Chaos...
It was absolute chaos...
Chaos...
The bells were ringing in the sound of alarms, as soldiers rushed about to prepare for the assault that had come to their location...
Not even a week had passed since the attack of these monstrous constructs of metal upon Port Tallius: now they were rising from the shores again like a horde of undead, each of them trudging slowly but unstoppably towards the port that had been built by the empire at this very place.
"Ready the arrows!" one of the port-guards shouted. "Fire!"
This time though, the men of the empire had already anticipated their return- the ballistas that had been swiftly constructed on top of hastily built wooden bastions had quickly fired upon the armies of golems emerging from the cursed shores, scoring several hits and even kills with every bolt they fired. They knew they wouldn't stand a chance if they simply fielded their men in the usual battle formations against these monsters, and this time, their strategists had come up with a sound and logical plan.
[Earthen Wall.]
The available mages had immediately casted their defensive spells to protect one the only few things that could damage these giants; almost immediately, several, protective walls of earthly dirt rose up from the ground to momentarily stop the march of the metal constructs- granted, they were not too tall as to prevent the ballistas from firing, and they were thick and durable enough to weather even a hail of punches and other forces that the golems would use to bring down the indomitable barrier.
[Quick Sand.]
[Sand Golems.]
[Earth Golems.]
The sand beneath the ground they trod on quickly became unsteady; contaminated by magick, the sands beneath the steel behemoths instantly became unstable, slowing them down and making their mechanical feet sink into its coarse embrace, as the magickal constructs that the mages had summoned quickly used this environmental hazard to their advantage and began to pick the monsters of one by one.
"... The plan worked well... We've stopped them all so easily..."
Their march had now been completely halted indefinitely- even despite their rapidly increasing numbers, the defense that the soldiers had set up against such an incursion had proven to be incredibly effective. All they had to do now was to wait for time itself to lead these monster towards the failure of their own assault, and all would become well once more.
It seemed to have happened so well in fact, that some of the soldiers were beginning to feel uneasy: surely, their victory couldn't have come with no terrible costs?
"Captain... They don't even stand a chance against us anymore..."
"... Indeed... I just hope they stay down for good this time..." the captain of the port guards mentioned with a stern tone of voice. "... It may also be a tall wish, but I hope these monsters never come back after this 2nd attack of theirs..."
How ridiculous it seemed- what was once a dangerous army of enemies that had nearly managed to defeat the Neugomians stationed in the port, had now been turned into cannon fodder that were easily, though slowly being defeated by the combined tactics they had unleashed.
The men stationed within the safety of their stations simply looked at their enemies in either disbelief or ridicule, as the once threatening, dangerous constructs they had previously fought were now slowly being defeated by their sound approach, with not even a single men of their own perishing in the process.
... However... Things would eventually stray away from the sound plan they had already made.
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"Hahaha~ this is interesting~ what smart humans you are... Even though you've all become filthy due to magick, I guess humans will always be cunning in times like these..."
To the surprise and dismay of the soldiers hiding away within the protections of their bastions, an ethereal gateway had suddenly formed in the sky, and out from it came one of the great enemies hovering unperturbed in the air, a formidable foe that the missing crusading fleet had supposedly set sailed to vanquish.
"... I-it's her... Isn't she supposed to have been vanquished already...?"
"She's alive... No wonder the men who set sailed days ago haven't returned..."
She was supposed to have been slain by the army they had sent to the demon's fortress- a large armada of wooden ship-of-the-lines and transport ships, all of whom were supplemented by an army of 7,000 men, among them were knights, mages, and the best trained soldiers amongst the ranks of the empire- it was a great crusade meant to purge the great demon who resided at the center of the sea, who both the scholars and head mages of the empire believed to be the cause of the countless storms that had come by and caused havoc on their lands for countless centuries now.
However, seeing that she was still alive at this point, their greatest fears had quickly and seemingly become true: the conquest fleet had been easily defeated, and now the demon had arrived here to finish the rest of her duties.
"A-aim the ballistas! Quickly!" the port-guard captain shouted in a panic. "Tell the mages to begin casting their spells right this very second! Don't give her even a single moment to attack!"
