GATE: the clash of the titans

by Qun Nguyn1

Mostly AUs. A Gate has opened in Tokyo by a Roman-esque Empire, familiar scenario with familiar faces but the people marched through the Gate is from a vastly more powerful magic world. The stage is set. Earth Alliance vs The Holy Empire. Science vs Magic. The power of the thousand sun vs The Beast of the Apocalypse. Let the clash of Titans begin. Let the worlds have War.

33. Chapter 33 Battle of the Divine pt2

Chapter 33: Battle of the Divine pt2

Note:

Guest107: the UEADF isn't primitive. Their army is pretty advanced for the early 21st century. They have plasma weapons, particle weapons, hypervelocity railgun, pure fusion bomb, power armor, superheavy tanks, hypersonic missiles, nuclear powered superheavy bombers. Basically they are having or will have everything Skynet in the movie Terminator 1 and 2 has. Anything more advanced than that is just unrealistic. Technology takes time to develop, especially advanced technology. You don't go from Me-262 to F-35 in a year or two. It takes 60 years. ULTRON is as smart as Skynet in the movie 1 and 2. Unless you are planning for global genocide, nuclear weapons are good enough for most enemy, no need antimatter bombs.

V: space navy is extremely expensive for 21st century civilization. Halo happened in the 26th century, this is the early 21st century. The UEADF will have some pretty advanced weapons of mass destruction but they will not have planet killer starship. Gra Valkas Federation were destroyed 25,000 years ago. They aren't a problem for the UAEDF now.

hello 24: there are a lot of easier ways to deal with the hysteria swarm than turn human into cyborg.

---

Free Hell, Swamps by the River Styx, Sixth Rings of Terror

In the distance, the Russian artillery rumbled, sounding for all the world like far-off thunder. Kim Ngan could only imagine what it was like in the firing zone, or the demons on the receiving end of the mithril rain. Once, she'd been near a single large howitzer firing; the sound had knocked the breath out of her and deafened her even through the headphones.

And knowing the Russians, they'd lined up their artillery wheel-to-wheel for 500 miles. She wouldn't want to be in that big Chaos demon army assaulting the Russian positions right now.

Ngan brought her mind back to Free Hell. Initial estimates put the number of people imprisoned in Free Hell at a bit over one hundred thousand. The sheer number still surprised Ngan on a gut level when she thought about it, so she constantly had to remind herself that there were 120 billion people in the Pit alone, and the surveying flights had shown that Free Hell controlled little more than a mere millionth of the surface area of the Pit. Spread out before her was a rudimentary map of Free Hell.

She was in between appointments in her command tent, contemplating the area they controlled. Marked were the major rock outcroppings, particularly dry and wet places, the courses of streams and rivers, Chaos demon roads, and known human and Chaos demon positions. She had also penciled in the locations of canals-in-progress and the small, growing city that housed all of the freed humans.

Nearly one-third of Free Hell's border lay along the Styx. Along the other two-thirds, Tarrant had placed extensive minefields and regularly spaced small fortifications, generally taking advantage of particularly wet areas and clusters of boulders thrusting up through the mud. These had repulsed several weak Chaos demon assaults in the last few days; they'd taken no casualties, while the Chaos demons had gone down heavily.

But there wasn't enough information about the main Chaos demon forces. The noted Chaos demon strongholds were vague, and there were all too many question marks. She wasn't sure how many reinforcements had arrived, or even just how many Chaos demons had been under Asmodeus' command in the first place. This lack of knowledge was disturbing.

Ngan frowned. There were several token emplacements along the shore of the Styx, one monitoring the destroyed bridge and the others spaced evenly across the banks. The defenses there were too thin; Tarrant was relying too much on the Styx as a natural barrier. She made a note to speak to him about that later.

Thai Hung stuck his head in the tent. "Ngan?"

"Yeah, Hung?"

"Rahaby is here with three men to see you."

Ah, yes. Rahaby and Emperor Charles. "Who are they?"

"One identifies himself as the 55th Emperor of the Holy Darwinian Empire and says the other two are his bodyguards."

"Please show them in." She made sure that her pistol was loose in its holster, just in case, and she'd have Hung here as well if things went sour. She had no intention of that happening, however.

The tent flap opened, and Rahaby stepped through. She was followed by Emperor Charles, a tall man with thick, white hair and a wide mouth. After Emperor Charles were two men. One was large and very muscular, with a forward-thrust head and short hair; the other was shorter, with curly blond hair and jutting eyebrows. Both were wearing scabbards, but no swords. Hung was on top of his game.

Rahaby spoke first." May I introduce Emperor Charles zi Augustus. With him are General Soontir Fel and Sage Titus Tesla, his bodyguards."

Ngan nodded. "Thank you, Rahaby." She rose and extended her hand.

"I am Lieutenant (deceased) Tran Thi Kim Ngan, commander of the Holy Front for The Liberation of Netherworld and administrator of Free Hell." Emperor Charles passed her hand and clasped her wrist. After an instant, she grabbed his wrist. His grip was firm, and he squeezed for an instant before releasing.

"Please, take a seat." Ngan gestured to the chair in front of her desk and three others along the wall.

Licking her lips, Rahaby said,"If you don't mind, I'll be going."

"Suit yourself," said Ngan. Emperor Charles, meanwhile, sat at the chair before her 'desk'.

Ngan looked inquiringly at Fel and Tesla. Tesla shook his head and spoke for both of them."If you don't mind, ma'am, we'll be standing." Ngan nodded. In the back of the tent, Hung stood unobtrusively.

"So, Mr Emperor, how can I help you?"

Emperor Charles smiled. "Please, call me Charles. I'm here to offer you my help."

Ngan raised an eyebrow. Emperor Charles continued, "I know that you're surprised at the possibility I can help you. I've taken your man Clayderman into my protection. In conversing with him, I've learned much about what has happened since I arrived here, especially in the last few decade. Your people have weapons that are far beyond anything the Holy Empire, or even that cursed Federation, could have made."

Ngan nodded her assent. "This is (half) true."

Emperor Charles leaned forward. "But," he continued, "in establishing yourself here in The Eye of Terror, you do lack one thing."

"And what is that, Charles ?"

"Manpower." Emperor Charles smiled. "Every year, since I arrived, I have freed men. They have gone on to free men, who have gone on to free men. I have created a network to shuttle these people to safety in areas the demons do not regularly patrol. There are small groups hiding out in the interiors ofeach ring, ready to act at my command."

"And what good are they to me," Ngan asked, "if they don't know how to use my weapons?"

"They can be trained. So this is what I propose, Lieutenant Ngan. If you equip and train my army, it will be ready to rise up against the demons all at once, throughout The Eye of Terror, at your command."

"How many men do you have?"

"At this point, my people number over 25 millions." Ngan nodded, carefully concealing her surprise, unaware that Charles zi Augustus was one of the greatest Emperors in the Empire's history so if anyone could do it, it was him.

"Thank you, Charles. We will be in contact. Can I put you and your men up here for the night?"

"We would be pleased to accept your offer, Lt. Ngan."

"Hung, would you find a place for them to stay over the night?" asked Ngan. Thai Hung nodded. "Thank you."

As Emperor Charles and his two bodyguards exited the tent, Ngan turned back to the map, her mind churning. After a moment, it began to settle. First things first– now to talk to Tarrant about the Styx line of defenses.

Bank of the River Styx, Fifth Ring of Terror

Xisorixus had been a nobody. During the last few millennia, however, he'd risen to his own fiefdom at a breakneck pace. Through a combination of military prowess, conniving wit, and sheer raw courage mixed with an outrageous level of bluff, he now commanded a large, prime piece of territory in the Sixth ring. With the death of Asmodeus and so many lords under him, Xisorixus was the senior demon in the legions remaining near the mortal-infested territory.

Although he was busy consolidating his control over the lands of those minor lords who had died– his holdings had tripled since Asmodeus had been killed – Xisorixus was also consolidating his command and beginning to lay plans for the feat that would cement his place in Netherworld's hierarchy for all eternity. Xisorixus was going to utterly destroy the mortals who had freed themselves.

Through the past few days, he had been feinting at the mortals, testing their defenses. They were thorough on the sides of the human-occupied territories facing away from the Styx; Xisorixus harbored few illusions about the ability of his forces to storm through the magical defenses and emerge in enough strength to wipe out the mortals on the other side.

But his eyes and ears had been busy gathering information. The overwhelming human defensive magic was indiscriminate, he'd learned; one of his spies had watched human mages preparing the spells, and one of the spells had accidentally exploded, leaving the human a bloody mess, screaming and writhing in pain on the ground.

This had given rise to the beginnings of an idea: if he could somehow get across the Styx and gain the upper hand against the humans, he could drive them back and trap them against their own magic.

To make the situation even better, Xisorixus had learned that only a few humans watched the Styx. His demons were now able to show themselves in full daylight without earning the slightest magery in retaliation, save in a few places. Once, he'd tried restarting construction on the demolished bridge, but the humans had unleashed their magic on him and he'd lost nearly two hundred good demons.

