"How are we supposed to kill this guy?" 30K swore loudly, ducking behind cover to avoid a blast of magic from the Eqaharian High Guard they were facing. It had only been a few minutes since they had first been engaged, but the Ghosts knew every moment they wasted kept them further from completing their objective.

The behemoth's armor had currently taken multiple mags of ammo and three frag grenades directly, and had remained mostly intact. More pieces of the plating were being chipped off with each round, but so far, they weren't making much headway against their enemy.

"Pick your shots, make 'em count!" Nomad replied, reloading his Koblin assault rifle before firing several shots at the High Guard's head. Apart from chipping away more of his armor, their enemy was unharmed.

"You will never best me!" the High Guard proclaimed arrogantly. "Now lie down and die!"

Nomad growled as he returned to a kneeling position behind cover, but then, he remembered something Spike had mentioned earlier. It came back to him that the Equestrians had aimed for the Eqaharians' knees and joints during the initial invasion, as they were the most vulnerable parts of their armor.

"Aim for his knees and neck!" Nomad called. "Those are his weak points!"

Aegis, Hunter, and Cyclone looked at him in astonishment, then, they nodded and gave the order to focus fire. This time, their bullets did more than chip away the armor, as the rounds tore through the obsidian weave. As the High Guard staggered and fell, Nomad advanced forward, working from cover to cover towards his incapacitated enemy.

"You'll never kill us all, the King will end you one day!" he coughed, rasping heavily. Nomad smirked as he gave his reply.

"That day won't be coming anytime soon."

The High Guard chuckled and closed his eyes, and Nomad put three shots into his head. As he waved his team forward, a gravelly voice spoke over the Cross-com radio.

"Nomad, this is Griffin, do you copy?"

"Affirmative." Nomad replied as the Ghosts resumed their trek to the city center. "Any updates on the enemy commander's location?"

"Several. We've confirmed via thermal surveillance that there's a large hostile force near a municipal building in the downtown district. Problem is, the Eqaharians have the only clear road to it sealed up tighter than a coffin."

"Do you need us to clear the way?" Aegis Lead asked.

"Negative." Mitchell replied. "We've got a fully armed A-130, callsign Helios 1-1, en route to clear the way. The Marines and 8th Armored can handle breaking through the enemy lines, your mission is to take out the enemy leadership."

"So what's our heading?" Fixit piped up.

"Drone surveillance coupled with civilian intel reports there's a drainage trench of some kind that leads directly behind the presumed enemy command center. It's accessible from a nearby subway station. We're pushing its location to you now. Get into that trench, break into the enemy HQ, and do what we came here for. Understood?"

"Roger that." Nomad said. "We'll handle it."

"Good to hear. Griffin out."

As the Ghosts each received a nav-marker on their Cross-coms indicating their target route, all sixteen of them knew it was time to pick up the pace. As they knew that stealth was no longer an option, they disengaged their active camo for the moment.

"So, who wants to guess what the enemy commander's up to right now?" 30K wondered out loud.

"If I had to guess, 30, he's probably directing his troops from the rear, but you never know." Cyclone Lead replied.

"He's probably in a bunker or something, pissing himself." Holt chuckled. 'What do you think, boss?"

"I think we need to focus up. We don't know what we're walking into in terms of enemy resistance.' Nomad said in a sharp tone. "Ready up. We're not thta far from the trench."

====
Manehattan Municipal Building, Top floor office
Eqaharian Field headquarters for General Azheran.
====

As the gunfire in the distance rumbled like thunder, and the effects of explosives shook the table in front of him slightly, General Azheran nonchalantly picked up a cup of high nectar and took a sip. The battle was progressing exactly how he had wanted it to.

Even though the American's superior weapons, technology, and numbers had caught him off-guard, his forces' dedication was holding the line for now against them. However, even if he was to be captured or killed, at the given command of King Diomedas, there was a backup plan should the city be captured.

The Eqaharians had known that an attack on Manehattan was imminent ever since the failed negotiations between the King and the American "President". As such, the King had ordered several of the drainage dams that kept the seawater out of the city sabotaged.

These drainage dams, four of them in total, had been weakened to the point of collapse, then reinforced solely with Eqaharian magical runes. At Azheran's signal, the soldiers at each dam would detonate the runes, allowing the seawater to rapidly flood outwards and drown out the invaders.

However, Azheran knew that if he were to be killed, this order would not go out, so his own orders were that the command center would be breached at any point, and if he was not heard from in ten minutes from that point…the soldiers were to detonate the runes themselves.

It was a devious strategy, but Azheran had bet the lives of his own soldiers, the civilians that remained, and the invading Americans on this plan, along with the King's faith in his abilities.

Should he fail, Azheran had been warned personally by the King, I would begin to pray that death finds you first, before I do. And I will kill you with my own hooves, slowly and painfully.

Thus, Azheran had stationed his own guard to the front of the line, not knowing that his rear had already been infiltrated, and his plan was already in the process of being dismantled…

====

Nomad had to give the Eqaharian soldiers credit for one thing, they were quick talkers. Especially when caught off guard and without their weapons. The Ghosts had infiltrated the tunnels behind the Eqaharian HQ when they had heard voices coming from a nearby sub-tunnel.

After sending in a Cypher to investigate, they had overheard the five soldiers there discussing their orders, including their plan to flood the city. Nomad warned Mitchell of this new threat, and he had responded that three Marine squads would break off to secure the other sabotaged dams. In the meantime, Mitchell advised, do what you can to obtain additional intel.

Nomad had responded in the affirmative, and ordered the Ghosts to stack up for a breach-and-clear maneuver. After a flashbang detonation and several hectic seconds, the Eqaharian soldiers were on the ground and restrained with zip-ties.

"Tell me what I want to know." Nomad had simply said after this, and the lead soldier eventually cracked after Fury had advanced with a knife drawn and ready.

"Mitchell, we've got the locations of the other three sites, along with General Azheran's location." Nomad had reported. "Pushing the intel to you now."

"Received, we're processing it now." Mitchell replied. "Get to this General Azheran and take him out. Clock's ticking, Ghosts, so don't be late."

"Not a chance, We'll get it done. Nomad out."

As the Ghosts tagged the site with a nav beacon, and headed up a set of stairs to the surface, Nomad tightened his grip on his Koblin assault rifle. All the Ghosts knew that this was the beginning of the end…and one way or another, they were going to see this war through, no matter the cost.

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