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Earth's Defense - Greece
🕑 Added 2022-08-25 04:51:50 +0000 UTCNeeds to go through and polish it up a bit, but I think this one turned out alright. Let me know what you guys think!
Greece
Kaife Meremi huddled behind the wreckage of a car and clasped her hands to her ears in a fruitless attempt to block out the horrible howls and gunfire.
Not for the first time the last couple days, she desperately tried to understand how things had come to be this way. None of it made any sense! Sure, humanity might not be as well established as the Asari, but shouldn’t it have been impossible to bring an invasion fleet and army to their freaking home planet?!
The wreckage at her back shuddered and she let out a small whimper before she could silence it. There were shouts of panic and pain interspersed with the chilling howls of those… Things.
She needed to keep moving. Fast. So when she saw a group of humans race out of a ruined diner she quickly pushed herself up and ran after them.
Goddess, I am not made out for this…
She was just a child by Asari standards, barely starting on her Maiden journey. It wasn’t supposed to turn into… into… Whatever nightmarish sci-fi movie this had become!
Giant laser ships, bug soldiers, zombie troops… She let out a choked laugh. Somebody was going to have a field day documenting this. If there was anybody alive to do so anyways.
From what she saw they seemed to be trying to take people alive, but… Captured didn’t really feel like the better option.
She had seen enough horror vids for her imagination to come up with ideas on what was happening to those captured.
Where was the defending Human fleet? Or the Asari? The Turian’s? Somebody? Anybody?! They had to realize this was happening, right?!
Kaife was nearly to the group before one of them looked at her, a look of horror appearing on their face.
For a single moment of clarity she felt dread. Goddess, this was wrong for wishing so, but she hoped she was what they were scared of…
The howl that followed nearly deafened her as it shattered her hopes. The chunk of concrete that flew by clipped her leg, sending her spinning to the ground as she clutched her thigh, tears running down her face. Looking up she saw one of the big, muscley ones begin to stomp over to her, several smaller ones with guns approaching behind it.
Kaife shuddered and put up her best attempt of a Barrier. She hadn’t practiced this sort of biotics since she left her sports team years prior, and she knew her attempt was pathetic. Wow, what a time to regret not listening to her mom…
A gun fired, her barrier shattering with an ease that made her wince. Or maybe that was the shot that grazed her.
Whelp. She was doomed.
Until suddenly… She wasn’t.
She almost missed it when it happened - a sudden pressure in the air, an odd feeling that stroked across her senses. The pressure began to climb, but it wasn’t until the monsters looked up at something behind her that she realized it wasn’t just herself that felt it.
When a figure stepped from behind her, standing in between her and the monsters, she almost thought she was hallucinating.
The person was a human male, but by the goddess was he larger than any human she had seen before. Taller than some Krogans even. And he was, uh… (despite the circumstances Kaife couldn’t help but blush) very well built.
… Ok, it totally wasn’t her fault that that’s what she noticed - she was sleep deprived and stressed! A-and the guy wasn’t wearing a shirt! Though even if he had been, she doubted it would have hidden much, because wow. Just… Wow.
Wait, not important. What was important was that that mountain of muscle just stepped in front of multiple monsters without any armor whatsoever! Never mind their guns, she had seen those things rip apart barricades with their hands!
She was about to shout at him to get away or something (maybe pick her up and run if he could), when the big monster bellowed at the human and charged with thunderous steps.
She heard herself whimper and was about to close her eyes when the impossible happened.
The giant human moved forward as the brute raised its arms, moving up to it, and punched.
The Asari Maiden’s mouth fell open in shock as the monster’s armored (chitinous?) face buckled and warped around the man’s fist with a sickening series of cracks. Its momentum tried to fight back against the force of the punch, but only its lower body seemed to get the memo as its upper body was thrown back, the result being its head slammed into the ground hard enough to crack the concrete.
