GATE: the clash of the titans

by Qun Nguyn1

A cataclysmic event has struck the Earth. An accident caused by the Empire expansionist dream. Reason and compassion, arrogant and ignorant which one will be the winner. Earth Alliance vs The Holy Empire. Science vs Magic. The power of the thousand sun vs The Beast of Apocalypse. Let the clash of Titans begin.

26. Chapter 26: Heavenly Gift

Chapter 26 : Heavenly Gift

Note:

Who will win! Well, you have to read it to know, haven't you ? Spoiler: That depend on who you ask, top politicians on both sides claim victory but civilian from the warzone will spit on your face if asked.

- Zzz. You are the one who has to watch that "because science" video again. Faster than light my ass! relativistic speed means moving near the speed of light.

-Guest107. Cyber warfare to fight against what ? The Holy Empire don't have computer or internet, at least in the traditional sense.

They use a magic combination of all four types of computer into some form of 'vat brain', with DNA, bacterial, neuronal and chemical computing elements working together to give a magic machine of truly vast computing power.

They also don't call it computer but Fountains.

Because the first computers developed from the fluidic technology of the Arithmetical Fountains and their descendants, in this world all computers regardless of their technology are known as Fountains, or sometimes simply Founts.

This latter term is also derived from their being perceived as 'Founts' of knowledge or wisdom.

- Overlordwarhammer2019. Denfense in Depth is more of a doctrine not a specific tactic so it isn't just a Soviet tactic in WW2.

I would argue that defence in depth should be a fundamental requirement of any military defence strategy and it is still possible today and will continue to be important into the foreseeable future.

Defence in depth is more than the WW1 notion of having a succession of trenches through which the enemy has to wade to achieve the sought for break through. Such a concept is hard to put into effect in a small island state like Taiwan but they still have defence in depth.

They create depth to their defence by having different overlapping systems that complicates the attack problem for any attacker.

Additionally depth can be added by having offensive air capabilities; or rather the ability to attack enemy supply lines, communication hubs, airfields etc. This forces your enemy to keep forces back to defend against your 'in depth' attacks.

This type of concept is applicable to any 'power' including those with large land masses to defend such as Russia, China, Australia Canada and the USA.

At the tactical level of warfare, western military doctrine still stresses having depth to any position down to the infantry platoon.

The Empire have 2 big advantages:

+ First is large area. Falmart has five times the Earth total area and 4 times the total land area.

+ Second is almost unlimited raw resource and cannon fodder. While the Empire can't pump out T-55 like sausage (Too Advanced), they can pump out a Million times more concrete than the Third Reich. So there will be shit ton of bunkers, tunnels and suicide bombers.

The true is, the Empire can't shoot down satellites unless very carefully planned. They contaminate low orbit with trillions of small pebbles painted black, in hope that no satellite can operate in that region for long.

UEAADF can only maintain air superiority over a specific area, not the entire planet because the empire's air force is very numerous. So they couldn't destroy all those space cannons, in addition these space cannons were poured into a well 284 m deep inside a rocky mountain, with a bore of 2.74 m. The whole structure is protected by a large 6 meter-thick "blast door" on top. Very hard to destroy.

Try to built a god-like robot to fight a demi-god is a waste of money, there is a reason we invented the wheel not walking machine. There are cheaper and more effective way to do it, like a hypersonic cruise missile with a nuke on tip.

---

Minith Academy, New Miraculum, Falmart's Moon Oisin, 2069

Lady Lelei La Lalena, was an interesting character. Not even 200 years old, quite young by falmartian standard, but she had earned herself many names, The traitor of Rurudo, the Great Scribe, Rondels youngest Arch-Mage, the Cute Knowledge Fanatic, The Blue Witch of Lemuria.

Due to her closeness to the UEADF during the Great War, Lelei's image were tainted by nationalist views, even calling her a traitor, but more recent interpretation by the revisionists had seen her in a more positive light. She was a symbol of true Academic Neutrality, a True Sage who alway sought to solve all mysteries with knowledge. So she was commonly now knew as the President of the Imperial Astronomical Society, Margravine of New Miraculum and a visiting professor in the Minith Academy.

Being the second wives of a rich margrave allowed Lelei to purchase a rather expensive royal blue arch-mage robe, with light satin made of silver spider silk, decorated with golden trim and hand made tassels.

To be honest with herself, the low gravity enviroment in Oisin made it quite difficult to move around in this robes. She should buy a tighter uniform. Maybe a blue satin corset with a damask bustle skirt and a white ruffle Mirittanian blouse?

Today's lesson would be controversial, she needed to phrase her words carefully if she didn't want to be visited by the secret police. The Empire might becoming more liberal but they were still an autocratic monarchy, even in New Miraculum you didn't know who was reporting to the Oprichninas. Margravine or not, all imperial citizens must walk a fine line between acceptable criticism and unpatriotic slandering.

Lucky for her the Empire had no interested in rewrite history or censoring unfavorable events. It had a form of political realism, It basically argued that we must be willing to do immoral things for the greater national interest and there wasn't room for moral idealism in decision making but it must also be flexible and admit error, as the happiness of the state as a whole, including its people, was the essential thing.

"The duty of every imperial subjects is to ensure the survival of the Holy Empire," Lelei began her lecture with an old military slogan to introduce the subject of today lesson. She continued," the Empire is the sum of its people. One of our big advantage in the Great War is our vast pool of tough-minded citizens. But our falmartian physiology has a great weakness compared to the human race. Can anyone tell me what is it ?"

Lelei looked at her students and saw a shyly raised hand. It belongs to Prisca Livia Cornelia, the daughter of a high ranking female knight serving in the Rose Order of Knights (Equester Ordo Rosalia). Lelei knew her mother during the war. "Prisca, tell me."

"It's our growth rate, falmartian's physiology are superior to human in almost very aspect. We are stronger, faster, more flexible and agile live longer and have great potential with magic but the flip side is that we take a long time to mature. It generally took eighteen years for the human young to be able to be effective in combat, it took a century and a half for us to be the same."

"That's correct, while in theory a falmartian woman could give birth to 700 children in her lifetime, it will take at least a century for them to develop any significant fighting ability that mean we cannot replace our troops as fast as the human do. This can give the human a big long term advantage in a war of attrition."

"And that is the reason for the Lebensborn program, a quite controversial topic that has sparked a lot of heated debate in the capital." Well, she herself certainly knows how sensitive this topic was, consider how many arguments she had with other colleagues.

The mood in the lecture hall was mixed, understandably so, considering half of the students here were young ladies, many of whom had to participate in the program for the sake of the Empire.

For the sake of the Empire, Lelei clenching her fists. Many great sacrifice had been made for sake of the Empire. Personal selfishness had no place in this Empire. Every individual, whether commoner or noble, had to perform his duty to the Empire. Of course the Empire didn't mistreat those who serve it, but sometimes what it demands was was too great.

The heavy price that too many people were willing to pay. Of course they were willing to pay, how could they not ? From the moment they were born they were taught 10 clauses.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

1) Salvation only comes to good orthodoxian.

2) Good orthodoxian listen to their lords and follow their orders.

3) Good orthodoxian do not cry or show weakness. That is for the heretics.

4) Good orthodoxian bring honor to their family by going to war.

5) The Holy Empire is of the utmost importance. Good orthodoxian must do their duty to further the sacred Empire.

6) Family protects each other but sacrifices the weakest to remain strong.

7) Good orthodoxian must do what needs to be done for the greater good even at the cost of their integrity.

8) The Emperor protects all citizens and mourns every loss in the war.

9) The Emperor prunes sick branches excessively to keep the Empire healthy.

10) The Emperor heads the family and all subjects of Darwinia are his children.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"With hindsight it is easy to say the program shouldn't go as far as it did. The war didn't last long as they thought it would be, but even the most ardent critics had to admit that the program was of great benefit to the post-war situation. Many clans would have gone extinct without the program. It's just an undeniable fact," Lelei remarked. "I'm sure many of you here already know that, considering how many adoptive siblings your family has to adopt during and after the War." Lelei of course, was referring to the massive adoption program for children born of the Lebensborn program. The number of children was so great that they were called generation L.

Most of the class nodded in agreement. Some even made complain about how hard it was to raise all of the generation L children, which wasn't surprising given that it wasn't uncommon for a wealthy family to be assigned to raise up to 15 Lebensborn children.

"Lebensborn is really not a new ideal, the roots of the program can be traced back to the Prime Minister of the former Europania Union Charles Maurras after the Third War of The North," Lelei explained.

"Maurras understood with the Treaty of Wienna and the union that created between the Holy Empire and The Northern Coalition meant that the Union would never stand a chance against Sadera in the future. After the war Europania Union's population was just under 760 million people as just over 10 million Union people had been lost in the war. Between the various new territories and Darwinian itself, Sadera had a population of just over 1700 million people.

"Then that wasn't counting the new personal union between the Holy Empire and the Grand Duchy of the Alyesko-Siberian. That was at least another 60 million people that Sadera could mobilize. Maurras knew he needed to redress this massive imbalance as Sadera had over double their population and unless drastic measures were taken that divide would grow even more.

"For the women and girls old enough to be carry a baby that were being rounded up, they were going into brothels to give Union soldiers free services. However, they were being careful to make sure the women they were giving this duty do did not have any STDs. If the women rounded up had STD they would be sent to the work camps.

"The same when for the soldiers who got these services. No because his goal was for these women to become pregnant so they could boost the population of the Union. Once they give birth the baby after the needed period with the mother would be shipped off to the orphanages of the Union so they also could be raised to be good Europania Men and Women. They would use those women and girls for as long as their bodies held up.

"Maurras knew this wasn't the long-term answer as this would only give them a shot in the arm. He needed to get the Europanian people to recommit to the battle of the bedroom. He was working on a series of laws to help to that in. He also had to do it in such a way to make sure these new children of Europania Union wouldn't turn to Nullists in the future."

