Uppsala, Halogaland, SvipjothA metallic arm slammed against the war room table, scattering the maps and reports and cracking the fine mahogany wood as everyone stood frozen in silent terror. Haithabu has been lost, and to Emperor Roxas none the less. His biological and newly installed robotic eye twitched alike, able only to fix their gaze on the report that brought Lukas to this state of infuriation. This wasn't the good news he expected to have after recovering from his duel. A general of him spoke,
"My Fylkir, Haithabu may have been taken, but we remain with our replicated factories in Norvegr. We need to keep-"
"I know. We need to keep our reinforcements in Melkorka. We've lost enough east of Issknui, we cannot let them get past it."
The general nodded silently, hearing the impatience in his tone and taking that as cue to no longer speak.
A long, angered exhale left Lukas' mouth as he raised his gaze,
"Fetch the philosopher's stone. We will need the last of its power."
By the authority in his voice alone, his assistant made haste, quickly retrieving the stone that was gifted to him. Lukas took it from his assistant, holding it only with his Dashikin, robotic hand, noting how little it weights, before projecting it, beginning a broadcast all across Svipjoth. His robotic prosthetics were visible as he spoke,
"My noble Svips, as many blessings Hvitakristr grants us, so too does He grant us challenges. It is with great sorrow that I announce the loss of Haithabu and the brave men and women who attempted to protect it from the clutches of the enemy. Not a moment passes where I do not pray for their souls. But alas, this enemy that we have lost Haithabu to was The Stigyan Triumvirate, the same nation that attempted to corrupt our nation with their dishonorable culture.
Dishonorable is a strong adjective, but rest assured that it is accurate. You all have surely noticed my prosthetics. These injuries were gained from a duel that I initiated with Emperor Roxas of The Stigyan Triumvirate, he who continues to selfishly and blindly invade our homeland. It was in this duel that he attempted to so disgracefully cheat against me. He allowed his royal guard to intervene, attempting to have me killed by ambushing our duel. This was unacceptable and yet I won against him. Honor always defeats dishonor, no matter what. Regardless of if you support or disdain my reign, remember the dishonor of the Stigyan. They will cheat you."
He ended his broadcast, his expression full of resolve and satisfaction. Then, grasping the stone with both hands, he exited the war room. Walking onto the snow covered and icy patio, he gazed eastward and lifted the stone in the air, speaking softly and increasingly lifting his tone to a scream,
"Raise the roar of rage from the sky,
Wild valkyries from winter born,
Fly my freeborn
Furious whirlwinds, born in the storm.
Ride in rage daughters of sky,
Wake up the wildest winters
Raise from the heavens raving madness and fear!
Stand up for Svipjoth!
Storm against Roxas!
Ship wreck his vessels!
Keep him from Uppsala!
Storm Solitas,
Fertile lands and all his vanity!
Lukas prays for Thor's strength and Odin's insanity!
THE HEATHEN EAGLE FARES HIGH!"
With each stanza, the stone charged in power, absolving itself to absolute zero until it burst, sending a massive magical shockwave charging toward The Stigyan Triumvirate. Within moments, the weather across the nation became darkened with black skies. The sun was blotted out, leaving the nation in darkness as the wind hastened and the temperature starkly dropped. Rain harshly pelted into Stigyan infrastructure, quickly freezing itself into hail and snow. Glass was shattered, roadways and rails coated with black ice, farms and livestock frozen, and the ground permafrosted.
Lukas smiled as he dropped his now empty hands.
"They will have to leave now. I will have Haithabu back."
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Haithabu, Svipjoth.
The sun rose over the city as fighting continued. The outer city was fully under WARPP control, with Stigyan soldiers ensuring the safety of any citizens and finishing off any and all pockets of resistance. Colonel Zylan Sizer dodged a seaxe from a Ship with five bulletw wounds and buried his bayonet in the mans chest, then firing a 4-round burst through him. Zylan was oddly relieved at the Svipish rebels unwillingness to surrender or beg for mercy. Not that he would admit but he felt kind of bad sometimes when putting down a surrendering foe.
The inner city was still embattled, but the center of it would soon fall. In the Stahl Industries tower, Team KMSN was clearing out everything that dared fight them. A steady stream of assault rifle fire from Koza, as well as his spectral wolf, tore through combatants. Able to predict enemy moves, Chase seamlessly dodged around her opponents using dual handguns to target weak points until she could put three in the head. Otto simply charged with his automatic shotgun, letting the explosive slugs blast through the enemies Gjermundbu armor before smashing them with his bare hands. And Nellis fired straight through eye openings in the armor with his enhanced reactions semblance.
As they cleared out that level the Stigyan Valkyr Meriwell crashed through a windowing the building, and kept going through a few walls. Chase rushed over to her. "You okay?”
Meriwell stretched a bit. “Oh, salutations again. Those anti-air missiles sure are dangerous.”
“That they are, if you can still fight join us, we’ll have those missiles down soon.” Chase replied offering a hand.
“Thats a good idea.” Koza said. “Chase, take Claire and Nellis to the defense server room. me and Otto can handle the rebel commander.”
The five split up and went after their respective targets. Koza and Otto found the executives office that had been converted to Lukas’ temporary throne. The commander of the rebels was there, in full Saebo armor and welding a Stigyan Boltgun. “Foreign invaders, Lukas will reward me for your heads”
Koza just took a quick glance at the armor before unloading his rifle at the rebels foot, only armored with leather straps for movement. The leader went down quickly, screaming and cursing at the two as Koza picked up the blowgun and blasted a meter long explosive bolt through the enemies chest.