She could probably be forgiven for stopping everything to just stare for a moment. The other monsters seemed as equally stupefied as she was, and she hadn’t thought they had enough intelligence to be stupefied. It was just… What was that!? She might not have paid as much attention as she should in physics, but she was pretty sure there was a mass/momentum problem with what just happened!
The Asari almost missed what happened next, but she definitely heard it. She practically felt it as the man stood tall and let loose a roar of his own, one that echoed across the city in a clear challenge.
“W-what are you doing?!” She shrieked at her savior(?), “you’re going to bring them here!”
He didn’t even have time to reply before the monsters closest came out of their stunned state and remembered that they had guns. Each of them let loose a howl of their own (pretty small compared to the one he gave them, but no less scary in her opinion) and fired.
He should have died. She was watching, unable to take her eyes off of it, and each blast hit his skin, meaning that he didn’t even have any biotics protecting him, and obviously no armor.
He should have died.
Which is why she couldn’t believe her eyes when he let out a deep chuckle, as if he were amused. Each strike that hit him was ignored, as if it were rain instead of the deadly barrage of gunfire that it was. He calmly brought out a white bow that looked very much out of place in his hands, save for its size (had that been there before?) and drew an arrow.
“Don’t worry,” he murmured, and she barely managed to hear it over the gunfire. It was the first time he had actually spoken, the deep rumbling reminiscent of a Krogan, yet it was filled with enough confidence to somehow manage to make her relax minutely. The pressure she felt before was back, and she shuddered as it started rising even higher as he notched the arrow to the bow, “I just needed to get their attention.”
“Oh, well, if that’s all, I think you succeeded,” she replied with a bit of hysteria while staring at the man that should be full of holes. Unfortunately her mind wasn’t given the time to properly process that impossibility before she saw more of the monsters appearing. Once spread out, they were clearly coming to investigate the sound. Some were charging while most others aimed and fired from a distance, yet the man didn’t seem worried at all, the pressure continuing to build until it reached a peak, and she heard him speak once more.
“Shooting Hundred Heads.”
The pressure released.
Her mouth dropped.
In that instant, Kaife saw the large man firing arrows (so so many, in such a brief span of time) the size of walking sticks at a speed comparable to a machine gun, his hands a blur.
The concept of ‘cover’ did not exist at that moment - each arrow flew with enough force to drill through cars and concrete, each piercing multiple enemies when possible. The sound of thunder filled the air as one hundred arrows were shot with the power of a cannon within the span of a couple seconds.
When he finally stopped she could only stare in abject disbelief at the destruction in front of her. She could still hear the sounds of combat, but it was far in the distance. In front of her the road was littered with craters and holes, the buildings ruined, the monsters that had terrified her now arrayed grotesquely across the street. Each had been shot through the head, the force of the arrow clearly taking the entire head with it. Maybe even a bit of their torso as well, she couldn’t tell.
“Are you alright?”
She distantly noted that the man sounded concerned, but couldn’t bother to worry about it. Her thoughts and emotions felt fuzzy and distant, and that probably wasn’t a good sign.
The sound of clattering brought some life back to her mind, and she looked up to see another human with green hair come up on a cart pulled by some sort of equine species. He had a bloody spear in his hand.
This might have been odd to her, but after everything else she had seen this was practically normal incarnate.
“You couldn’t have left any for me at all?” The green haired man groused, “Knew I should have grouped up with Aias.”
“Hmph. You were slow.” The large man walked over to her and looked at her questioningly.
“Can you stand up?” He asked. She stared uncomprehending at him for a few seconds before the question registered, and she quickly shook her head. She wasn’t up to speaking just yet, let alone walking…
Next thing she knew she was being carried, and wow they were high up, and that wasn’t doing any favors to her abused mind.
“Hey! I was not ‘slow’. I took a detour and Medea got a hold of me.” The green haired man replied sourly, “We’ve got some army boys a couple kilometers south that Teach is trying to explain the situation to. In the meantime, she said there was a large civilian group ‘bout a half a dozen blocks to the west in some kind of indoor market with a large group of those cannibals closing in on them. Theseus is enroute.”
