Kislev - Battlefield (Also, Nuln)

Andrew clicked the knob on the top of his Gatling Laser all the way to the right, powering up the weapon and readying for the coming fight. He knew his technology was superior, and he knew that he was going to rack up a lot of kills. And he knew by the end of it he wasn't going to care anymore.

Malachi spoke the words of summoning and binding, his servant ghasts dancing feverishly around the yellow seal. He spoke loudly and dramatically for this summoning, for this was to summon servants of the Daemon Sultan Azathoth, who was lord of all forms of creation, even artistic. and from the yellow seal of Azathoth, materialized a large swarm of Shan. A race of large sentient insects, they had been touched by azathoth's might aeons ago and had forever pledged themselves to him. And so they have been given the power to phase through matter itself, and into the very hearts and minds of their enemies, allowing them complete control of their foe's body. they were about the size of a human skull, and shined iridescent, hypnotically bright neon colors that seemed to move and flow and change every second. They possessed giant pincers, and a large rending talon on each insecteg. Malachi spoke to them in the tongue of the old ones. The Shan nodded in unison and took to the sky to await their orders.

"It's time to blow doors down." The Magus looked at aproaching Chaos forces- she had used words of power to teleport to the far side, and cloaked her prerscence in a bounded field as a pre caution. A swirl of snow had came up with her, however. That being said, she was sure she was safe.

"Taron. I suggest you take position atop one of those cliffs," Thom advised, gesturing towards the two large cliffs casting shadows over the Chaos forces. She nodded and disappeared, only to be seen once again by the mage as he looked up.

"This is going to be fun," he sighed, in an unwilling, almost reluctant tone. He raised his staff and readied for war.

"Alright."

........

"....Trace......On......."

The Magician projected a bow, with ornate curves, and a beautiful piece of art, all and all. The bow was made out of an unknown jewel like material, with a deep, dark, purple color from it.

"Motas Uaeta Daries Dardares Astaries Dissunapiter" The Magus activated a reinforcement of the Bow's base structure, enhancing it in every feasible way possible. Meant to be lighter, stronger, and far more durable, it should be able to withstand the use of True Magic she was about to use. If not....

She didn't dwell.

Partial trace initiated. Refraction initiated. Mirror world made......bypassing laws of equivalent exchange, using mana from surrounding worlds to power Second Magic. Cannot active spell, however.

"Neue Kirsche Gestalt" The Projected bow was inflamed with demonic prana, covered in purple flames, literally giving off waves of energy. This was taxing....

"The Kaleidoscope." She activated the true magic, releasing all of her magic circuits at full power, overwhelming her body with magical energy- each circuit giving off an enormous amount of prana. Her body would strain for this- she used the still active reinforce spell on every possible aspect of her body, hoping the enhancement will be enough.

"Multi-Dimensional Refraction Phenomenon. The Second Magic. Initiate....now."

Next to her, much like Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon, around fifty drill like tips of arrows appeared- exactly identical to the tip of the arrow on her current bow. The tips bristled with the same energy as the one she held, mimicking it in every detail, even in the way the energy was given off from it. Next to her, multi dimensional fractions of her bow were recreated- or more aptly said "Mirrored", exact, perfect copies of her current bow. These however, were unseen- only the arrows, and their drill tip could be seen. The bows were through the portal, on the otherside. This was the second magic- to operate and use parallel worlds, and dimensions. Each of these arrows(On bows, through the portal, thus unseen) were just a reflection of the original, made into reality. That was magic- to do something utterly impossible, to not only bend reality, but to utterly refute it, and to change it, even.

"Targets are in range." The arrows busted with magical energy, over 100 units of prana invested in each, parallel to her bows amount of prana being output. The drills would alter their trajectory ever so slightly, if need be, to hit a target. When they got close, they would drill through their enemies defenses- literally, drilling, and not losing any momentum. When they when through(And embedded within the tender flesh), they would explode, the raw prana making a very big boom for each arrow.

