Chapter 18 Second Battle of Donetsk Airport.

A week had passed and Lili was absolutely spent. For the entire week she had almost done nothing but sit within Alex's bathtub that was filled to the brim with cold water.

There she rested, sometimes she red the books about history they had borrowed from the library, but mostly she was forced to spend vast quantities of her light power to save Ivan and his men. Most every hour of every day she did this, causing her body to start overheating and sweating like crazy.

The expenditure of her power was slowly killing her, but with some assistance from God she was able to keep it going. Holding her hands together and eyes closed she asked for help from God. This made her powers double in its speed of recovery and effectiveness, it also gave her a holy halo of light atop her head.

This made her powerful and capable of saving many lives, but it still wasn't enough. So many men were now dead and it all had started on that one fateful day.

In the early morning hours of June 9th, Ivan and friends, plus the 32 other people were all gathered in an empty gymnasium to listen to Ivan speak. He stood there before the regular men and women with his three friends on his sides. Standing there Ivan and his friends looked so different to everyone else just then.

For the four men had been receiving constant daily healing from her herself and in the span of a little over a week it had totally changed them. Now the once old men looked like they were in their thirties, and not only that, but they looked like some super models or something.

The four men were all lean, but muscular with perfect skin, nice facial features, bright clear eyes, their hair thick and healthy looking, and overall appearances were nearly perfect. So it was no wonder that the people before them looked to them with admiration and awe as Ivan preached to them.

Lili couldn't understand what it was that Ivan was exactly saying. But it was something that held a lot of talk about the light it seemed. So she could only guess that he was trying to convert these people to the light. And yes indeed he was as Ivan then suddenly pulled out his holy cross and said.

"Oh Angel of Light, your holiness Lili. Please grant your blessings upon all us mortal men who are your loyal followers of light. Give us the strength to overcome our enemy in the great battle to come. Show us that our cause here is right and we are the chosen of the light, and of God!"

Hearing Ivans plee Lili felt it to be a bit extreme, but sadly she could not communicate with Ivan and tell him to stop. So all she could do was grant the man's request and hope he didn't die in the battle ahead, for Anna's sake.

And that's when it first started. Though she had been constantly using her powers on Ivan and his friends. Now she suddenly needed to heal the 32 other people around Ivan it seemed.

This was such a large number of people that she couldn't honestly keep alive in battle or heal normally in the span of a single day. Only with the help of God, and only If their own fate was great, then she could potentially find a link through the nearby holy crosses to reach out to them. But doing this her healing would be less effective and use a lot more of her powers.

Which was not good as the healing through the crosses was already less effective than directly healing in person. But nonetheless she didn't want to disappoint and so she prayed to God for help and did her magic.

Ivan's three men also then took out their crosses and before the gathered men a miracle occurred. The four crosses began to glow with a brilliant light that instantly enveloped all the people in a 6 meter radius around them.

And before their very eyes their scars and all pain disappeared. Their heads cleared, eyes sharpened, ears became clear and appearances slightly changed. The 32 people there were no longer then the people they had just a moment before been, for they were better than before. They were full of fate and so a thin link was formed between Lili, the holy crosses and them.

After that some hours passed, Ivan's men redied their weapons and said some inspirational words to each other. Then in the early morning hours in East Ukraine, when most still were asleep and the streets of Donetsk stood in relative silence.

The armed men of Ivan, men now calling themselves the Ghosts of the East boarded an empty bus and headed off towards the airport. Ivan drove the bus with its lights turned off through the cities streets until they came to a small forest at the north side of the city.

Next to the forest there was the road leading to the airport that was now because of the conflict closed. The Donetsk Airport as it was known was an international airport with a large terminal building with seven floors in all. Although the place had sustained some damage in the first battle for the airport that had seen the separatists be defeated and driven away.

