The battle continued for about three minutes, and the remaining Raider forces were already depleted to less than half of their original numbers. Their inferior weaponry, battle abilities, poor armor, and lack of proper battle material or technique left them at the complete mercy of the Granians, who had none to spare.
All hope was lost for the Raiders, with nothing left for them to feel but regret. Regret for thinking they could take on the Granians, regret for trying to fight them and regret for taking on a job that they knew beforehand could result in their destruction.
"One last chance, leader," Grim taunted, a grin on his growing at the sight of thousands dying. "Who sent you? Say their names, and I will spare what’s left of your people."
The Raider remained silent, his eyes fixated on the slaughter taking place. Grim questioned several times, but the Raider still remained quiet.
"Know that your race was wiped out due to your incompetence and pride, le—"
"Grim," the Raider interrupted, his voice calmer and more degrading than before, "has it ever occurred to you that you and your kind underestimate the other species around you?" Thɪs chapter is updated by 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭⚫𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦⚫𝘯𝘦𝘵
Grim remained quiet, observant of the Raider’s speech pattern and tone.
"You say I’m proud, arrogant, and incompetent. I say you’re proud and gullible." The Raider chuckled, caring any less about its life even though still in Grim’s grasp. "Thing is, you already know that the species who tasked us with raiding the Citadels are your enemy. Why else would we, simple Raiders, dare try and attack you Granians? It would be stupid, right? Unless if it was some kind of..."
"Bait?" The realization hit Grim, and he figured out what he had led his people into. An obvious trap that, up until now, would have been seen by anyone else.
"Clever as always, Grim," the Raider laughed, "but not clever enough."
Grim lifted his eyes to the sky, his ears picking up the sounds of ships entering the planet’s atmosphere. To confirm his observation, one of the Colonial Ship Pilots rushed to the rooftop, announcing the arrival of enemy ships.
From above came a fleet roughly the same size as the Granians peppering the skies. As the Granians did to the Raiders, the enemy ships bombed most of the Granian foot soldiers while also engaging in combat with the Granian air support fleets.
"A small distraction to point you away from the real problem," the Raider taunted once more, "with you, a decent number of your strongest forces, and your Human assets are here. So, who’ll defend your other forces at the Citadels? Mind you, these numbers of backup are much smaller than wha..."
Using his tail, Lord Grim decapitated the Raider’s head, killing him instantly. Instead of allowing himself to wallow in shame for falling into a trap, Grim equipped himself in his armor and joined his troops in battle.
Thankfully, the Granian air fleets engaged most of the enemy air fleets, keeping them busy from bombing the Granian troops.
By the time Grim had entered the battlefield with his force, the Raider’s backup landed a few hundred meters away from them, ready to engage in battle. They came fully equipped with battle-ready armor, larger mechs than what the Granians had, and an equal number of troops.
The odds were now even, and a battle was set to break out. The enemy, whose species was yet to be identified, quickly ran into the Granians in an attempt to surround them. Despite this, the Granians fought back using their strengths, all while waiting for the Blood Mutants to join the attack.
"Underwood," Lord Grim, after rushing to the frontline, found Ace standing amid the chaos as the other Humans fought alongside the Granians, "whatever trick, skill, or secret ability you have will be useful to use right now. Use what you showed me and Gravax on our last raid. We must not waste any more time than we already have on this planet."
"Not yet," Ace answered, having already analyzed his situation, "not enough people have died, and I don’t know what species we’re fighting."
"It does," Ace glared, his eyes glowing a bright red color, "we walked into a trap, didn’t we? I know well enough that these aren’t Ethisians, so what or whom are we fighting?"
The enemies had tails like the Granians, similar physical traits like the Granians, and speech patterns like the Granians. Their bodies were covered, head to toe, in full armor, which made it harder for the Humans to know what species they were. Even the Granians didn’t recognize their new enemy, almost as if they were fighting an unknown people.
"I may have an idea on who sent them..."
"I don’t mind too much about that. What species are they?"
"Kill one and find out for yourself," Grim replied and then proceeded to go for the Mechs himself. Meanwhile, the Blood Bishop remained still while dodging stray attacks.
He waited patiently for an adequate amount of bodies to pile up before he attempted his latest Blood Magic ability. With the current numbers, it would be a waste of his energy, magic affinity strengths, and most importantly, his health points. There was still a lot that needed to be done before he’d grow accustomed to using the ability without sacrificing too many of his health points.
"Now would be a good time to help us, Ace," Cherry’s body fell in the Blood Bishop’s direction, her bruises larger than when she had just begun, "summon that red Ethisian lady or something, please. We’re being slaughtered out there."
"Not enough people have died yet," Ace blatantly replied, "just wait a little longer, and I’ll step in."
"We can’t wait any longer. Grim’s breathing down our necks telling us to pull out every trick to end this quickly. I know you have an army at your disposal, so why not use them?" Cherry questioned, but Ace didn’t respond. Seeing that her brother was in one of his "moods," Cherry decided to get him the kills he needed before doing whatever he planned on unleashing.
The Blood Knight transformed and slaughtered as many as she could with the use of her thirty Blood Clones. Jim and Anya, along with Skyler, followed in Cherry’s footsteps, each one unleashing the strengths they had. Jim and Anya combined their efforts and massacred the enemy in large chunks. Skyler relied more on her larger beast forms and destroyed Mechs for Lord Grim to approach with the final blow.
The tide of the war, thanks to the Blood Mutants, Skyler, and Lord Grim, started to shift, but it wasn’t fast enough. Even though these five entities were dropping numbers faster than anyone else, it wasn’t quick enough compared to the combined efforts of the few surviving Raiders and their reinforcements. That was until the Blood Bishop felt it was his time to step in.
"Blood Magic: Blood Revenant."