Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night
Chapter 289: A Terrifying Storm

Zane's schemes to bring down the Amazonians and turn them all into a female legion of death knights were quite thoroughly stopped not five minutes after he came up with it. As artillery rained down on the roof of the college campus.

A shell landed dangerously close to Zane, and had he not been protected by both his Armor, and his superhuman constitution he probably would have been killed on the spot. But the moment the shell erupted, Zane emerged from the aftermath, merely dusting himself off as he glared in the direction which the shall was fired from.

It would appear at the other end of the city, a group of heavily armed assailants were launching an attack. Frankly speaking, Zane was best not getting involved in this incident. If he did so, then he would only be risking exposing his identity to the local Horde King.

Which was the last thing Zane wanted. Because of this, he was forced to drop his previous plans altogether and regroup with his companions. Escaping the barrage altogether, and fleeing back to the mansion so that they could strike on another day.

Luckily, Zane was telepathically connected to the others, and quickly gave his commands to them.

"Fall back to the rallying point. We will regroup with Eliza and Beatrix before heading back to the mansion. This seems to be a dispute among the living that we better not get involved with."

Even if he hadn't given a direct order to his companions, they would have followed them anyway, as it was the wisest course of action to be taken at this very moment. With their enhanced abilities, it took no more than thirty seconds for them all to arrive at the rallying point. Where Gwen was quick to ask just what the hell was happening?

"I'm sorry, but what the fuck was that? I was sneaking through the library, which, for the record I just want to say, don't go in there. It's some kind of communal mating place. Where the women all get together, and…. Erm…. Play with one another.

And the next thing I know an explosion occurs right in front of me. Killing like thirty fucking women in a single strike. I mean holy fuck I knew humans were fragile, but they just blew up like meat balloons! Who the fuck is attacking right now?"

In all honesty, it could be any number of potential groups or factions responsible. The US military had left a lot of serious firepower behind when they fell to the Undead and their endless swarms. It was free to be scavenged by whoever came across it.

And Artillery was still particularly useful against the undead below Tier V and awakened humans below the superhuman level. Because of this, Zane would not be surprised if some other faction in the city got their hands on some. And decided to launch a strike on a rival faction now that the Raiders were out of the way.

I mean, Zane definitely changed the power balance in the city by taking the Raiders out. It was not all that surprising that somebody would take advantage of that, and make a move to further expand their influence and power by wiping out another rival on the stage.

He had an inkling of who was responsible for this sudden attack. After all, Lilith had broadcasted to her siblings that the old world government was still around in some capacity after their attack on Elysium.

But the fact remained that Zane did not know the extent to which they existed or how far spread out they were across the former borders of the United States. And because of this, he was quick to give voice to his thoughts on the matter, trying to calm Gwen down who was pretty pissed off about this whole ordeal.

"Believe it or not, we used to have some pretty powerful weapons. And most of them are scattered across the wasteland by the old world militaries. It's not surprising someone got their hands on some artillery and is using it to launch a surprise attack on one of their rivals.

But as I said, this isn't our battle to fight. So let's head back to the mansion and rethink our moves. Evilyn, I want you to go spy on these guys. And figure out who they are if you can. Don't make a move against them, just keep an eye on them, and let me know when they leave the area, alright?"

Evilyn was quick to nod her head in confirmation of her orders before vanishing into thin air. Whereas Zane and the others ran off back to the mansion to lick their wounds and fight another day.

---

The Remnant commander gazed through his power armor helmet's visor towards the Campus where the Amazonians lie. With each passing second, another shell hit the area, flattening whatever structure was in its path, and ground beneath it.

After only five minutes of bombardment, the campus was thoroughly laid to waste, with few remaining structures standing. In addition to this, the death toll was easy in the hundreds. If not, the thousands.

But by doing this they had provoked an entity they were not aware of, nor how terrifying its rage could be. Victor appeared out of thin air. He immediately noticed Evilyn's presence nearby. But did not make a move to intercept her. She was, after all, a nomadic horde king. And it was not uncommon for her to just pop up in her siblings' territories unannounced, and departing without saying a word.

Instead, he was foaming at the mouth, furious that these outsiders had appeared out of nowhere and attacked one of his farms. The man lift his hand into the air, and in doing so the sandstorm which was ever present around the Las Vegas ruins quickly turned into shards of ice. The full extent of its fury focused upon the Remnant's marines.

This ice was as hard and sharp as diamonds, and whipping by at a speed equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane. To say that the Power armor was turned into blood filled sieves, and that the artillery pieces were thoroughly scrapped was an understatement.

With a single move of his hand, Victor had rendered every structure where the Remnant Marines stood, and every living being inside of it into an unrecognizable state. It was as if an atom bomb had hit the area.

And once he had done this Victor silently nodded towards Evilyn before disappearing with the wind as the ice turned back to a state of sand. Evilyn was thoroughly spooked by the entire affair to say the least.