He emerged from his tent into the bustle of Dis itself. This was the one place he could be assured that no humans would spy on him, so he'd asked permission to bring his legions here. Abaddon had absent-mindedly agreed– rather, one of the lower bureaucrats in the government had agreed – so his five remaining augmented legions had requisitioned, and were occupying, these few blocks of city. He'd attached to each legion a fifth-legion of flies, from the sizeable air force he had accumulated in his rise to power.

Today was the day he was going to test his plan. In the courtyard of his headquarters, by his tethered wyvern, were ten curious wooden bundles. Standing by them were three wyverns, to which the bundles would be attached for transmission. His air guard snapped to attention as he exited, and fell into escort around him. They would follow him through the air and to the testing grounds, at a wide, shallow part of the Styx between the human area and the waterfalls.

There, a cohort of his troops awaited him. Xisorixus smiled. The floating bridges would almost certainly work, and from there it would only be a few days before he joined the battle.

Somewhere in Sixth ring of Terror.

Corporal Louis Hoffman paused as his movement sensor spotted some movement ahead, dropping to the ground and signaling the rest of the group to halt and take cover. In this part of Netherworld is was probably a Chaos demon patrol.

And while the super soldiers from His Majesty Special Force, G Squadron, 22 ARES, had enough strength and firepower to deal with any isolated group of Chaos demons they did not want to draw attention to themselves, at least not yet anyway.

This was the first mission of the 'Golden Boys', whose each individual worth as much as a F-16. The top brass didn't want even a scratch on their experimental powered assault armor system (PAAS). They were here to field testing the equipment only.

Hoffman carefully swung his Westinghouse M95A1 phased plasma rifle from left to right, scanning the ground ahead. Neither his enhanced eyes, nor the Advanced Weapon Sight fitted to the rifle revealed anything.

"What is it, Louie?" The voice of Captain Patrick Fleming, the group commander, said in his headset.

"Thought I saw some movement ahead, Boss." Hoffman replied. "I'm not sure now."

"Seeing things now are we, Louie?" The voice of Staff Sergeant Henry 'Don't call me Henno' Garvie remarked. "Better safe than sorry, though.

"Dave, go forward and support Louis. See if you can spot what's up there."

Now that the forces of Abaddon were on the back-foot, The Eye of Terror was crawling with human Special Forces, and Britain was one of the major providers. Patrols from both the Special Air Service and Special Boat Service were roaming the areas of Netherworld assigned to the UK, gathering intelligence and rescuing inmates where ever possible.

The Special Reconnaissance Regiment had established a number of Observation Posts from where they could watch the comings and goings of enemy military forces, and direct attacks when necessary, while the Paras, Marines and RAF Regiment Gunners of the UK Special Forces Support Group were on stand-by to support any patrol that got into difficulty, or add extra muscle to any attack.

The various UK Special Forces patrols had already managed to rescue quite a few former military personnel, who had been marked down as a priority for recovery. These deceased personnel had then been transferred via portal to a safe area near the Hellgate for rehabilitation.

Encouragingly many, mainly amongst the more recently arrived, had volunteered their services. The Staff amp; Personnel Support Branch of the Adjutant General's Corps now had the headache of working out the back-pay and allowances of these deceased soldiers.

There had also been suggestions that it might be possible to use some of these troops as battle casualty replacements for units deployed in Hell, or to form new units. That didn't solve the legal problems of course, after all, how does one pay the dead for their services and what were the limits on service terms?

Technically, those who were being found in the Eye of Terror hadn't yet fulfilled the terms of their enlistments and that raised even more legal questions. It was reputed that several members of the Pay Corps and Legal branch had already gone mad trying to think out the implications.

Corporal David 'Dave' Woolston carefully made his way forward. He was a large, powerfully built man of Afro-Caribbean extraction, and thus was one of the two members of the patrol carrying a heavy gun. In this case the new RSB-80 heavy phased plasma gun, which used the new M90T1 Integrated Fuel Power (IFP) type stacked array cassette, which contained enough refined hydrogen core fuel and battery power to initiate and produce 300 sustained plasma pulses.

"Spread out, but be careful, we don't know what we are dealing with." Captain Fleming ordered.

"Wait, I see something." The patrol's sniper, Corporal Finn Younger reported.

Corporal Younger normally carried an M-30A1 phased plasma rifle, though for the deployment to "Hell" he had decided to draw an experimental M95A2 phased plasma rifle from the laboratory at Credenhill. It gave him extra shots and the 12mm x 1000mm plasma bolt it fired were extremely powerful.

Younger lined his weapon up on the target, preparing to fire if necessary. However to his surprise the figure in the sight resolved itself into a human shape rather than a Chaos demon. Even more surprisingly the figure seemed to be moving tactically rather than in the way a civilian might cross a piece of terrain.

"I think we have possible friendly forces ahead, Boss." Younger reported.

"Right everybody, carefully stand-up, its time to reveal ourselves." Fleming ordered. "Staff, Fin, Dave, Pete, you stay down for now to give us covering fire."

The rest of the patrol slowly got to their feet to discover that they were being observed by two figures that were definitely human.

"Who are you?" Captain Fleming called out.

"Sergeant Tony Stevens, 2nd Royal Irish Rangers! Who are you?"

"Captain Patrick Fleming, HM Special Force ARES."

"Never heard of it!"

"We're newly established." Fleming replied grumpily.

"So, how many of you there are ?" Fleming asked.

"About twenty in this group, Sir." Sergeant Stevens asked. "I think you'd better come and meet our Senior Officer."

Sergeant Stevens led Captain Fleming and Staff Sergeant Garvie into a poorly lit cave. They could see that someone was sitting at the far end hunched over what looked like a table, though it was probably a large stone. Stevens saluted smartly and introduced the new comers.

"Sir, this is Captain Fleming and Staff Sergeant Garvie of 22 ARES."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Captain Fleming, Staff Sergeant Garvie." Colonel Sir Archibald David Stirling, formerly of the Scots Guards, 8 Commando and Special Air Service, said stretching out his right hand. "I take it you have orders to extract groups like mine?"

Fleming and Garvie had never shaken hand with a corpse, or was he a soul, and it was a rather strange experience, yet Stirling seemed as alive as they did.

"Yes, Sir I have. Our orders are to gather intelligence and evacuate as many military personnel as possible.

"Can I ask how many of there are you?"

"Twenty three, some British, there are a few Aussies, Kiwis, Canadians, Indians, South Africans and what not. We've got a Zulu here who died at Rorke's Drift and his stories are going to change the history books. I think I can speak for everyone but we are pretty keen to do what we can to liberate this place, just give us the tools. I for one have been waiting for 30 years to give something back to the demons."

"We'll get evacuation laid on as soon as we can, Sir." Fleming said. "Do you know of any other groups near-by?"

"There are small groups scattered all over now. Mostly, we've been keeping our heads down and trying not to get found but the war's changed all that. You know there's a liberated area up in the Fifth Circle?"

"The Free Hell, Sir. Run by the Holy Front for The Liberation of Netherworld. That's mostly a Yank and Nam operation but we're all involved in getting people out."

"Well, Yanks and Nams or not, you better get word to them, they're in trouble. Our OPs have spotted a big force of demons converging on the river bank opposite the area they're holding. About 50,000 infantryman and 2,100 fliers. No cavalry that we can see."

Fleming and Garvie exchanged glances. Even with the influx of deceased volunteers and the support of special forces units from Earth, a force over 50,000 Chaos demons was too much even for modern weaponry to cope with. If that attack got launched, it was going to overrun Free Hell. "Thank you Sir. We'll get word straight through and see what can be done."

---

3rd Divison, 2rd Corp, 1st Army, 4th Army Group, The Incomparable Army of Light, Phlegethon River Front, The Eye of Terror.

The Incomparable Army of Light's new standard weapon was a case of modernity met classic, the new Fenris magic bow was an odd hybrid, a product of the emergency mobilization and stolen Earth's technology.

A Fenris magic bow was neither crossbow nor longbow - it was a completely new arrow weapon category — a compound bow-magazine.

From the looks many people might think that this was a 21st century compound bow. It was easy to understand why. It had everything: the limbs, the cam at the end of each limb, the sights, the stabilizers and riser and even an arrow magazine.

There were some differences of course: The central riser of the Fenris bow was made of mithril-adamantine alloy for strength.

Limbs were made of composite materials and were capable of taking extremely high tensile and compressive forces. The cam at the end of each limb stored all the magic energy of the bow – no energy was stored in the pulleys and cables.

The bow strings and cables were made of spider silk and were magically enhanced to have great tensile strength and near-zero stretchability, so that the bow transfers its energy to the arrow as efficiently and durably as possible.

