Embrace The Ether 29 Vanguard's Approach

He aimed his hand-cannon as he slowly inhaled for breath. With a single, slow exhale, he fired twice in quick succession.

Perhaps he was lucky, or perhaps he was simply using some sort of subconscious training he didn't know he had, either way, he hit both of his marks, one after another.

First, one soldier went down, a shot hit from his back. The second soldier turned around in a panic, a feeble attempt to brace for incoming fire, only, he too was lethally hit as he collapsed into the dust, a wound through the chest.

Deus inhaled and exhaled again as he watched the two men drop to the ground, ensuring that he remained calm so as to not affect his aiming. He knew that they hadn't personally done anything to him, and the only reason he had killed them was that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. All he could do was sigh apologetically.

It didn't take long for the defending force to take notice of the lack of suppressive fire from that specific location. Their group quickly began moving up the hill, ducking in and out of cover from one piece of metal to another.

Deus recognized two of these people by name and a small handful of the others by face.

The clansman Atra was one of the survivors, along with Elias.

This group had gathered together after the crash, it seemed. It was likely that since they were closest to one another within the compartment they must've landed nearby to each other during the crash.

The other members of their group were fellow clansmen who Deus didn't recognize by name, but he had seen each and every one of their faces at one point or another.

The main issue was he didn't see Thaddeus.

'Was Thaddeus involved in this, after all?' Deus thought. 'Even if he wasn't, I doubt Elias will be so patient as to ask questions. Hmm, truth be told Elias most likely thinks I'm involved, too.'

Deus watched them as they arrived at the spot where he had previously shot those two Direfell soldiers.

'Actually, what am I going to do? Even if I reunite with the rest of them, what if Elias a.s.sumes it was me and sicks his dogs on me. I can fight most of them, but I'd prefer not fighting Atra if I can avoid it.' He nodded, 'The best course of action is probably to stay out of sight but nearby, so I can keep an eye on them and use them as reinforcement in case of another disaster.'

Deus wasn't ashamed of the idea of using these people as bait to save himself, in fact, on the contrary, he had voluntarily opted to abandon them from long ago depending on how things went. He had already come to know what sort of world Midnight was, and he couldn't afford to be so loyal and forgiving to people he knew practically nothing about. If it was Droh, perhaps, but even then he'd try to have a backup plan in case the first one fell through.

He was a single man lost in a maliciously strange world. It would be odd if he was truly loyal to anyone but himself.

He moved too, keeping himself cloaked in shadow. Each step he took he seemed to duck around behind himself in order to watch their approach. It was most likely a G.o.dsend in disguise that he had found himself crashed close enough to the tower wall that the armed turrets had been unaware of his location.

A horribly loud shout echoed through the barren war zone, the source was a familiar voice—Elias. "Squad, move up with me! Don't get left behind you fools, we have to get to firm land before they send additional strikes! You," He gestured toward one of the clansmen who stood to his side, "Find out what happened to those two, we're clearly not alone out here… find out if any of our people landed nearby."

"Aye," The clansmen nodded in understanding as he surveyed the area.

Their squad had quickly gathered together in the same spot where the two Direfell soldiers had been previously shot by Deus. They set up temporary defenses while Elias attempted to use his communication device. No response returned.

"d.a.m.n, seems we're stuck out here like vermin," The fl.u.s.tered Elias pointed off toward the tower which Deus was hiding near, "We're moving up slowly, keep together and don't fall behind. If you spot anyone from the vanguard alert me. I'll decide what to do then."

Once again everyone within the squad nodded in understanding and approval, clearly, they deeply respected both Elias and the influence he held within the clan since no one seemed willing to question his commands.

Deus lurked just out of view of Elias and his clansmen who accompanied him, dancing in and out of the shadows that were formed from the heavy shattered fragments of burnt metal.

'I might be able to let Elias attract the ire of the tower while I push past it,' Deus contemplated to himself, 'Hmm, it's the best plan I've got… I just can't let Elias know I used him… I doubt he'd forgive me, but that doesn't matter right now. Wasn't it he who told me that the weak and foolish end up being used on Midnight? I'm only putting his own words into action.'

Deus said that, but he paused regardless. He understood it was his best chance at breaking past the incoming fire, but he found himself hesitant nonetheless. Perhaps it was his humanity, or perhaps he was afraid of what Elias would do to Droh if he found out that he had used him to draw enemy fire.

's.h.i.+t…' Deus grumbled.

He reached into a side pocket of his pack and pulled out an electronic communication device, a comm-link.

Deus spoke into the radio, "Elias, you read me?"

He waited impatiently for several seconds as a faint buzzing sound was all that had answered back over the comms. He remained hidden as he waited for the response he knew would come.

The comm-link buzzed as a voice replied through the static.

"Deus is that you? s.h.i.+t, I thought you were dead."

Deus held his head down as he sighed, "I'm not that easy to kill. Actually, I think I know where you are, you should be nearby to my current location."

Elias called back in question, as if piecing everything together, "Were you the one who took down those Direfell b.a.s.t.a.r.ds I found? A group of two hostiles had been shot from what seems to be a distance."

"Right, that was me. As I was saying, I think I know your location. You should be camped out nearby that spot, right? I'm able to move to your position in the next few minutes… so, where do you want me, Elias? This is your operation."

Deus bit down on his teeth as he waited for a reply. He placed his cards with Elias hoping he could use that to save a bit of face, while also showing he was also a team player.

"Fine, stay at your position, we can probably use you to blitz our enemy. We'll try and lure them closer to us, so when you get a clean shot… take it. We'll join together once we get around that tower. Stay on the comms for any more instructions."

"Understood," Deus answered in as few words as possible. 'I shouldn't be surprised he went with that move... since I have the advantage, he's probably well aware of it. If he ordered me to his position, he doesn't know what I'd do... now I at least got his permission to use him as bait.' A faint smile showed on his face.

'Right… my hand has now been played, but I still do have a few cards hidden up my sleeve.' He reasoned with himself as he glanced out over the battlefield. From one side he saw a small encampment formed near the ridge, several small scaled barriers were constructed as a means to defend, this was where Elias had planted himself.

On the other side, however, was a vast tower that spiraled into the sky. Numerous cannons sprouted out from the sides as it launched a flurry of explosives down upon the ground below, seemingly at random. They most likely intended to destroy everything, thinking it was better to leave nothing alive than missing even a single hostile.

It was a dangerous plan for their own ground forces, but also a terribly efficient one. If Deus wasn't able to push past the tower within a short amount of time it would be highly likely that he'd be struck by a bombardment, in which case not even his corpse would remain within the scorched earth.