The God Wars

General Crist watched as the unrelenting army of undead marched towards the trenches. The men had to hold these trench works because after that there would only be the city walls and the three canals to hinder Ares' advance.

The defenders fired their weapons at the advancing troops lumbering towards them. The stench of the half-decayed men may have been one of the more effective weapons of the undead. Nonetheless, the defenders were determined not to give up.

The crack of the rifles and the constant thumping of the machineguns sounded down the trenches. Mortars and artillery pieces from behind the trenches fired round after round into the advancing army. Occasionally, a remaining wisp of smoke would obscure the approaching undead. However, once the wind shifted the army would be that much closer.

The reanimated warriors would fall as a bullet would tear a leg or head off. The explosions of the mortars and artillery shells flung rotted body parts through the air. Yet the undead marched steadily onward oblivious to the carnage.

Ares smiled, these troops would not run. The dead did not fear anything. Their only purpose was to obey Ares' commands and to kill the living. Ares figured that the sheer numbers of the undead would easily overwhelm the trenches.

Hades, still in his chariot, advanced towards the god of war. "What are your orders?"

"Have your Necro-lords prepare to enter the trenches once the warriors flood the defenders," Ares laughed. "We will be in Atlantis by nightfall."

Hades summoned his Necro-lords, Thanatos and Charon. Death still rode his sickly looking horse and the boatman still held a harnessed Cerberus at bay. Hades started to give his orders when suddenly a new sound exploded upon the landscape.

General Crist hung up the field phone on the backpack of one of his soldiers. The order for a rolling artillery barrage started. The initial artillery assault would begin yards in front of the trenches and then advance towards Ares' army. The 105-mm Howitzer M2A1 artillery pieces and the mortars now had the added strength of the nine 8 inch guns onboard the Pima.

The ground outside the trench-works suddenly exploded in a shower of earth and shrapnel. The artillery shells continued to fall relentlessly. Even the undead warriors could not make much headway in this rain of steel.

Entire lines of warriors would suddenly disintegrate as multiple shells fell upon them. The burst of fire and steel would send body parts flying in all directions. The explosions continued to advance through the advancing undead.

The Talos mixed in with the undead army did not escape the wrath of the bursting shells. The steam stored inside them would rupture forth as shrapnel tore through their bronze hide. The hot red ichors that functioned as the giants' blood would splash onto the ravaged ground.

Crist then grabbed the field phone again and gave another order while the barrage continued. Instantly, the ten M4 Sherman tanks Crist had held back raced past the trenches and entered the combat. The tanks would stop only to fire their main guns.

Ares again caught unprepared by the latest tactic of the Otherworlders ordered Hades and his Necro-lords back before the barrage caught them in its deadly explosions. Ares looked across the broken landscape to see tanks fire their guns into the 10-foot bronze giants.

A few of the giants were able to overcome one of the Shermans flipping it onto its side. However, it cost them dearly for the other tanks quickly reduced their numbers. The giants and tanks jockeyed around the battlefield oblivious to the undead warriors still advancing towards the trenches or the artillery barrage still detonating around them.

To make matters worse the smoke had finally cleared enough that the remaining fighter planes and torpedo bombers were now strafing the field. The undead were being mowed down in such great numbers even Ares wondered if he had enough warriors to conquer Atlantis.

Ares did not like the fact that the aircraft were now able to assault his ground forces. For that meant that the Otherworlders' planes had finally destroyed Hermes' Draco-lords. The god of war did not have time to worry about whether Hermes himself had survived.

Ares also reasoned that the defenders could not continue such an intense counterattack indefinitely. Therefore, the god of war continued to feed his undead warriors into the battle. The ranks of undead fell before the onslaught of the combined arms of General Crist's forces.

White smoke, shattered bronze limbs, and random body parts filled the broken black field. However, the undead warriors continued to attempt to cross the no-man's-land. The artillery fire began to slacken and the aircraft finally retreated from the field, as did the tanks.

Ares army suffered greatly from the assault. However, he still possessed a huge army. The numbers of Ares forces were finally starting to tell. The defenders would not be able to last much longer.

"Hades!" Ares yelled. "Prepare to send out the Necro-lords. They are faltering."

"Nay, my lord," Hades sadly replied. "We have tarried too long and now the sun is sinking into the ocean. We cannot hope to fight in the dark."

Ares so caught up in the combat did not notice that the sun had started to dip into the western sea. With a mighty curse, Ares ordered his forces back to the first line of trenches. Tomorrow, Ares promised himself the mortals shall fall.