"Must we really continue to bow down to these tyrants... Saintess?"
Inside the spacious chapel of an old, unkempt church, 2 individuals draped in white-and-red, priestly robes were discussing to themselves the current, miserable state of their once proud kingdom, and whether or not they should continue to kneel before their horrid conquerors who had taken everything from them by this point.
It was terribly unfortunate for the Kingdom of Polonia in the first place: a hundred years ago, when it's people could still enjoy lives full of freedom, the kingdom was but a pacifistic, humble nation that only desired continued peace, prosperity, and friendship with its neighboring countries in a tranquil harmony. Because of their access to the plentiful resources that were incredibly abundant within their untarnished lands, the people of Polonia have never had to feel the toils of suffering amidst countless famines or war due to the Polonian people having everything set out for them.
Unfortunately, such a naive mindset would eventually fail them greatly, as the dark nature of the lands that lied outside their own was something they had realized too late: their nation was eventually subjugated and vassalized by the indomitable armies of the Neugomian Empire, and due to having little to no experience nor knowledge in the arts of warfare, Polonia was quickly forced to capitulate and surrender themselves peacefully.
As expected however, their conquerors would prove to be the most wicked people that the kingdom's people would ever meet throughout their countless years of existing as a sovereign nation- the Neugomian soldiers did as they pleased within the kingdom's domain, slaughtering entire families when they felt like it as they took their women and did countless unspeakable acts to such poor lasses. Not only that, however, but these savage tyrants were also brutal with how they dealt with any forms of resistance to their will, even if they were merely minor ones: there was once an old man who would not give his house to one of the Empire's knights, and as a result, his house was burned down to soot as he was then eventually crucified in public for every Polonian citizen to see.
"... I'm afraid so, Malfor... We have no other choice. If we do not give them our monthly tributes, they will execute us all in public without mercy..."
The being referred to as the saintess was the head priestess of the Holy Kingdom's divine religion: the Holy Orthodoxy, a faction that, other than the miserable, submissive king and his pathetic cohorts, held a relative amount of significance within the kingdom's lands. They were a devout group of believers whose faith in the one religion they had served even since the kingdom's founding, remained strong even after suffering many decades of wickedness at the hands of their vicious subjugators.
Luminism... Or so did the saintess and her faithful followers call their religion with an incomparable zeal. It was a religious faith based on another form of faith that had supposedly faded out long ago after the toils of the ancient war and the gradual onset of magick came in time, a religion that had been mocked by many nations for being pathetic and insignificant. Despite this, the magickless members of Polonia's Holy Orthodoxy remained steadfast and loyal to their beliefs, as not even the cruelty of their conquerors would manage to make their faith shake and crumble to dust.
"B-but, saintess..." Malfor protested. "... Would it not be the will of our Lord to confront such wickedness? They are taking everything from us... Surely, you can make some protests against them, you are the saintess after al-"
"... You are still far too young to realize, Malfor..." the saintess butted in as her eyes slightly looked down in defeat. "What would be the point of acting in defiance, if everyone else will be punished after? We have no choice, Malfor, and I believe that even the Lord himself understands this horrible truth..."
The young man found himself unable to refute her words any longer, as he quickly realized the main reason she was trying to give to him- those bastard Neugomians, when it came to punishing a group of people, much more an entire organization such as the Orthodoxy, they would almost always punish the majority for the mistakes of a few, as there was this one time wheb a foolish party of adventurers tried to defy the will of their subjugators, and their entire guild would be executed en masse as a result of their travesty.
Because of this, even the saintess herself was unable to even use her position as an advantage in order to at least alleviate the suffering of Polonia's people- she already had her own people to take care of, and she couldn't risk the lives of all the Orthodoxy's believers by making a meaningless protest that would ultimately fulfill nothing.
"Although, I also have to ask... Brooding and loathing our current situation is not the reason why you've come here today, correct?"
"... Y-yes, saintess..." Malfor stuttered as he spoke. "... I've heard that you had another...
Dream?"
She would take a while to speak, as the memories of the special 'dream' she experienced during one of her many rests synapsed into her thoughts in a collective manner once more.
"Indeed, Malfor..." she uttered with her meek, gentle voice. "... Our Lord graced my dreams and blessed me with his presence... He told me of many great things that were about to come..."
"... R-really? That is quite... Wonderful..." he replied with a great expression of shock evident on his face. "... What did our Lord tell you then?"
A smile formed on the saintess' face as she began to speak once more. "Remember that massive, winged beast of metal that scattered those papers throughout our lands?"