The whole class was disgusted by Maurras actions. That was really fucked up. Europania Union tried to increase its population with... fucking sex trafficking.

"Maurras need a 90cm stake through his skull ASAP." Servius Pompeius Quintus, son of an important senator form the Capital said loudly.

Lelei glanced at the boy and shook her head and said. "Servius you should pay more attention to history. Spoiler, he did get a stake through his skull in the Union Civil War."

The whole class burst into laughter, before Lelei regained order.

"Lebensborn is, in many ways, more humane than what Maurras did, but it still quite fucked up, but it shows how desperate the Empire was to implementing a policy to replace the loss of war and outnumber the Earth nations. As I'm sure you all remember from your tests and your own memory, Lebensborn is the brainchild of two wizards Max Sollmann and DrGregor Ebner."

Marcellus, who was the head of the Lebensborn program ?

"Himmler Li Lebensborn, the Duke of Calasta, the program was named after him." Marcellus replied.

Correct-

"Crafted by ancient Kaminoan cloning magic within undersea temples, the 10,000 single-blooded of 10,000 women were created, identical in every way. Born from the blood of high-class courtesans from the city of Yiji, they were used in brothels to give soldiers free services. They are trained in every sex position and are considered to be the best whores the Empire has ever created," Lelei changed from her usual monotone to a more sarcastic voice. "The Empire, of course, didn't create them just to entertain the soldiers."

"The dire situation of the War required the Empire to draft every able-bodied to serve in the war effort, even the women, so the Whores of Yiji were created to win the battle of the bedroom. Every male soldiers will fuck a Yiji whore before going to war to ensure he have a heir.

"Of course, everything was not that simple. Firstly due to mass cloning, the clones are of poor quality, in addition 10,000 sets of originals are a small gene pool mean their offspring will be vulnerable." Lelei paused for a moment, trying to find the right word.

Th...the solution was simple, using womb and egg harvested from living women.

Lelei could feel the mood in the room was getting uncomfortable, she also saw the humiliation on the face of many of her female student as she said.

Nothing surprise considering that many of her students had to join Lebensborn program. Of course, thanks to their super regeneration their womb and egg would regenerate in minute. But, it was humiliating to lie on the operating table and let the doctor cut your uterus and attach it to a whore clone.

Lelei needed to continue her lesson so she clapped her hands to get the class' attention.

"Lebensborn went further when Himmler authorized the selection of women with desirable traits, starting by sifting through the women arriving at the Polenlager. In 52034-'35, 50.000 women were used as clone template to create sows for the troops to impregnate.

The goal was to increase the Empire birth rate even further and to achieve the desired phenotype through breeding back. Deemed a success, the program was expanded radically during the later years of the War and even afterward.

By 52050, the number of clone in the program had increased to 200 million, leading to 200 million births every nine months, or 800 million every three years.

By the time the program ended, about 15 years later, by 52065, more than 6 billion children had been born as a result of Lebensborn on top of Darwinian's normal population growth."

Lebensborn was so controversial that it even caused a temporary schism within the Falmartian Orthodox Church between the worshipper of Miritta Goddess of Fertility and Deldort God of Covenants with the rest of the church. They argued that Lebensborn violated the sanctity of marriage, a life-long covenant and the purity and virtuousness of procreation. Some fanatic Miritta worshippers even bombed the Lebensborn centres. Some less extreme just refused to recognize the rights of generation L. The Emperor even had to give in and take away the inheritance rights of these children.

---

Emperor's study room, Undisclosed Subterranean Base, Terra Australis, 52030

Alone, Yoda of Arvala, the old halfling, Grandmaster of the Mystic Knights of the Illuminated Providence waited in the lavish stateroom, furnished in the northdic style, as he wondered why the Emperor had summoned him.

On the small precious stone table before him, a cold cup of tea waited. Since accepting his role as Propraetor, a Governor appointed by the Emperor, three hundred years ago, the Emperor had never sent a formal summons. Messages were either sent through herald, or more frequently, by magic phone. But this time, the situation was different.

The summons had arrived by mail and requested his presence at a subterranean base in Terra Australis to meet with the Emperor.

A Youxia held the door open, indicating he was expected. Yoda took a deep breath and tried to bury his unease. The Youxia nodded as he approached and Yoda's heart battered. With the exception of the Royal Family, the Youxia never responded to someone besides the Emperor. They were impassive unless ordered otherwise or responding to a threat.

The door shut, leaving him alone with the Emperor.

Eyes trained on the floor, Yoda knelt respectfully. Responding to an official summon was a serious business.

"You may rise, Yoda of Arvala," the Emperor said as he seated himself across from him.

Yoda stood, the armchairs to his side tempting him, but he wasn't a fool. He stood straight and kept his eyes respectfully lowered. "Have I displeased you, Your Majesty?"

The Mystic Knights of the Illuminated Providence had a strained relationship with the Holy Order of Eden due to its believes. Only the Emperor pardon that spared them from dissolution, but they had to swear of allegiance to the Emperor.

"Have you given me a reason to be?" Molt asked, his voice deceptively calm.

I strive to fulfill your mandate," Yoda answered, sidestepping the treacherous question. There was no right answer.

"And you have. Every task I set forth, you completed satisfactorily. But now, I have a new mission for you."

"I will serve the best of my ability, Your Majesty."

"Good"

Yoda could feel flash of devious little smirk from the Emperor. This had to be some kind of trap. Yoda had the feeling he wouldn't like this mission.

"Come in"

Yoda turned around to look, horrified as he recognized the person entering was his old nemesis, General Grievous the commander of countless legions of undead constructs fielded by rogue vassal states backed by a kabal of necromancers, merchant princes, and banking guilds

General Grievous was once a living man, a warrior, desperate for more power, made a pact with necromancers and dark alchemists of the guild of "Sorcerers of the Iron rings." His flesh supplemented with dead tissue from great mythical beasts, even going so far as to graft additional limbs to his twisted frame.

His brain and heart encased in rune carved glass, preserved in alchemical oils. The rest of his organs removed, for they no longer served any purpose. Armor, wrought by dark science and magic, bolted to what remained.

Yet all that paled in comparison to what was done to his mind, his soul. Fragments, torn from the essence of warriors and generals of all creeds, fused into his being. Now he strides across countless battle fields, leading a host of undead monsters and flesh shaped beasts.

Not even the Mystic Knights could face him, for he fought with the strength of ten men, the skill of twenty, and the malice of a demon lord.

General Grievous stood imposing, his skeletal, multi-limbed bulk faceted with armor and bristling with swords. Each arm spun and worked independently of each other, carving deadly arcs in the air before him as he began to advance, his tattered cloak billowing. Menacing green mist streamed out from his eye sockets. The tendrils hovered and churned longer than they should have before they evaporated with his movement, only to be replaced by more enchanted steam.

Yoda, Grandmaster of the Mystic Knights held his ground before the advancing monstrosity. Too long had this bewitched general of metal and bone plagued the battlefields of the Empire. Too long had he slain the Mystic Knights, leaving their mangled bodies to writhe in his wake. This monster need to be stopped.

"Sir Yoda," General Grievous said, his voice guttural and primal. "What a surprise, who could have imagined that one day we would fight side by side!"

"Oh No, I don't think so, You Demonic Metal" Yoda replied, bringing his hand and a half sword to bare, its blue glow bathing his face with a warm light.

"You old Fool."

Grievous attacked, a blur of movement from his upper limbs as he swung with an overhead strike, his short swords gleaming wickedly.

Yoda blocked the attack, raising his magic shield just in time. Green Sparks erupted with the impact, the smell of enchanted ozone filling the air.

Before their blade meet the second times a miniscule gap formed between them.

A deep masculine voice broke the silence.

"Blasphemy, How dare you fight in front of His Majesty."

A pair of strong arms appeared from where previously there was nothing, their fingers gently gripping the middle of Grievous and Yoda's swords.

As if it were sandwiched between a vise, the sword was immovable. The arms effortlessly lifted both swords along with the speechless Grievous and Yoda, gently separated the two fighting swordsmen, then placed them back on the ground.

Standing there was a huge man who looked more than forty years old.

On top of what looked like a white robe, he wore defensive gear of the lowest grade. Whether it was the orichalcum-colored long sword hanging from his waist or the arms extending from his sleeves, both were carved with a myriad of scars. He perfectly fitted the description of a hero.

The most powerful in the Round Table, Knight of One, Sir Arthur Pendragon.

"Why stop me, Sir Arthur! This monster needs to be destroyed…" Yoda objected.

"Only the Emperor can decide that, now put your swords away or face my judgment." Knight of One warned, his presence dominated the space.

"Please, forgive me for my transgressions, Your Majesty!" Yoda and Grievous kowtowed, asking for forgiveness, realizing how close they were to death.

Molt was amused with the sight. His authority was absolute.

"Now, about your mission lord Yoda," Molt made a wicked smile. "The Sorcerers of the Iron Rings have promised me they would make an army of living metal, right General Grievous ?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, with enough funding the Sorcerers of the Iron Rings can make 15 Million Necrodermia warriors a month."

Necrodermia were golem-like inorganic magical constructs (basically magical robots) that possesses the extraordinary ability to regenerate almost all damage instantaneously, "flowing" back together as if it were a liquid while closing bullet holes, mending gashes and tears, or even reattaching severed pieces with little delay.

Of course there was a heavy price to pay.

"The ritual actually cost a small portion of the soul (hence why the leaders of the Iron Guild were so heartless), which was used to animate the metal. However, as nothing can live without a soul, this means that the metal absorbs the soul and uses it as it's own.

When you tried to imbue similar qualities of sentient beings through (in this case mass) rituals into living metal. There would be a habit of strange behaviors developing within these animated constructs after sometime.

