Combat Witch Anthology 2/2

“Commander of the Elks.” She speaks as she aims her laser dot at one of the holes recently put into the golems. “Can you hit precisely where I am aiming?” The Elks Platoon commander hunches down into his tank and looks as a monitor showing a golem and where Neill is aiming.
“Yeah. That’s not a problem.” He then turns to his gunner. “Can you do it?”
“Not a problem, sir.” Spoke the gunner as he makes very minuet changes to his turret until the reticule of the guns scope is on the dot.
“Five round burst. H.E.A.T. rounds. Fire!”
“Away!” Shouts the gunner. With a push of a button on a joystick, the autocannon fires its five rounds in rapid succession. At an incredible speed of thirty-six hundred feet per second, the rounds bore deeper into the cavity left by the previous round with near pin point precision.
The lieutenant of Third Platoon saw very clearly the dramatic impact the five rounds made. The golem practically jumps back and the hole is now larger and more brighter when the unthinkable happens. The entire right arm as well as the right side of the torso collapses.
The rest of the golems stop almost immediately and threw their fists into the ground. The earth did tremble but not enough to knock anyone to their feet when the earth twenty yards ahead of the platoon seem to explode along a line for no reason. Neill gasps in horror as she turns to the platoon and yells.
“Incoming hostels!” The dirt settles and clambering out of the newly formed trench are more humanoid beings but made from dirt, branches and rock and a glowing yellow mono eye. Third platoon now found themselves firing all of their guns at the beings made of mud.
“This is Third Platoon! Our line is about to be breached!” Now Neill found herself a bit too far forward as she opens fire in slow, controlled bursts as she slowly walks back before someone grabs her by the back of her blouse and pulls her towards safety.
It is the dog handler that is pulling on Neill as the dog is barking by the Elks. The lieutenant is directing his platoon to fall back quick as the attack helicopters are maneuvering around to shoot down the line of mud beings when one of them is shot by what can be best described as a purple lighting bolt from the tree line two hundred yards away.
With the main turbines down and no power to the main rotor, the attack helicopter is spinning and rocking from side to side until it falls flat on its bottom nearby in a loud mixture of metal crunching and earth being disturbed. Thankfully the craft did not explode and no debris came at them as the chopper rests there in a cloud of dust.
The platoons grenadiers are now taking their turn to fire their forty millimeter projectile directly at the mud beings. They are trained to lob their rounds over and at distance, not straight and point blank.
With them being made from soft materials, gun rounds and shrapnel go clean through them and the holes quickly close back up as those closest to the explosions have their limbs torn off or simply vanish but they are still approaching but thankfully slowly. With the grenadiers now out of grenades, all of them are now in the middle of reloading as one of the Elks turns their guns on the mud beings and opens fire.
The rounds fly very uncomfortably close to the troops as mud beings that are hit seem to explode in half and never rejuvenated. One of the troops turns back to the Elks and yells. “Watch it you idiots!”
“Calm down people and get down!” Shouts the lieutenant.
With room now between them and the platoon at a marginal safe distance, half of the helicopters open fire as the other half are opening fire onto the tree line. The gun rounds are chopping down the last of the mud beings as the rockets shatter tree trunks further down range as a few took pot shots at the golems.
At that moment, troops from the massive helicopters arrive onto the field. The huge number of troops approaching dwarfed the platoon as they formed a battle line along the tree line and base of the first hill and began to open fire on the golems. Moments later, another purple lightning bolt from within the woods strikes down another helicopter as it falls uncomfortably close to the lines.
“Colonel!” Shouts the lieutenant. “Two choppers are down!” Then came the sound of another one crashing into the earth. “Make that three. You better retreat them!”
“The Eighth is completely bingo on ammo.” Responds the colonel just as their air cover seems to peel off and head away from the site, leaving them alone. “The Lynx Brigade should be there at any moment! So just hang on a little longer!”
Some of the mud beings survived the onslaught from the  helicopters but at a cost. The majority of the survivors are cut in half or almost blown apart, leaving little of their original bodies as they force themselves to crawl forward towards the lines or drag themselves towards them. Neill grabs a grenade from her pouch, pulls out the safety pin, lets go of the safety handle as it flies away and with her strength, forces it into a nearby mud being as she runs away and jumps to the ground as it explodes.
The rest are easily dispatched thanks to the added infantry but the golems are still approaching.
“Range to target. Two hundred yards!” Shouts the Elks commander as a thunderous boom is heard. One of the golems seems to of been blasted in half as the top half falls forward and the legs just crumpled.
Arriving from their back right came several eight wheeled vehicles. Neill turns and sees five as their battle tank like turrets take aim and at once, open fire as a salvo. Five more of the golems go down.
Not wanting to be left out, the Elks swung down a pod that is attached to the left side of their turrets and out flies a wire guided missile as it impacts a golem. Unlike the rockets the helicopters had, this one is designed to take out tanks.
With a larger warhead and a more powerful rocket motor and specially designed fins to keep the rocket going where the optics from the tank tells it to go as well as the electronic signal through the wire. Against a large target, that is not a problem as the missile detonates center mass of a golem, practically shattering it as the copper wire falls. Two others suffer the same fate.
With that, the remaining three golems once again stop and slam their hands into the earth but this time, something different happens. The bits of rock from the fallen golems as well as rock deep within the earth come to the surviving golems, reinforcing their already hard to bring down bodies.
Also, their physiques changed. They become slightly more human and their mono eye became two and they grow another ten feet. The lead Elk fires another five round salvo and another anti-tank missile fires but unlike last time where the golems were blasted to bits, this strike only did limited damage to the immediate area. Everyone who witness this is now stunned as one of the Lynxes with the tank turret fires.
The explosive force knocks one to the ground as a second one takes aim at the unit with its left hand as a charge of some kind builds and then fires. The Lynx unit takes a hit strong enough to move it back a few feet with the front almost completely caved in and the gun barrel destroyed. The axles and suspension also seems to be destroyed as the front set of tires are flattened. The dirt is exposed where the wheels dragged and dug in.
“What in blazes was that?” Shouts the lieutenant as Neill seems to be in total horror.
