Chương 93: UNBENDABLE SPEARS OF THE SILVER WINGS.

***Continent 'Eclipse of the Oceans' In the territory of one of the arms of the court-(Sliver Wing Clan's territory)-..

***North-West Region, Saccurrus also known as 'Home of the Wild', In a Mid Class Military Base..

It has been Twenty-six minutes now since Julian has delivered the broken and dying body of one of her Squad-mates to the Military emergency bay.

Today, two dying soldiers from her Squad had been delivered to the emergency bays but in the end of emergency treatments, only one of the two had survived. The general mood within her squad is a bit distorted as Julian other squad mates have gathered together. Bitter silence reigned in the gathering as the squad members are evidently grievous though they are not just mourning just the passing of one but rather two of their Military brothers.

One of their recently late brothers had died in battle and one of them fought hard to cling to life but in the end, he died just seconds after being delivered to the emergency bay. The healers say that he died from the blow of a blunt mana shockwave which had torn through his primary organs and veins!.

'Those damn cultists!..', A member of the squad whispers with gritted teeth and clenched fists as determined hatred and anger pours out of his low yet clear tone.

Death is not a very distant term amongst cultivators - talk-more Soldiers but still, during griefing sessions like this.. one need a target to vent at. Infamously cruel and murderous beings like the cultists are perfect punching bags though in this case, the cultists being the target of hatred is not for completely bias reasons.

At the beginning of this year, Julian's elite squad were at a standard number of Twenty-five soldiers. Over the last six months, military brothers and sister had been dropped by the blades of cruel cultists and so by yesterday, their numbers which was formerly at twenty-five had dropped to a cruel number of nineteen.

In battle today, the squad had lost one soldier to a brutal death. Two others soldiers had to be transported over to the military base in emergency conditions. In the end they lost two soldiers in one day while dropping their already upsetting numbers to seventeen!.

A lot of Julian's squad mates were gathered in low boiling anger plus grief but they are soon pulled back to reality.

A set of familiar steps resounds through the floor causing some of the soldiers to looks in its direction. Looking up, they see the heroic yet bloodied figure of their Battle/Squad commander coming over.

Clad in his battered battle visual of White and Gold Armour, the Squad Captain approaches his underlings with his heavy Dark wine Shaded Cape flapping softly over the floors behind him.

The captains usually sharp and glorious armour has been brutally beaten up by the flames of the recent battle. Scars of burns, blood and blades were all over the Captain's armour and the man's chest plates have been gruesomely eaten inwardly with a part of the chest plates melted from extreme mana or heat levels.

The Captain's chin is held high though his forehead holds an untreated bruise that's a little beyond surface levels. There's a bit of limp in the Captain's steps but this sour state did nothing to the Captain's bearing of sharpness nor to the earned respect of his elite soldiers.

About to rise for a co-ordinated salute, the Captain firmly raises his hand to stop his men then with a few more powerful steps, he is soon standing in the centre of his squad. He slowly look around while meeting the eye of some of his soldiers who are currently sitting on random sitting blocks or resting their backs against building's walls.

"We lost two brothers today.", The Captain says in a deep tone before slowly taking off his bruised helmet as he lets his blood stained short brown hair out of its battlr prison in order to show genuine respect to the passed solfiers.

Overwhelmed by the Captain's stance, a lot of Julian squad mates couldn't help but look to the ground for a moment as they digest the fact that children have lost fathers, wives have become widows and two families are never to be whole again all because of an operation gone wrong or rather, just because of another operation since all military operations comes with flaws. With their eyes down as if they're staring at reality, the soldier's listen to their Captain's words.

"They were fine men.. my men. And we, we are going to avenge them. Although I stayed behind and gave chase, part of the cultists that harmed our brother's had slipped through..", The Captain says with his voice deep but clear while his soldiers felt their blood boil from his statements.

"..Until the day we abandon our badges, we are proud spears under the Sliver Wings and as spears, we have been assigned to a target.", The Captain says as he makes brief eye contact with his men one after the other with the soldier's postures becoming sharper after eye contact with their commander.

"As spears, we absolutely do not plan on going half-way through, No!. Especially when we haven't even scraped the heart and souls of our target!.. ", The Captain's voice raged with the emotions in his tone infectious to his grieving soldiers.

"Hundreds!, Hundreds of pathetic elite units are already growing lax with the assigned mission regarding the cultists who call themselves Vessels of truth though we are not one of them!.".

"The others may be made free mortal wood, they are weak spears who bend after being hit once but we are different!. After being hit we don't bend!, we don't waver!, We don't sit back!, We become spears!. We serve as we stab back ten times harder!.", The Captain continues his heart-pumping speech while fuelling passion into the veins of his men and women as they sit up straight with some of them even standing up as they remember their oaths of being proud spears to the arm of the Court called the Silver Wing Clan.