The man grunted, “Does he need assistance?”
“Eh, probably not, but apparently Teach wants us to ‘play it safe’ till we get a better idea of the situation. Unlike what you just did just a few moments ago.”
Ah, sarcasm, she could still identify that, so she couldn’t be too broken…
“Very well. In the meantime, could you take…”
There was only blissful silence after that as Kaife fainted, her mind had clearly taken too many hits and was on strike until the world made sense.
If everything was still real when she woke up, then she’d handle it. Until then, she welcomed the soothing dark.
----------------------------------------------
Two weeks later
Athens, Greece
Kaife was practically skipping as she moved against the crowd, excitement filling her as she felt the static in the air that meant she was getting closer to a Heroic Spirit.
Actual spirits, their power based on their legends left behind. Magic. This was amazing!
If only her past self could see her now. She would definitely think she had gone crazy.
Her face showed her exhaustion, and she was very much aware that she hadn’t been able to shower in the last several days, yet she couldn’t help but feel excited, the gloominess around her unable to bring her down.
If she’d gone crazy, then she might as well enjoy the journey.
Quickly making her way to a more open area, she made a gesture and turned on the drone recorder she had been able to salvage.
“C‘mon, work you piece of… Ah!” The green light turned on and she smiled triumphantly. The only training she had for this sort of stuff had been running a blog ten years ago, but here she went!
“This is Kaife Meremi, here in Athens two weeks after the initial Reaper invasion.” She introduced, “Despite the heavy losses and ground lost during the unexpected panic of that first week, with the assistance of the introduced Heroic Spirits, the military has been able to stall the Reapers on all fronts. As of right now, they are currently in the process of reclaiming Greece’s capital city with the assistance of actual Dragon Tooth Warriors and magical bombardment. “
Right as she said that she heard the whine of a Reaper Death Ray, and instinctively dove behind some rubble just as the explosion went off, thankfully in the distance. Many people in the crowd began to panic, but just as Kaife looked up a figure in armor and spear came through and started shouting orders angrily, immediately restoring order and quieting everybody down.
“Behind me, you can see as people are being evacuated from the more combat heavy parts of the city. And it looks like a Heroic Spirit is assisting!”
She smiled and broke into a sprint as she saw the armored form of… Caeneas? No, Caenis!
The Heroic Spirit looked like she was directing military and civilian efforts, shouting orders with the ease of somebody who was used to them being obeyed.
Kaife was absolutely fascinated with the various spirits. Unfortunately, many of them disliked talking about their past, and with the internet down and many libraries destroyed, she couldn’t exactly look them up.
Some she could ask about their pasts, like Chiron, but those were a rare few. Some were well known enough she could ask people about them, like Herakles or Odysseus. Many times she could pick up information from just talking with them (like how Achilles and Aias hated Paris and Hector, but would still grudgingly work together. Or how the majority of the spirits hated the mention of the gods, despite their supposed various relations to them, so she quickly abandoned that route.)
This was magic. Their very existence, their abilities, their history, it was amazing, and so far from anything she had seen on Thessia.
A part of her wondered if this sort of thing was happening on Thessia as well. Not that she wanted the Asari homeworld to be invaded, but, well… C’mon, it would be cool, wouldn’t it?! She didn’t have any knowledge of Earth’s myths and legends, but she knew a bit about her own! Of Justicar Amalia and the Siege of A’atria, or the Seven Sword Sisters…
Unfortunately none of the Heroic Spirits were able to give her an answer when she asked, so she made do with the ones that she could observe and learn about.
Not that she was sad at all, she was too excited.
“Caenis!” She called out cheerfully as she made her way closer.
The white haired spirit frowned as she saw the Asari, but Kaife didn’t let that disappoint her. “Caenis! How are the evacuation efforts going? And is there anything you can tell us about the ongoing operation?”
