Chapter 150 - Creuliz

The next day, at Creuliz...

"Harrison wants us to redeploy men? What?" Nox asked in confusion, resting his head in his armored hands as he leaned against a sterile metallic office desk, devoid of the usual trinkets that would accompany a man of his position. "Has the message been tampered with?"

"Not that I know of, sir." A Nest messenger stood at attention, trying his hardest not to stare at the glimpses of Nox's hands between the gaps of the armor. No one had seen him without his armor set, some even suggesting that he goes to sleep in it. "It has his personal signature and seal on it as well."

Nox didn't reply, turning over the unsealed letter in his hands, trying to check for any signs of forgery or interception. He wouldn't put it past the Ghosts to attempt it, as it would be the only way to get him to move out of Creuliz. But it makes no sense. The whole point of sending Yona over was that if she failed, she could leak the location, creating the perfect ambush. 

But despite the illogical reasoning behind the order, Nox couldn't refute that the letter in front of him was a bonafide Harrison order, at least he couldn't with his mere eyes. "Take the letter to the alchemists. I want the letter inspected for any irregularities in layering and composition. Don't come back until the report is ready."

The messenger gave a sharp salute, grabbing the letter off Nox's table and leaving the room. Nox continued to rest his head in his armored hands, pondering on the next steps. If the order is legitimate, I will be severely underequipped to launch an ambush should the Ghosts attempt to attack. His mind ran the countless scenarios that he could think of, trying to predict the steps. Yet his heart told him it was a near-futile attempt, the Ghosts having outpaced them at countless junctures since the war began.

The only thing I can do is make sure the odds are in my favor. Nox stood up from his chair, leaving the room out into the open, bright floodlights flashing past him as countless observation towers swept all over the surrounding buildings, illuminating metal grilles and disgruntled prisoners. Shouts and ringing clangs of metal batons against bars could be heard all over the prison as guards fought resistant prisoners into submission while other prisoners formed long factory lines, producing garments and other materials for the war. Nox's gaze was met by a few observant prisoners, their faces filled with rage.

"Sir, the prisoner is ready for interrogation." A Nest guard saluted him, having guarded the door to his office.

"Are you sure? I don't want him to fall unconscious again." Nox shot him a suspicious look as the two walked off down the hallway.

"We have a new method to ensure that he remains awake. I assure you that he is very much conscious." The Nest guard nodded with a satisfied grin.

Nox stopped in his tracks, glaring at the Nest guard with an intimidating stare. "I want him alive. If I find that any of your methods would result in a premature death... you will be the first Nest guard to grace the pit. Understood."

The satisfied grin on the Nest guard's face was wiped right off entirely, returning a muted nod. "Good," Nox muttered, continuing to walk. Descending staircases led him into the lower levels of the prison building, each hallway flanked on both sides by criminals from all over Versia. They gripped the rusted iron bars that held them in cells with a tight clasp, staring daggers into the nonchalant Nox, who strolled past without even giving them so much as a glance.

Soon, Nox and the Nest guard were deep below ground, entering a filth-ridden room where music was blasting with crackling static out of arctech radio. In the very center was an old man who had his arms hung up by chains pegged to the ceiling, while he stood naked in soiled underwear, shivering from the cold water that trickled down his face with each drop, the drips incessant. Still, despite the harrowing experience of non-stop music and water dripping, the old man tried his best to keep calm, his entire being focused on surviving.

"Stop the music." Nox motioned to the Nest guard, restoring the stench-ridden room to its original silence, only the pitter-patter of water seeping in from the top splashing against the man's skin. "Leave us."

As the guard left the room, Nox dragged over a metal chair from the corner, taking a seat right in front of the wavering old men. "Enjoying your stay?" Nox taunted, a knowing smile growing on his face as he watched the agony play out on the man's expression. "It doesn't have to be this unpleasant."

"The music is better than your voice." The man croaked, his voice hoarse from the months of screaming and wailing in the early days of his torture. Now, he had lost all energy to even react to new sources of pain.

"Looks like you still have a spark in you after all. The original revolutionaries are really something else, huh?" Nox leaned back in the chair, relaxing while the man shifted uncomfortably, his entire body weight pinning against his wrists that were chained up. "Saints of resistance, embodiment of solidarity."

