213 The First Fortress

Feet moved at a mismatched pace along the slowly breaking ground. The cool air of the season is slowly changing. The season was only slightly moister than the last as the 'summer' ended. Seasons in the middle part of the continent were always mild, it seemed. I have not seen the snow in this part, but in the north, it seemed that the Theocracy got snow, from what Christina said.

All of that mattered as our feet were pounding the ground to mud slowly as we massed towards the fortress. I was a part of this mass and frowning hard. This was destroying the ground that we were going to need for the logistics army. But without a road built between two nations that did not trade together, there was an overwhelming lack of a road. Still, the march was needed as the army split for the first confrontation of the war.

Asahi and Trisha walked beside me, with Betsy slightly behind me. We moved with the mass of Beast-kin tied into the army. The logistical army was behind me with their orders and doing their best to move behind the army somewhat. Queen Mira was with the Logistical army and waiting as she was not to be part of the warfighting force. Elder Lily was with us moving toward the enemy fortress. It took time, and things moved slowly as a mass, but we arrived without issue.

As we approached the fortress, our forces moved to surround the fortress's front, and I could feel the mana of an A ranker inside. Quickly an old man shot out of the Fortress as we arrived, and Elder Lily shot up into the air a second afterward, stepping into the limelight.

"Here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty," The old man said with a smile to his voice, "The Beasts seemingly have a little problem with the Empire. You didn't need to bring so many people to ask your Master for help with a hairball," The old man taunted.

"Bah, You are so full of yourself, Human," Elder Lily scoffed, "You think that because you are in a fortress, you can survive this day?"

The question made the man smile, but I could feel the enchantments in the fortifications. They were weak and not what they should be. The fortresses were dangerously underkept, and he was showing false confidence. "You realize this will bring the might of the Human Empire upon you," The man stated.

"You have already attacked our lands over and over again. Do you think we will forever sit and smile as you steal our fellow kin?" Elder Lily asked.

"You have for a century; why should it change?" The old man asked, "You are all pets living in the wild and feral till we pick you up and give you a proper home. Still need some training to be a proper pet," The Elder man seemed to smile, "I could always use an Elderly Cat. What do you say, Cat? Be Grampa's little pet."

Suddenly much to my surprise Elder Lilly was before the old man in the sky, and a clash of air spread out in a sonic boom. A Dagger was in Elder Lily's hand, clashing against a sword in the old man's hand that had not been there a moment before. "ATTACK!" I shouted and fueled my body with mana.

Ballista's atop the fortress shot into the Beast-kin mass surging toward the walls, and my Elites moved. Shields appeared, stopping the large ballistic with a large snap, but the baristas were manageable. I did not expect ballistas as I did not know the level of technology that the empire had. We were more worried about movements and where their soldiers were at than technology, and it was a mistake and blind spot I had.

I was more worried about magical barriers that I asked about that instead of standard defensive equipment. I knew now that I needed to learn more about warfighting, and I frowned as mana started to swell in the fortress as the wizards began to get involved. Archers pulled back arrows as our forces stormed the walls and started to climb.

Illusionists got to work as shields started to form as my army followed the strategy I put before them. They were not focused on fighting at this point. They were elites who needed to defend their brethren from the enemy. Arrows hit various barriers general wizards put up, and arrows rained through some barriers, not others. Some caught fire as Fire shields stopped ice but couldn't stop the flow of arrows.

Beast-kin took hits beside me and fell to the ground. They were stomped on as the mass of beast-kin moved forward, and it was only forward you could move in certain areas. I stopped paying attention to the bedlam of the situation as Beast-kin moved forward in a mass of bodies. I leaped onto the wall allowing my mana to condense. I filled each body part with mana and held my staff in hand. "For our Tribes!" I shouted as the first to get on top of the wall.

