Angel of Death
The thunderous booms of gunfire and mortar shells racked Ashlin to the core as she trailed behind Natalie. A wave of dirt and grass pelted her side, from a narrowly missed mortar. The two girls skidded to a halt behind a grey steel barricade, one Lyssa Forax taking cover behind it.
"'bout damn time! We've been at this for over half an hour!" An oddly shaped pistol dangled in her hands, a large muzzle on the barrel, and a lit up meter along the top. She cursed loudly, barely audible by the gunfire. "FUCKING MEATBAG ASSHOLES! They came outta nowhere! Took out our defences and we've barely had time to counter!"
Natalie glanced over the barricade, spotting several gaping holes in the surrounding walls. Her blood ran cold as nearly a hundred armed mercenaries continued to advance on their lack luster position. "Jesus Christ, there's a shit load out there! Where's Maria and Edea!?"
"Out front, trying to push them back! The rest of my girls suffered superficial damage and-" Lyssa jolted up, firing a bolt of glowing hot plasma, hitting a mercenary, causing his skin and clothes to burst into white flame. His screams of pain and death were lost under the storm of metal death. "One down, a fuck load more to go! Natalie, go find Maria and back her up! Ashlin, do the same with Edea! I need to go find Leah and ask her why THE FUCK she isn't out here!"
Ashlin stayed put, locked in fear while Natalie bolted away, her crimson cloak billowing behind her. Everything seemed to slow down as Ashlin's heart raced; they were outnumbered, their heavy hitters were still out, and they were severely outgunned. A small group of magical girls and a handful of Light Ironforms against an entire company of armed men? Ashlin began to tremble as the realization hit her like a truck.
"MCHALE!"
A jolt snapped the Irish girl back to her senses, Lyssa gripping the girls shoulders. "What the HELL are you doing!? I told you to get out there, SO GET OUT THERE!" Ashlin simply stared at her superior, as fear kept her locked in place. "God dammit, McHale! Get your shit together or else I'll get it together for you!" Lyssa slid her cold, metallic fingers underneath the black leather covering Ashlin's collarbones and lifted her up, standing in the process. "YOU WERE PUT HERE TO PROTECT THIS PROJECT!" Bullets flew by Ashlin's face, the heat nearly searing her skin. She simply stared down at Lyssa, her eyes widened in fear and covered in tears. "NOW GET OUT THERE," The emerald eyed magical girl suddenly found herself flying through the air, the world spinning round and round as Lyssa threw her over the barricade. She slammed hard on the ground, grass and dirt sliding against her face. "AND DO YOUR FUCKING JOB!!"
Maria stood her ground, deflecting bullets with her oversized greatsword and barely able to hold her ground against the horde charging towards her. A thick, massive stone wall, courtesy of Edea's tactical thinking, divided the open field, splitting the task of defending into two. Covered in the blood of her enemies, and a bit of her own, the copper haired magical girl stayed quiet as Natalie skidded to her side. "You doing okay, Maria?" She stayed quiet and stoic, merely nodding. Natalie took the gesture and kept quiet as well, joining her companion in the bloodshed. The two deadly magical girls became a whirlwind of blood and steel, rounds bouncing off their weapons as the blood of their enemies showered them.
The crimson bath continued, slowing down as Natalie took a burst of gunfire to her left shoulder, ripping through flesh and bone, nearly taking the entire arm off. Maria immediately jumped in front of her, taking a barrage of bullets that skipped off of her hardened skin. Maria turned her attention to her injured companion, covering her as best she could. "Natalie, you're hit! You gonna be okay?!"
"FUUUUUUUCK! DOES IT LOOK LIKE IT? And it's my goddamn good arm too, shit!" Natalie shoved herself to her feet, pressing her small back against Maria's. "Need to find some cover, I might be able to fix it!"