"Something a dog of Harrison would never understand."

"Enough quips." Nox's relaxed expression disappeared in an instant. "Tell me everything you know about the Ghosts."

The man chuckled at Nox's words, a rare smile breaking out. "Hasn't Yona told you everything?"

"You're one of the leaders of the Ghosts. I know you know much more than her." Nox pressed. "Who's behind the Ghosts? Who's funding them? How are they getting their weapons?"

"Nothing I would know. You're barking up the wrong tree. I'm just a figurehead."

"A Minister, being a mere figurehead? Don't belittle yourself, Dekar." Nox grunted. "You're going to tell me, or we can have this same scene played out for the next few months, all while your precious Ghosts will be crushed into dust."

Dekar didn't reply, the smile still plastered on his face as he looked into Nox's eyes. The silence infuriated Nox more than ever, causing him to leap out of his chair and grab Dekar by the neck. "You of all people should know just how dangerous this armor set is. A single burst of arcia energy could snap your neck from its body, spine and all. Last chance, Dekar." Nox whispered angrily.

"Last chance?" Dekar was hardly intimidated, the threat of death barely fazing him. "Oh, I think there will be more chances. After all, you wouldn't have come to me if you had actually crushed the Ghosts - which means they already defeated whatever you threw at them. And by my calculations, considering Yona isn't around any longer to try and dig information out of me, I suppose she has already been captured by the Ghosts."

"You can live in such a fantasy if you wish." Nox grinned.

"The same goes for you. Kill me if you want. I've already made my peace. Harrison and Mornero's reign over Versia will not last long. If you have even an ounce of brain matter in that disfigured skull of yours, you would know what's the right side to take." Dekar spat at Nox. "Even a self-serving dog knows when to turn."

Nox pulled back his grip before throwing a fast punch at Dekar, his fist narrowly missing Dekar's cheeks by just an inch. The armored knuckles slammed into the wall, creating a spiderweb of cracks that expanded rapidly. Dekar still didn't react, the same old knowing smile still infuriating Nox.

Nox stormed out of the room, knowing that he wasn't going to be getting anything more out. "Turn the music back on. I want it at double volume, non-stop!" Nox ordered the guard sternly. "If he so much as starts to drift to sleep, splash one gallon of water on him. Am I clear?"

The guard nodded vigorously, Nox returning back to ground level with frustration. He had already spent months trying to wrangle out information from the Minister about the Ghosts' capabilities. However, Dekar wasn't a fool either, knowing just exactly how much he was worth. Nox did not expect the Minister to have held out this long despite all the numerous methods he had experimented on him. Potions, chemicals, plain old torture, and sleep deprivation were all ineffective on him. Damn nobles, what did you do to Dekar in the past? 

Still, Nox wasn't one to be hung up about the dead-end. All he could do was to continue working Dekar, and preparing for the inevitable Ghost attack. He was about to put Harrison's order to the back of his mind, when the messenger suddenly returned to him with a prepared report. Nox snatched it off the messenger, reading it intently.

"So the order is real... gather the officers. Call for an emergency meeting now."

The Nest officers responded rapidly, meeting in one of the prison's conference room to deliberate on the next steps. "No signs of any movements. We've had scouts posted all along the border from Desham at a safe distance, but we haven't seen any Ghosts try to leave yet. As far as we know, the last time they struck out was when they hit the airfield." One of the Nest officers reported.

"Yet there are reports of growing unrest in Tenar. Harrison wants men back there suppressing the potential revolts." Nox explained the latest order.

"That's.... that would be a terrible decision. Our primary objective is to serve as an ambush point for the Ghosts. As long as we have Minister Dekar and other prisoners here, we can continue to use them as leverage and a bargaining tool." The officer complained. "Reducing our manpower here would be foolish!"

"There won't be a 'bargain' - I never believed in staking all our hopes in this ambush. The Ghosts are doing exactly what I expected and are concentrating their forces in Tenar, where the real seat of power is. If Harrison or Mornero falls, us holding Minister Dekar does no good!" Another officer countered.

