The Fall Of Gasimeras

Northeastern territory. Central southern fort.

“Sir! That was the easternmost fort! Those bastards decimated everything!! What are we going to do?!” After seeing a burst of projectiles head northeast from their position, the people in this fort were flabbergasted and scared. They had heard when it happened, believing to have heard every single bullet and shell landing along those thousands of missiles. A soldier unit atop the walls screamed to the leading figure nearest to him. The leading figure wasn't the commander or a vice commander but a team leader.

“No! Calm down already! Are you a warrior or a little kid? Get your shit together!!” The leading figure shouted back. He stared at the northeastern direction for several seconds before gazing at his troops and saying, “That’s just tens of millions surrounding the easternmost fort. What about it?! We’re more than 200 million in every fort. What do we have to fear?!”

“No… sir, we are not little kids, but…” The soldier unit brought his hands up to appease the commander, or tried to. “We are also not warriors, sir… We are just soldier units! We didn’t come here to fight the Crimsons. They’ve trained the southerner armies for years! Years!! How can we ever compete against that?”

“Huh?!” The leading figure stepped towards that soldier unit. “You’re saying my Grotto doesn’t have what it takes? That we didn’t train you properly? That you lacked resources to grow? Fucker!! If it wasn’t for us, wouldn’t you have fallen under their hands already? They fear us! Don’t think any other Third Step is trash compared to the Crimsonbreaking Faction. They are only better than most!”

“You!” The leading figure grabbed a nearby female soldier unit and ushered her away towards the elevators leading to the lower levels. “Notify the vice commander here. We should prepare for any bombardment. Heng. So what if we don’t have any usable arsenal? Aren’t we more than enough? Let me hear it!”

“Haaaa!” - “Yessir!” - “Hurraah!” The soldier units under the leading figure responded, nodding and crying out loud as their energy surged and manifested around their bodies and weapons. The leading figure looked at the cowardly soldier unit, who was now more tranquil. “Do you see it now, son? If it’s for a war, only people like you should be lacking. We need to fight together, without distractions, or we’ll all die!”

“... Y-y- yes, sir,” the soldier unit felt cold as he understood. He nodded repeatedly and felt more secure, but just as he wanted to salute his team leader, he seemed to feel something and looked back to stare at a warhead about to crush his head and existence to messy bits.

KAAAAAA- BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM~~~~!!!!

The first fort to fall, with their protective array formations and a large portion of their walls down, was the easternmost fort. It was also the first to have southern soldier units rush into their turf and start killing everything that moved, breathed, or had eyes on it, somewhere.

But it wasn’t a direct victory. Although some of their walls tumbled down, and their array formations and arsenal became useless, the enemy hidden inside was still alive and kicking. They came roaring outside without orders. Those were not needed.

The southern soldier units swarmed into the forts, making their way inside, but without a hurry. On the other hand, machine guns’ bullets still rained into the easternmost fort, reaping lives as fast as a fly can take off from a grass blade. Wherever they came out to meet the southerners through the wide gap, they were stopped in place and life altogether.

Conversely, the southern soldier units diligently advanced a step for every kill they made, with their comrades not disappointing them and leaving them to die encircled due to being too slow. No, instead, the enemy saw what kind of monstrous soldier units the Crimsonbreaking Faction can train within just a few years, less than a decade, readied for brutal war.

The easternmost front received the most brutal assault. It began with naval bombardment, followed by their diverted firepower, and finished by the soldier units’ hands in under 3 days. But it wasn’t just this or the central southern fort that were pried open. As soon as the second incursion, first in the Northwestern territory, started, the navy knocked open the gates of every Northeastern fort.

One by one, taking only a few seconds to change their aim and open those forts up, they were brutally bombarded, albeit in a lesser degree than the easternmost fort. But there was a reason for that.

After the easternmost fort fell, with their Army Group sustaining over 10,000,000 casualties, they continued southwest, rushing through the land and arriving just in time, 4 days later, to fight for 2 days and take the central southern fort down. Afterwards, with nearly 110,000,000 soldier units, having exterminated the fort, they marched west and slaughtered the southwestern fort in 5 days before marching north.

A week later, the last, central western fort was naturally slaughtered. Like this, half the Army Groups sent to the southwest had mostly reunited. The side effect of those dark array formations’ explosions and pure energy dissonance faltered, and their armored vehicles and arsenal functioned again.