"Then go! I'll cover you!" The tall magical girl bumped her away, screaming at her. "Go, now!" She charged forward, letting out a loud and heavy scream as Natalie scurried away with her injured shoulder. The field began its bath of blood, bullets and sweat as Maria charged into the mass of metal and flesh.
Nokota flinched as another mortar rocked the repair quarters, the nun surrounded by the injured construction Ironforms. She surveyed the damage, the attackers rounds wrecking havoc on the mechanical bodies of the Fourths girls. Disabled limbs, injured eyesockets, and some with damaged Soul Gem cases. If these were normal girls, this room would be filled with blood, guts, and the painful wails of magical girls, Nokota thought. But these girls were made of metal, wires, and synthetic tissue. They didn't feel pain to the extent a normal person would, and they could go without food or water permanently. Such boons would be useful, but at the cost of your own flesh and blood body? No. The Lord would frown upon that, she thought.
"Wh-what can I can do help? Please, anything, I can't just sit here doing nothing!"
The room remained silent as the various Ironforms performed maintenance on each other. The clinking of spent bullets hitting the floor was the only sound to echo in the repair quarters. Each girl toiled away, giving hasty, bare minimum repairs, just enough to put them back into fighting shape. One of them, a short one painted a bold red with a 'widows peak' hair style broke the silence. "Go tell Lyssa we'll be done soon. Defence turrets should be back on soon. And pass a message to her to tell the Warsmith; WHERE THE FUCK ARE OUR HEAVIES!?"
The nun jumped at the yell, and bolted out the door, satisfied she had a task to do. She forced the sounds of gunfire and death screams out of her mind as she came to a halt next to her target. "Miss Forax, message from the others; they should be in fighting shape soon, defenses should be back up afterwards!"
"Well, about damn time! Did they forget we're short-handed AND severely outnumbered? Fucking hell!"
As the two began to brace for the next barrage of bullets, everything became quiet; no weapon fire or screaming. Just an eery silence. Nokota poked over the barricade, as she tried to get a good view of the outer battlefield. There was nothing save for the bloodied and ruined bodies of the attackers. The young nun just stared at the carnage, slowly making her way to the front gate. "D-did they kill them all?"
A low rumble shook her foundations as 3 tanks appeared out of nowhere. Nokota gasped in horror as the heavy machinery rolled towards them, followed by another company of armed men. An explosion rocked the young nun before a bright flash of light blinded her. Everything turned white for a few precious seconds, along with an ear-splitting screech. Something suddenly grabbed her from behind and pushed her to the ground as the light began to recede. Pain shot through her as Nokota turned over to see what grabbed her.
"GODDAMMIT NOKOTA. DO YOU NOT KNOW WHAT A FUCKING TANK IS!?"
Nokota gasped as she spotted Lyssa on the ground behind her, the Ironforms legs mangled and broken. Nokota jumped to her feet, ignoring the aches her body was screaming as she pulled Lyssa away from the now ruined entrance. "I-I'm so sorry! I was shocked by-" Her sentence was cut short by a deep, booming voice that washed over them. The nun poked her head around the damaged entrance, spotting a dark skinned man protruding from the top of the lead tank, megaphone in hand. Out of the corners of her eyes, the Callidus caught a glimpse of her companions, all huddled in one spot to her right. Natalie nursing her left shoulder, Ashlin covered in a stone shell, crying, and a kneeling Maria cradling a seemingly dead Edea, screaming at the blonde Eversor to wake up.
"Please, God, help us. What should we do?"
"Come on Ashlin! We can't stay behind this barricade forever!"
"Bu...b-but I'm..."
Edea stared down at the frightened magical girl, disgust flooding her face. They were outnumbered, outgunned, and seemingly outmatched. The amber eyed magical girl thrust her hands onto the ground, using her magic to reinforce the bullet ridden stone barricade she walled them with. "We're getting our asses kicked out there! Either you fight or you don't, there is no in-between!" She blew open a hole on the side, rolling out into a full sprint under a hail of gunfire. A burning sensation coursed through her veins as she charged into the fray, transmuting a long, wing tipped spear from the ground. Bullets flew by her and bounced off the newly formed spear as she twirled it around like a baton of death.
