Chapter 155: Slog
Chapter 155: Slog
All Might grimaced, blood flying from the Spiked Aetherite knuckles that Izumi and Momo had recently provided him. Their gift had been thoughtful, in a way, as he wasn’t trained to fight with a weapon. At the same time, they represented everything he hated about this war. He’d killed before the Invasion, of course. It happened to any Pro Hero if they fought villains long enough and at a high enough level. Yet, prior to the literal alien invasion, his ‘kill count’ had been under twenty. Each of which he’d considered a personal failure, as he hadn’t been strong enough or good enough to stop short of killing his foe.
Now, he’d lost track of how many he’d killed and how much blood he’d been bathed in.
It was necessary, the entirety of humanity was being threatened with either annihilation or enslavement. He did not, would not, regret his choice to fight and kill. At the same time, and particularly after it had been proven that many of those he’d killed were themselves slave soldiers, he lost a piece of himself with every dead ‘monster.’ A de-humanizing title that was valuable for the war effort, but which he couldn’t bring himself to really believe now that he’d gotten to know many ‘monsters’ that were fighting with the rebellion. He wasn’t sure what their non-human allies should be called, mind you. Yet calling them ‘monsters’ didn’t feel right any longer.
Gritting his teeth, be pushed on, leading his assault team farther into the Dark Citadel. He couldn’t afford to lose focus, some of the resistance they were starting to meet were the sort of enemy Elites that caused even him a bit of trouble. He’d get his team through this. They would capture or kill the enemy leadership. Then, hopefully, this accursed war would finally be over…
… … …
Momo thought it was probably a bad sign that she felt almost nothing as she ripped a dozen Elites apart with One for All infused Black Whip. Yet, the truth, a truth only her therapist knew so far, was that she’d found herself becoming increasingly numb to death. The months away from the front lines, seeing aforementioned therapist, had helped a little. Getting the chance to befriend a lot of ‘monster’ races while she worked on the manufacturing centers of captured imperial cities had helped more. Yet neither could really change the fact that, when across from someone she’d mentally labeled ‘enemy,’ she no longer felt much at all when she killed them.
She needed this war to be over, she distantly thought, even as she killed an Elite that would have given All Might difficulty by simply ramming tentacles down its throat and ripping it apart from the inside. The foolish thing shouldn’t have wasted breath roaring. That had only made it easier for her to kill it. Stepping past its corpse without anger, feeling only dismissive coldness, she was aware that some of those in her assault team were looking at her with concerns.
Just a little farther, a little longer, and she could be done with this. She was so tired. She just wanted to go home with Izumi and Kyoka, cuddle under the covers, and wait for the world to make sense again. All that stood between her and that was these foolish, stupid, moronic and evil ‘Zilts.’ Very well. She’d tear all of them apart so she could have her peace again. Even if she wasn’t entirely sure she would know what to do with it any longer, once she had it in hand…
… … …
2B was displeased at being separated from Izumi for the assault. Yet, there were only so many high-level fighters that could single handedly lead the Behemoth assault squads, intended to silence defensive guns and open breeches for the far greater number of troops swarming in their wake. With the latest surge in Izumi’s QE capacity, caused by nearly killing herself in the assault on Iztiliana, combined with making a copy of her original body…the drain caused by her inhabiting said body remotely was minimal. Which meant she’d been drafted into fighting separate from her sister, just as Momo and Izumi had also been split up.
At least there were plenty of enemies to register her displeasure with.
Despite having become more ‘human’ than any android before her, she was not struggling at all with moral issues regarding their enemies. Not the way she knew others were. At the end of the day, YoRHa androids, indeed virtually all androids made by her original reality’s version of humanity, had been created for one singular reason.
Defend humanity.
As such, she and the other YoRHa androids with her were at peace with the slaughter as they pushed their way deeper into the Dark Citadel. Two of their number had gone down already, and resistance was stiffening up enough to slow them down. Yet, from her comms, she knew the first Doomtreaders were now making use of the breech behind them, meaning they’d soon have the preponderance of firepower needed to keep making headway.
One way or another, this would be finished today. Even if the bleeding corpse of a headless Empire would likely continue to fight on until it bled out afterwards…
… … …
Lieutenant Kwalski was, despite the environmental systems of his Doomtreader still weakly trying to help, panting and sweating. It had been over five hours of hellish fighting since he first entered the breech created by A2 and her Lions. He’d caught glimpses of the famous android from time to time during the slog of hallway-to-hallway, building-to-building fighting they’d been engaged in. Even she was showing signs of damage, her artificial skin torn away in a few places to show the skeleton beneath, even as she continued to throw herself into the worst of the fighting over and over again.
