neobear

336 - Undercurrents

Norshelm, Old District

Scented candles lit up the hall decored thickly with exquisitely patterned drapes. Pillows and cushions laid scattered all around, where couples of all sexes mingled and enjoyed themselves with drinks, food, and exotic drugs.

A marble reclining chair was perched on the far end where a female with both stunning looks and figure lounged lazily like a cat, with several hulking males fawning over her. She moaned seductively in pleasure as t...

335 - All Bets Are Off!

A hush fell among the guests as they eagerly watched the confrontation between lady Titanna, Lord Taron, and Lord Deflin. Some of the guests started to form up behind Lord Taron and Lord Deflin, clearly showing their stance towards House Rothschild while others did the same for Lady Titanna. 

Her female friends, Lady Sophia, Lady Grace, and the young Lady Rosette from House Iris quickly gathered around her, standing by her side to show their support.

Soo...

334 - Retaliation

House Taron Estate

Several figures silently climbed over the fence of the massive estate grounds of House Taron. They scanned their surroundings and carefully avoid both magical spells and physical guards as they stealthily made their way into the large mansion.

"Both of our tangoes should be at the guests' wing of the manor," Tyrier whispered to his men. "We stealth in, grab our two tangoes and exit quietly."

"Try not to get engaged!" Tyrier...

333 - The Purge

Rothschild Estate's Marshaling Yard

Knight Captain Judis eyed the brightly lit windows of the Great Hall where dancing figures and drifts of conversation and music could be heard. "Lord Captain!" An armored soldier stood saluted. "The men have formed up and are ready!"

Judis turned and faced the neat columns of soldiers, the remaining core of his military strength, as hundreds of his men had perished away at the battle of Orwell's Point. "Good. Squad leaders,...

332 - Enemies on Your Doorsteps

Three days passed rapidly and the Rothschild's Estate was a buzzing hive of activity. Wagons of food and barrels of wine were constantly delivered to the Estate while messengers and couriers shuttled to and fore between the City Citadel and Titanna's chancery.

Titanna sighed as another stack of scrolled were placed on her desk, her work seemed to be never ending. She had passed the word that all matters of governance were to be approved by her before they could be submitted.&...

331 - Shaking the City

City of Norshelm

The dull rumble and quake of the ground had the city residents closest to the source woken up from their sleep. They peered out from their windows and wondered what was happening. Those next to the buildings that collapsed down were shocked and they ran out of their houses in their sleepwear, staring dumbstruck at the destruction of their neighboring buildings.

The city guard raced down to the scene to sort out the confusion and fears of the ...

330 - Into the Darkness

Trism eyed the tied up prisoner on the bed and smiled while he placed a small pouch on the table. He unrolled the leather pouch with a flourish like a performer doing a performance for the audience.

He hummed to himself and removed a syringe and a tiny glass bottle with a printed "XP - 117" on the labeling. He placed them side by side and even took the time to slip on a pair of surgical gloves before he poked the syringe into the bottle of clear liquid and pulled the plunger ...

329 - Go Dark

The key turned smoothly in the lock and the well oiled hinges barely made a squeak. Tyrier slowly pushed the gate until it was large enough for a person's body to slip in. One by one, the soldiers of Claymore One entered the gate and stayed low and within the shadows.

From the intel given by the youngster, there should be a couple of guards by the tree. Making sure no one could see them, the soldiers hugged the shadows and slowly crawled forward, making sure to make as little...

328 - Questions and Answers

Tyrier ducked his head into his cloak to checked his tablet when radio communications suddenly cut off with Trism. By doing so, the glow of the tablet's backlight could not be seen in the dark alleyways.

He lowered the brightness and switch the backlight to red instead and he gave out a relieved sigh as he saw the blinking dot indicating the tracker was still working. 

"One to all, Origin must have turned off audio. But the tracker is still going strong....

327 - Stalking the Stalker

Time went by slowly and soon the sun sank down and the streets turned dark. Glow lamps maintained by the city officials were powered up with magic stones by several men wearing long wooden stilts. They strolled along the streets from lamp to lamp and inserted the magic stones into crystal like orbs while children ran and played between their stilts.

