“You missed,” Ashwood commented as Jane entered the repurposed shuttle. The Fira Class shuttle was hidden inside a forest, a whole hill away from the Temple. As it was currently serving as the center their field headquarters, Ashwood wasn’t taking any chances.

  Normally, it’d be both safer and more convenient for the Colonel to command things from orbit, especially considering the non-existent countermeasures the locals possessed to electronic communications. Unfortunately, Ashwood’s chances of getting shanked would rise drastically were he on one of the ships.

  When combined with the Custodian being quite happy to shoot their cruisers down when given the opportunity, staying on the ground just made sense.

  Jane didn’t deign to respond, simply leaning on of the metal walls, keeping watch.

  Though the Custodian unfortunately still drew breath, the operation was largely a success. While the Colonel hadn’t exactly doubted the woman’s mortality, it was nice to have hard data.

  That their enemy’s defences against the orbital bombardment still held was a much bigger problem.

  Common sense dictated that there had to be some sort of a price for such formidable protection, but neither Ashwood nor anyone else on his side had a single clue as to what it could be. In the best-case scenario, the shield would fail soon, depleted by their attacks.

  Ashwood wasn’t willing to bet on it.

  With ordinary ordonnance not having the desired effects, the Colonel’s mind naturally drifted towards the nuclear option, before he dismissed it with a sigh. The illegality of such an order would probably cause him trouble with many of the officers, but Ashwood wasn’t sure that he still cared.

  No, the true problem lay in the fundamental reasoning behind the war.

  They were raiders.

  If the republic desired to pound the tiny moon into slag, he doubted the locals could really do anything about it. Tests had been done on the other side of the moon. Whether the Custodian could not or had no desire to defend Eigos’ oceans from their railguns, the result was the same.

  The natives not even having discovered electricity, let alone space flight, made such drastic measures utterly pointless. They weren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

  Thus, the only way for Ashwood to win was to get his hands on the secret behind this entire debacle. At this point, he was about ready to accept the Custodian using unicorn farts to fuel her shields.

  The best way to do that would be to get the Custodian to talk, but Ashwood had long given up of reasoning with the zealot. No, their best hope was to break any resistance and then rummage through what was left. If there was anything to find, they’d find it eventually.

  That way, no matter which side won in the war that actually mattered, Ashwood would have a nice bargaining chip. He didn’t think Athena would lose, of course, but he also wasn’t a fanatic. If the cause was well and truly lost, he’d rather not lose his head needlessly.

  “Colonel,” Warrant Officer Yang spoke up from his seat, breaking Ashwood from his ruminations, “They are in position.”

  He nodded, “Start the attack.”

  Aisac Ferrier, Knight Commander of the Temple Knights, watched with increasing trepidation as troops from Kerania, Faras, Accad and conscripts of the conquered kingdoms surged forth towards the Temple City from one of its walls.

  Their own attempts to sabotage their food supply had been fruitful. Now, in the depths of winter, the sorry state of the enemy was even more obvious. Many were unhealthily thin, with ratty equipment and defeated eyes. That didn’t change the fact that there were tens of thousands, outnumbering the Custodian’s forces severely. While their northern flank was protected by the First Temple and the hill it stood on, but the enemy was free to attack from wherever they pleased otherwise. And so they did.

  While he and his comrades numbered barely seven thousand, they were all heavily armed and armoured, any auxiliaries long sent home so as to prolong their supplies to the limit. Whether fortunately or unfortunately, the enemy clearly did not intend to test the state of their food supply.

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  Aisac watched from the city walls as the first rank of the rebels hit the shield wall and began to die. Five of the chosen were interspersed along their lines, devoting most of their power to protecting their comrades from Terran weaponry. Five were resting, while the remaining four and Aisac watched.

  The Knight Commander gazed dispassionately as the enemy was massacred. He knew it wouldn’t last. His fellow Chosen did not have the strength to do much besides protecting those around them. As if more evidence was needed that the Custodian’s power was finite.

