Chương 146: 59 - WAR FOR PARADISE

The hunters and mercenaries were rapidly flooding the beaches of the Looter's Paradise. The Gracelandians manning the walls continued to fire all sorts of magic down from above. Though the enemy were easy targets, there was no shortage of defensive loots on their side, meaning for every 1 shot that hit its target, there were 20 more that were blocked or missed. At first glance, there were around 200 of them, with the Razorwind soldiers making up most of the front line.

The non-lethal command was definitely hampering their ability to fight back, as most of their guns were offline. But guns and loot weren't the only things they were packing. One of them launched some mechanical device right on top of the wall. The device beeped and then flashed a searing light, temporarily blinding the Gracelandians up there. Seizing the opportunity, they fired their rappel guns and started scaling the side of Graceland's walls.

However, they had failed to see that a member of their opposition wasn't on the walls but down on the beach with them. Vienna fired three shots, each of them striking a vital in the soldiers' necks. They dangled helplessly from their rappels as they bled out. When the others turned to respond, there was no attack: just empty beach and the cover of the coming night. Then more shots. A fourth. A fifth. Six men dead in the matter of seconds. The soldiers began to scramble for any semblance of something attacking them.

One of them noticed something moving in the sand.

"THE SHADOWS!" The shadows beneath their feet suddenly emerged from the ground, changing from a 2d shape to a 3-dimensional woman. She seized one by the throat with one hand and fired her pistol into the eye of the other, spilling blood across the sand. The others started firing their weapons. They had switched to less-lethals: stun guns, guns with bean bag rounds, and rubber bullets. They packed a punch when hit but were only effective at closer ranges.

Vienna dipped back into the shadows to narrowly avoid the blast of a bean bag gun to her chest. When she popped out again, she was immediately met with a spray of rubber bullets. One of them ripped through the sleeve of her track jacket before she slipped away. Once they caught on to her shadow loot, they quickly formed a formation around it, keeping an eye on the ground and walls where her shadow form would be. The soldiers were quick-minded and adaptable. They were trained by the same man who trained her.

She disengaged, reemerging on the other side of the wall. She had used her shadow form to sneak through a small opening she had made earlier. Before she could rethink her plan, she heard the Gracelandians shouting, "HUNTERS AT THE GATE!" Unlike the mercenaries, the hunters weren't equipped with special gadgets and formations. They only knew one thing, and that was loot. When their boats landed, one of them used a wind loot to launch several of them immediately to the top of the wall.

The elements clashed and flashed as the two sides came to blows. A large suited man approached the front gate of the city, protected by his forcefield loot. He drove both his hands into the moveable wall protecting the city. When he did, the solid object seemed to melt into a putty-like substance, and he pulled it open like drapes to a window. They were in the city now, and the battle spilled into the streets. Buildings quickly went up in flames or ice or, in some instances, a greasy black sludge.

Some of them just toppled over at the foundation as Corlander's army forced their way through. Though several of them wouldn't make it to a Gracelandian kill. They were met with a few exploding IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) courtesy of a few traps Vienna had laid for them. Cannon surfaced in the ocean amidst a sinking ship. The hunters that were on it desperately tried to swim to the shore. However, some of them were dragged down to the depths by their own extravagant outfits.

He treaded water, watching the explosions at the city gates. He tried to leap back over there, but no matter how much strength he had, there was no jumping off water.

"Maybe I didn't think that elbow drop all the way through."

"What the hell, people!? This wasn't part of the deal! You're polluting my ocean!" Someone was mouthing off around him, but the voice sounded like it was half muffled by water. Cannon searched around for the source. It was the fishman, the one in charge of transporting people to and from the city. He looked pissed. But not as pissed as Cannon looked back at him. Then the fish creature realized that he wasn't shouting at a hunter.

"Oh… you're one of the…" He tried to swim away, but Cannon grabbed him by his scaly, webbed feet.

"Come on, man. I was just kidding. What deal? There wasn't a deal?" Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Cannon squeezed the leg until the pain made the guy stop squirming.

"Remind me. Whose side are you on again?"

"The ocean. I'm just a fish, I swear."

"So what's this I hear about a deal?" Fishman hesitated to answer, leading to Cannon squeezing the life out of his ankle.

"Ow, ow. Okay. Okay… Look, I love being a fish. But I can't just eat kelp and seaweed all day. Those hunter guys, they make some real nice seafood… not that I'm eating my brethren, but it's good food. All I had to do was let a few over occasionally for some friendly reconnaissance. That's all. I didn't know they were going to start a war." Cannon held his grip firm.

