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--- City of Dalko, Great Plains Region ---

Date: August 26th, 2026

Noticing that the sound of clashing Apostles vanished, Sharpe got worried that the battle was lost. He couldn’t get ahold of Rory from the radio and no answer from the other Apostles responded.

“No need to worry, Jackson,” Lelei said. “Rory is to stubborn to fail. I believe she will be okay.”

“Probably.” Sharpe caught Lelei, Yao, and Tuka giggling. “What?”

“Always a worrier under that turtle shell,” Lelei said. “It is cute.”

“Do not worry,” Tuka said. “We are all worried.”

“Sir,” Andrew said as he looked through his binoculars. “I have a lot of incoming. I think fifteen of them.”

“Fifteen?” Sharpe quickly looked through his binoculars and saw Rory. Among her are almost a dozen other Apostles. Half of which he has never seen before which is not a good sign. With the number of supernatural warriors that were incoming and none responding to radio hail, he could see a very worried look in everyone's manner, including himself.

Noticing that Rory started rushing forward, Sharpe placed his hand on his M17 sidearm, fearing the worst. With a strong leap from the base of the hill, Rory landed in the middle of everyone. “Hi everyone. It is so nice to see you all.”

“You are alive,” Lelei yelled as she gave Rory a hug. “And not turned into a monster.”

“Oh yeah,” Rory said, placing her finger on her chin. “You might want to talk with the designer of these radios. Apparently, they cannot withstand an Apostle fight.”

Feeling a sense of relief, Sharpe walked over to Rory and kneeled, placing both hands on her shoulders. He saw all the damage along her body as it was still regenerating. “You are alright? Like, alright, alright?”

Rory smiled with a sense of relief. “Yes, I am. I also brought some friends. They should be able to help.”

Seeing the over a dozen of Apostles appear, the uneasiness still did not leave. Sharpe saw two groups. The one everyone already knew and had friendly terms with and there was the other who were enemies only fifteen seconds ago. With the size of that group, if they attack no one here would be able to stop them.

“Are you sure Rory?” Sharpe asked.

“Yes,” Rory said. “We are going to need everyone we can get.”

Unable to argue with that fact, Sharpe faced the Apostles. “Alright everyone. You will be given orders in a moment. Alicia, Frost, find them all new radios. After that, you will be split into teams and spread out throughout the line. We are about to head to Darlko and end-.”

As he spoke, Mabel interrupted. “Mortal, please. I know you are not from this world, but we are Apostles. We are hand-picked by the gods and we do not obey your Realm.”

Rory gave the group a glare. “Yes, you will. All of you.” Rory's bold statement baffled and frustrated Mabel's group.

Cronan approached Mabel's side and said, “We do not follow mortals. They are supposed to follow us or have your emotions got the better of you again, Rory?”

Feeling only frustration as this was the last thing Sharpe needed to deal with at the moment. Without hesitation, he walked right up to Mabel and stared her directly in the eyes to show no fear as he realized that she had become the leader of this faction. He remembered dealing with this mindset with other Apostles in the past and knew showing strength was the key. “When you and your friends speak, you say sir.”

Mabel started directly at the Lieutenant Colonel with a look of annoyance at his attitude. “Mortal. I could easily crush you and everyone around you within a moment if it was not for Rory establishing her protection.”

“Tell that to mister half-ax over there,” Sharpe quickly responded, ignoring what she said to show his authority within the situation. "And it is, 'you can crush you, sir'." He watched as she broke the stare at Taylin's weapon.

Taylin took a deep, defeated breath and headed up his half-broken ax. “We fought three times before and my ax was destroyed because of it.”

“You all should just listen to Rory and her mortal friends,” Giselle said. “I fought his people and ended up their slave for six months. Locked up in their electric prison and forced to clean Alnus as punishment.”

“And I was put in that same prison after Rondel until I regained my senses,” Jasis said with a big smile. She then started clapping. “I enjoyed that prison.”

Rory approached Sharpe's side, acting far more protective than before. At the same time, Lelei, Soredin, Tuka, and Yao come at them and power up their lighting spell to strike down any potential hostility from the Apostles.

