Battle of Mephauric (Midway)
Swooosh.
Hiiiiing.
By uncloaking their bombers in midair, they threw the Russian nationalists into immediate confusion.
"What the hell is that?!"
And while their attention was fixed on the sudden appearance of those aircraft, they failed to notice the missiles curling in from the side. Panic that they had to be shot down at once and the suffocating dread of being in danger at the same time had already frayed their nerves; the air raid sirens only made it worse.
BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM!
"Aaaagh!!!!"
"Damn it! Where the hell did they come from!"
"The enemy is bombarding us from those impossibly high altitudes!"
"Then call in air support, now!"
Fwoooosh.
KWA-A-A-A-A-A-ANG!
"Aaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!"
"My... my eyes!!!"
"Who exactly are you talking to?"
"I'm right here."
"What—!?"
I answered without the slightest pretense of civility and opened fire at once. Each round from my liquid-proton, high-frequency accelerated, stabilized 13mm heavy-caliber live ammunition was plated by my Psionics, crackling with lightning and flame as it automatically guided itself, hung in wait along their likely paths of movement, and then detonated.
RATATATATATATATATATATAT
BANG.
BANG.
BANG.
BANG.
BANG.
BANG.
"Ghhhk!!!"
Still riding my boosters and raking the ground with a chain of explosions, I looked as though I were simply spraying bullets into the air. In truth, I was manipulating my ether with ruthless precision, regulating my emotions even as I unleashed a merciless hail of gunfire.
Click.
Crack-crack-crack-crack-crack.
Fwoooooosh.
KWA-AAAANG!
"Run if you can. I’ll get there before you and show you the fragments of your death waiting ahead of you."
Even then, the bombers under remote control did not stop their bombing or their fire.
And behind that attack, the Alpha formation came back down to join the slaughter.
Hiiiiiiiiing.
Fwoosh!
The heat visions fired by Alpha split the sky in a single synchronized volley.
At the same time, the nanomachines of the Grey Missiles that had been lying in cloaked concealment on the ground surged upward and dissolved the flesh and bones of the Russian nationalists.
SHRRAAAAK.
"Aaaaghhhhhhhhhhh!!!!"
"There’s no way you’ll be able to endure this!"
Whoosh.
Pooooooom.
And immediately after that, the rounds I had just sprayed spun forcibly into their eyes, mouths, and nostrils, boring into them.
"Aaagh!!!!"
Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop!
Fsssssssssssssssssssssssh.
Wooooooom.
"Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!"
Trapped in the force of those rounds, they were hurled skyward, accelerating as they flew, flailing their arms and legs helplessly.
Swoosh.
"Uuuuugh...."
"Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Hiiiiiiiiiiiing.
KZZZZZZZZZ-KRRRICK.
The 13mm heavy-caliber rounds that had burrowed into their bodies dehydrated every last scrap of flesh and muscle, and then, deep inside their skeletons, my Psionic lightning and flame surged upward and burst into light.
Pooooooom.
The moment their pain reached its peak, the rounds detonated and shattered their heads. The shockwave split their bodies clean in two, severing them lengthwise, while their limbs burst away and tore loose under the force.
Rustle-rustle-rustle-rustle-rustle.
THWACK.
SHRAAAACK.
Having fallen in free descent from some five miles up, their corpses erupted with blood as if bomb blasts had gone off inside them, staining the ground a violent red.
Goooooooo.
I immediately compressed that blood with telekinesis, shaping it into a massive water-jet cutter before firing it at their armored units.
KWA-A-A-A-A-A-ANG!
"A good nationalist is a dead nationalist. Consider this the blood you promised to spill for the patriotism you preach—receive it gratefully."
KWA-KA-KA-KA-KA-KA-KA-KA!
The enemy armor was ripped apart in one blow, its upper and lower halves torn cleanly apart. Inside, the crew were split through the torso or severed at the neck by the shockwave, scattering bright red marrow like fireworks.
"How fortunate. You didn’t drown in your own allies’ blood."
Hiiiiing.
Using telekinesis again, I lifted the shattered wreckage and set it spinning.
If you can even smash the night-vision goggles we wear, I’ll give you some credit. In this darkness, you’re worth nothing. And there’s no way out. Only then will you realize it: you were simply too stupid to choose anything but defeat.
Spinning.
Spinning.
Spinning.
Then I gradually manipulated the flow of the atmosphere, turning it into a vortex directed at them.
Fwooooooooooooooooooooooooooosh!
Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom.
The cry of a buzzard mixed with the shriek of wartime sirens seemed to echo through the buildings of the entire planet in a blade of freezing wind.
"Ghhh...."
"Go... goodness.... it feels like I’m being stabbed over and over by a blade...."
"Aaagh.... it feels like my bones are freezing from the inside out!!!!!"
"Kraaahhhhh!!!! The... the blood isn’t flowing...."
In an instant, the Russian nationalists’ skin began to rot into a deep blue. Even before that, once they had descended to the ground, it was obvious that all the aggro had been pulled toward this approach route leading just before the city packed with buildings, thanks to the torrents of blood and fragments of corpses exploding overhead. Then, as the blood I had fired as water-jet cutters—now reduced to mashed gore and shattered body parts—began freezing solid in the wind laden with cold, they had no choice but to abandon any thought of a direct assault.
KWA-KA-KA-KA-KA!
The frozen wreckage of the tanks went skidding along the upper edge of the blood-spear water cutters, gaining speed as it slid, and then swept brutally through the Russian nationalist formation.
