"Shit, load SLAP!"
As Tom shouted and the knights came ever closer towards her, Lisa felt her mind go blank.
(Huh? Which one was that again?)
All of a sudden, sound seemed to disappear from her surroundings and as Lisa glanced down at her plate carrier stuffed with different magazines, each marked with a different coloured tape she forgot all her training momentarily.
The next thing she knew, Lisa was on the ground with Tom on top of her.
And there seemed to be blood everywhere.
"... Tom?"
As soon as she seemed to have forgotten it, that indomitable rage returned and this time without any of the control she previously had over it.
"Calm down Lisa."
"Eh?"
That's when Tom spoke up as gently as he ever had, perhaps sensing Lisa's crumbling mental state. Although he was knocked out cold for a few moments, Tom's mind rapidly rebooted like the piece of military equipment it had been shaped into over decades of fighting.
Lisa is okay, I managed to block the strike.Battle is still underway, Boarhounds are momentarily suppressing the knights using SLAP munitions.Get up.My left arm is broken… seems like the radius.Partial mobility still possible, fighting potential reduced to 80% Injuries still within acceptable margins; I can still fight.Get. Up.Lisa is calm again.I need to protect her.GET UP AND STAND.I need to keep her safe.Why? Because I fucking can.If anyone dies today it'll be me, and a bunch of pansy fucking knights in shiny armor.If need be I'll tear every single one of them apart with my bare hands…STAND THE FUCK UP TOM! WORSE HAS HAPPANED, AND THAT DIDN'T FUCKING KILL YOU!G E T ! U P !
With a cluster of thoughts shooting through his head like a multithreaded processor, a low, animal-like growl escaped Tom's lips as he used his broken arm to get up and stand.
"Fight Lisa, fight or die… This time is different, you're strong now."
Letting the last bit of his gentle spirit escape with those words, Tom's eyes turned cold like a dead fish as he returned to what he had tried to get away from ever since he had been reborn into this world.
Taking a spare barrel for his M-909X he had on his plate carrier, Tom barely paid attention to his exposed and clearly broken radius bone as he pressed the barrel up against his broken arm as a roll of duct tape materialised in his hand. Using the tape and spare barrel, Tom rapidly created a makeshift splint for his arm as he started scanning the battlefield, not even flinching as a shard of rock the width of a few fingers passed right through his gut. Getting a picture of the current battlefield in an instant, Tom located his machine gun past the knight he had knocked off his gryphon protecting Lisa.
Combat efficiency restored to 90% Offensive capability below acceptable standards.Primary weapon located.Retrieve.The thrill of the hunt calls to me
Walking over to his weapon, Tom casually picked the injured knight up only using his broken arm, before using them as a human shield, blocking a hail of rock shards before discarding again like a used rag. Getting his foot underneath the M-909X, Tom kicked it into the air and caught it as a 2000 round belt of SLAP ammunition materialised out of thin air, already loaded it wrapped around his arms and body but didn't seem to impact his ability to aim as he brought the weapon to his shoulder.
Offensive capabilities restored.ROE unlocked; Code black.Execute manoeuvre #4: Area purge.
Snapping on a target, Tom's eyes still didn't seem focused as he let loose a 3 round burst from his weapon. Nevertheless, his shots still found their target as a knight was robbed of his head, then a split second later their former mount was too when another burst tore through the defensive spell that was supposed to have kept him safe.
"Good effect on target, lock fire and advance!"
[[COMMAND ACKNOWLEDGED.]]
Pushing back against the knight's charge as his 3 round bursts transformed into fully automatic fire, Tom took a defensive posture out in front of Lisa who was starting to get back up.
(He's doing it again… But at least it is warranted this time around.)
Although her mood had somewhat stabilised, Lisa was still enraged but now it seemed like she had a focus for it.
(That's right, this time is different, this time I'll show them.)
Letting go of part of the doubt, loathing and self hate which held her back, the glow returned to Lisa's eyes as she dropped her loaded magazine and finally switched ammunition as she released the block in her mind that had kept her from realising her full potential all this time. Taking aim, Lisa visualised the kind of ammunition she was firing, thin metal rods held in place by a disposable sabot, it truly was an evolution of the bows she had used earlier in her childhood.
And just like the arrows she had used then, Lisa realised she could enhance their lethality all the same.
Taking aim at a knight trying to move around the flank, Lisa fired 5 round bursts that the knight avoided, but then she set her rifle to semi-automatic as her green eyes flashed like lightning striking. The single streak of light which flew out of her rifle didn't just go straight through the knight's plate armour, but the knight himself before burning up leaving the lower atmosphere.
(That's more like it!)
Seeing her idea bear fruit, Lisa felt elated as she found her next target and ended them in a single shot.
Realising the tide of battle was rapidly shifting, the gryphon knights abandoned their arial charge and switched to a technique both Lisa and Tom had seen a few times before as they commenced a bombardment of ice shards.
"I DON'T THINK SO!"