She fought and fought, her nigh unending stamina slowly whittling away under the stress of combat. The men died left and right by her hands, their death rattles and anguished screams running together in her mind, but she couldn't keep this up forever. 'How many of these guys are there? Did they bring more? Shit!' The butt of a rifle came crashing down on the blonde Eversor, narrowly blocked by the shaft of her spear. A swift knee to the gut followed by a right elbow to the neck brought the man down, giving Edea a moment to breath. 'How in the hell did the heavies get decimated by this? How are WE getting decimated like this?' The thought didn't last long before more angry soldiers began charging her, knives, machetes, and iron rods drawn to strike. "Wanna get close this time, eh? Then come on!"
The ground shook as Edea shoved her spear into the ground, shafts of rock jutting up in an attempt to impale these new attackers. Each missed their mark, but that didn't matter to her; it gave Edea enough time to do what she needed. Clapping her hands together, the blonde haired Eversor ran her left hand over her right, a long metal blade forming from the forearm. Electricity crackled down the razor sharp blade as Edea dashed forward to begin her bloody work. Ten men foolish enough to get close. Ten men who would soon be dead.
The first fell as Edea's blade sliced cleanly and effortlessly across his neck, blood spewing from the wound as his scream turned to a gurgle. Without missing a beat, Edea leapt towards the second poor soul, letting her arm blade sink deep into his chest as he fell. A quick jump back and a roundhouse kick to another brought the girl to a safe distance from the other now furious and frightened soldiers. A small smirk crawled onto Edea's face.
"I got more than enough to take the rest of ya on, so bring it! Your choice to get close, so you assholes have no one to blame but yourselves!"
That smirk quickly faded as the remaining assailants drew their slung rifles and opened fire. Bracing herself did nothing as as the wave of metal death slammed into her, ripping through flesh and bone as pain shot through the young Eversor's body. A pulse shot through her as her pain dampening training kicked in, reducing the throbs of agony to a dull reminder. 'Shit, didn't expect them to open fire. Guess I'm not the smartest one after all. At least they didn't hit my gem, then I'd be rightly screwed...goddammit Ashlin!'
One of the men began to slowly advance on Edea, rifle aimed forward, screaming in a language she didn't understand. As he came within an arms length, screaming and spitting all the while, Edea closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. Time seemed to slow down for the blonde Eversor as she resigned to the fate she was given; but she wasn't going to go without a bang.
'I'm sorry, my little orphan Annie, but this looks like the end of the road for me...'
In a display of speed only known to those facing their death, Edea clapped her hands together and slammed her metal hand over the armed man's face, gripping so hard the bone beneath began to crack. As the other soldiers stood in shock at what should be a dead magical girl, Edea took the moment to finalize her plan. Sliding her left arm around the captive mans rifle, she turned it onto the bewildered soldiers, opening fire on them. The aim wasn't true, but the added shock of coming under fire frightened the men enough to give Edea her true counter. She threw the now unconscious soldier at his fellows and slammed her left fist into the ground, causing a massive stone fist to erupt from underneath her attackers, catching them off guard even more and shattering the skull of one unlucky bastard.
The fire burned hotter as Edea fought back with everything she had, her punches and kicks being mimicked by the stone beneath her feet. The enormous sculptures broke and crushed bone, blood leaking and spraying the very ground they came from. As the last man succumbed to the stone heel of Edea's boot, the fiery blaze within her was snuffed out, causing the poor girl to stumble and nearly fall on the crushed remains below her. "D-dammit...guess that took more outta me, than I thought it would..." The world started to spin as Edea finally fell to the ground, eyes slowly dimming to a close. A voice rang out to her in fear as she gave in to the darkness of sleep.
"Please, God, help us. What should we do?"
