Iraliel closed the book, she had heard rumors of Eversor the Destroyer, the most powerful of all the Premen. He was perhaps the first mortal to reach so close to the threshold of godhood through his own strength alone. Before the gods had declared that the Premen had spurned Heaven’s Light, she had admired Eversor, thinking that if a mere mortal could reach such heights then it wouldn’t be so hard for her to reach the rank of Archangel.

But more troubling thoughts soon arose, the Premen seemed to be entirely ignorant of the fact that they had been sinful, it was Heaven that provoked them. But the gods clearly said that it was the Premen who made the first strike, she didn’t know what to believe in anymore. She looked up into the eternal twilight sky, wondering if Heaven was as right as it claimed to be.

Suddenly the bed felt uncomfortable, too open under the gaze of the sky. She got up and began to walk somewhere, anywhere but there. As panic filled her mind she began to hyperventilate, falling to her knees as her mind fell into chaos. Suddenly, a comforting cool sensation surrounded her, bringing peace to her troubled mind. Looking up she saw the Librarian standing before her, its singular silver eye fixed on her. Some moments later, it extended a hand and she took it, standing up once more. Still uncomfortable from the gaze of the Heaven’s she asked to go somewhere else and the Librarian obliged, opening a gate to the Library itself.

He gestured for her to follow, stepping through the dark void. With nothing else to do, she took a deep breath and stepped through as well, feeling the familiar cold of space once more before she exited out into a seemingly endless chamber with shelves extending off into the distance.

The Librarian just warned, “Do not bring harm to the books and do not leave with the perimeter of the Library with them. Any violations of these rules shall result in your immediate death.”

With that the Librarian walked off into one of the many halls, adding, “If you wish to return just ask one of the golems, they will return you to the garden.”

With that he disappeared, leaving the angel all alone within the Library. Well, not all alone, there was still one other occupant of this Library. Silren right now was reading in one of the many halls, this having become her favorite way to spend the days when she was not needed at her family’s farm. But even so, the world of books was not enough to satisfy her desire to go outside, to see it all for herself. Yet every time she asked the Librarian he immediately deflected the question to her parents who would refuse. She hadn’t given up however, she would go outside one day, of that she was sure.

As these two remained within the Library, the Surveyor turned its attention to the outside world, knowing form its observers of Erwin’s first defeat. It wasn’t too surprised, Erwin had become lax in recent years, he had underestimated the orcs as he had not met any exceptional leaders. But now, the more interesting aspects of the experiment shall begin, oh how fascinating it would be.

Suddenly, it directed its attention towards the heavens, sensing the gaze of something watching it. The Surveyor guessed that whatever this creature was looking for was Iraliel, it must have sensed her presence when it had taken her out of the gap. Perhaps it would be best to return her soon, although this may involve Heaven into the affairs of Agleon. Hmm, if that were to happen it would have to interfere, it did not intend for the reign of orcs to be so short.

Hmm, indeed it may be best to get rid of the angel, although how was still up for debate. But the Surveyor was unconcerned at the moment, it had complete confidence in being able to fend off Heaven, after all, it possessed Eversor who was far more powerful than he was in the past. As per his wish, he was given his body of old and was able to reach heights that he wasn’t able to before, now able to push his body beyond his limits again and again through the rigorous training regimen that he had set for himself and the other Teryo who chose to have bodies of flesh.

It consisted of each of them surviving on a separate hostile dimension of the Surveyor’s making, filled with hordes of powerful creatures which defied imagination, creatures which would normally be able to overpower a god. Oh, and one should mention that they could only face these creatures with their bodies alone, no armor or weapons to give them an edge. Fighting against these creatures normally meant death but as these dimensions were under the Surveyor’s control, the Teryo were able to survive, the weaknesses of their bodies being destroyed and replaced with stronger flesh, bones, and skin.

This process was not too different to how calluses were formed, they are formed because of constant wear and tear on said skin, the calluses forming to prevent the skin from tearing. And through the help of the Surveyor who made special chambers—Time flowing faster than usual—for them to heal in, speeding up the process in which they grew stronger. Although the Surveyor itself did not have to worry about Time, it did not mean that it could ignore it entirely. After all, the new threat of Heaven appeared to be rather close to the horizon and it wished to be prepared.

As for why it did not just immediately give the Teryo superb bodies to begin with was rather easy, it was because the Teryo asked to be able to train their bodies. As they proved to be rather adamant of this choice and seeing no real reason to refuse, the Surveyor let them.

At first, of course, the Teryo were miserably defeated in these worlds, their strength simply not adequate to survive but continual destruction and regeneration of their bodies made them stronger. This enabled them to endure the blows their bodies would sustain and even return, the Teryo beginning to survive longer and longer within these dimensions. And after countless cycles of this, their bodies were no longer what the Surveyor had given them, it had evolved far beyond what the Surveyor could create with his relatively limited amount of knowledge.