The pale glow of the glow lamps and the long stilts made the lamplighters look like some kind of deformed monster from where Tyr...

326 - Cloak And Dagger

Dockside, City of Norshelm

Trism Cott, formerly a street rat that roamed the dark alleyways of the old Capital of Goldrose, sighed as he took in the stench of the city. He found that no matter which city or town, the same stench was ever present, except for the city of Haven.

He adjusted his cloak to ensure it doesn't tangle with the pair of long daggers he kept at his back hip and pushed his way into a pub that had the hanging sign of a fishbone. 

325 - Repercussions

The room was filled with tense silence despite the number of people gathered together. Mills sat on the table, rolling the empty brass cartridge which killed the assassin, to and fore between his hands.

The door suddenly swung open and a priestess and her assistants entered the room. Almost instantly, everyone's eyes were on the trio and the priestess was startled by the sudden attention. 

"Oh... Her Ladyship is now resting. She has suffered some bruises...

324 - Stalker

Outskirts of Norshelm

"Another bust," Mills had removed his outer jacket and remained in his inner white silks, totally giving up on looking the part of a noble. "What a waste of time."

They rode in the carriage out from the mansion which was the last location they came to check out. Tyrier gave a grunt of agreement as he too was disappointed with the choices given. "Too exposed to be properly defended."

"But it is a given," Tyrier added. "Af...

323 - Tea Party

House Iris

An ornately decored carriage bearing the crest of House Rothschild accompanied by a dozen mounted arms men rode up before the wrought gates of the estate of House Iris. The guards waved the carriage and their escorts in after recognizing the crest and the whole convoy arrived at the porte cochere where a small army of doormen and butlers quickly presented themselves neatly in two rolls, welcoming the guest exiting the carriage gratefully.

Dressed i...

322 - House of Cards

"Look, do we need all three of us out to view the property?" Asked an irritated Mills as he, Sgt Tyrier and the Intel Officer shared a rocky carriage. He eyed their no nonsense working attire with jealousy as he was dressed up like a peacock up by the Rothschild's Princess.

A massive amount of fluff seemed to be the clothing of choice among the young nobles as was evidenced by the itchy material bursting out from his collar. He worn a hot and so called fashionably bright blue...

Health Update

Sorry guys, Im currently admitted to hospital last night due to my constant fever. As of now, docs are still trying to figure out what is wrong with me...

I will continue to write once I have recovered, but for now, I'm too ill to do anything...

321 - The Jewel of the South

Port City of Norshelm

Mills woke with a startle, grabbing his service revolver from under his pillow as he sat up straight and scanned his unfamiliar surroundings while breathing heavily. The room was dark, with the only light coming in from the opened window where the breeze from the lake blew in.

He rubbed the sweat off his forehead and pulled his sweat soaked tee off and decocked the hammer of his revolver. Sitting on the edge of the goose feather packed b...

320 - Sins and Depravity

Liz followed closely behind the Claymore Two soldier as they checked each room. The seven Claymore Two soldiers split into two teams, with Liz searching the ground floor with one team while the other team headed upstairs stealthily to secure the premises.

They found the entrance to the basement in one of the study rooms but did not enter it till they ensured the entire building was cleared. Surprisingly, they found no one else living in the townhouse, only a bedroom that look...

319 - Desire

*R21 Warning!!! Do not read this chapter if you are below 21!!!*

Orwell's Point

A shadowy figure detached its self from the eaves of the roof which it has been hiding on. It skited around the edges of the building, from one roof to another, careful not to enter the light of the full moon.

Every now and then, it paused and checked its surroundings, to ensure no one was following it before it continued on.

Finally, it reached t...

318 - The Mission

Haven, Camp Alpha, Commandant's Office

Frank Lee stood by the windows watching the recruits on their daily morning run on the parade ground. On his uniform shoulder sat two golden globes, signifying his promotion to Lieutenant Colonel.

His youthful face mismatched his rank as he just turned twenty three years old this year, yet the steel in his eyes wasn't a lie as the experience he had gone through was a lot more compared to his peers back on Earth.

2019-09-18 11:35:24 +0000 UTC View Post

317 - Why Can't We Be Friends?