"Fire." She released the arrow in her bow, and the other arrows followed suit, heading for the side of Chaos forces- it had begun. Perhaps they would send off a small group of their forces to deal with them. Good. Every single Chaos soldier here was one less killing their allies.

In the distance, Merrik could see two squadrons of Pistoleers ride towards the Chaos army. It was practically suicide, oweing to what they were facing, but hopefully, a bit of gunpowder and lead to the face could allow them to think twice. And, if that didn't work, they'd still have to cross the frozen lake to get to them - right under the eye of their artillery.

The Chaos warriors that were unlucky to be caught by the hail of arrows continued their advance. Some of the lower level chaos warriors took arrows to the legs, shoulders, or torsos and were killed as the arrow drilled into their flesh and exploded inside them, leaving gaping wounds. Those with stronger armor may have been harmed, but the arrows did little harm to most. Some actually had arrows scrape across their armor and do no damage. Others were killed by a lucky shot to one of the armor's weak points.

I wonder what Sir is doing?

"So, should we start shooting?" Seras asked, curious to her answer.

From upon her cliff, Taron watched Chaos soldiers appear under the outcropped rock. The top of their helms were visible, glinting slightly in the sun. She took her rifle and shouldered it, watching three warriors without the scope. They were slain by a hail of arrows from an awkward angle.

As her targets fell flat, more appeared on the ground to her right. She brought brought her right eye to the large scope, the other one tightly shut in concentration. Two thin black lines forming a cross wavered over the helm of a soldier. It was barely a second before the sights were deadly still, Lividity ready on her shoulder and off hand, resting there innocently. Finger resting on the trigger, Taron squeezed it gently.

To contrast the delicate art of hunting prey, a huge bang was given by the rifle. A purple spark flashed towards her target, penetrating it's helm and mashing it's brain. The armoured figure fell over, thick crimson blood oozing slowly through its visor. The snow was stained red, slowly stopping as the heart beneath its armour and flesh died out.

Instantly, Taron brought the rifle to the right in a smooth but incredibly fast swing. The crosshairs lay deadly still on another head, which ceased to be after a following bang and another purple streak. She shot at three more heads, hitting all of them. Skulls were shattered, blood exploding through gaps in armour.

Lividity glowed slightly, not purple yet, but slightly golden. It filled Taron's head with pleasure and praise, telling her how good it felt to be used once more by a true wielder. More heads were smashed to pieces, now with a projectile encased by violet flame. Armour was now obliterated by her shots, shrapnel threatening to kill nearby troops with sheer speed.

Some form of mercy washed over her, not enough to quit killing, but enough to examine the thirty or so mutilated corpses lying on the ground. Blood trickled out of huge wounds, equipment brutalised beyond repair covered in it. The red hot liquid dared to melt the snow, but efforts were stilled by the cold temperature.

Thom watched soldiers fall by Taron's hand, shocked at her ability. A moment or two ago, she was shy, humble and somewhat cute. Now, rage had filled her bones, letting her true potential show.

In fact, was that her true potential? Her actions seemed brutal, but the amount of enemies killed seemed to Thom like a warm-up. He appeared by the girl he was tasked with defending, boosting her shield a second later.

His own weapons came into play now: Several lightning bolts protruded from his aesthetic, purple staff. They hit metallic armour and weapons, shocking the wielders into mere explosions of gore. Five went down, followed by more as ice shards surrounded by thriving bolts slipped through joints and openings, penetrating flesh and acting like an overpowered tazer on the enemy units.

He turned around to check on the girl after raising a wall of sharp rocks, concerned for her well-being.

"Y'alright?"

While the blonde haired government agent took a knee in the snow and made sure he had a good grip on his AK-47, before switching the fire selector to semi-automatic to both converse ammunition and improve on accuracy. It seemed like most humanoid foes, the head was the weak point for this seeming wall of opposition. 7.62mm rifle rounds being capable of splitting the best of modern day helmets in two, though occasionally he'd have to fire twice which always incured a grumble under his breath, he couldn't afford to get sloppy. Not with his own life on the line along with the others, some who he'd didn't particularly know, some who he knew decently enough and some who he'd couldn't place but knew they weren't from this universe. This wasn't his battle, this wasn't their battle, but he was here and he was fighting it, for reasons not quite explained. He'd ask about that later.

