It had hardly been a full day, and already the Granians were under attack by an enemy they had never encountered before. This enemy, charged to fight by an unknown group, had attacked with an even larger fleet than previously. Once again, these raiders caught the Granians off guard, firing at full force without allowing the Granians to regroup and fire back. At that same time, Jim, Anya, a Granian, and three surviving raiders from the first attack were at the entrance of several tunnels, canyons, and caverns. Suddenly, their ears picked up the sound of loud explosions coming from the Citadel. Looking in that direction, they witnessed fleets of ships, about thirty or more, hovering overhead while bombing the settlement below. Their numbers weren’t that large, but the damage and speed at which they were inflicting it was significant. "The raid has already begun," the raider informed the Granians and Blood Knights, though that bit of information was already obvious. "They’re currently attacking the first and second Citadels since that’s where most of your troops are. They won’t stop until most of your ships are permanently grounded." "How many of you are there?" the Granian asked, and the raider looked almost as if to say, ’too many to count.’ There was no point in standing and watching as their only means of transport away from the Citadel were being destroyed. They had to quickly rush to their aid; otherwise, they would be grounded on the Citadel for a long while. Who knew how long it would take until help arrived? Read full story at 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩⁂𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢⁂𝔫𝔢𝔱 "Let us hurry and get there," the Granian hurriedly ordered while it tweaked its suit to make it move faster than normal. But before that... Three shots to the raiders’ heads killed them in an instant, robbing the Blood Knights of the chance to kill them. Since they already had the information they needed, the Granian found no reason to keep them alive any longer, and once it killed them, the Blood Knights were free to consume their blood. "It tastes even better than it smells," Anya smiled like a hungry traveler enjoying a warm meal. The blood was sweet and smooth with a bit of thickness, almost like porridge if you’d put it in those terms. "If these two tasted this great..." "Imagine how all of those will taste?" They didn’t know it, but both Blood Knights were spiraling into unholy bloodlust. This was something Ace’s system had warned them about not too long ago. Consuming too much blood, especially the sweet-smelling type, would render them under an urge to consume said blood until they could consume no more. However, how could something that consumed through absorption become full? Either way, this lust for blood also acted as an urge for them to push toward the Citadel, their hearts, and stomachs set on killing and consuming as much as they needed. ’Thank the gods that these things don’t lust after our blood like that,’ the Granian watched as the Blood Knights ran like raging beasts to a feast. Their speed, aggression, and downright feral behavior were something the Granian couldn’t imagine combating, and he didn’t want to think too much about it. ’I’m glad these damned things are on our side. I can’t fathom winning a fight against one of them, let alone four.’ Meanwhile, at the Citadel, the bombing continued with the raider ships circling, dropping bombs, and then repeating the cycle. Despite the facilities being thicker and more resilient to the bombs, the current ships were ravaged, some being stripped to damage levels beyond repair. Despite this, the Granians had managed to retreat into the Citadels, which were designed for defense and offense. Cannons mounted on the sides of the walls, heavy guns on the ceilings, and holographic shields protecting the Citadel made it impenetrable. With that, the Granians started to... One thing the raiders lacked was ships designed for war. In Akrina, ships made for war came with force fields designed to absorb and repel most attacks back to their senders. Since none of the raiders’ ships had those, they were instantly blown out of the sky, erupting in multicolored flames. This attack from the Granians eventually forced the raiders to the ground and out of their ships. If they couldn’t fight from the air, they were going to fight on the ground. "BREAK DOWN THOSE WALLS AND DESTROY ALL OF THEM. GO FOR THE SHIPS WHILE YOU’RE AT IT!!" The raiders, with their short and stubby bodies, were surprisingly fast and agile, which was quite shocking for creatures of their horizontal and vertical builds. This advantage, combined with their large numbers, made it harder to pick off one at a time, which ultimately made the Granians abandon most of their cannons and fight with their handheld weapons. The fight on the Citadel continued with the Granians defending their ships while the raiders banded together in hordes to destroy said ships. One ship they were aiming at was a transporter, the type responsible for carrying massive numbers of troops. If it were to get destroyed, many of the present Granians would have nowhere to go for a long time, and they could not allow that to happen. "Winged Claws, provide air support. Giants and Red Claws, provide us softer scaled ones with your durable bodies and fend off their fire. It will hold them down for a while." The formation tactic was given. The Giants and Horned Claws stood at the front with their bodies close together, almost mimicking a wall. Behind them were the softer-scaled Granians who held long-ranged weapons in their hands. Meanwhile, the Winged Granians took to the skies and ravaged the raiders. Their speed and agility made them difficult to shoot down, giving the raiders a problem to deal with. "ADVANCE!!" The Granians on the ground marched forward with their "Wall" absorbing most of the raider attacks. As soon as the window of opportunity came by, they opened heavy fire on the raiders, killing them by the hundreds. Before the raiders knew it, their numbers were halved, and their main advantage was now out the window. Seeing this, they had no choice but to escape for their lives and never return. It wasn’t their war to fight, so they had no reason to lay their lives down for it anymore. Little did they know, however, that blood-lusted entities lay in wait for them, anticipating drawing blood and massacring all with no mercy.