Because they slowly but eventually develop into full fledged 'persons' and thus must be periodically stripped of these fledgling wills with "wells of oblivion" (devours the growing emotions and thoughts of artificial constructs) before they start to question too much orders to mindlessly march toward their doom or care more about their own 'lives' over being mindlessly obedience."

"So...what..is the... mission of the Mystic Knights of the Illuminated Providence, Your..Majesty ?" Asked Yoda, keeping his eye on the ground fearing the worst.

The Emperor wouldn't ask the Mystic Knights to sacrifice their souls to create this army of abomination, would he ?

Seeing the fear in Yoda's eyes, Molt calmly said "No need to be afraid, I will not ask your people to sacrifice their souls, at least not all of them.

Wizard King Solomon just invented the Soul Forge, with which we can grown a fully functioning soul using a small portion of the soul.

The Mystic Knights powerful souls will create the highest quality Necrodermia warriors with the ability to use magic.

Fulfil your duty to your liege, Lord Yoda."

"Chivalrous knights follow his lorde's edicts. Chivalrous knights follow his lorde's edicts. Chivalrous knights follow his lorde's edicts..."Yoda mumbled in his mouth, feeling extremely conflicted. On the one hand it was there duty to follow his lorde's edicts, on the other hand this abomination army was a mockery of his believe.

Yoda clenched his fists so hard they started to bleed before letting out a small replied.

"It will be done my liege.."

---

Itami's Private room, Alnus Base, Falmart

***Careful there might be some sexual content***

Being a four-star general had many benefits, one of which was that you had a pretty big private room, for which he was very grateful because if anyone saw what was happening right now, he would be looked down to like a low life criminal.

Well, that was only to be expected; Rory might be over 3000 years old, but from the outside she looked like she was 13 or 14, barely a adolescent, her boobs were quite developed despite her overall appearance, but still, inappropriate physical contact with a girl of that age, even if it was consensual, was still a form of child molester.

And no matter how you look, the shit that was happening right now definitely was inappropriate physical contact with a minor.

There were only two people in the room. One of them was the rising star of the JSDF, General Yōji Itami and the other was...

Rory Mercury, the Grandmaster of the Holy Order, who was mounting on Itami's thigh, facing him with her arms around his neck. Since there was a blanket between the two of them it was not too bad, but psychologically speaking, they could not possibly be closer.

"I say, how long are you going to be here? It's been so looooong, I can't take it any more…"

Her sweet voice and hot breath washed over Itami's ear.

"What, what do you mean by 'so loooong', I don't get it. We don't have this sort of lewd relationship, right?"

"Why are you trying to hide it? Haven't we come all this way already?"

True- but that was just a one night stand.

"Rory-san, I still have some paperwork to sign, can we do this later?"

"Don't lie to me, Boy .You know I can sense your intention from miles aways."

An evil gleam filled Rory's eyes as she looked at him. Then she suddenly drew close to Itami and kissed him.

Rory smiled to herself, as if to say, he gave in.

Itami touched his lips as well, replaying what had just happened to him. However, Rory continued holding on to him, pressing her body against his, and her breathing grew rapid and ragged as she guided him towards the bed.

Itami glanced at the silhouette of the security soldier patrolling outside his office very now and then.

"Ah, no, you see, there's someone else here, Rory-san…"

"It's not like he can see anything… this room is locked and if you want I can cast a silence spell."

Rory mounted Itami, eyeing him like a carnivore sizing up its soon-to-be prey.

"But, but I already have a son and daughter…"

"So what, it's not like it's a bad thing, you and your wife are divorced. Let me remind you that you are in the middle of a great war, you can die at any time.

We may become enemies the next day at the whim of your commander, only the gods can foretell. Live true to yourself and Emroy will reward you in the afterlife.

All this time, Lelei, Risa and Tuka have always been by your side, so I can't cut loose and have fun. Now that it's just the two of us, it should be okay, right~?"

"Like I was saying, it's not just the two of us…"

With that excuse which barely even counted as such, Rory leaned in and licked Itami's neck. After that, Rory pressed her lips to Itami's. Unlike the gentle fluttering of earlier, this was a savage, hungry kiss.

Rory began to undo Itami's shirt, her petite, porcelain doll-like fingers quickly unbuttoning his shirt.

Soon he was half-naked, revealing his broad shoulders and solid chest. Itami used to be a army ranger so he had pretty toned figure for a man in his age.

Rory started to take off her clothes, she wore a little red dress of smooth cloth that opened in a fairly immodest fashion over her bosom and only extended few inches below her ass cheeks curve.

Where did she find this fairly modern-looking outfit, he wondered.

Dammit, she looked really captivating, her bare skin was really illuminating under the weak light of his room neon. And Itami asked himself, frightened and rapt, who was she, who rose before him like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, radiant as the sun.

She really not a human, no human can be this perfect ! Her big ruby-color eyes, clear as the pools of Heshbon, seemed to see right through his soul, her unbelievably smooth and shiny hair was a flock of goats that lie along the side of Mount Gilead. Her head rose proudly on a neck as white as an ivory tower, her nose was as the tower of Lebanon. Her lips were like a thread of scarlet, temples were like a piece of a pomegranate, neck was like the tower of David whereon there hang a thousand bucklers.

Rory started to showing off her 3-pieces lace sexy lingerie with garter belt and around her neck, there was a necklace made of little gemstone. Sapphire, ruby and emerald, he believed.

"How do I look ?" she teased him with a supernaturally seductive voice. A devilish grin slowly spread over her beautiful face.

Suddenly Rory summoned a metal pole with her Titan power to perform a erotic dance. Started with a vertical 90 degree split, Rory performed a perfect J spin then moved to the Matrix like a professional pole dancer.

Itami was stunned by the extraordinary sight before his eyes. Where the hell she got this kind of undergarment and moves? Apparently, despite the ultra-conservative nature of the Empire, they were quite sexually liberal similar to the ancient Greeks.

They didn't shame any sex act like the Christian West did. Sex was what they did, not who they were. Sexual pleasure was seen as good. Laws were more concerned with social stability than particular sex acts.

Adultery was illegal because of the conflict it created within the household rather than because sleeping with someone other than your spouse was inherently bad.

"You look glorious M'Lady." He replied honestly.

"Now let the fun begin!" Rory licked her lips and they started to kiss passionately.

Her lips were really really soft and whatever perfume she was using was very suggestive.

He cried, "Oh Lord," and, "I'm loyal to my country, I'm loyal... !," also because a rosy perfume breathed from her lips and her feet were beautiful in sandals, and her legs were like columns and jewels were the joints of her thighs, the work of the hands of a cunning workman.

Then the devilish demi-goddess came still closer to him, throwing into a corner the dark package she had till then held pressed to her bosom; and she raised her hand to stroke his face, and repeated the question he had already heard. "You want to touch it, don't you ?"

And while Itami did not know whether to flee from her or move even closer, while his head was throbbing as if the trumpets of Joshua were about to bring down the walls of Jericho, as he yearned and at once feared to touch her.

Rory smiled with great joy, emitted the stifled moan of a pleased she-goated, and undid the strings that closed her lingerie over her bosom, slipped the lingerie from her body like a tunic, and stood before him as Eve must have appeared to Adam in the garden of Eden.

"Beautiful little rise above the breasts and swollen slightly," Itami murmured, repeating the words he had heard from his father, because her breasts appeared to him like two fawns that are twins of a roe, feeding among the lilies, her navel was a goblet wherein no mingled wine is wanting, her belly a heap of wheat set about with lilies.

Inadvertently Itami found himself against Rory body, feeling its warmth and the sharp perfume of unguents never known before. He remembered his father words, "Sons, when mad love comes, man is powerless!" and he understood that, whether what he felt was a snare of the enemy or a gift of heaven, he was now powerless against the impulse that moved him.

'O love, daughter of delights, a king is held captive in your tresses, I murmured to myself, and I was in her arms, and we fell together onto the bare floor of the study, and, whether on my own initiative or through her wiles, I found myself free of my novice's habit and felt no shame at our bodies and enjoy every moment. And she kissed me with the kisses of her mouth, and her loves were more delicious than wine and her ointments had a goodly fragrance, and her neck was beautiful among pearls and her cheeks among earrings'

Rory's tongue moved slowly down to Itami's nipple like a serpent before biting it hard, panicking Itami.

"Ahhh, what the Hell...Rory ?!."

Rory, licking blood from her lips, replied "A gift for you, my dear," raising her hand to stroke his face. "A gift of Self-Resurrection."

What~?

"You now can completely heal fatal injuries and resurrect upon death if the body isn't entirely destroyed."

Thanks~Rory!

He wasn't sure what to say. This was a good news, he guessed, now he had a higher chance to return home alive.

"Now, let's move on...," Rory pushed Itami down. "Hold still " she said.

Her lewd lips gradually reach down the belt of his pants, slowly but surely she unlocked it with her mouth like the true professional as she was. He wondered how many man she had done it with, not that it matters because today, Rory was his or more precise... he was hers?

Itami still not sure what would this relationship bring, Rory would outlive him a hundred times over, he was more like a pet than her lover. But with all the things were going on, who could tell the future anyway...If he had to die in this fantasy world, let make sure he lived the best life he could.

Just under a minute, Rory masterful technique had stripped Itami naked. She was in full control, he was her prey and no force on the mortal realm could take him from her tonight. Itami meat rod was bigger than average when it was fully erect, a decent size for a human and the perfect size for her.

Now she was going to make him feel at the door step of the heavenly realm. "Try not to cum under a minute" she teased him.

"Don't you Underestimate ME, you bitch." He wasn't going to be humiliated by a little girl-looking demi-god.

"Let's see..."