Meanwhile, I withstood that freezing gale without the slightest trouble, summoning the spiked-launcher robots from my arsenal and scattering their barbs to tear the enemy apart.
"Aaaagh!!!!"
"Damn it, punch a hole through them, all of you!!!"
The enemy tried to break out by concentrating their fire on one point. But then—
"No! We have to push deeper into the camp!"
"What are you saying? There’s no way to evade their nanomachines and guided rounds—aaagh!!!!"
KWA-KA-KA-KA-KWAANG!
At the same time, the high-explosive shells the air force dumped in a second wave rained down in torrents, and the nanomachines that had absorbed the heat they carried surged like a wave of lotus leaves and covered them.
Thanks to that, the blood water-jet cutters, frozen stiff as they were, did not melt; under my control they could continue to butcher the enemy again and again. After all, the core of those cutters was the cold wind I had made myself, so even if they were destroyed in liquid form, I could remake them as often as I liked.
"Fuck, the retreat route is blocked!!!!"
"Fire!!!"
Fiiiiiish.
Fiiiiiish.
Fiiiiiish.
Fiiiiiish.
Fiiiiiish.
BOOOOM!
BOOOOOM!
BOOOOM!
BOOM!
BOOOOOM!
BOOOOM!
Railguns, plasma guns, ray guns, high-velocity needle rounds, and laser guns all fired at once, but everything had been strengthened by the Psionics of me and my mercenary subordinates. We reversed the flow, preventing them from even approaching the heat the nanomachines scattered, and ground them to pieces. In the aftermath, even that heat was ionized away, while the nanomachines themselves exhaled such extreme cold that they cooled to the edge of absolute zero. If they made even the briefest contact with the Russian nationalists, they could rip flesh away wholesale and kill them; even brushing past was enough to strip moisture from the air, causing violent bursts and freezing everything in an instant.
Tssssssssssssssssssss.
At best, they could use cold-fired emitters to eliminate the heat and freeze the nanomachines, balancing the thermal state before ionization-driven cooling could take hold and letting some of that heat return to the nanomachines. That was effective enough for suppression, but the blood-made water-jet cutters had only grown sturdier, and because they had cooled to the point of near-zero resistance like superconductors, the cold gale I had whipped up made them accelerate even more violently. Add metal fragments into the mix and they could conduct current through the medium as well, electrocuting targets in chain reactions. That was a bonus.
BOOOOM!
KZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ-KRACK.
And of course, I wasn’t the only one here. After I had unleashed this level of chaos, the rest of my subordinates landed as well and joined the offensive, firing small missiles in a renewed barrage.
"Don’t forget that nuclear self-detonation happened in Moscow in 2028! You may say you’ve sworn revenge, but peace has been guarded by my family far longer than you think. The very conspiracy-laced group you always talk about! Now then, think about it! How much money do you suppose it would take to wipe you all out completely? And you didn’t even know that, yet you still dared to oppose me—do you finally understand how foolish you are? Hahahahahaha!!!"
Immediately, darkness lurked within the nanomachines, blocking not only visible light but infrared and ultraviolet as well. Through that darkness, thunder rang out with solemn grandeur, whipping up a storm of cold, and when I snapped my fingers, the clouds swirling in the atmosphere carved discontinuous lines across the sky and unleashed lightning without mercy.
KWA-RRRRRRRRUMBLE!
"You want equality? Then die. Death is equal for everyone!"
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Cut off inside the darkness and unable to tell friend from foe, the Russian nationalists could do nothing at all. They were forced to rely blindly on instinct and human touch, pressing their backs against one another—without the faintest idea whether the person behind them was actually an ally.
Tap.
SHRAAASH!
"Aaaagh!!!!! My... my back!!!!"
"Ah, fuck!!! Don’t shove your back into the nanomachines!!!"
"Hey, move, it’s disgusting!!!"
SHRRRRRRRK.
"Aaaagh!!!! My... my flesh!!!!"
"Hahaha! As expected, ignorant fools like you always have this wonderful habit of seeking someone to lean on in situations where no one can be trusted. Then why don’t you stop whining and actually face my attacks? Instead of just cursing at me, why not swing a fist for once? Or better yet, why not charge straight into the very center of the camp, where this body is naturally supposed to be? Am I wrong? Do you still not understand even after hearing this voice? Can’t you hear it—this voice overflowing with carelessness? Come on, break through here! Smash through the buildings with your weapons and claw your way in! The city center should favor the defenders, so all we have to do is erase the things that make defense favorable. You don’t have much time left! I won’t say it twice! Come at me! I’ll wait here forever, and your objective will remain here forever as well, so while you still have breath in your lungs, come at me with that bravery of yours!!!! For me, the foundation is duty—the duty to protect this camp—and the stubborn resolve to see that duty fulfilled! Your bravery, that bravery which I will use as the darkness to make you shine all the brighter, is also the bravery by which I overcome you and subdue you! And what shatters your resolve is my anger at such insolence—my anger that surpasses your resolve!!!!"
Driven completely mad by my outrageous provocation, the enemy finally lost all reason and began firing blindly and viciously toward the direction of my voice, trusting only their senses.
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM.
As the Psionically reinforced shells blasted apart the camp’s buildings, the wreckage pierced through the darkness cast by the nanomachines imprisoning the Russian nationalists and brought them light.
"Li... light!!!"
"O-over there!!!"
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