章 28: Operation Thunderstorm
=Alnub Forest, Machine Base, Central Tower=
At the top of the central tower located at the central area of the Machine Base, Artemis was leaning on his chair with his eyes fixated on the several monitors in-front of him. He didn't really need the monitors for he could just remotely access each individual Androids' sensors but he could only access one, hence he had these monitors.
The walls in the room were glass reinforced by transparent materials capable of withstanding explosions or high-speed projectiles. The floor was covered in metal tiles painted in black, Artemis adored the color, for him it somehow represents his nature, devoid of any humanity other than his objective and will to rebuild the Earth.
"Strikers, status report," Artemis said as he swiped across the monitor to the right until it displayed a vague top-down view of the Eastern Region. The top-down view was a combination of data from scouting missions and detection instruments used to map out the land in which the Machines set foot on.
A vague map with three colors, dark blue, yellow and dark green was showed in the monitor. The dark blue color represented the vast ocean to the south, the dark green color represented the land area which spanned from the whole Eastern Region, measuring the land itself, it is a combination of North and South America which it was just the Theocracy's lands.
The other states besides the Theocracy, if both nations in the Eastern Region besides the Theocracy combined, it will be the size similar to Greenland if both States fused.
Ten yellow dots were moving slowly through the map, leaving behind a trail of broken lines in their wake. The yellow dots were the ten strike groups consisting of modified pre-war AB-69, though not as advanced and powerful compared to the original prewar design, it still packed devastating power and high speeds. The Attack Bombers were piloted by a single AI core capable of using the aircraft to its full capacity and capabilities without risking failure of any on-board equipment or damage to the aircraft itself.
[IMAGES]
The ten dots were circling ten particular areas each, the areas were cities under the Senadate Theocracy as referenced by information from Recons and extracted human memories. Why did they extra memories? Because it was the only most efficient method. No questions.
"Hmmm…" Artemis tapped on the northernmost yellow dot and another window appeared on-screen displaying the camera-view of the leading AB-69. The camera feed was somewhat crisp but the rain combined by the cold moisture at that attitude in which they were flying almost completely fogged up the lens.
[Striker-1, copy]
The AI noticed its camera being viewed by Artemis. He awaited orders regardless of whether it was against its mission or not.
"Status Report, you didn't get my command?" Artemis asked, he was awaiting the status reports of all strikers but they failed to comply.
[Communications were fuzzy. Initiating Status Report]
The AI simply answered. The storm was somehow messing with communications, the frequency used shouldn't in any way be blocked by the storm itself, maybe there was something else interfering? A magic jammer perhaps? Probably, it happened before when he tried to communicate with one of his Androids, there was a hint of jamming during their communication.
[Status Report:
-Systems: Normal
-Weapons: Ready
-Attitude: Maintaining 10,000 feet
-Wingmen: Normal]
Artemis had to communicate every Striker one at a time due to a magical interference with group communication. The magic interference severely degrades the signal before reaching each recipient when sent to a group of recipients in differing locations, only a single signal sent to a single recipient was powerful enough to somehow send the message without having too much interference.
The Strikers initiated their status reports, all were normal and all were ready. Artemis clapped his hands, displaying a somewhat human satisfaction of what was to come.
Initiate Operation Thunderstorm.
Operation Thunderstorm was a plan modeled after a combination of both superior firepower, air superiority and a full-scale land invasion of thousands of troops accompanied by heavy armor and said air superiority to lay waste onto their enemies to ensure a lightning victory similar to that of the Blitzkrieg from eons ago.
The main reason for the invasion of the Senadate Theocracy was none other than the resources within the country.
According to the memories of the woman they found in the city of Halledge that Artemis extracted, she is a spy belonging to one of the Seven Scriptures, a military task force of the Scripture which Artemis is not interested in.
What interests Artemis is that this country contains a vass resource of Skills and Spells to give great power to their warriors and mages and the most interesting of all is Magic Items.
While the Skills and spells are great, the Magic Items are the most interesting thing Artemis likes as they contain a huge amount of M1s, the stronger ones that are capable to manipulate space and time and leveling a world contains an unimaginable amount of M1s, they are powerful weapons to utilize and great batteries to powered up his machines.
Although Artemis managed to reverse-engineer Argent Energy, it wasn't still enough to comply with the needs of all machines in the Machine Network System.
Each Android had a mini reactor embedded inside its 'torso area'. To humanoids, the mini reactor was located in the center of their torso, while non-humanoid Drones had their mini reactors inside the very center of their bodies reinforced with the best components and armor. If the reactor is damaged severely, the drone will die due to lack of enough energy to power its demanding technology.
These Magic Items was a necessary resource not only because of its high-energy potential but it could be combined to existing prewar elements like Grunium and compressed to form non-nuclear bombs which would yield enough firepower comparable to modern day nuclear weapons. Artemis acknowledged its potential in war, for he knows in the future, this world would inevitably be laid to waste.
Artemis didn't know how he was sure, but deep inside his memory he knew.
What killed Earth would revive it but kill this world in the process.
