Everything happened too fast. The fifty-odd soldiers barely had a clue what was going on before two tanks were already up in flas.
Tanks. Real tanks. Burning.
The group stood frozen, blank stares on their faces. One officer snapped out of it, yelling, "Fire! Aim at their convoy!"
His shout had barely left his mouth when - BOOM! BOOM! - both tanks exploded one after the other. The shockwave ripped through the squad, taking a dozen lives on the spot. Before they could respond, Magnus had already leapt onto the roof of the infantry vehicles, gripping a thick wooden beam in both hands. He struck hard and fast, setting three more vehicles ablaze. Another three loud explosions followed.
Only five mortars and five shoulder-fired rocket launchers left. Those were his next targets.
The blasts had left the soldiers disoriented, so stumbling from the pressure wave. The mortars were mounted on a cargo truck’s roof. Magnus vaulted onto the truck, smashed the mortar barrels with the beam, then sprang to the next vehicle without pause.
Three mortars out. Four soldiers operating the shoulder-fired rockets lay dead seconds later. But the last two mortars were already prepped to fire, and Magnus was out of ti.
Suddenly - BOOM! A blast thrown from afar sent him flying over ten ters. It was Sophia’s rocket shot.
Without missing a beat, three more streaks followed, hamring the last two mortars and one final launcher. Nothing but ashes remained.
Magnus dropped to one knee, breathing hard with dust coating his face. He forced himself upright, raised both arms in X-shape toward the Ice Regint’s trucks - acknowledging victory, signaling no more fire needed.
Charlotte, peering through her binoculars, caught the signal and quickly passed the word. Sophia ceased fire at once, and Emily led her squad of a hundred charging to the front.
The enemy had sent more than 50 - this was just an advance force. Emily rushed to Magnus, rapid words spilling out: "What now? Do we pull back or storm Brightmoor Town?"
Still panting, Magnus waved her off. "Our convoy’s too big to run. We strike now. They’re off-guard. Tell Sophia, Grace, and the Doyle twins - bring the launchers. I’ll go ahead and clear the way."
Without another word, Magnus kicked off, leaping onto a smoking tank husk, then again onto the road leading to Brightmoor Town, sprinting hard.
Inside Brightmoor Town, atop a four-story shopping center, Magnus spotted a gathering of modified vehicles. Dozens of fully ard n and won poured from the building, clearly rattled by the explosions. They hadn’t expected a fight - clearly thought they’d take over the convoy without shedding blood.
No way he’d give them the chance to spread out. He needed to break them now.
Mangus yanked out two grenades, tossed one at the shopping center entrance, the other at a group of parked vehicles.
Two harsh blasts later, the mall doors blew apart. Cars went flying. Panic set in. So fighters dove out of trucks for cover, others slamd the gas in blind escape. The place fell into chaos instantly.
Activating the tal Crystal, Magnus grabbed a thick log and leapt onto the rooftop of the cars parked in front of the mall’s main entrance. Fire sprang up wherever he moved. Soldiers spotted him and fired, their bullets ricocheting off car surfaces. A minor squad leader shouted in alarm, "He’s using a gem! Get people up there, fast - shut him down!"
Four or five fighters clambered onto the car roofs and rushed at Magnus, but he didn’t stop. He kept setting the vehicles ablaze one by one. When a fuel tank went up, a fireball blasted four of them away. The last one made it in close - Magnus swung his log with a low grunt, landing it on the man’s arm. In seconds, the guy was howling, blue flas crawling over him as he collapsed.
Everyone nearby froze in shock. They’d seen fire, but this? Lighting up cars and people like that - what the hell kind of power was this?
"Charge!" the squad leader yelled from atop a cargo truck. "He’s just one man! If we don’t stop him, we’re all dead!"
His roar sparked action. Over thirty enemies rushed at Magnus from all sides.
Just then, three rockets ca screaming in. Two slamd into the four-story mall, the third exploded near Magnus, hurling him into the air - again. Twice now, in under half an hour, he’d been blasted off his feet.
The crash of explosions rolled out. The mall collapsed in on itself, throwing up choking plus of dust. Magnus tried to steady himself mid-air, but once he started falling, he couldn’t see a thing - dust and smoke turned the world gray as it spread in all directions.
He hit the ground hard, deep in the smoke cloud. Stumbling over bodies, he found two dead enemy soldiers, checked their gear, and pulled five grenades. One by one, he set them and hurled them blindly toward the ruined building. Each blast cracked the air, sharp and vicious.
At the sa ti, Sophia and the others launched another round of rockets. The pressure wave sent Magnus flying back again, flung like a ragdoll across the cracked pavent.
Amid the smoke, screams tore through the air - raw, human agony. Flas gnawed at wreckage, steam and fury choked the town. This was the second hell Brightmoor Town had seen since the uprising began. The difference was, the first ca from the monsters. This one - from humans themselves.
An hour later, the smoke thinned. Emily and Liana led a 200-person team to the mall site, sifting through rubble and gathering supplies.
"You okay, Magnus?" Emily stepped through the broken concrete, eyes searching.
"I’m fine," Magnus murmured, shaking his head. He sighed, glancing around. Even now, voices still cried out from under the debris.
"This wasn’t your fault," Emily said gently.
Sophia dropped down next to them, her tone soft. "She’s right. It wasn’t on you. I did most of the killing anyway..." She looked toward the heart of the wreckage, voice low. "Know how I get through it?"
Magnus and Emily both glanced at her. Sophia gave a hollow chuckle, then her face turned cold.
"Every ti I pull the trigger, I ask - if it were them instead of us, what would they do to us?" She looked away. "Makes it easier. Stops the guilt from eating alive."
Magnus understood. He wasn’t sitting here out of regret - that had rolled over him long ago. What gnawed at him now was sothing else entirely.
He left the ruins behind, headed back to the RV. Inside, he went straight to the bedroom, yanked open the fridge, cracked open a beer, and took a deep swallow before sitting at the edge of the bed.
The door stayed open. Charlotte stood in the doorway, knocking lightly.
"Magnus. Should we hold here for the day? Take so ti to gather more supplies from Brightmoor?"
"I don’t care. You guys decide." Without looking back, Magnus took another swig of beer, finishing the bottle in one go. Then he turned and dropped onto the big bed. Sothing still didn’t sit right with him...
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