"Leaving the prison defenseless only serves as a recruiting point for future Ghosts. If we let any of the prisoners free, they would boost the Ghosts and their numbers to height unimaginable." The first officer retorted.

"Then we should slaughter all of them! Have them all executed publicly." The second officer shot back.

"And make martyrs out of all of them?! You idiot, that would only galvanize the undecided into rallying with the Ghosts, pushing them right into the enemy's hand!" The first officer stood up from his seat, infuriated.

"Enough!" Nox sternly warned. "There is a way that we can solve these issues and still come on top. Do not make a false dichotomy between options. You, you've been working on recruiting new Nest soldiers, haven't you?" He pointed towards another officer.

The third officer nodded vehemently. "Yes, sir. I have, but it's not been enough to sustain our manpower needs. Our traditional recruiting processes are done by word of mouth and member recommendation to prevent unwanted infiltration and accountability-"

"Cancel all of that. You have three days to set up a generic recruitment camp aimed at everyone. We need boots on the ground to fight against the Ghosts. Offer the new recruits food and lodging, that would be enough to get the manpower that we need." Nox ordered. "I expect the rest of you to work with him. Once we have them trained in two weeks, we shall send them over to Tenar in compliance with Harrison's order while we retain our experienced men here to deal with the incoming attack."

The officers murmured in agreement, Nox satisfied with the outcome. The newly joined Nest recruits would not be inducted as full members anyway, only serving as wartime conscripts. He was effectively doing the same thing as the military, capitalizing on the glut of refugees who had been rejected from Tenar and were trying their chances in Creuliz.

Over the next week, word spread out through the tense city of the new offer, many desparate souls clamouring to be the first to sign up. The surge in new recruits required Nox to assign more veterans to oversee and formalize the training of the recruits, leading a crash course in combat and utilization of weaponry as well as armor. "Sir, we'll need to reduce the number of prison guards if we want to train all the new recruits coming in."

"Do it. Focus on the long-term goal. Each recruit a veteran trains is akin to multiplying our forces." Nox nodded. As each day passed, he redoubled his efforts to search out the movements of the Ghosts, scouts posted all along the Keru Forest. At the same time, reports of skyrocketing ration prices and lack of food in Tenar began trickling in. Some reports came through Harrison's network, while most came through the refugees whose flow into Creuliz never seemed to ebb, a constant stream of shambling starving bodies arcing out into the distance across barren fields long stripped. A continuous tension strained the nerves of the Nest soldiers, Nox not spared from it either as each night felt like an eternity, Nox's brain continuously on alert.

Yet the attack never came. Night after night, the fatigue started to creep onto the officers and Nox, paranoia seeping in like a niggling worm into the back of their minds. However, finally the blade fell. "Sir, there was a major attack at the industrial sector of Tenar today." The same messenger reported in a week after Harrison's initial order. "Harrison is requesting the men be sent over within two days."

"That's impossible, they are not trained yet!" Nox burst out in anger, but knew he could not do anything against his employer. Yet before he reluctantly carried out the order, he paused for a brief moment, thinking deeply while his instincts cried out in warning. Would the Ghosts have predicted this? The very instant that I oversaw the transfer of personnel and logistics to Tenar, they would strike the prison...? For all Nox knew, this could very well be the critical moment. "Tell the officers to double the guards in the prison for the next two days. Forget the recruits for now - the Ghosts are coming."

His subordinate did not question his orders, immediately recalling the veterans and trainers back to the prison to bolster the walls. Observation towers were loaded with mounted arctech repeaters, while prisoners were barred from field time, trapping them in each of their cells as the tension built up. Nox checked over and over again the fortifications of the prison, ensuring that there would be no gaps in security. "Not a single rat must get in and out. Post guards to the end of the sewage pipes. I want someone watching over every fucking possible entrance!" Nox barked orders.

As day turned into night, Nox waited with bated breath, his eyes scanning the night sky feverishly with an anticipation that overwhelmed him. Each tap of his armored foot only counted down to the imminent attack, putting him at the edge of his seat the entire night. Still, the attack didn't come, even as daylight started to break out. Nox rubbed his sleepy eyes, his body suffering from sleep deprivation and continuous waiting.