The Surveyor was pleasantly surprised by this development, it thought that their bodies would reach what it thought to be the perfection of the body but they had exceeded its expectations. But thinking back this should’ve been expected, after all, the Surveyor could only extrapolate based on data it has seen and as there were no real Premen to be found anymore except Darkness’s memory of creating them and the Teryo’s memories of their lives during the Age of Premen.

Basically what it was seeing was millions of years worth of evolution compiled into the course of several months, making it wonder just what this sort of training regimen would hold for other creatures such as orcs, elves, and humans. With this sudden thought, it created another dimension in which to carry out this experiment, lowering the difficulty significantly as orcs, elves, and humans were hardly the type of creatures to face beings capable of slaying gods.

As it set about working on this new experiment, Erwin had just returned to a human-held fortress, able to repair the tank quite easily as the previous skirmishes he had participated had left many orcs dead and their armor ripe for the taking. It was with the undesired armor and weapons that he repaired the tank with, the sliver of the Surveyor absorbing and using the metal to fix the damage. Soon, the tank was fully repaired and Erwin began to think about his course of action, probably the first time he was forced to do so since arriving here.

After all, he had not met an opponent that provided him with a challenge so he could afford to deal with things rather haphazardly. But now, things were different, Erwin now knew that orcs possessed an individual of at least some intelligence, one that knew how to use his strength effectively. Erwin wasn’t delighted but he could not deny that he was excited, after all, he still had a chance to perfect the art of war.

So in order to do this very thing he just asked for some paper and a pen, intending to come up with various plans in which to deal with Yargul. He tried to picture what Yargul thought like and tried to anticipate how he would respond, taking into account the impressive physical abilities Yargul had displayed during battle. He also assumed correctly that the orcs who had ambushed them were put there on Yargul’s orders, making Erwin remember to have scouts check extensively for an enemy presence.

And as for Yargul, Erwin intended to make a visit to Otium in order to speak with the Librarian, he would need new sorts of ammunition to defeat Yargul. Perhaps armor piercing or high explosive for his machine guns as Yargul had proven to be too fast for Erwin to hit him with the main gun. He was prepared to pay whatever price that the Librarian was most certainly going to ask, a new weapon or ammunition type would prove to be invaluable to Erwin in the future.

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He had seen Yargul’s abilities and assumed that there would be many other orcs like him, if that was true then his current set up was quite ill-prepared to deal with them. But that was in the future, for now, Erwin could only practice shooting with the main cannon, he only had the standard shells at the moment and although they destroyed just about anything when it was a direct hit, near misses sadly didn’t do as much. It was plenty to heavily injure or kill humans but only for a radius of roughly two feet. After that, it doesn’t kill, just wound or stun.

And Erwin also planned to keep his distance a lot more, no more rushing into enemy strongholds. It was better to bombard them from afar and gun them down should they get close. This would avoid the problem that he faced when he fought with Yargul, inside of the fortress he lacked anywhere to properly run to, thus meaning that he could only sit there helplessly as Yargul tore through the tank’s armor.

And if he were to close in for combat, he would need a more powerful weapon at his side than his luger, something like a rifle to take care of the orcs his machine guns couldn’t kill. Erwin soon lost track of time, coming to his senses when he saw that the light outside the window was dim but growing stronger, he had stayed up the entire night thinking of how to deal with Yargul and other orcs of his caliber. He then grew aware of his aching limbs and he yawned, deciding to take a small nap before he made his way to Otium to talk with the Librarian.

Four hours later he awoke and after getting something to eat, he said that he would be going to Otium, much to the consternation of the elves. They feared that in his absence, the orcs would come to attack but Erwin told them not to worry, the orcs would be too busy with the Civil War to pay attention to a small fortress like this. Slightly reassured by this, they did not try to persuade Erwin to stay any longer, although they did spare one of their few mages to help speed up his journey to Otium, making what was usually a week’s journey into a three-day one.

It was an uneventful three days, ones which Erwin did not waste, using them to think of what he should ask the Librarian for and wondering if he possessed the capability to pay for them. Eventually, he narrowed down his choices to a new sort of ammunition or the addition of a new weapon onto his tank, perhaps a flamethrower for close combat. With those two options in mind, he made his way to the Library, waiting outside after telling a Custodian of his presence. Soon, the doors of the Library opened and he entered without hesitation, finding the Librarian waiting for him on the other side.

The Librarian nodded upon seeing him, saying, “Ah, I was wondering when you would come back. Anyways, please come with me, I’m sure that you are rather tired of standing.”

Erwin nodded, “Indeed and perhaps some tea?”

“Of course, I couldn’t imagine it otherwise.” the Librarian replied.

The two walk through a gate, appearing in the Floating Garden, the Librarian creating a table and two chairs with a casual wave. Taking a seat, he then created two cups and a pot of tea, pouring both his and Erwin’s. The two took a few moments to appreciate the tea before getting down to business, Erwin saying,

“I need to upgrade my tank.”

The Librarian asked, “How so?”

Erwin answered, “I either need new ammunition or a new weapon, a recent battle had made me realize the shortcomings of my tank.”

