Sam yawned and stretched out her arms before silencing her alarm and swinging her legs off the side of her bed. She quickly changed into her standard army gear before donning on her sleek chain mail armor and her bear claw gauntlets. Looking in the mirror, a sense of pride welled up inside her. "Time to make my clan proud," she stated firmly in the reflection, "Between the new gear and my imagination, it's time to show these enemies what a beast can do." With a nod, she bounced out of the room and headed towards the Command Center.
As she walked from the ship to the meeting spot, she was amazed to see so many people already moving around the outpost. Most people were in plate shirts and pants, causing the sound of clanking metal to ring out throughout the area. When she arrived at the room, three other people were already studying the battlefield layout: Elffin, Gatrie, and Perceval. Like her own outfit, Gatrie was also covered with chain mail and wore glossy gloves from the Elandrian home world. Elffin and Perceval were instead wearing plate armor over thick robes, typical battle garb for the Witches.
Perceval turned and grinned when she walked in, "Lady Rice! You look simply stunning. Are you ready for today?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," Sam nodded, "Are we still going forward with the original plan?"
"Yep. Elffin and I will stay with the ranged group and attack from the forest surrounding the battlefield while you and Lord Perceval will lead the main attack force. Myrrh will provide cover and try to contain their landing area," Gatrie repeated with angst in his voice.
"Three hours until landfall," Jask chirped, "Please begin proceeding to the field."
Elffin shrugged, "I guess it's time. Let's gather the troops and head out." They all filed out of the room and strode towards the entrance of the outpost. Gatrie sent a message to the troops they would be taking, roughly two thirds of the total army. While the four leaders stood by the entrance, they watched the troops begin to line up into different sections. After fifteen minutes, the group was all assembled and began marching towards the area Myrrh had prepared. Although there was a clear path between the two locations, the walkway was flooded with small white and green plants. It gave the area a mythical feel and smelled strongly of mint, which matched the scent of Mentha plants in the Sol System. Sam didn't know how negatively the smell alone would affect the Apleem, but it was certainly better than nothing.
It took about thirty minutes for the army to reach the battlefield, which was a ten square mile area covered by more of the plants. This area was specifically picked because of the small slope that peaked by the walkway and slowly rolled downhill from there. Once they arrived, the ranged battalion split into two halves and followed Elffin or Gatrie into either side of the forest. That left roughly a million troops each for Perceval and Sam's sections. Their troops blocked the way back and spread out around it in the couple square miles at the top of the slope.
About an hour and a half later, small black dots began blotting the sky ahead of the area. As more appeared, the first ones changed from dots to massive ships that blocked out light and cast terrible shadows over the battlefield. Finally, massive carriers carrying tens of thousands of Apleem started to hover a couple miles above the far edge of the clearing. What could only be described as a horde of ships popped from its sides and careened down to the field below. Ships continued cycling from the ground back to ships as they dropped off more and more Apleem. Meanwhile, a load thud sounded in the distance beyond the clearing, indicating that the dreadnoughts had forced a landing. Still, those ships were several miles away through dense forests, meaning it was unlikely that they would join this first battle.
Once the Apleem carriers had dropped of the last of their troops, the ships took off away from the planet, leaving behind around one and a half million enemies on the horizon. They started to get organized, but the ranged group didn't give them much of an opportunity. As soon as the last carrier disappeared from sight, Elffin and Gatrie's groups began firing suppressive bolts from the cover of the forest. This slight move only served to increase the chaos going on in the Apleem army. Perceval and Sam's group spread out a little more to defend the edges of the ranged groups. Finally, the Apleem gave up on trying to organize and just charged in a clump towards the humans.
When they were about a thousand feet away, Sam transformed into her giant direwolf form that cast a massive shadow over the troops behind her. Her front paws were the size of an average person's chest due to the gauntlets she was wearing, and a bluish chainmail covered the main section of her body. It was a sight to behold that even caused terror amongst the majority of the Apleem army. She lowered her rear legs and released a blood curdling howl that caused the entire incoming army to freeze for a minute. Then she charged forward with the rest of her forces, though she easily got there first and chomped a terrified Mantoan in half.