“My god. They’re war golems! Only elven magic can summon them!”
“We’re against elves?” Shouts a soldier as the ground near them seems to explode. Soldiers near the blast curse the golems as everyone is now firing up at the golems in panic when more Lynxes arrive.
Five of them punched through the same tree line as Third Platoon but going in reverse. Neill found this interesting as soldiers pour from these units carrying anti-tank weapons on a caliber a lot stronger than anything previously used besides the tank-like guns on the Lynxes.
With missiles and shells failing, how about a railgun? Neill watches as troops lay down a tripod, some sort of rectangular barreled weapon, install its electronic scope and drags a cable that ran from the newly arrived Lynxes to the weapon and plugs into the weird weapons system as the vehicles revs up their engines.
Neill watches as the troops load in a wedge shaped round, close the breach of the weapon and ran far from the weapon as those behind the cannon are hiding behind some sort of portable shield. Neill is unsure why they are doing that when a loud whistle blows and that is followed by what can be best described as a sudden crack of thunder, a boom noise louder than a cannon going off almost immediately next to your ear.
This is more worse for Neill because of her powers are still active. She screams and falls to the ground, covering her ears as she could feel the earth shudder. She looks up, still in pain and sees that one of the golems have fallen. The remaining two golems take aim with both hands at the rail guns and charged a shot. With no time to fire another volley, everyone ran from the guns and the Lynxes start to move as the golems fire. Every railgun is hit, crushing the weapons beyond repair as the Lynxes with their rears still open are flung off of the ground and are thrown around a bit as one topples to its side. This now makes six Lynxes destroyed and possible casualties to crews.
“Now what can we do?” Shouts a soldier as the machine gunner fires wildly at the golems, only for the rounds to bounce off of them. As the fallen golem is beginning to get back up and rising from the ground are three more golems.
More Lynxes emerged from the tree line, backing up into the opening when back ramps lowered and the unexpected appeared. Instead of regular infantry, out appears something that is humanoid but the legs are mechanical. Neill seems to of lighten up very quickly, despite the pain in her ears and shouts. “Witches!”
The witches or combat witches are wearing combat armor similar to that of the infantry but the ceramic armor covers their entire front and side as they are wearing a short skirt with a slight slit on the left side. The witches have a cross of tankers and infantry helmet with a mic and a light knapsack but mostly noticeable are their G.C.M.A’s.
Their Ground Combat Magical Apparatus are essentially two leg fitted devices that are much longer than their own legs as the feet have small wheels built within and in the heel of the two part feet. The device reaches to the witches thighs so it hinges where their knees are at. Kevlar and other bullet resistance fabrics protects the back of the knees as the thigh part of their apparatus is enlarged and contains most of their stowage but mostly extra ammo and canteens.
Some of the witches, roughly a quarter of them, have attached to the right side of their G.C.M.A.’s armatures that is connected to a heavy machine-gun as another quarter has some sort of massive caliber rifle that more resembles a cannon with a large box magazine that is mounted on top of the weapon.
The witches formed into three groups of four and formed behind the line of infantry as a witch with rank of a captain walks forward and observes the golems as they are still advancing, taking no care for the tremendous amount of fire power that is bearing down on them.
The Lynxes mounted with the cannons fired another salvo; all of it aimed at one golem. The powerful rounds smashed through the furthest golem to the back, fracturing it to large chunks as it falls apart.
The remaining four take aim at the Lynxes and fire their energy blasts but this time, the witches are here.
Four witches are assigned to protect these valuable assets as they on purposely put themselves in harms way, spread their arms as a transparent blue hexagonal barrier develops and absorbs the shots.
The witches brace themselves for these powerful hits and the impacts physically move the witches almost three feet back as seen by the drag marks in the dirt.
The captain of these witches unsheathes her long, curved sword and shouts as she is leaning forward. “Follow me, my sisters!” The wheels dug into the dirt before gaining traction and it sends her rushing forward towards the golem with the rest of the witches behind her.
Neill felt many things right now. At first, she felt left out and then amazement and awe at the sight of the combat witches. Neill counts eight witches and see that all of them derive their powers from various creatures based on their tails and ears but one derives her power not from an animal spirit but from herself.
Neill locks her vision onto the captain and sees she has no tail nor ears that are animal. This striking beauty has mid back length brunette hair and jade green eyes. She has a slender, very curvy and athletic build to her. She looks like she could have been a professional model yet this woman is a captain of this contingent of witches.
Neill could also see the determined look in her eyes and a grin of joy on her face. Neill wants to be one of them more than ever as they very rapidly approach the golems.
The golems might be large and powerful but not swift. The lead golem charges a shot and fires as the witches but the length of time of charges and fire gave the witches ample time to get out of the way. The two witches with the cannons group up with two regular witches, giving them cover. The rear golem tries to turn to meet the witches as they successfully got behind it, spun to stop, aim and fire their cannons in what looks like a single and swift motion.
The shells are small but are tipped with some form of mineral that looks like quartz as the shells penetrated deep into the golem and then explode. The explosives are not very powerful and sounded very muffled but the type of explosive used cracks the golem from within as it fell apart. This left four.
The two witches with the heavy machine guns form up and are guarded by two regular witches and then split again. The two regular ones move to the front of the rear golem and fire their guns at its face, an act that made the golem very unhappy as the two machine gunner witches stop and fire their guns at the back of the golem.
The rounds they are using are not normal rounds but ones that upon impact, penetrates the target just enough as the nose flattens and then explode. These rounds are to say expensive and thus, witches are the only ones to use them for their aim is far more accurate than normal soldiers.
The explosions did cause the back to be severely pitted and thus, angers the golem as it and the one in front of it turn around. The two regular witches found themselves trapped when the captain at full speed, leaps into the air and lands on the shoulders of the third to last golem and plants on its back a round plate and jumps off while pulling on a cord that is wound within the plate. When the cord is fully pulled, it lets go of a spring that then triggers the shaped charge that is in the plate. The explosion tears the golem apart and sends rocks flying in all directions.