"But you are saying these soldiers are actually dead?" Joseph asked. "Won't they rot away or something?"

"I think they are using some kind of arcane blood for them to slow down the decay," Magister Thorn said. "I have some sample of their blood which I will be analyzing it, but my theory is that it keeps them from decomposing and also keeping their bodies alive."

"And the Dark Stone kind of acts as a power source that powers the organs, keeping the...

316 - Autopsy

North Front

"Come on!" A figure in a mud stain white jacket with a red cross patch on his sleeve and chest pocket waved at the group of dirty and tired slaves. "Anyone with injuries?"

"Here!" A couple of hands rose in the air and the doctor with his assistants bearing stretchers came over. 

They loaded the body of the half naked slave onto the stretcher while the doctor checked the patient's dirty bandages. "Looks like he lost quite a bi...

315 - Tick Tock

Orwell's Point, Marine Stronghold, CO's Office

Joseph disconnected from the video conference he just had ended with Captain Blake and gave off a deep breath as he relaxed his body. He started to tidy up his desk as his mind reviewed the meeting he had with Blake.

Six thousand, four hundred and three Imperial soldiers had surrendered or captured. Another two thousand seven hundred and twenty one Imperial soldiers with vary degrees of wounds, from gunshots, shr...

314 - Lend A Hand?

Haven, UNS Singapore, Conference Room

"Moel Rothschild has been confirmed to be killed in action during the battle of the trenches," Fleet Intelligence officer, Tavor reported at the staff meeting. "We managed to have his next of kin identified his remains before they cemented him."

"We had yet to located the high value target which is the commander of the Black Scorpion Legion," Tavor said next. "I have several analytic teams going over the UAV footage of th...

313 - Sorting Out The Pieces

Orwell's Point, Marine Stronghold

Titanna Rothschild paced anxiously in her comfortably decorated cell. She has heard from the servants, guards, and even that magical entertaining box that played music and current topics of the city that the Imperial Army had been defeated with over half of its strength destroyed and the rest either surrendered or running.

She did not believe that this group of barbarians had the power to wipe out her families' military might...

312 - Intelligence

At least now, without any leadership, the remaining Imperials were just a rabble, like a wyvern without a head. He just needed his Marines to mop up the remaining threat and the Northern Front could be considered pacified.

Joseph nodded to him ask he listened to the coming reports from his staff. He eyed the map, where several red wood blocks listed locations where sizeable pockets of the enemy still resisted.

"Sir, the sallying force has engaged the Imperial...

311 - Chasing the Scorpion

The Rock ripped his dented helm off his bald head and wiped away the dribble of blood that trickled out over his face. He glared with unsuppressed anger at the enemy for causing the destruction of the majority of his forces with just a simple ploy.

Now he was trapped in the enemy's tunnels with barely a quarter of his Legion still with him. Hundreds of other Imperial soldiers were trapped here and there with his men. He couldn't advance in the tunnels due to those cursed Drag...

310 - Operation Firestorm

Orwell's Point, Airfield

The heavy rumble of the twin engined Mariners drowned out all noise at the runways. The ground crew made last minutes urgent checks to the two aircraft lined up on the runway before a green flag was raised for each of the planes.

The pilots of both Mariners acknowledged the salutes of the ground crew and pushed the throttle of their engines to the max and released their brakes. Soon both planes took off into the skies with a belly ful...

309 - Bronze VS Lead

"Pull all the troops back and attack here!" Moel Rothschild commanded his aides. "There is a breach in the enemy lines!"

The Imperial runners saluted and hastily rode off to relay the message to the rest of the battlefield. Flags and horns were soon waved and blown, redirecting the masses of Imperial troops towards the breach in the UN defense lines.

"Double time!" Moel yelled. "We can't let the Black Scorpions take all the credit! Faster! Move faster!"

308 - Terminator

The Rock shook his head at the pathetic display as the routed soldiers ran away without any sense of dignity. He gave a glance at Moel Rothschild who seemed to be paralyzed with shock as he stood there without any action or expression.

He raised his hand and gave the signal to his troops, the Black Scorpion Legion to advance. The smoke that lingered over the battlefield will provide adequate cover and shield from the enemy eyes.

Over two thousand black armore...