Unfaced at the complete and utter chaos around him, Dax called out for final confirmation as Alice in her exoskeleton walked up behind him.

[This is Solaris, we're ready.]

[3RD DETACHMENT REPORTS, STATUS: READY.]

[4RD DETACHMENT REPORTS, STATUS: READY.]

[5RD DETACHMENT REPORTS, STATUS: READY.]

[6RD DETACHMENT REPORTS, STATUS: READY.]

"... Okay then, Alice you stick on my a.s.s at all times. I need you to help with drone and CAS tasking"

"Roger."

While Alice was usually way more cheerful, she had learned the hard way to leave that behind when working. Noticing Alice's changed att.i.tude Dax decided to not to touch on that kind of subject doing an operation and made a note to bring it up after they had secured the FTL module.

"Command to all units: Splash 10 seconds, weapons free."

Admiring the ma.s.sive outer wall of the imperial capital which he was about to utterly destroy, Dax took a deep breath as his vision blurred. 

[PREPARING FOR FULL MIND DOMINATION. WARNING: COMPLETE MIND MELT IN EFFECT. EXPECTED CORRUPTION AT 100% PATTEN BLACK NOW IN EFFECT.]

In the fraction of a second, the strikes against the imperial city's outer wall increased in magnitude by several folds as the G-097 railguns opened fire while orbital artillery rained down from above. Stressing the defensive barrier to the limit, it was only a matter of time before it failed, although Dax was not about to wait for that.

"Fire mission: Target stress concentration point #9, fire HV-APFSDS."

By using high alt.i.tude thermal imaging and the ma.s.sive computational power available to him, Dax easily identified structural weak points in the barrier and the wall where it was engraved. Targeting one of those weak points with 200 mill anti material ammunition, Dax started running towards the wall as a swarm of drones surrounded him. Ducking low to avoid a ballista bolt aimed at his head, Dax took a black briefcase off one of the nearby drones which started changing its shape when it connected to his XMRA armour, reaching the defensive barrier as 8 metre long tungsten alloy penetrator broke through and shattered one of the runic formations which maintained it. Taking advantage of the fluctuating barrier as it stabilized Dax slipped through it, breaking into the 100 metre perimeter which was between the barrier and the outer wall.

"Activate ADS."

[ADS ACTIVE, DOPPLER RADAR ONLINE.]

As Dax was immediately subjected to increased attention by the defenders, he didn't hesitate to use the active protection system that his suit was equipped with. While countless small kinetic missiles were launched off his back to intercept magic spells and other projectiles Dax leapt off the ground and landed halfway up the 200 metre high wall as the briefcase completed its transformation and now looked like a large gauntlet which wrapped around his left arm. As he hit the wall, the gauntlet transformed once more, shooting out a ma.s.sive spike which dug into the stone wall and detached from his arm, allowing Dax to use it as a foothold while he continued to climb the wall together with a squad of Reaper drones. Reaching the top of the wall in a matter of seconds, Dax tossed a cl.u.s.ter of fragmentation grenades over the wall before he climbed up all the war, using his wrist mounted machine gun to clear out any surviving resistance.

"Blow it."

[DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, IGNITING IMPROVISED FUSION CELL DEVICE TYPE 93.]

While Dax jumped down on the other side of the wall, the gauntlet he had left behind halfway up the other side of the wall ignited the fusion cells which were hidden inside of it. With a truly ma.s.sive explosion, the imperial capital's outer wall cracked open, and with that, the defensive barrier which also surrounded the imperial capital failed.

"Charge!"

Taking full advantage of the opportunity which presented itself, Solaris followed the plan Dax had laid out and started advancing on the east gate of the imperial capital. With her figure completely clad in dull black composite armour like Dax and the Reaper drones which surrounded her, the archangels only outward identifying characteristic was her bright white wings which extended out from holes in her protective armour on her back.

"Ascension."

Speaking out the name of the spell, Solaris' wings started absorbing the ambient mana as she started casting a new spell.

"Neutralization field: Load munition."

Flapping her wings once, the conveniently placed pile of spare 200 mill HV-APFSDS tungsten alloy penetrators near Solaris started floating freely in the air around her. 

"Neutralization field: Singularity."

Straining her ability to manipulate mana to the absolute limit, Solaris used newly theorized gravity controlling magic to further compress the already extremely dense penetrators even further as cracks formed on them.

"Neutralization field: Collapse!"

Using all the mana in the surrounding area, Solaris sent a hail of anti material munition flying towards the outer wall to great effect. As the half ton penetrators impacted the wall and some unfortunate guard at hypersonic speeds, the gigantic stone wall simply cracked as its structural integrity failed.

Now it was just a matter of smas.h.i.+ng it apart completely.

"Ah, you have good timing Lilly, do you want to help me with this?"

And just when Solaris was speculating about how she would do that, the solution presented itself when Solaris laid eyes on a certain elver.

"Sure, I was thinking I needed some warm up before we get to the real conflict~"

Just like Solaris, Lilly too wore black composite armour which entirely encased her body, the only exception being her longer than average ears which stuck out the side of her helmet along with her fiery red hair which ran freely down her back because the person in question disliked having either of those things packed up tightly within her armour.

"Then let's go with a pressure type spell. I've already mostly destroyed the wall, all that there's left is blowing it over."

