Inquisitor's Promise (Act Three, Chapter Twelve)

The Holy League had been united, but the Grey Globe continued to move towards Earth. Aeneas and the members of his inner circle knew they had much to do and little time to prepare.

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Chapter Twelve: Battle of the Azov

The Azov Autonomous Zone was a large valley filled with urban sprawl. It was upon this geological depression that most dark felinids made their home. In the middle was a large body of water, Lake Azov. As the mouth of River Crimea, the lake itself was connected to the underground waterways constructed during the Dark Age.

But the real point of interest was the high rising structure at the lake’s coast, the Azov Ziggurat. The tower consisted of smaller rectangular blocks stacked atop larger ones. In front of it was a large set of steps going to the top level of the building.

At the very top of the Ziggurat was to be its crown jewel: a temple building. But it was unfinished, only its skeletal structure was ever put in place. And it had remained that way for centuries.

Having acted as the unofficial headquarters of the Cabal, the Azov Ziggurat was the main goal of the Tsar’s invasion.

Nikolai, Omaha, Emperor Hannegan, and about a million men had flown or marched east from Bucar Tepes towards the Azov.

Knowing that time was short, the Tsar moved his soldiers as quickly as he could to surround the valley, strengthening the existing siege; it did not take long for the Slavo-Imperial forces to do so. The Imperial troops under Emperor Hannegan covered the western side of the Azov while the Slavians under Tsar Nikolai covered the east.

There were two places where the Imperial and Slavian contingents met up: the Kerch Gate which served as the southern land entrance of the Azov, and the nearby hive city of Zaporovsk located to the north.

Nikolai had planned for a two-pronged attack on the Azov Ziggurat: one from the north and one from the south.

The northern army was to be led by Emperor Hannegan and consisted of most of the Imperial troops.

The southern army was to be led by Tsar Nikolai and consisted of most of the Slavian troops. But they also had Imperial contingents, including the Imperial Expeditionary Force commanded by the Tsarina Omaha.

When Nikolai made his way atop the Kerch Gate, he could see the cityscape of the Azov below. He saw villages and high rising cities that were aesthetically similar to the skyline of the Zaibatsu. Made sense, the dark felinids had a hand in the transformation of that land. There were no hive cities in the Azov, but it only made the Ziggurat even more of an imposing structure.

“Are you ready, milord?”

The Tsar turned around and acknowledged his wife. “Just taking the lay of the land. We’ll move in very soon.”

Omaha smiled playfully. “I’ll see you down there.”

“You know darling, you don’t have to go,” Nikolai interjected.

“I appreciate your concern,” Omaha answered, taking no offense. “But my tank will be the safest place in the Azov.”

“Fine,” Nikolai grumbled. “But take care of yourself.”

“I’ll get Paxton to ready up the men.”

Soon after, Nikolai ordered for his troops to move in. Slavian and Imperial aircrafts flew in across the Azov as they began bombing cannons and barricades on the ground. The Tsar had made sure that only military buildings were to be targeted.

And from the Kerch Gate, Slavian and Imperial soldiers flooded in. Tanks and other vehicles were the first to move in. This was followed by infantrymen who supported them.

From the north, Emperor Hannegan also began his attack as his forces moved south towards the Ziggurat.

The Invasion of the Azov had begun!

The army formation of the dark felinids were a little haphazard. Some of them fought like Aeneas’ phalanx units while others fought in the manipular formation similar to Imperial soldiers. It was apparent that most of the Azov’s defenders were either foreign volunteers or mercenaries. Many of them were dark felinids who had made their homes elsewhere on Earth, or even the Electrosphere.

Back in the Kerch Gate, Nikolai smiled when he saw that the Imperial forces had quickly established a beachhead on the south. He knew that now was time for him to shine. He entered into his own mechanicon. As he did so, he spotted Omaha preparing the crew of her Stonewall tank.

When both Slavian mechanicon and Stonewall-class tank began entering the battlefield, the Slavo-Imperial army began to quickly cut through the enemy.

