Godslayer Lysette: Chapter 238

Chapter 238: Assault on Ft. James

Barely a minute passed after the end of Lysette’s impromptu sparring session before a loud siren blared from the central command building.  Lysette flared out her aura and looked around for any signs of combat as soldiers all throughout the facility began scrambling.  Sensing no hostilities within the garrison, she sprouted her wings once more and prepared to take to the air.

Ari stopped her, beckoning her back to the ground as she approached, running ragged and short of breath.  Despite her station and usually-immaculate attire, her short hair was unkempt and her tan uniform untucked.  She turned to the group and began barking orders in rapid succession.

“Every one of you, this is an order handed down from Commandant Cournot himself!  The advance scouts have detected a massive contingent of soldiers heading toward us.  You are to be ready for battle in five minutes.  Have I made myself clear?”

“Ma’am!  Yes, Ma’am!” the entire group said in unison.  They all started advancing toward a building on the far side of the fortress, while Ari beckoned Lysette to remain.

“Cadet Tronete,” she said.  “I’m afraid the situation is more desperate than I had feared.”

“How many soldiers are we talking about?  I’d assume more than a few hundred considering how everyone is scrambling.

“A force of about two thousand.”

“How many do we have here?”

“About six thousand at this base, but–”

“How many of us are Cultivators?”

“That’s the problem.  We have maybe eight hundred in total, and most of those are at my level or worse.  We have maybe fifty soldiers with an Essence coefficient over twenty-five hundred.”

Lysette sighed.  “And until we know otherwise, we have to assume the worst-case scenario.  That every one of those two thousand is a Cultivator, or that they have some sort of weapon or leader or something that makes them feel confident in their victory.  Or both.”

“I’m afraid so.  I haven’t told you the worst part.”

“Better tell me via telepathy so that it doesn’t get overheard.  At this point, I’ll take my chances.”

“Agreed.  The biggest concern is that the two thousand Elithrian soldiers are marching in formation.  Normally, one would expect some sort of smash and dash technique, pardoning my rather crude terminology.  Hit us with a ton of force before we realize what’s hit us, then either go in for the kill or retreat before we can mount an effective defense.  But this force, it’s as if the commanders want it to be seen.”

“Or it’s a diversion for an even larger force.  Has the capital been notified?”

“Not yet.  Even our best artifice and telepathy relay networks will still need another half hour to reach Domark.”

Lysette shook her head.  “I’ll handle it.”

Back in Ciricu, she opened a telepathic connection to Mirae, and then to Saffron.

“Is it something urgent?” Saffron asked.  “We’ve got trouble on our southern front and I’m trying to marshal a response.”

“I’m afraid the Elithrians have sent a force of two thousand in formation, plus however more our advance scouts haven’t picked up.”

“And to the north?”

“Nothing.  We’ve still got a few days on that front, based on my intelligence.  But by the first of the month, they’ll be joining in too.”

“Damnit all.  They’ve been lulling us into a false sense of security, waiting for us to let our guard down.”  A brief pause followed.  “Shit, shit!  How long do we have, Lyse?”

“Ari?” Lysette asked.  “How long?”

“Ten minutes, I’d guess.  Twelve if we’re lucky.”

“Ten minutes, Saffron.” Lysette relayed.

“I’ll be there in forty minutes.  We’ll have to make sacrifices along our southern flank, evacuate where we can and give our civilians as much time as we can give them to retreat toward the capital.  We can build another line of defense at that point and try to hold off the Solisians there.  But if our western flank falls to Elithria right now, they’ll split us in half and we’ll lose our ability to coordinate.”

“Should we all fly out to join in the defense?”

Saffron paused again.  “How confident are you in your intelligence on this?”

“I trust the source, but knowing what I’ve just learned, that too could just be a trap.”

“Then no.”

“I’ll go,” Mirae interjected.  “Lyse and Serrena are our two most powerful fighters, but I’m the one with the best logistics and coordination abilities among the three of us.  So I’ll go and lend my long-range telepathy skill along the front, and Lyse can relay any happenings through the link between herself and her avatar.”

“It’s as good of a plan as any.  Buy us as much time as you can spare.”

Saffron broke off the connection.  Ari was quivering at hearing everything else in the conversation, but a grasp upon her shoulder forced her out of her torpor.  She shook her head, then slapped herself, then shook her head again.

“Forgive me.”

“You’re the experienced one here.  All of these brave men and women and others out here, prepared to fight and maybe lay down their lives for our country?  They need your wisdom, your guidance, your calm and experience.  I will do my part, but we won’t get through this alive if everyone else doesn’t do theirs.”

“Of course.”

Ari and Lysette saluted one another while the latter made her way along the eastern wall.  Even without the aid of her left eye, she could tell that the presence approaching was overwhelming.  And, much more troublingly, that there was at least one divine presence among the attackers.  The reason for the Elithrians’ bout of confidence was now made clear, but she dared not share this information with anyone else, lest their own confidence falter yet further.