The woman let out a huff, “Kaife,” she greeted her with a stern look, “shouldn’t you be traveling the other direction? With the civilians?”
She gave an unconcerned shrug, “Somebody has to record this to show the Reapers can be fought against,” she replied with a smile. “May I ask what you’re doing here? Knowing you I would have thought you’d be at the front with the fighting.“
Caenis scoffed, “there’s hardly any worthwhile fighting to be had right now.” She growled in disappointment before waving her off before she could ask, “Go. If you must be here, find your way to Chiron. That will give you a degree of safety at the least.”
She tilted her head in confusion at the fighting comment, but cheered up at the mention of Chiron. “Where to?” She asked eagerly, and within moments she was off.
Ok, nothing much there, but that wasn’t too surprising with Caenis. She’d try again after the battle - she was usually more talkative after a good fight.
For now, she had a teacher to find.
----------------------------------------------
It took her twenty minutes to find Chiron. Several flights up, in what had once been an office building, she was about to open the door from the stairwell when somebody else opened it and pulled her in.
“Kaife.” Greeted a blonde with feline ears.
She smiled sheepishly, “Hey Atalanta, how’s it going?”
“What is she doing here?”
Kaife started and looked past the Huntress to see a large number of military personnel (was it a squadron? A couple squadrons? Crap, how many people to one squadron?) spread out across the floor, numerous sniper rifles set up along the window.
Slightly separate from the military she saw numerous Heroic Spirits, their clothing and armor easily setting them apart. She happily recognized Herakles (still without a shirt she noted with a slight blush) who was talking with Hippolyta (the leader of several other Spirits) yet he still looked up to give a wave. There was Atalanta (quiet and reserved. Didn’t like talking about herself), an Archer named Paris (who was hated by Achilles), Euryale (who she hadn’t ever spoken to due to always being surrounded by two others, her sisters, and Kaife had the feeling they were a bit protective), and finally Chiron.
She looked at the man who asked what she was doing, and who was currently pointing a gun at her, and gave her best smile, “Kaife Meremi,” she introduced herself, “I’m here to record the battle and report on what’s happening.”
The man frowned at her (seriously, what was it with people frowning at her lately?! She had a beautiful smile!)
“This is a military operation,” he stated firmly, “you shouldn’t be here.”
She pouted, but when he looked at her recording drone like he was going to take it she nearly let out a glare of her own.
Thankfully the sound of hooves distracted them, and Chiron placed a hand on the man’s shoulder.
“Hello again Miss Meremi,” he greeted her pleasantly, “I see you went through with your idea.”
She grinned at the centaur, “you were the one that recommended I do something that can help.” She gestured to the drone, “doing this, I can help.”
She heard some of the men scoff, but she ignored it. She knew what she was talking about.
That first week of the invasion had been horrible. Made all the worse because everything had just felt inevitable. They came so fast and overan everything in their path, they didn’t seem to react to pain, and she had no idea what was happening, or where they were coming from, or… Anything. Two weeks ago, she was convinced she was going to die.
And then she was saved.
She wanted to prove that they could be fought against, that even though this was a strange new enemy they hadn’t heard of before, they had allies that were even stronger protecting them. Kaife herself had zero training in combat, and her biotics were weak. But if she could document and show that, maybe she could provide the help that she had needed so desperately at that time.
“I’ll take responsibility for her,” Chiron informed the man, which caused a deeper glare.
“This is against regulation,” he said with gritted teeth, and she nearly rolled her eyes. What regulation? She was pretty sure the government was Reaper chow at this point.
“Or she might be indoctrinated,” he continued, but was cut off when Chiron waved his hand.
“Asclepius has already cleared her, and even if she was there’s nothing she could do to stop this operation even if she tried.” He dismissed, “if she truly wanted to she could simply go to another building. Do not worry, I will ensure she will stay out of the way.”