Fenris was easier to learn than a crossbow and much faster to get ready to shoot than an english longbow. No other arrow weapon offered these advantages. It was easy for a Falmartian archer to fire all 5 arrows in less than 0.8 seconds.

Draw weights of the Fenris generally fall between 8,000 and 16,000 pounds (3600 and 7200 kg), enabling arrow speeds of 1130 to 1600 m/s. This combined with the Holy Order's incredible eyesight and guidance magic allowed their archers to snipe anything with pinpoint accuracy within 4 km radius.

Knight Captain Dietfried commanded this division of three archer regiments, one priest regiment, one heavy infantry regiment. And he had his assigned fire plan.

It was laid down, strictly, severely, the targets clearly designated for destruction on a finely judged schedule. It was not his place to select targets or to rain his arrows from one place to another.

He was not an artillery officer who would swing his guns from one point target to the next, his place in the scheme of things was as a part of a machine that delivered massive, total destruction.

His task was to keep the big guns behind him firing, to clean the sky off demon fliers with high explosive arrows and to mopped up any surviving demons so that the enemy could not move forward to attack the defense lines.

"Division Control Knight Captain Dietfried. The enemy is moving again. Commence fire plan in six-zero seconds."

The archers were waiting, the first arrows already in the barrel of the bows. This would be the 11th waves of assault this morning. They had battling the force of evil for three days straight. And the battles were getting more and more ferocious.

From his bunker Dietfried could see the visibility was less than 10 meters. Those damn harpies and their dreadful pyromancer urine. That black liquid burned like napalm while producing a black toxic cloud that obscured the sight of archers.

Thanks Emroy for the sensor type priests. Without them the archers would be shooting blind. Their ammunition was dangerously low, they had to shoot arrows as accurately as possible.

Dietfried watched the figures on his clock changing as they reached the appointed second. Vishuuuu! The faint sound of thousands of arrows torn through the sunless sky. As they turned at acute angles, they transformed into white-hot lasers and poured down towards the ground.

The ground was carpeted with explosions as each arrow had the equivalence force of a 81mm mortar. The attack had probably obliterated more than 5,000 enemy soldiers.

Dietfried tried to observe the battlefield but he couldn't see much, the toxic smoke was too dense. This black cloud was their true enemy. This cloud could kill you instantly if you were human.

Of course, the warriors of the Holy Order were immune to most poisons but that damn heat was irritating. It was getting extremely hot around here with all of the pyromancer urine burning.

Dietfried ordered the priests to cast a wide area effect cooling magic before everyone in the 3rd division was steamed to medium. Suddenly, the strained silence turned into a mighty roar that crushed his eardrums and seemed to drive him into the ground.

Looking at the battlefield, Dietfried saw the silhouette of the culprits. The ancient Kaiser golems, 30 meters tall, six of them were marching towards the Holy Order defenses. Those golems were quite hard to kill, unless you destroyed their core.

Dietfried, removed his right hand from the face guard, turned it around towards his back, and drew out mithril arrows from a quiver. Every remaining one, all at the same time.

The packed bunch of arrows that his right hand nimbly brought back numbered at least thirty no matter how one looked at it. The knight captain nocked the entire bunch of arrows onto the string of the longbow held horizontal with his left hand.

An increasingly violent squealing swept out; the longbow was drawn back heavily. He shouted the final phrase lucidly.

"—Holy Enhanced !"

A deep crimson blaze swirled up from the entire orichalcum bow like a phoenix.

— Binn!

The air reverberated, every single one of the thirty mithril arrows were fired out into a radial pattern, cascading down onto the golems as a lethal, silver storm of pure destructive power. Each arrow creating an explosion not inferior to that of a TOW missile.

These arrows pierced the front of these golems, blew through their interior, and burst out the back along with numerous rock fragments, opening an even larger exit would. The golems' core were completely destroyed, causing these rock monsters to quickly lose mana and crumble to pieces.

Third Platoon, Second Company, Third Battalion, Fourth Regiment, 247th Motor Rifle Division, Phlegethon River 1st Bulge

The BMP-3 was shut down, its hatches sealed and firmly dogged in place, overpressure system on to prevent toxic gas and the intense flame leaking in from outside. Bullets were rattling off the armor plate as the three MICVs machine-gunned each other in an attempt to drive off the hordes of harpies that were swarming all over the vehicles, tearing at anything breakable.

Last time Lieutenant Anatolii Ivanovich Pas'kov had looked through the turret optics, there was too much smoke but he could see a dozen or more of the beasts were trying to bend the barrel of his 35mm cannon, he didn't think they had succeeded but he was reluctant to fire the gun anyway.

He hunched down, trying to ignore the acrid fumes from the gunfire that was creating havoc with the harpies outside. Only, some of the acrid stench wasn't cordite residue, it was the smell of the harpies' acidic blood attacking bare metal.

Certainly the chemical weapons-resistant paint on the BMP was protecting most of the hull from corrosion but there were still parts that were vulnerable to acid.

His little command had done well at first. The Tunguska-M5 had fired its 12 laser-guided missiles and turned more that a dozen harpies into spiraling explosions, then its 35mm cannon had started chopping more out of the sky.

The BMPs had joined in, their turret cannon selecting the closest harpies and shooting them out of the sky. But there had been so many of them, more than 200,000 so the intelligence reports said, and the hundred or so that the 35mm guns had killed were hardly noticeable. The rest had descended on the vehicles and started their assault.

Oh, Pas'kov knew that their claws, teeth and fire breath would not get through the armor but the harpies had other weapons as well. They drop a black liquid that burned like napalm and there was much on an armored vehicle that could burn.

Their Tungaska had already gone, its engine compartment had caught fire and its crew had been forced to abandon their vehicle into the flock of harpies.

They'd tried to run for the BMPs but they were brought down, burned, torn apart and eaten before they'd made more than a pace or two. Pas'kov had been glad of that in a way, he couldn't have opened his hatches to let them in anyway.

"Ammunition is running out." The cry was from one of the two riflemen in the fighting compartment of the vehicle. They were hosing fire out of the fighting ports in the rear compartment, the steel floor covered with their expended cartridge cases.

The BMP was carrying more that its allowed load of munitions but the rate of expenditure was such that even its enhanced stocks were getting short. Pas'kov swung the turret, feeling the power traverse fighting the harpies swarming outside, and let off a burst from his co-axial machine gun.

The harpies trying to bend his 35mm cannon barrel were caught unawares and the heavy machine gun burst tore into them, spraying acid blood into the air and causing their flesh to char. The cordite smoke-laden air inside the BMP got more dense if that was possible, the heat rising further.

"Get us out of here, we must pull back."

"We cannot, the transmission is jammed." The driver's words didn't really make sense but Pas'kov guessed what had really happened, the suspension was being attacked by acid and the treads were jammed.

Instead, he got the radio, with just a little luck, it might be working. The whip antenna had long gone, torn off by the harpies, but the little blade antenna might still be intact.

"Company, this is Three. We're running out of ammunition and are trapped. Our AA vehicle is gone. We need final protective fire now. Right on top of us."

Pas'kov knew his company commander realized the same thing that Pas'kov himself had done. Calling fire directly on his position was suicide, the guns would tear the armored vehicles apart. But it was better to go that way than be shredded and eaten by the harpies screaming outside.

"Request approved. Being passed up. Hold on Three. Seal down tight. Full protocol."

Dark Sorcerer Group, Phlegethon River Headwater

In a remote place, far from the heat of battle, near the headwaters of the Phlegethon River stood a huge barracks that, for the time being, avoided human army attention. They were the dark sorcerer army under Baroness Shangrinakuthe.

"Baroness Shangrinakuthe. We have the order from Grand Duke Beelzebub!"

Finally!

The leader of the dark sorcerers, Shangrinakuthe raised her hands towards the sky as her entire body shivered in sweet ecstasy.

Had any other arts user in history experienced a space charged with such concentrated darkness energy?

The fierce battles of the past 3 days have bathed the space with chaotic energy. Hundreds of millions of fallen demon soldiers were converted into darkness energy, that should be enough to use it… that world-reshaping, godlike incantation.

"All unit, begin chanting for the «Chaos Release: Death Sea Cataclysm » ceremony! Spotters, begin chanting the marking art for the enemy coordinates!"

Chaos Release: Death Sea Cataclysm referred to an extremely large-scale aqueous incantation designed by Grand Duke Beelzebub for the sake of this plan.

Converting all of the space darkness energy filling the battlefield into aqueous elements, which they would turn into very strong acids, of which most demon were immune to. If their calculations were correct, they would triple the size of Phlegethon River in minutes.

In addition, Beelzebub had prepared a careful plan to make use of dark arts users excelling in terra elemental arts as spotters, creating «paths» to divert the flow from the three great bulges of Phlegethon River.

They would straighten the river and trap millions of those damn mortals at this side of the river. Their iron chariots couldn't cross the torrent of death to rescue their trapped comrades. Afterall, iron couldn't be mixed with strong acids.