Soldiers are sent scurrying and tank crews sealing hatches as rocks are landing everywhere. Thankfully, most of it is pebbles. The lieutenant attempts to shield himself from the rocks when he looks and sees Neill had made no attempt to shield herself.
Neill watches in amazement as all of the witches have quickly split into teams of two and are taking turns taking on the last two golems. The captain wields her sword again and approaches the lead golem as high speed and with a little leg work, sends herself into a spin and slices off one leg of the golem just as a blue aura of energy emits rom the blade.
The golem seems to scream as it falls forward. Another witch leaps onto its back, plants an explosive plate on its mid back and jumps away, pulling on a cord until the cord is pulled all the way and then explodes.
Being that the golem is closer to the ground, the amount of rock thrown into the air a bit less and thus leaving one golem left. The golem is moving around a lot and trying to avoid the shots from the witches when it screams.
The scream is so high pitched that everyone is forced to cover their ears. The captain seems not to be affected as she quickly reaches one of her witches and pulls out a plate from her G.C.M.A. and rushes towards the golem when the earth around it seem to explode.
The captain is sent back away from the golem as the remains of all of the fallen golems rattle and then sent flying towards the air towards the lone golem and this time, dirt.
The captain lands on her units feet as the rest of her witches recover. Neill stands back up, still covering her ears and notices that one of the lenses of her glasses has cracked.
The lieutenant is first of his men to recover and is first to see a new horror. Standing where the lone golem was standing is now a massive giant of a true humanoid being.
The giant is at least forty feet tall and appears to look like a giant of a human who is a muscle builder type. The captain is seen with a worried look on her face as the rest of her fellow witches are truly horrified. The captain looks at her witches and sees the worried look on their facers.
Slightly bitter, the captain holds her sword above her head and bellows. “Witches! On me!” Then she takes off at high speed towards the now giant golem. The golem notices her and stomps on the ground.
The shaking of the earth did not threw her off as she kept her balance as she crouches while still moving and then leaps into the air, only to see a foot coming at her. With no choice, her hexagonal blue barrier appears as the foot makes impact. The captain felt the strength of the new golem and it caught her by surprise as she went flying back.
With her barrier still up, she uses it to slow herself down but she is still a target for she sees the golem winding up to kick her again, this time with more might than the last time.
Then suddenly, there is an explosion, followed by a whooshing sound of a rocket engine. The captain could see a wire falling and she follows it back to the Elks. The gun Lynxs fire another salvo of their cannons and the captain, still in the air, touches down in time could feel the air being moved by the shells, their shriek and then impact. The Elks in unison fire another salvo of their missiles.
A hatch on the commanding Elk behind the turret opens up and swings towards the back as the Elk platoons leader quickly stands up with a round tube of sorts painted olive green as he reaches for the pod, pulls out a spent tube and just as fast throws the new one in place as far forward as it can go.
The back of the tube has a grove on it so that as it slides into the pod, it catches threading that allows the tube to spin and the connections that are on the grooves to meet the pod and a good connection is made for firing and controlling the missile.
The captain lands and dissolves her barrier as her fellow witches gather around her. She looks up and sees the golem falling back under heavy fire. The captain could only smile at the bravery her fellow troops are showing. Besides the sounds of hundreds of semi-automatic rifles firing, she also hears and can feel the sound of the heavy machine guns belching out fire and bullets, the putting of the grenade launchers and their impacts, the high pitch cracking noise of the sniper rifles and the thunderous boom of the gun Lynxes and the rattling of the autocannons. To her, it is the perfect blend and sounds like a symphony. A symphony of war and she enjoys it so.
With the golem struggling now, the lieutenant with Neill are now going to the downed helicopters, providing aid to their downed crews. Neill at many a time, glances and sees the witches skating around, firing up at the giant of a being. She wants to be one of them so bad right now and it ate at her.
Somehow, in the midst of so much fire power, it is having so little of an effect on the golem. The captain finishes off her magazine when she stops suddenly, takes out the spent magazine and places it in an empty pouch attached to her apparatus and takes out a new one and slides it into her weapon until she feels it slip past he magazine release and into her rifle.
With a pull on the charging handle on the guns left side, it is now primed and ready when one of her witches skates up to her and comes to a sliding stop. “Captain! Our fellow sisters have taken out the final golem! This one’s the only one left!”
“Excellent, lieutenant!” Shouts the captain as her first lieutenant stands up and checks her weapon. The first lieutenant has fair skin unlike her near pale skinned captain but she is slightly shorter and more well built. She has wavy dirty blonde hair that she kept short as her brown eyes require the aid of a pair of half-rimmed glasses. She has the ears and tail of a golden retriever.
The golem continues to stumble backwards when it suddenly stops, stands up and then hunches forward and swipes at the witches. Two regular witches are forced to bring up their barriers, throwing them back as the cannon witches move to the flanks of the golem and fire their cannons. The shots did hit the hips but did not penetrate. The girls are confused when the golem suddenly crouches and slams its hands into the ground. The one on the right manages to avoid as the one on the left is too close and the rush of air sends her back a few feet.
The young witch falls to her bottom and sees the mighty hand falling right on top of her. A barrier goes up just as the hand makes contact with it. The witch is terrified at its strength as the hand rises and now a foot falling on her.
Quickly, she rolls out of the way as her partner skates on over to her and stops to helps her up as the two heavy machine gunners and their partners skate right in front of it going left to right while firing their guns.
Baker Platoon is carrying away the rescued pilots and crews from the helicopters as several medivacs (medical evacuation) helicopter are seen landing on the other side of the tree line. The downed crews are joined by the injured crews of the Lynxs and some troops who got too close to the charged shots.
The Elks platoon leader is again loading another tube when he takes a moment to stop and look at what was going on around him. For all of his career, he has seen and heard some amazing things about their combat witches but he never thought he would witness the day that they are struggling.
He suddenly comes too, leans down into his vehicle as another tube is handed to him. Just as fast as usual, he pulls out the spent tube and practically throws the second tube into the pod. “You may fire when ready.” He barely manages to speak as he ducks back into his vehicle and closes the hatch as the turret takes aim and the missile fires. The missile arches high and hits the head and sent the golem stumbling around.