The man was about to argue some more, but something came in over the radio and one of the other military men perked up, “The refugees have been spotted coming out of the maze!” One of them called out excitedly. The man immediately abandoned his argument of her and sped over, barking commands to get the new refugees medical attention.
Chiron gestured her forward, and she smirked as followed him. The urge to stick her tongue out at the military was great… But she was trying to be professional and mature.
However much she wanted to (and she did very very much) she shouldn’t do it.
Instead, she followed Chiron to the section seemingly reserved for Heroic Spirits.
“So how is the operation going?” She asked eagerly, “They were saying something about a maze? I would have thought you guys would be busy with the fighting, not, uhm…” she gestured to the relaxed state they all seemed to be in. Atalanta was napping in the sun, Paris was meditating, and Herakles and Hippolyta were still talking in low tones with each other.
Chiron chuckled and gestured out the window, “see for yourself.” He invited, reaching out and grabbing some binoculars, which she eagerly accepted.
Looking out… She wasn’t quite sure what she was seeing at first.
The Reaper was obvious. Even this far away it was the size of a skyscraper, towering over everything else. Further off in the distance she could see a second titanic Reaper.
A large section of the city, leading up to where the Reapers were, was dense fog, obscuring the buildings and preventing anything from being seen. Closer to the Reapers themselves seemed to be a furious battle between skeletons and husks.
She stared a little longer, “ok, what exactly am I looking at? I see plenty of Reapers, but a distinct lack of fighting, and no maze.”
He chuckled before pointing at the fog, “That is the maze,” He stated in amusement, “Or the part we can see in any case. Large portions of the paths are underground, and that which isn’t is shrouded in fog.”
She looked at it with squinted eyes for a bit… Just fog. “And why is there a maze in the middle of the city? That doesn’t exactly seem like a usual feature.” Not that she was judging if it was. She certainly wasn’t up to date on human customs and everything, so who knows what they had in their cities? The Hanar had a temple on practically every block, and the Salarians did logic puzzles for fun. Everybody was different.
“There isn’t,” Chiron answered easily, “The Reapers had some sort of processing facility set up on the far side of the city. A specialized ship came in and everything for it. It was too close to the Reaper Capital Ship for us to risk mounting an offense against it, so we needed another plan. Do you remember Asterios?”
Kaife narrowed her eyes in thought. “He was the guy with horns, right? Crazy big axes? Doesn’t like to talk?”
Has illegally fluffy fur that takes all her willpower not to pet?
Chiron let out a chuckle and nodded, “We couldn’t risk an assault, so Asterios was uniquely suited to saving them.”
She looked out at the ‘maze’ before glancing at Chiron once more with an arched look in a silent prompt to continue.
The centaur looked contemplative for a moment. “When he was born, Asterios was cursed by the gods for an act his father committed.” He admitted eventually, and she greedily soaked in the new info. “As a child he was thrown into a labyrinth, where lived the entirety of his life.” He gestured to the fog, “as a result, he is able to summon the embodiment of that maze. The Chaos Lavyrinthos.”
See, this was the reason Chiron was her favorite Spirit. Even if he kept it respectful, he actually gave her information about the other spirits.
“So he created the labyrinth, and he guided everybody through it?” She guessed with an excited smile.
“One end centered on the ‘facility’, the other exiting near here.” Chiron confirmed. “Save for the help of a powerful Mystery, Asterios is the only person that can navigate that underground maze. No matter how powerful the Reapers' sensors, they will not be able to comprehend it.”
“And now that they’re free, are you guys going to attack soon?”
Chiron looked pensieve for a moment, glancing at a marking on the wall, before shaking his head. “Not quite I’m afraid,” He murmured.
Huh?
“Why not?” She immediately asked.
“Hmmm,” He eyed her with a mischievous look in his eye, “why do you think?”
Dang it. She could hear the smile in his question.
She bit her lips and thought about it for a moment. It was clear they wanted to attack - Caenis was clearly annoyed she was being held back after all, and they rescued the humans from the facility, so obviously they were going to eventually attack. But why would they wait?
