Chapter 5: A Long Night Settles – Part One

Magic has always been elusive for us. Perhaps, it's because we insisted on understanding it in scientific terms. Perhaps, magic is too complex for any of us to understand in the span of three years. I do not know why.

What I do know is how dangerous it was for us. More so when the natives rapidly adapted their magic - faster than we could pump out new technologies to counter or detect it. I saw its effects...and it wasn't pleasant. Thank god that good ol' mundane guns could keep things equal for the most part. Lord knows I won't be here if it wasn't.

- Excerpt from A Peacekeeper's Journey

The humans didn't expect it. Hannah smirked as she watched the town fall into darkness. From a distance, she watched the garrison fall into chaos.

Civilians panicked as Peacekeepers tried to keep order. The massive searchlights illuminating the fields died, ensuring that they could approach the town easily in the darkness.

Not that it mattered, as she had already prepared her demonic magic to do her new task.

She looked at some of her men, who had already finished the necessary preparations for her rituals. Especially that captured human soldier gagged and tied in a tree in the middle of their magic circle.

"Are you sure this will work?" A Demon Knight asked her, still wary of the ritual they were about to conduct. They called this dark magic for a reason, which is why they have been called "unholy" by many other races, notably by the Theikan Angels in Lethia.

Dark Magic has always been taboo in Teratan Society, usually shunned for centuries. However, its practice exploded after the UN occupation of their land. Dark Magic is potent, especially against races incapable of magic - like humanity. Though, she knows that Theikans can sometimes counter it. Not that it matters, they already killed those Theikans headed for Tria.

"Yes." Came her blunt response; she was confident. Even if any of those Theikans made it to Tria, their numbers would be too low to make a dent in her plans.

She looked back at the town, and already, some areas had been lit up, though faintly. The humans called it "backup power," but that doesn't matter. With their reactor down, their Anti-Magic Jammers would be inoperable. It was funny to her, as, for their three years of stay in Esuvia, the humans were only able to develop bulky defensive jammers to counter them. Even with their technological capabilities, the humans, like every foe, had limits.

"Yes, this ritual is experimental," she admitted. "Centuries old and nearly forgotten, but if we succeed with this, and trust me, we will succeed, we will have another new weapon against these humans."

The man still seemed uneasy. "I understand, but-"

"But you don't approve of the use of dark magic." She completed.

"I...yes, there's a reason we shunned it after all." The knight added, grimacing. While he hated humanity, the idea of using people as a sacrifice to fuel magic...is disgusting.

"I understand, my good friend. You are honorable. But, in this war, honor is nearly dead." She turned to the struggling human, terror seen in his eyes. She sliced the skin of her finger, causing blood to drop.

"Because humans killed it."

She smirked demonically as the circle lit up red. The skies slowly darkened and turned a faint red, slowly turning the land into an apocalyptic hellscape fitting for a demon like her. Her blood-red eyes started to shine as some of her blood dropped to her pristine white dress.

"And we shall punish them for it."

She looked at the UNPC trooper and gave him a smile that terrorized his mind. He absolutely never signed up for this shit. Never, never. It was like he was in hell, quite literally.

He looks around at the skies, and the magical circle, as pain assaults his entire body. It was as if he was being ripped apart on the molecular level.

She strikes a playful pose at him.

"And you will be one of the first in our little game of punishment."

The UNPC trooper screamed in terror.

...

"Fuck." Was the only thing the lead engineer of Centaur Company could say as he stared at the ridiculous signatures of Smith-Thalmann Particles gathering in the town and the surrounding areas.

They're fucked; he knows it. He can tell it. That's too many SM Particles in the area. And the more SM Particles Esuvians get, the easier and more powerful they can cast magic since it's what they call "mana" to fuel their wacky powers.

SM Particles is the term Humanity gave for the strange particle they discovered in Esuvia. It is everywhere in the universe - they're just unable to use it yet for some reason.

An angry officer shouts at him to get the SAMS Model 10 (Stationary Anti Magic System) installed in the town up and running, but a shouting match begins, where he basically tells him to fuck off because they have no power to do it since the reactor is dead.

Not that it matters; looking at the readings displayed in his holo-screens, he doubts their SAMS can entangle and disable enough SM Particles to reduce the saturation of it in the area. These models are still in their early designs, after all.

"How is it even possible to have that many SM Particles here?!" The officer shouted as the skies turned blood red, seen from their windows.

"I already told you. I have absolutely no idea! It was sudden, and this never happened, and if it did, they probably classified it as top secret that we won't know a crap about it!"

Lieutenant Jones only grimaced as he kept track of the continuous chatter in the BatNet as he tried to assess the situation. Some of it was primarily professional chatter, but some were already becoming unprofessional in the face of the growing wacky crisis.

"The skies turned fuckin red. It's actually fucking red, guys...."

"This is Centaur 1-1. We are evacuating civvies from Sector 2 smoothly...I seriously doubt these barbed wires in the streets would be helpful..."

