*Battle of the Sea of Okhotsk, two months into the Cleansing Crusade
A blinding white snowstorm engulfed the sky as the maelstrom of heavy wind threatened to tear the world apart. Yet, for the Kraken Marines of the 6th fleet, this obstacle was nothing but a small hindrance. Looking out of their carrier's exposed hatches, one of the men simply remarked how it felt just like home in Sweden. There was no hint of fear or worry on the faces of these men built for war. They will cleanse the opposition for the Emperor, and there will be no mercy.
On the ground, armies of Chinese, Russian and Korean troops trembled in their trenches, while awaiting the inevitable fight to come. Suddenly, the sky was illuminated by the passage of a plasma blast from the 6th fleet's carrier, landing on the shield of the Chinese carrier on the opposite end. In return, the defenders soon returned fire, with the sky soon becoming constantly illuminated with the streaks of plasma cannons and the skirmishes of jets.
Though initially, the fight seemed to be only raging on in the distant skies, one of the Korean soldiers soon noticed the pebbles on the ground trembling. With a disturbed look in his eyes, the soldier stared up to see the horizon blocked by the rows of Imperial soldiers and their vehicles. At first, the soldier remained too stunned to act, but soon one of the enemy tanks opened fire with its railgun and devastated the adjacent trench and the men hidden within. As the debris, gore, and sparks flew and landed all around the soldier, he and his comrades were finally compelled to start shooting.
Both sides soon devolved into a bitter skirmish as Imperial soldiers and the Combined Front fought across kilometres of fortifications. With a deafening blast, the Chinese tanks fired upon one of the Imperial tanks, disabling it with a direct hit to the turret ring. Meanwhile, rows of infantry carriers rolled past the trenches, ignoring the Korean soldiers and their men as they penetrated deeper into enemy fortifications. Following behind their machines, Imperial soldiers soon jumped into the trenches and began to engage the leftover resistance in bitter close-quarter combat.
With determination and fear, the Korean soldier fought one of the enemy men who dived straight beside him. With a guttural scream, the Korean soldier pinned the enemy combatant down before emptying his rifle against his face. Not far, a series of explosions rocked the battlefield. Looking up, the Korean soldier was relieved to see that his comrades had managed to destroy most of the enemy vehicles. Cheer soon filled the trenches as the first wave of Imperial soldiers was vanquished.
However, as the Korean soldier inspected the dead bodies of the enemy combatants he had killed, he noticed how there was simply no insignia other than the Imperial rune on his shoulder plate. At the moment, the young soldier didn't understand the implications, but these men were not even regulars from the Ice Kraken fleet. These forces were simply auxiliaries serving in the Imperial military.
Aboard the 6th fleet's carrier, the Eternal Blizzard, crewmen worked tirelessly on their screens while the Kraken Marines entered their drop pods.
[crewman 1] - "Landing position locked. Preparing to deploy! "
[crewman 2] - "Command ordered launch. "
Said the second crewman as he pulled a lever on his panel.
However, the 6th fleet had a combat tactic far more unusual than any other fleet. As the first few projectiles landed in the enemy positions, what was deployed was no explosive or marines, but instead red phosphorus smoke bombs. Quickly, the entire trench network became engulfed in a white hell worse than the snowstorm above. Then, in short order, the drop pods were deployed as they streaked toward the battlefield at Mach 10 speed.
In the trenches, the Korean soldier and his men quickly put on gas masks, but remained confused and lost in the blinding white fog. No man could possibly tell allies from foes or even find their way without feeling their way through. The atmosphere was terrifying, more than even the rows of enemy forces marching toward them earlier. There were screams and yells as men struggled to maintain their cohesion.
Suddenly, massive explosions shook the ground as the drop pods landed and released their content. Stepping out of the pod, the Kraken Marines in their white and sleek power armour held their guns steady without wasting a single shot. On their shoulders, the symbol of a Kraken with its tentacles stretching like arrows in seven directions shone in an auric colour. With their echolocation sensors, the Marines thrived in the blinding smokescreen where others could simply panic.
Methodically, the Kraken Marines opened fire on the enemy, needing only a single shot per kill. The cohesion within the trench was soon further broken apart as the panicked voices of the defenders spread around, while an unrecognizable weapon type periodically rang between the chaos. Instances of friendly fire became frequent as the soldiers, in their panic, began targeting anyone who looked suspicious. Meanwhile, when the shots actually hit their intended targets, the bullets simply ricocheted off the Marines' armour without even leaving a dent.