She took a moment and looked out the window once more, “ok, so the skeletons are something Medea created, right? Genuine Dragon Tooth Warriors? Which means if they die it’s no real loss…”
“Correct.” he responded, “It’s not infinite, but so long as Medea has enough power she can make more.”
Well, that just confirmed they were stalling.
She narrowed her eyes and looked closer, maybe she was missing something… “what are those things flying around the Reaper?”
“Stymphalian birds,” the deep voice of Herakles spoke up behind her and startled her. “Birds of metal with a taste of flesh.”
Oh, well. So that’s a thing.
”Yours?” Hippolyta asked curiously.
“No. The Reaper probably went too close to Lake Stymphalis. If they’re also waking up, we’ll need to warn people.”
“They’re not strong enough to hurt the Reaper itself,” Chiron explained as the conversation went on, “but they will be an annoyance. And they’re quite effective against the husks.”
Ok, so they aren’t a part of whatever plan this was. That didn't really help her…
She let out a huff, “you’re worried they have something worse in reserve and are trying to draw it out?” she hazarded.
Chiron let out a chuckle, “Close.” Well. Better than nothing. He gestured to the spirits around him, “between us in this room and those outside, based on everything they’ve shown us thus far, I am confident we could purge this city of the Reapers with ease. But have you given any thought as to what happens after?”
She looked at him in confusion. “We celebrate?” She tried, totally expecting the amused shake of the head.
What? A girl could dream, couldn’t she?!
“We’ve been told the Reapers can travel the stars faster than most other vessels.” He explained, “If they were to encounter true resistance here, how fast could reinforcements be sent? Or worse, perhaps some other monstrosity we haven’t seen yet?”
Ah. “It… would be pretty fast,” she admitted worriedly.
She hadn’t thought of that. It was easy to forget sometimes when you were planetside, seeing the vastness of the world you were in, just how small it truly was in comparison. Getting from one end of the planet to the other was laughably easy nowadays. To get to the planet from the Mass Relay?
And that wasn’t even accounting for how much faster these ships might be. Physics said it was impossible for a ship of their size to lower to the planet’s surface and still be able to make it into orbit after, yet whoever these Reapers were, they were clearly laughing at physics.
By this point she had given up on the idea of being saved by the Asari fleet. This had been going on for three weeks. The only reason she could figure as to why they hadn’t sent help was because they were under attack as well. Which meant there were a LOT more Reapers out there.
Chiron nodded seriously, “Odysseus has been working with the military for a solution, and we believe we have one. A temporary one at least, for Greece.”
“Ok, yeah, that’s good.” She nodded immediately, “Solutions are good. But, uhm, when do you think this solution will happen?”
He glanced at the marking on the wall once more before giving a shrug, “Not till sundown if we’re lucky.” He said calmly.
“Sundown?” She blinked.
He gave her that smile all teachers liked to do when they knew something you didn’t. “You’ll have to wait and see. Until then, you can relax.”
Done talking, he walked over to the window and knelt down, apparently following his own advice.
She stood around for a couple seconds nervously before making her way over to a chair and started going over footage from the drone. Not bad for somebody with zero previous experience…
Well, not good either, but definitely not bad.
Eventually she went from that to talking with Herakles and Atalanta and was able to get them talking about adventures from their past. After an hour, she heard the unmistakable sound of a ship flying overhead, and they all went quiet. She dashed to the window and winced when she actually recognized the enemy ship. “Geth,” She hissed out, the military breaking out into murmuring of their own.
“Geth?” Hippolyta asked as she moved next to Kaife. “What are Geth?”
“Ummm, think of, uh…” Crap. How do you describe something like that to somebody who had never seen robots before? “Mechanical soldiers?”
