章 72: The Last Army
"Pests?" Aurora whispered.
"Why are you whispering? And yes, pests. You are but a torn to my side of things and as pests, you need to be exterminated," Artemis continued his insult. Aurora was not having any of it. With a quick shuffle of her hands and steady maneuvering of her feet, she directed a flurry of powerful wind sheers directly at Artemis' direction.
Artemis, having evaluated her power, proceeded to take the brunt of the wind. The wind slammed at him, but he stood firm and was unwavering. With such a tremendous force, it was a shock to Aurora how Artemis withstood it.
"You haven't learned, as I prove time and time again, mere wind won't topple me," Artemis began to walk towards her.
With every step he took, his aura became stronger and stronger in her eyes. The atmosphere began to suffocate her mentally, she was facing a monster whose power was not derived from any form of magic, but by the complicated tinkering and technology of a machine.
Artemis walked closer; he was almost within arms reach. The fast winds were doing no effect whatsoever, and Aurora was out of options but to resort to hand-to-hand combat once more. But strangely, Artemis did not attack; he only stood there in front of her.
"What are you waiting for?" Aurora asked. Seeing that her adversary had been very talkative, maybe she could expose his intentions if what he had been saying have been true indeed. She got her answer.
"Well, I am just waiting for you to go down,"
She realized it too late. She has used up all her magical reserves and the magic she was harnessing from the surroundings wasn't enough to support her tornado.
"Argk!" She felt a sudden ache take over her abdomen before collapsing to the floor. She shrieked and held her stomach tightly as the pain continued to sear.
"Pitiful, but, I don't feel pity," Artemis walked towards her right side that was facing him.
Her tornado had completely dispersed after she lost focus, she was now experiencing magical deficiency. Her body lacked enough mana to maintain itself, at any moment she could be engulfed into a pool of blood and organs.
"You won't die, don't worry," Artemis suddenly said.
"I will use you as a battery, considering that you won't discern me anything I'd need and the fact that your mind may be to strong, a battery will do,"
Hearing his words, Aurora eyes widened. Of course she knew what a battery was, while never seen one, she knew whats the word means. Imagining herself as a battery made her heart beating faster, she really needs to escape but she can't, she tried desperately to gather enough magical power as fast as she could.
"Agh!" She screamed and wailed but to no avail. Her body could no longer absorb any more mana, only enough mana to keep her from dying. She panted heavily and profusely.
She slumped to the ground and faced Artemis who was now standing on her left side.
Artemis stared at her before she finally conceded defeated and bashed her head against the ground.
"Alright, with her magical reserve we may be able to modify the wormhole more. It was a jackpot that shes a Transcension level Demigod, with that much mana in her, the wormhole will be active for probably less than a year," Artemis said before he mutters, "However, I need the research drones to find a way on how to active the wormhole indefinitely so we don't need to waste some mages. That'll be a pain,"
The atmosphere has calmed around the outer city. Everything was dead silent; bodies were scattered all over with nothing spared. The once big and strong walls that encompassed the city lied in ruins, the proud estates, the buildings, the central park, and the busy districts and streets of the outer city of Zeticon, all lay in ruin.
The ruin of a once prosperous and glorious city.
Several fighter jets soared overhead, signifying the end of the theocracy's control over the surrounding lands.
"It is done, well, the first objective that is,"
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"Where are we?" A group of refugees was stuck inside a box.
"Hey!"
"Help!"
They cried for help but there was no-one there to answer their calls.
Then, something hard slammed against the walls of the box.
The refugees screamed, they were twenty of them all stuck inside. They felt the box get hoisted up and they fall to the floor. They cried and prayed as the box shifted and rocked. The entire event lasted for a good minute before finally, the box stopped abruptly.
"Where are we being taken!? My son? Where is my son!" A lone mother called for her son. She called him by his name, "Dennis!" She cried and cried. But through the voices and panicked tones of the other refugees, she couldn't hear him.
Suddenly a female voice echoes inside the box, suprising the refugees. Some refugees thought they get killed like animals but the voice that something.
[Welcome newcomers, were gonna arrive our destination to Utopia, a wonderful place for humans to live, a safe heaven, with no crimes, no poverty, and no nobility, no racism, etc. Human or not, your still welcome, because in Utopia, it doesn't matter if your a beastman or other race, we all equal. Hope you enjoy there and safe travels! 😊]
This was happening to many others like them, refugees taking towards their salvation. They fled their lands, homes and own people. They thought they'd be not safe, but in reality would be saved by the very same invaders who killed their love ones and home.
