Fractured Darkness

Fractured Darkness
Chapter 16: Adding Fuel

By: Major Frostwing

"SIR! WE CAN'T HOLD THEM BACK! WHAT ARE YOUR ORDERS!?" I looked down at the sergeant under my command to see the fear in his eyes. They attacked just as the sun was rising with a devastating laser of pure fire. After the first onslaught that's when everything went to hell in a hand basket. Hundreds of soldiers charged our position raining hellfire upon us. holding them back for as long as we have has taken hours and several of my best.

"Has the message been sent?" I asked calmly looking at the wave of terror that was coming our way.

"Sir...?" The sergeant looked at me with growing concern. "We sent the message but they will never get here in time. They said it would take at least four hours." I took a deep breath before letting it out as a sigh.

"Good. I hope we can last long enough." I said grabbing my rifle. "No surrender Sarge." I stepped out of the small command tent using a simple volume augmentation spell. "MY SOLDIERS HEAR MY CALL! FOR EQUESTRIA WE WILL PUSH THESE INVADERS BACK!" I roared out stepping towards the front lines. "NO RETREAT! NO SURRENDER! FOR THE PRINCESSES!" I yelled with all my might. My soldiers beaten and bloody responded with a war cry as they prepared to fight back one last time. I knew we had no chance to actually survive this attack but all we can do is hope our deaths will stall them enough to allow reinforcements to launch the bombardment on this damned city. "Celestia forgive me." I muttered out only for a hand to rest on my shoulder.

"You did good. Now let us provide some assistance." I turned only to take a step back in shock. a small squad of black armored creatures stood before me. The one who had set their hand on my shoulder had a hood resting over their helmeted head. "Shatter. Get these people into a more defensible position with your squad. Leaf. Have your squad get the wounded out. Claw. Get us an exit up and ferry the wounded." Wordless salutes and the squad broke apart to begin their tasks. "Lieutenant. EVAC your men. This city is lost so they can fucking have it." It was a mare and a completely unknown squad giving me orders.

"And why should I take orders from you? What is your rank? What company are you from?" The mare only shook her head before grabbing the front of my uniform and putting me muzzle to helmet with her.

"I am a Captain. The rest is classified by her royal highness'. You don't have the clearance to know who we are. All you need to do is shut the fuck up and follow my orders and you damned idiots might live." She shoved me back before setting her hand to the side of her head. "Boom. Are the party favors up?" She asked over a comm. "Lieutenant. You have standing orders to survive to fight another day. Orders from the top. Now leave this fight to us." The mare said as magic began to crackle along her entire form. She turned on her heel moving toward more squads of the black armored creatures. "LOOK ALIVE FORGE! WE GET TO HAMMER OUT THESE FUCKS! BURN THEM TO THEIR CORES AND LET THEIR ASHES SCATTER TO THE WINDS! NO MERCY! NO RESPITE!" She bellowed out to only receive salutes. "Get to work." They rushed off to do their tasks whatever those were I did not know.

"Any news on the defense?" I asked Celestia who nodded pointing towards the map.

"Squads one, four, thirty-eight, and one-o-one have begun the defense of Van Hoover. The civilians... whats left of them have already been teleported to Manehatten. My soldiers are being ferried out via the tunnels created by Thirty-eight. One-o-one has set up the party favor. Mythril is arranging the bombardment." Celestia explained as I glared at the map.

"Tell Mythril I want some of them alive for interrogation. The others are just there to die." I ordered as another surge of magic burned through my entire body. I could only grunt out in pain gripping my chest tightly.

"They are getting worse." Celestia said worriedly. "Is it a good sign?" She asked as I only let out a ragged breath when the pain finally subsided.

"This body... It's like it is bathed in fire. The longer I stay in here the weaker I get and the stronger the magic gets. I can't say for certain but There is a victor and the magic is just filling the void." I was scared. Jon is still silent so I don't know who has won the battle for control. "I'm either going to be expelled or I am going to die Celestia. This is the worst possible time for this to happen." I muttered keeping my glare on the map. "Relay the strike order." I ordered as Celestia nodded her head.