As the minutes went by, the panicked screams and shrieks of terror slowly faded away, leaving only silence within the blinding fog. The Korean soldier, now isolated from his comrades in the confusion, wandered the trenches without direction. Suddenly, as the sound of footsteps approached his location, Park ran to try to find cover. As he burst through a corner, he felt relieved as he saw an anti-air weapon mount with a quad-mount machine gun.
As the Marine arrived at the same corner, Park abruptly let loose a torrent of bullets upon his enemy. However, aside from knocking the carbine out of his hand, the bullets from Park's assault did nothing more than annoy the Marine. With his leg-mounted stabilizer deployed as a response, the marine presented the heavier side of his asymmetrical armour to Park before methodically advancing toward him.
[Nilsson] - "Aaaaargh! "
Screamed the Marines as he shrugged off bullets showering his face.
[Park] - "What the fuck? Holy shit, what the fuck! "
Muttered Park in disbelief and panic as he saw the warrior charging at him.
With a single punch, the Marine destroyed the machine gun mount before slapping Park aside. However, by this point, overtaken by adrenaline, Park simply didn't care for his safety anymore as he pulled out his combat knife and stabbed at his opponent. Unfortunately for him, the knife simply broke apart upon the first strike before he was sent flying against the wall by the Marine's powered arm.
[Park] - "Ughhh! Shit! "
Yelled Park in pain as blood leaked from his mouth.
However, in a last gesture of defiance, Park pulled a grenade out of his belt and launched it at the Marine's face. In a blinding explosion, a fireball engulfed the gun nest, catching the attention of the other Marines in the vicinity. However, as the smoke cleared, the grenade barely left a layer of ash on the Marine's armour while Park was severely injured. With a loud landing, two more Kraken Marines jumped into the gun nest and noticed their comrade staring at Park. With a heavy vibro-axe in his hand, Captain Sven of the 9th assault company landed behind his men.
[Captain Sven] - "Report, Korpral Nilsson, are ya hurt? "
Said Sven as he rushed toward Nilsson.
[Nilsson] - "Ah, captain! I'd like to keep this one prisoner; he's got some pretty neat gut. Ya know, unlike the other cowards fleeing us, he doesn't seem to fear meh. "
Said Nilsson with a heavy Swedish accent.
The captain looked at Nilsson up and down, seeing the sut coating his armour and the fragmentation injuries on the barely conscious Park.
[Captain Sven] - "It seems like he did give ya a good beating. "
[Tage] - "Seriously, Nilsson, where's ya gun? Don't tell me a mere soldier kicked your ass and humbled ya. Hahaha! "
The other Marine also shared a laugh with Tage as Nilsson dryly pushed through them to go fetch his carbine.
[Nilsson] - "Gå åt helvete! I'd like to see ya hold yar carbine still with a machine gun burst to ya hands. "
Said Nilsson, annoyed.
[Tage] - "Ey, man, ya lucky the Danish Marines didn't drop with us! Or else, even we won't claim ya as one of our own when they start laughing. "
Said Tage jokingly before bursting out laughing.
[Captain Sven] - "Enough! Nilsson, I called ya a medic to get ya trophy off this place. As for ya two, go help the others clean up. "
[Tage] - "Ay, ay, Captain, we are going. "
Said Tage dismissively as he and his comrade climbed out of the gun nest.
As Nilsson returned to the Captain with his carbine, Sven suddenly ordered him to halt.
[Captain Sven] - "Let me be clear, Korpral Nilsson, I wish not to be harsh with ya, but ya need to stop embarrassing us like this. These are second-class enemies ya are fighting, and ya still lost ya gun and got coated in sut. The 9th company need heroic tales, not more embarrassing stories. "
Said Sven harshly as he tapped his axe against Nilsson's chest.
Nilsson looked down in embarrassment before nodding his head at the Captain.
[Medical Marine] - "Ya called for a trophy collection, Captain? "
Said the man as he dropped down into the nest.
The medical Marine, unlike the rest, had a more robust armour design to enable them to carry the wounded by themselves, while their gear consisted mostly of coagulant, anti-biotic, painkillers, bandages, as well as several cutting tools.
[Captain Sven] - "Yeah, something to keep ya busy. It's not like any of us will get wounded anyway. "
[Medical Marine] - "What's even the point then? Should've given meh a carbine and let me join in the fun with ya people. "
[Captain Sven] - "Keeping the fleet's tradition alive is important too. "
The medical Marine grunted as he stabilized Park's wounds before carrying him away in his arms.
[Captain Sven] - "Now, Korpral Nilsson, don't let the fleet's soldiers see ya like this. Your embarrassment stays within the company. "
Said Sven as he peered over the edge to see soldiers from the 6th fleet moving in.
