As Konos and his men disposed of the army of the dead, the rest of the Voyagers were on another job.
At the West Fort, the lieutenant that was posted at the northern gate suddenly noticed another crowd approaching. As they got into sight range, the officer sighed. This was what he feared the most.
It was another group of survivors. In other words, another village was slain. Another hundreds were lost.
The crowd stopped in front of the gate. The closed gate.
“Sir?” One of the men turned to the lieutenant. His tone was hesitant.
“Sir, the commander has given orders.” Another man reminded. “The Matrix is not to be turned off.” As long as the Matrix was on, not a single soul, friendly or hostile, could enter the fort. It kept the potential attackers out, but it was the same with those who seeked safe harbor inside the fort.
The lieutenant bit his lips and turned his glance at the crowd. He could see some of them were crying while others were literally kneeling down on the ground and begging for entry. To them, it might be the difference between life and death.
“Please, let us in!” One of the women cried. Her high pitched voice clearly reached above the castle wall. “We’ll be slaughtered out here! The monsters...they’re coming after us! You have to let us in!”
“Impossible!” The lieutenant frowned. “They have never gotten close to the fort. They wouldn’t dare…”
Before he could finish, a distance away, a figure approached. It was a seven feet tall man wielding a giant axe. His black armor and fierce weapon were stained red by blood. He was rapidly approaching the castle.
His eyes were set on the ones in front of the walls.
The cries doubled in wavelength and frequency as the survivors saw the incoming attacker as well. Some turned and ran the other direction, but most stayed in front of the castle gate.
“Please!” The first woman knelt down. She was a blonde slant woman in her twenties. “We can’t outrun him! We can’t fight him! Please! If we stay here he will kill us all!”
The lieutenant frowned. If the large man kept moving at this speed, he would have more than enough time to open a small entrance on the Matrix, let the survivors in, and seal the entrance. It could save dozens of lives.
“Sir! The commander has issued orders...”
“I will not sit back and watch the people I’ve sworn to defend get slaughtered.” The lieutenant cut his soldier off and decided. “Not when I can easily save them.”
“We have hundreds of lives at stake in the castle…”
“And we will keep them safe. Follow the order, soldier.”
The Matrix blinked as the lieutenant manually modified it. Most of the castle was still protected, but at the area where the northern gate was, the red layer of protection disappeared. The gate was quickly opened.
The lieutenant and 30 men were at the gate. The lieutenant might be an empathetic fool, but he still had some common sense left. All 30 men were in formation. Their runes focused all their power on the lieutenant, just in case.
“Come in, quickly!”
The crowd scrambled forward. Some of them yelled words of gratitude. Within moments, all thirty of the survivors were inside the fort. The Matrix was turned back on and the gate was shut.
Ares came to a screeching stop. He slammed his axe on the ground and cursed, but there was nothing he could do. He fired his Voyager rifle at the defensive Matrix, but the layer of red didn't even budge.
Inside the fort, the lieutenant smiled. He knew he made the right call. If he chose to be safe instead and watched the women and children die, his conscious would never agree with him.
Among the crowd, a girl emerged and walked toward him.
The lieutenant rose his eyebrows. Although he didn't do it for the praise, he would never refuse some gratitude, especially one from such a beauty.
As the girl stood in front of him, the lieutenant gave out a small smile.
And then the girl took out a sword and pushed it through his chest.
Things went from 0 to 100 in seconds. As soon as the blonde executed the lieutenant, two other figures emerged from the crowd, which has suddenly frozen.
One of the figures was a girl. She held her fist tight. Immediately, half of the thirty men on the ground felt the space around them compressing on them. The runes on their armors were activated, but the red energy was crushed before they could even form an effective layer of defense. As the runes went dim, the armor screeched and broke as well. Without the armors, the men were reduced to piles of flesh.
“What the…”
Blink disappeared for five seconds. When she appeared again, fifteen bodies hit the ground.
All 30 men standing guard in front of the gate, gone.
“Who are you…” The lieutenant coughed. A Voyager Blade was inside him. He knew he was going to die. Even worse, he knew his decision have caused the death of hundreds, if not thousands, more. If this fort falls, everyone inside will die. Without a foothold, the garrison will have even more trouble protecting the innocent.
He has managed to screw everyone up.
Jean’s smile was nowhere to be seen. Ignoring the question from the dying man, she pulled her weapon out and beheaded the lieutenant. She quickly turned to Cassandra and Blink.
“Cassandra, go to whatever is generating that red shield and turn it off. Let Ares in. Blink, clear the guards on the wall. I will send my forces to terminate everyone inside the fort.”
The other two Voyagers nodded. While Jean wasn’t technically the commander, nor was she the strongest of them all, she was a decent leader. The Voyagers didn't really care about who’s giving orders as long as their interest were satisfied.
As Blink and Cassandra departed, Jean rested her hand on her watch.
The Voyagers were fierce warriors. In this case, with the Matrix useless and most of the defenders gone, they were near invincible. Even so, it would take a while for four entities to exterminate hundreds.
Protectors are a whole different story.
