- 4 years until arrival -
As if cut open, rain poured from the sky obscuring standard visibility and the visibility of the lower tiered, but Sorin was beyond such things as he watched the enemy from his high perch, flee in a state of primal fear from his meddling. They were running along a now deep mud path trying to get uphill to where they believed safety would be located, but Sorin was running a very old scheme that was once done in his worlds past...though with a system based twist.
Sorin dropped down and joined in the retreat pretending to be one of them.
"It's coming..." He whispered into the ear of one soldier who was gasping for air only for him to panic more and squeal repeating what he had been whispered causing a chain reaction in the nearby soldiers that spread more and more.
Sorin dropped into the ground and flowed through it, allowing the aether that made up his body to move through the soil as if he was moving through water.
Sorin saw an older man begin to slow and look around beginning to come out of the state of fear, most likely relying on experience and training. Sorin couldn't have that, he flicked his hands out in twin claw configurations as water lashed out wrapping first around the man's throat cutting off any sound before it wrapped around each of the four limbs, stopping him instantly. Sorin raised his hands and the man was lifted high where anyone could see if they had the self control. Sorin flexed his will and pulled the limbs tight dislocating the joints.
Sorin flash froze the water slamming hardened razor points of ice into the man causing the blood to flow into the ice. With the expansion of the ice, it pulled the already too-tight limbs apart spilling even more blood. The ive was now red, but in the dark all people could see was a black pillar and a man spread to the four points impaled in ice.
The screams, followed by the stench of urine and feces from the horror of the men reached Sorin and almost caused him to throw up, but he resisted and continued moving to the ridge where the men were headed.
Not only was his strategy about brutality, but it was about breaking the enemy through their fear of a monster they couldn't see or even fight. He reached the top well before the first man did and assumed a horrifying visage through the use of his liquid metal armor.
He gave himself elongated arms ending in horrible claws, his face he turned wolf-like, and added wolf like legs with the backward knees. His clothing hung loosely off of him giving a haggard monstrous look.
As the first man reached the top, Sorin with all his might flashed forward with a swipe. It was necessary even through it well surpassed what was needed. As soon as his new arm hit the man there was a spray of blood as the man was turned into pink mist and sprayed into the men. Sorin dropped into the ground before they could even see what had happened.
He moved back to the other side of the ridge and began swirling the clouds above him and charging the supercell above them that was causing so much rain. Sorin raised a rock beneath him just as the rest of the men could see what he had done to the former camp behind him in the shape of a black forest of moaning trees.
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To add even more to the effect, Sorin destabilized the area around him using a full quarter of his mana at full absorption to cause more than 20 bolts of lighting to crash down randomly within moments of eachother, making the earth shake violently and searing the air.
The men went silent and gathered together in a terrified group almost like sheep to the slaughter.
Sorin caused his mask to morph into a jack-o-lantern evil smile and ignited it allowing his horrifying visage to further terrify the soldiers before he spoke.
- Aegis camp -
"My lady, even more are coming in!" A soldier said from the lookout as she was going over roster after roster of surrendering, mentally broken men.
She couldn't even get a straight story from any of these men as they all had seen something else and what they described was something out of a nightmare. She had never heard of anything like the monster they described, but she did have a hunch at what was really happening.
"Sergeant! Make ready to recieve more prisoners! Check these thoroughly for weapons in case it is a very thoroughly disguised assassination attempt. None of these soldiers keep their weapons. The really mentally broken ones, make sure we chain hand and foot closely to keep from harming themselves and others!" She shouted in command to the sergeant of the guard currently on shift, who saluted arm over heart and ran quickly.
"Captain! Have you found a leader of this mess who can actually speak?" She asked a man who was approaching with a happy pep in his step.
"Yes my lady. One of the men had a memory skill that had perfect recall and he recounted everything he had seen from their camp, which he identified on a map for us." He replied stepping next to her.
"What is the story then?"
The captain removed his helmet and ran a hand through his jet black shoulder length hair before he spoke.
"Turns out much of what the aoldiers said in their crazed states was accurate from their point of view. Whatever attacked them, seemed to be everywhere at once or there were many of them. The only thing that scares me, is the mention of a system message saying they were in the presence of a Sovereign."
Euryale looked quickly at at Captain Brion with a look of shock and fear.
"Have we an identity, affiliation, and or affinity from this potential Sovereign?" She asked, her previous hunch all but obliterated.
"The only thing we know is an affinity for ice and fire, maybe storms, but we dont know for sure. Our scouts have returned and looked physically sick. They used a recon orb to record everything they saw from the battlefield and it's horrific, but good for us." He said handing a black orb over to Euryale.
"Thank you Brion. Please see to these prisoners while I look through this intel." She said.
A few minutes later, Euryale was sitting at her desk in the back section of her command tent where she had privacy. She set the orb into the projector device and Injected the aether.
She was confused at first because she first thought she was looking at strange brown-red forest, but as their scouts flew in closer she paled, got sick and threw up in the garbage can next to her desk. It was an ice forest of hundreds of impaled bodies of the Pallas forces.
Marks associated with lighting strikes and torrential water were everywhere, but it all confirmed what the men had said. Euryale knew she needed more information. If what they said was true and a Sovereign had entered the war meant they had a serious problem on their hands. Those ancient legends rarely came out and when they did, it meant someone had made them angry.
Considering it was the Pallas forces that got massacred meant they must have disturbed one that they didn't even know about. There wasn't a Sovereign on Ithaca. She needed to send to send a few messages out to get information.
"Runner!" Euryale shouted as she pulled a few pieces of paper and began to write. Moment later a soldier stepped into view and bowed.
"My lady." The young man said.
"Tell Captain Brion to halt all troop movement until further notice. Nobody moves until we get intel on a new obstacle."