"Civvies are calling it dark magic, and shit, I think I agree!"

"Is the atmosphere poisonous now?"

"I don't like this at all. The fucking forest is silent, and all our drones are down. What the hell is happening?"

"Hey...has anyone already contacted the UNDF? I don't think we're supposed to handle this..."

"You guys think these sandbags will work against them?"

He just sighed and left engineering, heading towards the War Room, where the Captain was waiting.

...

"Definitely dark magic," Katelyn concluded to the four. Somehow, she can feel their fear even with their armor on. She would know because she's also scared as shit.

"At the very least, there's more mana in the air for me..."

"Ok, then what the hell do we do now?" Anderson asks, though no one can really answer him. They weren't really receiving many orders from their Captain outside of the "keep calm, follow the protocols, be vigilant" shtick he kept on saying.

Though, to be fair to their captain, it's not like even he knows what to do outside of following the protocols, like evacuating civilians, adding extra defensive measures, etc.

"Nothing," Katelyn replied. "We do not know yet what they are planning to do. As you said, they downed your drones, so this unit is blind. Second, they are using unknown magic. Third, we really have no idea how or where they are going to attack. So we wait till they make a move."

"So, give them the initiative?" Reynolds asked. She did have a sound point, but, well, he didn't like it. It's the equivalent of letting the enemy punch first so you can find them and deal with them because you cannot see them in the first place. It's disadvantageous.

"Do we have a choice?"

He didn't reply, and the group stayed silent. Anderson once again felt that familiar itch in his trigger finger as he looked around the town and the red skies.

He looked at the civilians being evacuated by his fellow UNPC troops in the distance. Most had grim expressions on their faces, and he could feel that the people in the town didn't have much confidence in their protection at the moment.

He can't believe how fast things happened today. Just this afternoon, he was just watching children play tag or people walking in the streets. Sometimes, he'd see a couple kiss near the fountain (he even snapped a couple of pictures) but now...

It all changed so quickly. They were right when they told him that war is long periods of boredom and sudden blood-pumping action.

He took his camera and aimed it at the evacuating civilians, all while showing the red skies. The Peacekeepers are standing vigilantly. The Hemlats parked in the streets, their turret machine guns aimed in the skies.

It was a picture that tells such a compelling story; he concluded as he looked at it.

...

"Well, shit." Was the only thing Captain Santos muttered as he stared at the holo screens showing the situation outside. Other holo screens showed the placement of all his units, and then there was the screen indicating that SM Particles are currently 320% above their normal background levels.

Including a dumb line graph that shows a very steep line that goes up.

"That just means that the natives...have 320% more available "mana" to enjoy than normal..." Lieutenant Jones explained.

"We really need to contact High Command. We need support. No, they need to know this. If the natives can literally strengthen themselves 320% than normal by this..." The Captain's face was almost shaking.

"The war..." He continued.

"Is gonna be bloodier...and we're boned." Jones completed. "We need to send someone, to warn them, get support, WHATEVER! We need the goddamned UNDF here. We need the fucking airforce, and we might need some orbital bombardment, ANYTHING!"

"But how do we do that? The nearest base went dark before us. Even if we send an Armored Convoy, if this thing is bigger than the town...it's not going to make it." The Captain asked as he looked at the screens, trying to devise a plan.

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"But we need to do something! Anything goddamit. We can't turtle in this town, you know it, we both know it. We are already outmatched, and we are already understrength since the start. It's going to be a goddamned massacre!" The room was already tense as hell as their two highest-ranking officers showed panic.

"Shit, we need to secure everything here first. Let's calm down. We can approach this calmly...alright, so we have 274 troops..." The Captain began to calm down until he looked at the screen showing the available units and their pitiful numbers, which, his gut feelings told him, was definitely not enough for the incoming storm.

His face turned neutral as his mind shat out a strategy for their situation.

"Form an outer defense ring around the town, a secondary defense line in these chokepoints. These units will be assigned as rapid response forces, while these units will garrison our strongholds, the Compound, the school, and the convenience store. Keep the others in the town center. This will serve as our citadel."

It was a sound idea, but he knew it wouldn't be enough.

"And then." He looks at a list of units, one of which shows "Baseplate One." "I now know who we will assign for a breakout and reach out to other units."

...

"But why us?" Blake asks as they load up supplies in their Hemlat. The Captain assigned them, and two other Hemlats, led by Sergeant Reynolds, to break out into the Alterian countryside, and hope to re-establish communications with other bases/units.

A perilous mission. Around them, UNPC troops continued their preparations for a possible attack, as the sky and the air were already covered in a fog that seriously impaired visibility.

Among them is the Montalet sisters, who volunteered to join them to give them magical support in their journey (mainly to exploit the fact that they are leaving the town and they want a ride), which convinced the desperate Captain.

"I have no idea, but we have to do this job," Reynolds replied as he helped Anderson carry boxes of munition and rations.