A hail of massive ballista-arrows were immediately fired at her general vicinity, as several spells of fire, thunder, and other elements rapidly closed in towards her location- it would seem that she had been caught in a trap that she couldn't escape, and many of the soldiers assumed that she would have perished from such a deadly, massed attack.
However...
"This is troublesome~ I guess I have to use 2 as well then~"
She aimed one of her fingertips at the arrows in a gun-like expression, and then a swarm of what seemed to be particles of jet-black sand emerged from the very tip of her index finger, with all of them rapidly engulfing the massive arrows with their black mass and seemingly consuming them into nothingness: what was even more terrifying, was that that as soon as the magick spells came close to her vicinity, they quickly dissipated into oblivion without even managing to harm her.
It was as if she was completely invulnerable to any form of attack...
"Your little javelins might work, but..." she smiled, seemingly pleased with how things turned out. "Don't bother with your magick, I have a tool that negates such filth whenever I want~... Anyway..."
She snapped her fingers, and suddenly, more of their fears came to life in an instantly dreadful manner- the magick spells they had set had ceased to exist, with the unsteady ground returning to normal, the once tall and proud earthly walls collapsing into piles of worthless dirt and stone, and the magick golems the mages summoned fading away into useless dust and sand.
Now, the army of automata could march unstoppably once more, and the preparations they made to halt their advance had all been rendered completely useless.
"... R-retreat! Tell all the men to retreat, there's no point in holding ground if we'll all get annihilated in seconds!"
"Oh no, you don't, dear humans~"
They would no longer belong to that of reality- almost instantly, a blinding, radiant succession of white, blinding radiances would enwrap all of the soldiers in an inescapable fate, as they were all quickly brought into another realm where they could never escape from for eternity.
"..."
There were no longer the noises of shouting and conversing men within the safety of their wooden forts, as there was only the sound of marching steel, as well as the noises of ravaged, collapsing wood and crackling fires that would echo throughout the air...
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Alezandro Tybur, one of the captains in charge of maintaining the defense of Port Tallius from the invaders, after being engulfed by the radiating series of lights that mercilessly surrounded him, could now find himself resting within the comforts of a warm bed: immediately though, the cautious soldier would quickly waste no time and began looking around to examine his surroundings.
"... W-what... Why am I... Here...?"
It didn't take long to find himself resting within the comforts of his old home... The one where he had once lived with his wife and 2 children; it was a happy life he greatly loved even to this day, but sadly, it had been taken away from him all abruptly by a tragic event.
A plague, a merciless pestilence that swept throughout the lands of the empire like a rampant sickness that would not end- in one unfortunate day, his wife and children suddenly contracted the deadly disease, and it did not take more than a few weeks for them to eventually perish from its heavy toll on their bodies.
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Even the very foundations of his humble, wooden abode were not spared from the disaster- after the epidemic had died out, it had immediately been proclaimed by the empire's governing officials that the homes of the infected had to be burned down and rebuilt in order to avoid the infection from spreading once more, though unfortunately, Alezandro would be one of the many unfortunates who would never have their homes remade due to only being a mere commoner who had no worth to be considered.
And that was how Alezandro found himself within the ranks of the soldiery- he had no purpose left in life, and he was now only seeking to die in a way that would at least be worthy of praise. As such, he had conscripted himself into the army, not caring whether he would die quicker than most due to having not even a single idea about how to wield a sword.
However, as fate would have it, Alezandro would quickly prove his worth and rise through the ranks, eventually earning a solid standing as a captain amongst the thousands of soldiers who served the Empire's will.
"You seem to be unwell, dear... Are you alright?"
To his further shock, he would find the very body and image of his long dead wife, talking to him in a concerned tone... It was apparent to him by this point: he had been entrapped in some form of magick by that great demon who had suddenly appeared, and a look of anger quickly flashed from his face- how dare that vile demon make a false image of his old, happy memories?
"... Hey..."
