394 The Emperors Own (1/2)

Hundreds of silver clad fully armored soldiers stood before the gates of the Citadel. With their featureless full face helm, it was hard to know what the soldiers were thinking as they stood still like statues as they watched the gates.

The magic barriers above the Citadel walls flickered constantly, as smoke puff constantly appeared with thunderous cracks over the barriers. One by one the barriers fell as the enemy appeared to concentrate all their power in attacking the barriers and finally with a final pop, the last magic barrier overloaded and the shimmering sphere over the walls disappeared.

Without the barriers, the screaming spells of the barbarians started landing around the walls. Those caught in the open were fell instantly by the seemingly harmless smoke puffs. The thunder weapons of the barbarians continued for several heartbeats and just as suddenly as they appeared, the spells stopped, leaving behind cries of the wounded and dying.

The Imperial soldiers quickly came out of cover to man the walls once the screaming thunder spells stopped. They peered over the battlements with their bows and crossbows and were baffled when they did not see the enemy attacking.

Suddenly, shrieks and screams came from the skies again, and the Imperial soldiers screamed in terror as enemies screaming thunder spells burst over the walls before anyone could take cover.

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A whistle blew and the Marines roared out a war cry as they charged up the slope. The walls before them were blanketed with smoke shells from the mortars, but it was barely necessary as they lifted the barrage to trick the Imperials out into the open before hitting them again with another barrage.

The walls were already badly battered by the mix of high explosive and airburst shells from the mortars, and several breaches could be seen. The Marines charged towards the breaches among the walls, ignoring the gates totally which caught the Imperial defenders off guard as much of their forces were concentrated around the gates.

Tyrier ran together with his men, climbing over the debris of the walls and entered into the courtyard beyond the walls. He saw a scattering of Marines crouching, as they fired their rifles at the cluster of Imperials at the steps that lead up into the castle.

He saw a large group of Imperials in armor that was more ornate than the usual Knights. They held kite shields that had the tell tale shimmer of a magic barrier. But what made him check his advance was when he saw the weapons sticking out from behind the shield walls. ”What the fark...”

”Guns!” Tyrier yelled. ”Take cover!”

He pushed the Marines before him down, and threw himself flat, just as the guns of the Imperials fired. Instantly the shield wall disappeared behind a huge cloud of dirty gun smoke and Tyrier heard the whizz of bullets buzzing over his head.

A few Marines that stumbled out of the gaps in the wall, did not get the warning and they dropped when bullets met their flesh. Those that spotted the danger started yelled for the rest to take cover while others dragged their wounded buddies to safety. ”Medic!”

”How the fark did they get guns?” Hitsu cursed as he leopard crawled on the perfectly manicured lawn of the courtyard. ”This is unfair!”

”Looks like black powder guns!” Young said as he fired his rifle into the smoke cloud. ”Probably they stole them from the SDF or something!”

”MGs! Suppress those farkers!” A Marine Officer cried out from behind. Tyrier saw a bulky Orc Marine which he recognized as Slow, lugging his machine gun and trying to keep his huge body as low to the ground as possible, sprinting over the ruined walls.

The Orc Marine ignored the spattered of shots around him as he dropped down to a prone position. Slow braced his buttstock against his bruised shoulder and held down the trigger and swept left and right, sending bolts of red hot tracers directly into the gun smoke of the Imperials.

Tracers and sparks could be seen bouncing off the shimmering shields of the Imperial Knights as they held their position. Tyrier grinned and gestured to Marine who had an RPG - 1 strapped to his back. ”Hit it with the RPG!”

The Marine grinned back and started fiddling with his rocket launcher. He remained in a prone position and aimed his RPG - 1 at the Imperials covered by smoke. He waited for the smoke to clear a bit, allowing him to adjust his aim and he yelled. ”Clear back!”

”Clear!”

”ONE ROUND AWAY!” The rocket's motor ignited and shrieked out, the short distance and speed of the rocket too fast to follow by the naked eye. The sudden ear bursting crack and a puff of smoke was the only indication that the rocket had hit the target and it was not the only rocket fired, as other Marines had the same idea, as several more rockets detonated among the smoke covered Imperials.

”Move! Move!” Tyrier yelled and pushed himself up off the ground. The troops around him followed suit and they advanced towards the main entrance of the Citadel where a flight of marble white stairs led into the castle.

As the smoke cleared, the ragged remains of the Imperials could be seen. Most of the Imperial Knights were down, bits and pieced of armor and body parts were everywhere and blood was slowly following down the stairs.

Those Imperials still alive continued their stand, relying on their still functioning magic barriers and guns to fend off the Marines. But as more and more Marines pour in through the breaches, they added their weight of firepower against the Imperials and a short twenty minutes later, the last Imperial Knight dropped to his knees as blood dripped out from the numerous holes in his armor.

Tyrier climbed up the stairs with his weapon at the ready. The Marines made sure to check each body to ensure no Imperials were just playing dead. They disarmed the bodies and moved the wounded to one side. Tyrier paused and reached down, picking up one of the guns dropped by the Imperial dead and frowned.

It was a Mark 1 'Magelock' bolt action rifle. Tyrier flipped the weapon over and saw the serial numbers engraved on the side and frowned. ”This most likely came from the SDF...”

”Well, we did expect them to get their hands on our weapons,” Hitsu said as he stopped next to Tyrier who tossed the weapon aside. ”Well, it won't be a problem anymore if we take down the Emperor now, right?”

Tyrier gave a shrug as he looked up to the large grandiose doors where the Marines were setting charges, ”Maybe, maybe not. All I know is that the Emperor is just after those doors!”

”Alright, form up,” Tyrier gestured his men to him. ”We got an appointment with the Emperor to keep!”