Welcome to the War [Chapter XIII]

[Ayen]

The people walking the streets of Hallowton would be pulled away from the serenity that dwell within this place for many years at the notice of a shadow covering the street lights from up above as the dual suns set and night came to Genesis. When they looked up they would see a large blimp flying over the city and heading towards the castle where the Queen of Hallowton resided. They thought nothing of the blimp at first until the sound of a microphone ringed throughout the city and a single voice boomed through it. The voice of the Vulture.

“Hallowton! Hear me! I am General Koma Iz Vulture, ruler of the great metropolis of Isafaro! Your intellectual superior. Queen Elizabeth, your kingdom is under siege!”

Down below several Isafaro tanks stormed the city, firing off from their main guns and breaking their way through several homes as a carrier opened up and the first wave of Isafaro soldiers, light troopers equipped with energy weapons and shields, spread out through the city causing the Hallowton residence to run or be killed by the soldiers. The second wave would be heavier equipped, armed with fully automatic rifles with normal and blessed ammunition and dressed in armor underneath their uniforms. They were slower but their jobs were to cut down the people that the first wave missed. Two heavy mechs tailing behind the second wave. Back up on the blimp two rockets fired and crashed right into the top of the Queen's castle, blowing out the parts where the Queen's Chambers and Throne Room was known to be as Vulture looked on at the destruction with a smile on his face.

“Welcome to the war.”

Down below, Ayen had left the hotel and out into the streets to see the Vulture troops closing in up ahead before looking back to the small party he was with.

“I think it's time we got the fuck out of here!”

[Yuna]

Yuna followed Ayen out of the hotel after they heard shooting outside and looked out ahead to the incoming soldiers in horror. Who were these people? Why would they do these terrible things? What was the point of it all? Hearing Ayen advised that they get out of here the High Summoner shook her head. "They're murdering these people! We have to do something to help them!"

[Hotaru]

"This isn't our war."

Came Saturn's voice from their right, the Silence Glaive in hand as she was ready to defend herself against the force that attacked this city but not about to get dragged into the conflict if it could be helped. It wasn't her world and thus it wasn't her responsibility.

"We should head to the docks and evacuate."

[Queen Lori]

The smile that became customary for Lori had faded away completely and in it place a look of horror and tears pouring down her cheeks at the sight of seeing her home be destroyed. Her fellow residents being butchered by the claw of the Vulture as they advanced further into the city showing no remorse for the lives they were taking. Why? There was nothing logical or practical about it. Why!? Lori would catch the rockets that headed for the castle and as it exploded against the home of the Hallowton Royal Family Lori let out a loud cry, "Mother!" and ran off towards the castle as fast as her legs could carry her. She had to get there first before the Crimson Vulture.

She had to find her mother; Queen Elizabeth.

[Ariel]

For two centuries Ariel has made these docks her home. Unable to return to her family under the sea and unable to join with the humans on Genesis. She was stuck in-between worlds and only had the pleasure of walking the streets of Hallowton when her goal was that of taking another person's life and due to recent failure she was stripped of her legs and reduced to a mermaid who needed the water under her. In all that time of existence the Little Mermaid has never seen so many people at the docks. She could tell by the look on their faces that something was wrong.

Moving away from the docks, where the water would take her, Ariel managed to see a blimp in the sky heading towards the castle that has just been attacked. The top part covered in smoke and fire as it became all too clear what was going on and Ariel's heart poured out for the people of Hallowton. Their peace was finally being taken away by war. It wouldn't be long until all those people would fill up the ships and be at the mercy of the Sea Witch. All the mermaid could do was weep for them, weep for Hallowton's innocence.

[Der-Sprecher-des-Wahnsinns]

It would come as no surprise that this massive army was so well organized. Rows and rows of shielded units would move into smaller areas like Alleyways and into buildings where they would go full auto and fire around the edges of their shields mowing down crowds of people in the name of the Vulture. However, this wasn't just the worst part of their murder spree.

A number of platforms were rolled in and assembled like the olden days when siege towers were placed outside of castles to allow their soldiers into the castle unharmed, however, these were placed at the edge of the town where sniper teams aimed over the houses and picked their targets for fresh kills.

Likewise, a heavier unit moved into a more secluded area directly on path to the castle. The unit consisted of ten all together, their armor wasn't normal Kevlar or even hard plates, it was actual power armor making them more imposing targets to take on. These units came complete with steel full helmets and a number of energy based weapons.

