November 5, 2152
A light breeze began to blow as light broke over the horizon which caused Emory to stir in her bed. She opened her eyes and sighed as she glanced down at her wrist. Jask was flashing an alarm that said the Apleem were three hours from entering the upper atmosphere. From her view above the outpost, she could see the mounds of disturbed dirt that surrounded the base, just inside the seals she had placed on the ground. All the preparations had been made, but she still wondered if it would be enough. After a few minutes of reflection, Emory put on her armor and braided her long, curly locks in a tight cord that stretched to the center of her back. When she finished, she took one last look at the sky especially where it looked like a hundred meteorites were in line to collide with the planet.
Thousands of troops were already moving throughout the outpost as she reached the ground level. Instead of meeting with the other leaders, Emory headed straight for her section of the army. All around her, soldiers were checking their gear and swinging their weapons, getting out the last of the anxiety before the battle. The magik cannons had been spread out between the groups, so her division of ranged attackers had a little over sixty cannons to use between the party. Over the next hour, the whole army emerged from the outpost and moved to their designated section. Each section was fairly balanced and had the same number of melee combatants as each of the others. Emory thought the soldiers looked a little nervous, especially as the black ships began to blot out a section of the sky. To try and bolster their resolve, she unfurled her magik wings from her cloak and rose two hundred feet in the air. When the whole outpost could see her, she focused her magik and caused the wings to inflate to a wingspan of two hundred feet. The army momentarily froze as they gazed at the magik wings before cheers erupted. She flapped them a few times, causing a strong wind to blow through the army, eliciting gasps from the crowd, before she landed. Finally, the hundreds of black ships came into view a few miles away as they surrounded the army and outpost. A stillness fell over the planet before concussive blasts cut the silence as pods began popping off from the ships. Some of the ships continued to initiate landing procedures; those were the dreadnoughts coming to claim the land. Meanwhile transport ships began dropping off hordes of troops just beyond the sealed areas.
As expected, Uthid poured out of the ships in droves with Mantoan filling out the ranks. Every enemy was covered head to toe in black armor with a variety of weapons at their sides and on their back. To make matters worse, at least half the Mantoan were hovering about ten feet above the ground with wings that extended from their backs. The Collective believed and trained the soldiers that Mantoan wings were incapable of flight in most cases; however, this was clearly another miscalculation on their part. Once a million or so enemies encircled the human army, they started to move forward.
Emory raised her hands and started creating baseball-sized orbs above her head. This was the sign for the ranged battalion to ready their attacks as well. When the enemies were about a mile away on the edge of the seals, she flicked her wrists and released the orbs at a frightening speed. In the same breath, the ranged attackers fired their bolts and cannons as well. It looked like the beginning of a fireworks show as the attacks flew through the air and exploded across the front line of enemies. All of the ranged soldiers were still in their normal form, which proved to be the wrong decision. When the dust settled from the barrage, the vast majority of the Uthid were unaffected with the exception of those hit by Emory or the cannons. While the cannons only destroyed pieces of the armor they were wearing, Emory's bolts had killed or crippled all the targets they had hit. Unfortunately, these losses didn't even make the enemy pause as they continued to approach.
As the ranged attackers began activating their Meta Forms, Emory continued hurling bolts at the approaching enemies. With Meta Form, more of the ranged attackers began picking off enemies albeit mostly Mantoan. Then the invading force got close enough to activate the mines, causing clods of dirt to go flying. Still, Uthid rushed through the dust and charged towards the humans undaunted. Finally, when the Apleem were about a thousand feet away, the army roared before running towards the enemy. As they yelled, they switched to Meta Form as they had been directed to do. The sound of a million metal on metal collisions echoed across the battlefield as both groups engaged.