The Librarian took a sip of tea, saying, “Oh? Shortcomings? Please do explain.”

Erwin explained, “Well the tank is terribly equipped for close-quarters combat, the machine guns aren’t powerful enough and are rather limited in vision. So I must either have the ammunition to be more powerful so I can kill the enemy before they get so close or have a weapon suitable for close combat.”

After a sip of tea, he added, “And I’m willing to pay whatever price you ask.”

The Librarian seemed to smile, although Erwin couldn’t tell for sure. “Hmm, so what is your idea of a more powerful bullet?”

“Well, it would either be an armor-piercing or a high-explosive round, the armor-piercing allowing me to shoot targets with thick armor while the high-explosive is better at taking out groups of enemies. Personally, I would like the armor-piercing although it would be nice to have the option to switch.” Erwin explained.

The Librarian then asked, “What about the close-quarters weapon?”

Erwin said, “A flamethrower, a device which does as its name suggests, it throws out fire.”

“Oh? How does this flamethrower work?” the Librarian asked with interest, this was a weapon he hadn’t yet encountered.

Erwin described, “It’s actually quite simple, its a device which directs flammable liquid towards a target, said liquid being lit on fire as its leaving the nozzle.”

The Librarian said, “How fascinating, do you have any memories of this weapon? Do not worry, should you provide me those memories I shall in return place it on your tank.”

Erwin agreed to this and once more, the cold sensation spread throughout his body, mostly focused at his head where the Surveyor was currently looking at all memories pertaining to the flamethrower.

After satisfying itself, it withdrew from Erwin’s mind and said, “I will need to experiment a few times to make sure that it will work properly but your tank will soon possess a flamethrower.”

Erwin nodded and then said, “So, what about the new ammunition, is that still an option?”

The Librarian said, “As long as you have something to trade for it, I will give it to you.”

Erwin smiled, “Great, then I have a lot more ideas...”

The two spoke for quite a while, the Surveyor learning a bit more about the mysterious world of Earth. Such a fascinating world, it was a shame that it could not go to it. It would have to make do with Erwin’s memories which were thankfully quite detailed, mostly in the military might of Earth but he still possessed knowledge of Earth’s various societies and the like. Anyways, Erwin soon left the Library with a more powerful tank and the Librarian enlightened about a great many things, giving him new ideas for various experiments.

Meanwhile, back on Occasus, Yargul had just received word of the Skull Lord’s plight. The two orc lords opposing the Skull Lord were preparing for a massive attack, their forces at an all-time high of fifty million soldiers. It was an impressive number alright, and this army was already on the move, planning to cut off the Skull Lord from his ally and crush him.

The Skull Lord had sent word to the Trident Lord but the enemy was keeping her busy, a force of ten million dedicated to just slowing her down. As their prime objective was just to delay and not to win, they had proven to be quite successful, these orcs under the command of a competent orc general, one who thought like a human. He rejected the age-old idea that victory was needed in every battle, rather he saw beyond it, he sought to win the war. And in order to win a war, one must make sacrifices, one must lose.

And although the orcs under his command did not agree with his philosophy, they did not dare disobey for he was an orc of power as well, although not as well known as Yargul the Invincible. Nevertheless, he was powerful and did not tolerate any failure to execute his orders, those who did so were promptly killed as he did not need dissidents in his army.

So for the time being, the Skull Lord would be on his own. Of course, he wouldn’t go down with a fight, he possessed five million orcs under his command right now at the city and ten million coming in from nearby cities he held but that still left a whopping thirty-five million enemy orcs to deal with. But then again, the goal was not to win but to hold out, to hold out long enough for the Trident Lord to break through and arrive.

All wasn’t lost, the city possessed nearly invulnerable defenses, the walls melding with the mountainside to make it seem like one steep cliff. This prevented orc corpses from piling up to the top of the walls, the enemy only able to enter through the easily defendable gates. And as the city was built on top of a mountain, there was no shortage of boulders to throw down onto the enemy should they come that close.

But this was not all of the defenses the city possessed, there was going to be a layer of temporary defenses circling the mountain itself, already more than halfway done, this to be the area where the other ten million orcs were to stay as space was rather limited in the city. It mostly consisted of deep trenches and walls made of interlocking logs, they weren’t capable of holding off millions of orcs but it would do to slow down the enemy advance. And this time the orcs on the defending side would be aided by primitive artillery, such as catapults made by human craftsmen. These catapults were quite crude and immovable but against a target fifty million in number, it would be nigh impossible to not hit a target.

But even with all these advantages, the Skull Lord would surely lose if help did not come, help in the form of the Trident Lord and Yargul. And as much as Yargul wanted to wait and fight the Metal Beast, he could not ignore this, after all, a battle with combatants numbering in the millions was a far more tempting prize than some strange beast.

But to reach it he must first pierce the defense of the shrewd orcish general and so he began to jog, taking the orcs under his command to meet up with the Trident Lord in order to defeat the enemy general.