His own Doomtreader had taken a beating. One of the legs wasn’t working quite right, glitching every third step. His right arm had lost thirty percent of its mobility as well, and the only reason he hadn’t run out of either power or ammo was that regular infantry coming up behind them had been tasked to resupply him. He’d killed…dozens? Hundreds? He wasn’t even sure any longer, with everything blurring together into a fog of hell. He was sure that the arm damage had come from a particularly large Zilt, wielding something like a naginata. Those bastards were not squishy armchair commanders. They were fast as greased lightning in a lunge, and tough enough not to die properly when you shot them even with a Doomtreader’s mounted guns.
Thank God and goodness that he’d qualified as a power armor pilot! He’d seen way too many of the more normal infantry get slaughtered over the last hour, and had to check his fire repeatedly when some of the rebel monsters had gotten into the fray. He was pretty sure he hadn’t shot any of their own, but only because of the IFF system installed in his armor. If not for that, he was certain he’d have accidentally killed that one Ogre that had snuck up behind him, carrying ammo for him, but having pretty much scared the piss out of him when he’d tapped him on the shoulder…
… … …
Izumi was exhausted, but not as badly as she’d been after Iztiliana. With that experience to call upon, she’d made it a point to rest and recover twice. First once the wave of Doomtreaders took over the brunt of fighting after first arriving, and then a second time when the entire assault wave had paused for breath outside the government complex they were now attacking. From what they’d been able to discover, this was where the remaining Zilt Elders were holding out, and she could detect the signals of others she knew as they collectively pushed through toward the Main Audience Chamber. All Might, Momo, and Miruko, A2, Stars and Stripes, and Endeavor were all close, along with a half dozen high-level combatants she didn’t know from other countries. 2B’s mobile platform had been destroyed half an hour ago, so she was back with Izumi, supporting her with a pair of Pods.
“There are the doors! Push! Push! Clear the area in front of them for the heavies!”
The call out came from a battered Doomtreader, half broken and squawking the ID of Lieutenant Kwalski, of the Polish Armed Forces, of all groups. Of course, he was part of the Terran Alliance joint military now, but Izumi could see his service files at a glance. She’d long since fallen near-permeantly into a mild hypercognition, just to keep up with the chaos of battle, making such observations about those around her an idle thing as she continued to fight.
Of course, she was one of those heavies, and soon found the troops around her deliberately carving an opening for her. She pushed forward, meeting up with All Might, Momo, and Cathleen just before the massively reinforced doors. All Might centered them, grim voice taking command.
“On three! One, two, three! Plus Ultra SMASH!”
All Might’s haymaker was joined by a blow by a Black Whip surrounded and enhanced arm from Momo, a brutal lance thrust from the battered Black Aetherite weapon they’d given to Cathleen before the battle, and a shining Virtuous Dignity from Izumi. All four strikes hit around the center of the massive door…and the door cracked, but didn’t break. A repeat, complete with callout from All Might, finished the job, shattering the doors inwards, even as vicious fire poured back out. Momo and Cathleen tanked it, Cathleen having made herself invulnerable and Momo having surrounded herself in a Black Whip Golem. All Might and Izumi seamlessly flowed in behind them, with their collective mentor launching a pressure wave and Izumi brute forcing a wave of telekinetic power.
Very few of those within the chamber went down to those attacks. No one here was that weak. But it did force them back, giving them space to advance. Exhausted but determined, Izumi engaged Berserk for extra damage, even as Cathleen changed a rule and started practically ripping apart one of the largest Zilts she’d seen yet. More combatants spilled in behind them, even as Izumi threw her entire self into a spear thrust that penetrated the armor of another Zilt Elder and cored through his heart…which didn’t actually kill the bastard immediately, with him smacking her into a wall hard enough to stun her before his body gave out and he finally died.
Even as she pulled herself out of the wall, Izumi swapped to Virtuous Contract to deal with the increasingly chaotic melee as more of their own forces piled into the room. She saw Miruko bouncing off the face of one Zilt, leaving a foot-shaped mark, and followed up with a charge. Just a little longer now, and it would finally be over.
To her shock, when her sword removed the head of what she would eventually discover was the Zilt Emperor himself, the rest of the Elite Guard threw down their arms. The very first Zilts to surrender. Apparently, Miruko really knew how to pick them. Though the Battle Bunny might be pissed at Izumi later when she learned Izumi has stolen her kill, and that kill had been Chief Asshole himself…