Across the way, Noble Six was pitching fragmation grenades into the attacking line, having attached his MA37 to his back to free up his right hand for throwing. Usually he used his left for throwing during combat, just because it was quicker but currently the foes were too far away to be much of a threat to his shields or his armor so he had ample time to prime a grenade and pitch it into their mass. He'd lost track of kills not long after his first official mission as a lone wolf weapon of destruction, but usually the Covenant weren't so....dense or ignorant? He couldn't quite place it, maybe they weren't to the level of knowledge to understand what was killing them, maybe they assumed this was the wrath of some god they'd displeased? Maybe they just didn't care that razor sharp shrapnel and high-explosives were ripping through their lines? And yet, the answer didn't matter, because the onslaught continued undetered as he pulled his last grenade.

From her perch near the Empire's claimed hilltop, Nova laid, half buried in snow. Her eye staring through the scope at the massive horde of armoured soldiers approaching them, her finger tensed on the trigger as she slowly panned the rifle over the various visored helmets within the army.

Find the enemy commanders and decapitate their chain of command. That was one reason why the Ghosts had gained a formidable reputation - they struck where an opponent was weakest and leave their command and control capabilities in complete disarray. Even so, she still missed not being able to utilise a strategic, orbitally-delivered thermonuclear weapon.

***

The two squadrons of Pistollers that had been dispatched earlier wheeled in front of the rapidly approaching Chaos horde and scattered, peppering them with gunshot from flintlock pistols, repeater handguns and repeater rifles. Those young hotheads that got too close were yanked from their saddles and butchered or killed by a well-thrown spear.

But the raiding had the desired effect as a block of Chaos Knights crested the horizon and charged, intent on chasing down the Empire Light cavalry. Those that could broke off and retreated to friendly lines as the Chaos army rapidly picked up it's pace, starting to cross the frozen-over lake- the frenzied and fanatical mass of iron-clad warriors were preparing to charge.

"Shall we hold the line with your men, or shall we cut through them like the deformaties they are?" The Saber class held her invisible sword at her side, waiting for the approaching horde. The responsible answer would be the first, to be with your men would to elevate morale, and heighten their resolve. It also allowed things to flow easier.

However, if one had the capability to cut through their enemy, and massacre them, it gave ones allies resolve and determination to follow suite. Whether that was good or bad, however.... She prefered the first option, as she didn't know this new enemy, nor did she know her comrades capabilities.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I'm fine. That took a lot out of me- I wasn't expecting them to be so resistant to modern day mage craft. I'll have to fall back, then. I can get more modern weapons prepared, as magecraft won't do much here." The Girl, Linda, looked at Thom, ready to fall back, and regroup.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Huh...I'm not seeing anyone in command." Seras, despite her abilities, couldn't see the commander of this dark army. If there was one visible, she should've seen it....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hunched over, a figure in orange armor, obviousily powered, watched the soon to be battle with a bit of concern. Two different factions... pretty primitive, with only a few ballistics, and mostly swords. Not to mention the fairly olden day armor- but, the ones that we're acticly using guns had some weird.....energy type.

Though, it was weird in the fact that a few were using weapons obviousily more advanced than this worlds best(She could only assume) ballistic weapons. Still extremly primitive, however- so much so, a weapon like that would be what? Pre space age. With its wood stock and all, though, it looked fairly...sleek. Then if these people were more advanced then the others, who were weilding these weapons, and dressed differently, why did they use primitive weapons? If beings could colonize other planets, the weapons should be more....refined.

She'd have to ask them- she was certain that was the *good* side. Or at the least, the side that wasn't corrupted by that weird energy. And from her experince, corruption was not a good thing. Of course, when was it?