  While the enemy seemed rag-tag, composed of multiple armies smushed together without care or thought, Aisac wasn’t deceived. Terrans lurked on the edges and their weapons gleamed in the hands of a handpicked few rebels. Should any of the Chosen make a mistake, hundreds of their fellow warriors could die in a blink.

  Aisac watched, gripping the crenelations as the fighting grew closer and closer to the walls and the dead piled up. It was unfortunate that they could not make proper use of the fortifications. They had to stop the enemy from advancing on to the Temple. Normally, to advance around the city would have been madness, but Terran technology made it plausible. They would have to keep sallying out to stop them from advancing, essentially negating any advantage of the walls anyway.

  Eventually, he signalled the five Chosen on the field to retreat, heading into the fray himself, increasingly convinced that the Terrans would try something soon.

  Quickly, he made his way to the front. His enhanced strength allowing his sword cleave straight through the wooden shield of his unfortunate opponent.

  The sword went up. And it went down. With a single motion, the life of a sentient being was extinguished forever. Aisac did not dwell on that fact, his attention occupied entirely by maintaining the shield and keeping his head.

  With a sigh, he noted the other Chosen also entering the fray, despite his orders to hang back and focus on maintaining their protections. He couldn’t really blame them. They all felt it. The death knell of their Order. Perhaps their world's order as well.

  What use was there in wasting their strength ingloriously? To listening to his orders? Better to fight and die for what they believed in.

  The sword went up and down.

  A spear stabbed ineffectually at his plate, achieving less than nothing. The terrified peasant that held barely managed to interpose the shaft between Aisac’s sword and his face. It didn’t help. The sword passed cleanly through the wooden shaft, before entering his skull.

  The next hours passed as if in a trance. More and more of his men died, while more and more Terrans entered the fray.

  Night had already fallen when one of the Chosen who should have been resting tapped him on the shoulder, making him swing his bloodied sword towards them. He stopped himself just in time.

  “What?” He shouted loud enough to be heard over the cacophony of battle as he stepped back, letting another knight fill his position.

  “Time to switch,” the woman he recognised as Aria spoke.

  Aisac glanced at the night sky, spotting the blue outline of Agnu, “So it is.”

  Aria nodded, quickly making her way past him with a battle cry. Soon, she was hacking and slashing like possessed.

  Aisac stood there, drenched in blood, breathing heavily as men and women killed each other just a few meters away from him.

  Just as he was starting to catch his breath, a blinding flash illuminated the night.

  Projectiles were heading towards the Temple from multiple sides, leaving a trail of searing orange and white against the darkness.

  Aisac watched transfixed, as they hit a shield that sprung into existence. Explosions boomed one after the other, doing little harm.

  Then he saw it. The shield Aria had been projecting, winked out. Her head was knocked backwards a moment later. Aisac turned towards her in shock, before he suddenly found himself on his back, head ringing. Clutching his face, he felt the path a bullet had rend through his helmet and part of his face.

  The roar of gunfire brought clarity. Summoning another shield, he shakily got up.

  Carnage surrounded him. Whole two ranks of soldiers in his section had been cut down like wheat in that single moment. Checking on Aria, he grimaced. Her face had a large hole in it.

  Aisac didn’t know whether he and Aria had been targetted intentionally or by accident. He could only hope for the latter and pray that the Terrans did not connect their attack against the Custodian with Aria’s shield disappearing.

  As usual, his prayers went unanswered. He rejoined the fray instead. Aisac might not have been sure whether dying for a weakening God was worthwhile, but he would never abandon his people. As the Knight Commander, the men fighting and dying right now were his responsibility. He was ready to fulfil it.

  In the following hours, attacks aimed at the First Temple intensified. More Chosen kept dying as their powers failed them. The price the heretics paid was heavy, each inch of ground paid for in rivers of blood. Yet, they advanced. Their morale surged as more and more of his people fell, bolstered by the faceless soldiers of the republic now fighting in earnest.

  After felt like an eternity later, another flash of light captured his attention. Though Terrans firing their weapons was now common, what attracted him was the location. It came from behind, from the Temple.

  Craning his neck, he spotted a glowing figure standing on top of the Temple’s ruined tower.