"A small sacrifice for the betterment of mankind," He always quoted, reassuring what was left of his non-existent humanity to justify his sadistic and cruel mission.
Operation Thunderstorm was just the first of many steps he would take to succeed in his goal.
"Let's try it once more," Artemis tapped on the monitor in-front of him and it displayed on-screen the ten Infiltration teams currently inside each city. He was directly observing Alpha's team during their mission but was unsure of the current progress of the other teams.
He swiped the screen and tapped on the second team, no video feed was registered, only static. Communications were still up but fuzzy caused by the intense M1 at the second team's location, somehow disrupting the communication.
"2nd Infiltration Squad, report"
After a few seconds of static noise and unintelligible speech from an unknown source originating from the other side, the Android finally responded.
[Alpha, reporting. Team: Heavily D...maged, no casualties, we sec...d presumed important information, team was caught in the act and a fight ensued. Alpha, Charlie, ...nd Delta sustained damage, no emergencies to be reported. Location: one click east of southern wall of central go...nment building of the city of Golcester, located in Northwest side of the Theocr...cy. Inside concrete structure, no organics]
The message was accompanied by periods of static and unintelligible speech from the Android and other Androids from the background, Artemis was relieved that no Androids were lost. He shrugged off the anomalies that were somehow interfering with the data.
But, Heavily Damaged? The Androids were retrofitted to withstand even the most punishing of attacks, this proved the research AIs' assumption of high-ability manipulation of M1 within organic life, specifically humans. Artemis needed to be more cautious.
Whatever the attacks were, they managed to penetrate or according to the reports 'Phased' through the highly-protective layer of Primelium alloy reinforced by synthetic Kestracium alloy fibers abit and damage the inner electronics of the Androids themselves. Though the downgraded plating was mostly to blame.
Artemis then went about checking on each Alpha Androids from every infiltration group, all sustained no losses and surprisingly, the tenth team designated as Omega-13 AKA "Religious Heretics" managed to pull off the most important objective of them all.
Thanks to information extracted from the minds of captured humans, specifically Valentine's, the Machine Intelligence was able to pinpoint the Pope's exact location and known abilities thus retrofitting the Alpha team assigned to kill him as Omega-13 or "Religious Heretics" with more specific weapons and upgrades to their bodies and hulls but on the contrary, the hulls were somehow weaker though they couldn't accommodate against the high-flexibility of the Pope in bending magic, the Machine Intelligence was able to retrofit the Androids to counter some of his known abilities, it was up to the Androids themselves to process ways of countering the other known abilities which they weren't fitted for.
[This is MTF unit Omega-13, Religious Heretics, mission objective complete, Pope has been neutralized, 9 casualties. Alpha survived. Papal Estate currently in flames, current location: On top of Holy Church Spike, watching burning structure, awaiting orders]
Artemis was suddenly confused, raising his left eyebrow and leaning forward against the monitor. The Android was displaying abnormal behavior. It was against logic to specifically 'watch' an entire building go up in flames, it was also impossible for the Android to disobey direct commands of retreating from the area as soon as mission objectives were a success or a failure.
"Alpha, explain deviation from specific orders" Artemis questioned the Android.
[Deviation was followed, current location is unreachable by enemies, bodies are littered everywhere]
The AI answered lazily. Bodies were everywhere? Something was indeed off with the Android. There was no reason to specify the number of bodies from the operation.
[Vengeance for fallen comrades, followed]
The AI suddenly answered, shocking Artemis, for the first time, an Android somehow felt emotion, remorse for its fallen comrades, something completely unheard of and concluded as impossible by both Artemis and the Central Research AI.
Artemis didn't question further and allowed the Android to continue whatever it was doing. He somehow knew the Android would retreat before Airstrike laid waste to the area. He then tapped on the screen which displayed Alpha and its camera feed was shown on the monitor.
The Android was staring at a literal hell, a surging fire engulfed what could only be presumed as the Papal Estate and the Church overhead, the walls and ceilings along with various decorative furniture and statues were crumbling under the collapsing structure. The bright red and yellow light from the flames illuminated the dark surroundings of the estate, Artemis then noticed a peculiar silhouette scattered on the streets seen from the edge of the camera feed.
Those were indeed bodies, the bodies of everyone Alpha murdered in an act of vengeance.
Artemis was further intrigued and came to accept the Android's deviation. The time is ripe. the Operation was to begin on schedule, no more hurdles, no hiccups. The teams have accomplished their objectives and so, they were done.
Artemis closed the window which showed the Android and switched back to the map on the monitor, tapping on each individual yellow dot in a manner of grouping them together.
"Initiate Strikes. Inform all MTF Units on ground zero to evacuate immediately, those with targets, initiate targeting protocol. Those without, proceed as ordered"
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=Eastern Region, City of Freed, Sendate Theocracy, 714 kilometers from the Machine Base=
Eve sat on the cold brick on the side of the paved street. She was bruised and cut but alive nonetheless. She sat against the castle doors which were wide open. Knights were walking in and out, some of them carrying bodies of the dead.