Of course Malfor remembered such an event, as there was no way he could ever forget such a bizarre occurrence. Those notes that told of a deliveration from the tyranny of the imperials... A saviour that would come to their kingdom and set them free once more...
While it was something that sounded incredibly pleasing and exciting to hear, Malfor couldn't help but harbor some doubts about the entire thing due to his skeptical nature: would the ones who sent these messages really be able to finally free Polonia's people from their shackles? Or would they simply be no better than the Empire and subjugate them as well into another long existence as a miserable, enslaved vassal-state?
However, after experiencing the enlightening dreams that their deity had provided for her, the saintess harboured the exact opposite of Malfor's thoughts.
"What of it, then? D-do you actually believe that the ones who sent these messages will set us free from the iron grip that the Empire has all of us in?"
"Of course. The Lord told me that he will come to our lands and liberate us... in the form of a man in shining, splendid armor..." the saintess uttered. "And if the Lord says so, then it will surely come to pass. Our Lord does not lie after all... Wouldn't you agree, Malfor?"
________________________________________
3 Strongholds... 3 stone-built, proud and tall fortresses that housed thousands of men within their spacious interiors.
Due to the Pearl of Xathra's incredible importance, the Neugomian forces stationed in the Holy Kingdom of Polonia had been greatly supplemented by the Empire's logisticians and strategists with many men and materials in order to safeguard such an important asset to their continental domination: after all, the sheer amount of resources the Holy Kingdom had access to was something that the Empire could not allow to be accessed by the great many enemies who still remained unconquered by their armies even until now.
Surrounding the kingdom's borders were a trinity of fortresses that stood far away from each other. They were strongholds equipped with vast, dome shaped shields of pure mana that protected them from any long-range bombardments, as hundreds of ballistae and catapults made to quell any sieges supported these shields in their defence, while numerous soldiers and magi stood ready within the protection of these infrastructures, ready to defend the fortress from any form of assault, and counterattack against any form of incursion into the kingdom.
This time, however, the men that resided within these fortresses were at an incredibly high sense of alertness due to the bizarre occurrence that transpired within the kingdom's capital recently: a flying beast of steel had somehow managed to bypass all the defenses that safeguarded Polonia's lands from any intruders, and as such, the soldiers who manned these stone bastions were more vigilant and active than ever before.
In one of the fortresses located in Polonia's northern borders however, one of the high-ranking mages in charge of managing the entire fortress would quickly lay witness to something incredibly bizarre and horrifying...
...
...
"Have the patrols we sent out came back yet?"
The head mage of the northern stronghold, Mage Lucidius Antoine, stood on one of the fortress' balconies as he observed the calm darkness of both the night skies and shadowy grasslands situated near their base of operations: while it was supposed to be a soothing sight for his now sore eyes, the stress of the predicament he was in would not allow him to truly see and appreciate the beautiful sceneries that were presenting themselves before him.
2 days ago, a message came from Imperial General Marthann, one of the Empire's great generals, and the note he sent to him told of a great, oncoming invasion that was already about to arrive. As such, the head mage hastily had his men readied as all of their siege weapons were immediately preloaded with ammunition, while the available mages began casting countless numerous supportive spells in order to allow them to endure the terrible incursion that was about to come.
"... I'm afraid they haven't returned yet, head mage..." his assistant, Felryne, would answer his query with a light bow.
"They're taking too long... Those invaders must be here by now, I suppose..." Lucidius muttered as his eyes remained fixed towards the dark environment in front of him. "... Any moment now... Come out now, you dastardly savages..."
Felryne couldn't help but feel a bit worried about his master as he heard the tired tone of Lucidius' voice: while the head mage himself hadn't noticed it yet, Felryne had been keeping track of him ever since they first began their preparations. In truth, the head mage had not even slept for the past 2 days, out of anticipation and fear that the arriving enemies were about to attack at any moment.
By now, the news of the massive losses that the empire recently sustained had already reached the ears of most of its citizens: from the annihilation of the forces that had been sent to deal with the western dragon, the destruction of the crusading fleet that set sailed to annihilate the sea witch that had been causing the frequenting storms as of late, as well as the destruction of Port Tallius at the hands of mysterious enemies that still remained unknown to them...
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
There was a conspiracy that ran through the magi's head, a theory that made him appear insane to even his own assistant: he firmly believed that all of these events were related to each other somehow... Why and how though, is something he quite couldn't put his finger on...
And for the head mage known as Lucidius, it would seem as if the end of the empire was finally coming to pass in a slow and dreadful approach. After all, never before in the glorious, proud history of the Neugomian Empire had its forces ever suffered such great losses before.