She looked at the two opposing sides, and silently waited for the right moment to join into the battle- in prefrence, in a way that both sides wouldn't try to kill her.

On an unspoken command from Aureus, every gun in the Empire army opened fire with a roar. Cannon shells skipped along the thick ice before slamming and detonating amidst the Chaos army, blowing those unlucky victims sky high. Mortar shot rained down and exploded above the hostile army, ading further to the carnage, but only affecting those who had little in the way of armour.

Undettered, the entire Chaos army continued it's advance, the front row locking shields and, at the infantry column's flanks, Chaos Knights lurked at a safe distance, biding their time.

To Merrik's eyes, in the distance, he could see a boiling, purple-tinted cloud and, for a brief moment, his heart leapt in his throat at what that could signify...

The Hellspawn was perched deep within the shadows near the trunk of a tree as she crouched on a branch. The black demonic figure watched the artillery fire at the warriors who were advancing toward those that he had been watching since they left the city. All of a sudden he felt a surge of demonic power and saw a large purple aura that looked like a cloud. Of course, he could feel that it was a demonic portal. The cloaked figure jumped from the branch and into another tree, stopping to gain his balance. He would do that until he was far enough away to not draw attention.
~~~~
Lia heard the loud sounds of igniting gunpowder, had it not been for the suit she would smell it too, and watched as the approaching force was torn apart by shells from the cannons that exploded inside the forces. She could also see the mortar rounds that pounded at the enemy forces. Their numbers didn't seem to thin despite this. The Quarian clutched the M4 from before and knew they were still too far out for her to hit any of them. She had also recovered her shotgun from one of the pods and would wait for them to get close enough for her to shoot.

"What is that enemy!?" Saber herself was a heroic spirit, giving her a certain sensitivity to such things of such things....

Whatever this thing was, it was raw power.....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The woman in the power armor shifted her suits sensor vision to the energy mass, reading it. It was off the charts- there was an insane amount of power in that....

But what was it? It was certainly not a good thing...she could feel that in her stomach, she knew from her training and experince when something was up.

Something was most certainly up.

Andrew did what he does best, he stood there and cut a bloody swath through advancing forces at range. He would select a target, fire off a burst until it went down, and would then target another. It was effective, deadly, and conserved his massive supply of ammunition. He could sit here all day and do this...

The men alongside him, however, probably could not.

Though on a normal day, either the Spartan or the Government Agent would have been able to spot the red and orange clad bounty hunter, at present the rush of attackers was their primary concern. While the Spartan unlimbered his MA37, Leon switching over to the GP-25 underbarrel attachment deciding to use it before the ranges became too close to use it without endangering friendlies. The weapon already having a firm hold on his shoulder meant he simply had to snake his finger into the trigger guard of the launcher and pull the trigger, which caused a low -whump- sound, a puff of smoke and a jolt of recoil. And only a few more than minor injuries, as Leon shoved another caseless round into the grenade launcher, deciding this time to aim more directly at one specific target rather than trying to take out a large group at once. Maybe he'd have more luck with a direct shot to the chest-plate, and the wonderous probability of poking one of the ole' tyme warriors in the eyeball with a few stray shards? Hey, it was worth giving some hope that it might be plausible.

As the rapidly approaching horde continued to close with the Empire's lines, at 100 meters out, Merrik raised the Runefang high.

"Ready!" he bellowed. On the command, the Handgunners and Crossbowmen on the hill loaded their weapons.

"Aim!" They brought the ranged weapons up to their shoulders, aiming them at the Chaos Warriors charging towards them.

At 90 meters, Merrik let the Runefang fall. "FIRE!!"

With a resounding crackle of gunpowder and twang of bowstrings, the Empire sent hundreds of projectiles towards their foe. Though many were deflected off of their armour or failed to find their mark, other shots found weaknesses in the armour, sending Chaos warriors tipping over dead or badly wounded.

