S3:CH7

"Oi Char! Pass me one of those potions! I have a headache!" said Anno, before looking at Alvin. It was nighttime. The Red Blood Regiment had been in their horses for a whole day now - tracking down the zombies' path to see if they were headed to places other than Vontur. With their estimations, it didn't seem like they were going anywhere. Strange.

This was the thought of Colonel Alvin, who always thought that Darkin creatures such as these rabid shifters usually scatter around. The difference was, these weren't the ones you would usually connect as sentient. They did not act like normal shifters. And if there was anything that borders the line between sentients and non-sentients... it would be....

"Steelwalkers..." Alvin whispered.

"Huh?" Followed Tiffany, who was now the Head Mage of the RBR. "What about Steelwalkers."

"Oh.... nothing." Alvin said, looking at his horse while continuing to trot forward. "The zombies just seemed to not be sentient at all."

"I know right? It's some kind of psychological condition that I don't know. And believe me, I've studied biology for quite some time now. Which is why I'm promoted!" She said with a smile, before casting a spell to heal Anno's ongoing headache. Anno immediately thanked her and felt better almost instantly.

"Flare!" shouted Oliver, and Aida looked at the sky to detect the red glowing crystal moving violently upward, then descending down gently.

"CSS. Looks to be that they found a shifter base." She said.

"What are they doing? Their own country is about to be attacked and they decided to make that camp a priority?" Anno said, turning his horse around.

"Calm down. We don't know who they're dealing with. If it's The Clan of Aeryth, then we'll just waste our time in trying to protect the Vonturians." General Kai said while looking at the glowing crystal at the sky. "Mars." He called, making Sergeant Mars appear with her caninian wolf-like body to the general. "How many kilometers till we get there."

Mars sniffed the air while closing her eyes. Then, she opened it, looking at the red general. "Seven Kilometers."

“Alright comrades, we’re heading out to Vontur soon. The CSS has already gone in the morning to prepare fortifications against the zombies.” General Kai told his comrades. “Our mission there is simple, help CSS in defense and catch Jericho. Understand?”

"Aye sir!" The soldiers responded.

-----

“What a dump. No wonder zombies would go here.” Leon said. 

“Well, it’s what we have to deal with as soldiers.” Orion responded.

The mages of The Red Blood Regiment also felt a strong disturbance, as they felt a bit weak by the aura of the whole place. When they looked around, they realized why this was the case. Mana nullifier crystals; green ones to be precise, littered every part of the city. Even the gas masks of the people living here - which looked like plague doctor masks, had glowing green eyes as they had attached those crystals around the frames of the masks. Seeing the whole place, General Kai then called upon his men to wear their respective gas masks. It turned out that the air in this place was toxic. This meant that they needed to move out as soon as possible

They stopped by a place called 'The Bridge of Pleasure'. They looked around and saw just money grabs everywhere, illegal drug deals in alleyways, Gambling, and lots of people who did had a more 'liberated' way of fashion. This district was made for pleasure and grabbing your money. It made people want to stay there forever.

“Disgusting…” Head Tracker Lake said, but Oliver and Anno were very curious at the whole scene. Blinding green and violet lights coming from the long crystal beams of the buildings made their eyes sparkle as they became hypnotized by all the distractions of the places.. “Comrades, never fall for the scams in this place. This place is made to steal your money. It has all the things that give you pleasure. But, these things lead to you becoming broke. Most of the people here end up in Crows District, a place for the poor.” General Kai told his comrades while pointing at the place they went to.

A giant airship sounded from above. When the Red Blood Regiment heard this, they then realized that Nath is here. "Looks like that's our call." General Kai said. The rest of the Red Blood Regiment nodded and followed him into this club that they needed to surpass in order to follow the direction that Nath and his airship was moving towards.

Along the crowds of people in the club came the loud and defeaning sounds of Vonturian Club Music. Metallic instruments and alcohol was the main ingredient of the building. People kissed and danced everywhere, and it made the entire regiment leave their horses outside to park them somewhere. They were not able to pass through this crowd without leaving them.

Along the crowd was Oliver looking at the middle of the dance floor. There lied a felinian girl dancing who had cat ears. Oliver stood there just watching her. She didn't seem to be someone who was from Vontur. In fact, her fashion sense hinted that she was from somewhere more familiar.... like Karthus.

"You finished chirpsing, fam?" sounded a man with dark skinned human blocking Oliver's view. Oliver suddenly got his eyes up to meet this man who had a long trench coat and chains all over his body as his necklace.

"What?" Oliver said, but what immediately grabbed by Kai. "Keep close." The general said. Oliver nodded and proceeded to follow him till they got outside the club and into a new road.