But luckily for Ivan the men guarding the airport weren't many. Maybe a hundred or two hundred at most. And the airport was on the north side of the city, with lots of trees and a few building complexes in between, which they used to creep up close to the place.

Ivan's men held no night vision devices, but thanks to their improved senses and eyes they could somewhat see within the dark. This especially seemed to be true for Ivan and his three friends.

For the four men were quick to spot two patrols of three men walking around the main terminal, and a small checkpoint with an handful of men there. Also there were a few snipers on the roof and what seemed like a tank and two armoured vehicles parked close to the airport. Other than that there were only another six military trucks parked in front of the terminal and all were unmanned.

Seeing all of it Ivan and his men hesitated a little. But the airports north side was completely open with only some forests in the far distance, so this was the only way for them.

So under Ivan's leadership they then decided to split into three groups. His friends code named Ghost 3 and 4, accompanied by four men and two women in all headed left, towards the tall air traffic control tower.

While Ivan, Ghost 1 that is, headed straight towards the main terminal with most of the men. Twenty men in total, carrying either scoped assault rifles or snipers with silencers and some RPGs.

Ghost 2 with six men went for the small checkpoint and intended to flank the main terminal from the right. It seemed that stealth and surprise were to be their strategy here, however the multiple RPGs and grenades that all men carried did indicate to Lili that these men were ready to do more than just sneak around if needed to.

First to go was the checkpoint, a small thing with some sandbags for cover, with overall eight yawning and tired men guarding there. Plus a singular reinforced truck that had a large machine gun on top of it. And though it was a checkpoint, the men having closed down the airport had nothing to do except sit around a campfire smoking cigarettes and talking, which was to be their quick downfall.

From the darkness of the forest, seven rifles took aim and each fired two rounds in quick succession. Only little popping sounds were heard, one man let out a yell, but quickly they all fell dead.

Then came the snipers on the roof and the two patrols. Each were also quite relaxed, but one sniper up on the roof wasn't. He seemed to have heard something and quickly managed to spot the now silent checkpoint. Though his alertness quickly ended with Ivans precise bullet hitting the man's head.

Then came the other sniper and lastly the two patrols which Ivan's men quickly took out from the bushes. Ghosts 3 and 4 were still making their way to the tower as Ivan came to the main terminal with his men.

Looking around Ivan could hardly see anyone inside, it seemed most the men were on the top floors somewhere. Nonetheless he led the assault taking out a few sleeping guards himself followed by his men finishing four more.

But just then yells were heard up top, someone had found the snipers bodies. Nonetheless Ivan and his men moved quickly taking out whoever they could, but soon they were spotted and all hell broke loose.

Immediately Ivan and three others were lightly hit, bullets flew all around as did grenades. Glass began to break, walls and floors were pierced, debris flew around, men were yelling and quickly the once lightly damaged airport started breaking down even more.

Lili was forced to immediately start intervening and healing the wounded. Ivan went from person to person using his cross to boost the healing speed of the men. None were luckily dead then as Ivan began pushing onwards towards the stairwell and up to the other floors.

Time and time again Ivan was hit by sharp metal fragments from grenades and some bullets, but each time the man merely ran back behind cover, waited there to heal and then returned. The man although did quickly come up with a strange idea of stacking small metal plates and whatever he could find into his jacket as a form of protection. He even wore not one, but three helmets and more metal plates in his pants as he pushed up the stairs.

Ivan was like a living human shield that without fear got in close, tossed as many grenades as possible towards the enemies positions. And as the things exploded he immediately charged in followed by the rest of his men.

The fighting was fierce, soon Ghost 2 and his six men joined in on the opposite side of the terminal and started pushing upwards. They blew holes into the floors under the defenders, the defenders in turn tossed grenades back at them. Ghost two more cautious than Ivan used broken pieces of glass as mirrors to peak into hallways and rooms, which got him his fingers blown off. Not an easy or fast thing to heal at all, though focusing on a single finger at a time Lili could get it back into action in some minutes.