The Handgunners' and Crossbowmens' sergeants bellowed out commands for their detatchments to fire at will as, with the clinking of spear, halberd or sword, the Empire line braced themselves for the impending melee...

***

Scanning the horizon through her scope, Nova's eye settled over what looked like one of the leaders of the horde - a brutish man, clad like his kin, only with blood-splattered armour and an unusual triangular sigil on his armour.

"See that blood-covered commander 250 meters out?" she told a nearby Seras. "50 credits says I can snipe him from here."

Taron stood firmly on the ground. Around her lay the bodies of the death she had brought. Soon, maggots would eat at their flesh, rotting their souls to mere odour. The sheer thought of their disappearance made her chuckle slightly. It was pure sadism by her part.

More soldiers broke ranks (like untrained militia, Scott) to take her, though not decreasing the overall number of enemies against what she assumed the evil-free side. She took to positioning herself with one knee to the ground, arms fixed solidly on Lividity.

Several more loud cracks rang out, the sound bouncing off of the cliff face and armour. Two troops went down to the ground rather reluctantly, failing to take their entire heads with them as they lifelessly tripped over each other. The corpses leaked iron-rich blood from behind the remainder of their helms. Like their friends, the dead would reek of defeat soon, chewed by disgusting animals and creatures, mourned by the frosted rain and silence.

Taron policed them of their hefty swords. They weighed a nice amount each, suddenly glowing purple as the rifle was swung back onto her back. Both weapons were held by the blade, fingers almost kissing the tips in frustration and lust. Violet flames surged up and down the cold steel, teasing the air with heated water. Steam rose from bodies too, though tiny amounts of hot blood evaporated stray water.

These enchanted swords, now perfectly natural to Taron's hands, teasingly jerked forward. Both troops misjudged her, sidestepping to avoid a false attack. Upon shuffling to the side to dodge, each soldier took a blade to the seemingly ultra-weal armour. It pierced like a knife to a tin-can, skewering what lay inside.

God, she loved Magick. Almost as much as Thom did as he followed Linda back to the forest, recasting her shield, now back in a defensive stance, rather than an offensive one. He enchanted his sword with fire for the sense of light and warmth, also readying for an unexpected attack or ambush by soldiers or spies.

Lia fired her weapon. She wasn't the best shot, aiming for the center of mass worked though. She tried to hit points she thought would be weak like joints with little luck. She occasionally got bold and tried for the throat or head, but met little results. She gave up on trying that and instead just focused on cracking the armor with bullets. She would do better with the shotgun once they were closer.

Linda looked around a bit, at the now fairly dense forest- not that much brush though, but it was cold. Wasn't that to be expected?

"Outside of Projection, I've got nothing more than a Walter PPK. I have guns, but not here."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Stand brave. There is no other glory than the legends that battle weaves. But do not fight to become a hero- those who fight in this battle are already truly a prime example of human."

Saber readied the invisible sword, preparing for battle, waiting for the rush to reach them. Perchance this could get interesting. Per chance not.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seras readied her rifle, waiting for an oppurtune moment- she would've fired off a incent round, but she had holy silver core loaded.

"Remember, he only counts as one. If we can take out some of the ranged units, or those....Magic users?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Samus watched the two sides about to clash, waiting for a right moment to jump down, and release hell on the enemy. She could use the plasma beam, but the ice beam would be the better option. A power bomb was a good idea, but she had better save those for the biggest enemies....She could send out a volley of super missiles, but she'd get closer first.

Nova nodded and panned across the Chaos lines. Her scoped across two sights - first was what looked like a cabal of sorcerors, assembled in a circle and with their arms raised to the heavens directly under the purplish cloud of energy she spotted earlier.

Second, however, she noted a pair of what looked like warped artillery being wheeled into position by stunted crew.

"Looks like they have a couple of pieces of artillery being wheeled into position." she passed on to Seras as she flicked the safety off. She cringed in disgust, muttering, "Are they using souls as ammunition?"

