“Alpha Squad, you and Beta Squad,” When Brance mentioned Beta squad, the symbol for the letter B appeared on the opposite side of the map, signifying west and east positions.
“will move in under cover of night and infiltrate the supply junctions indicated on the map. Your mission is one of stealth, so I expect no one to be caught. Although on the low end of the importance meter, as it isn’t assassinations like Charlie and Delta squads, your mission is crucial to eliminating the possibility of a prolonged battle.”
“Get in, destroy their supply caches, get out; that is all I expect from Alpha and Bravo during the first stage of the operation. You twenty are the quickest of the bunch, so you should have no problems executing your mission.”
“YES, GENERAL!” 20 LightBringer Warriors chanted in unison.
Nodding his head, Brance generated the symbols for C and D.
“Charlie and Delta Squad, each of you has been given two targets to eliminate, ranging from Peak Tier-3 to Mid-Tier-4. Time is short, and once the alarm has been raised due to the actions of Alpha and Bravo squads, your task will become much more difficult.”
“Keep your eyes on your corresponding symbol; if you properly read through your briefing, you should be able to follow along.”
Brance guided the C and D symbols with his finger, holding up his left hand. In response, the newly spawned Enochian Symbols began moving from outside the enemy base camp, around several checkpoints, and then broke apart into 20 different small symbols.
Once separated, each symbol rapidly moved away from the nearest one and into different positions where their apparent target should be located.
“I have shown you the most optimal route to your target; commit it to memory and follow it to the letter. Timing is everything, and as these assassinations either make or break our war effort, it falls on your shoulders to execute your target most efficiently and flawlessly.”
“YES, GENERAL!” The 20 LightBringers of Charlie and Delta squads chanted in unison.
“Last is Echo Squad; your job will be the hardest, which is why I have chosen the ten strongest LightBringers under my command.” Brance’s heart ached as he envisioned the amount of trouble the Echo squad was about to find themselves in.
“When the first bodies start dropping, I do not doubt that the enemy will be alerted to our presence in their base; thus, it falls on Echo Squad to cause as big of a distraction as possible.” Brance paused and examined the ten faces of the Echo squad, only to see pure resolve and almost fanaticism in their eyes.
“Blow buildings up, slaughter lower Tiers, do whatever is necessary to pull the attention away from the other squads. Once the final target has been eliminated, the main attack force will begin their assault.”
Waving his hand again, hundreds of thousands of tiny blue dots appeared encircling the Fallen Angel’s base camp.
“Our forces will storm the enemy encampment, and we will not stop until the last Fallen is eliminated. Once you have finished your mission, join the war effort and reap every Fallen in sight. For the God Of Light.” Brance finished his briefing with the War chant he had heard thousands of times over the last 11 months.
“FOR THE GOD OF LIGHT!” The response from the 50 LightBringers was instantaneous as they jumped to their feet and chanted.
“Go, get your pre-war tasks finished; this will be the last time we meet before the war but know, I will be with you on the battlefield.” Brance clenched his hand into a fist, destroying the Light construct, then turned and left the room.
Although he had put on the stern and arrogant façade of the War General, inside, Brance’s heart was in turmoil.
Deep down, he knew this was all fake, or at least a distant memory from the past, but having to be the one who essentially sends his men to their death didn’t sit well with him.
Having only recently learned the strength of the Fallen Angel’s powerhouses, Brance had no choice but to go through with his initial battle plans. The main one being the special operations missions he just finished briefing his Tier-4 and five powerhouses.
Echo squad was precisely where he placed all of his Tier-5s. Charlie and Delta were the Peak Tier-4s, and Alpha and Bravo were all Peak Tier-3 to Mid-Tier-4.
He had assigned the groups the way he had because he knew that his forces were on the losing end in an all-out no holds barred battle.
Lost in thought, Brance made his way back through the camp until he reached the hill where his tent was stationed. Looking out over the horizon and watching the sunset, Brance activated [Mana Sight] and examined the distant Mana fluctuations.
In his vision, a massive raging domelike cloud of Mana particles encapsulated the entirety of the enemy base camp, the stronger of which were in the dead center and clustered together.
In spite of the distance and his lack of Cynrik’s new skill, Brance was not able to zoom in and get a good look at his enemy’s might; however, even from a distance of several hundred miles, he was able to get an idea of what he was up against.
‘I’ve never seen a particle cloud that big; there is no doubt that guy Livyatan is already here; that mountain of Mana is proof enough of this fact.’ Crossing his arms and standing proudly as he overlooked the enemy, Brance was unaware of his actions’ effect on his troops.
In their eyes, his unconscious stance was one of pride and absolute certainty of their victory, the complete opposite of what Brance was currently feeling.
“Look at General Demiurgos; he is standing so defiantly that there is no way we can lose this battle.” One LightBringer, decked out in bronze armor, whispered to his comrade. The two were moving supplies from one side of the camp to the rolling carriers that would eventually be transferred to the battlefield.