[Nilsson] - "Understood, Captain. "
As the two men began to walk, they suddenly felt the ground shake as if there was an earthquake. As the seconds passed, Nilsson began to notice how his stabilizers were beginning to deploy with each vibration.
[Nilsson] - "Captain, did ya request titan support? "
The captain swallowed as fear began to appear on his face behind his helmet.
[Captain Sven] - "They couldn't possibly have it... How could they even- "
Before the captain could finish his sentence, a bright beam of plasma abruptly flashed over their head, before the impact kicked up an avalanche. In an instant, both men were buried under a wall of snow, which pinned them against the wall of the trench. From the small city behind the frontline, a massive Wrath-Dragon-class titan emerged from its camouflage amidst the skyscrapers.
Standing at 300 meters tall and with technology copied from the Empire's Storm-class titans, the monstrous machine trampled through the empty city buildings while its two arm-mounted 50-meter Dalian siege plasma cannons moved to fire again. On the ground, even the formidable Kraken Marines were forced to flee as the titan unleashed an apocalypse on their ranks. With another blast from one of its siege cannon, a whole company of soldiers alongside a few marines was evaporated into steam.
Then, following through on its hunger for violence, the titan began to bombard the battlefield with its mortars and 250mm rotary Gatling guns. At such calibre, not even tanks or bunkers can survive a single barrage, as explosions and death filled the scene. Meanwhile, any return fire was absorbed by its 75 shield generators, each capable of eating a nuke's worth of punishment.
Meanwhile, Nilsson, being only buried in soft and shallow snow, quickly crawled to the surface before helping to free his Captain from his prison. After a panic-fueled struggle, Captain Sven was finally able to crawl out of his snowy grave. Looking around him, the Captain desperately tried to contact his men, but received barely any answers from them.
[Captain] - "Fuck! Jävla skit! Anyone, answer me if you are receiving this call! "
Yelled the captain into his com.
After assessing the situation on his hand-mounted terminal, which displayed the status of his men, Sven sank to his knees. Being caught completely off guard, the 9th company was practically wiped clean, with only him, Nilsson and the few Medical Marines not on scene still alive. In his shock, Sven didn't even react as the Chinese titan marched by them from only a few meters away. The ground shook with the violence of a magnitude 9 earthquake as the titan's massive foot made contact with the soil.
Soon, a swarm of enemy infantry arrived at their position, peppering them with their rifles. Taking up his carbine, Nilsson began to cut down anyone who dared to approach him or his Captain's position. At first, the enemy infantry tried to swarm the two Marines, but as Nilsson shot a dozen of them dead with deadly precision, the enemy infantry decided to dig in just to siege the two men.
[Nilsson] - "Captain! Get a grip of ya self! "
Yelled Nilsson as he frantically shook Sven with his hands.
Suddenly, as if the anger of seeing his entire company being slaughtered abruptly hit him, Sven tightened his fists and pressed on his com.
[Captain Sven] - "Captain Sven to General Vidar, do ya copy? "
Yelled Sven into his com in a frenzied voice.
After a brief moment, a response suddenly echoed through Sven's helmet.
[General Vidar] - "Captain Sven, I receive ya. I have seen the situation on your side. Reinforcements are on their way. For now, report on your men's situation. "
[Captain Sven] - "Avenge the men of the 9th, General! Avenge the sons of Thor, let these bastards pay for our company's tragedy! "
Cried the Captain with sorrow and wrath in his voice.
Upon hearing Sven's words, Vidar's face turned grim. Never in the 6th fleet's history can Vidar expect to hear that an entire company of Kraken Marines was wiped out within minutes. With his blood soon coming to a boil, Vidar ended the communication and stormed out of his office. Soon, he arrived inside the command bridge of the titan Skymningkoloss and stood right beside the titan lord.
[Vidar] - "No mercy! Destroy all and everything, let them drown in the magma of their own machines! "
Screamed Vidar with bloodlust in his eyes.
As the colossal claws holding the titan in place opened, the gigantic Skymningkoloss landed on the ground with such force that even the thick ice from a nearby lake was broken into a million pieces. With its glowing blue monocular eye set on its enemy, the Storm-class titan's horns howled with the voice of an eldritch God, followed by the ear-shattering sound of thunder. They are the Leviathans of the land, marching as the masters of this earth. They are the messengers of the rapture to come, striking with the power of a hundred storms.
