"Calm down, we're under attack. You take a team and lock down the hostages, the rest of you with me!"

After losing 15 of his men in a split second commander Leonhart remained calm and gave out precise commands while drawing a longsword. As Leonhart had antic.i.p.ated what looked to be a landing force was heading for a beach right outside the village, but there was something wrong.

"Only 2 crafts?... This is another diversion! Half will stay here, the other half with me to the sphere!"

Realizing someone was truly playing with him Leonhart cursed his own foolishness and rushed back through the eerily quiet village towards the sphere.

["Good morning."]

But on the way a single figure stepped out to block their way while presenting a polite greeting through a heavily distorted voice modulator. Leonhart immediately judged the stature and shoulder distance in proportion with the rest of the figure and concluded it was a woman.

"Good morning, what might your business be here today miss?"

Returning the polite greeting Leonhart took the opportunity to examine the strange person in front of him at the same time, and ready his sword while covertly gesturing for his subordinates to stand down. She was covered in some sort of strange black armor that seemed to absorb the surrounding light and was strangely smooth while carrying no identifying markings other than a bright white skull painted on the helmet that completely enclosed the wearer.

["I'm pretty sure you know that already, let's get started I'll give you time to prepare."]

Taking a relaxed att.i.tude the woman formed a fist that she lazily pressed to her jaw and cracked her neck while at the same time cracking her fingers and stretching her arms by weaving together the fingers together, oh and she did all that at the same time.

"What kind of f.u.c.king monster are you?"

In response to seeing the truly alien creature in front of him Lionhart couldn't help speak his mind. The women had an extra set of arms that seemed to move freely around her body without any form of restrictions before they locked in place somewhere behind her back at her shoulder blade.

["The kind that takes very ill to people taking what is not theirs, but I can also be kind. This is the first, last and only chance you will get: surrender now and you might live."]

Presenting an ultimatum the woman suddenly started releasing an extreme amount of bloodl.u.s.t that convinced Leonhart that they would definitely experience pain worse than dying if they surrendered, and after looking at his subordinates he confirmed they were thinking the same thing.

(We definitely angered something we shouldn't have… I guess all that's left to do is die with some resemblance of pride.)

"I'm afraid we'll have to respectfully decline."

["In that case I'll do you the favor of killing everyone quickly."]

Lazarus cybernetic industries type 7 advanced protection system 'Kali'

While not part of their official listing or appearing in any official doc.u.mentation the type 7 advanced protection system was first mentioned in a closed government hearing as part of a review of Lazarus' public and private project spendings, not much attention was drawn to the system initially, but a few years later a disturbing press combat report surfaced which initialized a grand hearing about the nature of the Kali system. The combat report detailed how a station containing over 5000 combat troops had been slaughtered by a 'creature with 4 arms' bringing into question if Lazarus had levied their extensive cybernetic expertise in making illegal cybernetic hybrids. After that was proved not to be the case, the Kali APS was revealed to be an experimental addon for their outrageously expensive and cutting edge XMRA protection system. While a lot of its features remained cla.s.sified due to pending copyright patents what was revealed were widely believed to be not technologically viable for another 70 years, cementing the Lazarus cybernetic industries as the most technologically advanced private ent.i.ty in the Galactic Empire.

"What happened?"

Barely 30 seconds had pa.s.sed since Leonhart declined the monster's offer to surrender, in that time all of his subordinates had been utterly slaughtered as the creature's arms had turned into blades and torn through them like a hot blade through b.u.t.ter. In the same time frame Leonhart had somehow been blinded and lost both his arms but it was not pain that filled his mind, but confusion.

"How the h.e.l.l did I lose?"

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Leonhart didn't understand, how did he lose that easily? While he understood he had been outcla.s.sed, Leonhart failed to see how the monster in front of him had defeated him so effortlessly.

["Just shut up and die."]

The last thing Leonhart felt was a head splitting migraine as a hand gripped his head and lifted his body into the air.

After Lux finished extracting intelligence from the former leader she threw his copse aside and looked around at the carnage she had created.

["I should properly clean this up…."]

Deciding it was best not to just leave 16 corpses lying in the street Lux started piling the body parts for a pyre. At the same time the landing element heading straight for the hostages had reached the effective range of the defending mages, not that it made much of a difference.

"What!?"

"It has no effect! Use earth magic to try and hit them directly instead!"

Seeing the panic and havoc she inflicted on the hostile forces Terra felt a tiny bit of pity.

"Look at them running around panicking… Keep it up Zephyr."

"Arf!"

Standing proudly on top of an open transport type AEHWP Zephyr had finally gotten it moment of glory as it blocked arrows and spells with its innate air magic control, either deflecting or outright canceling the spells. With compete cover from hostile fire Terra could snipe the mages and archers without having to worry about any return fire and quickly reduced their numbers, forcing them to retreat deeper into the village for cover. With Zephyr and Terra making landfall they joined up with some of the Reaper drones that had established the perimeter, then quickly advanced to the large storeroom where the hostages were being held.

"Set up breaching positions."

[DIRECTIVES CONFIRMED, LOADING MAPPING FUNCTION, ESTABLIs.h.i.+NG REAL TIME 3D RENDER FOR BREACHING OPERATION…. READY.]

Following her training to the letter Terra let the drones completely surround the building before she slowly started approaching one of the doors with her rifle at the ready.

"1 ready."

[STRIKE 2 READY.]

[ENTRANCE READY.]

[2 UP.]

[3 UP.]

[4 UP.]

[5 UP.]

[READY FOR EXECUTION.]

Time seemed to slow down for Terra as she put on her personal black facemask for the first time and took her last breath as she ran towards the door as the hinges was shot by a drone. Time now pa.s.sed in extreme slow motion as her sight lit up and was automatically adjusted as the Reaper's mask outlined the living creatures inside and almost instantly cla.s.sified them as hostile or pa.s.sive, then bright red lines were painted in augmented reality as Terra herself painted a red line by pointing her rifle at a soldier that was hiding behind a child merkin.

[34 TARGETS PAINTED, EXECUTING.]

As Terra squeezed her trigger so did the 10 drones that surrounded the storeroom, shooting directly through the thin wooden boards with some of the shorts pricing the heads of multiple hostiles in a hail of fire.

[ALL HOSTILE TARGETS ELIMINATED, SECURING PERIMETER.]