_-_-
“Hold up. I can take this.” meri said as she pulled out 3 small black and green orbs that stuck to the reinforced door to the server room. She pressed a button on her wrist computer and the orbs exploded taking the door with them. As the trio burst in they were caught off guard by a pile of unloaded weapons in the middle of the room with several Svipish militiamen standing off to the side.
“Wow, thanks for making it easy for us.” Chase cheered as she raised her handguns for slaughter, but was stopped by Nellis.
“They don’t have weapons on them, They’re not combatants.” nellis said, getting between Chase and the militiamen.
“Don’t get soft now, these assholes probably cheered as the Cathedral burned.” Chase countered, sounding angry.
One of the militiamen stepped forwards. “Actually we’re all from the surrounding countryside, drafted in by Lukas. We don’t want to fight you. I am Halfdan. I saw what your allies are capable when they raided. They spared our lives. So perhaps Lukas is wrong about foreigners being savages?” His words fell on deaf ears for Chase, but not for the others.
“Halfdan, if you think that, can you turn off the automated defenses? and Chase, if he does will you spare them? No one needs to die.” Chase looked at Meri and for the briefest moment felt a sight spark of guilt looking into her pure eyes.
“Ryderf***ingd*mnit” She muttered as she lowered her weapon as Halfdan turned off the towers defenses, ensuring a WARPP victory. The city was liberated.
Haithabu, Danmark, SvipjothHaithabu was silent, the rebels having been killed, and the city, for the first time in many a month, freed from its pretender overlord. As Team KMSN evacuated the Stahl Industries headquarters of its cooperative non combatants, HOH Jakob finished their patrol and ambush of all districts of Haithabu, destroying each and every rebel they found. Returning to the military camps established mere hours before, the elite seven soldiers were met with an impressive sight: the TST New Sun. Many reinforcements and machines were unloaded from its cargo bay.
As the other HOH Jakob members settled after a long day of warfare, Beinlaus made his way towards the New Sun, where he then saw both Roxas and an unexpected face: Laufey Myrgjolsdottir, his cousin and close friend, who initially evacuated with the royal family before Uppsala was taken.
Ignoring Roxas entirely, Beinlaus ran up to the two and spoke in a hurried, concerned tone,
"Laufey, what are you doing here!? You were supposed to stay in Solitas, where you're safe!"
In response to her older cousin's apparent protectiveness over her, Laufey laughs heartily, smirking at him as she responded,
"I am and will be fine, Beinlaus! You've been beaten by duels with me more than enough times to know that I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. What do I have to lose? Besides, being out here and kicking the shit out of Lukas' rats is far more interesting than idly waiting in some fortress."
Annoyed, but knowing better than to argue with his head strong cousin, Beinlaus sighed and resignated himself to accept the situation.
"I can at least try to protect her," Beinlaus thought as he retired for the night.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Dashiki Camp
4 Snow huskies drive back into the Dashiki camp, bringing important news “We’ve found a fort upstream. Not too far from here!” Said one of them, climbing out of the turret. Gabriel removed the Cigar from his lips, half heartedly looking at the returning expeditionary force. “There’s your target…” He mumbled.
The Dashikins and Gausians made quick work of the fortress. Without a doubt it was erected in poor condition, perhaps exclusively meant for patrol purposes, but it made the ambush of it that much easier. Clearing through the soldiers stationed there, they inspected every room until they came upon a peculiar site...
A Svipish noble, curled in the corner of his rather lavish sleeping quarters, the crown atop his head making no effort to hide as he begged with a wavering voice,
"Please, don't kill me! I never wanted to be a part of this! I just want to live!"
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Ariah braced for the charge, as she could just see a large group of rebels charging. "Hold!", she ordered. The rebels got closer and closer. "Aim!" They were dangerously close now. "Fire!" Both sides began firing, some people even melee dueling. Bombs rained from the sky. It was bloody. One commander drew his sword and tried to decapitate her, she turned and destroyed the sword. Ariah swiped at the commander, who ducked and tried to stab her in the leg. She barely dodged, then melted his sword away. In the skies above, a bomber releases a bomb filled with shrapnel. Right over Ariah.
As the gas floods the front lines, a single chem tank among the exploded unleashes turret fire into the gas. As the gas slowly starts to fade a commander screams. “CHARGE!” Northern Greenlandic soldiers armed with bayonet fixed shot guns start running towards the enemy, but they don’t run for long. When both sides clash, attacks are blocked. Snipers and MGs are set up behind cover and the destroyed tanks. 10 tanks are left.
Melkorka, Hedeby, SvipjothIt was in this moment that, out of the thick clouds of chemicals, that a gas masked Geiseric jumped into the foray, easily overpowering the commanders with his body strength alone. He commanded Ariah to run as more men came upon the two. Blocking their advance with only his war axe and shotgun, he held back the swarm of rebels at the chokehold of a bridge, killing all forty or so soldiers in order to give Ariah the chance to flee.
Meanwhile, the sewer ambush on the chemical tanks has resulted in an outright battlefield. The remaining tanks fire toward the manholes, flooding the city plaza in a green, poisonous haze. The chaos of within this gas made itself evident: Svips and Greenlanders alike became savage in their attacks, ranged weapons abandoned for flesh slicing and bone breaking melee weaponry.