So, this was where Jean’s mechanical forces come into play. While her forces weren’t the most elite, and might struggle against powerful hostile forces, they could certainly mop the floor and tie up the loose ends after the powerful enemies were dealt with. This was also partially why Violet set her eyes on Jean. Not many Voyagers have an army at their command, especially at the lower leagues.
Three thousand legionnaires appeared in front of Jean.
Legionnaires have a CAS of 32. During the brief moment of combat, Jean estimated the CAS of the soldiers to be around 50. But she also knew after Blink, Cassandra, and Ares were done, the only thing left for the soldiers would be their broken swords and shattered armors. 3,000 legionnaires could easily take care of the villagers that have taken refuge inside the fort.
The shield generator was a critical part of the fort’s defenses, but due to the lack of manpower, it was only secured by a handful of guards.
Now, these guards have being turned to bodies on the ground. Cassandra waved her hand as her Voyager blade flew back to her. Telekinesis worked exceptionally well turning her melee weapon into a flying sword.
The girl knelt down beside the shield generator and tapped a few keys. It didn't take her long to figure out how to turn off one end.
As soon as the shields were down, the beast was let inside. By beast, the author means Ares.
Screams filled the fort as Voyagers and legionnaires alike slaughtered anyone else. The guards from the other three walls tried to react, but all they saw was a flash before being taken down. As a tier-2 Voyager, Blink killed the guards like they were chicken.
The survivors were overwhelmed by swarms of legionnaires. They thought they were safe behind the castle walls. They were wrong. Unfortunately, they only realized their mistakes when the yellow plasma blades of the Purifiers landed on them.
As the other Voyagers did the killing, Jean had something else in mind.
Like all castles, Fort West had an armory. Jean didn't know where it was, and she didn't have the psychic power to read the mind of one of the guards to find out, but what she did have was an army. The legionnaires quickly located the armory and directed Jean there.
After beheading the last two guards, Jean entered the heavily defended building.
The armory was the home for hundreds of swords, spears, shields, armors, and helmets. It even had a set of battering rams. One hundred sets of bows and arrows fifty times that count. As Jean knelt down next to a stash of swords and picked one up, she noticed the runes on the blade. As she held the handle of the sword tightly, she could feel energy converging around the weapon.
This was something she has never seen before. Protoss used crystals and psionic energy. Terran drew power from fuel and electricity. Zerg relied on physical strength. But all the people in this world had to do was carve some marks onto their weapons, and they could just create energy from out of nowhere. This was just remarkable.
Of course, Jean knew things were much more complicated than just the surface.
But what intrigued Jean wasn’t the science behind the runes. She was interested by how they could be used to her advantage. If she could put these runes on her Purifiers and Wardens...the runes amplified the power of the local garrison. There was no reason they couldn’t do the same thing for Jean’s forces.
Just as she was about to put these runes into her watch, a figure entered the armory.
“Cassandra.” Jean glanced at the newcomer. “I thought you were taking care of the guards.”
“All the guards are dead. Ares and Blink are taking care of the leftovers.” Cassandra replied quietly as her gaze landed on all the equipment. “The power structure of this world is interesting. There are enough weapons in this room to forge an army.”
“We can split these weapons.” Jean offered. She had no intention of trying to silence Cassandra and take everything for herself. The gain wasn’t worthy of the risk.
“This isn’t my field.” Cassandra shook her head. “However, I do want you to split the weapons with Violet.”
Jean rose her eyebrows. Voyagers weren’t known for being good samaritans. In a sense, they were all selfish to the core. Jean only agreed to share with Cassandra because she had no other choice. If she could silence the latter without much repercussion, she would.
Cassandra didn't want a share. Fine. But why bring Violet into this? No Voyager would be stupid enough to harm the interest of a fellow Voyager for no reason. By asking Jean to split her gains with Violet, Cassandra only managed to give Jean a grudge against her.
Jean decided to test her fellow Voyager.
“And if I refuse?”
Immediately, Jean felt the air around her closing in. Her throat felt tight. It was as if someone has wrapped her arm around her throat and was ready to choke her to death. Her zerg instinct screamed danger.
Instead of resisting, she smiled.
“Relax. Relax. I was just kidding. Violet’s plan got me here. Of course I’ll share what I got with her.”
It was technically true. Violet was the one that came up with the plan to drag the main garrison away. On one hand, it gave her a chance to test the power of the local garrison. On the other, it left the fort empty and allowed Jean and the other Voyagers to sneak in with the help of reanimated Voyagers, courtesy of Demon, and take it.
Cassandra tilted her head before releasing Jean. Just as Jean didn't want to fight her, she didn't want to fight Jean either. But she would if she had to.
“Remember, you wouldn’t even be here if it’s not for Violet. You should act accordingly.”
She said before walking out of the armory.
Jean tilted her head as she emptied the armory into her watch.
The way Cassandra defended Violet’s interest was interesting. Jean knew the two were close, as Cassandra protected Violet fiercely multiple times in the battlefield, but she didn't expect their relationship to be this close. Jean knew if she continued to disrespect Violet, Cassandra wouldn’t hesitate to unload the full power of her telekinesis on her.
But what could’ve made one Voyager this loyal to another?
Oddly, this reminded her of Viper.