"If I remember right, Graceland is the reason you have the power to be a fish in the first place. You should remember which side you're supposed to be on. If you don't pick right, you can sleep with the fishes all you want." Moments later, Cannon was being thrust back into the battle by an ocean wave powered by a four-stack of water loot. It launched his forcefielded body right into a pack of hunters like the cannonball he was.

And thanks to the fishman, anyone who was even touching the water wasn't making it back to shore. Hard to swim when the water itself was pulling them under. The boats that had yet to make landfall were conveniently redirected by a sudden whirlpool. Redirected to the bottom of the ocean, that was. Just like that, about a quarter of the Corlander forces were gone. Little did everyone know, the great beast rumored to be protecting Graceland's shores was just a man who looked like a fish.

Though not everyone was traveling by boat.

"Vienna. Several aircraft incoming from the northeast." German informed her in her mind.

"Right." She watched Cannon dismantle the hunters at the gate and left him to it. She was making her way up the eastern side of the island. If aircraft were coming, she had a good idea of who would be on them. Commander Desmond Hobbs stood in the back of a military-grade helicopter rapidly approaching the battle. He was strapped with a less-lethal rifle, a bulletproof flak jacket, and his salt-and-pepper goatee. In the back with him were several of his most trusted soldiers, along with two carry-ons.

"Why is this helicopter so dirty? I thought we held our military to a better standard than this." Madam Mauve was sitting down, clutching her chair for dear life as she tried to wipe the dust off the bottom of her purple silk dress.

"I ain't military, sweetheart. I suggest you leave your dignity at the door. It's looking hairier than monkey's snatch down there."

"What a repulsive word choice?" She said, clutching her pearls.

"Monkeys are beautiful creatures." Emil slowly moaned. He was wearing an all-black tuxedo with the sleeves ripped off, showing off his scrawny tattooed arms. His long dark hair brushed over his eyelashes with the turbulence in the air.

"They were us at our most natural as God intended. A hairy snatch is just an unfortunate by-product."

"Emil, what on earth are you talking about?"

"Just ignore me. I'm not worth listening to." There was a fire bomb that went off just outside of the helicopter. They were only undamaged by the forcefield shielding the craft, though it still knocked everyone off balance for a moment.

"Time to quit flapping your gums. We got a job to do." Hobbs commanded. They were hovering above the city. The Gracelandians below were attempting to shoot them out of the sky to no avail. One of Hobbs ' soldiers shot back with a giant ball of air, coated with sand. When it hit the city streets, the people there dispersed, struggling to breathe the corrupted air. They dispersed, clearing an opening for them to drop. One by one, Hobbs commanded his men to rappel down into the city.

Each of them landed in formation, every direction covered by a rifle. One of the soldiers offered a hand to Emil to get him hooked up to the line. The gothicman got up on his own, scoffing at the help. Without warning, he jumped out of the helicopter without a cord, a parachute, or anything. He was in open freefall when he uttered the name, "Gladus." A giant white bear materialized in the air underneath him. Its head nearly touched the bottom of the helicopter, which was about 50 feet in the air.

Emil landed in the soft comfort of its furry arms, and the thing began to slowly march into the city, holding him like a child.

"That's bigger than it was before…" said Hobbs. The air around them suddenly formed an icy chill.

"Alright, your turn, Sweetheart." Mauve was still glued to her chair, shaking her head.

"I don't do heights. I'll patiently wait for the pilot to land, thank you very much." Hobbs shook his head, "You gaudy people." The pilot glanced back at him.

"As the lady says, find a spot to land without getting blown up." His soldier strapped the hook to his flak jacket as he looked down at the city. On top of a nearby building, he could just barely see the outline of a woman.

"That's a sight I had hoped to see…" Vienna was staring up at him, bloody daggers in her eyes. He flashed a toothy grin. He stared her dead, even after the bullet bounced off the helicopter's shield.

"Sir?" The soldier held his hand out, making sure the bullet didn't kill his commander with his shield.

"Yeah. I'm going." He glanced away, and when he looked back, she was already gone. He shook his head and leaped down to the city streets. He cocked his rifle and stood in formation behind the rest of his men.

"Remember. Less-lethal until we can confirm the loot of the enemy." He spoke into his earpiece. Emil was sitting inside one of the coffee shops, waiting patiently for the night to end. Gladus the Glacier bear was outside, smashing everything it found into pieces of solid ice. The Skull Eater was there too, rapturing people with its massive strength and green flame. Emil didn't bother to command them to be less lethal. They were wild animals after all. Can't blame them for not following instructions.

But he knew he wouldn't be able to get away with it if he let his third pet loose. Sparks were flying next to him, as an ethereal hum moaned through the shop.

"I guess that means you have to stay out of the fight for now. But you'll get your turn too, Sparky." The electric specter gazed at him before slowly dematerializing into the air.