Chapter 856 856 And Set Right
The battle scenes were disturbing to the witches and civilians in the room, but to the soldiers who were still waiting to be taken away to their cells, this attack seemed much more tame than normal.
The artillery had brought down the shields over the cities, but the paratroopers weren't gassing the area, and the artillery hadn't continued to shell the city. Instead, they had encircled it, and they were either eliminating the city guards, or setting up a parlay with the local leaders.
The footage didn't have any audio, and the drones were a long way from the front lines, but it was enough to at least give a general idea of how the battles were going.
There was surprisingly little chaos within the cities after the first few minutes, as they would have been in contact with each other, and realized that everywhere in the Rebel Coven group was under attack at the same time, leaving them no chance of getting reinforcements to help them.
They also had limited military assets, as most of them had either been destroyed in battle, or had been shipped back to defend against the attacks by the One World Army when they arrived.
It put them in an untenable position, and they should have realized it long before today, but realizing and accepting were different things, and the acceptance part was only now coming to them.
"It looks like the operation is going fairly smoothly." Wolfe noted as the first of the towns sent out their soldiers unarmed to hold a meeting with the attack force.
"We can only hope that they all go that smoothly. We have heard that there are some hard line sorts who won't come so easily, and that's how things got so out of control to begin with.
I obviously came later, so I didn't get firsthand details, but after I went through the records of the meetings by the Grand Dukes, it looks like they hadn't approved half of what happened in the attack on Sylvan Coven, and only started to hold meetings on it after the fact, when you started the wholesale destruction of their troops in the Frozen Wastes.
They watched for a moment, then realized that the Free Covens force had been hidden by a spell, which they extended over a group of witches who fled the city.
They left everyone else behind, and the group didn't engage the incoming soldiers, which gave the impression that it was the leadership group fleeing the doomed city. It was a bit cowardly, but the important part was that they had an idea where they were going, but no idea why.
The Free Covens weren't organized, they were city states. If anything, the ones fleeing the city would just be refugees with whatever they had been able to carry.
None of the Free Covens cities had the influence to start a large-scale rebellion again, but many of them were very backwards in their traditions, which was likely what had drawn the Rebels to them.
"I will have the troops attempt to determine who among the leadership is missing, so we can put out a fugitive notice for them, but the city now looks like it is going to comply without much more resistance." The Guardian noted with pride.
His operation had gone incredibly smoothly, and there were large groups of prisoners being freed visible in the drone camera feeds.
"Well, I think we can see how this is going. Is it satisfactory to you? Somewhat in line with your intentions for the Rebel towns?" The Guardian asked.
"As long as there is an attempt to make sure they don't backslide, yes. Honestly, I probably would have gone a bit more shock and awe to get them to comply, but this has been more effective than expected."
The feathered Demon laughed. "I suppose one flying Magi Saint taking the city by brute force is more impressive than sending the army, but this should prove my sincerity as we begin our negotiations for a formal agreement between our nations."