A second missile fires as it speeds towards the golem and like the last one, arches high, probably a bit too high as it now dives right into the head. The golem is now visibly trying to regain its balance as several more missiles hit all round the golem.
Neill witnessed this and spoke out loud. “A magical being with no sense of pain should not be reacting to physical hits like that.” Little did she know that her words have been broadcasted to everyone and this includes the captain.
The captain is making a high speed turn to face the back of the golem when she suddenly stops and fires her rifle as her lieutenant is right next to her, doing the same. “Did you hear?” Asks the lieutenant as the captain nods her head.
“All witches! Aim for the head with your most powerful weapons!”
“Captain! We’re here!” Shouts a witch over the radio as emerging from the tree line behind the golem comes five Lynxs with turrets and twelve more witches.
The Gun Lynxs form into a single line with two teams of witches guarding them as the third team approaches. The third team is made up of the groups three heavy machine gunners and three cannons and its sergeant.
The captain clears out her witches as the giant golem slams its hand into the ground, driving away some of the witches.
The sergeant lines up her witches into a line and have them open fire simultaneously onto the golem along with the Gun Lynx. The golem screams in pain as it turns around, crouches and then leaps into the air.
Everyone watches as the golem leaps for an incredible long distance and lands behind the Gun Lynx line. The witches here open fire with their rifles and the Lynxs on the move when the golem crouches and swipes at one, sending it tumbling like some toy as its turret is knocked loose.
Distracted, the golem snatches up a witch. Neill becomes mortified as she could watch helplessly as the golem brings the witch up to its head and stares directly at her. With her arms pinned by the dirt and rock hand, she could only try to shake herself free and shout for help when the hand tightens and the screams in pain and mercy as its grip tightens around her.
The captain and her lieutenant are now charging at the golem as fast as their apparatuses will allow them to go. The captain is very angry and her lieutenant afraid for her underlings well being when both witches crouches while still moving and with their might, leap into the air. The captain lands on the golems head and the lieutenant on the golems right arm. Both women plant on it two plates and then leap off of it. Just as the golem takes notice, the head shatters and the shoulder detaches in two massive explosions.
The young witch screams as the arm around her falls apart and lands on the ground. With the head gone and an arm missing, the remains of the golem fall to the ground when a sudden purple haze covers the remains.
The captain and her lieutenant reaches the young witch and quickly clear the rocks away from her as the pieces suddenly took to the sky and then back down to the remains.
Neill and everyone can only watch in horror again as the golem seems to mutate but this time, even more human but only more bulkier and slightly shorter and its mouth reverts to a square chin and wide mouth with a near jutting under bite.
Neill gasps in horror and stammers back a few steps as the golem returns to its task to take on the remaining Gun Lynxs as they sped off towards the front line and the unit of twenty-four witches gathered around the captain.
On a supply level, they can keep on fighting but the captain has a new problem; the ever changing golem. Her lieutenant is clearly worried as she pushes up on her glasses. “Well, what now, captain?”
The captain is silent when her grip tightens on the hilt of her sword but it is the golem that makes the first move by yelling and then running quite fast towards them.
The witches scatter into their pairs as the captain and her lieutenant outmaneuver it to its back as the other witches have done but the golem is quicker now and has managed to stop quick and quickly turns to face them. The captain grins her teeth in disgust as she charges the golem again and then breaks away as her cannon witches fire their salvoes. The golem covers its head with its massive arms as it takes the rounds like a boxer would in a match.
The lieutenant halts two witches who still have their explosive plates and takes it from them and hands one to the captain when her radio crackles. “Captain Neppa here.” Spoke the captain as she holds a hand up to her headpiece.
“Captain Neppa. Keep the golem there. The marines with their witches are arriving.”
“Can’t you hold them off?” She asks as she turns towards the main line and sees in the distance the approach of one tilt rotor aircraft. The aircraft is coming in like a helicopter despite its look as an airplane.
“I’m sorry Captain Neppa. The Commandant of the Marine Corps is very insisted that his people see combat.” Captain Neppa is not bitter but seems relieved as she looks out and sees her witches doing all they can to delay the golem.
“That’s okay, sir. We need all the help on this one. If I may suggest, retreat everyone but Third Platoon of Baker. They have a witch that I am curious about.”
“Copy that. That’s all I can do.” Captain Neppa turns to her lieutenant and nods her head. Captain Neppa then turns to the main line and sees Neill standing there, observing the battle in full. The captain nods her head again and then turns her attention over to the golem.
“Witches! On my lead!” She shouts as she quickly takes off after the golem with the lieutenant right behind her. All of the witches gathered around the captain and all at once charged at the golem as it again is heading towards the main line.
Suddenly, the beast hears them and turns towards them. It seems not happy as it aims the palm of its hands at them, quickly builds a charge and fires. The leading witches deflects the shots but stops them as well but the group moves on when they suddenly split into their squads of four.
The captain again tries to make an attack on the golems legs but it jumps back a bit and kicks. Two of her guarding witches are forced to break as her and her lieutenant kept on going forward when the beast suddenly stomps its feet and crashes its fist into the dirt, creating a cloud of dust when it then quickly grabs for someone in the dust.
The captain quickly rolls out of the dust but not her lieutenant. She stops and hastily looks around when she hears a shout for help. In her panic, she looks up and sees that the golem has a hold of the blonde.
She is doing everything in her power to get free. This includes concentrating her energy into her fists and then slam them as hard as she could into its fingers but that did nothing but slightly fracture them. Captain Neppa makes a leap to save her lieutenant but only to be swatted out of the air.
She has no time to use her barrier to act as a parachute but to use it as a cushion as her barrier catches her just inches off of the ground and slides with her for some feet before she quickly gets back on her feet and takes off again going forward when she stumbles and falls, scraping her arms with all of the sharp edged pebbles laying around. She quickly looks down at her legs and apparatuses and sees that they have fracture lines around the knees and ankles.