In order to attack Dis, the mortals had concentrated the better part of their forces in those three bulges. This would be their downfall, millions would be trapped then slaughtered.

— Grinned viciously.

Every dark arts user, from Baroness Shangrinakuthe to the other two millions, had both of their arms extended as numerous aqueous elements, each seemingly appearing from clotting black mist, coiled about them.

Lord Beelzebub had chosen this spell as to avenge the hundreds of millions of soldiers who died in battle over the past few days. Even the screams of their soldiers, writhing as they died, sounded pleasant to her ears now. All of their sacrifices would be worth it, they would be avenged now.

"Good… be prepared to launch the «Chaos Release: Death Sea Cataclysm» art!"

Shangrinakuthe's shout rang out and—

She spotted five huge flying chariots, a hundred meters wide, charging at them from the west, as though they had lost their minds, with her own two eyes.

Their force had been spotted !?

The momentary shock quickly turned into excitement. They would destroy the enemy's flying chariots and trap their ground forces at the same time.

"Stand your ground! Let them approach! 13th Legion, prepare for Black Flame Phoenix…No… not yet… —Now, let them loooooose!"

Zwaaaaaaaa!

The countless black phoenix set off in straight courses towards the enemy flying chariots (Tu-688s), scattering vibrations that seemed to spread pure fear.

The demon offensive incantation had become an immense, pressing wave of absolute darkness.

It was an umbra elemental incantation with an extremely high priority, likely rivaling the «Death Curse Worms» released by Pandemonium.

A ranged hex that directly inflicted damage on one's life force and could not be defended against through physical means.

Before they were shot down, the Tu-688 squadron had fired all its 1000 air-to-ground missiles killing more than fifty thousand dark arts users. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to prevent the next disaster.

"Die, mortals! Dieeeeee—Chaos Release: Death Sea Cataclysm!"

Naga Group, the Southern Front, Phlegethon River 3rd Bulge

Baroness Yuku fought the exhaustion that was growing throughout her body. The naga were built for maintaining a constant series of dark arts attacks but the rate at which she and her fellow naga had been firing them at the humans was greater than they had ever attempted before.

Yet it had to be done, the mortals had to be kept under heavy fire if the assault was to stand a chance. Yuku mentally thanked her Lord that he had had the wisdom to 'modify' the instructions to send his best naga to aid Belial in his mad schemes.

He'd interpreted 'best' to mean his youngest and least experienced coven, keeping his most experienced groups with him for this battle. By the look of it, several other lords had done the same and that was a good thing, otherwise the assembled covens would be collapsed into semi-consciousness by now.

Those that still lived that was. There had been 540,000 covens assembled for this assault, just over 11 million nagas, and Chiknathragothem had grouped them in the center of his formation top punch a hole for the rest of his army to follow. That had seemed like a good idea until the holocaust of human mage-fire had descended upon them.

The casualties had been truly dreadful. The soft and unarmored naga witches had been hard hit. Less than 7 million had survived the mortal mage bolts and the churning ground. And probably a lot less if not for the protection spell of dark sorcerers.

They'd forded the river and kept the human chariots under a constant series of magic bolts but nobody could do much more until the dark Wyverns had doused their positions with burning pyromancer stone. That had forced the humans back and out of their defensive positions.

The combination of the hellish rain of burning pyromancer urine and pyromancer stone from above by the harpies and dark wyverns, and the relentless fire of the nagas and the advancing infantry supported by the dark sorcerers had done it, they'd started to destroy the mortals defense.

From her position on the river bank, Yuku could see the black, rolling smoke rising from more than a hundred iron chariots that had been overwhelmed and destroyed.

Around them lay the bodies of their crews, many half eaten as they had been cut down. That might once have been a satisfying sight but Yuku could see more. The ground was black with the bodies of Chiknathragothem's army where human magery had caused its terrible toll.

One of the infantry cohort commanders waved her forward, the foot-soldiers and cavalry were trying to clear the evil metal snakes and exploding mage-bars that covered the ground.

The mage bars could be cleared by the simple expedient of picking them up and throwing them away, if they exploded, the mage-bar was gone, if it did not, it was gone.

Slowly, a way was being cleared through the defenses, even though the human mage-fire never ceased and the casualties of those doing the clearing were high beyond counting.

Yuku started to lead the seven surviving members of her coven forward along the cleared path, summoning up enough energy to unleash another series of bolts against the defenders. That was when the foot soldier leading her raised his trident.

"No further Highness. This is as far as we can go, the next line of mortals defenses is ahead of us."

And on either side of us and behind us thought Yuku. Nowhere is protected on this battlefield where the mortals can see all and their mages can strike where they will. They had to wait.

Suddenly, Yuku saw a massive fire incantation flew toward the mortals defenses from behind. That had to be the work of the dark sorcerer legion. The Baroness could see a series of explosions rocked the ground. Truly a splendid sight. Yuku wished they could have done that sooner.

Before she could celebrate, Yuku heard a strange whistling sound and more mage-bolt explosions. Only these were soft in comparison with those she had experienced on the banks of the Phlegethon and they looked different.

Instead of rolling clouds of black and red smoke, surrounded by thrown earth, they were gentle and white, almost angelic in the purity of their whiteness.

Yuku watched confused as the white feather-like tendrils spread into a cloud that was utterly opaque yet still had the blinding white purity of the initial bursts.

The clouds started to rise and that was when Yuku felt the intense heat as more of the mage bolts spread the white cloud still further.

Yuku was suddenly aware that the illuminating white cloud was irritating her eyes and her nose was running. A stray cloud of the white smoke swept over her and she coughed, an explosive cough that shook her whole body.

She looked around, she and her nagas were surrounded by white fragments that were falling over the whole area. One of the fragments landed on her skin and she looked at it, curiously at first but then in horror as her scales started to bubble and smolder.

The lump was eating its way into her body, she could feel it searing into her flesh as it bit deeper and deeper. The agonizing pain started to spread as more and more of the lumps touched her and started the process of her destruction.

All around her figures were on the ground, rolling and screaming, trying to brush away the fragments that brought this unbelievable horror to them.

Even as they did so, more of the rounds thumped down, adding yet more smoke and fragments to the cloud that was enveloping them. The Great Beast that bore Baroness Yuku was on the ground, writhing and bellowing in agony as the white mage-fire burned into its body.

Yuku was trapped underneath it, her body being crushed by the beast's weight even as it burned from the white mage-fire. As she died in searing, mind-crushing agony, Yuku learned that it was very unwise to upset the mortals.

What they were experienced was the effects of Sundrop. Sundrop or Tear of Flare aka White Flame was a supremely powerful relic of the Falmartian's Sun God: Flare. It basically was sunlight in liquid form, virtually harmless to living things but extremely toxic to the creatures from the land of darkness.

88th Division, 80th Reserve Army, People's Liberation Army, Phlegethon River 3rd Bulge, The Eye of Terror.

The 88th Qinglong Division under Brigadier General Zhang Renchu, along with the 76th, 77th, and 78th Divisions of the 80th Reserve Army was the core of the reserves force tasked with protecting the left flank of Army Group Yangtze. One of two Army Groups fighting inside Phlegethon River 3rd bulge.

The battles of the past 3 days were brutal, Army Group Yangtze and Army Group Changjiang inside the Phlegethon River 3rd bulge were fighting for their lives facing a never-ending waves of demon's assaults.

The level of concentration of troops and weapons here was unheard of before this war. Nearly three million men were fighting along the 460-kilometer bulge of the Phlegethon River.

This level of troop concentration was needed due to the unprecedented number of enemy's fliers and mages gathered on the other side of the river. Worse yet, the demons fought in an organized and surprisingly efficient manner.

Their tactic was somewhat resemble the human's combined arms, which integrated different combat arms of a military to achieve mutually complementary effects. That was an unpleasant surprise for the coalition force.

"How's the situation on the front lines, Sir?" Brigadier General Zhang Renchu stood in front of his view screen, looking at the his command general at the other end.

General Huang Xiubin was a harassed-looking man, already tired from the volume of fighting that was going on.

"It is another bloody day, comrade. We are holding them in the North at great cost but their force in the South has bitten deep into the defenses.

The Northern front too will start to collapse soon, we are already getting requests from the front line to bring down fire on our own positions.

The harpies in the north are pinning our men down with their alchemist napalm, our artillery is hammering the follow-on forces but soon they will have crossed the river bank and then our positions will fall fast."

"And in the South?" Brigadier Zhang concerningly asked,

"Bad. The enemy there are half way through our defense zone. They are paying a terrible price but they have nagas carried by Rhinolobsters that are very effective in close range. And the dark wyverns have done us some harm with their incendiary stone that burns as hot as thermite.

Not to mention, the dark sorcerer corps were hammering the front lines hard with their combined spell.

Thanks ancestor, that our artillery has superior range compared to their mages. We are hitting the naga witches using Sundrop and the wyverns and harpies are no match for our jets fighters and the Holy Order dragon knights. We believe their advance there will run out of steam soon.