Nokota stood in horror at the battlefield, the bodies of their attackers laid all over the sunbathed field and her companions all but dead or near so. "I-I've experienced combat before, but not like this." The blue eyed Callidus crept backwards as her body began to tremble in fear. "Miss Forax...what-what should we do?"
Lyssa drug herself behind the fear filled magical girl, nearly tripping her. "We stand and fight, that's what. If you want to run, go ahead. But I won't let you live it down, even if I'm dead." Nokota watched as the disabled Ironform gripped her pistol tightly, the purple LED's giving off a scowling look. "Fucking hell."
A resounding screech pierced Nokota's ears, bringing her attention to the lead tank. A tall, dark skinned man in shades stood atop the tank, megaphone in hand. She looked on as the main raised the megaphone to his mouth, a sudden quiet sweeping over the blood covered plains.
"Infidels who oppose da true Blessed Lady shall be swept off de Eart. At least, dat's what we gettin' paid fohr." A chorus of manly laughter boomed through the megaphone, the humor of the situation lost on the two magical girls. The lead man pulled out a pair of binoculars, scanning the compound. "Dohoho, and it looks like we 'ave ourselves some pretty ladies out dere. Don't worreh, we'll make ya feel reeeaaal good, whetha ya like it or not." Another boom of laughter rolled out as the tanks and soldiers began their slow march towards the compound.
Nokota stared out at the enroaching mass of metal and death, petrified to the core. "H-how can we fight this? We...this is way too much!" She stepped back, bumping into Lyssa's mangled legs. "What should we do?!"
"Either you fight and win, or you lose and die. Or worse, you meatbags become their pleasure toys. And if they know how soul gems work, they won't let you die any time soon."
A cold wind blew through the two girls, the only noise coming from the rumbling of the approaching tanks. Nokota stood still as the information processed through her pure mind. She was doomed to live her life as a toy if she didn't fight back. "I...I can't let that happen." As if responding to her words, a flash of white light appeared in her hand before forming into the silver cross she kept with her. "No. I can't live like that again." The young magical nun slowly began to walk outside the compounds wrecked entrance, beckoning Lyssa to stay back. "I won't let that happen to anyone here."
The soldiers came to a stop as they spotted Nokota, the shades wearing man looking on at the lone magical girl. He glanced at the other four near the walls, each of them still in a state of disarray and smirked. "And what are you gonna do against all of us, little girl? You wanna be the firs' to please us?"
Nokota said nothing, merely bringing the silver cross to her forehead, whispering lightly to herself. "Forgive me, Father, for I must sin..."
-
Everything slowed down for the silent nun as something overcame her; her body moved of it's own will. Colors washed out in everything around her as a single thought ran through her mind. In a flash, Nokota was above the shades wearing man, stomping onto his face as the heel of her shoe punctured his sunglasses and eyes. Before he could emit a scream, she put all of her weight onto him, letting her heel squish further down.
They all must die. They must not hurt her. They must not hurt them.
The sunlight beat down onto the washed out world the Callidus was seeing, each of her targets giving off a sickly black aura in her eyes. Men tained by sin, who cannot be saved. Their souls forever lost and must be given back to God.
As quickly as she appeared above the lead man, Nokota moved faster than the other soldiers could follow. She whipped the silver cross around, a long barbed chain uncoiling from within. Twirling it around her, she ran through the ranks of the now frightened men, the chain magically finding just the right spots for the kill.
No more awful memories. Never again being a mans slave. No more pain.
"God looks down upon sinners such as yourselves!" Nokota gave the chain a small jerk, retracting the magically lengthened chain through the shower of blood. "May HE have mercy on your pathetic ouls, for you will NOT RECIEVE ANY FROM ME!" Blood dripped off the young nun's face, deadened eyes slowly scanning the terrified men, looking for the next target.
A sudden sharp pain shocked Nokota as she doubled over, grasping the back of her head with her open hand. A slight wetness covered her hand as blood seeped into her platinum blonde locks. The soldiers left standing opened fire, only to find their target gone. A flash of light erupted from above, causing one of the tanks to explode in a blinding heat.