Many thought that the enemy would make them as sacrifices, by sacrificing their now own people. Although they would be safe by the same horror they feared.
This was not the case. After they were forcibly into this security themselves, they too would be taken, taken that they didn't sign up for.
Unbeknownst to them, the propaganda they listened was just on paper, what they really don't know is that the propaganda was only just words to attract and brainwash the refugees, it is an advance technology from Caitlyn that could add something to the brain, the same technology she used to brainwash Valentine, Liz, and other humans on Earth.
Those type technology was completely banned by the government 1200 years ago because on how dangerous it is and could easily abused it, only the directors would used it from other leaders and governments.
The reason they also allowed beastmen and demi-humans to join was Caitlyn idea, for her reason, nobody really knows.
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The outercity of Zeticon has fallen. Aurora, the most powerful of the council has also met her defeat. The other councilmembers on
Zannasir Island watched in a magical energy ball called {Remote Viewing}, a spell to view far distances, the whole time they watched the intense fight, including saw Aurora get defeated.
"She was too rash,"
"She used too much of her power to fight the giant until she did not have anything to spare against the real threat,"
"But, we wanted to rally behind her and save her. We have failed yet again,"
"No, we did not fail, rather, we were infected by inaction,"
"We did fail, don't make excuses,"
"Sorry,"
"So, what happens to her now? She is alive but the enemy has captured her,"
"Ransom?"
"Maybe,"
"I doubt that they'd ransom her,"
"Why do you think that? Finley Kevin,"
"The enemy does not use any form or sort of magic, I have a hunch that they will use her for experiments and the like,"
"Yes, they do not have magic but, how can we stand against them?"
"Simple, we don't"
"What!?"
"Blasphemy! We can't just accept our defeat just yet!"
"Fellow councilmen, think about it, what choice do we have? Our armies have been crushed, our remaining Airships are all destroyed, even if we use merchant Airships that doesn't even face against them because they aren't used for war. And finally, most of the Scriptures have been killed off or are missing, we've lost the city and the councilwoman, do you think we still stand a chance against all of this?"
The Councilmen went silent.
All of them stared into the distance, the burning forest that they started has begun to heal. The machines have deployed firefighting units and have extinguished most of the flames and only those near battlefields remained.
The crusade has ended, abruptly that is.
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The metal demons marched through the valleys, the plains and the ridges unchallenged.
Many began to flee their villages, many sought to surrender while some embraced their deaths and committed suicide. All across the Theocracy, rumors of mass suicides spread. The culprits? A curse brought upon them by the God of Metal, although there wasn't such.
Faith for the goddess has severely degraded to the point that she was no longer respected nor worshiped being. The deity's images, statues, and cathedrals were stormed and destroyed overnight by angered believers who thought that the goddess abandoned them to their deaths.
As chaos and anarchy spread, bandit groups began to form; these groups would go and form formidable armies that would pillage and rape unprotected towns and villages. Many women were victimized, all of this unfolded as Gunships zoomed above the clouds.
"Savages," Caitlyn said.
Around her were a plethora of monitors, both bright and dim, big and small. Each monitor displayed the video feed from each Android and Drones that has been scouting ever since the fall of the outer city of Zeticon.
Caitlyn was alone, several Androids accompanied her but she still felt loneliness. Artemis has been on the field for weeks already and has not paid her a visit since.
"Hmph!" She suddenly pouted.
"Always putting himself in danger, He has no idea how concerned I am. He usually disappears from the machine hivemind from time to time, a mystery for sure,"
She grabbed the chair behind her and sat down.
"He's having breakdowns, I know he is! When I entered that room, destruction was everywhere, it could only mean that he broke down inside that room and fell unconscious. If only I knew how to time travel!"
Time travel, in all respects and purposes, was impossible. Regardless, if such a thing was indeed possible then time would already be a mess just by human nature alone.
A monitor began to blink a reddish hue.
"Huh?"
Caitlyn stood from her chair and walked towards the monitor.
"An emergency message? From whom?" She looked closer to see from whom was the alert coming from.
GD-2886, the Gunship Drone flying over the Hokku Plains has sent an alert. There was no damage to its hull, nor was there anything negative impacting the craft itself, rather, it was seeing a massive force.
Which also known as the last army of the crusade.
