A new Power is Rising (10/13)

[DAY 80]

Neo spent the rest of the day meditating and gathering his strength.

Meanwhile he went over the last fight against the Major countless times in his mind. He thought about every little action and tried to analyze every mistake he made and every chance the Major used to his advantage.

Before he started to meditate, Neo gave his blood to some Soulless and ordered his Myriad to turn any survivors of the battle into Undead and then immediately leave and attack the remaining outposts in the city, which have significantly fewer soldiers, and add them to the Myriad.

Neo had previously ordered his 10,000 Soulless who were not yet engaged in combat to intercept any soldiers retreating towards Safezone 9, when he saw that the Major launched a flare into the sky.

If the Soldiers in the Safezone find out about Neo and his Legion that he is currently building and strengthening, then conquering the Safezone will be a lot more difficult and probably impossible to achieve.

Currently, the Legion is at a disadvantage in a fight against Safezone 9, especially since the Safezone has around 700,000 military soldiers and 1,000,000 fighters, i.e. survivors who have been shortly trained by the military. In addition, the Safezone should have a huge number of different military vehicles and Tanks.

Hovertanks, Battlemechs, Artillery, mortars and even a few fighter planes are said to be at their disposal.

The Safezone is also protected by a 30 meters high wall which is all around it, protecting it completly.

They also have enough ammunition and heavy weapons and among the soldiers there are said to be some senior officers and even a General of the Groundforces of the Earth Defense Force is said to be there as well.

No matter how you look at it, Neo's Legion is at a complete disadvantage in a fight against the Safezone and the fact that he's also the attacker doesn't make the whole thing any easier.

On the other hand, Neo also has some advantages if he manages to lead his Undead Legion into close combat against the enemy soldiers. The true strength of his Undead Legion is only revealed in close combat, they fight with melee weapons or claws and bite and infect their opponents, who then join Neo's Legion after some time past.

Turning enemies into allies on the battlefield is among Neo's strongest ace, capable of bringing victory despite inferior gear and soldiers amount. Furthermore, the panic and chaos his Legion brings is a welcome side effect, as the more disordered and chaos prevails among the enemy soldiers, the lower the morale and the chances of success of his opponents.

However, Neo benefits will become useless once Safezone 9 learns that he is raising a Legion of Undead. Neo is then pulled from the shadow in which he has been operating so far into the light where, with his current strength, it is only a matter of time before he is destroyed.

Neo can only achieve victory with a all out surprise attack against the superior enemy force. The strategies for the surprise attack on the Safezone have already been more or less created and decided by some of his Legates in Abeus and Neo himself.

The Elite of Neo's Myriad that Aaron is currently training, along with Neo, will infiltrate the Safezone and sabotage from within the ranks of the survivors. Neos main goal then is to sabotage enemy artillery and fighter planes, and last but not least, sabotage the wall and create a entrance inside for his Legion.

When everything is ready, his Legion and Myriad will begin the attack on Safezone 9. Meanwhile the military's defenses and weapons will then become useless, leaving a way for his Undead to break through and conquer Safezone 9.

The strategie is relatively simple, but everything is put on the card that Neo and his new Elite make it into the Safezone. According to the former Captain, who is now one of Neo's Soulless, it should be possible to infiltrate the Safezone, especially since there are said to be many survivors who form a large line in front of the entrances every day and therefore Neo and his troops should, if they are well disguised and do not attract too much attention, make it inside.

Furthermore, Neo can still resort to the measure of bribing the guards at the entrances. The military is currently accepting any volunteers who offer themselves, so of course there are all kinds of people among the Soldiers. Soldiers who may be open to bribes and want to make some extra money for themselves in these apocalyptic times.

Therefore, Neo's Legates see little risk in infiltrating the Safezone. However, the problem that they see lies in the actual sabotage of the weapons itself, especially since they are under complete surveillance and countless soldiers are with them at all times.

But Neo decided not to worry about the sabotage until he sees the situation in the Safezone with his own eyes and has more information.

...

His Myriad didn't take long and in the afternoon the last outposts in the city was taken.

The soldiers in the outposts prepared themselves for a fight, but when the attack happened they were vastly outnumbered and poorly armed. It didn't take long for the remaining soldiers to be killed or added to Neo's Legion.

In the end, around 60,000 undead joined Neo's Legion.

Meanwhile, the 10,000 Soulless that Neo sent to hunt for every soldier fleeing towards Safezone 9 have also done their job and killed around 3,000 soldiers one by one.

In the end, no soldiers should have managed to escape from the city.

In addition to this, Neo has also received some Mechs and tanks and now has a total of 6 Modified Load-Lifting Mechs, 9 Hovertanks and some stores full of weapons and ammunition and some explosives, as well as several dozen GB 1 Battlearmor and laser weapons.

What is lacking is the fuel for the Mechs and the Tanks, but he should still have enough reserves in Abeus for now.

Neo decided to leave his Soulless and Undead in the city for the time being and he ordered his Soulless to send daily reports to the Safezone that everything is normal and there are no strange occurrences.

Neo alos received some vital information about the state of the military thanks to the new Soulless, who were former soldiers of the Safezone.