Luckily for Ghosts 3 and 4 and their 6 accompanying ghosts the tower was not heavily guarded and quickly taken by surprise and a few grenades. From there they could give some support, taking out the snipers on the roof and shooting through the large windows of the terminal.

For a good hour the gunfire raged on, until a sudden cease fire was called. The Ukrainian defenders were asking for some terms for a surrender. Having already lost nearly fifty six men the Ukrainians seemed to think that they were facing some formidable and numerous enemy, so they called upon the ceasefire it seemed.

But Ivan wasn't convinced, he knew they didn't have a lot of time. Ukrainian reinforcements were probably on their way and so he gave the men simple terms. What these terms were Lili didn't know as she couldn't speak Russian, but the words were brief and after a moment of silence the enemy seemed to accept.

And as Ivan slowly walked forward and used a glass to peak into the hallway, he was immediately met with an RPG round that landed against the wall in front of himself. Luckily it shot through the thin and already damaged wall falling down to the ground below where it then exploded.

So the battle continued for another few hours, until finally as the sun began to rise the battle then came to an end. Ivan stood victoriously over a wounded soldier seemingly waiting for the man to say his last words, but all the Ukrainian man did was smile and weakly say. "Slava Ukraine."

Then suddenly a salvo of missiles hit the building as two fighters flew over head. A massive explosion tossed men around and collapsed one part of the top most floor. The fighter jets engines roared in the sky as the smoke began to rise from the terminal and the men attempted to pick themselves up.

Immediately then Lili felt it, six ghosts were dead and another twelve wounded, two of which were severe. One man had his arm hanging by a few thin pieces of meat, while Ivan had sharp metal hit him, as well as the shockwave which caused his internal organs to start bleeding heavily.

Immediately Lili focused on healing the wounded men, as a small fleet of helicopters came flying in. Two attack helicopters fired their missiles and guns forcing the now new defenders of the airport to quickly retreat further towards the center of the building.

While at the same time six helicopters carrying large quantities of troops started coming towards the airstrip. At that point the situation wasn't looking good, but none of the men panicked, Lili made sure of that with her magic.

Then as the two attack helicopters circled around and came dangerously close to the tower intending to fire another batch of rockets at the terminal again. Ghost 3 and 4 didn't let them as they shot two RPG rounds through the towers dark windows.

With great precision the back of one helicopter was immediately hit which turned it into a fire ball of falling metal. While the second rocket slightly scratched the tail blade of the other helicopter, which caused the blade to snap and sent the helicopter into a slight spin.

The first helicopter crashed with an intense bang on the airstrip in front of the main terminal as the other attempted to land. Nonetheless the six transport helicopters kept their course and seemed in tent to land.

Armed with only a single gunner at the helicopters side, the six turned slightly to the right, giving the gunners an opportunity to fire their guns. But with Ivan slightly now healed and the fighters not yet back for another attack run, the four ghosts being the most skilled of the whole group ran to the windows with RPGs and began firing uncaring of the incoming fire.

The helicopters were quite far, but with some precise aiming they sent the rockets flying in a huge arc right down upon the enemy. Immediately one helicopters blade was hit and blew, causing it to fall like a pile of metal to the ground.

Two more shots missed, but then one more hit taking out a cockpit. Quickly the insuuing explosion damaged the blades and sent the helicopter plummeting down to the ground. And as the four others landed releasing 24 well armed men from each, armoured vehicles soon followed from the left side field.

From the left at the end of the runway they came over fields and crashed through the airport fences. Two BMP armoured vehicles carrying troops escorted by a tank in the front came.

The armoured vehicles and the tank quickly opened up, firing their guns at the airport tower forcing the ghosts there to scatter and take cover. While at the airport Ivan and ghost 2 with their men started taking out the airborne troops.

