"Show must go on"

Operation "Show must go on" was the one last attack, a failed attempt to slow down the inevitable, a death rattle of humanity.

Before the operation

Two years into the Extinction, the final piece of The Prophecy has been translated. According to it, Lords would try to take down The Curtain, and merge the material and conceptual worlds together, creating the world where they had an absolute power over their territories.
To do so, they would need to perform rituals all around the globe, in the places where the Curtain is the thinnest, at the same time. Once the ritual would start, moving any "piece" that takes part in it could result either in stopping it or releasing the whole energy. The Faceless hoped that it would mean that the participating Lords would get overloaded with it and possibly die.
It was just a guess, but at that point, it was the only chance for humanity.
During July of the 4th year of the Extinction, it has been observed that Lords started to gather in various places as groups of 12. Humanity didn't have much time, the Faceless decided to focus all of their remaining forces on the attack of one of such ritual sites. They called it an operation "Show must go on".

The plan

According to the plan, 3000 Faceless Ones would be deployed as close as possible to the area of the ritual site. All of them would split into their usual teams of 5 to 10. As it was suspected there would be some resistance, all of the teams would need to keep the distance between themselves to reduce the possible casualties in the case the Word that Warps would be used.
Depending on their assignment, some of the teams would serve as a distraction, while the others would launch an attack on the Lords occupied with the ritual.
Their main goal was to interrupt the ritual in any way possible. No matter the cost.

The day of the attack

On the 13th of July of the 4th year of Extinction, when the sun was setting, the forces of the Faceless have been deployed.
1000 soldiers have been transported there beforehand (a few days earlier) and were approaching the ritual site on foot.
Another 1000 performed HAHO jumps and were closing in on the target.
The last 1000 were deployed by 10 aircrafts 2km away from the ritual site. They were also responsible for delivering the supplies to the Faceless Ones who were already at the place.
On the other side, unknown to the Faceless, only 6 Lords awaited their arrival. They didn't even bring their enormous pets, Beasts, being so sure of their victory.

It all went wrong

As soon as the deployment began, everything started to fall apart.
Before the third aircraft managed to land, it was bombarded with long-range attacks. The same happened to the fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth one.
The paratroopers didn't have much more luck, as a rain of missiles started to rain down on them, killing over 60% of them before they even touched the ground.
And those who were deployed on the ground beforehand were hit the worst. The Lords managed to sneak up on them and spread the Word that Warps, turning them into monsters that in turn then attacked their old companions.
The remaining 1000 of Faceless tried to follow the plan, but they were still picked off, both by Lords and the newly created Warped Ones. The Lords supported each other with their abilities, making it hard to even get close to them. Still, the Faceless Ones managed to kill one of them in that chaos.
Finally, one of the teams managed to break through to the ritual site. Only to discover that the 12 Lords performing the ritual were covered with some kind of light that stopped bullets in the air.
And seconds later, the Curtain fell. Humanity lost.

Aftermath

Failing to stop the ritual led to the collapse of the Curtain. The human and spiritual worlds merged, changing the world forever. Humanity went into decline, most hiding in places warded off from Spirits.
The second body of one of the Lords has been found 3 km away from the ritual site.
Not long after the operation, the Lords dispersed, most of them picking a territory for themselves. They created monumental Towers, a symbol of their rule over the area. The Dominia were created and Lords fell into slumber. The few remaining Faceless Ones went into hiding and disappeared off the face of the earth.
The Spirits poured into the world, not having to waste energy to manifest themselves anymore.

Included under Conflict

Extinction

Conflict Type

War, Theatre

Battlefield Type

Urban

Start Date

13/7/4 AE

Ending Date

14/7/4 AE

Belligerents

Forces of Faceless

• The Faceless

Lords

Strength

3000 remaining Faceless Ones

18 Lords, 12 of which didn't take part in fighting as they were preoccupied with the ritual.

Casualties

99% of the forces, most of them have been killed or affected by the Word that Warps and turned into Warped Ones.

2 Lords

Objectives

Stopping the ritual that would tear down The Curtain.

To tear down the Curtain

Bombing the ritual site

There was a second target the remaining humanity knew about. It was decided that the remaining missiles (both ballistic and nuclear ones) that aren't controlled by the Lords, would be used to bomb the ritual site.
The attack was conducted on the same day as operation "Show must go on".
Most of the missiles have been shot down while still in the air and the ones that hit (2 of them were nuclear missiles) didn't give any positive results. Even though the area around the target has been completely destroyed, the site itself was still intact without any visible damage.