On the other hand, while the remaining Army Groups’ soldier units sent southwest moved to the Northwestern territory, with the new ports that were half-ass done but finished still, the enemy Medium City had already acted when everything started

Although the bells in the Northwest only ringed for a few moments, it was more than enough for any enemy Farsighted realm expert to notice. Again, they were surprised. But, this time, they were prepared. While they were in a notorious disadvantage, with more than 100,000,000 southerner soldier units brutally threatening their Northwest, the enemy was in disarray and despair. But they weren’t without brains.

The forts were casually given up. There was no helping them now that things became like this. However, the 600,000,000 soldier units in the Medium City were another thing. They were as well-trained and prepared as those from the fort, but their walls were stronger, and more with the naval bombardment never came to them. They also hoped their Northwest would hold for a few months, but… were those soldier units maintained as well as in the Northeast?

There was, without any doubt, a clear disparity between the two sides’ military. However, that couldn’t matter now. The strength that Third Step organizations held was enough to go against any solid foothold in common sense, vastly different from the First and Second Step, although not as destructive as a Fourth Step organization.

In the first days, the Medium City opened all its southern, eastern, and western gates. 300,000,000 soldier units rushed towards the enemy holed before their majestic City. But when everyone was prepared to finally harvest these southerners’ vile lives away, they were met with the unbridled naval bombardment from the southern navy, and countless traps that sunk the ground for hundreds of meters after elevating fire and energetic Elemental outbursts kilometers into the skies.

No matter how high one’s position is, even the highest general is expected to make foolish, silly, and most throwing-a-tantrum-like decisions that cost from an entire army to a whole organization. And no matter how unlikely it was for lightning to strike twice in the same spot, it was still a probability.

When the enemy noticed their countless machine guns, many artillery guns, and tens of thousands of prepared missiles were neutralized, they were left with a slightly cold, empty wound in their hearts. But they knew the south was the same. Thus, when they came out of their most majestic turtle shell, they rushed towards the southerners’ barricade without a care for their protection.

Despite the scary naval bombardment, they knew it was the only way to face these southerners. They completely overruled the possibility of the south trying to buy time. But even if they knew, their leaders would’ve sent them into battle with even more frenzy.

Yet, they couldn’t imagine that it wasn’t the soldier units holed in their positions with solid fortifications or the naval bombardment that they ought to fear and be concerned about… But the cleverness of the acclaimed supreme commander.

With years to prepare, how could the army not flood the enemy territory with catastrophic bombs? Elemental energy and monstrous devices were all it was needed for the hundred of kilometers of terrain in a crescent shape between the fortifications and the Medium City’s protective array formations to level down a brand-new canyon. Its width was so enormous that it could become a whole living environment for all lifeforms.

Yet, that couldn’t be any less important. It was outshone by the 100,000,000 enemy soldier units bursting into midair for a moment before becoming sweet nothingness in the following moment. The southerners watched as even their fortifications cracked, and the wind blew towards them with all sorts of Elemental effects and tastes. But the enemy… they were intimidated.

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While it was improbable that the south would have another trump card like leveling down hundreds of kilometers of the Region’s land for their sake, as it wouldn’t be productive anymore, their morale was completely gone. Losing a portion of their strength just like that made them feel so mentally exhausted that thousands of their soldier units directly fell apart and suffered cultivation deviation, turning into molten corpses before self-detonating in a 1 km radius.

Even if the enemy had a potent mental fortitude, seeing the aftermath after their comrades were annihilated in a mere instant was more than enough to crush their spirits. The enemy retreated that day, leaving only a small ‘pop’ sounding in the corners of the Northeastern land section as the war continued and the southern Army Groups repaired and expanded their fortifications into the sky before the Medium City.

The enemy was slapped once more, but the soldier units in the fortifications wouldn’t have to suffer drastic casualties. While the south was prepared to retreat, and their Fauna could give them that advantage compared to the enemy’s cultivators. They would still employ retreating tactics requiring at least a third of their 4 Army Groups, minus the third that participated in the second incursion, to sacrifice themselves. The enemy would’ve taken more lives out of spite.

Fortunately, the enemy was made to sit down for the second time. This time, they learnt their lesson. But even if they wanted to try again, they couldn’t. Their forts were gone, and their Northwest suffered crushing defeats everywhere, even when they faced the southerners 10 to 1. In the end, the Northwestern territory fell in under 2 weeks, mostly due to the 2 ports half-ass construction when the second incursion began.