According to the Soulless, the Separatists and parts of the Earth Defense Force are said to have allied with each other on Earth, while the bulk of the Earth Defense Force has sworn allegiance to the Sol Parliament and opposes the evacuation and operations on Earth.

Neo also learned that the Seperatists have set up some hideouts to the south of Abeus before the Apocalypse happened, in order to carry out some attacks on nearby military outposts.

There are said to be a few Mechs and Hoveranks in the hideouts, and tons of explosives and heavy weapons and ammunition.

But what pleased Neo the most is that there is said to be two old fighters in the bunker, which are equipped with a few bombs.

If Neo can locate these hiding spots and get hold of the weapons there, it could increase the current strength of his Myriad by a long shot, and greatly increase Neo's chances of winning the fight against Safezone 9.

Therefore, Neo decided to head for and scout the sixth and final city north of Abeus and then search south of Abeus for the Separatist hideouts. He has already ordered some Legates to send out scouts to the south and gather information.

The sixth city, still in the north, is the last city after which only Safezone 9 comes. According to Neos Soulless, this city is said to have set up some outposts in the city similar to this one. In addition, there is said to be a small independent gang of criminals who fight the soldiers from time to time, but are simply too small and unimportant.

Nonetheless, Neo decided to move out in the late afternoon to make the most of the darkness of the night.

...

No sooner said than done, Neo took an hour and then arrived at the last City, while the sun was setting and the moon was rising.

The city mostly looked exactly like the cities before it. Destroyed, burned and partly deserted. In addition, Neo could only see a few Undead in the city itself, most of which were in the city's sewers.

The military must have carried out major clean-up work here by fighting back and killing the Undead.

In all, Neo was only able to locate 4 major human outposts in the city.

All of them were protected by 8 meter high fences and Neo could spot some guard positions in surrounding buildings.

Furthermore, a few Mechs were active on each outpost patrolling the parameter, along with a whole bunch of soldiers in GB 1 Battlearmor.

Neo could also see some Hovertanks here and there and even spot some mortar positions in one of the outposts.

All in all Neo speculated that there are about 200,000 soldiers in the city.

One thing interested Neo the most, though, and that was a Starfighter standing on one of the landing positions.

The Starfighter was a modern fighter that has vertical engines and can penetrate the atmosphere of planets and fly in space. Its maximum performance is above supersonic speeds, but it is in space that the starfighter shows its true potential. It is equipped with light bombs and is mainly used in space-to-space combat, but can also be used for ground operations.

Neo couldn't believe it, in front of him was one of the Starfighters he so desperately needs in the fight against the military, he just couldn't help but imagine flying with it.

Even if it doesn't seem like it, Neo is an avid pilot. He loved the feeling of flying in a starfighter during his two years serving in the military. It's one of the few experiences that has interested Neo almost as much as science.

Accordingly, Neo decided to take the 4 outposts in this city as well and secure the military equipment for himself.

However, Neo will not act as naive and stupid as before, instead he plans to do something different and therefore decided to decrease to the ground...

...

After about an hour, Neo's preparations were complete and he rose again into the dark sky.

With a smile, Neo looked down at a large Horde of Undead making their way towards one of the outposts. In the shadow of these Undead were some purple-eyed humans, holding various weapons in one hand and the other having some bloody clothes.

Neo received the new Soulless from the criminals who were still in town. In the dark of night, he could quickly turn the criminals one by one into his Soulless.

However, there weren't many criminals, but he didn't need many for his plan either and in the end, around 1,000 Soulless joined Neos Myraid.

His plan includes using the new Soulless with their blood to lure the Undead from the sewers to storm together in a Horde against one of the outposts.

While all the soldiers then deal with the danger posed by the Undead, Neo will gradually turn one soldier after the other in to his Soulless, in the background.

This plan allows Neo to reduce his own casualties in the fight while getting the maximum benefit from the battle.

...

It wasn't long before the Horde of about 50,000 Undead began fighting the soldiers in the outposts.

Meanwhile, Neo's Soulless have already retreated to the rear lines and are currently hiding in a few buildings outside of the battlefield.

The soldiers at the outer defensive posts soon began firing at the incoming Undead which were running towards them on the streets.

The Undead were also shot at from the nearby roofs and gradually parts of the Undead Horde died.

However, what nobody noticed at this point was Neo, who had already infiltrated the outpost and was currently wearing green military uniforms and was heading towards the artillery...

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UNDEAD LEGION & SOULLESS MYRIAD STRENGTH:

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NEW: BATTLE EQUIPMENT (Explanation: Lists the total number of ordnance available, including tanks, fighter planes, special weapons, etc.)

LEGIONNAIRES: 1,589,263 -> 1,654,109

UNDEAD LEGION COUNT: 305,994 -> 371,026

SOULLESS COUNT: 1,283,269 -> 1,283,083

COHORTS: 416 -> 419

CENTURIONS : 135

LEGATES: 21

PREFECT: 1 (Aaron)

BATTLE EQUIPMENT:

MECHS: 6

HOVERTANKS: 4 -> 13