"... Head mage, I think you should rest for a while..." Felryne's voice was full of concern as he told this. "You haven't slept for 2 days... This won't be good for your health."
"Nonsense! I don't need sleep! I'll just cast a spell that solves my fatigue instead." a sudden outburst came out of his mouth: due to not having rested for a while, it seemed that his senses were in a bit of a disarray. "There are many things to be done, Felryne, and sleep will prevent me from doing them."
"... Very well then..." the assistant would sigh in defeat, as he knew all too well that the head mage was someone who couldn't be convinced so easily. "But please... Remember to rest later, alright? We can't have you developing any complications..."
"Yes, yes. And please tell me if the patrols have finally managed to come back, I need all the information I ca-"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Finally... Signs that seemed to belong to that of an enemy attack could finally be heard throughout the base, as adrenaline and anxiety coursed into the mage's veins in an instant and drove him into a frenzy.
"Where are they!!??"
"H-head mage! Please come inside, it's unsafe here, and you might get injured!"
Lucidius rushed towards the parapet as he peeked out of the balcony, leaning his body completely against the edge of the stone barrier that prevented him from falling, in order to see just what exactly was happening...
And as soon as he saw that light that shined through the seemingly endless darkness that surrounded most of the outside environment, his eyes widened in shock as he stumbled back in disbelief, nearly falling from the stone barrier as he was dragged away by his assistant.
"Hahahaha... HAHAHAHA... They ignored the magick barrier by forming a portal instead!" he shouted in complete madness while laughing maniacally. "And there are so many of them! HAHAHAHA!"
A massive, blue structure of light had suddenly formed near the castle's walls, and out of it came hundreds of metal automata that trudged in unison with their teeming numbers: what was even more horrifying, was that there were several flying objects... Numerous, soaring arrows of light that emitted black smoke from their rear ends as they rapidly approached the walls in such frightening speeds...
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The arrows of light produced thundering explosions as they struck the walls with incredible forces of impact; of course, even with all the various protection and enhancements spells that had been casted onto the stone barriers, they wouldn't be able to last for a few minutes due to the incredible amount of light arrows that struck them repeatedly and without mercy.
CRASSHHH!!!
The broken bits and fragments of the once proud, protective, stone walls came crashing down to the ground, as the ever-increasing numbers of the marching automata began marching into the newly-formed cavity to assault the interior parts of the castle. Many of the soldiers would hastily try to assort themselves in formations in order to delay the march of these metal monsters, as the mages began casting their spells to inflict severe casualties upon the horde of marching golems.
"Don't let them in at all costs!" one of the soldiers bellowed out to his comrades. "We shall stand here and fight!"
"W-what the hell are you talking about?! Can we even fight against these monsters proper-"
SPLAT! SPLAT! SPLAT! SPLAT!
No matter how brave and foolhardy they were, the soldiers wouldn't be able to hold out against these monsters for even a second: as if they were nothing more than harmless obstacles, they were violently slapped away and stomped on without care by the metal automata, their numbers quickly dwindling as they soon realized that the formations they made were absolutely pointless, no matter what kind of positions they made and took.
[Magic Missile.]
[Fire arrow.]
[Lightning Hail.]
Multiple, long ranged magick spells descended into the ranks of the machine army and took down many of them in the process. Despite this, however, their losses would be prove to be ultimately meaningless, as more of them came and emerged from the blue portal of light that continued to radiate through the darkness of the night with such an intense glow.
"Fire the siege weapons!"
The men operating the ballistae and the short ranged catapults would then fire everything that their wooden constructs had in order to halt the ever-growing horde of metal behemoths that were surging into the massive hole, firing massive bolts and boulders that took down many more of the automata as soon as they managed to strike their targets.
"I-it's useless! There are too many of them!"
"Keep firing, keep firing! Don't stop!"
"H-hold on! Who's the one flying in front of us?!"
The one who had orchestrated the entire attack had finally arrived and made her appearance, right before the very eyes of her enemies at that: Thurien, who was hovering above the air in complete defiance of gravity, looked at all the people before her with a seemingly joyful expression, as the ever-present smile on her face never ceased to fade despite the chaotic destruction that was occurring upon the ground below her.
"HAHAHAHAHA! It's the sea witch that the princess failed to eradicate! Of course, she just had to make an appearance, now of all times!"
Lucidius' mind swiftly began to break apart as he saw the multiple impossibilities appearing before his very eyes: in a few short minutes, all the preparations they made proved fruitless, with each of their defences failing them quite utterly in such a spectacularly pathetic display: now, there was no way for them to stop the invasion that they had been preparing against for several days already.