The lieutenant once again builds a charge into her fists and slams them into the golems fist when its grip suddenly tightens. She screams in agony as she could feel bones beginning to fracture. Her breathing becomes impossible as she could no longer scream. Blood now trickles from a corner of her mouth as her vision begins to blur then go black. She is on the verge of passing out from both the pain and lack of blood to her head when the golem slowly raises its hand above its head.
Captain Neppa is horrified at the sight as she tries to get back up and rush to her friends aid but she quickly falls back down to the ground. Neill could only hold her breath as she kept her eyes on what is happening, all the while wishing that is will not happen. True to their fears, the golem threw the lieutenant to the ground and follows up with its palm slamming into the ground.
The fighting seems to come to a complete stop right then as everybody has their eyes on the cloud of dust. The dust settles and the hand rises above and there, on the ground is the unconscious body of the lieutenant. The golem reaches for her body, picks her up raises its hand into the air when it suddenly tosses her like she was some kind of toy.
Neill gasps in horror again as she takes off running. Neppa quickly stands up and applies a massive dump of energy into the wheels, sending her as fast as she could go, follows the lieutenant when she leaps into the air and catches the body of the lieutenant and lands on the ground and slides a few dozen feet before coming to a full stop.
“Shelly! Shelly! Can you hear me?” She shouts as she gently puts Shelly to the ground. Shelly did not respond and when Neppa goes to feel for a pulse, there is none. Heart broken, Neppa clenches her hands and then collapses as she then mourns her fallen friend and comrade.
Neill approaches and stops at the sight of the bloodied, mangled body of Shelly and the grieving Neppa. Neill could only put a fist to her chest as her heart sank with Neppa’s. The rest of the unit broke contact and goes to them. The feeling of loss gets to them all. Tears well up and fall as a few of them broke down, crying.
Neill tries to say something but decided not to say anything and withdraws. She does not know these people nor is she one of them. She is only a temporary witch who has not been granted permission to use the G.C.M.A.’s.
Neppa’s crying comes to a stop as she looks up at Neill and slowly stands up on her own feet. She sniffs and wipes her nose and with fire in her eyes, stares at Neill. The young witch could almost feel chills running down her spine as her eyes seem to boring holes into her very soul.
“You said something earlier than rung true about this golem. About this thing feeling pain and being a war golem.” She asks Neill.
“Yes ... yes, ma’am.” Stammers Neill.
“So tell me, just how do we defeat this thing?”
“Well, um. Think of the golem as an avatar that a player controls in a game.” Quickly replies Neill. The emotional roller coaster in the short time span has her thinking process all fowled up as she quickly tries to remember her teachings. “Through the eating of living organisms with neurons and nerve fibers, the golem can create its own nervous system that a controller can then use. The golem then becomes an extension of the users body. But everything that the main golem feels, the user feels. This is true when all the golems that were originally created have been gathered a sone individual. It is entirely possible that what the golem is using to fix itself are past golems that the creator has created for this very possibility but cause enow it is experiencing pain, the controller must be at their limit in usable material that they had set aside and is using whatever it can just to keep fighting.” Neppa is silent when her fists tighten again.
“That witch.” She growls. “That ... golem summoner. They’ll pay.” She then looks up at her fellow witches and then shouts. “That summoner will feel pain a thousand times greater than the pain they inflicted upon Lieutenant Shelly Hoaldie!” Neill could feel their fighting spirit rekindle when Neppa does something unusual. She kneels down to her fallen friend and quietly spoke to her. “I’m sorry, my old friend. I have to do this.” She then reaches for Shelly’s shoulders and pulls her out of her G.C.M.A.’s. Neill and just about every witch cannot believe what they are seeing. It is incredible that the devices have survived the impact.
Carefully, Neppa picks up her friend as her shattered glasses fall off her face. Neill is there to catch them like it is some kind of sacred peddle. In her hands is a set of mangled frame and shattered lenses. Neill is frozen with uncertainty as she then stands upright. Sadness envelopes her when something came over her. She rests the glasses in her left hand, clicks her heels and snaps to attention and salutes smartly. Neppa is caught off guard as every other witch in the unit does the same.
Neppa is again brought to tears at the display when reality returns to them. The golem screams and takes aim with its hands while growling and fires two shots. Two witches quickly erect their barriers just as the shots hit. The two are forced back many feet and are caught by their fellow witches. Neppa grins her teeth and turns to Neill.
“What’s your name, soldier?” Neill is caught off guard but then quickly answers.
“Combat Witch Specialist Neill O’Hare, ma’am!”
“Well, I’m promoting you to Private O’Hare! How did you quality to use the G.C.M.A.’s?”
“Ma’am! First in platoon!”
“Good. Get in!” Neill is take off guard as she looks behind her at the awaiting units. For so long, she wanted to wear them but, not like this; not under the circumstances. She turns to Neppa with uncertainty on her face but Neppa returns a reassuring smile.
“My friend wore those for three years.” She quietly responds. “She wore them to protect her home. She wore them to protect her family and her daughter.” Neill has her breathe taken from her as Neppa continues. “But before her, my old commander wore those and died. They went to her and now, they go to you.” Neill is shaken as she turns to the other witches, looking for a hint of disapproval.
There is none. They all look at her, anxious to see her continue the proud heritage of the units. Neill has waited for this moment to come and nods her head. Two nearby witches help lift the units as a third offers to help Neill get in by lifting her up and placing her legs in the unit.
As Neill’s legs entered, she could feel her power flow through the device and felt strength the likes she never experienced in return. In order for Neill to wear one, she has to survive her first conflict. Many witches can go for months, even years without seeing conflict. Some are given them out of merit or approval without seeing battle. Neill is an exception. This is her first battle still and yet, she is wearing the units.
Neill reaches for her shoulder and brings her rifle to bear. Neppa nods in approval as she begins to head to Third Platoon who is still present. “The marines witches are inbound to provide backup. Split into teams of four and don’t wait for me!”
“Yes, ma’am!” Shouts her platoon. They all began to move except for Neill who is still in a state of shock when a nearby witch turns to her and gently punches her shoulder.
“You heard her, greenhorn.” Neill could not help but break a smile when she shakes it off and nods her head. Without anymore being said, the witches take off heading towards the golem who is now at least one hundred yards from the tree line. Almost right on top of Third Platoon.