Using snipers for the infantry and RPGs against the armoured vehicles taking out one BMP and damaging the tank. The ghosts managed to drive the Ukrainians into the distant tree line from where they began opening up with mortar fire, as fighters flew over head dropping bombs. And little by little more armoured forces began to gather at the tree line and then light artillery fire began.

Luckily the enemy did seem intent to not destroy the airport completely and so Ivan and his men were spared from complete annihilation. So instead a quick attack consisting of two tanks and 4 BMPs with infantry behind soon came, but like before Ivan and his men managed to make them retreat.

Although the enemy took many casualties and lost a few vehicles, Ivan also lost a few men in the fighting and the following round of artillery fire.

For hours this went on until suddenly anti-aircraft missiles flew from the city behind them. They seemed intent to strike the fighters flying overhead which were quickly forced to pop their flares and retreat.

With this some time was bought for them, but they were still trapped there under siege by the artillery. Before the building was the slightly damaged helicopter with its crew dead there, shot by them and a good kilometer or so between them and the enemy on the other side of the runway.

During the coming night as all quieted down it seemed that the enemy was up and about. An attack seemed sure to come their way soon, for the enemy already had a massed three tanks and 8 other armoured vehicles behind the tree line. But luckily as darkness fell, friendly separatist forces arrived to reinforce them, they even brought a singular tank with them.

Although as they came Ivan and his men quickly pulled out and headed for the small town on the right side of the airfield. A small town named Spartak, a town controlled by the rebels, and a town which had a road leading to that tree line where the Ukrainians were.

Back then Lili didn't really know what was going on, but it seemed that one dark bearded man agreed to something. He loaded up the armoured truck at the checkpoint with a lot of explosives, which Ivan and his men then escorted to Spartak on their motorcycles.

Then on the 10th of June, as the fighting once more began and the armoured vehicles seemed ready to start the assault. Ivans remaining ghosts silently cleared the road of a few enemies guarding there. Then the armoured truck wearing the Ukrainians own colours drove right behind the Ukrainian armoured formation and then a singular voice was heard from the radio saying. "Slava nebesam!" And then a massive explosion followed, the ground shook and a huge mushroom cloud rose into the air.

Seeing it Lili was absolutely shocked. Had one of her newly acquired followers just blown himself up on the orders of Ivan, just what was going on? Well as she later on learned he had indeed done so, as the words he had said were simply, Glory to Heaven. Which was what Ivan had told the man before sending him on the mission, followed by the bearded man yelling this into the radio before blowing himself up.

But as shocking as it was, it was nothing compared to that what was to come after it. For Ivan was ruthless and seeing his strategy work, he quickly began planting car bombs on unsuspecting civilian cars that were headed for checkpoints. Then as they followed the car with their own vehicle, they waited for it to get Into the checkpoint and then he used a remote and a big boom followed. After which they'd get out the cars and start finishing off the survivors.

While this was bad, he also used his own men whenever necessary to do the same as before, but luckily he did still mainly just rely on sniping his enemies from afar. And by using these tactics the death toll started to slowly grow amongst his followers, his enemies and sadly even civilians.

Although he did manage to help the separatists gain a lot of ground like this. Many nearby towns started to quickly fall into their hands as did the enemies weapons and vehicles, like the now repaired attack helicopter at the air field.

And as land fell into their hands, more and more people also started to join the separatists. Of course the same also held through for the Ukrainians who quickly with western funding started to mobilise more men and better equipped men causing the conflict to only escalate even more.

Watching all of it and being forced to take care of so many different people and their wounds Lili was absolutely exhausted. Luckily Ivan kept his group small and hidden mostly, so Lili didn't have to heal too many men.

Thinking of it all Lili was just glad that Ivan wasn't getting hurt too much anymore, so she could now focus on other things. Like the fact that on the 16th of June her computer and streaming set up finally arrived.

It seemed that it was now time for her to dress up as the Elven priestess and go save the elves from the evil undead.