However, instead of words of anger coming out of Alezandro's mouth, a voice of calm, happy serenity emerged from it instead- what sort of madness was this? This false imagery wasn't his wife, as she had already died long ago from that terrible plague that tortured her until her very end... He couldn't possibly be falling into such an obvious trap now, was he? It was impossible, as the memory of her death had left such a monumental impact on his very life...
However...
The captain could feel it: his will to resist was slowly fading the more time he spent in this false illusion. What's more was that he was simultaneously starting to forget many important memories of the life he had lived- from the tragic deaths of his loved ones and the destruction of his house, to the very moment he and his men encountered and were quickly defeated by that demon... He was slowly forgetting them all in a rather quick, and unstoppable manner.
"... Anna... You look so beautiful today..."
Why was he even angry in the first place? In fact, what was even happening before he had come to this place?
Those aspects of his life were now becoming an unclear haze, as his existence began to slowly mesh into the current world of falsities he was in right now. Eventually, Alezandro would no longer remember the painful memories of his life and how he had come to be a soldier in the first place, as he then began to live out the happiest parts of his life in a false dream he could no longer differentiate from reality...
"... Oh thank you.. My love..." the wife would smile, seemingly happy with what he said.
By now, Alezandro had been fully bewitched by the beauty of this endless realm, securing his fate into a false happiness that would last forever in his eternal rest. While there would be no escape for him, he would at least live on in a peaceful and serene realm where he could live out the beautiful life that had been cruelly taken away from him long ago...
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The warrior-princess had arrived late to the scene, it seemed. There wasn't even a single man left in this ravaged place, and the wooden bastions that once stood tall near the shores were now little more than worthless rubble, as fires slowly ate away their organic bodies to sustain their greedy flames.
"Oh, you're here... You're the strong one, right~ this is definitely going to be difficult-"
As she looked to the skies, she saw the levitating figure of a beautiful woman in a strange white armor, though how she was managing to converse with her despite being faraway remained a mystery to the princess- despite this, Aldyth immediately knew who it was, as she had been briefed of the appearance of this sea devil long before she had even arrived at the port.
And so, without a word, the princess quickly drew her spear to rush in for an attack.
"!!!"
Without wasting any time, Aldyth quickly burst into the air and towards Thurien's direction in lightning-quick speeds- she was fast, so much so that even Thurien had become surprised with how swift on her feet this woman was.
"..."
Her spear was mere inches away from the enemy's neck: just a few milliseconds more and she would quickly dispose of her and get rid of the threat that had suddenly appeared before her very eyes... Just a few moments was all it took...
Of course, though, Thurien would not immediately relent to such a rapid form of attack.
[Away.]
A violent, repelling force pushed Aldyth back to the ground, knocking her down quite powerfully as the ground burst with the princess' unstoppable descent- despite this however, Aldyth remained very much alive and well, as her body wasn't even damaged by such a seemingly ineffective attack.
"Whew, that was close..." Thurien sighed in relief. "Anyway, could you not be so quick to attack, you're so fast that you'd look like a blur to the-"
The princess rushed for another attack, though this time, her speed was far greater than the previous leap she made. Thurien would then try to repel the attack once more using her abilities, though this time, she had only managed to push her back by the last second.
THUD!
The impact produced an even louder crash towards the ground, leading to great clouds of dust scattered into the air as they surrounded the princess' body in a smokescreen-like fog: this was dangerous, the medicae android thought quickly... She couldn't see where the princess was, and with the immense speed that this terrifying warrior had, such an advantage was more than enough to allow her to plunge her spear into her.
"Nope! I'm not letting you jump towards me this time!"
Black swarms of nanites then rushed out of her hand, instantly forming several, one-eyed drones with small rotary cannons on their bodies- they were meant to stop Aldyth from instantly rushing towards her, and in an accurate prediction, the princess would instantly burst towards the air again, this time being forced to cut down the drones this time due to their teeming numbers blocking her way.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
It was like a terrifying whirlwind when she swung her spear to cut them all down at once: the drones didn't even last 5 seconds, with each of them being brutally cut down into piles of cleanly cut, metallic scrap, as their bodies came hurtling down towards the ground in a useless manner, leaving Thurien completely defenseless to the rapidly approaching warrior princess and her spear.
