A mixed legion of the Bartholomew Faction, numbering roughly 1,200 to 1,500, included around 300 lightly equipped assault angels, fifty heavily armored Holy Shield angels, and at least twenty high-ranking angels capable of carrying out long-range Holy Light strikes.
Their objective was to break through Paris's defenses, link up with their forces on the right bank of the Seine, and turn all of Île-de-France into angel territory.
"Ten kilometers." The observer's voice was taut.
"Gun crews, prepare." Renault did not turn around. "Cannons One through Four, load armor-piercing cluster shells. Cannons Five through Seven, load Holy Light disruption fuel-air explosives. First-stage objective: disperse aerial units and tear apart their front-line formation."
"9.8 kilometers."
The hum of charging energy steadily rose, shifting from a low-frequency vibration into a piercing shriek.
The runes on the barrels lit up one by one, dark gold turning blazing white as the energy readings leapt past the warning line.
"9.5 kilometers."
"Fire."
All seven cannons fired at once, their thunderous roar erupting across the field.
Seven streams of blazing white light burst from the muzzles, tearing through the night sky before detonating over the angel formation.
The armor-piercing cluster shells split apart midair into thousands of fingertip-sized metal fragments, their borax-coated surfaces burning hot as they poured down like a storm of steel.
Meanwhile, the Holy Light disruption fuel-air explosives burst into clusters of milky-white mist at the center of the formation, spreading rapidly and ravaging a three-hundred-meter radius until it was riddled with holes.
The angels' charging formation was scattered in an instant.
The front-line angels raised light shields to withstand the storm of fragments, but the suppressive particles within the disruption cloud seeped into the shields' energy structure. The edges of the light shields began to flicker and collapse.
The assault angels in the