredible fire. They were employing tactics similar to Thunderbolt’s own — which was natural, given that they had copied the North’s tactics wholesale — but their evident lack of practice was turning around to bite them on their ass.

Thunderbolt Battalion, even when working at full capacity, would have suffered casualties from such a storm of fire. A hastily-created battalion with little training would fare far worse.

The Radio sitting on Aziz’s shoulder crackled to life.

“Thunderbolt Sunray Minor, this is Thunderbolt Sunray, message, over.”

“Thunderbolt Sunray, this is Thunderbolt Sunray Minor, send, over.”

“Thunderbolt Sunray Minor, new orders from Command,” Marie said. “Prepare to execute Vanishing Point, over.”

Aziz frowned. Vanishing Point referred to an encirclement manoeuvre by the wings of the assault force, which was pretty much Thunderbolt itself. But without an opening...

“Thunderbolt Sunray, orders received. What is our cue? Over.”

“Thunderbolt Sunray Minor, Brightest Dawn, over.”

“Thunderbolt Sunray, noted, out.”

He looked at the two captains, who had overheard the conversation (which seemed unnecessarily formal, but Marie probably had her own reasons) and then nodded at them. “You heard the boss. Prepare to move.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Yes, sir!”

The East’s own airborne forces were beginning to pick up their slack too. It seemed that the fastest way to improve was under literal fire, but they had paid a heavy price for it — dropping into the ocean at such heights was nothing short of a death sentence.

The Radio artefact crackled once again. “Control to all units, Brightest Dawn imminent at Echo-Sixteen in t-minus ten.”

“That’s our sign,” Aziz said quietly, counting down the seconds in his own mind. Shots continued to pepper Charlie’s defences, but it would seem that the Lifespring’s forces had no idea what was about to happen. Tension built up within Alpha and Charlie Company — Aziz could sense the bloodlust from the soldiers under his command.

A giant ball of light bloomed in the middle of the sea, right at where the Lifespring’s forces were most concentrated. The wind screamed, battering at Aziz madly even at such a distance, whipping up giant tides that crushed Conrah’s soldiers walking on the sea. In response, five brilliant pillars of light descended from the skies, and Lord-class presences appeared behind the entire assault force, effectively entrapping them.

Their target, however, was the person who had fired off that single shot. Gaius.

Aziz shook his head as he sped off with the two companies, their captains hot on his heels. The boy had brought them enough of an opening to crush whatever sea-based troops the Lifespring had, and it was all he could do to pray for the little boy’s survival.

Thunderbolt Battalion, now freed from what essentially was a static defence, began to swoop through the battlefield. Without the need to maintain the Palisades, Alpha and Charlie began to clear up troops rapidly, something Beta and Delta was doing too on the other side of the combat zone.

A veritable storm of fire erupted from the East’s airborne troops as Alpha crushed yet another small pocket of blue soldiers. Now that the initiative had returned to the East’s main assault body, they were pouring out fire relentlessly, shredding whatever meagre resistance the Lifespring’s troops were putting up into tiny pieces.

At the same time, another five pillars of azure light appeared in the distance. More Lords of his were being transported over to hunt down Gaius — the Lifespring was apparently willing to trade his troops for the boy’s life.

“That’s one hell of a welcome carpet.” Aziz stared grimly at the combat zone ten kilometres away, where the boy was fighting for his life. The East’s airborne soldiers were making use of this time to reorganise — which was the correct thing to do — but deep down, Aziz felt that they should have done the right thing by supporting him with fire.

But he wasn’t the one calling the shots here.