The demi-goddess of darkness and war was kneeling in front of Itami gracefully and completely naked, she looked up at him with a mischievousness look. "Be grateful Boy because tonight the Apostle of Emroy, the incarnation of darkness, war, death, violence, and insanity itself will be at your command," Boastfully as always. "So, what is your command my beloved master ?"

Itami tried his best not to let this sense power gets to his head, but something was awaken within him, a sadistic side hidden deep with his soul. He was free, free from the duty, from the responsibilities with the clan and the nation. There was just two of them here and at this very moment he was the master.

The illusion of power was very tempting, so many people had succumbed to it throughtout history.

He must resist it, he need to resist it, he should resist it, or maybe not.

"What can possibly happen anyway ?"

"Just this one time." He said to himself.

Itami could felt his sanity was slipping away before his very eyes. He was losing and he knew it. Finally, he gave into his desire. Itami, for all his quirks, was just a man.

"Suck my d**k bitch." He ordered.

"Yes, my Master my Lord." Rory playfully replied.

Damnit, she was good at this.

Before Rory could carry out her orders, an unexpected event happened.

A black ellipse was starting to form in the middle of the room. It was hard to say where it was, it seemed to be at once parallel with the floor and perpendicular to it. It was also hard to say what it was, it seemed black and almost infinitely absorptive yet it also glared and irritated the eyes.

Realizing this was a high-level teleportation spell, Rory, not even had time to put her clothes back on, jumped to her feet, summoning her beloved halberd the Hades and took a battle stance.

"Show yourself or face my judgment." Roy spoke loudly, her fighting spirit dominating space and making time stand still.

Whoever this person was, he was making a big mistake. No one could blue balls the Apostle of War and Darkness Rory Mercury and made out alive, No One !

Rory had planed everything, she and Itami would have a steamy night together, she even bought all the BDSM toys from a shady Chinese colonel smuggler, she had to admit that those Chinese had some good shit. Candles, wax, blindfolde, whips, vibrators, needles, ben wa balls, electric dildo, rope, handcuff...ect.

Oh... Emroy

Oh... Emroy, this night could have been so much fun. She would turn Itami into an absolute animal and they would play real hardcore.

It had been centuries since sleep with a real man, albeit a little unorthodox, not some fanatical creeps. Most of them were either cowards or idiots, being the apostle of war and darkness wasn't helping at all.

He would spank her a** and br**sts, drop hot wax on her body's most sensitive parts, put a dog collar around her neck then whip her ass, shoot his spermatic fluid on her mouth, put that dog tail butt plug in her a**hole then order her to crawl on four and bark like a bitch, ramp that huge electric dildo in her pu**y, put a vibrator at its highest setting in her private parts, tie her up and fill her a**hole with boiling water, insert inflatable ball in her pu**y, torture her nip**es with needles, stretching and twisting her clit****, hang her up by her nip**es, order her to masturb*** in front of him like a slu*, watch her urin*** on a bowl then drink, insert his hand into her va**na or rec**m, force her to drink his p**, golden shower her, sit on her face, order her to smell and lick his a**hole, order her to suck his di**, order her to eat food covered in his spermatic fluid, after that she would suck his ball dry then regenerate it with her magic to suck it again and again all night long.

A mystery figure came out of the black ellipse, it was a girl!?

She has short, bright ash blue hair and fiery red eyes. Her appearance similar to that of a young nun, no older than 16. Her dress was an ocean-colored semi-transparent fabric that completely displays her rather attractive figure.

The collar of her dress takes on the shape of a pen tip, and the middle part of her dress was patterned as moon and sun. She wears long black laced boots and a black veil that is attached to a pen and a feather duster.

There was also a golden cross-connected to a beaded rope, surrounding the waist of the dress.

Upon seeing Rory in her birthday suit with her bottom soaking wet while shielding an eastern-looking naked man with a fully erecting meat sword, the mysterious girl giggled and said, "My apologize, Dear Sister, I don't know your are busy humping a human. So is he the unlucky guy? " The girl pointed to Itami. "Not bad, his meat sword seem to be full of life and he seem to have stamina, but the fact that he choose to unleash his seed on an undeveloped body like you mean either he had a poor taste or you drugged him with your pheromone."

Itami look at the scene in horror, every word that this mysterious girl uttered was aimed at provoking Rory, who was she?

"Mabel Fornm, you insolent child, how Dare you talk to me like that!" Rory was pull no punches here. "I was there when you were born. I'm the one who introduced you to the Council of the 13 Apostles as the new Apostle of Zufmuut. I was your Grandinstructor."

"That were millennia ago, you old hag, and I have to remind that you dumped most of your duties to me. You are always so uninterested with the duty of administration. You couldn't fulfill your duties as a Grandinstructor then, and now you don't fulfill those of a Grandmaster. Well, I shouldn't expect anything from the Apostle of Emroy the God of Darkness, War, Death, Violence, and Insanity." Mabel Fornm shoot back.

"Apostle of Zufmuut, the God of Light and Order!? Another apostle here, this is bad, what should he do, what should he do...And why these apostles dressed like that, first a black hair loli in gothic lolita and now a blue hair stripperiffic nun. Are those Falmart gods some kind of pervert? "

"Hey, human, you're thinking something perverted, aren't you?" Mabel Fornm raised her eyebrow at Itami, her beautiful ruby eyes easily seeing through all of his thoughts.

"No, no... definitely not!" Itami crossed his hands, replying in a panic. He should be more careful, apostles could easily read your emotion.

"So what are you doing here ?...I suppose not because you bookworm have running out of things to read."

"Haha, real funny," Mabel laughs dryly. "Unlike you I actually managing my job well. But that's not the point. The reason I am here because the Old Gods have finally made their move."

"Oh, really, those old bastards finally decide to come down from the eternal realm and did something, after throwing the task of protecting the world on the New Gods." Rory wasn't impressed.

"Look who is saying." Mabel's voice was as sassy as ever.

So why now ?

"An Angel of Death has appeared." Mabel replied succinctly. "She Who Thirst has sent an angel of death called Zarakynel to the mortal realm. All life on Earth and even in Falmart are in a great danger."

Death Angels were very dangerous entities because they could open a hole to the void, letting the Apocryph or "The Mist of Nothingness" in swallowed the whole world and returned it to primal chaos. Any living things or even spirit being near the Apocryph would slowly having their life force sucked away.

"That is why they are giving us this." Mabel opened her right hand showing a mystical bright blue flame.

"Is that... what I think it is ?" Rory was stunned by the appearance of the mystical flame.

"You are correct, this is the Eternal Flame, a small piece of the Original Flame at the beginning of time. Light this at the center of your continent and no darkness could harm your people. The Eternal Flame could banish even the Void itself."

---

Deep Tunnel Stygia ('The Slime Pit'), Shaft 14, Slocum Mine, Tartarus

Captain Lí Thế Thông stood knee-deep in the stagnant water, listlessly hacking away at an exposed copper vein. It had been something like a half a century now that he'd been in this literally God-forsaken place, give or take a decade. It was all so unfair. Hadn't he died for his country the Republic of Vietnam, like you were supposed to? He'd gone to church… mostly.

He'd been a faithful husband… almost. There had been that one time, half a year before the Vietcong shell ended his life, just after that fresh-faced young private had joined the squad. In the earthly hell of the Phước Long they all thought they had only weeks to live, surely God could forgive a man for seeking whatever companionship and release he could under such conditions?

It would seem that God could not. Thông dimly recalled spending decades in an empty wasteland scoured by a constant terrible storm, wandering without ever finding rest or shelter. Then he was brought here, seemingly to mine copper for all eternity. The last few months had been particularly intolerable. He was sure that other prisoners were stealing ore from his crates when he wasn't looking, because he'd been sentenced to work in the slime pit almost every week.

Worst of all, the pointless riots meant that all the humans were now kept chained up at all times. The corroded bronze manacle had already rubbed his ankle raw. The formerly lax demon supervisors seemed to have found a new motivation for their calling, as they were more eager than ever to apply their whips.

The rumors had been going around the mine since the demons had first questioned them about human weapons. At first there was nothing but a welter of speculation, but as of late they had taken a decidedly grim turn.

New workers were arriving, fresh from earth and bringing tales of their homes falling to an irresistible demonic onslaught. City after city was apparently being raped, pillaged and burned by the fiendish legions. Some refused to believe, harping on about inconsistencies in the stories, but Thông knew they were just grasping at straws.

He had seen what being in the midst of brutal slaughter could do to the mind first hand, at Xuân Lộc and Sài Gòn; if anything the confused ranting of the new arrivals only confirmed the horror of what they had witnesses. In his mind all of humanity was clearly doomed to suffer, individually and collectively.

Into this uniformly depressing picture had come an unexpected ray of hope. At the start of this shift, they had been assembled in the loading area again and Medusa had a different message for them. Reading from a slate chalked with strange runes, she had implored the workers to reveal the location of the human arsenals.

Only then would the demons be able to spare the remaining cities from total destruction. Any human who helped make this possible would be rewarded with dominion over one of the surviving settlements, to rule it in Abbadon's name for the rest of time.

For Captain Lí Thế Thông the struggle with his conscience had been a brief one. He had been loyal to the country had sent him to a fair approximation of this place, rendered in stinking trenches and screaming shellfire, only to throw away his life fighting over a patch of worthless mud. He had been faithful and his God had abandoned him.

Even in this place, his fellow men seemed to wish him only further suffering. No, he no longer gave his loyalty to anyone but himself. Thông resolved to grasp this chance. He was already in hell, he could hardly damn himself a second time by supping with the devil. Besides, if the people of Sài Gòn saw sense and surrendered, perhaps he would be able to save his home from total destruction. What more noble deed could be expected of him?