But we might need to counter-attack them before they can break through. It will be a finely-judged thing, whether their advance runs out of energy before we stop them.

Depending on the situation over the next 24 hours, the high command will decide whether your men will join the counterattack in the north or in the south."

"We are ready, General—"

BOOMMMM—!

Their conversation was suddenly cut off by a horribly roaring sound of rushing water. Brigadier General Zhang Renchu was petrified. This ear-splitting sound!...He had heard this sound once, two day after the Rumbling.

The Great Flood caused by the collapse of the Three Gorges Dam. The greatest disaster of modern China. Over 45.2 million people were affected by the floods that ravaged 27 provinces along the Yangtze River.

"Brigadier Zhang...The River...The Phlegethon River is overflowing its bank!"

Hurry rushing out, Zhang witnessed the scale of the cataclysm unfolding before his eyes. The Phlegethon River was tripled in size in just one minute. The water level rose so high that it swept away all their defenses along the riverbank.

People were fleeding for their live but it was too late. The ferocious flows swallowed all the unlucky preys. The river flow was glowing red as if it was the blood of the victims and had a terrible stench like thousands of rotting corpses.

The 76th Zhuque Division camped near the riverbank was caught by complete surprise and were melted to the bone by the torrent of death. The 77th Xuanwu Division near there was luckier, they were able to evacuate just few seconds before the acid flood overrun their camp. But they had to give up most of their heavy artillery and tanks.

Of the 4 divisions constituting the 80th Reserve Army, only the 78th Baihu Division and the 88th Qinglong Division were unaffected due to the high terrain of their bases and because they were stationed relatively far from the riverbank.

Brigadier General Zhang Renchu, before he could even regain his senses, heard the thundering roars of millions of demons. The enemy had breached their defense and now they would punch a big hole through it. Like a leak in a dam, all the water pressure would be concentrated in that hole, the demon army would hit him with all their might.

He should visit his old mother more often. He was a bad son. Zhang thought. "Please, Forgive this unfilial son!"

Command HQ, Camp Hell-Alpha, The Eye of Terror.

"How bad is it ?" Commander Liam Nuttall stood in front of his view screen, looking at the Russian, American and Chinese commanders at the other end.

Marshal Ivan Semenovich Dorokhov of the Russian Army was the first to respond. "It was a bloody day for the Slavs. The Acid Flood washed away our minefields, melted the barbed wire, filled our trenches, and cut off our supply lines. Army Group Peter and Catherine were stranded on the other side of the Phlegethon River. Their situation is dire but still under control, at least for now. Taking advantage of our weaken defense, the demons launched an all-out attack. We are holding them back at great cost. But the enemy momentum and morale is too high. We must retreat back to a more defensible lines or the frontline will collapse. Still, we have some tricks to play yet and your bombers are ready I think."

"On your word General, just give us the word. Good news, the air is clear up where they are, they can hold up there for longer than we thought." Turning to the American, the Supreme Commander asked. "How about your situation?"

"Bad." General Charles A. Flynn replied succinctly. "The enemy have established several bridgeheads, which weakened our defense. They are paying a terrible price but they have succeed in trapping the First Armored Joint Task Force. Two of the enemy spearheads are heading to the Hellgate. So we have deploy some tanks to cover that direction. Now, we need a strong counterattack from the rear to slow down their main attack to give us time to fortify the second line of defense. We also need some men to join an attempt to break out of the encirclement.

"The EU and Israeli armored divisions are well placed for that. Order them to make the attack." Nuttall hesitated for a brief second. "Make sure the Israeli unit has plenty of space around it."

General Flynn frowned. "You expect treachery? Surely not."

"Not treachery, stupidity. After the attack on Jerusalem the Israelis are too blind by revenge for their own good. They will not shoot up one of our own units deliberately but they are all too likely to do so by accident. It would be best to give them an end-run so they are well clear of the rest of your forces. Get them over the Phlegethon so the rest of us are safe."

The American General laughed. "Good advice, Commander. You heard the enemy used burning thermite on our troops? Well, know we will show them what we can do when we wish."

"Weapons are free, General. And give us the word when you want the C-177 to come calling."

"What about you, Marshal Zhong?"

Marshal Zhong Xina frowned. "Up to this point, not too bad. My men are shelling their spearheads hard. However, the enemy is slowly but surely pushing us back. Our best hope is to attack the demon spearhead from two sides and encircle it. However with my tank divisions are still pinned down on the front and my light mechanized divisions are busy securing a safe corridor for the Army Groups to withdraw, we lacked the sufficient strength to pull off a counterattack."

"The Holy Order's cavalry divisions are well placed for that. I will ask them to carry out the attack." Saying that left a strange taste in Nuttall's mouth, he was commanding tanks and cavalry at the same time. A 21st century army and a 17th century army fighting together. What a strange time to be alive.

Saudi Arabia 103rd Armored Divsion, Phlegethon River Front.

Major General Al-Husayni was furious, his divsion had been stuck in this damn place for 3 days now and just a moment ago his men were attacked by 100,000 harpies and an entire regiment of dark wyvern.

"Sir!" a soldier suddenly shouted. "Look at the river!"

"I swear to Allah if there're another flock of monsters…" But Al-Husayni didn't finish that sentence.

Up on the distant river, Al-Husayni watched as the blocks of soldiers turned and marched off it. They were going in the wrong direction. Instead of heading toward the Arabian, they had turned around and were marching backward.

They were…

"The demons are retreating!" Al-Husayni shouted. "The demons are retreating!"

It was too much for them. The 210mm guns' that tore apart their ranks of troops with impunity was too much for the demons to handle. They couldn't endure a full might of Saudi artillery, and the demon had just played the only card up their sleeve. The wyverns had failed, and now they had to retreat. Al-Husayni had achieved victory. Now he just needed to exploit that victory.

"You come with me!" he ordered while climbing his vehicle. "We have to pursue them!"

"Yes, sir!"

They rode down the hill to where the advanced force, two mechanized regiments and one tank regiment, was formed up. Al-Husayni's instincts had kicked in. The enemy was in retreat, and he needed to pursue them if he wanted a total victory.

Brigadier Teel Ashton was still gathering his tanks somewhere back with the 201st cavalry division of the Holy Order, so Al-Husayni would have to chase the demons with just one tank regiment.

Not ideal, but if he pressured their rear enough it could send the whole army into a rout. Then it would only be a matter of mopping them up. They just needed one good shove.

Brigadier Glubb Pasha was there to greet Al-Husayni's arrival. "Sir, has the main force arrived yet?"

Al-Husayni ignored the question. He pointed to the river. "See that!" The demons are in retreat. We've beaten them with our artillery. Order everything forward; we've got to keep pressing them!"

"Should we not await more reinforcements?" Glubb Pasha was frowning.

"There's no time, damn it!" Al-Husayni couldn't keep the grin off his face. "The enemy is retreating! Order the advance!"

"I once again urge caution, sir. They outnumber us fourty to one at the moment, and if you're wrong about something, men will die. By Allah, Sir, we only have one tank regiment to support us."

Al-Husayni looked through him. "We've beaten an army fourty to one. We are doing this for Mecca and Medina. Advance!"

Glubb Pasha tore his eyes away from Al-Husayni. "Yes, sir," he managed to grind out before ordering the troops to advance.

They went forward like a lumbering giant. Six thousand men, advancing in lines against the retreating demons. The tanks were in front of the IFVs, and they held their tight formations fairly well all things considered. Dust was blown up into the air as they moved.

In the distance the demons continued to stream off the riverbank, leaving their sight as they moved below the water. They were too fast, and Al-Husayni's men were too slow. He had to press them now, or he'd lose the opportunity of a lifetime. If only he had attack helicopters…

Al-Husayni turned to Glubb Pasha. "We need to go faster. Get them going at an accelerated speed."

Glubb Pasha was beyond argument. "Yes, sir," he ground out again before giving Al-Husayni's orders to the men.

Receiving order. Their steady speed turned into a much more rapid accelerated speed, and the lines of armor vehicles began to surge forward. Tanks and IFVs moved together in their massed formations. They were going quickly now.

But speed came at a cost. The mechanized regiments, untested and plagued with inexperience, came apart like a ball of yarn. First the edges began to fray, men unable to keep up while also sticking in their tight formation.

Then it spread, and the line came apart. Unable to maintain the forward speed according to the new command, the lines of vehicles became scattered swarms.

The tank regiment in the front, well trained veterans who knew how to move properly, had no problem with the speed, and their steady accelerated advance while firing was the only thing that kept the mechanized regiments moving forward at the right direction.

Al-Husayni looked away from the confusion in front of him. He didn't need them to be formed up. The enemy was retreating already. He just needed them to press their rear, and even a mob could do that.

They ascended the mound. The demons had by now evacuated it, and there was no one to impede them as they climbed. Uphill only made the disorder behind Al-Husayni intensify, but the speed was still quick, and that was all that mattered.