The Lieutenant and the others are now there to witness this battle as Neppa approaches the Elks and rests the body of Shelly gently on the ground. “Rest easy, my friend.” She speaks gently as she turns to the battle that has begun anew again. Members of Third Platoon turn and are horrified at the sight of a combat witch, dead. The lieutenant could only turn away as anger flows through him. His fists clenched as he slowly turns towards the embattled golem.
Neill is skating at a good speed in front of a heavy machine gunner, firing off a few rounds as the machine gunner lets it loose. The Golem shrieks as it covers its face as round after round hits the arms and chest. The machine gunner then breaks off and Neill follows as two more witches approach from the back of the legs and with them still moving, attach explosive plates and pull the cord. The plates explode and the legs are heavily fractured but only to regenerate with the dirt it is walking on.
The golem swats at them as the witches move quickly away as one of them leaps and slaps another explosive plate on the neck and leaps off, pulling the cord when the plate explodes. Again, the wound is regenerated by dirt.
Neppa returns to the battle with her sword drawn as she spots Neill and the heavy machine gunner dashing to its front when the golem swings the back of its hand at them. Neill turns in time to erect her barrier and braces herself as the hand slams into it.
She yells in surprise and terror and is shoved a few feet back. She looks up and sees just in time Neppa slicing off its hand. She is again struck with awe at how easily Neppa slices off its hand with such an antique but effective weapon but again, she sees her face. She can see the anger in her grin and her eyes the like she has never witnessed. She stands there when she comes to and moves out of the way as the hand falls and crumbles.
The lieutenant looks on when his sniper approaches. “Lieutenant. Why are we here?”
“We are here because the combat witch that was attached to us is over there, fighting that thing.”
“You do know that war golems do need a controller.” He then turns towards the sniper and the sniper right back at him. Then came a noise from behind them.
The tilt rotor aircraft is taking flight and manages to get out of there as rapidly approaching are the marine witches. Their G.C.M.A.’s and basic armor are no different than the armies version but their load out is. The marine witches have less stowage and more battle gear such as one missile pod on a swivel mounted on the left leg of each apparatus as the pods has its own handle that controls the aim and fire of the pod through a small optic in the middle of the pod. Each marine witch also has a smaller, more compact looking battle rifle with a red dot scope and a larger magazine. Even their helmets are different looking as the back side protects more of their necks and has a wide visor that covers both eyes.
The twelve witches blasts past the platoon and straight on towards the golem. Neppa senses their presence as two more plates explode. She whistles and pulls back and her witches followed.
Neppa stops and turns around and sees that everyone made it. The golem looks right at them and growls just as a rocket slams into its bulk.
The leading elect of marine witches have their hands on a yoke that is attached to the rocket pod. Their visors are displaying the predicted path of the rocket and its expected point of impact and when they are satisfied of its trajectory, they squeeze the trigger.
The second rocket from the eight rocket pod fires as its tip seems to be glowing green. The quartz tipped rockets are magically charged and this works well against a magically made being as the warheads penetrated into the being and explode.
The golem yells as rocket after rocket hits the golem, forcing it back and then tripping it up. Neppa and her tired witches retreat some as Neill spots Third Platoon of Baker getting into the Elks that are now facing them.
She is confused when a message comes over their radios. Neppa listens and nods her head. “Okay witches, you heard the colonel! We are to aid the marines in keeping this golem busy as Third Platoon of Baker slips past us to hunt down the controller.”
“She or he has to be nearby.” Spoke Neill. “They have to see what the golem is doing in order to better control it.”
“Why don’t we let those salts handle this thing and let us go after the controller ourselves.” Some witches agreed with what the sergeant said when Neppa coldly back at her.
“We can’t. Marine witches may have a lot of battle gear but they can’t last long with their small numbers. Marine witches are intended to be the spearhead of an attack and work closely with their infantry as we are designated to operate mostly alone. This is because we army witches are larger in numbers. Marine witches are fast and nimble but can’t stay too long with the amount of goodies they will use up.”
The golem shrieks just as the last rocket is fired. The golem with its fist deflects the rocket as it is sent spiraling out of control and then into a tree line, knocking down a tree.
With their rockets used up, the marine witches now deploy their next arsenal. Out of the twelve, two have grenade launchers, four have cannons and the rest have battle rifles. In unison, they all began firing.
The grenades are sent flying and made impact but the impacts seem to have little effect as the golem attempts to snatch at the marines. Neppa watches as she sees that the marine witches are now forced to pull back to resupply. With that, she leads her own witches back into the fray.
Third Platoon and their Elks rushed right on past the witches and golem as the golem seems to be fighting for its life. Despite the witches doing their best to keep it busy, it notices the Elks and prepares for a charged shot with its two hands when rockets again hit the beast, throwing its aim off as the shots slam uncomfortably came close to the Elks. Enough to shake them but no damage inflicted. With that, the Elks turn their turrets and began to open fire.
Neill and the heavy machine gunner are making a pass on the golems left as the witch runs out of ammo. The red head witch breaks off and stops with Neill close by, putting herself in between her red haired partner and the golem shall it turn on them. The red head reaches for a large pouch but found that the pouch is empty. “Oh no. I’m bingo!” She shouts as she looks to her left and sees two marine witches reloading their rocket pods by taking out of a plastic container the small rockets that they are stored in and slid them into the back of their pods and place the ignitors in the motors. Both the red head and Neill noticed that one of them is a heavy machine gunner.
The tall and sturdy built red haired witch shouts over to them and waves her arm. “Hey! Can I have a belt of ammo?” Another marine witch and her partner move behind the two teams and comes to a complete stop before firing the last of their small rockets. With that, they did not began to reload the pods but simply lifts them out of their mounts, disconnect a small cable and drops the pods to the ground.
With no pods, the witches; a cannon and a heavy machine gunner, prepare their own weapons when the red head asks them. “May I have a belt?”
“Get your own!” Shouts the cannon witch as she takes out a large magazine and slams it secured to her cannon. The large red head found this most unfriendly when the heavy machine gunner gives her a belt.
