The ultimatum was coming to an end and the troops remained safe in the capital while the enchantress received the 'package', i.e. the return of her 'servants', head first.

It was despicable and she immediately went to take out her nerves on the wyverns who were playing the stupid animal.

"ALPHA! I know you understand me... Your son MIR... He's a horror... a MONSTER!!! So, listen carefully if you want to keep your female and your mother alive... you bring MIR back here! and I want you to eat the princess! Otherwise, take one last look at your female! And if you want to be free, bring back Etincelle!"

In the meantime I went to see the wire drawing mill and the cables were finished.

Then I went to the big hangars and the gas and mana engines were ready and the propellers were whirring.

One of the dwarves said to me. "I've never worked on such complex machines, but with the new tools, it's a joy to work with metal. There's so much to do!

Ah, the Tormentor is ready!

I started to smile and after inspecting my new death machine, I ordered: Build 2 more, add 30% more volume to the rear and fit me with a 3-axis turret on the belly, back, rear and front.

The second attack will no longer have the element of surprise, so they'll have their surprise.

Then, after inspecting the mechanical workshop, the Dwarves had copied the general mechanism of the gun, added an automatic recoil system and chain magazines.

The explosives and ammunition were reserved for wyverns and goblins.

Meanwhile, in Magincia.

"Send 50,000 men to defend the Duchy, it will set an example but they will be scattered and wind mages will chase away the toxic clouds!"

His general nodded and immediately gave the order to set off.

"We've got to teach that mad lizard a lesson and he'll lose all support after this!"

Order a siege of the capital and take the reserve army!"

It was the last straw.

As far as I was concerned, this witch was relentless and nothing had been done to her.

I ordered the obsolete ballistas to be replaced and placed on outlying buildings. The eagles and griffins would destroy them with stones. The real danger was my new invention: copies of the first water-cooled hand-cranked Gatling guns. The introduction of cartridges and firearms, without going through the blunderbuss.

We were going from the Middle Ages to 1914! The goblins had rifles like Mausers, with bayonets and sights.

The mashers were improved with a wafer wall to increase mortality.

And... surprise,

Mortars with cast iron balls and TNT/fulmington inside.

I also had trenches dug to snipe at the attackers.

So I freed up 1,000 men to attack the duchy, defended by 65,000 to 70,000 fighters, the units having regrouped.

I also took 500 Imps and 50 harpies and we marched happily north-east.

From her crystal ball, the enchantress laughed at the sight of a puny army attacking a well-defended city.

But to her surprise, several thousand men and their noble chiefs had come to witness the spectacle.

And like all demon lords, the clouds and mist and evil mana brought clouds and the weather turned to rain, making the plain slippery and muddy.

But it didn't matter.

After a hard day's march, we arrived at the top of a hill and, below, the town, guarded by a mass of troops 10 times our size.

They hadn't even bothered to take refuge on the ramparts.

All the generals were laughing.

One of them dared to say: "Do you think they'll try that again with their stinking gas?

I don't know, but the goblins seem to be having fun and they've got spears with bigger sides.

Ah... they're scattering... It's a tactical error! The horsemen will trample them!"

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

the other noble on the hill, a spectator hesitating whether to join the empire or the republic.

"They're pointing their spears at the horsemen... I think they're taunting them."

"You'll see, the horsemen will be on them in no time."

Then, all of a sudden: full of smoke.

"They're at it again.! but .. but."

A hundred riders fell from their horses at a distance of 1000 metres, horses included.

Then, a second salvo and more fell, archers...

They kill at that distance? It can't be true. Ah, they're sounding the attack. But the firing continued and the officers retreated immediately.

The carnage now numbered in the hundreds. And a gory spectacle of wounded, dying and desperate soldiers was presented to observers from afar.

[https://img.wattpad.com/6ae54218aaedaba60f3ddb39125e2f91686e6f8a/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f3559477133435a636b62726558413d3d2d313335313639353832322e313736376138386535396136666635373230353332313936353034312e6a7067]

One of the more talkative barons stood speechless, from the safety of the hillside, where he could see all the manoeuvres.

"The Lord Demon... We won't be able to defeat him with numbers," he commented to the neighbouring baron.

"Yes, the Duke was devoured ten days ago. If they are intelligent, the family should have sought refuge in another state".

"No, I think they were stubborn with the Enchantress. Yet she has magic and she enhances the men's performance".

"Mir must use magic or art from another world. That's why he scares us".

"I'm going to join the empire... are you coming with? At one against 20, they're beating them, so when they're 100%"

"But the monsters?"