A dull pounding echoed down the tunnel, muffled by the standing water. An overseer was coming; at regular intervals the hoof-beats paused and were replaced by screams as another miner was given a taste of the barbed whip. The pounding became splashing as the demon approached. Thông' hands began to tremble as he waited for it to reach him, sweat beaded on his forehead as he prepared to betray everything he had ever known. At last the monstrous creature came into sight. The demon seemed to combine the worst features of a gorilla and a goat into a vast brutish humanoid. The sight of the human's motionless pick had just registered on its face and it began to raise its great spiked lash.

"Wait!" shouted Captain Lí Thế Thông, "I can help! I can tell you where all the America steel comes from! I can lead you to the forges that make Soviet's great guns and railways!"

The demon paused with whip raised, uncomprehending. Thông shouted desperately. "The weapons that are giving your armies pause! The metal they are made from, you call it 'enchanted iron'. I can show you where most of it is made!"

For a moment it looked like the demon would ignore him, but then it slowly lowered its whip and reached into the water. The chains confining the humans had no locks; if the demons were capable of such craftwork, they did not waste it on lowly human prisoners. Instead there was simply an unwelded bronze link too thick for a human to bend, but which the overseer's supernatural strength could easily open and close. The demon's clawed hands emerged holding the end of the chain, with which it yanked the human forwards.

"Come." Thông has no choice but to follow the brute up through the winding tunnels towards the main shaft, the chain pulling him roughly to his feet when he tripped and fell. "I hope you're lying, little human, because I'd love to make a feast of your entrails."

They turned off the main tunnel into an area Thông had never entered before. It seemed to be a kind of office, well lit with numerous torches and filled with carved stone tables and stools. Slates filled with chalked runes lay on the tables and hung from the walls, along with thin fired-clay tablets covered in more runes. His eyes only had seconds to take this in before Medusa entered the room, her snake-hair writhing gently. Thông averted his gaze as quickly as possible, falling to his knees in the manner he'd seen the lesser demons use during the rare visits of the senior overseer.

"This one claims to know where the mortal make their enchanted iron."

Lakheenahuknaasi stared at the wretched human cowering before her. Its form was still dripping with rank water. She hoped this one had something useful. Euryale had gambled a lot on this wild scheme, and if it failed she would undoubtedly ensure her handmaidens suffered with her. Lakheenahuknaasi aimed a tentacle at the human and shot a single enthralment dart into the man's shoulder, enough to make it difficult for him to lie to her without robbing him of his wits. He reeled, shook his head and then tried to look at her out of the corner of his eye, in that annoying manner humans seemed to have.

Lakheenahuknaasi smiled at him, unaware that her fangs made the gesture more threatening than reassuring."So, you have something to tell me, yesss?"

Throne Room, Palace of Abaddon, Dis, The Eye of Terror

Abaddon had thrown some temper tantrums in his time but this one exceeded any those present could easily remember. Most of the Orc domestic staff had died one way or another, and the only reason why the massacre had stopped there was that Abaddon had run out of energy. While his magic built up again, he contented himself with screaming abuse at the gathered nobles. Eventually even that led to an exhausted silence. He looked around at the stunned nobility, his eyes flickering from one to the next, trying to catch even the slightest whiff of treason.

"How many members of my guard were killed?"

"Ninety nine, Sire."

"And you claim that humans did this." There was a sly inflexion on the 'you claim'.

"They did Sire, they were seen by a Greater Herald that flew not far away. He saw the Iron Chariots killing them." That was a trump call, Abaddon wouldn't argue with testimony from one of his own Greater Heralds.

"And after the battle they crossed over the bridge and destroyed the camp the other side of the Phlegethon. Then they retreated back to their side of the river where a Flying Chariot joined them."

Abaddon screamed again, and a lightning bolt struck down the speaker where he stood."Their side of the river? Who else thinks such treason?" His eyes ran around the room, seeking for treason again, or an excuse to kill, there wasn't much difference really. "The humans are still at the Dysprosium Bridge."

"They are." Beelzebub spoke carefully. "But they destroyed it. The Phlegethon is unbridged there now."

"Then destroy them. Take your legions, all of them, and destroy them. Belial, is your plan ready to carry out? Or will you be seeing your furnaces from the inside?"

"We are ready Your Majesty. We have the information we need and the chorus is set up." And I can only hope that's true Belial thought. It wasn't when I left two days ago, and when I get back, I'll have little time left.

"Then you will time your attack to match Beelzebub's assault on the Mortal Coalition. How soon can you move your army."

Beelzebub cast an eye at Belial and thought carefully."Four days Your Majesty."

"Then that gives you two more days than I promised Belial. Use them well."

Behind the scene, Deumos watched carefully, absorbing every nuance, every undercurrent in the great room. And through her mind kept running the phrase"the humans cannot lose."

Then, the audience was disturbed by a Greater Herald who stumbled in, exhausted from a too-rapid flight."Your Majesty, terrible news. Asmodeus is dead."

Banks of the River Styx, Fifth Circle of The Eye of Terror

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Lieutenant (deceased) Kim Ngan was concerned. This was by far the most ambitious scheme she and the Special Forces H Team assigned to her had attempted. It was taking up a frightening amount of resources, all their Nexgenbinaslex, their claymores and their concentrated strength. More than twenty humans, six deceased, fourteen living, and a small group of deceased spectators. The Eye of Terror was going to hell Kim Ngan thought, they'd be having embedded reporters here next.

Beside her, Lieutenant Rollings watched the bottleneck in the road below. The ambush had been very carefully set up and additional troops brought in to bring it off. The problem was, the plan depended upon the Chaos demons keeping to their usual, predictable, selves. Faced with a problem, they invariably responded the same way, presumably the one that had been tested and proved successful over more years than humans could comfortably contemplate. If they continued to work that way, then this ambush would also work. If they didn't, then the team here would be seriously weakened. There was a back-up plan for that, if necessary, the whole group would bail out through a portal, the living humans would stay back on Earth while the deceased would quickly re-insert into another region of The Eye of Terror to join one of the new groups that had started up.

The strategy had been in operation ever since the Chaos demon forces had started their campaign to suppress the HFTLN. They'd begun their encampments around a massive fortification near the now-severed bridge over the Styx.

They'd started building them in a checkerboard fashion, each one within sight of the next, moving slowly forward as the lines of outposts were complete. The Chaos demon commander didn't seem to be short of troops, that was for certain, and his strategy was quite obvious. To slowly shrink the ground the HFTLN had to maneuver in until they were forced to fight in a static battle against overwhelming odds.

It was a familiar strategy, one that had been used against guerilla forces since the days of Caesar's battles in Gaul and probably for a long time before that. Still, Rollings had been taught his trade well and knew how to handle this particular problem.

After all, the U.S. Army had been taught that particular lesson in the jungles of Vietnam by some real experts in guerilla warfare. Idly, he wondered just where the dead Vietcong were, they'd make excellent recruits for this particular war.

The dance had started with attacks on the leading edge of the outpost line. When one row was completed, somewhere the next row had to start with a unit being pushed forward. That unit, eleven Chaos demons strong had been ambushed and wiped out. There was no doubt about it, the M-25B plasma rifles were a murderously effective tool when used right and they could cut down the Chaos demons from ranges that the demons couldn't easily grasp.

After losing the first couple of advance units, they'd tried pushing several forward at once. A rapid-fire series of assaults had done for them as well. As the Chaos demon casualties had mounted, fighting an enemy they couldn't see or touch, their morale must have started to plummet because they were showing less and less desire to be moving forward.

Well, that had led to the next stage, the Chaos demon commander had started to push bigger units forward, a full 99-Chaos demon company rather than the eleven-Chaos demon squad. Interesting that, Rollings thought, they'd jumped the 33-Chaos demon platoon completely. That might be a measure of the morale problem down there or perhaps a shortage of junior leaders. Armies that had problems with their NCO numbers frequently dropped the platoon as an effective combat element and treated it as a training ground for company-level NCOs.

Whatever. The Chaos demons had pushed a full company out to secure the basis for their next row of outposts. They'd expected that unit to be attacked and the HFTLN had obliged them. They'd taken out the two outposts behind it, isolating it from aid and then laid siege. Of course, the Chaos demons had done what every army did in such circumstances and sent in a relief force, in this case, two more full companies.

They'd learned the lesson the U.S. Army had learned about that very quickly. The relief force had itself been ambushed, it had been swamped by a hail of rifle and rocket fire that had driven it back in disarray. That battle had cost the Special Forces the life of one of its troopers, fried by a lightning bolt. He'd been too keen, he'd kept firing from the same position rather than changing after every shot. He was doubtless somewhere out here, trying to escape and rejoin the fight as a trooper (deceased).

If he could be located, they'd rescue him, DIMO(N) were working on that. By the timethe battle was over a couple more of the Special Forces people had been wounded and the team had to be replaced, that was where Rollings and his group had come in.

With their first rescue column mauled and repulsed, the Chaos demons had thrown in a bigger one, probably the rest of the battalion, almost 800 strong. It had been lead by a major demon, a huge creature who had been carefully photographed and the images sent back to DIMO(N).

They'd identified him as Asmodeus, one of the Great Dukes down here. They'd added that it was the custom for senior leaders to lead in person at a critical point in a battle and that had been interesting from several points of view. Not least of which was the fact that the Chaos demons obviously considered this engagement a critical one. He'd lead the relief force, the HFTLN had refrained from engaging it and the outpost garrison had then been relieved.

That had set the style for the next period of fighting. The HFTLN would besiege an outpost, inflicting casualties on it but not taking it. If a smaller relief column set out, it would be ambushed and its mauled remains sent scurrying back with its tail between its legs. But if Asmodeus himself led the force, it would be left unattacked. For the last couple of sieges, the Chaos demon commander had dispensed with the small relief column and led a full battalion himself, obviously convinced that his presence deterred any further attack.