2 billion auxiliary units were employed for a flash-construction in the northern intersection between the Northern territories. They were to form a docking port that spread throughout the northern oceanic river. But even after 3 weeks, only the bridge between the ports was fully complete, allowing the armored vehicles to move without compromising the navy.

Nevertheless, as the Northwestern territory fell under 2 weeks, their Medium City still had a complete arsenal, worthy of such a classified City. Thus, only when the Army Groups sent to the southwest and a third of the Army Groups sent to the northwest reunited with the second incursion’s Army Groups did they siege the Northwestern Small City.

This time, the forts changed their aim at last, facing the west instead of the east. They fired at the Medium City. There was a lack of excuses now, as much as repercussions. The naval bombardment fired away for a week before the Medium City’s northeastern walls and corner fell. With only a few tens of millions of enemy soldier units left, and the same tactics to diffuse all arsenal in the last moment when the enemy lost their turtle shells, the Northwestern Medium City fell that day.

In just 5 weeks, the Northern territories became the Crimsonbreaking Faction’s doing, a terror that would stand out in the records. But not centuries or even decades from now. As soon as the special operation was completed, it would be known and spoken of everywhere in the Quiongu Fanhui Existence. Then, the rest of the world…

But while the war was just ending, it was still hot, and both sides hadn’t given up. One would naturally not think of such things, although some Farsighted realm experts from the south murmured about the possibilities of the enemy’s surrender. However, Heian Ciemnosc, supreme commander black monster, remained uncaring and ignoring of their suggestions.

Thus, another week passed as the soldier units sent to the Northwest left everything to 1.5 billion auxiliary units and returned to the Northeast. This was the moment both sides had been waiting for.

On one side, they were too few to face the 500,000,000-strong enemy army. On the other, the cultivators wouldn’t go out unless they all charged at the enemy. However, the southerner’s navy was more free than ever, and the Farsighted realm cultivators even believed they could notice more projectiles from the oceanic rivers flying in the skies before the Northwest fell completely under the south’s command.

What’s more, if they sent all their soldier units out now, who is to tell the south wouldn’t cage them and wait to reunite not only their other armies, but also join them with their navy’s crew members? Who is to say that the south wouldn’t launch an all-out attack with their Farsighted realm cultivators?

The untold rules would always be in play, even in the most desolate, world-ending, or despairing wars. If they sent 500,000,000 soldier units against less than 200,000,000 and annihilated half the south’s army, wouldn’t this give the south the excuse to level down their Medium City?

Their arsenal and protective array formations were functioning again, but did they dare use them now? Especially when the south’s navy became stronger instead of emptying their ammunition storage? A few tens of millions of inhabitants lived in the Medium City, and neither side wanted their blood on their hands, one way or another. But just one wrong step, and everything’s over.

… Today was the 62nd year, 4th month, 1st week and 5th day. The Army Groups reunited after 12 long years of war. But they didn’t have time to greet the old and new faces. They rapidly lined up, only needing a few orders to understand their role and prepare for the final battle. One that might very well claim half their numbers… But the last battle in who knows how long.

An Era? A Period? An Age? Hell, they could long for an Epoch, and it would only be far away, not unreachable anymore. A rule that lasted long after a Region’s restoration was a paradise, and it meant thriving over the Region. But, what about everywhere around the Region? Managing an organization’s rule and its people as a ruling organization was harder than cultivating to the peak of their Step and transition.

‘Dynasties have lasted the most, but only the Emperors of the Est Soul Empire have always been there… It won’t be a wasted trip if I go there for a few days sometime.’ Heian Ciemnosc though as he looked at the silent Medium City.

For only less than 4 months, he hasn’t moved too far from where he left it. Molto had already woken up and was on Alejandro’s back, cultivating and meditating as Heian Ciemnosc observed the situation and experimented with his Divine Kingdom-sized Spirit Sense. The others, who remained here to wait for the order to attack or enter the fray also didn’t move from their spots, like statues who didn’t mind waiting until they were wasted by time.

“All of you, pick your target. Don’t be shy. You can choose anyone, and even share with another or 2 of my people,” Heian Ciemnosc suddenly spoke to the people below him in the air. The southern ruling organizations’ Farsighted realm experts amounted to a dozen. Meanwhile, Heian Ciemnosc’s Officers were nearly 70.