“No doubt, the God of Light sent the general to aid us, and we have seen so many wins in recent months; we have even outshined the 1st Army, which was previously known as the strongest of us all.” The comrade LightBringer replied as he hoisted a sack of flasks filled with potions onto his shoulder.
LightBringers of all types and levels looked up to the highest point of their camp, where Brance stood unmovingly like a statue while holding similar conversations.
Meanwhile, Brance continuously ran through the battle plan in his mind, unaware of the silent statement he had made.
‘If this is an LC battle, things have escalated beyond my ability. Sure, I may have been able to fight a watered-down, beaten fragment of Lord Michael’s soul in one-on-one combat, but that was only because of my [Radient Tower], which I can’t use currently due to having Lord Michael’s essential skillset.’
Pulling up his Skill and Affinity Skill list, Brance sighed internally. Aside from basic combat moves and Affinity Skills, his Wind and Terra Affinities had effectively been turned off, leaving only Light and HolyFire at his disposal.
The only good thing to come out of this scenario was that his control over HolyFire had jumped by leaps and bounds from the Initial Stage of Tier-1 to Tier-3 Adept, which was possible because he wasn’t the only being present who used HolyFire.
In fact, nearly every LightBringer over Tier-3 had this Affinity, and as such, all it took was Brance observing their training with [Mana Sight] active for him to understand how the Particle is controlled.
That wasn’t all he did to study; luckily, he gained access to the training regiments and scrolls detailing hundreds of different HolyFire Skills, uses, and even a few special abilities, such as healing or poisoning his opponent.
Although Michael was supposedly well-known for his ability to control HolyFire, the current Brance had become a monster just like his predecessor with his HolyFire and was touted as a genius by everyone in camp.
In the same way, Cynrik could manipulate his BlackFire, Brance was equally adept at harnessing his HolyFire, something he was eager to demonstrate after completing the quest.
The thought of his older brother’s panicked expression gave Brance the drive he needed to continue the tedious and somewhat monotonous training required for one to get a good handle on an SEC Grade Affinity.
Exhaling slowly as he deactivated [Mana Sight], Brance checked the time with a strange and magical device on his left wrist. It resembled a cross between a sundial, and a digital watch, only it was powered by Mana instead of electricity.
‘Only a couple hours until all hell breaks loose, my weapon is ready, but I need to put on that stupid, shiny golden armor. Sure, it spikes my stats and defense through the roof, but the fact that it constantly drains MP is a bummer.’ Turning and heading back, Brance nodded to the troops and disappeared into his tent.
Currently, he was wearing a knockoff version of Michael’s battle armor, and aside from being the same shade of shiny gold, the only thing it was good for was its appearance; it even only boosted his stats by a measly 20 points in STR, AGI, and INT.
Upon entering the tent, Brance swapped his loadout, which housed Michael’s General Armor, and instantly felt the rush of his stats rising by over 400%
Once geared up, Brance shot another look at the map on his table and left.
-Three hours later-
The screams and cries of battle erupted on the previous quiet plain. Brance’s spec-ops squad had flawlessly executed their infiltration and were in the heat of completing their tasks.
Meanwhile, Brance hovered silently in the air, all six wings on display yet veiled under his light-bending stealth skill.
Eyes narrowed and [Mana Sight] active, Brance located all his troops and saw everyone was in position, surrounding the Fallen Angel’s base camp.
Unlike LightBringers, Fallens didn’t have wings, a consequence of their symbolic fall from grace, with the only exception being Lucifer, who, according to the information Brance had gathered, had 12 pitch-black wings.
Therefore, Brance had planned for his troops to sneak in during the night and under cover of their stealth skills, then attack at the right time, which was precisely what they did.
Brance’s eyes flicked to his wrist, where the time was indicated, and as if on cue, all his forces raced down from the sky and began their assault, starting with raining fire and Affinity skills from above.
However, before the attacks could contact their targets, a massive Mana Barrier erupted from all sides and shielded the Fallen base camp, causing Brance to frown heavily.
That wasn’t strange, though, and he usually would have been okay with the appearance of a barrier, as he could break it and rush in, but what he saw next shook his soul and honestly scared him shitless.
The world inside the barrier suddenly shattered, revealing the horrifying sight of the entire Fallen Army in ranks and prepared for battle, but that alone wasn’t enough to shake Brance; instead, it was the sight of all 50 of his SpecOps troops.
Their bodies had been hacked to pieces and stabbed into pikes, one for each arm, leg, torso, head, and, worst of all, their wings.
“ALL TROOPS RETREAT; FALL BACK THIS INSTANT!” Brance roared, breaking his stealth skill and flaring up with HolyFire.
“Hehe, General Demiurgos, it is far too late.” Striding forward with his hands behind his back, Demon Lord Livyatan came forward, and his chilling voice had overridden Brance’s. Floating behind him were the spines of all fifty of the LightBringer Warriors that Brance had unknowingly sent directly to their death.
-This series is exclusively published on NovelFull if you are reading it anywhere else…You Wrong, Fam. PS Check out the discord, https:///dcxKNJEMwg-