Two of them had massive power packs and had Gatling lasers that tore through crowds of people. The others were equipped with a high velocity arch rifle that was known to blow clean holes through most normal armors and did devastating damage to unarmored targets. As noted, this team was on a direct path for the castle.

[Ayen]

"They're murdering these people! We have to do something to help them!"

“We're seriously outmanned and outgunned. Unless you have some sort of a plan I would recommend getting the hell out of here!”

"This isn't our war. We should head to the docks and evacuate."

“I couldn't agree more.”

"Mother!"

“Mother?”

Ayen turned to see Lori running towards the castle after she cried out for her mother.

“You have to be kidding me!”

Ayen chased after Lori, not about to leave her on her own with all hell breaking loose. Looking up to see the soldiers up ahead already halfway to the castle.

“Lori, look out!”

Meanwhile two black jets flew through the skies up above, passed the blimp and over the docks firing missiles towards the ships and sinking them on impact cutting off Hallowton's only means of evacuation. The only other exit to the city was through the entrance, sufficed one could get pass the teleporting tanks, the light infantry, the heavy infantry and the two heavy mechs.

[Sparda]

In his hubris, Koma Iz Vulture had unleashed hell upon Hallowton.

Hell was about to strike back.

A bright flash of crimson light streaked across the back lines of the advancing Isafaro forces, moving so fast it was barely visible. A pair of deafening, metallic, near-simultaneous crashes heralded the commencement of a precise and devastating counterattack - as the two heavy mechs in the rear guard exploded and toppled over, massive holes blasted through their cockpits. Whatever had attacked them came out of nowhere, and struck with such immense power as to defeat their every defence with impunity.

That same crimson light set its sights on the rest of the invasion, and laid siege. It danced to and fro amongst the ranks of soldiers, eviscerating them by the dozen, unseen blades rending their cutting-edge armour like it was made of paper. Without warning, it then rocketed upwards, chasing down the two jets at speeds they could never hope to achieve and punching straight through them again and again, ripping gaping holes through their wings and fuselages and leaving the pilots no chance to evade.

As the blazing birds fell from the sky, striking flaming contrails against the darkness of the night, the deadly flash of crimson chose the sniper towers as its next target. It struck, once more, without pause or mercy, zig-zagging through each tower in turn and ripping chunks out of their superstructures until they toppled - then carving the snipers themselves limb from limb as they fell helplessly.

Its dance of slaughter would come to an end before the stricken castle. The elite unit advancing towards it were stopped in their tracks when the light crashed to the ground before them, cratering the road and sending gaping cracks running down the concrete beneath their feet. Before them, through the clearing smoke, came a male figure; clad in a billowing coat, light glinting almost menacingly off the lens of a monocle, he strode forth.

"Isafaro dogs," snarled the Legendary Dark Knight, his twin pistols clutched in his gloved hands. "This is as far as you and yours go."

[Raal]

Raal, having gone against his own wishes to teleport away, had stayed in Hallowton after the incident with Ariel. He did not expect an invasion to happen afterward. Flashes of crimson had brought his attention to the healthy army and the fat blimp marching toward the castle. Army. Wait... army....

Ranged weapons started to psi-spawn as a result of the realization, turning from transparent violet to solid with their own colors and manufacture names. They even came with unlimited ammunition. From his place near the docks, having not moved at all even though the ships had been bombed, these disembodied ranged weapons moved on their own accord. These thousands upon thousands of spawned weapons were long-ranged rockets. He had trained his psionic ability to kill armies like this one by spawning his own arsenal to match.

The very solid, very real, and highly explosive rockets took flight, clearing the entrance to Hallowton by unleashing pure hell on the tanks beneath them. The tanks weren't even given time to teleport to safety. Bright flashes of violet explosions and raw energy lit up the night sky. Raal kept the way clear so that the people of Hallowton had another escape route.

The city may be large, but his mental reach was larger.

The rockets having exploded on their scrapped targets, the Psychological Warfare ended, being replaced with Unending Nightmare. Without missing a beat, monsters psi-spawned, coming in all shapes, sizes, and colors, all the while only obeying Raal himself and none other. There had to be hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of them at best. These creatures of otherworldly appearances did not attack the people of Hallowton, but instead, acted as escorts and transports to help with the evacuation. Giant bird-monsters flew people out, while others acted like horses, getting people out on their backs.