The Nest guards were no better off, many yawning with their eyelids far too heavy to keep open. Thankfully, they were near the end of their shift, an hour till the crack of dawn. Some were already snoozing off in hidden corners, away from their equally tired officers. It was this very instant, just when all was calm and quiet that a sudden loud explosion could be heard from within the city, the shockwave rocking Nox's office slightly and jolting him into action.

"What was that?" Nox asked around, his throat dry while the guards all stumbled back into alertness, wondering where the explosion was.

"Sir! The recruit camps and their armories are under attack!" A guard cried out, prompting Nox to immediately peer over the city, where large columns of billowing ash and soot was spiralling up, fires enveloping the districts where the recruit camps had been.

"Shit! Move, assemble the squads and move now!" Nox urgently ordered, motioning frantically to the guards. "We can't lose the recruits. We need them! Go, NOW!" He roared, galvanizing the Nest troops into action as they sortie out en masse. Wagons carrying Nest soldiers and weaponry spilled out onto the streets, racing to the scene before suddenly coming under heavy fire from the flanking buildings that dotted the city.

Multiple skirmishes broke out as Nest clashed with Ghosts, the Ghosts stalling and preventing from being able to rescue any of the recruits. Those who were supposed to be on the day shift were also allocated to the fight, pushing back against the Ghosts who seemed to be able to rapidly move from apartment to apartment, creating a close quarter nightmare battle for Nox and his men.

Casualties began to mount as even the trained Nest veterans were slowly chipped away by the hit and run tactics of the Ghosts. By the time the veterans finally had a successful push into one of the recruit camps, it was far too late - almost all of the recruits were killed by the fire and subsequent raids, their training far too lackluster to even hold a candle against the rapidfire attacks of the Ghosts.

Nox slammed his office desk out of anger at the casualty reports coming in through his arctech radio. "Those damn Ghosts - they knew what was happening! We wasted our resources on the recruits!" He cursed under his breath, frustration welling up in his tired heart. "Envelop all of the Ghosts! I don't want a single one of them getting out of Creuliz! Round up every collaborator and shoot them on sight!"

The battle raged through the day, the ebbing fires leaving behind smoldering bodies and charred remains of buildings as Nest soldiers dug through the debris. They did not look for survivors, only hunting for usable weaponry that may have endured the brutal heat, all while firefights shifted along the city, the Ghosts being extremely hard to pin down. Roads and buildings were totaled, slowly carving the city and its antique houses into a rugged battlefield littered with clouds of crumbling dust and muddy soil blown up into the air. It felt like there were more and more Ghosts appearing out of the walls no matter what Nox tried to do, each kill leading to two more Ghosts taking their place.

"How is it possible they are getting so many armed men into the city without me even knowing?!" Nox raged. "Cut off the entire city, lockdown the whole area!" But just as his men rushed out of the prison to complete the order, Nox suddenly felt a rumbling tremor right beneath his office floor, a strange reverberating vibration that echoed in a rhythm. Nox geared up, donning his replacement helmet once more and his armshields while he prepared for a fight, barking orders into his arctech radio. "The Ghosts are attacking the prison now! Fall back, fall back!" Nox urged. "All veterans must return before-"

Nox could hardly react when he felt the concrete floor behind him shift violently, one of the structural pillars gave way, crumbling to the ground while the foundation of the prison building he was in wobbled unsteadily. He struggled to keep his footing, clinging onto the railing of a descending staircase in vain. Just as he finally regained his balance, the next pillar gave way, the entire building collapsing in a waterfall of soot, dust, and concrete chunks that threatened to bury Nox alive as he crashed onto the ground floor.

The impact sent a jolt of pain through his body, followed by the thunderous slam of a concrete slab right onto of his chest. His armor glowed brightly with arctech engravings, absorbing the impact as the burst of arcia energy snaked from the chest to his back, storing into a dazzling arcia crystal safely tucked away behind layers of armor plates. Nox grunted as he summoned a little of that energy, using it to break apart the concrete slab, pinning him down and breaking free.