Commands from the various officers and their lieutenants and sergeants filled the air.  The chaotic cacophony of clanging swords and armor added further to the maelstrom.  Soldiers were shaking in their boots even as they hid their fear beneath steeled countenances, standing in formation in the central commons of the garrison.

Five minutes passed and a well-decorated man with a bald head and a handlebar mustache of pure white walked out of the command building.  In a single, fluid motion, the entirety of the garrison’s enlisted soldiers, over five thousand in all, turned toward the supreme commander and his overwhelming presence.  Lysette listened as he began to speak, all while standing on the western battlement and watching as the Elithrians arrived.

“My fellow Domarians, my battle brethren, my faithful comrades who have served our fine country and king, heed now my words!

“Today is a day we will be tested like no other.  Today our enemies, those who would see our country and our way of life squashed beneath their boots, have launched a powerful offensive designed to crush us before we can mount a defense.  They come in great numbers, proudly marching toward us, eager to stamp out our morale and snuff out our will to fight before we even engage in combat.  Will we let them succeed?”

“No!”  The chorus of battle cries filled the entire garrison, booming outward into the surrounding wilds, echoing past the border into Elithria with their cheers of defiance.

Lysette noticed the subtle shifts of Essence within Ft. James as Commandant Cournot spoke.  He was using a type of mental-aligned technique that emboldened and boosted the fighting capability of all the soldiers under his command.  It was not so dissimilar from the abilities of gods to grow the Cultivation of their followers, although he was most certainly still human, still mortal.  Perhaps it was a gift from Saffron, or from some other deity.  Or perhaps it was a special type of technique for those who had mastered mental abilities over decades.  In either case, Lysette still had much to learn about Cultivation and Omnia’s system in order to reach her goals.

“These Elithrian scoundrels— these bastards— want nothing more than for each and every one of us to roll over and surrender our lives.  But we will not let them!  We have proudly defended this land for over seven thousand years!  For seven and a half millennia, this land has proudly belonged to Domar and to those regal men and women who have served as his stewards on Aimarion after his ascension to the Celestial realm.  Will we surrender it today?  Will we ever surrender this land?”

“Never!”  The chorus was even louder than before.

“Today we fight not just for ourselves, for honor, for glory, for recognition and promotion.  Today we fight for everyone across Domaria.  We fight for our mothers and fathers.  We fight for our daughters and sons.  We fight for every brother and sister, for every cousin, aunt, and uncle.  We fight for those who have already predeceased us, and for those of us who have yet to be born.  For if we do not succeed in repelling the Elithrian invasion here and now, it will mean the end not just of Domaria as a country, but life on Aimarion as we know it.

“And will we let that happen?”

“No!”

“What will we do?”

“Fight!  Persevere!  Survive!  Win!”  The chanting grew louder and louder still. 

Commandant Cournot’s technique was amplified by other commanding officers flanking him and standing behind him.  His voice remained composed and dignified, and yet, with every motion, every pointed gesture, every facial expression, every pause for the soldiers to respond with chants, his implacable will and love for his country burst forth for all to see and hear.  The soldiers all around stood taller, firmer, and more resolved, matching their commander as he spoke.

“Now then, brave men and women of Domaria!  If it is our fate to perish today, let us leave nothing on the battlefield.  Let us fight with the furor and passion of true warriors.  Let us blaze a trail of glory so bright that it can be seen in the highest peaks of the Celestial realm and the lowest depths of the Infernal.  And let us make sure that if we fall, that we take as many of those damned bastards as we can with us!  Who’s with me!”

The cheers from the crowd erupted, raised blades and war cries exploding from every direction.

“Now onward, my faithful, loyal soldiers!  To your battle stations!”

The clang of metal against metal and stone and dirt again rang out throughout the garrison, but unlike the discord from before, there was a certain rhythm to the movements.  A certain practiced cadence, the results of months of tireless training by thousands in anticipation of this moment that all had feared and none had hoped would eventually arrive.  A moment later, Ari leapt up onto the battlement, standing next to her goddess.

“How long?”

“Two minutes,” Lysette answered.  “Mirae will be here in fifteen.  Saffron in thirty.  If we can make it until Mirae’s arrival, I believe we’ll make it through the worst of it.”

“Is Mirae that strong?”

“As strong as the Vice Commandant.  But it’s not just them.  It’s those rings we received.  They will bring our rings with them.  That, with my own abilities, will be our salvation.”

“We will do all we can to survive.”

“That goes for all of us.  No heroes today.  We all defend ourselves, try our hardest to cover each other’s backs.  Casualties may be inevitable, but I hope no one will rush in to claim their blaze of glory that the Commandant mentioned in his speech.”

“A nice speech, do you think?” Ari asked.

“A powerful speech.  I hope its effects upon our morale and abilities will outlast our enemies.”

“I shall pray for it to be so.  Pray that we survive this day.”

“And I will do all I can to answer that prayer.”

Chapter 237: https://www.patreon.com/posts/113910877

Table of Contents: https://www.patreon.com/posts/101896170

Chapter 239: https://www.patreon.com/posts/114045722