"Mythril. Begin the strike." Celestia relayed through her ear piece. Another surge of magic burned through me as I continued to watch the map.

"Orders received. Beginning assault." I said switching back over to the main squad frequency. "Echo fire off a warning shot. Right through that guy yelling orders on the hill." I ordered using my magic to magnify the image of the advancing army.

"Sending." Echo responded quietly before a loud bang erupted from the top of one of the buildings. I continued to watch the man yelling orders only for his head to disappear in a mist of red. "Target down." I cracked a smile giving a casual wave of my hand. "Hunting targets." Echo responded calmly before another shot rang out.

"Shatter. Prepare the kill zone." I ordered before I clapped my hands together pulling much of my arcane might to the forefront. The entire army came rushing down the hill screaming out for blood. I continued to watch the hill as I weaved my spell keeping my eyes on a single point on the hill. I saw a majority of the army past that point before yelling out. "NOW!" The entire hill heaved as if something lifted the very earth from under the army. Fire billowed out where the earth was weak before the hill simply began to cave in on itself. Vehicles were disabled or destroyed by the surprise attack. "Jon wants a few alive for interrogation. The rest die." I ordered as I began to hear the rattle of gunfire. I could only crack a smile as I finished my spell taking aim. I released the spell as a bright blue flash of magic launched from my hand thousands of blue arrows rushed across the field towards the army slaughtering those unfortunate to be caught in the shredding power of my spell. It was going to be a good day to fight back.

I continued to shift my magic to keep the spell going for as long as necessary. This spell was relatively cheap when it came to magic power but very effective for ripping through large squads of enemies. "Hey Split, I want you to go abduct a few officers that are hanging out in the back. Bring a squad of three with you to accomplish this goal." I ordered as my radio clicked twice sending my the acknowledgement of my orders. "Shatter. Close the cage." I ordered out as I ceased my spell to weave a new spell matrix.

A large cube shield formed over a large section of what remained of the advancing army. "Hear my call from the void of space. The darkness and depths of the nothing. Crush my victims in unending weight. CAUSE THEM AGONY AND DESPAIR!" I chanted out as I finished up my spell. "GRAVITY WELL!" I activated the spell as The soldiers were being dragged to a single point in the center of the cube being crushed by the unrelenting force of the spell. I felt my magic draining faster than expected. "BOOM! DETONATE THE DAMN THING ALREADY!"

"Problem captain. Spell matrix is not working. Something is blocking the spell from activating." Boom said sounding a little off put over the snag. Me on the other hand was furious over this development. "We can try a direct spell but it will take a few of us to detonate something of that si-" The entire cube flashed white in that instant ballooning the shield so it looked like a bubble shield instead of it's cube form. I stood in silence as the light vanished revealing not a single soul left in the cube. The ground inside the cube was glowing an angry red. The battle just seemed to stop in that instant as everyone stared at the destruction.

"Captain..." I heard Echo in my ear calling for my attention. "What the fuck was that spell?" She asked and I could only give one answer.

"I don't know."

"CAPTAIN! Targets secure and the enemy seem to be retreating. What the actual fuck happened down there?" Split asked as I continued to stare at the glassed earth.

"I don't know." I whispered out before a hand tapped my shoulder. I whipped my heard to see Shatter next to me.

"Captain. I think we won. We need to pull back back to base. Yes?" He asked as my senses finally returned to me.

"Forge victory is ours. RTB." I ordered as everyone channeled their magic vanishing in flashes of teleportation.

The ground outside Van Hoover continued to glow with heat with the same sheen as molten glass when the reinforcements arrived to assist in the battle. they found the bodies of the defenders and of the attackers but the section of molten earth was the main cause of confusion and concern. Van Hoover was spared the bombardment and most of it's people were saved by the mysterious soldiers in black armor. Even the defenders didn't know what to say about the soldiers that saved their lives. The lieutenant did state that if they hadn't shown up the defenders left would have perished. For now Equestria holds it's breath and prays that their town or city isn't next to be consumed by the flames of war.