Sharpe placed his hand in front of Rory as a sign not to get involved. “Look everyone, I get it. Right now, everything must be very confusing in the world right now but we have to work together. The enemy does not care about these differences if you are a mortal or a supernatural cliche.

Since arriving in this world, we have all been told over and over how Apostles are supposed to be the great balancer, the protector of life, and all that. If you are truly the protectors of your worshippers, then it is your duty to join us and bring an end to this nightmare before it is too late. We are going to fight this enemy and defeat it here and now and are willing to put our lives on the line to accomplish that objective. If this is too much for you then you are welcome to leave.”

As Sharpe spoke, that same bright green light appeared again from the distance, coming from the temple. He remembered the very same green light from Sadera. Most likely, Valker is using the remaining demon body they found in Arrun Labyrinth. He knows they are running out of time and this distraction is only benefiting Valker.

He pointed toward the temple and continued, “Everyone in life has a choice and as you can see, everyone here has made theirs. In our darkest hour, Rory and her comrades chose to stand by our side. If you abandon us now over ego or pride and if we lose here today, that is on you. Either way, fall in line or get out of the way as we have a job to do.”

Sharpe then ignored Mabel and her half of Apostles and stared at the one whom he could trust. “The rest of you, gather what you need and then get yourselves up to speed as I hand out your orders. Rory, Giselle, Karlin, Jasis, Mortimer, and Frayen, regroup with me and the General in five.”

Turning his back started to walk toward Brigadier General Smith position to report about the developing situation. Rory quickly followed behind him.

“Sharpe, sir.”

Sharpe stopped once he heard his name. Rory whispered that she knew he would be able to convince them to join forces.

He turned around and saw Mabel who was swallowing her pride. He remained in silence as he waited for a response.

“For now, we will fight,” Mabel said. “Tell us what to do.”

“Good,” Sharpe said. “Hang back, listen to Frost and Alicia on how our radios work so we can stay in communication. Everyone else, prepare yourself for orders.”

---

On the smoldering hillside that faced the magical city of Darlko, the Rangers, Airborne, Legionaries, and all the Apostles watched as the temple burst into green flames. For a moment the battle stopped as the attackers realized they failed to stop Valker while the city militia prisoners cheered. The only sounds were the crying wounded, the bombers overhead and the loud echo coming from the temple.

A bright green light burst high into the sky from the top of the temple. Within the temple, the green flames of fire burnt wildly as what everyone assumed was the demon corpse being engulfed. And without a moment, the pulsing flames lowered back into the temple.

A dark haze emerged. The temple disappeared and, in its place, a Gate emerged.

"It looks… different," Rory commented.

With a closer look, Sharpe saw what Rory meant. As the enemy Gate emerged into existence, the difference between this and the Gate at Alnus became night and day.

The exterior of the Alnus Gate seemed to be made from some kind of stone and marble, a design that was similar to ancient times. This Gate on the other hand was dark with an organic exterior with blood oozing out from the sides. The blood reached the ground and accelerated the creep. Large veins scattered around, beating. The large Gate’s door decorated with demonic figures slowly opened, letting out a purplish mist.

"It looks alive," Lelei stated, eyes widened from the horrific sight.

Hearing Brigadier General Smith give the order to fire, all the remaining Griffin II light tanks fired their main cannons in combination with a Lancer bomber and unleashed its payload onto the gate. The resulting explosion was large as the payload thrown into the Demon Gate is strong enough to obliterate a large building.

As the dust settled, the Demon Gate stood with no signs of ruin.

"Did… did I do this?" Mabel asked, covering her mouth.

As Rory reassured the girl that she was brainwashed and betrayed by her god, Sharpe left and walked toward Krysist. In the background, the Griffin II light tanks fired multiple volleys with the same result.

As the Demon Gate doors opened, a hoard of giant humanoid beasts started storming out. Like the ones that Valker summoned during the Battle of Sadea. Among them were different types that they had never seen. Andrew commented how the sight reminded him of the Berserk and Doom series.

A dozen bombs rained down from a B52 high above their position. The resulting explosions incinerated the first wave of demons with soldiers cheering and witnessing the destruction. The bombardment again had no effect on the Gate and did nothing to stop more from coming through.