The forces was an Air fleet, over 150 Airships, the airships were extremely massive then the ones they encountered doing the crusade. Judging the size of the Airships, it could be over 1000 men in each airships, so it could be a total of 150,000 men, It was moving through the skys in an organized fashion. There was tens of enemy air fighters in each ships and thus the Drone decided to swoop up to get a better look.
The drone did fly higher above the sea of clouds.
The airfleets was massive, as it flew upwards it released a loud boom as it broke the sound barrier.
The soldiers and mages in the Airships all covered their heads and some even ran from their positions. The craft relayed another message.
[Permission to engage?]
"Eh? I don't have the authority, I need to ask Artemis," Caitlyn immediately opened her comms and contacted Artemis.
"Artemis, can you hear me?"
[Affirmative]
"GD-2886 assigned to engage a massive fleets, 150 in numbets, has relayed an alert and a request,"
[Proceed]
"The-, uh, wait, what? Let the drone proceed?"
[Yes]
"Wait, Artemis its only one Gunship, how a single gunship could faced against an army of 150 football size flying wooden ships, armed with loads of magical cannons?"
[I say it one last time, proceed, grant the craft permission, let it grab the opportunity]
"O-okay,"
Well, Artemis was confident in the decision-making of his machines by now. Each machines had an individual AI core that learns and gains experience with each new mission and thus, the machines currently deployed in this world are now tacticians themselves but are limited by their own outdated devices for now.
Caitlyn proceeded to acknowledge the Gunship Drone's request and it began its attack.
It circled back towards the air fleets, breaking once more the sound barrier creating another sonic boom. It was too fast for any of their senses to target.
[Weapons free]
The view is like one fly headed towards a flock of birds. As it neared the Air fleets, it fired a cascade of homing missiles. These homing missiles were specifically designed for the Attackers use, facing against an outnumbered numbers. Each homing missiles had a power of 0.3 megatons of TNT; basically, although not as powerful as a nuclear weapon, it was enough to bomb hundreds to oblivion.
The crews in the airships saw the missiles through the window bridge, they tried to escape but it already too late.
""""""""""AGRGH!!!!!""""""""""
The entire front of Airships were destroyed within seconds. Both wooden and body parts flew into the air, thousands of men inside each Airships were killed in an instant while others who survived inside of those airships were deafened or blinded. They flew out of the airships and fell towards the sea of clouds.
"Fire!" Several magical cannons in each airships fired high-speed enchanted cannon balls into the air in the hopes of taking the single Attacker down only to be targeted next.
Another cascade of homing missiles was launched, slaughtering thousands more. It then raised its four barrel machine guns and its Gatling gun on the button that was for sure to wreak havoc.
The Gatling gun began to roll and after a few seconds, unleashed more hell upon the enemy forces within the airships.
"STOP!" Some pleaded.
The Gunship Drone seemed to be messing with them as it flew in circles, dodging every projectiles, both from cannons and mages while firing mercilessly and indiscriminately into the scattering army.
The entire fiasco lasted for 30 minutes, a total of 30 Airships with 30,000 troops inside died. But there were still 120 Airships left with 120,000 troops.
The Gunship Drone was losing ammunition very quickly and thus had to retreat. But not before sending a request to other Assault Drones in the area to finish what he started. The Assault Drones essentially formed a cooperative structure with each craft performing a critical role. The message reached a nearby Gunship Drone nine kilometers away, that Gunship Drone then forwarded the message to two other and those two others then forwarded the message to five others and those five others forwarded the message.
It was a beautiful chain reaction. Artemis saw it all unfold when he tapped into the communication lines to see what was going on.
He was pleased and could be said that he was actually happy of the cooperation displayed by the Attackers. They needed not his help in anyway and formulated a strategy without his intervention or guidance.
"Michael!" Artemis suddenly called.
"Yes, commander!" Michael rushed to his side.
"I need you to call upon a hovercraft here right now, were going back to the base,"
"Yes, commander!"
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"Are you alright?" The leader of the Red Scripture, Joan Fernandez descended to tue ground to help her fellow men stand up. She wore a red robe embedded with many jewels and gold. These ornaments had magic properties of their own and thus was a perfect fit for her. She wore a heavely black armor, made out of Netherite, founded in a S-rank dungeon, the armor was at maxi enchantment, making her far more powerful, nearly powerful as a Sainthood level Demigod. She has short hair and beautiful for a middle age appearance she had, she was very muscular looking like she workout for 30 years without missing a day, she would be mistaken as a male instead of a female.