This time though...
"Alright! Enough games!"
A blinding light quickly engulfed Aldyth's body, a displacement to another place that had been turned into a makeshift form of attack. Thurien knew that no human could resist being sent to the Realm of Sleep once she had marked them, and as such, she had immediately calculated that this had been her victory.
However... Things didn't go the way she had expected them to go...
...
STAB!
It didn't work- the warrior-princess hadn't been sent to that other place, allowing her to quickly close the distance between them as she rapidly stabbed her chest with her terrifyingly sharp spear. Almost immediately, Thurien's eyes would widen in shock, as no human had ever resisted being sent to the Realm of Sleep, and the fact that it occurred today of all times was a terrible thing for her indeed.
"... You... How did you..." Thurien muttered. "... I see now... Y-you're completely soulless... H-how are you still alive at this point?"
As their body's slowly descended towards the ground the moment the spear had penetrated her body, Thurien quickly scanned the princess' body as to why the attack she made hadn't work- quickly, of course, the medicae android had immediately come to a realization.
As part of her ability to send humans and their souls to the Realm of Sleep, Thurien also had the ability to sense human souls: it was practically built into her to allow the medicae to not only sense the emotions of the humans she was treating, but to also see the true personalities that lied within her patients.
However, the fact that her opponent right now completely lacked one, and was also still managing to not only draw breath, but remain completely fine as well, was completely baffling to the likes of Thurien.
It was as if this woman was like herself: a soulless, creation of metal that, nevertheless, had sentient life within its hollow body... How this had been possible however, was something she could not immediately conclude.
"... I see... If that can't work..." Thurien spoke weakly, her body weakening due to the spear striking a vital part of her body. "... I'll use this then... Don't worry... It's nonfatal... Dear human..."
"...?"
Another series of blinding lights would completely envelop the warrior princess in a blue, radiant embrace- this time, though, their goal was not to bring her to the realm of peace, but to completely translocate her body into another faraway location, enough to allow Thurien to momentarily escape and repair her injuries.
The Exile Ray, or so she called it: it was a rare form of invention she made that she had always designated as useless ever since its creation... That is, of course, until the present situation had come before her.
It was a device capable of teleporting both living and non-living matter into places that were far from reach, though the problems were that not only could their destination not be determined, but the distance they were often brought to were often too far away.
While the medicae had always considered this creation to be that of limited uses, she always had a hunch that there would come a time when this device would finally have a use she could utilize to her advantage.
And for that matter alone, she was absolutely correct with her guess.
"!!!!"
The princess would then disappear and fade away, as the once-useless weapon spirited her away into a faraway place, never to return for a while as Thurien's wounded body came crashing towards the ground without her terrifying enemy there to finish her off.
THUD!
...
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"..."
Aldyth found herself in a dense, sparse collection of jungle trees and fauna, as the wet ground began filthying up her armor as well as her once fair, pristine skin with coarse, uncomfortable dirt.
How strange... Aldyth thought that she would die at that moment- perhaps the attack had not been lethal in the first place? Instead of being disintegrated or damaged greatly, which was what she expected, the princess had immediately been brought into a faraway location that was completely unfamiliar to her.
"WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT, BOYS! THERE'S FRESH MEAT OVER HERE!"
For a normal human, this would have been a terrifying sight the moment it would reach their eyes: for someone like Aldyth however, such a measly threat was nothing in front of her overwhelming strength.
Several orks had suddenly appeared before her: these creatures were terrifying compared to the likes of the mere beasts that roamed these jungles, as each of them were towering, green-skinned, 7 ft tall monsters of muscle adorned in crude, spiked armor. Their eyes looked at her with disdain and bloodlust, as one of them even had the audacity of moving his blunt sword near Aldyth's neck.
"YOU! HUMAN! HOW DID YOU GET INTO OUR LANDS! WE'LL BEHEAD YOU AND EAT YOUR FLESH FOR THIS!"
"..."