Having settled on their strategy without much need for strategizing or discussion, Lilly's armour started lighting up as purple hexagonal patterns spread from her hands up her arms, reaching her shoulder blades where thin fin like radiators extended outward. With a nod to Solaris, Lilly communicated that she was ready, then with ch.o.r.eographed spell construction both Lilly and Solaris worked together to create a single spell formation which spread out before them before activating.

""Siege formation: a.s.sault hammer!""

Even if Solaris had cast the spell herself before, this 'a.s.sault hammer' was on a scale which couldn't be compared to any other spell she had ever cast, that was largely due to the armour she, Terra and Lilly wore. Creating a ma.s.sive overpressure of air, Solaris and Lilly shot off their spell to great effect as the mighty wall of the imperial capital shattered and collapsed.

"Advance!"

With the wall broken and the enemy's will to fight shattered, Solaris, Lilly and Terra advanced along with their attached drone forces.

-

While Dax used fancy equipment and Solaris and Lilly used magic, Lux used brute force and superior military technology to break apart and shatter all opposition.

"Detachment 00-19, open fire. Fire mission, target: +09 +02 30. Use of air fuel explosives authorized."

[AFFIRMATIVE, FIRE MISSION RECEIVED. Sh.e.l.lING TARGET.]

Being under heavy fire from hostile forces which had the high ground up on the outermost wall, Lux had long since lost her patience and called for heavy fire support. With an almost instant response, railgun artillery posted to the rear of the front line loaded specialized monitions in accordance with Lux's orders and opened fire in a quick and efficient manner. With the sh.e.l.ls having internal timed fuses set right before firing only a fraction of a second pa.s.sed before they ignited, spreading metal oxide and powdered explosives in a cloud which obtained the perfect ratio of fuel to air mixture, then all that was needed was a spark. With a deafening explosion, all life on the top of the outer wall was brutally snuffed out, as the defending soldiers and mages experienced an overpressure and subsequent vacuum that their lungs couldn't handle as they simply burst. The more unlucky soldiers merely inhaled the burning fuel which seared their lungs, and they all died within minutes as they choked in agony.

"Detachment 00-19, good effect on target. Maintain configuration and fire for effect."

With hostile opposition rapidly deteriorating Lux chose that moment to break through while her fire support still pinned down any survivors. Single handedly picking up a handheld railgun Lux charged the gate she had been tasked with breaking trough as the siege weapon in her hands greedily sucked in air to cool its rapid charging. Grinding to a stop Lux took up a firing position about 10 metres from the st.u.r.dy looking 5 metre tall outer gate made of solid metal as she squeezed the trigger, sending a tungsten alloy penetrator hurling into the gate where it completely disintegrated as it tore a large hole in the gate and its locking mechanism.

"Advance!"

Having broken past the first line of defence on all flanks, Dax's forces advanced without meeting much resistance as they advanced deep into the imperial capital.

Still, the remnants of the more experienced imperial knights proved to be way more of a challenge as they used gorilla warfare and staged a constant string of ambushes taking full advantage of the verticality and densely packed urban terrain which the imperial capital offered. Taking a short and deep breath, an imperial knight slowly stepped out on an interconnecting bridge between two skysc.r.a.pers as she readied her longbow and notched a solid metal arrow which had the length of her own arm. About 20 metres below her was a detachment of the invading forces, they moved in the middle of one of the larger roads with an extreme familiarity of fighting within such cramped s.p.a.ces among civilian populace, little did the imperial knight know, this was their preferred terrain. Glancing around at other nearby buildings, the imperial knight confirmed that her comrades where also in position to strike against the invaders, then she used a small mirror to observe her opponents on the street below. Two lines of human sized golems surrounded a large six footed monster which slowly but surely made its way towards the imperial castle with what seemed like two humanoid figures leading the way.

(Here we go…)

Taking a last deep breath the imperial knight activated magic which kept her figure hidden as she leaned out over the edge of the bridge and took aim at one of the leading figures below. Slowly exhaling, the imperial knight drew back the arrow as she calmed herself down, from now it was a race against time, she needed to find her aim true before lactic acid builds up too much in her muscles and made aiming impossible. Having settled on her target the imperial knight visualized the point where the brain stem connected to the spinal cord connected, aiming for a sure fire kill shot, the imperial knight let the arrow fly as her comrades did the same. Without even a whistle the metal arrow found its way flawlessly to its target, but instead of digging into the throat of its target, it disintegrated mid air as it was. .h.i.t by some sort of small projectile fired from the large, 6 legged monster.

"Ambus.h.!.+ Contact, 7 o'clock high!"

Jumping forward as he yelled out a command almost on reflex, Dax quickly rolled on the ground as he landed with his back on the ground and brought his rifle to bear on the attackers above. Looking through the scope Dax saw the confused expression of the imperial knight which had targeted him as he squeezed the trigger, reducing that head to red mist as the HAWOC let out a low pitched hum dug in its feet as a plate opened on the top of it and launched a series of small missiles which sought out their targets without mercy. Within a matter of seconds, the ambush was annihilated, but as the area still needed to be secured Dax's formation came to a halt as a detachment of Reaper drones started scaling the outside of the nearby buildings to clear them of any remaining hostiles.

"Dax are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

As Alice helped Dax back on his feet he let out a groan of irritation before knocking some of the dirt of his back.

"Callout to all units: Ambush encountered, we're going to need a few minutes to secure the area."

(Hopefully, this is the last ambush… I really can't wait until this face is over…)