Her cloak was torn in many areas, the emblem of the Red Scripture located at the right side of her cloak was slashed in half and beneath the ripped cloak was her cut skin which was still bleeding. Healing mages managed to quell her Inner Magic before it killed her.
She continued to gaze at the ruins of the might castle which once housed the all-powerful Archbishop who was said to be the most powerful of bishops in the Theocracy, which his rank was in the Late A-rank, one step ahead of Demigod, now he lied on the bottom of the dungeon beneath his very home, dead.
Eve watched as the Archbishop's younger brother, George erupts in a fit of despair as he saw his brother's corpse beneath his very feet. He was dragged off by the knights to his chamber along with his wife.
Eve looked around her, there were many civilians who were out of their homes and were grouped together in the streets, looking on as a fiery blaze engulfed the entirety of the castle, whatever ancient relic, document or anything of value to anyone who had something in the castle, was set ablaze and forgotten from physical memory, burned to ashes.
The people were gossiping about the tragedy of Fitzgerald and what was unfolding in-front of them.
"I thought we'd be safe with the scripture…" These remarks flew through the air and into the ears of eager bystanders and adults who were more than accustomed to the protection of the church, especially the blessed scriptures.
Eve clenched both her fists when she heard each word which escaped their mouths, over time the groups grew into a crowd of gossiping adults and screaming children who were too busy admiring the flames to process the fact that the archbishop was dead and they were in danger, danger of uncertainty.
For the first time it was first built, the Senadate Theocracy now seemed vulnerable, though most still believed it, the rest of the mages stationed in the castle didn't go home too soon, things would have been different but others begged to differ.
Eve was getting rather infuriated, the gossips of the people who were too keen on their own safety and didn't care of the lives of the people ensuring they were safe, well she is not sure how they keep the people safe provided they only protect the Archbishop, but of course the Archbishop was their protector and so on and so forth.
Eve was about to get lost in her thoughts until an explosion just half a kilometer to her right shook her awake. The explosion sent a shockwave powerful enough to rupture half of the crowd's eardrums and send a tingling pain in Eve's ears.
Eve fell to the street in-front of her, screaming in agony as her ears felt like bursting. She barely opened her eyes from where the explosion was and another explosion shook her from behind. The crowd and the knights were sent in a panic as a barrage of explosions shook the castle and the surrounding areas.
Shrapnel and rubble were sent flying in all directions as the city was yet again set alight, a burst of red and yellow accompanied by huge puffs of smoke illuminated the entire city as wave upon wave of bombs fell from the sky.
Eve could only cower in fear as an unknown force decimates the city around her, she screamed and screamed for it to stop but whatever it was, it wasn't listening.
Her eyes were shut close, the tingling pain in her ears was still unbearable but it was an unexpected blessing for she couldn't hear the rest of what was happening around her. The crowd had scattered, people who were in their homes were crushed to death as their ceilings collapsed on top of them, soldiers and mages scattered as the explosions continued to decimate the city.
Some of the powerful mages manage to survive the sudden attack using their defensive magic, but unfortunately for the weak mages weren't powerful enough to block the attack, instead got decimated like the people in the city, but a small number of weak mages are extremely lucky to survive. After a half an hour of agony and destruction, everything went silent.
The rain had stopped pouring. The clouds have begun to disperse. A looming roar from an unknown beast echoed across the night sky as it seemingly traveled above the city itself and flew into the darkness of the Alnub Forest.
The city, which was the center of its religion, was no more.
What were left standing were the outer walls and the buildings near them, from there up to the center, flames raged on the rubble. Entire communities were burning down, buildings collapsed with people underneath. There were no wails from children or anyone, no screams, nothing. Pure and utter silence dominated the air.
But there were wails and screams on the walls of the city. The garrison of the walls was struck with the sudden death of everyone they loved, the children they had and the people they were supposed to protect.
Most of them never really cared about their job as soldiers for the peacetimes have made them shallow, but it has been brought to them how powerless they were.
Eve was miraculously spared from the bombings as she accidentally fell into the moat, using her Ice Magic she managed to generate an encasing to help her breathe. The pain in her ears was rescinding but so was her magic once more.
Out of 150,000 inhabitants and soldiers,
Only 5 thousand remained.
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Artemis was somehow divided with Alpha in the 10th strike group's bombardment, Mobile Task Force Operatives in the city survived and escaped but the bombardment was too ridiculous in scale. Compared to the other bombardments which only targeted a very small area of each city, the Airstrike destroyed 90 percent of the city itself.
"Alpha of the 10th Strike group, please explain to me why the heck did you bomb most of the city to oblivion?"
[This is Alpha of the 10th Strike group Alpha. Special Task Force Units sent coordinates, compiled. Rerouting for main bom-]
"Forget it, you no longer have any targets, return to base."
[Roger, Alpha Strike group returning to base]
Artemis leaned again on his chair, scratching his hair even though it wasn't itchy. He just felt a humanlike urge.
"So much for focusing three companies on that front." Artemis let out a sigh in annoyance.
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