[IMAGES]
"Captain of the STS Ronald Wargon, tell the other Airships to regroup, we must reach Zeticon City and reclaim it!" She ordered.
(STS = Senadate Theocracy Ship)
"Yes, madame!" The captain saluted and return to the ship's bridge with the other crews.
Joan Fernandez was the leader of the Red Scripture, although she went by many names, she was most commonly referred to as 'Jo'. Jo was a powerful Transcension level Demigod in her own right with the magical capacity and manipulation strength to match ten Dragon Lords of the past.
She could've easily destroyed the Gunship with ease, the reason why she wouldn't do it was because she couldn't risk of other airships and her men to get killed by her own spells, her magic and abilities could probably accidently killed her fellow comrades, she wouldn't take that risk.
Then, another question rises, where the hell was she all this time?
During the first hours of the offensive, she and her scripture were caught off-guard when the metal demons stormed their positions and destroyed most of their ground troops and Airforce from the first time they witness was their full force. The surprise attack pushed them back and prompted them to go melee and thus could not use their abilities to their fullest extent. While she was a very powerful demigod and the real reason why the Android army has many casualties because Joan was the one has been killed tens of Metal Demons doing the first offensive and the first and only human who have the highest kills to the metal demons in Fordalt.
When the battle continues, she began to realize they loosing their numbers rapidly, no matter how many she killed, they killed her men faster than she did and more metal demon reinforcements arrived everytime, so she has no choice but to retreat. When the Machine army began to undeniably overrun them, she and her scripture retreated using their own teleportation spells.
She had only heard of the fall of outer city of Zeticon but was not informed of the whereabouts and status of Zennasir island, the inner city, and the council, but as long as she was around, The Theocracy still had a leader.
In a daring move, she managed to gather all the remaining forces from each major city to form the last army of the Theocracy, and returning to one of the Theocracy's Air Base to gain more, built and rebuild their mighty Airships once again in an alarming rate. Within it was a combined force of knights, spearmen, pikemen, bowmen, crossbowmen and many more. Many mages between A-rank to B-rank were also with her, her fellow scripture members, the Blue scriptures, the Yellow scriptures and what remained of the White scriptures.
These survivors led the remnants of the tens of thousands of Elite groups that still had the will to fight. Their audacity was much needed in this time of suffering and defeat.
She rode on one of the Theocracy's most largest and powerful Airships, the Percy-class Destroyer, with beautiful white and blue designs that creates a shine of hope and will lead the Airsfleets through the sea of clouds.
"The airships and the survivors below! Leave them be, take the wounded and take them to the infirmary, we must not slow down or else the enemy may come back and finish us off!" She barked her orders from left to right. Her leadership skills were the only thing keeping the army of this sheer size together.
They also had limited supplies, to accommodate such vast numbers of ships, there was one question was currently on her mind.
How would they get more supplies? Well, through old traditions.
Pillaging the lands, their own lands.
Well, that doesn't count as pillaging, rather, there was neither any locals anyway in most of nearby villages, towns, and cities because they either joined the crusade, ran towards other states as refugees, commited suicide, or either the Machine army took them and taking them towards their so-called Utopia.
Some thought that the villagers whose villages were nearest to the enemy would switch sides and betray the theocracy in-exchange for protection. This, although was somewhat true, caused Joan order for every local villages they come across have their men join the army and fight.
If they were to resist, well, they shall faced judgement.
Either way, death awaited them.
Unbeknownst to Joan, a combined force of Gunships was well on their way to decimate them. The Airfleets proceeded to flew through the sea of clouds somewhat peacefully, the sounds of Gunship Drones flying in the distance below the clouds gave them fear. The fear of the unknown, to hear the sound of your enemy but without being able to see them was a tremendous factor that played a role.
Joan knew of this and gave passionate speeches to her men along the way, her voice was echoed by her captains, the drums of war were beaten and the horns of the airships were blown. This was to increase morale and the overall spirit of the men readying themselves to fight the enemy and save their country from defeat.
The airships flew on, not proudly nor were their spirits high as they were before the crusade. They expect nothing more but their deaths, why don't they just desert? Rebel? Simple, they don't have the power. They are merely slaves working for their slavemasters, the Red Scripture. The Red Scripture that was going to destroy them if they dared not to obey.
And then, the Gunship Drones came, and hell shall rain upon them.
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