"You've all done quite well with resisting this attack of mine~" the bewitching medicae spoke with a loud, yet gentle voice. "Still though, you all have to go now~ Farewell, and may you all enjoy the wonderful, new lives that await each of you~"
A bright series of white lights began engulfing every soldier and mage alike; even Lucidius and his assistant, who were supposedly safe from the incredibly high heights of their balcony, would not be spared from such a blinding disaster. Almost instantly, their bodies disappeared without a trace, as their souls would then be dragged away into the false, digital realm that was the Realm of Sleep.
________________________________________
"Hmm... I believe it's time for me to get started as well..."
Suspended in the air using a combination of flight and anti-grav technologies, Speranza carefully observed the far away Neugomian fortress, as the portal of blue, ever-glowing light that allowed her transportation into this very place, gradually began to cease as it slowly faded away into nothingness.
The plan they made was a rather complex one, though it was somewhat simple enough for her to understand despite the large amount of strategies involved with its conception.
Their forces were divided into 3 parts, each of which was meant to assault one of the Neugomian fortresses that were situated around the kingdom's borders, which were also simultaneously preventing any foreign entry into the vassalized kingdom's lands.
Why did they choose to begin Novus' ambition of world domination by starting with the holy kingdom, one may ask?
The Holy Kingdom of Polonia's importance to the empire was not something that could simply be disregarded, as there was a reason why there were so many Neugomian soldiers present in the kingdom's lands. The important items of trade, expansion and conquest: resources such as gold, ores, harvests...
Polonia's abundance of these greatly important riches was the reason why it had earned its name as 'The Pearl of the Xathra', and by liberating this nation and taking it for themselves, they would immediately get one step closer to bringing down the powerful enemy that would serve as the ultimate obstacle to their great goal...
For the stronghold located to the north of Polonia, Thurien was in charge of devastating this place until nothing was left with the help of her creations: given how fast she could summon entire armies and construct even portals that led to faraway places on a whim, the act of destroying an entire enemy garrison would simply be an easy task for her.
On the other hand, Speranza had been tasked with leveling the Neugomian garrison that was situated to the kingdom's southeast- it was a fortress that, based on the reconnaissance drones they sent to assess their enemies, possessed twice as many defences when compared to its other 2 fellow strongholds that were far away from its location, though the reasoning for this still remained unknown to her even to this day.
... Well, it wasn't any sort of matter that held much importance to her to begin with: after all, she was quite literally about to destroy the entire Neugomian stronghold in front of her until nothing was left, and that was the only thing she could bring herself to care about right now, other than the thought of her creator and her sister of course.
"I hope my creator is safe... And my sister as well too..."
There was one major risk that came with their plan however: their previous reconnaissance indicated that the one who had proven a match for Thurien and even managed to nearly kill her, was present in one of the strongholds that guarded Polonia's outskirts.
The princess of the Neugomian Empire: Aldyth Aristronte von Neugomia... A mysterious woman who possessed an overwhelmingly terrifying physical strength, as well as an all-cutting spear of silver that could seemingly pierce through any form of armor...
Her only weakness, if it could even be called like that, was her inability to speak with a voice... Ergo, she was a mute who was unable to voice out her thoughts through words, which thus made it difficult for her to communicate with other individuals.
Due to the dangerous threat that this individual posed to their plans, Novus decided to make some minor changes to their schemes and took charge of tackling this threat head-on: in short, for the garrison where the princess was currently located based on the scans made by their recon drones, Novus, with the assistance of Whitlea and an army of automata at their disposal, would assist each other in dealing with the princess using a special plan he had just recently made- how this plan was going to occur though, was something that Speranza knew not a single thing about once again.
[Activating Energy-Absorbing Vacuum Matrix...]
Almost instantly, the temperatures of Speranza's environment steadily began plummeting, as the first phases of her destructive attack were only just getting started...
________________________________________
Inside one of the many rooms of the southeastern fortress, a servant known as Kaleon was mopping the floors until not even a single stain of dirt remained on the ground he was cleaning anymore.
However, as he continued to use his cleaning tool to scrub the stone floorings he trod on until they became spotless, there was a literal, chilling feeling that began eating away at his very skin: the air around him felt incredibly cold to the touch, and the freezing temperatures only began to rapidly decrease even further as more seconds' worth of time kept passing by.
"W-why the hell is it getting so cold all of a sudden?"
