The players watched from the back line, trying to catch up with the rest of the army that was either getting in range with their siege weapons or making a push against the walls. Even Mark, who had been with Faro, was trying to catch up as he, like the other players, had dismounted, trying to get a better look at the siege weapons, only to get left behind when the army suddenly moved in unison without them.

  As the players were all making a mad dash to catch up, they watched as the army split up into the original five divisions to attack the wall with their new weapons from five different directions: West, Southwest, South, Southeast, and finally East. They saw Greco get his siege weapon first, allowing them to see what it actually did as the stats appeared before each player.

  Finally he can do what he was good at: riding out and destroying all those who dared threaten the Detreon beneath his hooves. Granted, this time he was in the air and not on the ground with his usual noble steed. So he couldn't crush them underfoot, but the new petal gliders he and his men had been gifted came with a rather deadly delivery that still came from above. So Greco thought that the thought was still valid.

  Greco lead his men in a charge from the west as one by one his men had gained the power of flight with their petal gliders gifted by his hollack flower pad. For a time they merely waited, sitting atop their strange new mounts as they flapped like butterflies to gain altitude, and once Greco and his men had enough height over the walls, they began their runs, charging as they would have on their steeds towards the hands of Carthax, unleashing hundreds of humming pollen missiles that went straight for any gaps in the fleshy parts of walls to cause as much damage as possible.

  Greco was a bit at odds with this new method of attack as he was charging at the enemy as he should. For Greco had always seen himself as a cavalry commander, but he was disappointed that he could not feel his enemies being crushed underfoot nor engage any worthy opponent with his scythe as was the honorable thing to do. Though Greco knew his duty and brought his men around for another charge that those who were more familiar with air combat would call a strafing run.

  To the south, a man watched the hands of Carthax as it reacted to Greco's strafing by pulling more flesh to the front of its structure to try and defend itself better from the sudden onslaught, especially as the winter red bulls added their berry birds to the mix of fire. Once Nero was done observing the hands of Carthax, he began to call out to his war machine where it should strike.

  Soon enough, Nero had gathered quite the audience of players who weren't really sure what to do with themselves as the commanders hadn't given them orders, so they began to wander the back lines, watching the siege weapons as they began to get to work. So now that Nero's weapon was getting ready to fire, the eyes of the players were soon on it, and soon its stats were revealed.

  Soon under Nero's direction, a barrage of hemlock missiles was flying with pinpoint accuracy to certain points in the wall that had become vulnerable as the hands of Carthax shifted material within itself to defend itself. This allowed the hemlock missiles to penetrate deeply and for the gas they held to begin to tear into the wall. Soon enough, small gaps in the upper part of the wall were opened up from the combined barrage of Nero and Greco as they tore into the wall with their combined firepower. With help from the winter red bulls.

  Just as planned, Nero thought, watching his hemlock missiles tear into the structural weak points that were starting to show. Always aim for your opponent's weaknesses, and if he doesn't have one, make it. This had been Nero's war philosophy, and he had never led him astray. So he kept in his mind as he continued to call out targets for his hemlock missile launcher.

  Though the gaps Nero was using were only in the upper parts of the wall. The wall, sadly for Detreon's army, still held at the base, preventing troops from simply charging through a giant hole in the wall. Though that might change as the players watched Retero make his move against the wall from the Southwest.

  He and his man were slowly advancing with their strange flower wall in front of them, protecting them from the hands of Carthax defenses, as it seemed to be panicking as it ramped up the number of boulders it threw as well as began to grow tentacles made of loose flesh to try and intercept all the incoming fire it was taking.

  A few players were drawn to Retero's disciplined march towards the wall and began to scan the commander's weapon. Wondering why he was pushing it up with him towards the wall.

