Over on Pokterr, Miranda was having a field day. The AI currently had access to endless resources, infinite energy and so much computing power and streams of information that calling her omnipotent wasn't too far off the truth.
Over the past few months since the first satellite launch, she had already added 15 more. After all, they didn't take long to build, and launching them was pretty direct.
However, Miranda had encountered a small problem. The more satellites she had launched, the larger her stream of information. Now, this was actually a boon, but the problem was that she mainly used the satellite to boost her computing power for things to do with Darius.
However, that computing power was now being gobbled up by the information coming in, which was the actual utility of these satellites. Obviously, launching more wouldn't help, since even just one had been enough to handle the entirety of Faust.
What Miranda needed to do was build a local installation to increase her computing abilities. In fact, this should have been the first choice for her rather than waste time building a satellite, right?
Wrong!
Faust was not Earth.
There were no places like Silicon Valley which could have been used for that purpose. Faust did not have a single area available where such a thing could be easily replicated.
From Fallon to Elysium, installing her computing power anywhere was dangerous because people of this world had myriad powers. If they found out how to manipulate digital entities and discovered any local installation, it would end up as a one way ticket to the entire Supreme Cloud.
Look at the battle Darius had with Medea and Hecate. That alone should tell you that to people of a certain power, it didn't matter how fancy your method was, they could use their own means to breach it.
However, a new option opened itself up to Miranda, and that was naturally the underground of Pokterr. Using the remnants of those tunnels, she filled every inch with wires and devices that would allow her to run tasks much faster than she otherwise could.
The tunnels were laced with explosives that would go off in case the surface would ever be breached, and hundreds of elite Mecha Guards patrolled the area with enhanced sensory functions to ensure nobody could sneak it.
Since Miranda had access to the entirety of God Krona's information, she knew every stealth related trick in the book any Faustian could pull, so there would be no cool espionage scenes here.
Anyone who tried it would be shot and killed immediately.
Miranda also expanded under the water, building missile silos as well as computing bays. Underwater was far safer than the underground, and her aquatic troops had spread, expanding from all directions around Pokterr, establishing one underwater base after the other.
If one looked at the map of Faust using the eyes of an 'admin', they would see a silver blot slowly spreading from Pokterr outward like a disease. Technically, Miranda was.
Darius had designed her to be a Mechanical Apocalypse, and she was coming along well to serve that purpose. Gunner and co were a Military/Magical Apocalypse, while his plans for Ludo were still uncertain.
On the war front, there had been a bit of a stalemate after a while since Odysseus had seen through Miranda's tricks. The Demi-God had realized that they were being dragged into a pointless war that would soon drain them of their people, but luckily they had only sent cannon fodder so far.
Odysseus praised himself for seeing the truth before they started deploying holy armies, paladins, and Demi-Gods. Who knew what kind of losses Elysium would have taken if they had played along?
Now, Elysium was making plans for how to deal with Pokterr, and right now, they had been secretly contacted by Gravitas. They were in talks to release information about how the Mecha army functioned.
Once this information was shared to them, they could begin making countermeasures. It was unknown why Gravitas would even do something so stupid, as it would harm them too.
Whatever the case, the elaborate planning of the upper echelon of Elysium and Gravitas soon came to a screeching halt.
Today was 22nd November 8768 of the Faustian 4th generation calendar.
On the continent of Pokterr, an unprecedented event occurred. From all the bases on the continent, various openings split and hundreds of planes with jet engines roared into the sky.
Each base released around 50 planes, and with a total of over 267,890 bases, that was a total of 13,394,500 planes taking to the sky. As they were all managed by AI, there were no delays or collisions, as they easily got into formation one after the other.
They were powered by Source Energy and with the best metals being used for their construction, they were sturdy and able to accelerate to supersonic speeds, breaking the sound barrier easily while keeping formation.
They easily crossed over the huge distance that existed between the continents on Faust within the span of three days. The residents of Elysium were startled by the sight of hundreds of thousands of strange flying contraptions passing over the sea and rapidly reaching their lands.
Odysseus and the Gods had noticed this long before it reached Elysium, and were wondering what the hell this was. Odysseus assumed it was the first offensive of the enemy, so he wanted to see what they would do.
To the Gods, the continent did not really matter, as long as the City of Light itself remained intact. Some of the more hot-blooded Gods even sent down incarnations to stop these metal beasts from behaving arrogantly.
Among them were the likes of Ares, the War God, who was already super pissed about the loss of his favorite underling Achilles, and Loki, who was curious to see the events play out with his own eyes.
Ares alone went before the army of incoming planes and raised a palm as if commanding them to stop.
"Halt, you vile things! You trespass on the lands of the gods, Elysium! Return to whence you came, lest you suffer consequences you cannot even begin to fathom." He spoke arrogantly, not taking this ensemble seriously.
After all, with a little bit of Divine Energy, he could destroy all these little contraptions with a wave of his hand. However, he was feeling the need to show off his might to the other Gods, who had mocked him for Achilles' loss.
As such, he smirked when a plane at the lead of the army began charging a laser cannon.
"Since you dare to attack this Deity, I will show you the futility of your actions." Ares proclaimed as he folded his hands behind his back, allowing the plane to charge up and fire the red beam.
The light tore through the air and struck Ares on the chest. Both Ares and the spectating Gods watched with amusement, thinking that it would bounce off the God of War's body harmlessly.
In fact, many Gods were lamenting not sending incarnations down. This was a perfect chance to posture before the mortals and convert many worshipers over to their faith.
Many Lower Gods even felt their gums hurt as they expected a 40% loss of worshipers after this, those fickle and simple-minded humans moving to Ares' church after being awed.
However, that scene they expected did not come to pass. Rather, the beam lanced through Ares' incarnation easily, like a bullet through paper. The God could only gaze at his gaping chest, stupidly as the rest of his body turned to ash.
He wasn't even able to mutter a cry of surprise or shock before he died. Loki and co, who were looking on, were dumbfounded, not understanding what the hell they had just witnessed.
Even worse, the mortals below were beginning to panic, seeing that an actual god had fallen so easily. Whether Ares would lose followers was no longer important.
At this moment, Athena suddenly screamed into the 'chat' the Gods shared. "ALL GODS, CONVERGE TO THE CITY OF LIGHT AND CAST A DIVINE BARRIER, NOW!"
Zeus asked: "Athena, are you sure?"
"YES! THE ORACLE OF DELPHI JUST FAINTED FOAMING AT THE MOUTH, PREDICTING OUR COLLECTIVE DEMISE!" Athena screamed with desperation.
Hearing this, the other Gods could no longer play around. They immediately forcefully descended using their true bodies into the City of Light, ignoring their followers as they burned their Divine Energy to spread a barrier of light around the city.
At this moment, they saw the planes reach the continent and blast through the air space, the ones in the leading going towards the end while those near the middle slowed down to their level.
A childish and excited voice rang out, somehow the entire city was able to hear it.
"Hey, you, Fake Lords! Do you wanna know why Americans never knock on doors?"
Hearing this question, the Gods were puzzled, wondering what an American was and how it had anything to do with the current situation.
"BECAUSE FREEDOM RINGS, MOTHERFUCKERS!" The voice roared with excitement.
At that moment, the planes unloaded their cargo onto the unwilling Elysium.