Men and women in armor, their mana resonating around D to B rank, turned to me as I aimed my staff at them, and some pulled off shields just as I started shooting Arcane Missiles toward them. I shot forward, stuffing the staff's tip into a weakness, and blew an arm off with no ability for the C ranker to defend.

A B ranker instantly shot toward me as I killed men on the wall, making space on the wall. More beast-kin started climbing and jumping onto the wall as a clash above us blasted with the sound of metal on metal. Both A rankers were moving through the sky, clashing, and I started to picture myself turning into the void as the B ranker reached me.

They wore heavy armor and were equipped with a sword and shield. I sent Void missiles at them, augmenting them, and I felt something cover the enemy's armor as they landed home against the shield. The Shield blocked the strike, but I was atop them next, and I felt myself smiling as I closed the distance. It was atypical of me, and the B-ranked Sword and shield wielder brought their sword down toward me when I opened a rift behind them and in front of me.

Their surprise was complete as I appeared behind them with my arm moving through their armor and heart. I grabbed their heart and sent them into the void to be lost in the infinite space. The knight or whomever they were turned one last time to try and look at me but failed to do even that as their mana dissipated as I turned. It was the fastest battle I ever had, and I took a chance to put multiple disciplines together to turn myself into a death machine.

My instinct screamed for a moment, and I shot a void arcane bolt behind me as someone tried to cut me down from behind. I turned and leaped into the bedlam of battle as I allowed my body to turn back into normal mana. More and more Beast-kin were topping the Fortress as the battle raged, and I found myself quickly down into the fortress as the defenders lost the walls and started to get into the bulwarks. It was messy, and no more than one or two people could attack at a time.

I ran into two B rankers with a couple of dead beast Kin in front of them from the charge. The war was going to be messy, and fights without casualties were rare. Both wore a shield and a sword, and they easily cut down any lower rank than them. It was a conundrum that I didn't care about. Instead, the clash outside with the A rankers was more worrying as they clashed in a rapid series of hits.

I was about to attack the two when something happened, and the sound of something bursting hit my ears. A moment later, "THE GATE HAS BEEN BROKEN THROUGH! THE ENCHANTMENTS ARE DOWN!" A roar of fellow Beast-kin roared, and I almost could see the B rankers paling in front of me. A fresh roar sounded, and I opened a rift below myself and the B rankers as they were distracted for a second as I was.

Suddenly we were out in the open, and I used my massive mana pool to attack as their feet hit the ground. Suddenly a Shield was in my face as one of them seemed to toss it. I barely dodged, only for the second shield to come at me while the one I just dodged came back suddenly. I instantly realized that the shields were somehow bound to these fighters.

Boom!

The old human suddenly stopped, as did Elder Lily, as they were both bleeding. The old man suddenly roared, "It seems little point for me to be here now. Keep the place clean, Kitty," The old man said before turning and running.

The humans all gasped, and I barely dodged one shield as the other hit me.

Despair suddenly swept through the human forces, and the Beast-kin roared as I groaned in pain from the shield harshly hitting my breasts and stomach. Elder Lily then turned and disappeared, and suddenly, the B rankers were dead with their helmeted heads flying in the air as their bodies crumbled to the ground in front of me, and C and D rank fighters were surrendering to our forces.

The Sudden change was massive as the fighting swiftly came to an end. I coughed in pain but moved to gain control of the beast-kin flooding the fortress, some killing others taking what the Humans had. I quickly moved to regain control. "All Beast-kin," My mana-enhanced voice shouted, "Take Captives! Gather supplies and do not allow humans to set anything on fire. If they do, put it out immediately. These are the Supreme Commanders' orders!" I snapped out.

I watched as a Badger-kin growled at me, as did many others, but I made my orders, and these warriors followed them. I sighed with relief and got a move on with cleaning up the fortress. We soon would have to move and gather with the other portion of the army. We could only stay here briefly. This fortress was the Logistics army's problem soon.

So it would remain my problem as I moved forward.