“Hmmmm, sounds like something Hephaestus would build.” Herakles rumbled as Atalanta hissed, they watched the ships begin to empty, releasing a bunch of Geth that destroyed the remaining Dragon Teeth Warriors. “A bit more competent than the husks I see.”
“The more of them there are, the smarter they are.” The officer butted in with a grimace. “Records say the bigger ones have some serious firepower on them. Are you sure this plan of yours will still work?”
Chiron watched for several minutes before nodding, “Looks like they’re investigating the labyrinth first. That will give us enough time. Tell your men to remain hidden.”
They waited an hour more till it finally started getting dark, and Kaife was starting to feel a little nervous. Not seriously so (Maybe it was because he saved her before, or maybe it was because of who he was, but there was something about being near Herakles that made it seem silly to worry), but enough to make her want to start pacing.
“So what -“ she was about to ask another question when she was cut off by the marking on the wall suddenly glowing, causing Chiron to stand up straight.
“The Casters are ready.” He called out, and the Heroic Spirits all perked up and drew their weapons, the military breaking into action.
“Good timing.” Chiron said briskly, moving to a window as well. “Nobody fire until the Reaper’s are distracted. We can’t give them the chance to shoot us. Have all forces wait for my mark.”
Kaife immediately moved to the wall, doing her best to keep out of the way when a pressure seemed to fill the room, a feeling she was beginning to associate with magic.
They waited for several minutes longer (for everybody to get in place she assumed) all while the pressure grew.
“In life, an Archer beyond compare. In death, the guardian of the sky.” Chiron intoned softly, the words seemingly adding even more weight to the pressure. Lifting a finger he pointed at somewhere in the sky. It took her a moment, but after peeking out a window Kaife saw multiple stars shining far brighter than they had any right to.
“This is a blow that pierces the stars of the Scorpian. My arrow that has already been drawn is now let loose, Antares Snipe!” The words grew in volume and power, but by the end he shouted the last two words. With that he drew his finger down, the pressure released.
The tip of the constellation glowed brighter, a light suddenly falling from the sky that slammed into the Reaper like a glowing hammer of the gods, causing the giant machine to stagger.
Her mouth dropped. D-did he just drop a piece of a star onto it?!
(Ok, backup! surely the other races saw that sort of thing, right? You can’t just change a star without it being visible from other planets!)
As if a switch was flipped, the area was filled with noise. Everybody that was once held back were now let loose.
Heroic Spirits on chariots and horses charged ahead, drawing the attention of the Reapers only to use their speed and agility to dodge the incoming attacks. She saw Achilles on his chariot suddenly blur as he smashed into the Geth lines, Caenis and another spear person leaping off his chariot and joining the fray, while somebody (Probably Euryale’s sister, Medusa) rode a horse with wings. Various other Berserkers and Lancers jumped into melee behind them. Military once hidden in the various buildings now revealed themselves, decimating husks and geth alike under a wave of gunfire.
The Spirits around her were showing off their own power. While none of their arrows had the size of Herakles, their aim and speed was just as good, if not better, and each was firing at almost impossible speed. Right next to them, the military shot with their sniper rifles, and while their rate of fire was slower, they were probably just as deadly..
It was a stunning display of power, both magic and mundane. So much was happening that she honestly wasn’t sure where to look.
And then the night sky seemed to open up, multiple spinning circles forming over the entire city with elaborate designs, and she figured that up was clearly the place to look.
“Have you ever heard of leylines?”
Chiron’s voice brought her out of her daze. “I, don’t think so,” she admitted with her eyes glued on the symbols in the sky as they grew and sparked with what was obviously magical power.
Should she record the battle or the obviously magical stuff that was happening above everybody’s heads? Gah, why did she even have to choose?!
That’s it. She needed a second drone.
He fired several more shots from his bow, “Magic flows across the earth, much like rivers do.” He lectured, “When those rivers intersect, it causes a well of power to form that others can draw.” He seemed to pause for a bit before shrugging, “There is a bit more to it than that, but that explanation will do for now.”
