Chapter 22: Field Test
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Former Lieutenant now Private Marsay of the Frankish Para was having the worst time of her life, not only was she demoted for something that wasn't even her fault but the fault of her retarded subordinates. She looked around, their was maybe three dozen fellows like herself, NCOs and COs that had been demoted out of the blue, with Marines being placed in charge until newly "trained and professional officers can arrive", whatever that meant after all everyone here was just as good as any replacements.

"What is this mission again?" She asked the Marine NCO.

"I didn't here the 'sir' private." He replied.

"Siiiirrrr." Her said drawing the word out.

"Keep mocking your superiors and I will have you shot." The NCO warned, "Our mission is to recover the Tanks lost, and unfortunately for us Marines we have to babysit a bunch of idiots, which means we have to secure it, and suffer the crimes of entering her territory." The Marine looked around more carefully as the same tense air a handful felt from their last mission.

"Keep watch, someone's watching! Probably that maid." Commented the CO leading this operation. "Or the child."

The Para's looked at each other confused why were they taking a child seriously, sure the maid was dangerous. But that was with that Railgun, she couldn't be that bad.

Marsay was about to speak when a few Marines at the front of the formation shouted that they found the missing tanks. OR what was left of them. With one tank having it's turret a good few meters away, and other was fine, "So you cowards abandoned the other Tank?" She asked.

"The Tanks can be replaced the crews can't." Replied the CO to her question, "Ask another stupid fucking question and I'll personally give you to 'her' myself. Squad B check out the intact tank and see what we have to work with. Everyone else pull a perimeter." 

The Marines on a instinctive nature draw their bayonets and with low clicks they slotted into place. Marsay followed their actions though fumbled to slot her bayonet. Moving with her squad they advanced on the Tank, if she remembered right it was a Leclerc Model 22... something like that, she was more use to the Para APC's she was trained to command.

"Private check the interior." Ordered the Sargent.

 "Sir!"  Called a unnamed Paratrooper she couldn't care about, after climbing onto the Tank he checked the cupola but stopped, "What the-!" With a muffled bang he fell off the Tank with a hole in his forehead right between the eyes the helmet doing nothing to protect him.

"Au revoir! Frenchmen!" Within a blinding light a series of explosions rocked everyone, with the surrounding buildings exploded outwardly which crashed into the Marines and Paratroopers like hailstones, crushing or breaking both armor, arms and bones.

Marsay and the squad she was apart of were spared from the worst of the hell that was started. It was eerily silent but soon the cries of pain, 'medic' and mere whimpers. Along with the silent dead.

"What the hell!" She cried as the firing kicked off. Dropping her weapon she dived and slowly crawled underneath the Tank. Turning around to face outwardly, a quick count told her nearly half of the men with her were on the ground some dead and some clinging to life, and the determent few who got to the best cover they could and fought back.

She could see several using the destroyed Tank's Hull and some taking the turret due to the three-hundred-sixty degree cover it provides, to her dismay it was  for not, as one of the Paras that tried to join them seemed to be hit by nothing but his back opened as if struck by a sword, but the way the blood seemed to go in the ways of least resistance which was the top and bottom of the injury. Following his gasp of pain he got struck by it again but this time it sent him flying forward and even had the force to push several Paras and Marines off balance...

"Was it the wind? No... how?" She looked at the possible area where the wind could have come from to only narrow her eyes as she saw a girl maybe no older then sixteen, she thought the angle and distance was bad for IDing age but what wasn't hard to see was the strange stick in her hand with the tip of it glowing with every flick and she followed the flick, and just saw the way the air moved forming a kind of edge as said edge impacted the Tank turret her comrades were using and saw the gash form but the armor held against it, but even that it shifted a good half foot.

"What the hell..." Pulling a rifle that wasn't their she mentally smacked herself for dropping it, raising her head just enough till she felt the hull of the Tank. "You can do this! For all the marbles!" She hyped herself up before on all fours rushing forward for her gun, managing to grab it and getting onto her side and taking aim and fired two rounds that impact the woman shoulder sending her arm to become limp and her dropping her stick.

The expected pain and fear wasn't their in the eyes of the girl. No, the girl's eyes were nothing more then burning orbs of fire. Lifting her other arm and within it held a fire ball, Marsay blinked and the fireball started moving towards her. Rolling onto her other side and her back taking the full brunt of the fireball, she could feel the back plate heat up and the back of her uniform was obliterated.

Choosing to play dead she went limp, with one eye open Marsay could only watch helplessly as those she trained and lived with died. But oddly felt nothing at the sight... thinking about it their training desensitized them to most things, death being one of them, she could only laugh internally.

"Command we've been engaged and need reinforcements!" She heard the CO shouting into the Radio, with little movements and found where her CO is hiding and to say the cover was rough was an understatement as he is using the side panels from the Tank that had come loose. "Yes. Understood." Turning from the radio he shouted for everyone to hold out as reinforcements were coming.

 At the order the Marines fought harder, and now seeing a chance to survive the Paras fought showing their experience and training.

"You two with me." She heard someone call, and rushed past her vision towards one of the buildings that held an enemy MG, with them all in single file and the last one preparing a grenade bundle. Seeing this the MG's Gunner turned onto the three, and the first fell followed by the second leaving the third who through the bundle getting into a window before getting hit by some black mist, "ARGHGHG!" He screamed as he was rotting as if years were passing in seconds for him.

The building had people rushing out of it, with some clearly being Athtrim Armed Citizenry wearing a mix of Police, FRIA and Junta body armor and weapons being just as random but two caught her eye. One was the MG Gunner who dove out the very window she had been set up on, she was wearing a light vest to cover her body and had ammo wrapped around her torso but instead of running for cover she merely stood up grabbing one of the bipod's legs and kept firing till she got to another building. The other was clad from neck to toe in a kind of black robe and held a strange staff that glowed the same kind of black mist, and she was pale extremely so. But she showed utter contempt to the fire against her as if she was perfectly fine with dying. But both were clearly Human, according to their depictions in the media...

Marsay watched as this woman walked over to the man that was somehow still alive despite looking to be rotten like a corpse but was still standing, as if the black mist kept him alive... but that shouldn't be possible right? 'No... they both have similar things happening... there was that stick and now this staff...' Marsay thought until she ran straight into a sudden realization, 'Magic from the old texts of Humanity... of Human's splitting oceans, turning water into wine, being revived after a handful of days passing...' 

She was just close enough to hear what the human was about to say, "My dear." she said wistfully as if talking to a child, and was just loud enough to be heard regardless of the gun fires effort, "Are you hungry?" To the question the man nodded and started drooling, raising her staff she pointed at the turret turned bunker, "EAT!"

Just like that he shambled forward and the black mist disappeared showing the full extent of the rot, as the uniform was perfect... the man though looked to have been dead for at least a few months, the skin was still their but dried out and parts of it was torn exposing the muscles below...

"D-d-dear... g-g-god..." Marsay muttered. He is dead but. Not at the same time... how? HOW!?

"ARGHAHGAGHGAGHGAGH!!!" His slight guttural roar, the gunfire stopped and all eyes both friend and foe looked at it. With only one side not knowing what the fuck it was.

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