Knowing of his mechanicon’s durability, Nikolai took point as he moved into enemy territory. His Tsarguards moved behind him in support. Meanwhile, Omaha’s Stonewall tank followed behind Nikolai.

With his mechanion, Nikolai had the height advantage over much of his enemies and was able to pick out his targets from high above. Meanwhile, Omaha’s tank took out targets on the lower elevations. The tank’s large size also provided cover for the Imperial infantry as they moved in.

And so, the Tsar began conquering the Azov, one city square at a time.

The Tsar’s advance against the dark felinids ended up being more rapid than he had anticipated. As soon as Imperial troops began to move in, scores of felinid civilians surrendered themselves. This trend was surprising, to say the least.

“More surrendering civilians?” Omaha asked in surprise. The Tsarina was in her tank. At the moment, her forces were making a push towards enemy territory. She was communicating through her brick.

“Yes, ma’am,” Paxton answered. The Captain of the Imperial Expeditionary Forces were riding atop an armored truck.

“There had been thousands of them,” Nikolai pointed out. “This is a good thing, most of the felinids want nothing to do with the Cabal.”

“True, but I’m concerned with the fact that most of the refugees were women with very little children,” Omaha said.

But Nikolai did not share his wife’s perturbation. “Wouldn’t they be the kind of people who would run away from a war?”

“Maybe you’re right, milord,” Omaha said uneasily.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Nikolai responded. “That we are in the midst of a new Golem War.”

“Exactly. We know how the golems were made.”

The Tsar kept this in mind as the Slavo-Imperial forces continued their march north. They were making good time with their advances.

One reason for the ease of the ground advance was the air superiority that the Imperial forces had enjoyed. The Azov had aircrafts of their own but the Imperial air forces were able to screen them from their ground counterparts. This was something that Tsar Nikolai and Tsarina Omaha were gratefully aware of.

Just as the Tsarina’s Tank and Imperial troops were approaching a new city square, she saw helicopters and an airship arriving to attack her position. Omaha was preparing herself for a difficult battle.

But instead, the Azovian aircrafts were destroyed by yellowish green liquid, balls of acidic spray. Omaha saw in her screen a group of giant wasps, riding on these wasps were all women.

“What are those?”

Nikolai, who was nearby chuckled. “Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of the Dathomian amazons. Only women can fly those wasps.”

“Right, from Shemia region close to the Caucasus,” Omaha responded. “Sounds like a group that Dame Galatea would be at home with. You’ve gathered yourselves quite the army, milord.”

And the Imperial advance continued on…

In just a week, the Tsar’s forces had managed to reach the coasts of Lake Azov. This meant that his forces had reached the inner parts of the Azov Autonomous Zone.

There was also good news from the north as Emperor Hannegan’s force was able to make their way towards the Ziggurat.

In time, the forces of Tsar Nikolai and Emperor Hannegan had converged onto one location: the Ziggurat’s Gate.

While much of the Azov Autonomous Zone were open, the Ziggurat District was walled off — most likely in anticipation of invasions like the one that they were currently facing.

With the firefight still ongoing, Nikolai and Emperor Hannegan decided to correspond over the brick in their respective mechanicons. Meanwhile, Omaha inside her tank decided to chime in also.

“I’m glad you’re doing just fine, Your Majesty,” Nikolai said.

“Age had done little to rust my skills,” Emperor Hannegan bragged.

Nikolai chuckled. “I suppose Omaha’s concerns were misplaced then.”

“I heard that!” the Tsarina cried.

In response, the two men laughed heartily. But soon the two men grew silent as seriousness took over the mood. They knew full well that the war was far from won. In fact, it was clear that the Azovians had allowed the Imperial forces to take the Outer Azov.

“They were more concerned with protecting the Ziggurat,” Omaha stated, breaking the silence.

“They definitely have something in store for us,” Nikolai stated. “I’ve received your reports, old friend, about the golems you had to face.”

“Yes,” Emperor Hannegan responded. “They were no joke. It took a lot of firepower for us to destroy one of them, and we had to deal with five.”