"Come on!" Al-Husayni shouted over the radio. "Over the mound!"

The tank regiment crossed the crest of the mound. They looked down and got a good look at the retreating demon army.

Only it wasn't retreating.

Formed up at the base of the mound was a massive wedge of demons on huge beasts, covered in armor, and wielding menacing lances. Behind them, the demon infantry was formed up in well ordered blocks. At the head of it all was a huge demon with a gold helmet shaped like a snake's head. None of them were retreating.

Before the type-47 tanks could fire any rounds, giant golems burst out from the ground underneath and and annihilated them. This was a trap from the start.

The mechanized regiments came at the base of the mound, moving in a disordered chaotic blob, but stopped when they saw hundred of giant golems were waiting for them. Brigadier Glubb Pasha came as well, and he got a good look at the death trap General Al-Husayni had led them all into.

"We're disordered, and you were right about everything," Al-Husayni admitted to the brigadier . "We're about to lose a lot of men."

Brigadier Glubb Pasha looked at him, a glance of unadulterated disgust and pure contempt that went straight through Al-Husayni's heart. The general refused to respond, preferring deafening silence. Then a horn sounded out from somewhere at the base of the mound. And the demon cavalry and giant golems charged them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Giants!" came a soldier's shout on the radio from the other side of the mound. "Giants!"

Teel Ashton's tank regiments came to a halt as the mass of tanks in front of them stopped. He tried to glean what was happening from the noise ahead, but that was difficult because the noise was too loud.

"Giants," Brigadier Teel Ashton muttered. "A lot of Giants!"

Then men began to flow back over the mound. Hundreds of armored vehicles all at once like a massive wave thundering backward. Men run for their lives while officers desperately tried to stop the rout. Teel Ashton's tank regiments began to look at one another with worry. A single question was on everyone's mind.

What the hell is going on over there?

Teel Ashton saw hundreds of giant rock golems, 30 meter tall, came over from crest of the mound. They ploughed their way into the mass of armored vehicles trying to flee. And behind them were the demon cavalry. A tide of 70,000 armored horsemen crested over the mound. They carried massive lances and rode giant Rhinolobsters. Their heavy mounts caused the ground to tremble as they charged at the horde of panicked men.

"Oh, by the love of Allah…"

The rock golems slammed into the armored vehicles. It ripped through them like a wrecking ball through a tin can and left a trail of dead men behind it. Hundreds were butchered within the first few seconds, and then the demon cavalry continued the slaughter with lances and magic bolts.

Teel Ashton's tank regiments, safe behind the mass of IFVs, began to buckle. Two tanks at the front didn't wait for the golems to reach them. They broke from their company and joined the fleeing men. More men joined them as doom approached. The avalanche of cavalry continued forward, and soon an entire tank regiments was routing.

"Hexagon…" Teel Ashton whispered. "We need to form a hexagon!"

No one was doing anything, or perhaps they were and in the chaos Teel Ashton's order simply couldn't hear it. The entire tank regiment was stunned in place.

Teel Ashton found one of his radio operator. The poor boy looked terrified, but he was the only one Teel Ashton could find in the press of men. "Order the battalion hexagon!" Teel Ashton demanded.

"W-what?!"

He grabbed the boy. "Order the hexagon tank formation!"

"I-I-I ca-"

"Do it now or we're all dead!"

That shook the boy into action, and he began the call for hexagon formation. The men reacted instantly. Remembering their training despite the threat of death approaching, Teel Ashton tank regiments began to shift itself from its spot in the column to form a wall of men facing outwards. It was difficult in the face of a wave of fleeing men, but they managed it eventually.

"Listen to me!" Teel Ashton called to his tank regiments , which now formed a huge hexagon. "Hold your fire until I give the command!"

"Hold your fire!" Ashton repeated.

"Any man who fires without orders will be digging latrines for the rest of their fucking lives!" The Brigadier threatened.

To their right, past the front of the hexagon, the demon cavalry were finishing cutting apart the AFVs. There was a mass of bodies where hundreds had spent their lives trying to flee from the demons. A good number of them had made it past the tanks formations and were now running toward the 103rd Divsion's artillery. The less fortunate were being finished off in front of the hexagon.

An armored vehicle made it to the front of Teel Ashton's hexagon.

"Let them in! Quickly now, let them in!" he bellowed.

A small gap in the hexagon was created, and the armored vehicle were roughly led in before it was immediately closed again. Teel Ashton estimated he had enough time before the demon cavalry descended on them, so he went to meet the men. He was suddenly very glad he'd decided to let them in.

"General Al-Husayni, sir!" he spluttered. Then he regained his composure and saluted. "It good to see you, sir!"

The Major General gave a grateful nod. "Thank you, Brigadier. I think we'll shelter here for the time being."

"It's an honor, sir!"

"Yes. But I think the demons are coming now."

Teel Ashton looked, swore, and ran back to his command vehicle. The demons were coming for them now. The great tide of armored horsemen and golems descended against their humble hexagon.

"Prepare the M2028 canister rounds!" he shouted to his tanks so they knew what to expect. The whole regiment shifted to prepare for the incoming charge.

The demon cavalry continued forward at Teel Ashton's hexagon.

The front face of Teel Ashton's hexagon suddenly exploded into a thunder of 130mm cannons as the order to fire was given there. A wave of demon cavalry was mowed down in that instant by a rain of mithril balls, and the horde began to ride to the hexagon's flanks to avoid a similar fate.

"Prepare APDSFS and canister rounds!"

Teel Ashton watched golems and cavalry flow like a river around a rock, trying to attack the tanks in the flanks and rear, the parts of an infantry formation where cavalry typically had the easiest time attacking at.

Except, Teel Ashton's hexagon formation had no flanks or rear.

"Fire!"

The volley scythed through the golems, dropping dozens of golems in an instant while killing thousands of horsemen. Riders and beasts screamed in sudden panic, but the demons were very disciplined and they kept riding.

"Prepare HEAT and canister rounds!"

"Fire!"

Another wave of horsemen met their demise. Smoke clouded the whole hexagon as each side let loose volleys into the demons and killed thousands doing so.

Bodies of beasts began to pile up around the hexagon, forming a sort of barricade that impeded the movement of the cavalry, but the horsemen continued to circle the hexagon like vultures.

Another two HEAT volleys smashed into the cavalry, and yet they refused to fall back. Instead, they chose to circle the hexagon at a distance, minimizing the impact of Teel Ashton's volleys.

"Why won't they retreat?" Teel Ashton asked to no one in particular.

"Why are they sitting here getting slaughtered?"

"I believe," a voice from behind Teel Ashton said, "they are holding us here while their infantry arrives." Teel Ashton turned to find General Al-Husayni behind him.

"Infantry?" Teel Ashton bit his lip. "Fuck. Of course that's what they're doing. And we'll be stuck in this hexagon and unable to run when they overwhelm us with numbers."

"Yes," the Major General said. "Yes indeed."

"You're awfully calm for someone about to be massacred," Teel Ashton spat. He couldn't help it. The dangerous futility of the situation seemed to loosen his mouth, in spite of the General's rank.

The General gave a confident grin. "That is because we are not about to be massacred."

"What do you mean?"

The General pointed backward, to where their artillery battery was positioned on a hill. Teel Ashton followed his arm and saw a regiment of armored cavalry riding toward them. They carried massive mithril lances and rode giant six-legged horses.

The renown Bretonnia armored cavalry. Led by a beautiful woman in purple armor with her weapon «Heaven Lighting Sword» drawn. Knight Captain Lalatina.

"We are about to be rescued, Brigadier."

It was really a close call in the end. Knight Captain Lalatina, having gathered all her cavalry at Major General Al-Husayni's orders, had led them as quickly as she could to his position with the thinking that she would be taking part in a pursuit of some kind.

Instead, she found the mechanized regiments completely routed, with the tank regiments trapped into hollow hexagon and the demon infantry coming to slaughter them all.

Undeterred, Lalatina led all her cavalry in a massed charge against the demon cavalry who were too busy pinning the Saudi tanks down to react.

"Emroy Blessing…. Everyone. Follow Me! — Chargeeeeeee!"

Their heavy mounts caused the ground to tremble as they charged at the horde of panicked demon cavalry using their famous attack formation.

"Bretonnia Demon Slayer Scythe."

When the renown Bretonnia armored cavalry charged, their psychic power would resonate with each other creating an unstoppable psychic scythe extending 10 meters from the rider that cut through everything.

The psychic scythe, powered by the unshakeable faith in the righteousness of their cause, would literally rewrite reality ignoring durability and friction.

The invisible psychic scythe slammed into the demon cavalry at 600 kph. It ripped through the wicked demons like a razor through flesh and left a wake of dead meat behind it.

Tens of thousands were butchered within the first ten seconds, and then the Bretonnian dropped their lances and continued the slaughter with swords.