So, the battlefield had been shaped and the blow set up. The Chaos demons were indeed predictable, it was easy to determine where their future outposts would, if they had such things as checklists, Rollings could have written one for them and they wouldn't have known the difference between his and their own. He'd been able to choose his ground carefully, the place where he would attack his outpost and the place where he would ambush the relief column. This time, the presence of Asmodeus would be the reason for the attack, not one to pull back.

"There they are Iron Bitch." The column was approaching, a way off yet, but still visible, a shining black mass against the gray-green slime of the Fifth Circle. "And the Tall Fellow is leading them again."

"What's that above them." Kim Ngan spoke urgently, her binoculars traversing the scene.

"Damn. Harpies. That's a new wrinkle. They smarten up faster than we thought. They're staying close in though, they still don't understand how far away we can reach. Nine of them?"

"Nine, Chris. Confirm they're close in." Her radio blipped and she listened briefly. "Three of my people back at Outpost 11-1 have taken a few more shots but the Chaos demons there have learned as well, they're keeping their heads down. Those that still have a head that is."

Over the last few weeks, Kim Ngan and her team had pulled a dozen or so people out of the mud. Nine had been more or less useless, civilians, ancient, modern and in between, without any useful skills and she had sent those to Rahaby.

Three had been soldiers, two modern U.S. Army people. One of them had been killed in Vietnam, another in Operation Desert Storm. They'd taken little in the way of instruction and had checked out on the M25A and M25B fast. The third had been a French Poilu who'd died at Verdun. He'd taken a bit more training but his attitude to the battle had been an inspiration. His constant muttering of "they shall not pass" and his assertion that The Eye of Terror was an improvement on the mud and slime of Verdun had become unit legends.

Rollings watched the column enter the killing ground he had chosen. The Tall Fellow was leading on a Giant Rhinolobster, by far the biggest that had ever been seen, right at the head of his troops where good demonic practice said he should be. Rollings judged his moment carefully and twisted the first of his detonators. The explosive pattern was the same one that Kim Ngan had used weeks earlier to kill her first Chaos demon rider, an X-shape of Claymores but this time, the X had sixty of the directional mines in each of its arms, saturating the entire head of the column with the clouds of pre-shaped metal fragments. Rollings didn't stop to admire his handiwork, there was too much to be done. He twisted the second detonator, setting off the huge Nexgenbinaslex charge that was directly underneath Asmodeus.

Over ten thousand pounds of the ULTRON high explosive was buried there, covered with rocks for fragmentation, but it was the sheer blast that Rollings was relying on. The explosion had the striking power of an 400,000 pound aerial bomb and the explosive blocks had been laid in a dish-shape to focus that blast upwards. Asmodeus disappeared in the rolling orange ball of fire and smoke, even as his troops were scythed down by the claymores.

Above the column, the harpies were flung around by the huge blast, tumbled in mid-air, left stunned and disorientated. Several had been hit by flying rocks and dropped to the ground, others on the rim of the blast pattern started scanning the ground trying to pick up the authors of the devastating blow. Even as they did so, one burst into flame as a. 5mm x 400mm plasma bolt from an M-25A plasma rifle vaporized his body and his acid blood set his tissues on fire.

Two of the harpies were luckier, they had been on a far swing, away from the sight of the devastating concussion, and they spotted two humans on the ground, firing at the Chaos demons around the blast sight and so absorbed with that they simply didn't notice the threat looming above them. The harpies dived on them, grabbing them with their claws, rending their flesh from their bodies, their calls of triumph blending with the screams of the dying humans.

One of the Special Forces heavy weapons team saw the attack and swung his. 80 caliber machine gun onto the scene, chopping both harpies out of the sky, too late to save their victims. The machine gunner noted that grimly and made it his duty to get the rest of the harpies before they could do any more harm

On the ground, the smoke was clearing, revealing the huge crater where the head of the relief column had been. The mud had been blasted away down to bedrock, figures of Chaos demons were scattered around but of the Great Rhinolobster there was no sign. It must have been part of the horrible tangle of eviscerated body parts that strewed the area.

Rollings surveyed the area intently but it was Kim Ngan who spotted Asmodeus first. He'd been shielded, partially, by the rhinolobster he had been riding but he had been thrown hundreds of meters and the lower part of his body was hideously mangled. She shouldered her M-25 and took careful aim through the telescopic sight, putting bolt after bolt into the Great Duke's head. Asmodeus was still moving, trying to drag himself along by his hands, trying to get away from the blows that were destroying him. He felt his strength fading, then there was another blast and his struggle ended.

Kim Ngan saw the great body cease moving and watched as twenty rockets plowed into it, ending the work of destruction. She saw the rest of the column looking at the scene in appalled silence as the stunning realization that a Great Duke of Hell had just died sank in.

For a moment everything on the battlefield was still, an eerie silence with neither humans nor Chaos demons firing. Then it was broken by the hammer of the. 80 machine gun as it started to rake the survivors. That did it, the Chaos demons broke and ran.

"Sorry about your men Chris. We'll watch out for them. If Tyuwaru can find them, we'll get them out for you."

"Thanks Ngan. We'd better get out of here, those harpies were a nasty surprise. We want to be a long way away before the Chaos demons get their act together and come hunting."

Throne Room of the Adamant Fastness, Tartaruan Range, Outer Rim of The Eye of Terror

"There had better be good news." Belial had had his days on wyvern-back to absorb the news of the death of Asmodeus and there was no upside to that story. One of the greatest Dukes of Hell was dead, killed by humans. If they could kill him, they could kill anybody. They could even kill… Belial stopped himself, if Abaddon detected that thought, Belial's end would be horrible beyond contemplation. "We must avenge Asmodeus."

"Please tell the court what you told me, about the forges of Gary, Indiana." Lakheenahuknaasi asked, as sweetly as she could manage following the stunning news of the death of the Great Duke. Her mind was also calculating, if the humans could kill the Great Dukes, then they had to be stopped before they won this war. And if they couldn't be stopped, wasn't it time she…?

Captain Lí Thế Thông was shaking with fear at the sight of the vast ornate room filled with huge armored demons. Their stares seemed to bore straight into his mind, rendering any notion of backing out now ludicrous.

"Well, m'lords and ladies, you see, all our guns, all our tanks are made of steel. You call it 'enchanted iron', not that that's a bad thing to call it of course, since it just be iron with some special additives."

This caused a minor stir in the court. One of the great armored demons spoke; "Human, do you know the secret of this alchemy? Could you transform plain molten iron into the enchanted iron?"

Thông gulped. "Perhaps, m'lord, it being the case that I was a foreman at a small steel factory in 1967… I would have to see your furnaces…"

The demon lord was pleased. "Now, what of this 'Gary, Indiana'? It has many furnaces, many forges?"

"Aye, the city of Gary makes more steel than anywhere else in the US. The best steel too, and many things from that steel, cast and machined."

The demon lord was clearly pleased and Thông sagged with relief. "Excellent. Where can I find this city of steel?"

"Why, in in Lake County, Indiana, United States, m'lord. Look 25 miles (40 km) from downtown Chicago, Illinois. Gary is adjacent to the Indiana Dunes National Park and borders southern Lake Michigan."

Belial's expression did not show any hint of recognition at the names of the various American cities, but the rough triangulation seemed to satisfy him for now."Very good… Jaameshankel." The count waved his hand dismissively, which Lakheenahuknaasi took as a command to lead the human away.

"You said you had another trai… ah, informant, Euryale? One who knows of the iron chariots?"

"Yes, my lord." The gorgon queen turned to address another of her retinue. "Present your new friend, Megaaeraholrakni."

The second handmaiden stepped forward, her clawed hand keeping a tight grip on the shoulder of a short, bald human. The man swayed unsteadily; Megaaeraholrakni had dosed him heavily with her poison, not wanting to risk him having a last-minute change of heart. She whispered into his ear, "these… men… are very interessted in your 'tankss', please tell them what UralVagonZavod in Nizhny Tagil can offer them."

Dmitry Protasyev recited his pitch by rote. "Well sirs, if it's quality you're looking for, Nizhny Tagil in Sverdlovsk Oblast has the finest workforce and the most modern production lines in the world the UralVagonZavod. No need to worry about capacity either, we built fifty thousand tanks for Mother Russia in world war two…"

The demons were throwing baffled glances at each other. Could this 'Mother Russia' really afford five legions worth of chariots for his troops? More likely the human was inflating the figure to impress. 'Tank' seemed to mean 'iron chariot' but what was an 'Ty fifty five'? Their lord seemed annoyed and that never bode well for the source of the annoyance.

"Enough. Human, you were asked a simple question. Is this 'Nizhny Tagil' a major source of weapons for the human resistance?" Belial's tone oozed with the promise of horrible consequences should this question not be answered promptly.

Now it was Protasyev's chance to be confused. His eyes remained unfocused as he continued; "Why haven't you heard? Nizhny Tagil is the arsenal of communism. Stalin said so himself."

***Half a day later***

Belial couldn't resist taking over. "So four of your greatest religious on earth are : Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddism ? Which is centered around the cities of Rome in Italy, Jerusalem in Israel, Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia, Varanasi and Amritsar in India, Lhasa In China and Kyoto Japan ?"

Andrew Yin, a university professor died in a suicide bombing replied. "Well, yeah, I suppose you could put it like that…"

The tension was over now that Belial had made sense of it for them. The barons abandoned the hard task of trying to comprehend the insane humans and slipped back into familiar territory; a flattery competition.

"Excellent deduction my lord!"

"Masterful interrogation, Count Belial!"

Belial allowed this to continue for a few more seconds before silencing the court with a chopping gesture.

"You have pleased me…" there was a slight pause as the count pulled the name from the man's mind… "Andreww." He turned to one of his ubiquitous minor demon servants. "Take them to the guest rooms. See to their needs until I require them again." The traitorous humans were led away.