"Guns?" Thom asked rhetorically, "I'll assume that is some sort of common word for firearms or ranged weapons. Where are these "guns"?"

Thom halted for a second, deadly still. Before taking his sword, he pressed a forefinger to his lips gently. He crouched, examining trees and shadows as if they were the devil's minions. Faintly, the heavy jingling of plate armour interlocking could be heard somewhere beyond the visible treeline.

Above the rattle, voices that sounded like they belonged to a tribe or a wild animal was carried on the soft breeze. The chill of light snow being picked up and kissing his fingertips added to the one running down his spine as these feral beasts of unknown description approached.

"Whatever that Walther thing is, I hope you can use it well," Thom said, nodding to himself contently at whatever backup he had with the girl, "Be ready for them. Your name, by the way... You never told me it."

Somewhere beyond the forest, Taron had been fighting a little more. She stepped backwards among her fresh corpses, the foot that went first bringing up a small drift of snow as it collided with the blanket of white. Where the snow would have been, was now a footprint, the treads lined with a thick crimson substance that melted bits of ice and frost around it. Here, she lay on par with several others on the frontline of what seemed to be the side of less evil, yet a few feet in front as to not be distracted by brutal and barbarian soldiers that used swords like clubs and maces.

She began to line up targets once more; there were more helmeted heads that needed to be rid of with as much gore her sadistic state wanted.

"Its Linda- if we live." The Magus shook her doubts away after that; It was time to fight, and if need be, die. Against her parents wishes, she always wanted to be a Magus Killer... Ironic when she needed those skills the most, they weren't present. If her family crest was fully formed, she could inherit abilities, but currently, it only allowed her to do a few high level spells.

"I have no anti army spells prepared- nor do I have the capability to project a Noble Phantasm." Linda smirked; What a fight, this was her first chance to kill another being....well....outside of-

"I can safely predict we have roughly 40 seconds before they strike. Give or take ten." She saw a flying blue bird- perhaps a sign? It probably wasn't even a blue bird, they would've- should've not been here....let alone in this universe. Oh well. No point in arguing over it...

"Trace on." The girl harshly adjusted her head to the right, and then back to her normal position. She had to get those bangs out of her line of sight.

"My Walter PPK only has 8 shots. I have zero extra in my reserves. Thus, it is essentialy worthless for this battle. I may take out a few, but then they'd be upon me." The girl noticed that the snow wasn't glistening like it was outside of the forest- the sun was nearly blotted out here- but there was still plenty of snow to be had.

"Base components analyzed. Initiating refraction." The girls concept of time seemed to slow here, weirdly. It was no magic, or magecraft....it just was. She was speaking fast. Real fast- but coherent, in a steady voice, easily heard. She wasn't afraid, she did not falter. The entire length of her arm was revealed utterly; hundreds, if not more lines flowed up and down her arm, all like circuitry, glowing a green glow, bright enough to be seen easily over all else, but to not blind those who saw. Each line didn't blot out the other, and kept that steady, green glow.

"Thus, my only chance is to project...." The girl thought back to that blade Merrik held....that blade forged for years. She was going to project a fake version of that sword into the world. The denial of nothingness. Projection magecraft, used by faker magus. In her hand, she would hold that sword- but it was nothing, really. A copy, and an accurate one. But it would fade away in a few hours- and if it wasn't perfectly reforged, it would be destroy utterly at first contact with the enemy.

"Set- Dwarven Runefang Projection~!" The sword that was not in her hand yet, nor had been brought into the physical world, was waiting. Her hand was open, in the perfect grip to hold the sword- and it indeed held it now. In her hands, the sword, the Runefang, was in her grip, at her side. The projction had worked- at least, the sword was here. Whether or not it was an accurate projection.... Her only other resort was Caliburn.....and that could get bad.

"Back to back."

Another nod. Thom's back was inches from hers as the shouts grew louder. Footsteps now, cracked branches. They waited quietly, silent besides the breath that they could see in front of them in the cold atmosphere...