“Here, take it ground pounder.” Spoke the brown haired witch. The red head accepts the belt and goes about rearming her heavy machine gun when Neppa approaches the four witches.
“How are you two salts on ammo?”
“Down to our basics!.” Reports the heavy machine gunner as two more marine witches come towards them, both are regularly armed witches but one of them has a rank of captain, equal to Neppa.
“What do you ground pounders want? Supplies from my marines? What are we to you? A mobile resupply convoy or something?” Neppa is in no mood and barks back.
“I am in no mood to hear that kind of talk! I lost my best friend today and I would be so glad to take my anger out on you!” She then begins to breathe heavily. “So go ahead! Keep on talking like that you salts for brains!”
The marine captain is taken aghast and apologizes to Neppa when she notices that once again, her marine witches are forced to pull back to resupply as are Neppa’s witches. Neill is not liking this and turns to the two captains.
“Excuse me captains! I may not know why there is bad blood between us army and you marine witches but we have to work together on this to hold the golem back until Third Platoon can find the golem’s operator!”
The red head bellows out laughing and slaps Neill on the back, nearly knocking the wind out of her. “Most of the time, little one, we army ground pounders and marine salts act out our disagreements because it helps tell us apart and reminds us of our place.”
“Sorry about earlier.” Spoke the marine cannon witch as Neppa turns to the marine captain, a platinum blonde with red eyes and glasses, an albino witch. Her build is small but her spirit is strong. She is deriving her power from a border collie.
“She is right.” Spoke the albino witch to Neppa. “We must do a resupply check and continue on battling this golem!” There is a sudden series of explosion behind them from the golem. One of Neppa’s sergeants and her partner have just both planted explosive plates onto the golem and detonated them the same time.
The concussion is strong and the explosion shatters the golems foot. With more and more of it being turned to dirt to keep its form, bits of rock start to fall and the two captains and Neill see this.
“The controller must be losing their control over the beast.” Comments the Albino witch and Neppa agrees.
“Controlling such a powerful being has to be taking its toll on the controller.” Spoke Neppa as the cannon witch gleams and takes off with the heavy machine gunner right behind her.
“We have to keep it up!” Shouts Neill as Neppa looks at her.
“With what? We used too much of our ammunition! Both us and our marine allies can’t keep this up for long.” At that moment, there came a strange noise. A loud whine and the thumping of rotor blades as appearing over the tree line heading there way is a large helicopter with wide rotor blades and the entire middle section where the passenger or cargo section of most helicopters is entirely missing as large clamps are holding onto what looks like a giant human but a closer looks reveals that the humanoid thing is robotic.
The machines look like knights wearing modern day armor but more angular and boxy with the heads looking like helmets with green visor and a large radio antenna fixed on the left side angled back as on the right is a gun pod.
The machines are carrying a shield that is almost a two-thirds of their height as there are a total of eight of these inbound. Two of these machines have what looks like a giant bazooka, two more with a long rifle and the remaining four with giant sized semi-automatic rifles.
“What in blazes?” Shouts the albino when Neppa shouts.
“Golems! Our golems!”
The four massive helicopters stop nearby and let go of their cargo as the machines bend their knees and land on the ground with a thump that would of shatter bones and bodies from normal people that would jump from that altitude as they quickly stand back up with a mechanical whine of servos and artificial muscles doing the work. The albino witch grins her teeth as this turn of events when Neppa shouts to her witches to retreat at once.
Together, the twenty-four army and twelve marine witches clear out as the twenty-five foot tall machines took their positions. The two long rifled units slam the prows of their shields into the ground as two armatures unfold from behind the shields and rest into the ground as the two golems as Neppa called them rests their rifles into a slot of their shields, take aim and fire.
The rifles are nothing more but long versions of the railguns earlier used by the Lynx Brigade and this allows a more larger shot to basically rip into the golem and shear off large chunks of its form. The golem appears stunned when it looks at the machines and hollers, only to be blasted by the two bazookas. The twin hits knocks the golem off of its feet and back a few dozen yards when it then crashes into the ground.
Using more dirt, the golem regenerates but only to be blasted by the two giant sized semi-automatic rifles as the other two drop their guns to the ground, reach to the left side of their skirt like armor where a long mechanical pocket opens and a knife rises to greet the robotic hand.
The two machines take a starting run stance with their shields at the ready. When the golem is getting back up, the two machines dig their flexible feet into the ground and then takes off running. The ground shakes every time their feet meets ground but their robotic pace made them quicker than any witch alive when the two then took to the air.
The two land perfectly within striking distance of the golem and did just that. The two arms are sliced off and the golem screams in terrible pain. Before the golem has a chance to recover, if ever, the two machines take their daggers and stab the golem in the gut and head at the same time.
The golem seems paralyzed by these two strikes and the machines back off by jumping back just as the two long rifles fire, knocking the golem to the ground again. Neill could only cover her mouth as Neppa seems satisfied as the golem is taking a beating that its operator has to be feeling.
The two dagger yielding machines land, dig their feet into the ground and take to the air again. The golem is not bothering to regenerate as the two machines land next to the golem and opened fire at near point blank range with their head mounted gun pod.
The impact of these armor piercing depleted uranium, ammo meant to take on tanks tears apart the golem. After a few seconds and with the pods smoking, the two machines backed off and the golem no longer moves. The magical energy that makes up the golem seems to be fading as the remains of its bulk begins to crumble.
The Elks are now climbing a hill within the woods when they stop suddenly.
The back hatch lowers and Third Platoon flows out of the three units with the war-dog leading the way. Already, the trained animal is on a scent as it leads his handler down a hill.
Third platoon is giving chase and they must be close as they see two human sized golems lazily approaching them. The grenade launcher and anti-tank man let loose their powerful arsenals and the two golems are blasted to pebbles, never to revive.
The war-dog stops for the moment and then leads on, barking with his handler and everyone else following. They went up another hill that has an excellent vantage point of the entire battlefield when the dog stops and whines.
His handler approaches and seems to freeze. Everyone else approaches and stops on the ridge as the lieutenant finally approaches and he too freezes.