"Excellent. Euryale, you have surpassed my expectations. We now have the location of the two most critical arsenals supporting the human resistance and 8 of their holiest cities. Once they are destroyed, the human armies will find their reinforcements either severely diminished in number or lacking the holy enchanted weapons that allow them to challenge us."

Belial had been concerned that the intelligence would be dangerously out of date. The constant stream of unpleasant surprises by the mortal on Earth and Falmart had driven home how much the mortals on Earth and Falmart had changed since the demons last visited their worlds in strength. But his informants had been dead less than a human lifetimes. Save total destruction by war, great cities could not change significantly in a mere handful of decades.

Euryale half-spread her wings, holding the leathery membranes low in folds that touched the ground, and lowered her head. It was a gesture that implied respect and submission without the admission of inferiority that the more usual forms of groveling involved."I am most glad that my humble efforts please my lord." she said, with only the slightest hint of sarcasm.

'I really shouldn't let her get away with that' Belial thought, 'but I suppose this once she's earned it.'

The gorgon continued, "There were a few other traitors who I thought might be of use to you. They did not seem to know where the enchanted weapons were produced. But they did claim to know how to make them."

Belial looked thoughtful for a moment before shaking his head. "Move them to the palace. Keep them isolated and under guard. Perhaps they can be of use to Trajakrithoth, perhaps they are best used as wyvern feed, but that can wait. We have only three days left to meet Abaddon's deadline." Actually it was five, but he had already decided to keep the two extra days in hand as his last reserve.

His gaze shifted to the serpentine form of the leader of the Tartaruan naga. She looked distinctly uncomfortable, her tentacles twitching and her coils shifting irritably on the flagstones."Baroness Yulupki, your naga are ready of course?"

"My lord, the chorusss will have no difffficulty with the firssst ten portals…"

Belial frowned. "And the second ten?"

"It isss not my fault, my lord, the additional naaaga I was promisssed, only a quarter of them have arrived. From the rate that they are arriving, three daysss hence we ssshall ssstill have barely a third."

Belial slammed his fist down on the arm of his throne hard enough to crack the stone. Nearly every demon in the hall startled at the noise, excepting the court mason who merely sighed at the thought of having to carve yet another throne."Naturally, the dukes seek to sabotage me, claiming honestly that they sent naga while knowing all the time they will not arrive quickly enough to do any good. But I shall not be denied." he thundered.

The count pointed at Hipparferstiphasus, the leader of his meager flock of harpies."You will take every demon that can fly and you will search out the witches we were promised. Then you will take every wyvern we have, snatch up the naga and fly them directly to Okthuura Yal-Gjaknaath."

"Of course my lord." The harpy bowed low, wings spreading on the floor, then ran from the throne room.

Yulupki writhed."My lord, without time to harmonissse the chorusss, we risssk…"

Belial smashed his fist down again, this time hard enough to spall splinters of adamantine from the side of the throne."No excuses. Why are you still here? Take your naga up to the first ten portal site immediately and make ready to open it up to Earth, we will strike them first then well will deal with the Empire later."

Yulupki bowed, whirled around and slithered away through the great bronze doors. Euryale didn't even bother to hide her smirk.

"And you, Trajakrithoth?" Belial continued "Tell me you have the shrines ready."

The baron charged with running the main forges and workshops was a huge demon with streaky brown fur, little of which was visible under his massive bronze armor, and a voice like a stone grinder. "Almost, my lord. The shrines on Okthuura Jorkastrequar are complete. I am allowing my demons no breaks, no respite. The shrines on Okthuura Yal-Gjaknaath will be completed within two days."

Belial sat back contentedly, but the forge-master had not finished."I must warn you though, between making the shrine rods and the rebelliousness of the mortals, trident production has been completely disrupted."

Baron Guruktarqor cut in. "Stocks of refined copper and tin are running low sire, half of our smelting furnaces are out of operation. Plenty of ore in the silos sire but output from the mines is also down to less than half." The baron was small and runtish for a demon of his station, speaking in a voice reminiscent of asquealing boar; most of the court found him intolerable, but Belial found his talent for keeping track of the minutiae of Tartaruan industry useful.

"Euryale's manipulations have stopped the rioting but we need more workers sire, demon and mortal."

"You shall get them. Already messengers have arrived from Beelzebub, Merihem and Gressil, demanding our best tridents to equip the legions they are mobilizing. I expect there will be more shortly. I have demanded twelve mortals and one lesser demon per crate. They will have no choice but to pay the tribute, unless they would rather leave their legions helpless against the mortals and their magery."

"If I could make a request, my lord?"

The count tilted his head, inviting Euryale to continue. "I have some ideas on how to improve the mortals' enthusiasm for their work. But I will require some females. A few dozen should do to start with."

Belial snorted, a reaction shared by most of the demons present. Tartarus had always levied male mortals in return for its wares, as both sexes were equally useful to the torturers but males were obviously far superior manual laborers. There was only one thing Euryale could want the females for and Belial didn't like that notion at all.

"Have you forgotten that we still need the psychic energy of the mortals ? It hardly matters if we produce a few more tridents, if my serfs are rebelling because your pampered mortals no longer give up enough energy."

"My lord, I am confident that will not be the case. You see, recent events have shown how acclimatized to their condition the mortals had become. When a mortal has nothing left to lose, the quality of anguish we can inflict is limited. For a few decades they rage and hate, but then their minds decay into apathy. By mixing in a little pleasure with their pain, by giving them something to lose again, I will heighten their suffering and inject fresh desperation even as they toil ever harder in your service."

Again Euryale had caught the attention of the whole court and they were nodding in appreciation of her logic. 'She does have a talent for speeches', thought Belial, 'I will have to find a way to make use of that.'

"Very well. I shall permit you to continue your games… as soon as Earth and Falmart have been reduced to glowing slag."

The Hellgate, Martial Plain of Dysprosium

"Let's have any HPMAD you have on board." The voice from outside the tank combined urgency and boredom.

"Would you care to repeat that soldier?" Major Stevenson peered over the edge of her turret. She and her combat group had been waiting in the traffic jam by the Hellgate for nearly four hours and she wasn't in the mood for any insubordination. Besides, she was hot, tired and sticky from being inside a tank too long and chewing out a subordinate would be welcome relief. As the thought crossed her mind, she decided she'd probably been in The Eye of Terror too long.

"I'm sorry Ma'am, but its orders. All outgoing armor is to unload any HPMAD ammunition on board for reissue. Its in short supply and the units up on the Phlegethon are going to need it."

"HPMAD? You mean HEAD?"

"No Ma'am. High Performance Multi Purpose Anti-Demon. New round, just started getting the first shipments. Got an mithril liner instead of copper. Chaos demons surely do hate mithril. If you got any Ma'am, we'll unload it for you." The Sergeant had noted the battered vehicles and suddenly decided that these unitshad been in Hell a lot longer than he had. And messing with this Major might be a very bad idea. Especially if the scuttlebutt about a battle brewing was true.

"Hokay. Sergeant, we've none of that on board. Any idea how long we'll be hung up for? I kinda hanker to see a blue sky again."

"Dunno Ma'am and that's the honest truth. There's stuff pouring in all the time. The Russians have been coming in all morning and we had about 5 Israeli armored divisions before that and I'm told there're 50 European armored divisions behind them. And then there's the aircraft the brass are towing in. There's more of our boys unloading down South, or their equipment is. Guys themselves being flown in. Look over there ma'am."

'Over there' was the road leading through the Hellgate. The stream of Russian armor had stopped for a few minutes, their place taken by aircraft tractors, each one towing what looked like an J-4. Only, they were now painted red-gray and they had a mushroom-shaped filter over the engine intakes. Stevenson lifted her mask slightly and took a cautious sniff of the air. It was a lot cleaner here than further into The Eye of Terror, presumably there was some gas exchange through the Hellgate, but there was a new smell as well. One that achingly reminded Stevenson of home in Bayonne. The smell of tar andoil refineries.

"A blacktop road in The Eye of Terror. Whodathunkit."

"Engineers all over ma'am. You should see the roads their building down from the north and up from the ports in the South. And the airfields, they're sproutin' like weeds after a thunderstorm. Some of the fighter jocks flew their birds through the 'mouth but brass put a stop to it. Too risky they said. Look, ma'am, keep your engines running, I'll get my boys to make a hole for you. Slide you out as fast as we can."

The Sergeant did his best but it still took more than an hour to get Stevenson's unit out. Finally, they managed it, sliding her out between the end of the J-4 unit and the start of a Hungarian J-86 outfit. But, the military police managed it and, once again, there was the silent, undramatic transition as the cloudy red and gray overcast of The Eye of Terror was replaced by the clearblue of the Lemuria sky.

Just looking at it made Stevenson very happy. Ahead of them, a traffic direction private waved them off the road into a vast parking lot, full of Chamberlains, Black Knights and T-15 Barbaris(s). Plus all the other vehicles that made up the order of battle of an Armored Division. Stevenson recognized the markings, they were all 7th Armored of the First Joint Task Force.

When his Bradley came to a halt, Major Warhol stretched and dropped out of the back, leaving the cramped compartment that had been his home for over a week. Some of his staff from the field operation of DIMO(N) were waiting and he got the customary back-slapping greeting. Behind them, the long cavalcade of vehicles had started moving again, the great Russian ZIL and MAZ trucks being followed by the first of the European Chariot II tanks. Warhol gestured at "Well, if there wasn't a Peak Oil problem before, there certainly will be now."

One of the scientists snorted. "Peak Oil? That… Oh, never mind. Anyway, we're hoping we'll hit oil in The Eye of Terror. How did it go Major?"

"Not bad, our sims were pretty accurate. The dust is bad though. I'm surprised to see aircraft going in. Licked the filtration problem?"

"Yes and no. The filters cut airflow to the engines by about 20 – 30 percent. So that hits performance. And the time between overhauls is horrible, 50 to 60 hours before an engine has to be pulled and stripped. The good news is the clogging problem's been licked."