"Well that was something...." Oliver said, looking back to see the amount of people packing up at the club.

"Eyyy! Wagwan mandem!" The man from the club then said to the group along with a couple of other people dressed similar as him.

General Kai told his comrades to stay close, until an entire regiment of soldiers stood by a dark road in the night. "What?" Anno said, not knowing what the man just said.

"What endz you from, my G?" The man said, while more and more of his men started to appear - from the different houses to the different alleyways around. This did not look well.

"Uh..." Alvin said, looking at Tiffany. Everyone wanted to prepare and take out their weapons, but they also did not want to make a scene at a place they're not from.

"Ravena. We're Red Blood Regiment." Aida suddenly spoke up to the man, who was shocked at her words. The rest of the Red Blood Regiment.

"Oh, you bluds! Should've been obvious. You just got fresh garms fam, tis all." The man said.

"What???" Anno said, slowly looking at Aida along with Oliver. To them, the man was speaking utter gibberish, but Aida somehow understood them.

"All is good. We're heading to the base of The Committee of State Security. Can you take us there?" Aida asked.

"The opps? Nah nah nah we can't do that fam. Big man Nath be boltin us if he finds out 'bout mandem."

"Just the general direction then?"

The men in trench coats stared. Then, they agreed to guide them. When some members asked how Aida understood the men from earlier, Aida then said, "I may or may not have been busy with a certain Vonturian to get used to language like this."

"Besides." General Kai interrupted the comrades talking. "Our regiment has a history here. We helped them defend this country during The Great Orc War, so the old ones are thankful for us."

The comrades nodded, and they made their way to the Capital City through a place called 'Wyvern's Den'. Many people with dark skin and an interesting accent were found in the area. Most were very rich as well, and they had a very strong sense of brotherhood within their people. This sub-culture of Vonturians fascinated the Ravenians, as they continued on to a different gate that looked more polished. So many birds flocked in the skies, and carriages littered the roads. People walked by with very interesting fashion, and the regiment found themselves marveling at this new place they found. "Aight fam, man can't walk more. This ain't my endz no more." The man in the trench coat said.

"Get your crew ready. There's gonna be an attack." Aida said to him, while still getting the regiment to be confused at her for understanding the man. The group of trenchcoats then went back to their places and The Red Blood Regiment continued to meet with Nath in Fort Victoria.

“General Kai Ellington. Nice to meet you again.” They shook hands. 

“I assume you set up the fortifications.” Kai said. Nathaniel nodded and went over to his men. Kai then turned and looked at his comrades. “Alright comrades, get into your positions. As the CSS defends, we will get the civilians hiding.” They nodded in response and got into their positions.

They went back to Crow's Nest and got to their stations. It was going to be one hell of a night.

-----

The Red Blood Regiment sat down at one of the stairs heading towards The Bridge of Pleasure. All of them were exhausted, and needed Tiffany, and the other healers' help to get them revitalized. However, there was no time for magic today, as every mage had no power to heal their comrades. The best they could do was first aid, which they did not know much about. They had to be taught by The Karthusians to know how it worked. In the end, they got around safely and suffered almost no casualties... well... except for the Vonturians.

"Please!!! I can try to not turn! I'll do my best, please!!!" sounded a man in the stairs towards The Bridge of Pleasure. He was then grabbed by Valheim, who then choked him, "Valheim, put him down." General Nath said. Valheim then looked at him. He then spoke...

"This man is about to turn. Make your choice general."

General Nath stared at the man who was becoming pale, and slowly developed a fever. Green veins started to appear on his hand, and he became more rabid. People started to move and encircle the whole place, and Nath was there stuck in the scene.

Suddenly, an arrow flew into the air. No, it was a spear. A very long spear coming from a man, who was known to be a member of an organization called The Steel Guard. "Looks like you were late." Valheim said, looking down. Nath only looked seriously at the entire scene. Everyone was starting to clean up, but the battle was far from over.

"General." Valheim said, still looking at the dead corpse. "Do you have some spare time? I wanna show you something."

Nath looked at his eyes, then to General Kai who was walking towards him. "Nath! Me and my men saw Jericho run into that place-"

A loud vibrating sound erupted, followed by a large shadow casting over them. "What..." sounded Kai, before being pushed by Nath as he ran upstairs into The Bridge of Pleasure. When he arrived at The Bridge of Pleasure, so many people were already dead, along with the men in the trench coats. He called upon his moose to then ride it towards The Capital City of New Haven. Fires erupted throughout the city, and explosions erupted in one particular area.

"The airships..." He then said, seeing the countless airships being burned to the ground, while a single airship flew away into the sky. General Kai was there seeing everything that happened. The Red Blood Regiment then followed.