The attack took the demon completely by surprise, and Lalatina was able to rout them all the way back over the mound until they slammed into their own infantry and caused a great chaotic mess.

Meanwhile, the Saudi forces were now free to retreat without the threat of being rundown by cavalry or golems, and they did so in admirably good order until they were past their artillery and headed back for their old camp.

It was a lot of good luck, Major General Al-Husayni realized in retrospect.

If the Bretonnian armored cavalry were a bit slower, or if the demon infantry were faster, there would have been a good deal more casualties for the Saudis. As it stood now, they had lost two hundred vehicles to the demons and nearly two thousand people.

Command HQ, Camp Hell-One, Hellgate, Lemuria.

The supreme commander of Camp Hell-One, General Yōji Itami, sat in front of the main monitor looking stressed out. His eyes radiating uncertainty but he tried to hide it to avoid lowering everyone morale. It was quite easy to understand why. Itami was under a lot of pressure from the volume of fighting that was going on.

"Risa, what is the latest report on the supply line?" Itami asked with a tired tone.

"General, because of the protracted battle between Pandemonium and the Apostles, the daily volume of supplies transported through Hellgate is only 75% of what it used to be. The earthquake caused by the latest explosion caused the N700 supply train to derail. Our men on the ground are doing their best but it is estimated that it will take 25 minutes to clear the track and resume transport operations. We also have reported leaks from twelve out of the eighty 32-inch underground pipelines for vehicle and aircraft fuel. The Army Corps of Engineers are trying their best but it is estimated to take at least 2 hours to fix these broken pipes. Meanwhile, we will try to increase the number of tank trucks to meet the fuel demand. We also rerouted the supply convoy to a safer road, far away from where the fighting was taking place."

Leaning forward, Itami rested his chin on the palm of his right hand then asked. "Kurokawa, how are the casualties?"

"General, in the last 24 hours, due to the ongoing battle, we have recorded 1347 work accidents on the ground, of which 17 people have pass away, 55 people were seriously injured and 1275 people were slightly injured. Most injuries are related to blast injuries like: intracranial hemorrhage, scalp hematoma and concussion, dislocation laryngeal fracture with airway collapse, second and third-degree burns, skull fracture with epidural hematoma, vertebral fractures and posterior rib fractures, shoulder dislocation fracture, ruptured tympanic membranes, lacerations with glass foreign bodies..."

"Stop...stop! Mari-chan. You don't have to describe injuries in such detail." Itami cut her off before she freaked everyone out. Lt. Colonel Mari Kurokawa of the 1st Medical Battalion could sometime be too clinical when describing patient's condition. It was one of her defense mechanisms when she's under stress. Distancing herself from all emotions to maintain her proficiency.

Sighed, Itami's eyes shifted to a different person. "Kurata, How is the Base?"

The Colonel stood up from his seat. "General, we are still fixing the broken water pipe in barracks C due to the explosion at six this morning. The power grid in barracks A and F have been restored so the light is on. We have replaced the damaged radars at Site 02. The incident of the bunker collapse at barracks A has been fixed, fortunately no one hurt. We have a small fire incident in barracks B but it was fixed, only 5 people with minor injury."

Pinching his nose and letting out a long sigh, Itami looked at the man to his right. "Tom, how's the situation on the Front lines!"

"Not good," Tommy replied bluntly. "The enemy is attacking us hard on all fronts from the air and on the ground. Our boys on the front are hurting them badly, but there are simply too many bastards. They're drowning us with their own blood. Just half an hour ago, they casted a strategic spell that changed the shape of the earth. Those demons used some kind of acid to flood the river and break through our defenses at many strategic points despite fierce resistance and heavy casualties. The High Command has just ordered the troops to maneuver backward to the second defense lines to avoid the danger of encirclement. Once the enemy offensive exhausts their momentum, we will launch our counteroffensive."

A gloomy atmosphere enveloped the room. That was the exact situation they feared, «the power of many overwhelms the strength of one». There were so many harpies in the sky, that combined with the shortage of supplies, dealt a heavy blow to the Allied war effort.

"Order those on the ground to redouble their efforts. We must increase the daily volume of supplies shipped through Hellgate. Tell them this must be done at all cost, and the fate of tens of millions of people are on their shoulders." Itami ordered with fire in his tone.

"Yes, Sir."

Itami folded his hands together on the table before turning his gaze to a Vietnamese man. "Duy, How is the battle going?"

Open the live screen, Major General Nguyen Duc Duy said. "It's still a stalemate, Sir. Neither side was able to gain an upper hand over the past three days. The relentless attacks from Pandemonium failed to break through the very well coordinated and solid defence of the apostles. While the Beast's ability to regenerate is almost limitless, making it impossible for the apostles to put him down permanently. Both sides are tireless. This has turned into a brutal battle of attrition."

"It's been 3 full days!" Looking at Lelei's direction, Itami asked. "Lelei-san, How can Rory and others maintain this level of fighting without draining all of their magic?"

Pointing at the real-time battle on the screen, Lelei replied. "Because the Apostles are pretty much monsters. After the first 12 hours, their bodies have adapted to Pandemonium's toxic magical energy. Now they can use a spell called Magia Erebea — a magic circle that keeps the magic power from the environment and residual magic power from their opponent circulating for infinity. Basically Rory and others are fighting Pandemonium using that Beast own magic energy. Someone using magic as wasteful as Pandemonium is the perfect opponent for Magia Erebea, because they could fight forever using that spell as long as their mind can keep up."

About 15km Outside of Camp Hell-One, Hellgate

It had been 6 days (3 earth-days) since the battle began. The blue sky of southern Lemuria was illuminated by multiple flashes of explosions and at 10,000 meters above sea level, Rory Mercury was feeling more powerful than ever.

And it was not just because her Magia Erebea was feeding off the Beast's energy. Rory Mercury already was a phenomenally powerful being but being the Sovereign of Warfare, she was empowered by violence, hatred, rage, bloodshed and death. And with the Biggest Holy Crusade was raging on, the young apostle of war was now the second most powerful of the 13 Apostles behind only Sika Madu, the Apostles of Darwin, the God of Creation and Destruction.

"So much power! Hahaha... So this is how that old man Sika Madu always feels, I have to give that Beast a gift of gratitude." Rory said to herself, a cruel smile dancing on her lips. Raising her right hand to the sky, Rory prepared for an extremely powerful attack.

"Thunder Deity Spear: Titan-Slayer VII."

This was the most powerful lightning spell created by Sika Madu. This original spell merged the magical power of Deka Kilipil Astrape (Ten Thousand Lightning Bolts) with the magic spear of Iaculatio Fulgoris, creating a giant, electrified pike hundreds of meters long to perform a point-blank lightning attack.

"This is the most powerful lightning incantation. Let see how do you handle this thing!" Rory then used all of her strength to throw the giant lance at Pandemonium. The unstoppable lance rushed towards the Beast at lightning speed.

Realizing his dire situation, Pandemonium reacted immediately. He cupped his hands together, concentrating his energy into a single point before bringing them forward to fire an exceptionally powerful beam of purple energy.

"Ultimate Hellfire Burst Wave Motion Cannon."

The two powerful spells collided with enough force to cause a massive explosion so powerful that it literally cleared the sky of clouds and bright enough to be seen from space. Any unprotected person within a 20km radius of the blast would have their eardrum ruptured. The explosion also released huge waves of electromagnetic energy that would fry any unhardened electronic device.

"Well done, Big Sis." Complimented Aleister.

While Pandemonium was distracted by the explosion, Aleister charged at him with his own attack. Pandemonium tried to hit him with an energy blast but the vampire apostle suddenly disappeared and reappeared in front of him. Aleister attempted to punch Pandemonium in the gut with an extremely powerful magic punch.

"White Phoenix Advent."

Pandemonium could only bring both his hands to block the attack but the gigantic power behind the strike resulted in making his attempt to block utterly useless. The punch sent the Beast crashing towards grounded with tremendous force.

"I have to thank you for giving off so much energy like the damn sun." Aleister said sarcastically.

Pandemonium was radiating an excess amount of energy, very toxic one, but the apostles had undergone hyper-evolution to be able to absorb that energy. Now they didn't have to worry about running out of mana.

"It isn't over yet!" Giselle said from above. "Titan-Slayer II: Windstorm Spiral Spear X 10."

By merging Jovis Tempestas Fulguriens (Jupiter's Lightning Storm) into the spear form of Iaculatio Fulgoris, this spell concentrates the destructive power of Jovis Tempestas Fulguriens into a focused, drill-like "spike". An extremely destructive, wide-range spell, widely considered to be among the most powerful lightning spells in existence.

Due to the wide area that is affected, this spell was normally used against entire armies or fleets, and like most spells of this tier, an extremely skilled mage like Giselle could focus the area-of-effect-spell into a single concentrated stream to attack high-level opponents.