Seeing the engagement to come, Sven and Nilsson quickly moved out of cover and ran away with surprising speed. Meanwhile, the infantry all around them kept firing, not knowing the danger to come. As both titans moved toward each other, the ground shaking in response to their call for wrath, Skymningkoloss fired first, its massive Ragnarok cannons shooting out a plasma beam equivalent to the energy of at least 25 simultaneous nuclear explosions. With such power, even the Dragon titan recoiled from the strike despite its shields. On the ground, the dissipated plasma's energy heated the surrounding air to over 200,000 degrees Celsius, instantly annihilating anyone dumb enough to still be around.
Even with their distance, Sven and Nilsson still had to dive into a bunker amidst the trench sections to survive the resulting heatwave. As the blast and heat came their way, the surface of the bunker immediately began to vaporize while the shockwave cracked its walls. Luckily for the two Marines, the bunker was part of a connected network, which allowed them to hide deeper underground. On the surface, only a wasteland remained where the Dragon titan stood, with a massive portion of the ground turned into cindering magma.
Meanwhile, as Skymningkoloss fired its second plasma cannon, the Dragon titan also returned fire, the two titans exchanging massive plasma blasts that pushed their shields and systems to their limits. With the second blast, a second wave of heat and shockwave also followed, which soon penetrated deep into the bunker's depths. Luckily for the two Marines, the heavy steel door protecting them was just enough to contain the heat, but only barely. The thick steel door, though tough, was only a few millimetres away from being melted through.
Meanwhile, on the Skymningkoloss, Vidar was still burning with hatred as he stared at the still-standing enemy titan. The anger in his heart could only be quenched by spilling the blood of an enemy God.
[Vidar] - "Leave it no respite! Let it suffer the wrath of the Empire's greatest! Let these mongoloids taste the consequence of daring to insult my men with such indignified deaths. "
Yelled Vidar while red with rage.
On the titan's back, the Pandemonium siege mortars began to fire their massive ammunition at the enemy. In a scene mirroring the rapture, the unholy mortar shells left their barrels and burned each like the asteroid that ended the dinosaurs. In a coordinated row, four massive rockets struck the Dragon titan, leaving its systems critical and its shield weakened as the explosion alone covered it in fire and dust for a solid five minutes despite the snowstorm. However, by now, both titans fell silent as their main weapons recharged. However, this didn't stop their secondary weapons from trying to score a hit on each other. As smaller guns and rockets flew between the two God-machines, they also moved to close the distance further. With each step, the earth below their feet cried in agony, yet these machines will not halt until the fulfillment of their divine duty.
During this time, deep inside the underground network, Sven and Nilsson breathed a sigh of relief. Despite the protection offered by their armour, they still felt the heat slowly creeping into their inside. While Nilsson sat down to rest a bit, Captain Sven walked around nervously while counting a set of numbers in whispers. Then, as he approached the door to try to pry it open, he realized that since the metal had melted, it was nearly impossible to reopen it.
[Sven] - "Nilsson... Can you promise me something, comrade? "
Said Sven, while leaning against the metal door.
[Nilsson] - "Yes, Captain. I'm listening. "
Said Nilsson as he quickly stood to attention.
[Sven] - "Once this war is over and there is nothing more to fight for, leave the military. "
Nilsson was baffled by his Captain's request as confusion appeared on his face.
[Nilsson] - "But... Captain! The 6th fleet is my home! I grew up here, alongside you and all the others from our fleet. "
[Sven] - "We willingly sacrifice ourselves today, tomorrow and for the years to come, because we have a cause to fight for. There will be a day when this war will end, and by then, there will be no more reason to keep fighting. Please, as the last member of the 9th, promise me this. "
Said Sven as he touched the 9th company marking on his chest.
[Nilsson] - "I'm not the last man, there is also you! "
Sven smirked while refusing to elaborate on his statement. It would be better this way, to let Nilsson be oblivious until the last moment. Deep down, Sven hated himself for allowing his entire company to be slaughtered. However, now, he will at least die feeling slightly redeemed, knowing he will save the last of his men.
[Sven] - "Ya know, I originally had a plan for once this way ends. Sweden... man, it's where my blood is from, yet I had never even set foot there since I joined the Empire. Originally, I was thinking that, after the war, I would build myself a house in the north and enjoy the aurora borealis as I go to sleep every night. "
Said Sven before chuckling under his breath at the irony.
[Nilsson] - "Captain... "
[Sven] - "Nilsson, just promise me... Don't overstay your welcome. I witnessed today the death of 98 comrades in their duty. We died today not because we are soldiers, but because we value the cause we fight for. The 9th company lives, and you are the living proof of our survival. "
Said Sven as he adjusted his body to cover the door more uniformly.
