September 13th, 628

Umara trudged through soft sand and dirt, Erhan leading the way in front of her in his armor.

They slowed to a stop before a line of glowing flares. A few armored trucks went cruising past her, following the lane before trailing off to their destination, their cargo literal truckloads of Earth Crystals.

They crossed the lane, looking around as soldiers ran every which way, their voices echoing past each other despite the option to simply use their communicators.

Umara was impressed with the progress. It hadn't been two weeks and John's Maginot Protocols were coming along quickly. Although the Scourge was only intensifying their attacks, the Combined Arms Brigades were holding them back a safe distance. The forward bases were supporting with constant artillery fire, and anything that got past was simply obliterated by the rising fortifications and soldiers building them.

The fortifications themselves were something to behold.

John was creating mountains and using them as his Line. He had told her about his terraforming measures. It was a foreign name but not a foreign concept. Both the Kingdom and Church often used local terraforming to give themselves the terrain advantage before battles. This was no different in practice, but in its extremity, John had taken it much farther.

Earth Crystals were armed with preset terraforming spells and detonated in sequence after the soldiers planted them. This led to miles and miles of land being ripped into new shapes by invisible magical hands all at once, creating extraordinary sights. John took full advantage of his preparatory period, and nothing about the land looked the same as before.

The "walls" of his Line were closer to cliffs. They were 300 meters tall and 200 meters thick, made entirely of solid stone. They were pulled from the ground below before being shaped and compacted to standard. Then all of it was reinforced, sometimes with dedicated enchanting, more often with simple magical saturation.

It was an incredible expenditure, something not even the Kingdom could sustain. John was embedding earth crystals into the walls on top of everything else, keeping the magical saturation at high enough levels to tank everything the Scourge would throw at it over the entire war. The riches being passed across the supply lines would send the Kingdom's economy into a frenzy, and yet it wasn't even a fraction of what John was pulling in from the Island of Continuance. More would only flood in, and all of it was being dedicated to this defense. For now.

There were even drilling operations going on, warlocks tunneling into the ground. For what, she couldn't guess, but everything was for a reason.

Umara continued walking with Erhan, approaching one of the walls. She was told that John was around this area. With some terraforming ahead of the Line, John was able to create natural choke points and paths the Scourge would have to follow if they wanted to march millions of monsters to the walls. This meant he was able to create defensive hardpoints along the Line. While the Scourge could retaliate in kind with counter-terraforming, it would be a tall task to do on the fly and would be easily nullified by some well placed artillery fire.

The two were approaching one of the hardpoints that John was supposed to be managing things from. Umara hadn't seen him these past few days since he apparently wanted to be on the front lines for these preparations. For good reason, but Umara missed having him nearby every day, not that she wasn't busy herself with spellwork.

She arrived at the hardpoint, a massive metal bulwark built into the cliff itself. According to the blueprint, the hardpoint would be armed with two new turret models that came down from Wonderland only when the Maginot Protocols were declared. Each turret only took a single man to operate, but unlike the ones on the tanks and helicopters that had four barrels and a single Crystal's output of firepower, these new turrets were several times larger.

One turret model had four groups of four barrels. Known as the Buzzkill, it could fire preset spells at rates previously unheard of for a turret, taking six Crystals to power.

The other turret model only had two barrels, but each barrel was 2 inches in diameter and fired Crystals like a Tank cannon. It was a Crystal Autocannon with a moderate rate of fire and unparalleled fire delivery volume. The amount of large bore Crystals it could put down range was staggering, only possibly sustained by John's endless stock from Continuance.

Umara and Erhan walked past dozens of these emplacements on their way through the hardpoint, eventually making it to the command room. There, John was standing before a map, frowning as he watched the moving units of Scourge only 100 miles in the distance.

He didn't turn when they entered. Umara knew he was focused and most definitely stressed. He seemed to enjoy it though, always throwing himself into suitably trying positions. Weird man.

She moved to his side, waiting there in silence until he finally turned to her with a smile a minute later.

"Hello, dear. Glad you could stop by."

"I haven't seen you in a few days. Looks like it really has been that busy."

Umara glanced around, summoners in armor all around the room. The amount of terminals on the walls and desks was blinding, especially with those summoners flicking through screens dozens of times in a minute.

John nodded and turned back to the map, his smile fading.

"To the great dismay of all my soldiers. I'm a nitpicker by nature now, even though I try not to be. And although I'm perfectly fine allowing some room for error, the greater the deviation from my plans, the higher the chance that the Scourge will kill someone when they finally attack."

"I mean, it's not like you're expecting to get through this attack without any deaths…"

John turned back and stared at her, Umara's brow raising.

"...right?"

"I certainly can't hope for zero deaths, but I do plan to keep them minimal. With all of this planning, all this money, all this technology, and all this armament, we should be able to decimate them without contest, even in my pessimistic expectations. The most danger will compose the high Authority battles, but I've prepared our Brigadiers and Marshals. Not even they were exempt from training. The Marshal is out on the battlefield right now, in fact."