As they placed their supplies in the Hemlat, Anderson couldn't help but think, what really is about to happen? It's already been hours since the Captain revealed the truth to them, yet, no attack has come yet.

It was strange, all of it was strange, this day had been way too much, and it didn't help how he didn't get much sleep at all.

"Anderson, you alright?" Katelyn asks, concern in her voice, as he temporarily rested on a bench adjacent to their Hemlat as they waited for a while for further orders to come and for the other squads to finish preparations.

"Nah, not really. It's all hella scary, to be honest." He replied as he looked at the blood-red sky. Watching scenes like this in fantasy movies was thrilling, but now, he definitely feels the terror characters there often show.

"Hmm, footsoldier as always...getting demoralized and all." She comments. "But, I guess that's normal. I'm also afraid I have never seen dark magic on this scale. I don't think anyone here has."

"Never? How? You live in this world. Surely this has happened already."

"Something similar happened centuries ago. It's...disastrous. Whatever this phenomenon is, if it's not just affecting this town, it will be disastrous."

"Similar? What exactly?"

"It's why we heavily ban Dark Magic and why we call them the "Unholy Races." She replied. Anderson wasn't content, though. That didn't tell much.

"What exactly happened?"

"780 years ago, when the Alterians were losing a war against us, they used dark magic to artificially drop the mana levels of the world to weaken us. Now they seem to be doing the opposite."

"Wait, wait, are you telling me this shit is worldwide?" Anderson asked, terrified at the idea.

"No, not exactly. It's possible, but the last one required extensive resources and a special artifact that was apparently lost...somewhere."

"That just raises more questions than answers," Anderson said.

"Previous governments classify many things about it...and I doubt we would easily find out more about it since they're gone now," Katelyn said, with a bit of an accusatory tone to him, as humanity was the one who conquered and dismantled their states.

"Shit, that's bad," Anderson said. "Have you informed Captain? Or Lieutenant about this?"

"Of course I did. It's why he allowed me to go with your group." Oh, so that's why Anderson thought.

"This cheeky woman."

"Do you have any advice? I mean, like, to fight enemies that's now 320% stronger?" Anderson asked.

"That's where you are wrong. Just because we have more mana does not mean we are automatically stronger, it varies, but you are generally right. My best advice is to keep that gun ready...and probably stick with Sherry or me as we go." She then puts on a thinking pose.

"And definitely don't fight draconic Teratans in close quarters, but the game is mostly the same for you humans, just shoot them, keep away from vampires even more, though, and pray to whatever god you have if it's a demon." She added. "Unless you have those big tanks, planes, or drones to fight them...or those mechs."

"Couldn't I just gun them down too?"

"Well, if they're not using whatever dark magic that is, yes, I guess? Or do you have those fancy mana jammers? Those things practically wipe out mana in an area for hours, but with this much mana in the air, eh."

Silence.

"Uhh...you're making me less optimistic about our chances." Anderson chuckled nervously. Things...were definitely not looking good for them.

"Just telling you the truth..."

---

Town Center

Something is stirring under the fountain. Something, somewhere, has called it. And it is now acting on its calls. On its commands. To do what it is designed to do.

But, it needs more than one fuel for it to fulfil what it is designed to do entirely. To unlock its full potential.

It has been hidden for centuries in this irrelevant town. But now, it has once again given this world a taste of what it can do.

All it needs now is the complete ritual.

---

Hannah watched from the distance as the humans built up their defenses. It was admirable, in a way. They have isolated this force, cut them off, and terrorized them.

Yet, they didn't seem to show signs of breaking. They have flinched, but they are not backing away.

A worthy foe in her eyes.

She silently prepared her forces for the assault. In the last hours, they have gathered sufficient mana for themselves and their various magical instruments and weapons to strengthen themselves.

If the humans already found difficulties fighting them in their standard magical capabilities, she wonders how much worse it would be now.

"And what if I succeed in unleashing this to the world?" She wonders before smirking. "Of course, more human blood in our soil."

---

Outer Defense Ring

Nearly a hundred UNPC troops manned the hastily created defenses around the town. Barbed wires, sandbags, machine gun emplacements, and even autonomous turrets were installed around the area.

Construction drones flew in and out of the area, helping construct heavier defensive emplacements, as a few bunkers were erected in the span of hours.

Running on nothing but backup power, searchlights and powerful sensors operated by vigilant troops acted as early warning systems.

Chokepoints were fortified, as kill zones were established across the town.

Yet even with these preparations, the blood-red sky and their prior revealed intel make the troops uneasy as they conduct their jobs. It was as if none of their preparations would be enough.

Yet, they must swallow it and continue their job. To keep the peace. The United Nations Peacekeeper Corps may not be as well trained or well equipped as the United Nations Defense Forces, but they'll be damned if they cannot even defend towns far away from the frontline.

No, this village will stay in the hands of peace and stability. Tria will be under UN hands

And they will do their best to ensure it.

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