Outside, with their cannons fully recharged, the titan lord immediately ordered his men to fire. In another heated exchange, both Skymningkoloss and the Dragon titan shot a massive plasma beam at each other. As the blast struck the Dragon titan once again, this time, its shields were overwhelmed, but not before redirecting most of the blast away. As the rush of heat and pressure wave travelled away once again from the titan, Sven made sure to have Nilsson hold his axe as it represented leadership over the 9th company.
[Nilsson] - "Captain, what are you doing? Why are you giving me this? "
Said Nilsson, still oblivious to his Captain's fate.
[Sven] - "You carry the 9th's banner now, and you will only carry it into fights the 99 lost souls approve. If the war ends, you have the duty of putting the 9th company to rest. However, if the day comes when a worthy cause arises, the 9th will stand by your side. "
Said Sven firmly as he felt the earthquake from above.
Before Nilsson could react, a massive shockwave burst through the weakened steel door, hitting Sven directly on his entire body. With a defiant scream, Sven deployed his stabilizers and held on to the doorframe, refusing to bulge even as his armour melted away. Meanwhile, Nilsson wanted to interfere, but was only barely standing thanks to his stabilizers.
[Nilsson] - "Captain! Nooo! "
Yelled Nilsson despite his voice disappearing in the chaos.
Nilsson finally understood what his Captain meant when he kept saying that he was the last member of the 9th company. All this time, Captain Sven was counting the number of minutes left before the titans would fire again. When it was clear that he and Nilsson couldn't escape this room, Sven knew he had to sacrifice himself to save his comrade. Even as the molten metal from his armour wrecked his body and organs, Sven held his ground until his death.
As the heatwave passed through the openings between Sven's legs, even Nilsson's legs began to melt away as the armour began to painfully fuse with his skin. Finally, as the shockwave ended, Nilsson could only mutter a few slurred words before passing out from the heat. Meanwhile, Sven's corpse stood in a pile of molten metal, still defiantly guarding the door like a statue.
Outside, panic gripped the Dragon titan's crew as its shields failed. With victory in sight, Vidar screamed one final time for blood, which Skymningkoloss obeyed without hesitation. Using its other cannon, the Storm-class titan delivered one final blast, which decimated the main structure and body of the enemy titan. The seemingly invincible metal on the titan wept in streams of molten slag as the merciless plasma beam delivered its Godslayer blow.
Then, as the remains of the Dragon titan fell silent, Skymningkoloss unleashed an earth-shattering scream from its horns, cementing its might over the unworthy God before it. As the roar of thunder concluded the titan's war cry, all enemy combatants, like clockwork, laid down their weapons and submitted to their knees at the God machine towering before them. From the bottom of their souls, they understood that their defeat was not a matter of choice, but an order from the divine.
As a medical Marine extracted Nilsson from the underground bunker, he was able to wake up slightly, only to see the Storm-class titan towering above him. The mighty war machine looked onward, unbothered by his pain or sorrow, nor the death of his comrades. The sight was terrifying and majestic at the same time. Though Nilsson had never been religious before, this memory would humble his secularity forever. Meanwhile, due to his critical condition, he was airlifted into the titan's superstructure, where proper medical facilities could treat his wounds. All the while, Sven's battle axe remained tightly gripped between Nilsson's arms.
As the months went by, Nilsson gradually recovered inside the confines of Skymningkoloss. In his room, Nilsson deposited his scarred helmet on a counter as a reminder of his past. For the following months in the war, Nilsson will be named the new Captain of the reformed 9th company. However, Nilsson will never get the chance to keep his old helmet as the 6th fleet was caught in the midst of the Great Betrayal by Michele. In a series of orchestrated moves, 8 companies of the 6th fleet's Marines turned traitors and sabotaged the carrier while it was pursued by a powerful Chinese fleet, causing it to be forced to ditch Skymningkoloss in the Pacific Ocean to escape the chase.
Subsequently, the recovered titan was seized by KD-554's men and placed in Trump City as a dormant giant to be used in times of need to reinforce her control. However, today, the titan stood once more in its duty to destroy enemies of humanity such as KD-554. As for Nilsson's helmet, it has so far found a new home with Ulric, who remains oblivious to its history.
As for Nilsson, he remained true to his old Captain's wishes as he immediately deserted the moment the 6th fleet finished its mission in the crusade. Today, he resides in anonymity within a small Moldovan village. Though he will not speak of his past to anyone, he still carries the legacy of his lost company. However, destiny might still one day call him to a new duty, and by then, he will be ready.
To be continued...