Something about the way the man put that caught Warhol's attention. Putting on his most casual voice he asked the question they'd been hoping he wouldn't. "How did you crack it then?"

There was an embarrassed shuffling of feet. "Well, actually we didn't.

We designed a filter pack and a pod that would use reverse air blast to clean the filters. Only problem was the pilot would have to glide with the engines out while he used it. They didn't like that.

Couple of aircraftmen came up with something better, a series of tabs on the inside of the filter that interfered with the airflow and made the filter shake. The dust in there is dry and that worked like a charm. Doubled or more the time taken for the airflow loss to reach mission-ending proportions."

Warhol laughed and shook his head."Right, I just got to say my farewells and then you can bring me up to date on the rest." Then he set off to where Stevenson was speaking with MacFarland.

"We're leaving the vehicles here, First Cavalry will be taking them over.

Seventh Armored is being split up, First Brigade will be staying as the cadre for the rebuilt division, Second and Third will be cadres for two new armored divisions. We're all going back to the States for that. Stevenson, you'll be commanding First Battalion in the new First Brigade. Any idea what you want to name your battalion?"

Stevenson thought for a second. Spearhead was too obvious. "How about the Hellcat Battalion Sir?"

"Good choice. You done good Stevenson. So have your crew. Got a commission for one of them, the others get to jump up the enlisted grades. Who's best officer material in your crew?"

Again, a quick thought. "Hey Biker? You're an officer."

Her driver's head emerged from his hatch, his attention caught by the use of the crew nickname. As the message sank in he shook his head.

"Oh no Boss, you can't do that to me. Please. Not an Officer."

Okthuura Jorkastrequar, Tartaruan Range, borderlands of The Eye of Terror

Yulupki sat unhappily atop the Great Beast as it clambered up the side of the volcano. The track was so rough as to be virtually non-existent, it was really just a relatively level strip that had been cleared of boulders. It had been two months since this particular cone had last erupted and ash-laden smoke was still pouring out of many fissures in its sides. There was no guarantee that the lava would not again start pouring out while the ritual was in progress. However Belial had insisted on placing the portal as deep as possible into the magma, which meant the ritual had to take place on the rim of an active crater.

She was sure the lumbering Beast had picked up on her distaste for its kind and was doing what it could to throw her off. Not that there was much chance of that, as the leather harness held her coils tightly to its back, but the lurching made it difficult to focus and prepare for the task ahead. Naga could manage short bursts of speed when pressed, but in general their speed was much inferior to even the common demon warrior, much less the cavalry or fliers. That made this indignity necessary but not any more tolerable.

Finally the Great Beast attained the rim of the crater and Yulupki was afforded an expansive view of Jorkastrequar. A hundred yards below her a veritable lake of semi-congealed lava bubbled and hissed. Fortunately the copious smoke it was spewing was carried straight up into the sky by the strong thermals, otherwise visibility in the crater would have been near-zero. As planned, the forge demons had erected three great shrines to the barrier spirits, spaced equally around the rim. Each shrine consisted of a row of thirteen copper rods driven into the pumice at 30 yard intervals, each rod 300 feet tall and tapering from 40 inches diameter at the base to a sharp point at the top. The rods supported a great spider's web strung in copper, silver and gold wire.

Both the pattern of the web and the bifold curve of rods was the result of millennia of painstaking trial and error, carried out by naga searching for the arrangement that best pleased the spirits that dwelt between worlds. Rumor had it that the existence of the spirits had been discovered quite by accident. Long ago a lone naga had attempted to open a portal to gate a small force of warriors to another world. As luck had it she performed the ritual facing the warriors, who had at that moment presented their tridents in salute to a passing baron. The portal sprang into existence at twice the expected size. The passing baron commended the naga for the strength of her magery, which forced her into a desperate series of attempts to replicate the feat.

Eventually that nameless naga discovered that a close packed arrangement of bronze rods could multiply the effect of her ritual many-fold. This could only be the work of unknown beings existing in the strange realm the portal crossed. The creatures clearly desired the shrines, but could not enter the physical world to construct them themselves. Thus a wordless bargain was struck; the demons would build the shrines, and in return the barrier spirits would aid the naga in their work, adding their psychic strength to the task of opening the portal. As long as the shrines were constructed according to the prescribed traditions, Yulupki had never known the barrier spirits to renege on their end of the deal. This was just as well, because they would need all the help they could get to meet Belial's demands.

In front of each shrine the demon workers had carved out six crude terraces, each of which held thirteen wooden pallets. Three quarters of the pallets were already filled with the long coiled forms of naga, each resembling a giant snake with a scaled and vaguely female humanoid torso in the place of a head. More continued to arrive as she watched, strapped to the backs of lesser Beasts that strained and staggered under their weight. For now Yulupki was basking in the waves of heat, but she knew that it would become unpleasantly hot by the end of the ritual; the insulating pallets would prevent burns to their undersides. Eager to begin the ritual, she commanded the Great Beast to take her to the nearest shrine.

Great Hall of the Adamant Fastness, Tartaruan Range, Outer Rim of The Eye of Terror

The great hall was filled to capacity with demons, including every minor noble from Count Belial's domain save a few lesser baronets that could not be spared from overseeing production. They were seated at carved stone tables more commonly used for victory feasts.

There was little sound other than the padding of servants running to and fro, running errands and bringing chunks of fresh meat refreshment. Save for these minor disturbances, every demon seemed to be concentrating intensely.

The count himself paced back and forth on the raised platform in the centre of the chamber. Sharing the platform with him was the great gorgon Euryale, flanked by her handmaidens Lakheenahuknaasi and Megaaeraholrakni. To a human, the trio looked quite similar. All three were clad in nothing but their shining bronze scales, had for tresses a mass of tentacles each like a cyclopean snake, and possessed both great bat-like wings and a pointed tail that curled about their taloned feet. On closer inspection however, differences were apparent.

Euryale's curvaceous figure and enchanting voice (at least, to other demons) clearly favored her succubus heritage. Megaaerah's anemically slim form and reputed skill at portal magery were much reminiscent of her naga cousins. Lakheenahuknaasi 's relatively compact and muscular form, not to mention her straightforward attitude, showed more of a kinship with the harpies.

Also present on the platform was Captain Lí Thế Thông, who was flanked by a pair of demonic guards and looking extremely pale.

"I have one!" Castellean Zatheoplekkar's shout broke the silence. "A male, in a city… called New Yorkk."

Within seconds Belial Kornakat was towering over his vassal. "Show me." Belial entered Zatheoplekkar's mind and from there followed the psychic link to the possessed human. Through his eyes he saw a cramped, cluttered room, dominated by a large glowing picture of two seated humans. Curiously the picture seemed to be moving. Belial pressed harder, mentally wringing the mind of the man for information, faintly amused by the pain he was causing.

"His name is Christopher Hughes. He lives alone, but in a crowded part of the city." A rasping chuckle escaped Belial's lips. "He believes us to be a fiction invented by their nobility, for the purpose of…" the demon struggled to extract sense from the human's chaotic mind

"placing all nations under the dominion of the You Ee Ay ."

He looked questioningly at the human traitor, who had been instructed to keep close by his side.

Captain Lí Thế Thông found his hands trembling again. "My lord, I have never heard of this 'UEA'. Most likely it is a wild fancy of his. But I do know of New York. It is a big city of eight million souls located about 760 miles east of Gary."

Euryale seemed less satisfied than her lord. "That is closer than 'Jacksonville', but still, I would rather not send my handmaiden into the heart of a large human city. You have spoken at length on the potency of their new weapons. The chance of failure is too high."

Belial frowned. "Keep that one possessed." he instructed Zatheoplekkar. "Very well. I will allow you another hour, no more. Then she goes." He gestured at Lakheenahuknaasi, who looked nearly as uncomfortable as Captain Lí Thế Thông.

Fifty minutes later, the only other magic-sensitive that the assembled demons could locate was in DC, which if their tame human was to be believed seemed little better than New York. Lakheenahuknaasi considered her options.

She could wait until nightfall, but if she flew low over a settlement filled with humans she was still likely to be seen. If the rumors about the fate of Abigor's harpies were true this could be a suicidal proposition. Perhaps it would be better to enthrall a few humans and get them to sneak her out of the city somehow.

Undignified, but less likely to get her killed by the humans. On the other talon, delaying for long enough to disrupt the Count's schedule would likely get her killed on her return, if she was allowed to return at all.

Lakheenahuknaasi 's musings were interrupted by an excited squeal."Sire, sire, I have one! A human woman! She is in an uninhabited wilderness, somewhere to the west of the target." He shrank back as the Count forced his way into the psychic link. "As you can see my lord, vanity was her undoing."

This time Belial let loose with a full-blown maniacal laugh."Indeed I can Guruktarqor." The human female was cleaning her hair in some kind of indoor waterfall. For some reason, the mysterious effect that was protecting humans from entanglement had ceased to work with this one. A few minutes of vulnerability were enough to allow the demons to find her and gain purchase in her mind. "That one will be going directly to the eighth circle." He nodded to Euryale.

All eyes were now on the hall's central platform, which now stood empty save for the gorgon queen. She spread her wings and closed her eyes, joining the psychic link to the possessed human girl and focusing intently on that target.

Static discharges resembling miniature sheet lightning danced over her wing membranes as she poured psychic force into the connection. Several pregnant seconds passed before finally the familiar black sphere of nothingness swelled into existence in the centre of the room.

Belial gestured to a waiting squad of lesser demons. "Entertain me." The small strike force was eager, loyal and expendable. Roaring battle cries, the demon warriors charged single-file into the portal and disappeared. The count closed his eyes, concentrating on distant events.

A vicious grin slowly spread over his face. His eyes snapped open again and fixed on Lakheenahuknaasi. "Now it's your turn."