Dark clouds hang over the city of Pietra, the recent destruction of The Grand Army has the various nobles of Faerune scared for their lives. Their commanders insist that no movement has been spotted from the direction of Malencia yet, and as such there is nothing to worry about yet. Armies move slowly, The Grand Army was considered an allied force, and it still took a long amount of time for them to reach Malencia even when they rushed to it. Nonetheless, the air of fear is palpable in the city, no official statements were made, but whispers are heard from the dark about the western region going dark for a long time now.
Thunder is heard from the clouds, and in between the thunderous clouds is a flock of demons flying towards the city. Zha''klos is with the demons, and finds the entire plan Esstrey came up with insane... and the only logical option they had left after she herself had quite thoroughly doomed the entire planet to the same experience Earth had. Her flock is composed of elite flying demons, her operations on Brynya get substantially more funding from The Infernal Host. However, taking or even damaging the city should be far too difficult for a flock this far from their base. A problem solved by one of Jesse''s latest inventions. Zha''klos never really took great interest in the dryad, a fact that has now changed, as she sees the same thing she finds interesting in Esstrey to be present within the dryad.
The demons hanging about in the dark clouds haven''t gone unnoticed, their magical signature is incredibly distinct, and aerial mages are already dispatched from Pietra to intercept. Panic becomes the order of the day on the ground as mages scramble to form some semblance of an interception grid. As the aerial mages get closer to the dark clouds, they sense that something is off. Demons are never too far off from the living they could feed on, but this flock isn''t even charging at them with reckless abandon to feed off them. The mages quickly find why they aren''t attacked quickly, as seeds are launched at high velocity at them, shredding some before they can respond.
A huge monstrosity of enchanted wood bursts from the clouds, Zha''klos''s flock flies close to the vehicle, and the elves piloting it from within aren''t bothered by the presence of the demons. They would be more bothered if they didn''t see the demons.
Initially Esstrey had the idea for an aircraft carrying bombs, but the potential damage inflicted would be small, and the craft would have to make frequent trips back. What little firepower it dispensed could also easily be replaced with a few demons instead, even if the range of demons was smaller. So instead, Esstrey ''persuaded'' many POWs to sign contracts with demons, and chopped off their arms and legs. Afterward, they would be stuffed into the aircraft, which she promptly dubbed ''Zveno''.
The mages shredded by the seeds launched by the Zveno erupt into explosions of blood, gore and thorned vines. Another monstrosity of war designed by the mermaid and the dryad, and the official Malencian solution for targets in the air. The seeds are bad against armor, and the vines aren''t good for anything but latching on to things. Something that proves itself fatally enough, as one of the exploding corpses was a bit too close to a mage further down, and the man gets dragged back to the ground screaming by the IEP. Captain Garcenqia looks to his combat unit, and then to the flock of demons still circling the Zveno. Their odds didn''t look good, now they look worse.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
"Men! Prepare to charge! Use up all your magic if you must, after that, hope that the rescue teams on the ground can catch you! Remember what''s below us!" Right... remember what''s below, not just allies, but civilians. They are the only ones who have a fighting chance against a flock of flying demons, if they turned tail and ran, or even retreated...
The short break in the fire-support the Zveno provided ended, the elven gunner having unjammed the piece of experimental VegTech. Zha''klos directs her flock into a more solid defensive position as well, it would be bad if a firemage got a solid hit in on the Zveno, they haven''t tested its resilience to fire yet. Another volley of flak seeds rip into the mage formation, but the damage is far less this time. The mages are more prepared, and most shots bounce off the barriers. Garcenqia directs his men forward, fully intent on crashing into the plane and bringing it down.
Instead of getting close, all of his men are rapidly speared by the demons. Zha''klos''s flock consists of elites, with she herself being practically demon royalty at this point. Garcienqa tries to reach out an arm to the demonness as he''s impaled, but she simply pushes him off her spear and lets him fall to the ground below. It matters little whether they live or die, their end is the same if they are on the ground. A single signal with her hand toward her flock is enough, and they begin boarding the internals of the Zveno.
Within are some of the many leftover survivors from the battle for Malencia, ready to offer their lifeforce to feed demons, most had done so to escape the fate Esstrey had prepared for them, one where their bodies would contribute to the war-effort more directly than being used as fuel. As some of the people are drained, the elves detach the drained people, letting their limbless bodies fall to the city below. Zha''klos flies down to the city as well, closely followed by her flock.
The city''s bell tower rings as hard as it can, as if ringing harder somehow improves the situation. The demonic flock flies over the city in a wedge formation, raining a fiery hell upon it. Mages desperately fire at the demons, and try to extinguish fires, but these demons have been given a recent boost of lifeforce, and hold complete air superiority. Just when the firebombing is slows down, Zha''klos returns with her flock to the Zveno to repeat the process. Every bombing run over the city does just a little more damage than the last as mages tire and the overall heat increases.
During the sixth run, the natural fire in the city does more damage than the demons, the large amount of fire causing major changes in the local atmosphere, resulting in a firestorm. At this point, oxygen is in short supply, and those who were in safe areas locked away from the bombardments and fire begin to choke as the fire consumes the city. There is no seventh air raid, as Zha''klos sees no need to. When the Zveno arrives in the next city, it will drop leaflets instead.
''Today was paper, tomorrow is fire.'' A brutally simplistic demand for surrender, one tailored to the fast nature of their war. They don''t have time to thoroughly destroy every city, better to set examples and demand surrender instead.