"Repent, so that the Lord may accept you into his embrace!"
Another flash from above caused the second tank to explode in a ball of flame and metal, the shockwaves and debris killing or blowing away the surrounding soldiers. The remaining ranks, shocked and locked in fear, stared at the floating magical girl in the sky, the sun radiating high above like a beacon of death.
"Men like yourselves are vermin! A blight on mankind! Let your deaths be a lesson to your brethren; you call from the path of righteousness and your soul is damned!"
Before another word could be uttered, a burst of blinding light exploded from Nokota's body, blinding everyone around her; the soldiers, the girls at the compound, even Lyssa, despite having protection against blinding light. And then, silence.
"Fuck, what-just what the hell is happening?!" Even with her light filter at max, Lyssa had to shield her eyes as the full force of the light hit her. "Nokota! Nokota!" Her screams were met with silence as the light finally receded, leaving a corpse charred field in it's wake. Lyssa watched in awe as Nokota floated back to the ground, habit tattered and bloody everywhere. The dead eyed nun slowly walked back to the compound, silent as the field behind her. "Nokota...just what the fuck?..."
A frantic and frightened Maria skidded to a halt in front of the two girls, cradling a lifeless Edea in her arms. "Quick, she needs help! Her soul gem...it's almost completely dark!" She gently pulled down Edea's collar, being mindful of modestly, revealing a light blue gem made even darker by the corruption roiling through it.
"In my quarters, look left as soon as you go in; there should be a cabinet with a few seeds. Go, now!" Lyssa flung her arm towards the building, Maria making a mad dash, clenching the limp Eversor as she ran. "Jesus Christ, how are we fucking up this badly?"
-
The next few hours were quiet and dreary; disposing of corpses and body parts, returning the defense turrets back to full capacity, and the slow, painstaking process of repairing the barricades and walls of the compound. The miasma of death lingered, even after the burials and it hung over the compound as a grim reminder of their mortality.
Lyssa sat at her desk, a pair of substitute legs attached while her normal legs were being repaired. She watched her girls outside running around, contemplating her next move. A holographic video screen hovered in front of her, waiting for input.
"Call the Olympia, Warsmith Petra Dammekos. Urgent."
The screen flashed and beeped as a message appeared reading 'UNAVAILABLE - LEAVE MESSAGE'. A timer appeared in the corner, causing Lyssa to curse loudly.
"Goddammit. Whatever, Petra, we're getting fucked over here. We need our heavies back ASAP. I know they got damaged pretty bad, and it's only been a week, but please. Tell the repair girls to hurry the fuck up. If we get hit like that again, we're all dead. Also, send a replacement for Ashlin McHale. She's dead weight out here. And if you can, send me whatever info you have on this...Nokota. Something -odd- happened today and I'm a little curious about her."
Slapping a few keys on her desk's keyboard, the exhausted mechanical magical girl slid back in her chair as the message went on it's way, her eyes dimming down. A prompt appeared in her display, snapping the poor woman out of her stupor. "Diagnostics check? Sure, I could use some rest." Three beeps later, and the room went dark, with Lyssa's dimmed violet eyes illuminating her cold, steel face.
"Awww, they all died?"
"Yes, they all perished. They fought back bravel-"
"Who the fuck care how they fought? They dead."
"Orisa, you may not value life, but I do. Our goal may not be righteous, but have respect for the fallen before I teach you said respect."
"Oh yeah? You may be older than me, Oriha, but I could still kick your ass!"
"ENOUGH! Keep your petty familial squabblings to yourselves, we got bigger fish to fry. Like that Callidus who wiped out all those hired guns and the dark skinned Eversor who could take a bullet to the face without flinching. Now git, find out what else you can from our informant."
"Y-yes, Dimuko."
"Yes, Miss Dimuko."
