"Move out!!"
"Form up 1st Legion! All Adepts to the right and Masters to the left!"
"APC Operators, start the engines and get into line!"
Shouts were heard all over the camp as the army of Safemoon rapidly and professionally mobilized with such efficiency and smoothness that it would chill any onlooker. It felt like these guys had been doing this for decades until perfection, but how was that possible?
Wasn't this a newly formed army?
Soon, the hundreds of thousands of Source Energy powered APCs began trudging forward at lightning speed, leaving the scouts and spies around from the remaining empires flabbergasted.
My Brother in Christ, I only turned to take a leak for 2 minutes and the encamped army went from casual and relaxed to fully mobile? How could they even do things like this?
No, I have to quickly report it to the leader! These spies thought with panic and hurry, but found out that they were unable to soon move. Their bodies began to decay in real time and they could only helplessly watch as they crumbled into bone dust.
The scouts were surprised even as they died. Previously, they had always been fine because the half-giant commander ignored them and let them do as they pleased. After all, Gunner could not care about small fries like these and even used them to let his enemies bundle up together so he could take them all out at once.
So what changed?
Well, the army of Safemoon was now in the control of a tighter and crueler hand who would not even let the slightest mishap occur.
Darius preferred lightning strikes that were covert ambushes, allowing him to capture enemies quickly and easily compared to Gunner who preferred to cruise casually and then beat everyone in his way to death.
By the time the first empire on their path, the Elemental Golem Empire, was able to respond, the APCs were already at their capital's city walls. Hundreds of powerful and faceless golems stood there with obvious feelings of despair radiating off them.
It was clear that they knew this was the end and there was nothing they could do. The enemy had even come so fast that they couldn't evacuate their top members as well as their families.
They did not even see the enemy coming until it was too late. They didn't even know how their counties, provinces, and towns were doing, but they were most likely already captured and razed to the ground.
This was their last stand!
The emperor of the Elemental Golems came to stand up on the capital city's battlements and glanced down at the hundreds of APCs lined up on the plain before their city walls.
He was unlike his clansmen in that he had a partial face, but his crystal-like eyes did not look organic and he had no nose or lips. Apart from his cloak of elementals that were of lightning specifically, he did not seem any different.
His crystal eyes flashed with a deep light and he spoke through the condensations of elements to his people.
"My soldiers, today it is do or die! Either we beat back these invaders or we die and lose our families, culture, and heritage forever!" The Emperor declared loudly.
The soldiers below roared in the elements, which caused heatwaves, water torrents, intense wind, and cracking earth all around. The elites among them shared looks but could not cheer, for they knew the truth.
Safemoon's army actually accepted surrender, but their emperor simply refused to give up power and would rather spend the lives of all these soldiers to carve out a way for victory than give up sovereignty and become a puppet leader.
In truth, they too supported this because they were like gods to mortals in their kingdom and to the rest of Fallon. They had enjoyed such power for so long and couldn't bear to give it up, so they too hoped a miracle would occur.
It didn't.
Today, the empire fell in ruin, its capital captured. The Emperor was impaled on Darius special lance like a piece of meat on a stick and all the officers were headless as their faces showed endless fear and regret.
Death should not have come so swiftly and surely!
Darius allowed his lance to absorb the essence of the emperor while he glanced at his army that moved in and perform their occupation duties. Each citizen still alive was forced to wear a HoloBrace and those who didn't were sold to the Devils and Demons of Armadon through special rituals.
Darius was a merchant, so he didn't discriminate among his potential clients. When Gunner had once summoned the succubi to please his men, Lilith had approached the half-giant with the offer to buy the souls and bodies of those who were captured during the war.
Gunner relayed this to Darius who agreed. After all, the only valuable thing was land. The people on the land could be mass-produced by him, so their value was frighteningly low.
The ones sold were those who fought back and caused trouble. They, like everyone else, thought that Darius wouldn't dare to kill them all since he would need subjects to rule.
So when they saw the fate bestowed on them, they were frightened and full of regret. What loyalty to the state, what fishing for benefits? They should have been like the timid ones and sat quietly in their homes, but they just had to run out.
Now, they were going to be subject to a fate worse than death since demons wouldn't even let their souls go after death.
Darius saw all this and smiled softly. The remaining 49 kingdoms would also go through the same thing, so he was getting himself used to the sight.
As for the emperor he battled and killed with relative ease, he glanced at the corpse that was now fully drained and shook his head. He hoped that this fellow would increase the power of his lance and bring out its destructive power further.