"Right. You put it that way and it seems impossible for things to go wrong. But still…"

"I know. Believe me, I've thought long and hard about things."

He smiled at her, Umara deciding to drop it there. She knew there was no amount of questions she could ask that he didn't already answer, no amount of thought she could give that he hadn't already given himself magnitudes over.

Like other things, she would leave this to the professionals.

She looked down at the map John was standing behind, seeing the tens of thousands of red dots lighting the frontmost lines. Each dot represented 10 monsters, all of them clustered together and looking like a single mass of carnage.

But the Brigades were holding the line. Iron Legion had already slaughtered hundreds of thousands of monsters in the past several months, and they would only slaughter more with time. Most people were utterly convinced of Iron Legion's strength.

But what worried Umara was what the map didn't show, the intelligence that only John's personal maps from Sector 4 exposed.

There were millions of monsters on the way and she wasn't sure how they were supposed to kill them all. It felt to her like they were surrounded, with enemies taking over the Kingdom and monsters throwing their corpses against the front lines. They had few allies in this war, and none had helped them in any way.

Umara felt like she was in this fight with John against the world. Seeing that map filled with red only amplified her feeling of helplessness.

She moved her eyes away, silence prevailing for a short time as she found other things and screens to look at.

John spoke first.

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"So, you wanted to run some missions?"

He turned, facing his body toward her, giving his attention. She nodded with a smile.

"Mm. I figured I could use some time away from studying so much. The others have been battling all this time and I don't want to get rusty. Plus, it'll help when my advancement comes around. I'm not actually that far off from Authority 10. With my Enlightenments in Air and Fire, Water has been coming along nicely, albeit slower than my previous few advancements."

"Sheesh. Don't leave me too far behind, babe. Your family might start thinking I'm not good enough for you, like they did back then."

"Oh please, I doubt any of them even know you advanced to Authority 8. They still think you're just smart and rich."

John laughed, brushing back his lengthening hair.

"Ah yes, money and fame. What more do I need besides heaps of gold to marry the daughter of a Duchess?"

"Nothing else apparently, because to them I'm only worth my connection to the great John Cooper."

"I always did say you were the lucky one in the relationship. Come gimme some sugar."

"Ack!"

Umara recoiled with a laugh as John suddenly dove in, kissing her neck right in the middle of the command room. She squealed a bit as she tried to push away, his kisses tickling her. Her attempts at remaining quiet in this solemn space failed miserably.

"Stahp! Stop it! Before I freeze your nuts!"

"Ah! Not my nuts!"

John jerked back, still hugging her as they laughed and poked at each other a bit more.

Umara had a wide smile as John took her hand, interlocking their fingers and pulling her into a side briefing room.

"Alright, since you want to head to the battlefield so bad, I'll give you some info."

The door closed behind them, John bringing her over to a table and tapping its surface. A screen glowed to life, already filled with information about the Desert Eagles and their recent missions.

Umara let John lift her up, sitting her on the table as he started explaining.

"Recent missions have primarily involved taking out the incoming army's high level combatants. Some larger strikes have been carried out but it's simply not efficient to send them on extermination missions. If you join them, your next mission will be tonight. Your target will be an Authority 10 King Blood of Anarchy, one that's leading a small army of monsters and other Royals and attempting to subvert our construction efforts near the coastline, our furthest edge of the Maginot Line."

Umara watched the map flicker through images. They naturally had a plane over those areas, and she was able to see how the Scourge was trying to keep an avenue for attack open in weaker areas. Iron Legion forces weren't so concentrated all the way out toward the coast, but it was an important area nonetheless. They couldn't allow the Scourge to flank them.

"It shouldn't be an issue to kill the King Blood, especially if you're going to be there, but still be careful. The Scourge has been rolling out new weapons and tech, arming their high Authority combatants. They're being trickier, and Feiden has already been injured a few times. Don't let them catch you off guard. Play things safe, keep your distance."

"Of course. I'm certainly not like you, who goes charging into enemies like a Death Shrine."

Umara smiled and pat John's cheek, earning a kiss in return.

She returned it with some vigor. They hadn't seen each other in a few days, after all.

He pulled away and looked straight into her eyes.

"You'll have to leave in a couple hours. Erhan will prepare the helicopter for you."

"So, what I'm hearing is, we have a couple hours in a shielded room by ourselves."

Umara lifted her legs, hooking her heels around John and pulling him in.

John's brows raised.

"You know, I didn't think you'd want to do anything right before a battle. But if you want to be a little bold, I don't mind indulging."

"W-Well we don't have to be that intense with it. I just wanted a bit of time with you since we haven't seen each other for a bit…"

She shrank back a bit, face red as John grinned.

"You're so cute. I love you so much."

"Ack! Not the neck!"

"We shall have our fun together, enough to make up for the past few days."

"I'll freeze your nuts!"

"Hey! I need those!"