His body began shivering uncontrollably as the extremely low temperatures continued to decrease uncontrollably. It was intolerable, a painful, bothersome feeling: the cold felt like needles slowly prickling his skin with their sharp edges, and the poor servant couldn't help but give up on his task as he desperately began seeking for any form of heat or insulation.
"... W-what the hell...? W-what is even happening?"
As he looked around and wandered the hallway he was traversing through, he could see thin sheets and crystals of ice gradually enveloping everything within his sights- from the surfaces of the stone walls and floors of the corridors, to even the stone pillars as well as the now-dim lamps that hung from their foundations.
The gradually lowering temperatures were starting to get worse, it seemed, and it was sparing nothing in its wake as the ice formations slowly grew even larger: this was a horrifying sight for the servant, whose only job was to clean the quarters he had been assigned to render spotless, and he began running about even faster as he tried to look for any form of help while warming himself up using his hands.
"W-what the... F-fuck! What the hell even is this madness?!"
It was shocking, to say the least, as it quickly became apparent to him that the cold was somehow vastly more severe in some parts of the castle- he had suddenly found the frozen bodies of several soldiers, with their bodies permanently locked in expressions of pain and shock while the ice that enveloped them continuously grew in size.
"... S-shit.. I can't... Even feel... A-anything... Anymore..."
In an abrupt fashion, Kaleon eventually fell chest-first onto the ground as his body began to weaken greatly- the cold had become too severe by now, and there were also even small crystals of ice growing on his skin and hair.
The pitiful servant couldn't resist the incredibly cold temperatures of the environment he was in anymore. It was as if the very internal energies of both his body and his surroundings were being dragged away into an unknown place by some powerful, unseen force.
"..."
His vital signs would inevitably cease, as a thick layer of ice covered his now-dead body from head to toe. The pitiful cleaner had perished from severe hypothermia, and he would no longer be able to live the rest of his life and return to the warm embrace of both his family and his home...
In truth however, this was only a mere half of the destruction that Speranza was about to unleash, as the final phases of her attack would only finally begin when she finally managed to gather up enough energy.
...
...
[Energy Gathering Complete... Initiating second phase...]
After only a few minutes, everything around Speranza had frozen entirely and turned into a complete, winter wonderland- not even the rivers and trees were spared from her indiscriminate energy vacuuming, as thick formations of ice enveloped nearly every form of matter within a 500 mile radius of Speranza's position.
The function she executed had an incredibly simple purpose despite the complexities involved with both its science and its mechanisms: using the sophisticated, esoteric functions of the Energy Redrawing Calibration device, which was one of the many tools she could summon and utilize for her disposal, Speranza was able to draw out energy from her surrounding environment, effectively stealing important aspects of life from the environment such as heat, which the machine would then utilize in order to charge up and enhance the power of the next forms of attack that she was about to unleash.
"Now, for my next magic trick..."
The nanoscopic swarms of the small little machines within her body swiftly began operating tirelessly, as Speranza's left arm turned into a massive, gun-shaped structure of pure metal that radiated with dangerous, crimson lights, as its wide-open muzzle hole was pointed towards the location of the southeastern fortress.
This was the 2nd phase of the attack of Speranza's attack, and as the charge-up processes of her newly formed weapon would finally reach its completion, the already blinding lights of her arm-cannon began glowing to the extreme, as the hell she was about to unleash would finally appear before her very eyes.
"... Boom."
A wave of pure destruction would be unleashed from her deadly arm-cannon, a dreadful, unstoppable shockwave that looked like an invisible, wind-like tsunami speeding at supersonic speeds.
The other weapon she had just unleashed was a sonic weapon whose sole function was that of unleashing intense, destructive waves of sound. It was a weapon that could send brief, yet powerful bursts of vibrational shock waves that could easily level entire mountains, and for the target in front of her that had been completely frozen solid, it was essentially the perfect attack she could use to blow the entire fort up in one fell swoop.
... Of course, when combined with the vast amount of energy she had just previously stored up, the devastating wave of sound that Speranza just unleashed was terrifyingly more powerful than what it was originally supposed to be.
KAAABOOOMMMMMM!!!!
Both the cold and the ice had already weakened the foundations of the Neugomian garrison, leaving it no hope or chance of survival as the devastating shockwave finally reached its frozen matrix: almost instantly, the entire stronghold would break into millions of broken fragments that were launched into the direction where the shockwave went towards, reducing the once dauntless fortress into broken, useless bits of rock and ice.
Nobody who was inside the fortress during that devastating attack would survive... Well, if there were those that still lived among the frozen of course. Not a single soul would live to tell the tale of the devastation that had been brought, as Speranza quickly managed to achieve the objective she sought to fulfill.