The Tsar nodded in response. Emperor Hannegan’s army had a shorter distance to cover and yet the Tsar had reached the Ziggurat District first. The presence of the golems in the north was the best explanation for that.

“We need to move in, but how was the situation in the rest of the Zone?” Nikolai asked.

“We’re doing great, Niko. The regiments of Bracil, Rio Plata, and Mejico have secured the northern Azov. Those from Nuyork and Deseret have occupied the west. Mon Tana and San Angeles hold the east.”

“Wonderful,” the Tsar said happily. “And the Slavian contingent is occupying the south.”

“And the reserves continue to besiege the Azov as a whole, no one is getting out of this place without us knowing about it.”

At this point, Omaha decided to chime in. “Which means that the Cabal is in their Ziggurat. I do wonder what their aim is.”

“We can only find out,” the Tsar said.

As Nikolai was preparing for the final push towards the Ziggurat, he made sure that everything was taken care of. A look at the Autonomous Zone’s map showed that that the Ziggurat District was surrounded. There was no escape. Even Lake Azov had been occupied as the Ciqarran regiment and its Caribbean water beasts had ensured that the Cabal would not be able to flee through the waterways.

The Tsar remembered what Aeneas had told him of what happened back in the Yokohama, how Bashan Voronin was able to escape the Inquisitor’s grasp. That would not happen again! If the Dark Lord of the Cabal was in the Ziggurat, then he’d be dragged out of there dead or alive.

But Nikolai had to wait. As much as he wanted to attack the Ziggurat right then and there, he knew that he had to stop his advance. If there were more golems in there, then the army had to be as fresh as they could be. And so, the Tsar decided to set up camp just outside of the Ziggurat District. Though it was not a popular decision with the members of the Imperial Family.

“Surely we can go on, milord?” Omaha asked incredulously.

“Indeed,” Emperor Hannegan added. “Let’s get it over with! I command you as your Emperor!”

But the Tsar stood his ground. “We have made good progress. But the fight ahead will be the hardest we have in this campaign. I can’t risk our victory because the both of you are impatient. So don’t pull rank on me, old friend.”

Nikolai’s stubbornness was enough to get the Emperor to back down. And with that, they set up a defensive perimeter and stopped their advance.

Confident that their defenses would surely stop any Azovian sortie, Nikolai and Omaha was ready to rest for the night.

But their rest would not come yet as the Tsar was interrupted by a beep from his brick. The Slavian soldier who called in had frantically reported that they were under attack.

The felinid attackers were of a sizable group, and among them were two golems. Nikolai rushed outside as soon as he heard of that.

Knowing that Golems were part of the attacking party, Nikolai hurried towards his mechanicon. Emperor Hannegan too, went to battle. Meanwhile, Omaha stayed behind to keep the camp safe in case of attacks from another direction.

With two golems amongst the felinid attackers, Tsar Nikolai and Emperor Hannegan each took on one golem. With the golems being of the same size as the mechanicons, the two pilots confidently lunged towards their enemies.

Nikolai had fought a golem before. He knew that they were not invincible. They’d go down with enough firepower. At the moment, the Imperial troops had been driving back the Azovian attackers. Without the golems to break down the Imperial defense, the felinids could do little to advance against their enemies.

Meanwhile, Nikolai’s mechanicon had landed a strong punch with its giant fist. Having been weakened by Imperial guns, the golem staggered back. The Tsar followed this up as he peppered the golem with his mechanion’s machine gun. That was enough to destroy the golem as it soon fell to the ground on its back.

Nikolai looked to his side and saw Emperor Hannegan still fighting against his golem opponent. Ready to help, Nikolai began firing his machine gun at the golem. This was enough to send the golem staggering. The emperor saw his opportunity and punched the golem with his giant fist as hard as he could, sending the golem tumbling down.

With the two golems destroyed, it did not take long for the Azovian attack to be stopped. But the message had been sent. When Nikolai finally went to bed, he had trouble sleeping. He couldn’t help but expect more golem attacks — more sorties.

But they never came. And the sun rose once more.

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