"Bah. Everyone loves gold.."

"I'm with you, Alban, I hear he's going to level the town!"

"I doubt it. There's a powerful magic shield and the troops are inside."

Meanwhile, I flew towards the clouds and an open door leading to a hangar was the ventral access to the Tormentor, which I had named before Tormentor.

You could hear the whistle of propellers and mana engines, backed up by a gas turbine.

I had regained my human size and inspected the structure. My demonic eye and a few tricks of magic and alchemy showed me the stresses and fractures in the structure, which was too large and too advanced for its time.

The Tormentor was stretched out like a large cigar, 200 metres long and twisted, I could hear the wood creaking and I immediately cast spells to transmute the wood into titanium with a perforated structure and all sorts of reinforcements.

I went round and round and everything went back to normal.

What exhausted me the most was draining my mana to transmute the hydrogen into helium.

I approached the forward cabin and congratulated the dwarves, who had literally worked their fingers to the bone day and night.

Then I took the controls.

A boat wheel straight ahead to turn and another perpendicular to go up or down and handles for the engines.

"I hope you're watching, Witch of the West!"

[https://img.wattpad.com/313e78fd6468b6fb8cac1d141a875b9604c253bd/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f69756847534f622d59526e4a73673d3d2d313335313639353832322e313736376138396464643865383566653732393237373038393334312e6a7067]

I could see the city and all its troops inside.

The goblins jumped for joy and continued firing at those who hadn't taken cover.

The bullets bounced off the walls and a magical force field.

Then everyone looked up, their attention drawn by a low, muffled hornet-like roar.

Commander Murano, defender of the city and the Palomino family, the noble family of the devoured duke, was worried.

"What sorcery is this!"

"Archer, ballistae, crossbowmen, cut down this hideous monster.

They looked at the painted eyes and teeth, but to them it was some kind of flying whale or monstrous shark.

But the Tormentor was much too high. The arrows fell back on their sender and there were casualties.

"He's heading over the city, magicians! Hurry!

I then cast one of my Demon Lord spells, the same ones that the mages used: "Meteor shower", an 8th circle archmage class spell.

Then, gaining speed with height, flaming pebbles fell on the city, only to crash into the magic dome.

The most powerful mages tried interruption spells while others reinforced the artefacts placed on the inner towers to hold the dome in place.

One of the human mages on board pointed out to me the belfry that told the time, which was the nerve centre of the dome.

After aligning a viewfinder, I pulled a lever and a shrill whistle was heard growing louder and louder below.

"Something has fallen from the monster... an egg?" said a soldier.

"You idiot!" shouted Murano, pushing the soldier. Take cover. It's like their grenades, but much bigger.

500 kg of TNT surrounded by phosphorus, that does a lot of damage.

A flash of light, followed by a spray of white was the result of the explosion of the first bomb.

The belfry rose like a straw and fell back into its rubble, taking the entire magical protection mechanism with it.

The dome had collapsed.

A fog of dust and the screams of victims filled the city centre.

Then came the second, and a myriad of smaller bombs, the large ones destroying the casemates, burying the soldiers who had taken refuge in them, but then the ogres arrived with tanks and opened a tap revealing a flamethrower.

The jet burnt everything at the top of the walls and the fire spread throughout the town.

It was a medieval city and the houses almost all touched at the top and the fire spread at lightning speed.

The second army was wiped out or scattered. Half the survivors begged to join us and fall in line.

I went out, the zeppelin returning to base to reload.

[https://img.wattpad.com/c939102c0364c7a852022c7b99ad51da4ad2770a/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f70434a5a4d3937417638646663773d3d2d313335313639353832322e3137363761386232626532643134346631393437333736363634332e6a7067]

In less than an hour, the city was razed to the ground. Never before in history had such destruction taken place.

The enchantress began to weep in front of her crystal ball and was now beginning to doubt her ability to crush me.

[https://img.wattpad.com/3eadde0e1836466e49b182af0f0b2f979cf42fea/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f6257364770466d685772326b64673d3d2d313335313639353832322e313736376138626463396561386438393635373133383533353435392e6a7067]

The message was clear.

And the Zeppelin toured the towns in a week, dropping a load of warnings to the most resistant.

The nobles had a parchment signed by the imprint of a dragon phalanx:

"Support the empire or burn in hell!"

The following month, the capital was swarming with nobles, and soldiers, and the army was fully reconstituted.

The enchantress sighed that she hadn't given the order to march on the capital, as surprises awaited her.