The circles were now intersecting with each other, and in the distance she could see a pillar of light form around one of the older buildings, one made of stone and separate from the others.
“Even without magic, humans tend to gravitate towards these wellsprings.” Chiron continued. “Cities are often built on them unintentionally. But when a goddess chooses a city, a goddess of wisdom no less, there tends to be a very good reason they did so.” He chuckled.
The ancient structure and surrounding land seemed to shudder. Built long ago, only to be razed and rebuilt once more, a building that hadn’t held mana in thousands of years was once more being called to action.
“Any magus can tap into the power of a leyline to charge their spells.” He continued to explain. “But multiple magus’ with knowledge and power hailing from the Age of the Gods?”
“M-multiple magus’?” She managed to ask, still spellbound as she watched the Reapers attempt to shoot the circles, only for the blasts to repel and strike them back.”
Chiron nodded as he pointed towards the ancient structure, “The Acropolis of Athens,” he pointed in the direction of the sea, “Aeaea. Circe’s Island, amidst the Sea of Monsters,” He pointed in a third, “Mount Olympus, former home of the gods. Using only one would provide us with plenty of power, but with three Casters hailing from the Age of the Gods, using three ancient leylines of considerable power, we’re able to combine them for the purpose of one ritual.”
Her eyes hadn’t even blinked as she stared in wonder at the elaborate symbols in the sky, “A ritual to do what?”
He chuckled lightly, “To repel invaders from all of Greece.”
The circles activated, and suddenly lightning was falling from the sky in torrents, blasting each Reaper with a vengeance. They held out as best as they could, but after several seconds of constant blasting each shuddered and collapsed. Over the thunder, she thinks she heard cheering, but that might have just been in her mind. She was cheering enough for them all.
“So that’s it?” She asked eagerly, watching as the circles seemed to fade into the sky. If she looked carefully, she could still see them spinning gently high up. “Those circles will repel the Reapers if they come again?”
He hummed in contemplation, “It will prevent them from landing within the bounds of the ritual, which should be all of Greece.” he answered eventually. “They could still land outside of it and send in troops - there’s only so much we can prevent - but those should be far easier to handle.”
Right, that made sense. “It won’t stop them forever.” Not that she expected it to, especially if this was a world-wide problem going on. But it still sucked.
“But it will stop them long enough,” He countered. “Long enough for Greece to recuperate and gather our strength. Long enough for us to make contact with the rest of the world to discover what they are dealing with.” he gave her a gentle smile, “Things are just starting I’m afraid, but we are no longer simply reacting to the Reapers. And that is very important.”
She gave a quick nod as she watched the remaining Heroic Spirits and military take care of the remaining ground forces. “I know, and I’m really happy about all of this, don’t get me wrong, but…”
He gave her a reassuring look, before gesturing to her to follow him, “Come, the battle may be over, but there is plenty that still needs to be done before anybody can rest.”
“Uh, wait, I’m not exactly -” He cut her off with a look.
“In war everybody must pull their strength, even outside of combat.” He stated firmly, “Now come!” With a brief shriek he pulled her onto his back and galloped towards where the battle took place. Looking behind her, she could see the other Heroic Spirits following, albeit at a slower pace.
With shaking hands she turned on the drone once more. If she was gonna get dragged into doing this, she was going to get footage of it. And it would be good to show the Spirits outside of combat as well.
Chiron had mentioned to her that the strength of a Heroic Spirit was connected to how well their legends were known. Her reasons for doing this were to help people see that there was still hope of course, but a part of her had another reason.
She was no fool - without the help of the spirits, they wouldn’t stand a chance.
If their strength grew with their legend, she would do her best to make sure their legends were known as far as she could get them. And if they ever managed to make contact outside the system to the other races, she’d make sure their legends became known across the galaxy.
She knew she was young and weak, in both muscle and biotics. But she’d be damned if she didn’t do her part to help those that helped her.
[Greece: Secured]