“Supreme commander?” Headmaster Denisse looked up before abruptly shifting her gaze to the Medium City. She suddenly felt a few dozen auras that weren’t there before. Her face became grave, and so did the others around her. The silent atmosphere became stern as the Farsighted realm experts stood up in the air, facing the north as rumbling echoed from the Medium City, through the brand-new canyon, to below their feet on the ground.

Nearly 50 auras belonging to the Farsighted realm rose into the air as blurred figures exited the Medium city. They floated several hundred kilometers into the sky, far from the direct reach of the soldier units about to fight on the ground, more or less.

Heian Ciemnosc gestured with his head before Evans flew upwards. The others followed him like meek rats following their big rat king. They weren’t under Heian Ciemnosc’s orders, but did they have a choice? The army’s vice commanders and the Crimsonbreaking Faction’s Officers flew with the supreme commander first to meet the enemy.

“Molto, enough cultivation. Go down and fight alongside my daughter,” Heian Ciemnosc loudly said. Molto nodded, stood up, and flew from Alejandro’s back after giving the metallic scale she sat on with the size of a 2-story building a few caresses. She moved directly towards Anastasia. But although she was observed by the enemy, they didn’t become interested in her besides her desertion.

WHOOSH, WHOOSH, WHOOSH, WHOOSH, WHOOSH…

Heian Ciemnosc rapidly met with the 50 enemy Farsighted realm cultivators. His cultivation base showed he was in the Farsighted realm small stage, while half the cultivators here showed a Farsighted realm medium stage cultivation base. Only a few were in the large stage, with his vice-commanders having doubled the latter’s number compared to the enemy.

The ruling organizations’ Farsighted realm experts floated around Heian Ciemnosc, forming a small sphere around him, with his Officers and vice commanders as the frontline. Before them were the enemy leading figures, and another person who isn’t in the Crimsonbreaking Faction’s intelligence, Gasimeras.

He also floated surrounded by his people and the ruling organizations’ Farsighted realm experts. 1 minute passed with a sort of staring contest as the wind gently blew between their faces. The bald, genial man looked at Heian Ciemnosc after staring at each of the Farsighted realm experts on the south’s side. Then, he floated slightly upwards to a better defensive position, with everyone else remaining where they floated.

Heian Ciemnosc also remained where he was, but his darkest eyes followed the man. Gasimeras confidently flew up about 100 meters before stopping. But just as he was about to say something, Heian Ciemnosc spoke with a flat tone, “Grotto Master Gasimeras of the Pristine Salvation Grotto, henchmen of who knows what and where. Are you willing to lose your Grotto’s future for a job where your noses shouldn’t have poked?”

“Hmph. Who is to say you aren’t just another henchman for your bosses? Aren’t you here on a special operation by the Heraxle Clan? It is you who should know you’re meddling where you’re not invited.” Gasimeras was surprised to be recognized, or known, for that matter. But what drove him the most was the way Heian Ciemnosc talked about his Grotto.

“That would make sense,” Heian Ciemnosc tilted his head rightwards in a gesture. His tone was calm, “But the fact someone from the Universitalities of Yore sold out to another Universal Land, and is working in their favor here, against the homeowner, is more than enough to place me and anyone on my side on the higher ground.”

“...” Gasimeras slightly opened his mouth, intending to speak something, but rapidly let go of those thoughts and closed his mouth. He stared at Heian Ciemnosc before flatly proposing, “I’m sure this won’t be enough. If either of us falls with our mighty Vigor Energy coalesced in our fall, both armies would suffer incredulous losses. Should we start here, or in another pla-”

“How about this? If any of your people makes a move towards anyone who isn’t up here to battle each other, I’ll have my daughter’s guardians level your people, your organization, and your 3 different families in Minor Kingdom exterminated. On the other hand, I promise you that no one from my side will do that. I’ll kill anyone who dares.”

“Ha, are you sure you can make th-” Gasimeras was gentlemanly enough to not rage when he was interrupted, but just as he was directly threatened to a new level he hadn’t experienced before and battered back with words, Heian Ciemnosc interrupted him for the second time. “Oh, I can’t be bothered. Attack!”

… … … … PSHIIIIFFFTT~!...!...!

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