  The men are handling the short march well, Retero thought as he kept a careful eye on his men as they made their move on the wall, making sure that the men were keeping together as they kept moving the Oriole wall towards the hands of Carthax. Eventually they reached the right distance, and soon the oriole wallflower began to launch the fool's nectar, causing parts of the wall to bloat up and explode into a shower of fresh flowers.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "Hmmm," Retero said as he continued to monitor his men, making sure they were handing the kickback that happened when the flowers shot the nectar at maximum range as well as the stream of medium rocks being thrown at them as it seemed the fortress lost its bigger boulders or the wall was focusing them elsewhere. He was also monitoring the damage they were doing to the wall with the fool's nectar. He began to think, as they seemed to be making decent progress, about how he was going to have to start training his men in how to incorporate the Oriole wall into their formations once this siege is finally over.

  As Retero and his men were making their march to the hands of Carthax. Commander Tako's siege weapon was glowing, causing the players nearby to turn to it and see what it would do as the stats window for it appeared before them.

  Tako, upon seeing that the golden cloud was ready, showed his usual dark, malicious smile and aimed his war machine at the eastern part of the wall, as that was what was clearly in front of him. He then watched with a malicious laugh breaking out from him and spreading through his men as they watched part of the wall dissolve from the golden acid.

  "That's right, you bastards, melt into nothing like you deserve." Tako had his vindictive face on full display for all to see as his division formed a protective circle to make sure no one interfered with the golden cloud firing. Though many of the players near them had been disturbed by Tako, not that he cared.

  So thoroughly disturbed by Tako, the nearby players, still with no orders and not wanting to get in the way of the divisions as they performed their maneuvers, turned to Faro as his weapon began to move. The weapon's states become clear to them as they focused on it.

  The players watched in surprise at Faro's weapon as they read just how dangerous it was, and to prove this, the shrub beast planted itself and proceeded to activate shrub Hydra. Soon enough the tree-like shrub grew dozens of huge plants-based serpents that proceeded to slam into the hands of Carthax.

  The hands of Carthax responded immediately to this new threat as it grew dozens of wormlike creatures made out of skin and teeth to fight off Faro's shrub beast that was tearing into it from the southeast.

  "Is that it? That's all you got? You damn abomination, you're on your last legs, aren't you? Won't be long before you collapse and we push on through to the next part, ain't that right, lads? Faro shouted out, getting his men riled up, and from what the players had seen, he was right. The walls were pulling everything it had to defend itself from five different directions, and it had no reinforcements from further in. It looked like soon enough the damage would be too much, and the hands of Carthax would collapse in on themselves.

  "Well, Robert, it looks like your little girl's presents have put her army on the winning team." Simon said with a static-filled voice as he watched a powerful undead get demolished from Robert's workshop monitors.

  "What wait!?" Robert startled out wondering what Simon was on about when he looked to the monitor and away from the work on the expansion. He saw an army of Detreon tearing away at a powerful undead construct by the name of the hands of Carthax with several siege weapons designed by Detrei. This surprised Robert, but he supposed with so many players doing what they wanted when it came to making plant-based weaponry, she had easy access to inspiration.

  "Yes, Robert, it looks like your darling Detrei caused quite the upset with those toys of hers." Simon said with his usual excited, static-filled voice, no doubt happy about the ratings that having such a battle would get for his program.

  "Yes, I guess she has. Though I don't think she thought about the problem with the army itself." Robert said, noticing a problem as he took a closer look at the battlefield from the monitor.

  Simon was confused about what he was talking about, looking at what Robert had focused the monitor on and then coming to the same realization. "Oh, it looks like there's going to be a huge upset in a minute." Simon said he was excited because upsets were usually good for ratings.

  "Yes, it looks like there is; I just hope it isn't too bad for everybody involved." Robert said he was still not quite happy that his creations were getting better at killing each other. Simon noticed Roberts's unhappy look and could guess his thoughts on the matter.

  "Well, Robert, it looks like everything is in hand for right now. How about you get back to laying the final touches on those expansions, and I'll watch the battle and tell you about any upsets, alright?" Simon said in a static voice. Robert merely nodded and went back to what he was doing while Simon went back to the monitor. "Well, let's see if the upset really will occur in the eleventh hour, shall we, folks?" Simon said, Excited static filling the room as he watched the battle continue to unfold on the monitor.