As he regained his senses, he spotted a Ghost donning arctech knight armor riding an armored mineral ant like a steed, the remains of the foundational pillar trapped between its mandibles. Those things ate through the ground?! Nox didn't have time to find an answer, the riding Ghost immediately locking onto him and firing his Aspis MK2 repeater at him. Nox leaped out of the way while using his armshields to deflect the incoming barrage, rolling into a collapsed prisoner cell, its former occupants' heads already splattered into mush by the falling debris.

The mineral ant charged forward, but at the very moment it reached within a foot of the cell, Nox jumped out of cover with a surprise charge, slamming the tip of his arm shield with reserve energy collected from the concrete slab. The sharp, cold tip pierced through the mineral ant's armor like it was butter, but it didn't push deep enough into the flesh to deal any severe damage. A claw swipe from the ant swung at Nox with full force, sending Nox skidding along the ground. Again, the force of the blow was absorbed by the armor, the crystal behind now red hot and searing.

A reinforced jump by Nox sent him three meters high, twirling in the air as he slashed downward toward the mineral ant. The Ghost tried to steer the mineral ant to block the attack, but the movements of the ants were sluggish and slow to react to the commands. The strike found its mark, the tip of the arm shield this time driving right through the Ghost's neck with the help of gravity. Nox knocked the impaled Ghost off the mineral ant, pinning him into the cluttered piles of debris. With a flick of his arm, he cleanly sliced the head of the Ghost off, returning to a fighting posture, arms raised and ready to battle the mineral ant.

The moment the Ghost died, instead of trying to kill Nox, the mineral ant jerked erractically before immediately fleeing away from Nox. It barreled through the debris in a bid to exit the collapsed ruin of the prison building, leaving Nox utterly stunned. A call from afar shook him out of his stupor, prompting Nox to look towards the source - a Nest officer who was limping from the fall.

"Sir! Glad to see you alive. We need to rally the troops. There are dozens of Ghosts attacking us-" The Nest officer couldn't finish his sentence, a brutal projectile bursting out from behind his back, tearing through his organs and ribcage in a rotational frenzy. The projectile whizzed right towards Nox, far too fast for Nox to even dodge it. That's the same projectile that Ghost leader used!

With no time to waste, he moved his already raised armshields slightly, blocking the projectile head-on, knowing that he had blocked it the last time they fought. Yet whatever assumptions he had were useless against the newly improved projectile, which exploded upon impact with so much force that Nox was sent flying, tumbling into a smoldering heap against a pile of debris.

His armor struggled to absorb the resulting kinetic energy, the crystal beginning to overheat on his back. Instead of staying down, Nox frantically knelt over and slammed both his fists on the ground as quickly as he could, summoning all of the energy that was overloading the crystal. The ground shudder violently like a miniature earthquake, cracks spreading out across the ground rapidly. Nox huffed and panted, the blow disorientating his mind and senses while the crystal rapidly cooled down, no longer threatening to explode.

Just as he lifted his head, he heard the distinctive firing of another railgun projectile, undoubtedly aimed at him. This time, he didn't try to block it, instead instinctively using the armshield to deflect it with a fluid motion, though the resulting explosion still knocked him back a meter. Nox barely had time to recover when he suddenly spotted a rapidly approaching shadow from the corner, the flash of a crescent blade striking out from his blind spot.

He narrowly ducked, the blade cutting the air where his head was. His training kicked in, his muscle memory flowing through his veins as he unleashed an upward kick at the shadow, both hands pushing off the ground to follow through. The shadow dodged at the last instant, spinning backward and creating distance. Nox gritted his teeth as he recovered again to a fighting posture, slightly recognizing his opponent from the intel reports he had received. "So, the Ghost leader sent you alone to die? You're going to need more than -"

"She isn't alone." An unnerving familiar voice from behind forced Nox to hurriedly throw a punch behind, only for the fist to be stopped by a towering exosuit unlike anything Nox had seen before. The glistening arcia energy against the deadly armor only intimidated him even more, his strike halted by a single hand while the armshield's tip was inches away from the exosuit's helmet eyeslit, behind which were the same amber eyes he recalled from before.