Sam quickly overpowered the frontline Mantoan, crushing them with her claws or flinging them into the air with her tail. Even when her group caught up to her, they gave her a wide berth due to her incredible size. Still, no one except Perceval expected what happened next; Sam inhaled deeply before exhaling an iridescent cone of flames that instantly consumed tens of Apleem. When Perceval arrived a few days ago, he taught Sam a secret technique that very few of her clan people knew. Since Shifting was an Aura sphere and Arcane was a Natural sphere, technically a caster could use both kinds of magic in conjunction without switching to Meta Form. It required an incredible amount of concentration and focus, but since they activated in different ways, a person could activate the natural sphere once the aura sphere was set up. Though her training was short, she was able to achieve one way to accomplish this: a breath attack.
Continuing to breathe ethereal fire, Sam scorched swaths of the battlefield as she turned from side to side. Unfortunately, she could only keep this attack up for a couple minutes, but by then, the damage had been done to the Apleem. Best of all, due to the fortifications of her armor, attacks from the Apleem simply bounced off her. She returned to using brute strength and animalistic ferocity to dominate the enemy. Adding more fuel to the fire, Elffin himself seemed to be targeting the enemies closest to her with his debuff magik. What this amounted to were fatal strikes from the vast majority of her attacks.
On the other side of the field, Perceval looked like an ancient monk as he swirled his staff around. With his Nature sphere, green barbs protruded all over his staff except where he kept his hands. Between his previous fights with the Mantoan in the first war and his centuries of battle experience, he too tore through the frontlines of the Apleem. The sheer size of his mana pool allowed him to cause vines to grow around his feet which could tie up other enemies while he dispatched them in pairs.
Slowly but surely, the Apleem were being utterly destroyed. For every human that fell, at least three Mantoan fell. And with the bodies beginning to pile up, it was difficult for the Uthid to move around easily. This made it easier for the humans to team up and take down the Uthid with a very low fatality rate. In the chaos, some Mantoan tried to peel off and attack the ranged group through the forest. However, when they tried, Myrrh quickly dispatched enemies by trapping them in the brush and then growing new plants straight through their bound bodies. Using this method, she drained the Mantoan like juice boxes and grinded up their empty husks into dust.
After midday, the battlefield looked less like a conflict between two equal powers and more like a mass culling of the Apleem. The enemy had been reduced to a mere six hundred thousand and were about a third as numerous as the humans. With an imminent loss on the horizon, the Apleem in the back started making a clicking hiss noise that echoed over the sounds of battle. Perceval recognized this as the sound they made to retreat; however, both the humans and Myrrh had no intention of allowing them to flee.
In an instant, the woods behind the Apleem transformed into solid thickets of spiky trees and plants which easily contained the retreating enemy. The Mantoan at the very back tried to cut through the overgrowth but found the wood too hard to cut. Furthermore, those too close to the woods were captured by the tree roots and dragged under ground to provide more energy for Myrrh. When the humans saw the Apleem trying to escape, it provided them with a brief moment to shuffle the fighters from the front to the back to rest while the back crashed forward like a wave against a receding beach.
Sam seized the opportunity and changed into a majestic eagle that soared above the army. From her beak came another cone of ethereal fire that charred the remaining forces. Once she finished, she returned to the ground and finally transformed back into a human. In this form, she wrapped Arcane magik around her arms and legs to attack. Yet, between her claw gauntlets and wild attacks, she was no less vicious than she had been as a wolf. She cut down Mantoan left and right, even slashing a Uthid's tail clean off. Using it as a massive whip of sorts, she impaled Mantoan left and right while knocking away any that got too close.
