The city of Silverton was built over a hundred years ago, its forefathers laid each lumber and stone firmly down to create a safe haven for the people. The foundation of the city had protected the people of Silverton from the threats of monsters and wars. Yet today, the once proud walls of Silverton laid in ruins and smoke as figures in camouflage ran through the city as they engaged with the forces of the Empire.
Suddenly everything changed as a bright flash burst out from the city's clifftop Citadel and the fighting along with the lower city paused as both sides turned to view the phenomenon having. The Marines swiftly disengaged from their confrontation with the dazed Imperials and headed straight towards the phenomenon as they knew that something was very bad was happening there.
Some of the Imperials even joined the Marines and they ran towards the glowing figure in the sky. Even the residents hiding from the battle crawled out from their hiding spots and stood with their mouth agape as they stared at the glowing being that looked like a God from descending from the heavens.
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"BOW BEFORE ME!" The shrill cries of the Hummingbird could be heard as it flew around the sky, leaving behind after images which bright tracer bolts chased after it. "I AM THE ETERNAL EMPEROR!"
Varacen could feel his body growing stronger and stronger. It was power beyond his imagination ever since he had gotten his hands on the artifact. He remembered how many years back, he and Dante were still young and reckless than when they first ventured into an unexplored ruin.
After finishing off the goblins and denizens living in the ruins, they found a temple that was filled with strange symbols and carvings of strange creatures and beings. An unexpected cave in dropped them both into another stone room, where they found piles of bones and gold.
An out worldly stone statue with raised crossed legs and its two fisted hands half raised sat on a stone pedestal. The statue's head was facing upwards to the sky with deep hollowed eyes and large dangling ear loops and it wore a golden medallion around its neck.
Varacen and Dante decided to share the treasures they found and for the medallion, they broke it in half and that was when things started to make a change in their lives. Emboldened by their success, they continued their life of adventuring. They found out that the medallion they each possess of, had the ability to strengthen their powers for each creature they killed.
At first, they felt like they were heroes to the people, doing deeds in which the grateful people praised them in songs and poems but soon came to the realization that even killing people will also empower them and make them young again.
Drunk by the power of the artifact, the two of them soon fell into greed and conceit. They indulged themselves in the worship of the people and the wasteful lifestyle of luxury. Varacen decided to join the army of a warlord while Dante continued on his way with his adventures.
Varacen rosed from the ranks quickly due to his power. He sought to kill as many as possible, which made his strength grew more powerful and finally, he rosed to the top and took the place of his lord and became the first Emperor of the Empire of Bluewood.
Over the history of the Empire, he had to feign his age and death, taking over the throne by taking the identity of his successors and sacrificing them to the Sun God. A bare handful only knew the truth and all of them dead by now.
In two hundred years of his life, he has never met his match. Even Elder Dragons bowed before his strength and yet, after so many years, this was the second time he ever had to use his Blessing from the Sun God to fight these barbarians.
He managed to grab one of the barbarians with his clawed feet and he jabbed his beak down at the chest of the barbarian. There was a loud snap as the armor of the barbarian broke and his beak entered the soft flesh and he sucked in the sweet life essence of the living.
His body seemed to enlarge as he drained the barbarian. His body was had expanded to the size of a large building, towering over the inner walls. He congealed a force of darkness out from his body and pumped the wilted body full of his own blood mixed with dark energy, and the limp body started to wiggle as its body mass and muscles changed and reanimated.
"HAHAHAHA!" Varacen shrieked happily as he dropped the meat bag down to the ground. With the artifact of the Sun God in his body, he has both the power of light and dark! After many decades of research and testing with his own body, he came out with an ability to transfer his own life force to the freshly dead, turning them into mindless minions.
His original plans were to unite the New World, but as time went by, he found that he enjoyed the feeling of having god like powers. Hence, he came up with the Bronze Men as he needed an army to replace his potential energy source. The Bronze Men were made from his blood and a concoction of alchemical mixture. It could be mass produced easily with his blood as long as he fed well on life essences.
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Once he had conquered the whole New World, he can easily harvest all the people in the Empire to fuel his transformation into a God! The people will learn their role and how honored they will be to be sacrificed to the birth of a new God!
Suddenly, a thunderous clap knocked him off the skies, making his magic barrier shimmer wildly. Offended, he glanced around with displeasure to find the source that interrupted his thoughts. With his superior sight, he spotted a small group of barbarians huddled over a tube like smoking object on a roof many many blocks away.
Just as he was about to sweep his wings at the barbarians, he caught a glimpse of a flash and smoke and he lazily drifted to the side, to dodge the dart like projectile flying to him at a speed that surprised him. He ignored the dart and raised his wing up and was about to fling a Sun Blade over when something exploded, knocking him down again.
