บท 78: For the emperor!
The Crimson Cosmos. A dimension, as its name suggests, filled with crimson colors. There was nothing but sand, rocks, mountains, and volcanoes. And yes, everything is crimson. Even the sky. It was like a bad Instagram filter.
Atri and the sages gently floated above the vast expanse of the sea of crimson sand and started chanting. The easiest method of getting Cyttorak's attention was of course to annoy him enough to come attack you in person.
Cyttorak who was preparing for the invasion might have been busy as he just sent his avatar, the Juggernaut in his place. With the help of the crimson gem, Juggernaut was a nigh unstoppable being. He was a human wrecking ball with mystical powers.
But the Sages were not to be outdone. They summoned a champion of their own, one who could stop the unstoppable juggernaut, the green monster, Hulk.
One would get stronger as he got angrier and the other would not stop once he started moving, it was like a match between the spear that pierces everything and the shield that stops everything. It was an interesting matchup to be observed but the Sages had work to do.
The chanting continued and started flowing into the fabric of the crimson cosmos, attacking it from within. Finally, Cyttorak could no longer stand the annoyance and appeared in front of the sages.
"Was there a need to come here to annoy me? I was coming to your planet to smash it into pieces anyway." Cyttorak began his attack right away.
"Oh my, we seem to have annoyed him quite a bit." Atri exclaimed jokingly while the Sages took a step back. Different weapons started manifesting in their hands.
A large axe appeared in Atri's hand which he used to deflect the crimson blast sent by Cyttorak. "Parashuram's axe is always the right choice. Just feels right in the hand."
"Look at him showing off. He doesn't even let us touch it." One of the sages, Vishwamitra complained while drawing the empty bowstring. After he chanted something, a bolt of lighting formed on the bowstring and he let it loose.
Gautama also pulled on a bow and spoke, "Personally, I like taking a supporting role much better than fighting head-on. Look at him having to block all those attacks."
While the sages poured out their attacks, Atri cut off one of Cyttorak's fingers while he was distracted. While shaking off the blood, Atri mumbled, "I have become rusty. I would've chopped off his hand back in the day."
"Stop bragging and focus on the fight. I don't want to have to cremate your old bones." Bharadwaj shouted at Atri while throwing a spear.
The fight got more intense as Cyttorak got angered by the pain of losing his finger. The attacks became crazier and faster. Cyttorak was starting to throw everything at Atri.
"Tch. I didn't want to use this if I didn't have to." Atri complained and brought out a jewel that he then placed on his forehead. The gem shined and fused into Atri's skin.
"I knew it! He always dodged the questions but I knew he had Ashwathama's gem. I searched all over the nine realms and it was with him all along." Gautama got annoyed at Atri after seeing the gem being brought out.
Ashwathama's gem was somewhat similar to Cyttorak's crimson gem but also very different. Ashwathama was a legendary Hindu warrior who was born with a mutation. His forehead had a gem that gave him powers that made him invulnerable to aging, fatigue, disease, magic, divine power, and even weapons. It was basically a gem of relative invincibility.
For a grave war crime, his gem had been removed as a punishment. But over time it had passed many hands for safekeeping and had been lost along the way. Many had searched for the gem but it seemed that Atri had been the lucky one to find it.
"Isn't it a powered-down version of power stone? No wonder he hid it for so long. We can argue about it after the fight ends. Let's focus on the fight for now." Kashyapa suggested and brought the focus of the group back to the fight.
**********
Back on Earth, fights had begun in every corner of the planet. Superheroes, magicians, sorcerers, martial artists, hidden societies of fighters, mutants, and Inhumans everyone had joined the fight.
Dimensional creatures of all shapes, sizes, and appearances kept pouring out of the portals while the earthlings hurried to blockade every portal that appeared. In the places where the heroes couldn't reach, elite soldiers in mechanized suits, holding futuristic guns were holding defense.
Odin who had been observing the situation all over the planet from the command center became thoughtful. "If the number of invaders keeps increasing at this rate, the defense will not be able to hold them back for long. We need a change of strategy."
Cypher who was standing next to Odin asked, "But what can we do? We can't immediately stop the portals. The elder god called Gaia was said to be working on it but we don't know how long it will take to patch the hole in the magical shield."
"Show some respect boy. She is the mother of your species, the Earth itself. If she hadn't used up her powers to expel the other elder gods, humanity might have gone extinct a long time ago. She is having trouble patching up the shield because she is weakened. But it shouldn't take any more than half a day. So we just have to hold on for 4-6 hours." Odin lectured Cypher.
"The whole planet might be run over by that time. We can't hold on for so long in this state." Cypher expressed his concern. He wasn't sure if they would last even another hour.
"Hmm. That EAS place, you have someone you can contact there right?" Odin asked.
"Yeah. Savant's wife Sage is rushing the production of weapons and armor there right now. Why do you ask?" Cypher squinted his eyes in doubt.
"Well, those disgusting things like teleporting so much, so I thought we should let them teleport a little longer." Odin grinned an evil grin.
"You mean to block their portals with our teleporters? That could work. But where would we even send those things? Our teleporters are still not good enough for long-distance teleporting." Cypher liked the idea but was worried about its viability.
"I will send some Asgardian scientists, they can provide our blueprints and help your scientists with the issues regarding range and energy. Get them to produce the teleporters quickly. And for now, all magicians and sorcerers should focus on putting up additional portals in front of the invaders' portals. Make the exits in space or if possible near the sun." Odin ordered.
"Thank you for your generous help, Your Majesty." Cypher bowed his head lightly.
"Don't thank me. It isn't free. Everything will be calculated when the war ends. We will share in the spoils of war as well." Odin smirked.
'Damn old man.' Cypher thought as he relayed the orders to the EAS headquarters.
The Asgardian scientists who were sent to the EAS quickly began working with Earth's best minds to develop a hybrid technology that had the potential to be mass-produced in a short period. A separate team was already starting on the basic modifications of the factory.
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"We do not have any powers and we do not have any mutations. We are just ordinary humans. Humans who serve the emperor's will. We are the warriors of mankind. We put on the weapons and armor that the emperor gifted us and fight against everything that threatens humanity."
A tall black man covered from head to toe in thick armor made of blue-green metal was standing atop a small hill of rubble with a large gun in one of his hands and a giant laser sword in the other. He was shouting at a group of men similarly equipped standing in formation below him.
The man then turned at the portal on the other side of the rubble hill. Piles of alien carcasses were everywhere in front of the portal.
"Who are we?" the man shouted out loud at the group of men.
"Alpha Legion!" the shout of the men rang out in the city that had been reduced to rubble.
"What do we do?" the man shouted even louder this time. It was questionable if a human voice could even be that loud. The passion in the voice was such that anyone would be able to feel it.
Equally passionate voices in an equally loud voice replied, "Eliminate mankind's enemies."
By this time, another wave of dimensional creatures had begun their invasion from the portal.
The man looked at the enemies, and jumped from the hill toward the enemy with a shout, "For mankind! For the emperor!" His large gun was already firing laser blasts.
His men followed him into the battle with the same battle cry, "For mankind! For the emperor!"
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Author here, just wanted to tell you to check out a novel named 'British Empire vs. A Banker' that's on webnovel too. It's fun. Go check it out.
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