Emory surged forward and drove a spear hand covered in Arcane magik into a Uthid's chest before quickly slashing up and bisecting the top half of the creature. Three more Uthid sprang next to her, but she quickly spun her leg out, releasing a magik slash that cut through the assailants. When she landed again, she hopped forward and uppercut another Uthid, ripping its head clean off its shoulders. As she landed back on the ground, she struck the land with her fist, causing a crater and a shockwave that knocked back friend and foe alike. She moved like a blur, striking enemy after enemy, but no matter how many she killed, another one appeared in its place.
In the section next to Emory, Shepherd had brandished his greatsword and sliced a Mantoan in two. But when he tried to do the same attack against a Uthid, it only left a gash through the armor. The Uthid smiled and swung a fist at Shepherd's head. Luckily, he caught it with his other hand, yet it shoved him back a foot. His swordplay was impressive though, as he pulled the blade back and cut through the Uthid's elbow. Green blood squirted out of the stump while the Uthid hissed in pain. This was because Shepherd had coated his blade in the new alloy containing Mentha plants. Not wasting a second, he used the tip of the greatsword to spear the Uthid through the head. Unfortunately, as soon as the enemy fell, another one climbed over the dead carcass and stabbed a forest green spear into his armor.
The next section was led by Innes who had grown taller than the Uthid. When one went to strike him with a longsword, he caught it with a single hand. Then Innes yanked on the blade and smashed his fist into the Uthid's head, crushing it in on itself. Two Mantoan attacked from the sides, but he slammed his foot into the ground and lifted them into the air. The two flew towards him as he jerked his fists out to his sides, impaling them through his hands. However, a Uthid managed to land a gut punch before he was able to react. Even though it didn't damage him, it shoved him back a couple feet. Innes flung the Mantoan off his hands before launching a straight kick into the Uthid's chest that snapped its body in half at the waist. He tried to take a breath before continuing, but another Uthid was already rushing forward.
Then was Nephenee's section where the combination of her polearm and her armor skill were proving to be invaluable against the Apleem. She could deal with Mantoan and Uthid at range and then use the Haste property of her armor to charge to the next target. Her speed and skill with the lance quickly dispatched enemies. Unfortunately, they were coming back just as fast as she cut them down. At one point, two Uthid cornered her, but she fired a powerful shot that reduced one of their heads to nothing and countered the Uthid behind her with the blunt end of her lance. She swung it around and left a deep gash in the Uthid the entire length of their chest. As it stumbled back, she leaped forward and jabbed the spear deep into its chest. Two Mantoan flanked her side and surprised her momentarily, but she quickly pivoted with her polearm and avoided the strikes. Still, no matter how many she cut down, more always replaced the fallen.
Clarine led the next section of the army and was doing almost as well Nephenee, given the two had a similar fighting style. Though she didn't have the Arcane sphere like her niece, she had a lot more skill with her halberd than Nephenee did as well as more battle experience. Using a combination of the two, she easily cut down the Mantoan in her range. She knew and targeted the enemy's weak points, often dismembering them before launching a killing blow. Unfortunately, this strategy was less useful against the Uthid she faced because of their superior armor and strength. Even so, she whittled them down just like the others, finishing the Uthid with headshots. Luckily, her battle experience allowed her to dodge incoming blows, but the longer she took to defeat the enemies, more of them built up around her.
Finally, Tethys led the section on the other side of Emory and was doing exceptionally well despite only having one offensive sphere. Like Emory, she fought with her fists which were covered in Void magik. But since her gloves made her magik invisible, it appeared to the enemy that she was fighting and killing them with brute strength. This only compounded the fear they had of her because her gift allowed her to shrug off attacks that should at least bruise her. As enemies started avoiding her, she began to hunt them down and attack them on her terms. Since she was small and agile, she would hop from one defeated enemy to the next. However, she was also the first leader to deal with the Uthid's tail since they would use it to try to get her off their backs. Yet she was nimble enough to avoid their strikes, causing some of them to even injure themselves. Unfortunately, she still wasn't dealing with them fast enough as they continued to push against the larger army.