This was a bother, she thought, as her spear was missing and nowhere to be found- such a weapon would have easily allowed her to kill these barbaric non-humans instantly, though unfortunately, she currently had no access to her powerful weapon that allowed her to cut through almost anything.
Ah well, she thought, looks like she'll just have to use her fists- it's not like these monsters could even stand a chance against her, even with Aldyth having no access to her spear.
"!!!"
In lightning-quick speeds, she stood up from the muddied ground and quickly struck one of the important looking orks with an emblem on his armor using her clenched fists, making the poor ork's important head swiftly depart from his neck as blood immediately began to spurt from his now-headlesss body.
THUD!
His lifeless body fell to the ground, and the orks immediately looked quite shocked: strangely enough, Aldyth was right to have killed this specific green-skin, as this important-looking ork was supposed to be one of the strongest warriors of their tribe, and the fact that she had easily killed him with one blow had quickly and easily proven just how strong she truly was, which immediately drove the other barbaric greenskins into a frenzy of fear and panic.
"... W-WHAT... T-THIS HUMAN... SHE'S A MONSTER!"
A violent blood-fest would then ensue, as Aldyth began moving to-and-fro to slaughter all the monsters as quickly as possible...
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"AVENGE THE PRINCESS! DON'T LET HER DEATH BE IN VAIN!"
The soldiers who were meant to support Aldyth's arrival had finally arrived, and upon seeing that she was nowhere to be seen, with only her spear firmly plunged into their great enemy who was now lying on the ground, the men of Neugomia had quickly assumed that the worst outcome had transpired; nonetheless however, the soldiers quickly wasted no time as they rushed towards her and finish the unfinished duty that the princess had left behind.
"... This is... Terrible... Hahahaha..."
Due to the damages she received in her last fight, Thurien could no longer control the creations who had come with her, and as such, their self destruct abilities quickly activated, making them explode into a cataclysmic series of explosions that brought her more time to allow her to escape.
"The witch! She's destroying her creations to buy herself time! Don't relent men! Charge!"
Deep inside her line of thought, Thurien had already thought of a plan, and so she remained eerily calm despite the dangerous moment she was stuck in- the teleportation device she had brought with her, a tool that would immediately bring her back to her home safe and sound.
It would have worked instantly had the spear not struck the power core located in her chest- the fact that the warrior princess had even managed to accurately hit one of her vital spots in a single thrust still brought a bit of shivers to Thurien's body every time that moment played back in her mind.
"Any moment now..."
The device had somehow still not activated however- strange, she thought... What could be the reason for its intensely delayed activation? Surely, the damages she sustained with this body was not that extreme?
And then she finally realized: the spear stuck on her chest, it was preventing her from activating the effects of her tool. What sort of weapon was this spear anyway, and how was it managing to disrupt the teleportation processes?
There was only one more thing she had to do now, and without hesitation, Thurien used all of her strength to pull out the javelin lodged into her body, taking a few great moments to do so: in truth, the reason why it was taking a lot of time was not because of the pain, as she was already incredibly resistant to such negative emotions due to being a bio-android, but because the spear was firmly plunged into her chest with such a great force, that the process of removing it had apparently become greatly difficult in return.
And finally...
ZAP!
Soon enough, as several of the soldiers managed to get at just an arm's length away from her immobile body, after finally managing to pull out the princess' silver weapon out of her, Thurien was finally brought away from the dangerous place she was in, and had finally been brought back into the safety of her home.
...
"... Safe at last... I was quite worried back there..."
It was a shame, she thought... She had not only failed to 'save' all the humans she was supposed to rescue and bring them into the Realm of Peace, but she had also been forced to kill some of them during her escape- it was a complete failure of the task she had made a goal for her to fulfill, and she quickly became disappointed with herself as a result; despite this though, she was still planning to try again, as she would not give up so suddenly after such a minor setback.
"Next time... I'll try to save more of you precious humans next time..." she rambled to herself in her insanity, as she laid down on the floor alone in one of the empty, spacious floors in her castle. "... I definitely will... I definitely... Will..."