Ranier felt a sense of dread as he looked over the city walls. 

As far as the eye could see over the horizon, the armies of Argabad gathered, in their Red and Green battle gear, which were mechanical steam punk looking armor, as well as what looked like firearms with bayonets attached to them. 

They looked like traditional knights in full plates, except that there were wires attached to them, and some of them had backpacks attached to their firearms, with smoke coming out of their barrels. 

The group of knights in front rode what looked similar to the mechanical unicycles on earth. 

At least 10 battleships, hovered in the air like blimps over the army, with what looked like the barrels of cannons of some sort pointing at the city. 

"Stay ready. Don't falter!" Count Archilles de Milo yelled as the mercenaries that made up most of Manora's forces looked jittery.

Ranier looked at the naked girls behind him, all with shrouds on their heads and chains attached to their pierced nipples and clitoris. 

Some of them had weapons, while others were barehanded. Their hair colors could be seen from the hair that were longer than the shrouds and Ranier could see they had different colored hair, like his followers, which meant they were not all from the same race.

They were hairless in their crotches, which didn't allow Ranier to match hair color to their heads, not giving him a clue who they were. 

However, to his shock, he could see two girls that were different, standing right next to the Count. 

One looked like a teenager, with pubescent breasts, while the other one looked younger, perhaps 10 with no discerning sexual growth yet. However, they too had rings attached to their breasts and vagina, even though they looked young. 

He personally held chains connected to their collars around their necks, and instead of a black shroud, they instead wore special head gear that covered their heads completely, but had eye holes to see out from. 

Brown hair could be seen sticking out from the bottom of the teenager's headgear while pink hair could be seen from the pre-pubescent one. 

Ranier so wanted to free them, but now was not the time. He looked over at his girls. They looked nervous, but prepared for battle. He hoped they would all make it out alive. 

Suddenly, without any warning, there was a loud rumble that shook even the city walls. 

The knights charged, their unicycles moving at high speeds towards the city wall. 

At that moment, the cannons on the Battleships glowed, then with a loud noise, they fired. 

Multiple rays of light shone onto the city walls and the mercenaries of Manora screamed as people and body parts incinerated in an instant. 

The city walls became porous as large holes were blasted into them and in an instant, the motorized knights were already inside the city, shooting their laser rifles and flamethrowers. 

Ranier managed to dodge the Battleship blasts and found himself on the floor as a knight rushed at him with his flamethrower. 

He thought he was prepared for this, but as his ears rang, he looked around as if everything was in slow motion.

There were body parts everywhere and he could barely concentrate on the knight attacking him.

"Shit" Ranier cursed, using his mana manipulation to bend the flames to curve around him, barely missing him. 

Suddenly, a shot was fired and the knight fell to the ground dead with a bullet through the head. 

"Thanks Nightingale" Ranier said as he jumped on the unicycle and rode it to battle. 

He slapped his face to get out of his shock and looked all around him and saw his companions fighting hard. 

"Yeah, this isn't the time to zone out" he muttered to himself.

Violet slashed a knight while avoiding the bullets of another. 

That knight fell to the ground as Rei's throwing knife entered the knight's eyeball through the small slit of his suit.

Mary Sue flew through the air, firing her weapon and causing mass destruction, and charged at the enemy.

Teresa and Satellizer charged ahead, in their awakened and Nova form respectively.

While Charlotte and Ais engaged their enemies using a mixture of their sword and magics.

On the other side, Count Achilles' forces were fighting well too as they demonstrated their abilities that were not inferior to Ranier's own.

But the mercenaries were not doing so well. 

The mercenaries were like a group pf pirates or bandits, fighting against a well drilled army. Many were instantly killed.

Ranier saw Anastasia cutting the head off a knight when another shot at her.

She managed to block with her shield, but her arm got injured as the bullet pierced the shield.

She dropped the shield and charged forwards, forcing him to use his bayonet to defend in close distance.

Suddenly, an arrow hit the knight's face, blinding him for a moment as Anastasia stabbed the knight through the armpit.

Rachel was shooting arrows as a distraction, since her arrows could not damage the knights and her short swords were too short to fight them.

As Anastasia pushed the last part of her sword into the knight, the knight laughed as he pulled his trigger.

His bullet blasted through Anastasia's helmet, throwing her backwards onto the ground

"No!" Maya screamed as she blasted the dying knight with a fireball.

Ranier rushed to Anastasia, pulling off her broken helmet.

She tried to move or say something, but only trembled helplessly with tears in her eyes, a bullet through her temple. Within moments she stopped breathing. 

"Rest well sweet Anastasia. I love you" Ranier said, closing her eyes

He looked up in anger and charged towards the charging enemy forces. 

"Ranier! No!" Valentine yelled while invisible and followed him as he cut down another two metal knights, while Valentine covered his back, by killing a knight who tried to attack from behind. 

"Shit" Rei said as he and Violet chased after Ranier who was charging forwards recklessly. 

Just then, the Battleships fired again. 

It was too close for Ranier to avoid and he closed his eyes. 

Moments later, to his surprise, he was still alive!

Valentine was holding on to him as he made both of them intangible and then back again after the blast. 

They were both on the floor, and Ranier saw that Valentine had decided to stay naked today, wearing only her pistol holders. 

But as they looked behind them, there was even more devastation. 

Rei and Violet managed to jump out of harm's way, but there were many more charcoal bodies behind him, all the way to where he laid Anastasia, who was partially incinerated. 

"Who..." Ranier said in shock at the two female forms looking in agony as their body became coal.

"I... I think they were Sasha and Rachel who also chased after you" Violet said in shock.

"No!" Ranier said, realizing that not only has he lost Anastasia, but also his other lovers Rachel and Sasha. 

"Shit! Another one!" Reis said as she pointed at the battleship who was preparing to fire another shot. 

It would be too late to duck now.