"Over the last Six months, we have gone through eleven operations and ridden this grounds of three hundred and nineteen vile cultists!. We lost eight soldiers to their blades.. *Deep breath* - and unfortunately, we might lose more.", Their Captain says calmly without losing the sharpness in his eyes but his men who are trained to stand their ground even in the face of certain death did not seem to be much affected by his stated fact.

Pride shows in the Captain's brown eyes for a moment at his men's stance but then he continues his speech with his voice raised a little higher.

"I refuse to let any spilled blood of my men go to waste! And I refuse even more to not lay waste the blood of those vile cultists!. Other units may shrink back but my men are men not Cowards!. We are spears and not flexible rods and now, we have a target!.

"Enough with striking the less vulnerable bodies of the vile organisation, We drive for the heart!.", The Captain says with a bit of his Intermediate Peak level Rank 3 essence rolling out while chilling the atmosphere though the chills in the air only fuelled the soldier's passions to new limits.

Julian feels herself enveloped in the powerful influence of her Rank three Captain and although she is moved and ready to strike back, she isn't moved enough to abandon logic.

As far as she knows, there are two types of soldiers in the military; Those moved by oaths/purpose and those moved by the benefits and opportunities being in the military brings. Julian belongs to the lather part of things though she has spent enough time in the military to partly belong to the former part.

Still listening to the Captain's motivating speech, Julian goes through all the facts she has gathered over the last six months.

Normally, with the countless military operations on this particular cultist group known as -'Vessels of truth'-, their members should have since retreated into the shadows. Knowing fully well that they are being specifically targeted, any other cultist group would have kept their head low but instead, the cult members in the city seems to have become even more brazen with every passing month!.

From kidnappings to transportation of foul artefacts, to conducting rituals and meetings. Each of this things are rolling up from bug to bigger with every passing months. The more cult activities that gets hindered, the faster they all seem to move.

It's almost as if the cultists are all crazily racing towards a particular goal!.

What can this goal possibly be?.

All Julian can tell for now is that whatever it is, it's up to the countless units put on this matter to stop it and to stop it fast!.

There have been records of Cultists carrying out rituals so vast that they had wasted the lives of millions in a city!. There are even worse tales that are uglier than mass murder and dark disasters.

Julian is not big on playing hero but at the very least, she has a heart for this city. A storm cloud is slowly building up in the sky and to some extent, she takes it as her responsibility to strike before it washes away the lives of countless innocent.

"..I have heard news of a Cult leader and spies around are gathering intel on location. This location would most-likely be their nest and to cleans this city, we would have to set it aflame..", The Squad leader(Captain) says with his voice deep and determined.

"..We have lost and gained a lot over the past month,.. we have earned enough to relax for a while and lost enough to be justified. A lot of squads are no longer hosting plans to deploy any further..", The Captain says while Julian nods in understanding. Over the last six months, she has indeed earned enough merit points to exchange for new spells and possibly prepare for her next advancement in Rank.

As a Intermediate Peak level Rank 2 Earth Mage, preparations to advance to the next Rank has taken her over six years now!. She has finally earned enough merit to make a solid attempt at advancement but she has been delaying her attempt due to her continuous battles.

Due to her squad's clashes with the cultists, there would not be enough time to stabilise her advancement if she succeeds in her breakthrough and there would be even less time and resources to deal with the backlash if she fails.

Snapping out of her thoughts, Julian listens as the Captain completes his speech.

"A lot of soldiers have dropped their missions and blurred their oaths but I believe my men are not amongst them!. We would avenge our fallen brother's and sister's blood as we burn down the activities of the cult in our wrath. Then, we would bring in the head of their region leader to stake as we cleanse this city. Do you swear to these vows?!..", The Captain boldly asks his men who swallow lightly racing hearts and rushing blood.

#CLANG#!..

"I swear by my badge..", A soldier steps forward while slapping his metal gauntlet against his chest plates. His gaze is fiery, determined yet filled with respect as he locks eyes with the captain.

#CLANG#!..

"I swear by my Heart!..", A female soldier steps forward with anger in her voice as she emotional swallows. Her best friend had died today, she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she didn't see to the end of their assigned mission!.

#CLANG#!..

"I swear by my oaths..", Julian stands up then steps forward while beating her hand against her bloody chest plate as the Captainnods towards her with respect and approval.

Followed by this, everyone stands upright to beats their chests one after the other as they show their solid will. Finally, when all seventeen soldier's of the squad have shown their wills, the Captain steps forward.

#GLANG#!..

"I swear by my pride..", The Captain says calmly as he slams his metal-plated hand against his already battered chest-plate with the dull impact creating a small shockwave.