As Lisa had finally opened her eyes properly, she saw the weave of mana manifest before it materialised in the real world, allowing her to immediately counter the bombardment by copying the knight's own shield formation and stretching it out to cover Tom and the pair of Boarhounds. Although it was the same technique of suppression and bombardment that the suicide units had employed, the knight's bombardment were far more intense and sustained as they locked their opponents down while a fireball the size of a two story house was being rapidly created to squash them.
Hostile suppression ineffectiveStrike imminent Counter.
Assessing the situation right as a pale blue shield spread out in front of him, Tom realised what the enemy was intending to do and countered.
Instead of any verbal commands, Tom flashed a series of hand signals, these were picked up by a nearby boarhound's GTC system and it relayed what Tom had just signalled to the appropriate Wasp's loitering overhead.
Strike package delta, staggered approach.Set detonate offset point 2 1 1 5
On Tom's command, a group of 6 Wasp's cut their thrust and folded in their wings and dived.
Suppress targets.Blind and pull them.Break their knees.The thrill of the hunt calls to me
Detonating above the now grounded knights, the Wasp's did their job and gave Tom his opening as he charged, not caring for the fact that there was a fireball the size of house shooting towards him.
Incoming bombardment.Futile.
(Fuck Tom, I know you thrust me, but slow the fuck down!)
Without even talking to him, Lisa knew what Tom's charge meant, and although she was happy that he had his trust, there were limits to what she could pull off.
Given she didn't know what those limits were at the moment, Lisa went straight for gold, consequences of that choice be damned.
Ejecting her current magazine of SLAP ammunition, Lisa located a single round of hollow point ammunition and inserted it into her action as mana weaved around her in streams so dense it was visible to the naked eye. Taking aim, mana started flooding into Lisa's M-503, through the barrel, action and empty magazine feed; Injecting the single round of ammunition with far more magic than it reasonably should be able to hold.
(Wait for me mom, it won't be long now.)
Squeezing the trigger, Lisa watched her barrel bloom out like a flower as the single round of hollow point ammunition left and travelled towards its target. Even if it seemed like the single round of ammunition would be futile against the scorching hot fireball, it nevertheless did its job as it pierced through before exploding at its centre, blooming a large green flower made of magic thorns.
So they're charging now?Predecible.If they want to die in a melee, I see no issue with that.Cut them down. Two in the centre, one in the head.The thrill of the hunt calls to me.
Even before the explosion cleared away, Tom saw through the knight's actions and used his neural uplink to access the Boarhound's sensors to continue targeting them.
(Well, shit.)
Seeing her rifle destroyed, Lisa tossed it aside as she drew her pistol and pulled out her knife as she moved to support Tom.
(This is getting out of control…)
Seeing the knights had decided they were apparently dying here and were engaging Tom at point blank range, Lisa decided to cover his flank. Now without a rifle, she also closed the range. It was only when Lisa noticed the rapidly growing shadow at her feet that she realised she had also been flanked, so she threw caution to the wind and leapt forward, narrowly avoiding a pair of gryphon claws. Facing a mounted knight in full plate armour with a protective ward, Lisa knew retreat or even attempting to open up distance was futile so she charged forwards.
(That protective spell is impressive, but still flawed.)
Finally making full use of her magical aptitude, Lisa easily quantified the knight's protective ward, figuring out its function, strengths, flaws and drawbacks with a single glance. While that information at once might have overwhelmed even a decent human mage, Lisa understood magic how she understood breathing, so she quickly spotted the ward's far most egregious flaw.
Advanced as it was, the ward didn't entirely cover the knight's mount.
With a few shots to the gryphon's lower legs, the monster collapsed on its side, crushing one of the knight's legs as he didn't get out of the saddle fast enough. Finding himself immobilised, with a crushed leg and heavy internal bleeding in said leg, the knight's ward could have been the best in the world and it still wouldn't have saved them from Lisa's pistol at point blank range.
"James! You fucking pice of shit!"
Witnessing the execution of her comrade, a dismounted knight who had been working up Lisa's side lost her cool. Turning to see the knight charging her, Lisa taught fast and injected the ground beneath her with mana to knock up a cloud of dust to hide her figure. Holding her breath as she moved, Lisa located the knight by the sound of her coughing as she had caught a full breath of the dust Lisa had kicked up to hide her figure.
That's when a particularly cruel thought crossed Lisa's mind, and given she was fighting the same kind of people who took away her mother, she wasn't feeling very merciful at the moment.
"Come out you coward!"
Finding herself in the middle of a magic induced dust storm, the knight swung around her sword in a blind rage, but when she finally spotted the pair of glowing green eyes through the dust it was too late. As if transformed into a swarm of killer wasps, the dust seemed to gain a mind of its own and rushed towards the knight, forcing itself into her eyes, ears and mouth where it completely blocked her windpipe.
From there all there was left for the gryphon knight Marcie was joining her beloved James in the afterlife as she slowly, painfully choked to death.