Down a few feet, resting on a rock is the bloodied remains of what at first looks like a human but closer inspection by the loose fitting, bright colored clothes and the pointy ears tells them that this is the elf Neill said is the controller and that this elf is a female. Neill was right that the golem became an extension of its operator, right down to what the golem was experiencing with deep cuts on her arms and various other wounds to her body. This includes stab wounds to the head and stomach.
The medic cautiously approaches the bloody remains of the willowy fair skinned elf with beautiful long blonde hair. The medic rolls her on her back and goes to feel a pulse. He looks up at them and shakes his head. Her bright green eyes are frozen in terror and intense pain as the medic closes them.
The sun is beginning to set and the forces are now beginning to retreat. The Elks that had helped Third Platoon of Baker are now secured to their trailers as recovery trucks are carrying the remains of the damaged Lynxs and downed helicopters.
More helicopters filled the air, taking away the Second Air Cavalry Regiment. The trucks are here too, waiting to take away Third Platoon back to barracks for some much needed rest. The victory is bitter sweet after what they witnessed.
The lieutenant is sitting on a stump, deep in thought when the dog handler and her war-dog approach. “Excuse me, sir.” She speaks. The lieutenant slowly looks up at her with his helmet in his hands.
“Yes?” He responds.
“I would like to thank you for your services in protecting me and my boy here.” The war-dog sits down with its mouth opened and panting with its tongue out. The lieutenant could only offer half of a smile and shakes his head as he reaches over to the dog and pets its head.
“We all did our job today. You and your dog helping us spot the enemy and we protecting you.” The dog handle turns around and looks away.
“What of her?” She asks as the lieutenant stands up. She is looking at Neill who is out of her apparatuses, sitting with her knees up, looking at the setting sun. He shrugs and remains silent.
Neill is sitting on the grass as she is watching the sun set as the wind is blowing her hair. Unlike earlier in the day, Neill’s face is dirty and her hair a bit mangled as her clothes are dusty and smell of sweat and gun powder.
Neill has experienced a lot today as she sat with her knees up to her chest and arms wrapped around her legs. Someone approaches and then sits down next to her. Captain Neppa kept her silence as the two stare at the setting sun. “Shelly use to do the same after a hard fought battle.”
Neppa stretches her legs and sat back with her arms to support her. Neill kept silent when she too stretches her legs as she reaches for her breast pocket and takes out the remains of Shelly’s glasses
Neppa manages to keep it together as she looks away at the setting sun. Neill kept silent when she suddenly speaks. “I lost my mother yesterday.” Neppa still kept quiet as Neill turns to her. “I know what you are going through.” She then looks away back at the setting sun. “We use to do this a lot too. Sit on a hill and watch the sun set until we could not see the sun anymore.” Neill then sighs and remains silent. “So I guess we’ll never know why an elf would go through such extremes.”
“Something is in the wind.” Spoke Neppa, drawing the attention of Neill. “Something far more sinister.” Neppa then turns towards the diner and beyond that and sees the eight machines squatting as they are being prepared for their trip back to their base. “It’s been nearly a hundred years since our last war but there hasn’t been a year we haven’t known true peace. There has to be something in the wind.”
“This is the worse skirmish yet.” Comments Neill.
The albino marine approaches Neppa and Neill as the two turn to her. “Well, that was a bit of a let down.” She spoke as she turns to the machines. “I can’t help but feel robbed of our victory.”
“They delivered the killing blows.” Spoke Neppa as she stands up. Neill is quick to do so as Neppa walks up to the marine captain. Without her apparatuses, the marine captain is rather short by at least two head heights. “But yet, as much as I wanted that elf dead, we could have used her to pry info on why she did it and whom she did it for. Now we will never know.” The albino shares Neppa’s feelings on that and looks down before bringing her head up.
“By the way, I am Alice Nethard. May I ask the name of the ground pounder whom I bailed out?” She then offers her hand. Neppa smirks and shakes her head as she reaches out for Alice’s hand and shakes it.
“It’s Neppa. Teresa Allysa Neppa the twenty-fourth.” The name seems to suck the breathe of all of the witches. Teresa then lets loose a hardy laugh.
The sun has fully set and the twin moons are starting to rise. The marine witches are back in their G.C.M.A.’s as they moved in a neat single file back to their awaiting tilt-rotor aircraft as Third Platoon of Baker are leaving in their trucks with the lieutenant in a jeep taking lead as the war-dog handler and her war dog board their own jeep and drove away, leaving Neill alone as the wind tugged as her clothing and hair. Teresa walks up to her and stops.
“So, you didn’t know who I was.” She asks as Neill turns to her.
“The Neppa’s have been protecting Narata for the past fifteen hundred years.” Spoke an exasperated Neill. “Plus, you only choose the best.”
“That’s right.” Spoke Teresa as she walks away. Neill is still a bit dazed as she follows.
“But ma’am, I am only a green horn!”
“Wrong! You are a private in my unit.” Neill is still stunned when Teresa stops and turns to Neill. “Look Neill O’Hare. I don’t take first placers nor last placers. I take those who show great initiative, great combat prowess and are knowledgeable of their enemies. You showed all of that and we were not slowed down by you. You kept your pace with my unit and knew what to do. Very few witches have that trait.” Neill is still silent and this seem to irritate Teresa some when Neill speaks.
“I am honored that you find me worthy to be a part of your unit.’ She then bows. “I promise to not let you down and if I do, will redeem myself twice over.” Teresa found this very appealing and it shows in her smile.
“Now that’s a good girl.”
Their Lynx’s are ready as the last of the Striker Brigade boards. With their units in a kneeling position, both Teresa and Neill board their units, activate their powers and approach their own striker.
They skated up into the units while ducking and come to a stop. The two leapt out of their apparatuses as the ground crews help to secure their units to the deck as Neill and Teresa found their seats. Neill could barely keep her eyes open now as the crews left the compartment to go forward. The ramp begins to close and before it even closes all of the way, Neill falls asleep.
The engine of the Striker starts up, headlights and driving lights turn on and the last convoy leaves the battlefield, heading back home to base.