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"LOAD THE ANTI MAGIC SHELL!" The Marine gunner on the tripod mounted 88 mm recoilless rifle cried out to his assistant. The assistant slipped out the purple tipped round head shell from the laid out canvas bag and ejected the spent casing before ramming the shell into the opened breech.
"LOADED!" The assistant yelled. "ALL CLEAR!"
"ONE ROUND AWAY!" The gunner warned as he squeezed the trigger. The 88 mm round burst out of the tube with a roar and the stabilizer fins at the rear end of the missile spun out and a second later, the second stage rocket motor kicked in, super accelerating the missile to speeds up to twice its initial velocity.
The purple color coded warhead was special. It had a guidance system mounted on the warhead and a fluid suspended gyrostabilized system. A magic rune which was used to home in on large magic signatures was carved into the system. The fluid suspended in the gyrostabilized system was filled with 10 CCs of dragon blood, which responded to the magic rune and served as the 'driver' for the honing missile.
The magic rune easily locked on to the largest and 'brightest' magic source it could sense which was the Hummingbird. The dragon blood which came from Rastraz was attracted to the direction the magic rune was 'pulling' to, which in turn controlled the fins, swerving the missile towards the direction the Hummingbird and dodged to and detonated when the warhead crumpled against the Hummingbird's magic barrier.
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Varacen screamed as the overpressure from the explosion hammered his insides despite his magic barrier was still active. The explosion caused him pain, pain which he hasn't felt for a very very long time until today. He shrieked out in anger and the unfamiliar feeling and started flinging super heated energy waves all over the city.
"DIE! DIE! DIE!" He shrilled madly as he destroyed the city around him. "DIEE!"
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"Holy fark!" Hitsu cried out in panic as he laid flat on the ground. "He's going nuts!"
The Hummingbird screamed wildly as it started its wanton destruction of the city. Tyrier stood up and ran forward, "Come on! You want to live forever?"
"Fark, yes!" Hitsu hissed as he ran after the rest, chasing after the mad god. "I hate freaking gods!"
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Major Joseph crouched on the side and peered out at the rampaging creature. "Is the special equipment here yet?"
"Soon, sir!" His radioman replied as he spoke with the other person on the radio. "They are coming! A couple blocks away, sir!"
Joseph nodded. "Tell them to hit that son of a bitch when they got the range!"
"And call fire mission to bomb that shit off the skies!" Joseph ordered next. "Try to shepherd that thing into a kill zone!"
Teams of recoilless rifle begun a game of hide and seek with the Hummingbird as fired their weapon and ran, to prevent getting dissected by the creature. The anti magic warheads chased the Hummingbird as he dodged them. The only issues were that the anti magic missiles had limited flight time and turning radius but when the missile hit, it made the creature shriek.
"Tell the rocket teams to try to push that thing towards the slope of the castle!" Joseph said. "Tell all units to clear that area now!"
Joseph kept watching as the Hummingbird was chased by the missiles and rockets. It slowly drifted back towards over the wall and over the slope. Joseph broke into a grin when he saw that. "Call in the mortars! Knock that shit off the skies now! The rocket teams must be running low of ammo soon!"
Seconds later, the shrieks of mortar shells came overhead and splashed over the area the Hummingbird was at. Smoke blanketed around the screaming creature as shrapnel flayed it. The overpressure from the airburst hammered the Hummingbird all around it and finally, it fell off the air as it covered its head with its wings to protect itself.
"Good!" Joseph thumped his fist against the wall in triumphant. "Is the special weapons team here yet?"
"Yes, Sir!" The radioman replied.
"Call off the artillery and let them get in there to kill that fake god!"
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Corporeal Lorner half ran across the block of the ruined house, panting with the rest of his section. He toiled a heavy shield and large tank on his back as he ran towards the explosions with the others. He wore a thick protective armored suit like the rest of his section and paused just at the edge of the explosions.
"Arty has lifted!" His section Sergeant called out hoarsely from his mask. "GO GO GO!"
Lorner hefted his shield before him and charged forward into the smoke. As he cleared through the smoke, he saw a huge feathered creature curled up in a feathery ball. Quickly, he raised his shield before him and supported his flamer against the side of the shield as he and his section advanced in a line.
"BURN IT!" The special weapons section's Sergeant ordered once they are within their flamers range. Instantly, ten nozzles dripping flames roared out like a dragon's breathe and washed over the feathered creature.
The creature shrieked madly as the air superheated up around it. It's magic barrier flickered and shimmered in bright colors as it tanked the flames. The Hummingbird whipped its wings at the thin line of Marines and the Sun Blades slammed into the shields of the Marines.
The shields flickered and shimmered as the magic barrier enchanted on them held, and the protective gear protected them from the heatwave. Lorner grinned inside his mask as he advanced forward, spraying the creature with his flamer.
"Burn baby, burn!"