Over the radio, Brigadier General Smith ordered all support to fire on the enemy doorway. The ground rumbled as the Griffin’s II moved into position. The light tanks lined up in formation on top of the hillside trenches and began opening fire. Mortars and riflemen concentrated on the doorway path as they tried to bottleneck the enemy. This was in combination with a Lancer bomber swooping over the demons and unleashed its bombers, destroying most of the enemy forces.

This utterly shocked Mabel and her faction of Apostles as they never had experienced such raw firepower.

With such firepower, it only dented the emerging horde that came through the enemy Gate as more poured through. It quickly became clear once the demons can spread out, which they will at this rate, they will be able to easily swarm and ingulf their position. The question only is, how long.

"It looks like your bombers are holding them back," Lelei commented.

"Not for long," Sharpe replied. "We don't have enough bombers in-planet to sustain this."

"Sharpe," Krysist said as he approached with his guards. "Is it happening?"

"Yup," Sharpe responded.

Over NETT Warrior, Sharpe heard from Captain Johnson from Vanguard-2 that Charlie Company reported that there was a breach. That a large mage appeared and that their weapons went straight through him. And that everyone they killed was raising.

"Valker just went on the offensive," Sharpe said. "Krysist, rally your forces and take command here."

Hearing the soldier’s comment on what is coming through the Gate, Sharpe saw a small break of the humanoid waves. What came through was a Balrog. A screech echoed through the valley as it extended its wings. A burst of flames spread everywhere as it took off from the ground, going into the sky which they could only assume it was going after the Air Force.

A second Balrog emerged and started marching forward, leaving a trail of fire. Three light tanks focused fire against the giant beast. The first salvo impacted the demon, letting out a loud screech but didn't slow it down. It raised its hand and fireballs were shot from its fists, all landing along the allied defensive line. The fire blasts impact many military personal positions. In some cases, causing secondary explosions. The second salvo impacted the Balrog as one of the rounds hit close to the neck. The beast fell to the ground as the flames slowly faded away. A short sigh of relief as they watched the legendary beast fall but was only replaced with dread as more came through.

“This is what we summoned at Rondel?” Envira asked. “How are we supposed to stop this?”

“With sheer will,” Krysist said.”

“They are going to keep throwing these beasts against us until we crack,” Frayen said.

“That will not take long at this rate,” Sharpe said.

“Lieutenant Colonel,” Soredin said. “Did your superiors say they will deploy the nuclear option if this happens?”

“That is correct,” Sharpe said. “If we cannot contain the demon here and now, it will come down to the military's final solution.”

“I do not think even nuclear weapons are enough for this,” Lelei said.

From seeing how their weapons had no effect against the Demon Gate, Sharpe is starting to wonder if a nuke would do anything. They do not understand how the Gate system works and only just learned that they are more related to a higher power. The blast would take out the city, the demons that already came through and themselves however the Gate most likely would remain, allowing the enemy to pour through uncheck. He realized Lelei is probably correct and that they must finish this here and now.

"We will meet these Demons head-on," Krysist said. "The slope will give us a temporary advantage. Just have your ranged forces thin the herd before they reach us."

Frayen and the other Apostles approached.

"What about the rest of us?" Rory asked.

Seeing the other Apostles gathered around, Sharpe looked toward the Demon Gate as more monsters came out of it. While there was time, if the situation loses total control the Air Force is going to drop a gravity nuclear bomb on them. And remember how the Demons fought in Sadera he knew they would accumulate quickly and overrun their position.

"Rory, you are with us," Sharpe said. "The rest of you, do everything you can to keep those Demons at bay. No mercy."

As everyone left, Rory approached and asked, “Taylin should help us.”

“What?” Sharpe asked, shocked by the request.

“I know it is odd with our history, but we need all the help we can get against Valker. I am still recovering so having backup will help and I know we can trust him. But it is your call, and I will respect it.”

Glancing over to the Apostle, the two refused to meet eyesight. While their history is short, it is not uneventful. He rather not as he does not trust the boy however, he trusted Rory. “If you think he can back you up, sure.”

Rory nodded and hugged him. “Now, let's get the bastard.”

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