The entrance/exit to Hallowton was guarded by psi-spawned giant tentacles that would crush any enemy that would even attempt to re-take the position. Despite being a diplomat, Raal had been given insight on warfare during his travels. It came in handy this time.

Sparda distracted the army and its general, while Raal evacuated everyone else. Salvation for the people have come in the most unlikeliest of forms. Raal gave life to a mutant bat swarm that openly attacked the blimp, causing another minor distraction in an attempt to further deter and annoy Vulture from his bloodthirsty quest.

More chaos had arisen, but most of it was controlled by Sparda and Raal.

[Yuna]

Yuna was angry with both Ayen and Saturn at their refusal to help the people here but their argument would become pointless as the High Summoner saw jets bomb the ships up at the dock and Lori run off for the castle right into enemy forces. There were no time to lose as she chased after Lori alongside Ayen and held up her staff summoning the first aeon she collected as a summoner back on Spira. Valefor Soaring high above the ground, Yuna grabbed Lori and stuck her on Valefor back as they reached to the top of the castle. The creature used its wings to put out the fire and blow away the smoke allowing them to access the damaged upper level of the castle to search for Lori's mother. A kingdom was nothing without its queen.

[Hotaru]

Saturn saw the destruction of the ships up in the distance and with it their way off this continent removed. Seeing the others head for the castle the Soldier of Silence went against her better judgment and followed them. Picking up speed just in time to lunge through the air and reach Valefor's back to join the others into the castle.

[Silver Eyes]

It was the gunshots that roused Rowen from his meditative state. The teenager's eyes blinked open, and his right hand reached for the staff that was levitating by his side. His senses were still fuzzed, but he could hear screaming, machinery moving, and explosives detonating--this only fueled the terrified cries.

"Jenna! What's going on out there?"

Rowen got to his feet and hopped over the scattered tomes he had gathered during his visits to some libraries to join his sister by the window.

"Other than the obvious, I know not how this started. The town was at peace, and this destruction came from the sky at first." Jenna hooked her finger under the window, pushed it up, and poked her head out just as the giant blimp was making its way to the castle. Jenna nor Rowen know of the politics of the city, and hearing there was a queen in danger was troubling news indeed. Jenna frowned, moved back into the room and slammed the window down.

"What shall we do? We can't just sit here and do nothing."

The answer to his question came when his sibling snatched up her bow and briskly walked to the closet on the other side of the room for the rest of her weapons.

"Get your armor on. We're going to war."

[Queen Lori]

Lori didn't have time to react to the soldiers up ahead as she was grabbed by Yuna and flown up to the top of the castle on a strange, yet wonderfully beautiful creature who cleared the flames and smoke allowing Lori to slip through the window and search the rubble for her mother. "Mother! Mother where are you!?" What Lori would find would not give her joy, underneath a pillar was her mother. Blood dripped down her chin and black dust covered her face as she lied there dead. If not the blast then it was the pillar falling on her that finished her off. Going around the pillar, Lori wrapped her arms around her neck and held her close. Crying. Her mother was dead and to make matters worse Lori inherited a kingdom under siege.

[Ayen]

Nullifier grenades hit the ground as the generators activated, the field was in Isafaro's favor now as Sparda and Raal's abilities were negated stopping both their advances dead in their tracks before they could begin to make any impact on the field. Vulture's high pitch, insane laughter would be heard through the speakers of the blimp up above, followed by the sound of the General biting into a raw steak as Sparda's sword didn't make a dent in the heavy mech's armor and it responded to the attack accordingly.

By stepping on him.

The light and heavy infantries went on through the city unopposed and the jet up above fired a missile upon Raal's head.

---

Ayen rested a hand on Lori's shoulder attempting to provide her with some form of comfort as losing a loved one was something he couldn't personally relate to. He couldn't believe that Lori had been the daughter of the Queen all this time but now was no time to grieve. They had a kingdom to save.

“Lori, look at me. I'm sorry about your mother but we have to do something about the Isafaro's forces coming this way. Your country needs you. Please tell me you guys have some way to defend yourselves.”

[Ariel]

Even the Sea Witch would be denied a boat full of people as strange birds in the sky dropped something powerful enough to blow up the ships sending the people into a frenzy and running in the opposite direction. Ariel came up on the docks and grabbed the ankle of one of the men trying to get away, pulling them into the water and stabbing them once they were both underneath to spare him the pain of drowning. The Sea Witch would only get one soul tonight.