Nox tried to speak, but he suddenly felt his entire body flung to the side, his world spinning rapidly as he crashed to the ground, Kyle having tossed him with a simple flick. The dizzying sensation caused Nox to stagger in his attempts to stand back up while Kyle surveyed the collapsed building, the Spear of Defiance in his other hand. "Seems like you alone would be enough, Sasha. Hold them off with the others while I rescue Dekar." Kyle ordered, using the spear to sweep away the debris blocking the staircase leading deeper below.

Sasha nodded, readying her crescent blade fashioned from a mineral ant's claw against the stumbling Nox as Kyle left. "Trying to run? You won't get out of this place alive! Not you or the girl!" Nox taunted in a bid to stop Kyle. However, Kyle did not stop, continuing to descend the staircase into the prison, his eyes locked on the purpose of the prison raid.

The sounds of fighting, gunfire and battle shouts slowly ebbed away the deeper Kyle went, his humongous exosuit storming through the dark hallways where confused and frightened prisoners were all clamoring at the bars. With a single slice of his Spear, Kyle cut through the bars with ease, freeing all of them. "Find your freedom. As for those who were Ghosts, your leader has returned. Fight!"

The prisoners were stunned at the strength of Kyle's slice, their cell gates toppling over like it was a piece of paper. At the drop of a hat, the prisoners broke out in a frenzy, charging up towards the same staircase from which Kyle had came from. None of them dared to follow Kyle or even attack him, leaving Kyle free to explore the rest of the hallway.

Just as he approached the corridor that led to Dekar's holding cell, he instead made a sharp turn, seemingly looking for something else as the new route took him down staircases that led deeper and deeper into the ground. He could hardly hear anything apart from his own breathing echoing against the helmet and the thumps of his footsteps. It was only when he reached the bottom of the last staircase, that he spotted his true destination.

"Stop right there! Who the hell are you?" A Nest guard roared from down a corridor ten meters away, accompanied by four others who were positioned right outside a strange metal door. They wielded two mounted arctech repeaters down the narrow corridor with no room for cover, prepared to shred Kyle to pieces.

"I'm here to free the man behind that door." Kyle said with a calm voice, taking two steps forward while the Nest squad armed the repeaters.

"There's no one down here." The Nest guard grunted, his arms tensing up. "FIRE!" He ordered, but he wasn't prepared for the sudden acceleration from Kyle. All he could see in his last moments was a rushing black figure of fury, the speed unimaginable as Kyle grabbed the squad leader's face and crushed it against the wall of the narrow corridor. The Nest guards' hearts all skipped a beat, watching Kyle close the ten-meter gap in just the blink of an eye.

None of them stood a chance, Kyle performing three simple sweeps and swings of his spear, expertly gutting and slicing the heads of all the Nest guards. The system notifications of the kills weren't even worth a look, Kyle knowing their EXP would be just a drop in the vast pool he needed. What he was interested in was the strange metal door - a rusted brown door thicker than most building walls. Even he knew that it would take too much effort to break it down with just his hands.

Instead, he aimed his Spear at the hinges of the metal door, jabbing with precision. Miniature explosions erupted, breaking the hinges from the inside out. With a simple kick, Kyle caused the metal door to topple over with a loud bang, revealing a large empty cell the size of a house. It was conspicuously devoid of life, safe for a gigantic human tied up in chains against the wall, kneeling on the ground with his arms held up. The human was even larger than Kyle was in the exosuit, but Kyle wasn't intimidated in the slightest.

The horrid condition of the cell showed that nearly no one had been in here for ages, save for the regular torture of the prisoner in question. Thick, rusted metal clasped around the bony wrists of the prisoners, the malnutrition visible as skin clung to bone with barely any fat nor muscle visible. Yet Kyle could see a pair of clear eyes staring back at him through the disheveled, overgrown hair and beard that masked the prisoner's gaunt face.

Kyle took measured steps forward, eyes checking for traps while the prisoner coughed violently, each movement of his body rattling the chains. "The statues in Tenar certainly did not do your size justice," Kyle remarked, the Spear tucked in one arm while approaching the prisoner.

"...who are you...?" The prisoner weakly mumbled, his body unable to keep up with the fire in his gaze.

"I am the leader of the Ghosts. And I have come to rescue you, President Johan."