Finally, as the star began to set in the sky, another horrific sound called in the distance similar to the retreating sound from before. By then, though, it was far too late for this division of the Apleem army. Less than ten thousand remained by dusk when all the lights on the humans' suits turned on. This small change spelled the end for the remaining Apleem who thought they would have had an advantage in the dark. Just an hour after dusk, the humans defeated the last of the Apleem. Despite their overwhelming victory, it hadn't been for free as tens of thousands of humans lay dead on the field. Once the medical unit had stabilized and healed those that were still alive, they all made their way back to the outpost.
When they got close to the entrance, Sam spotted a woman made of tree bark and adorned by flowers who she recognized very well. "Myrrh!" she yelled, "You finally came to visit." Elffin, Gatrie, and Perceval ran to catch up with Sam to greet their wonderful guest.
Perceval bowed low when they approached Myrrh, "Lady Myrrh, thank you for your support on the field. As an avid nature lover myself, it is incredibly humbling to stand before a master such as yourself."
"Thank you, sir," Myrrh tilted her head slightly, "I don't think we've met before. You're different than the others, closer to the Goddess."
"Excuse me, Myrrh. Lord Perceval just landed a few days ago to help us with the war effort. Why did you say he reminds you of Emory?" Sam interjected.
"His vessel is almost sealed," Myrrh explained, "It looks like it's just missing the glue to hold all the pieces together. Hmm, I think I could fix this if you want."
Perceval shook his head, "Who am I to accept such a gift from a being as high as yourself? We only came to check in on you and trade information."
"The rest of the Apleem remain trapped aboard their landed ships," Myrrh smiled, "I can't pierce their vessels, but any of them that attempt to leave are swiftly killed. I'm in very good condition myself. Because of our combined teamwork, we defended my world with minimal damage."
"We have you to thank most of all. You did a vast majority of the work," Perceval thanked Myrrh with another bow.
"As a symbol of our continued partnership, I insist on finishing the process of fixing your vessel," Myrrh asserted as she formed small motes in one hand, "I was taught this spell by a God a very long time ago. After I perform this, you will need to rest for the next day or so. Now will you receive this gift?"
Perceval stepped forward, "With the upmost honor, I accept your generous offer." Myrrh slowly pressed her palm against Perceval's chest, causing ethereal chains to shoot out in many directions from her hand. They wrapped around his body tightly before symbols appeared all over them. The chains glowed brightly for a few minutes before slowing fading into little particles of light. When they disappeared, Perceval collapsed to his knees and gasped for breath. Instantly, Elffin, Gatrie, and Sam bent over to check on him, but a pulse of raw magik shot out of his body and pushed them back.
"Lord Perceval?" Elffin questioned, "Are you okay?"
"I can feel a power rising deep within me. Truly, this is spectacular!" Perceval bounced up like a much younger man.
"I knew it!" Myrrh exclaimed, "You're a new type of god! I always wondered why humans smelled so familiar from the very beginning. All of you are descended from the Gods, filled with their latent gifts."
Gatrie's eyes widened, "What are you saying, Lady Myrrh? That humans come from dragons? There's no way."
"In a couple days, when your teacher recovers, we shall see," Myrrh mused, "He smells like the Goddess, so I have no reason to distrust my senses. I have felt similar presences in your outpost; however, they smell quite different. Anyway, I'll let you rest for now. If we remain at a standstill with the Apleem in two days, bring him to me; I will verify his identity then." With a wave of her hand, she sunk into the ground and disappeared.
"Let's go back to camp and send a message to Emory. Maybe she'll know something about this," Sam suggested.
"I agree," Perceval approved, "I also have some literature that I'd like to consult that could help us as well."
The group returned to the outpost before splitting off to their devices. Sam went to her shared room aboard the ship and tried to call Emory but received no response. Since Nephenee's planet had been attacked as well, she chalked it up to Emory still being in combat. Quickly, she opened the message app on her communicator and detailed the conversation they had with Myrrh. Afterwards, she reclined back on her bed and thought of how the day had gone. It wasn't too long before she peacefully fell asleep.