The two wrestled for a bit longer, using their time wisely while they had it.

……

The helicopter slowly touched down on top of the hardpoint, Umara stepping out. SHe faced Erhan, who spoke from within his armor.

"I'll return for now, my lady. Please inform me if you ever need transport, and I'll have it arranged."

"I shouldn't for a while, but thank you. Keep an eye on John for me. Make sure he doesn't keel over from stress."

"Rest assured, he had people to do that in his stead now."

Umara smirked a bit, Erhan boarding the helicopter and taking off.

She turned around, seeing Tana and Aria there waiting for her. She walked toward them with a wide smile.

She and Tana shared a hug. They hadn't seen each other in over a month. Umara missed her best friend.

They chatted for a time before heading down the hardpoint, entering the large staging room where the rest of the Desert Eagles were hanging out. They would be leaving for their mission soon, all of them ready to step off at a moment's notice.

Umara saw all the familiar faces. From Ilinca to Katta, all of them seemed a bit more weathered than before.

After some greetings, Blackblood let off a question.

"No John? I figured he wouldn't want to miss this mission if his fiancée was participating."

"John's busy enough as it is. I certainly wouldn't expect him to waste hours playing around here."

"I guess taking down King Bloods is just playing around then."

"Well, after what he pulled off at Continuance, yes, it is."

Blackblood went quiet with a smirk, Umara not taking it to heart. He was a natural antagonist but she knew that he understood, like everyone else, that John's place wasn't, or shouldn't be, on the battlefield.

He was still a summoner, and he was finally doing normal summoner work. Not that he had before, but at least now he wasn't risking his life in the most dangerous places of the war.

Umara turned to Aki as she suddenly walked over to her. The two exchanged a quick hug and greeting.

Aki lifted up the terminal with the briefing on it.

"I've been leading first squad in your absence, but of course the position is still yours. Since you're back…"

"That's alright. I've been out of it for a while so I'd prefer not to change things up, especially not right before a mission."

Umara rejected the offer. She was sure that the transition would be seamless, but until she shook the rust off, she wouldn't want to disrupt the flow they had been working with for a while.

"Alright then."

Aki nodded, withholding the terminal. She turned to the others.

"We step off in 30. I'll go check in with Jasmine one more time. The rest of you stay prepared. Helicopters are about to spin up."

Everyone double checked their gear, Umara doing the same for her own. After that she went back to chatting with the others, catching up on recent happenings. None of it was out of her expectations since battlefield life was battlefield life, but the stories still pulled plenty of laughs out of her.

She was in a mighty good mood, after all.

Soon Aki came back and not long after, they were heading to the helipad. Two helicopters, one for each squad, were waiting and already spun up.

Umara joined second squad for the mission with Feiden, evening out the power distribution. After that they were in the air, Umara's Witch hat condensing mana around her in preparation for battle.

As they flew, Umara saw the ongoing battle between Iron Legion forces and Scourge monsters only a few dozen miles beyond the hardpoint. The contingent they were about to attack was moving to reinforce that very battle, and they had to stop it from happening. Success would mean that their forces wouldn't have to fall back any more than they had, holding the line where they were and buying more time for construction of the Line.

After some time, they made their approach to the target site. Umara saw the small army, monsters numbering around 8 thousand. Within that marching formation was the King Blood, surrounded by two dozen other Royals around Authority 8 and 9.

Their mission: kill the high Authority combatants and clean up the fodder.

To anybody else it looked like a tall task for 13 people to kill almost a thousand times their number. Unfortunately for the Scourge, Iron Legion didn't like playing fair.

Umara heard Aki's voice echo over the TACNET.

"Target confirmed. Missiles inbound. 30 seconds."

Umara smiled, their helicopters continuing to hover over the armies completely unnoticed.

Not long after, Umara heard an alert signalling imminent impact.

Right after, she saw a massive explosion detonate right in the middle of the army. The shockwave rocked the helicopters, the residue from the explosion reaching up and touching them even high in the sky.

Four more came afterward, detonating all around the formation and obliterating every last monster with the power of runaway mana.

They waited, the massive plume of fire and smoke dispersing and exposing the Royals and King Blood, still mostly intact. The fodder all around them had been reduced to corpses almost entirely, with less than a thousand still alive.

Their targets were not unscathed. Umara saw the King Blood injured and bleeding. Some of the weaker Royals had been outright killed while others were maimed enough to be mission killed and a non factor in the upcoming fight.

She, like all the other Deagles, smiled and stood.

"Prepare to drop."

They heard Aki's voice, the hatches of the helicopters opening.

Umara ran her jetpack's diagnostic, as did the others. Everything came back green.

The command then came.

"Drop."

They all stepped out, plummeting through the air and straight into the middle of the smoking carnage below. Umara's body surged with Mana in anticipation, a laugh escaping her lips as adrenaline pumped through her veins.

Remembering what she had done to all those Nephilim and the shadow it cast on her psyche, she intended to find every ounce of glee she could within this slaughter.

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