The concentrated stream of energy, dozens of times hotter than the surface of the sun, caused the area around Beast to evaporate. The attack created a large crater hundreds of meters wide on the battlefield.

Slowly regenerated in the molten crater, Pandemonium looked up at the apostles and said. "Don't look down on me, you insects!" Piercing his chest with his right hand, Pandemonium grabbed his own heart.

"Eight Gates: Released."

Pandemonium was using one of his secret technique. By forcing his heart to pumps at maximum speed, the Beast was able to directly stimulate his muscle, resulting in an incredible increase in power and speed.

Pandemonium said not word further. He simply vanished and appeared in front of Rory. It was rather some impressive speed, Rory would agree. The Beast was three times the height of Rory when he stood in front of her. With a speed that would be blinding to two-thirds of the apostles, Pandemonium drove his right fist towards Rory's gut.

"Mountain Crushing Fist."

Unfortunately, his opponent was also very fast and had extremely good reflexes, and that was before she was enhanced by all the violence of the Biggest War in History. Rory intercepted Pandemonium's punch with a powerful punch of her own.

"Explosion Releasing Fist."

The two punches collided and created a massive shockwave that could shatter any nearby windows.

Pandemonium retrieved his fist before he tried a roundhouse kick at Rory. He swung his leg towards Rory looking to kick her away. The attack was still visible before Rory's Mystic Eyes. Rory brought out her own leg to block the attack.

As soon as both legs collided, Rory moved her other leg and attempted to kick Pandemonium on his temple. Pandemonium retrieved his leg and quickly brought out huge his arms to block the kick.

Rory having her attack blocked and without having her legs to support her, she began to fall down the ground but quickly brought out her hands and used them as support.

Rory's front was left vulnerable to an attack. Her opponent took the chance and jumped in air before descending to the ground. Pandemonium attempted to kick Rory at the back of his foot.

Rory seeing that she was going to get hit. She stopped using her hands as support means and fell to the ground on her back. Rory positioned her hands on her chest. Pandemonium's kick collided with Rory hands and tried to break through the defense, but there was no luck.

The attack forced Rory to the ground creating a large crater where she laid with her hands crossed at her front and Pandemonium on top of her.

Pandemonium stopped pushing power to his kick and tried to jump away. However, before he could go anywhere Rory was already in front of him.

Rory was not wasting any time in attacking the Beast. She swung her right foot towards Pandemonium who brought out his left hand to block the kick.

He succeeded in blocking Rory's kick. Rory responded by bringing out her other foot and attempted to kick Pandemonium. This time her kick connected with Pandemonium's head sending him flying away. It was unbelievable the amount of power inside her small body.

Rory stood still as she watched Pandemonium recover from the kick that sent him flying. He landed on the ground with both his legs. Both charged at each other before engaging in a fierce hand-to-hand battle.

Their hand-to-hand battle created huge shockwaves around the battle. Others could only see blurs, as they were moving at the speed of meteor. Rory blocked all of Pandemonium's attempts to hit her.

Pandemonium was relentless in his attacks. He kept going after Rory trying to penetrate through her defense, but he had no success.

Pandemonium tried to punch her again but this time Rory used both her hands to knock her opponent's launched fist downward, then places her palm on the Beast stomach before launching an upward punch that launches her opponent upward.

"Special Technique - Sky Reaching Cannon."

As expected from the Apostle of War, who mastered ten thousand fighting techniques. Next to Lord Sika Madu, Rory Mercury was undoubtedly the most skilled and dangerous Martial Arts Master alive, being able to defeat all 12 Knights of the Round Table working together and even the previous Apostle of War when she was very young.

They separated creating a distance between them. Rory ran towards Pandemonium after they had separated. Upon reaching the Beast, she threw a right hook punch at Pandemonium. The Beast saw the attack coming and leaned back to avoid being hit by Rory's fist. The punch seemed to have a lot of power behind it as he felt supersonic winds hit his face as the punch passed by him.

Rory spun around and came back facing her opponent with her right foot raised. Pandemonium could not escape the kick in time, thus he brought out both his hands to block the spinning kick.

"Swirling Lynx Round Kick."

Pandemonium was able to block but only came to regret his choice as he winced in when Rory's kick connected with his hands. It felt like a moutain had hit him. The force of the attack made him loose his balance giving Rory the chance to attack again.

"Crouching Tiger Descend."

Faster than one could see, Rory moved closer to Pandemonium and kneed him on the gut causing Pandemonium to wince again as it felt like a meteor had crashed to his gut.

He shrugged the pain off though and attempted to retaliate by punching Rory in the face. Rory ducked under the punch and kicked Pandemonium on the chest. Pandemonium lost his footing and was about to fall down when Rory grabbed him by his hand. Rory grabbed Pandemonium's hand tightly and spun around a few times while still holding Pandemonium. After she had gained enough momentum, she let go of Pandemonium sending the Beast away from her in flight.

As soon as he let go of Pandemonium, Rory began to cast a high level wind, fire and darkness-element spell, ''Holy Enhanced: Hellfire Storm Conflagration,'' Rory breathed out a supersonic jet stream of black flame towards Pandemonium who was still in flight after being thrown away by Rory. The flames travelled in great speed towards the Beast glaring at him as they sought to drip their fangs on his skin.

Pandemonium cursed as he saw the black flame coming towards him. The speed to which he was flying at made it difficult for him to get out of the way, as he had yet to regain his balance. If he had his balance, he could just simply dodge the incantation. That was out of the question though; he could not dodge the flames in his current position. He may not be able to balance himself but he could still use his magic.

The flames collided with Pandemonium and began to burn him. Rory watched as the flames died leaving nothing. ''Cicadas Molting,'' Rory thought as she landed down the ground.

Pandemonium appeared behind Rory and began to cast an aqueous spell. ''Chaos Release: Exploding Water Shock Wave!'' Pandemonium yelled as he released a gigantic wave of water. The water wave was even bigger than Rory's Majestic Flame Destroyer. Pandemonium began to ride on the wave at a fast speed.

Rory seeing the tsunami coming towards her, she materialized her Dark Spear and positioned it in front of her. ''Soul Barrier,'' Rory muttered as she channeled mana through her weapon. A barrier erected around Rory shielding her from Pandemonium's attack.

The wave swallowed Rory under it and the water calmed down. The water became like a sea in the middle of the large crater to which the fight was occurring. When the water calmed down, Rory was seen standing with her Dark Spear still positioned in front of her. The image only lasted for a second as Rory dematerialized the Dark Spear. The attack had done nothing to Rory with her Soul barrier erected.

Pandemonium shot towards Rory in blinding speeds. Rory seeing her opponent coming thus she readied herself. She just had to make sure that she had mana under her feet to keep balance since they were now fighting onto of sea of water.

Pandemonium reached Rory with his right fist raised and threw the fist towards Rory's temple. Seeing the cannon-like punch before her eyes, Rory did not allow it to connect with her face. Rory brought out her hand and blocked Pandemonium's punch. Despite his amateurish close-combat technique, Rory had to admit, the Beast did know how to pack a powerful punch.

Pandemonium seeing that his attempt to smack Rory in her pretty face was a failure, he used his other arm to punch Rory in her bare breasts. Again, Rory blocked the attack then used "Outer Gate Elbow Thrust." to elbowed her opponent in the stomach with an lightning enhanced elbow. Pandemonium began to throw punch after punch at Rory who was dodging and blocking each punch before she sent the Beast flying with the powerful technique. "Crushing Fist of Majestic Lightning."

Pandemonium leaped into the air before descending down towards Rory with both his legs pressed together. He was looking for a two-foot kick on Rory. An assault as this carried more weight than a single leg kick. Rory leaped backwards away from the attack. With his target having avoided him, Pandemonium crashed into the ground with both his feet.

While Pandemonium was still grounded down, Rory landed a distance away from him. Rory looked behind her at the corner of her eye as she sensed something. Another Pandemonium appeared behind her with a swinging his right foot. Rory spun around to block the attack.

Pandemonium had calculated this; another him appeared behind Rory just as she had spun around. The two Pandemonium's kicked Rory and sent her rocketing away. One of the Pandemonium's crumbled down and became one with the water.

Rory flipped several times after being kicked and landed down with mana on her feet to balance herself on the water. She regained her complete balance and looked back at Pandemonium.

Pandemonium did not give Rory much time to look at him, he rushed towards her at lightning speed. Upon reaching Rory, he leaped into the air and flipped once. While he was in air, his body was now facing the ground. He descended towards Rory and attempted a kick on top of Rory's head.

His opponent was easily able to read into the move and bring out both her hands to block the attack. Pandemonium's foot connected with Rory hands and forced her to sink into the hardened Titan-glass ground a bit due to the enormous power of the kick and the positioned in which the Beast was. Pandemonium's whole body weight was on top of him giving his kick more power. Regardless, Rory held her ground and push Pandemonium away. The Beast flipped in mid-air before landing on the ground.

He did not waste time to charge at Rory again. He appeared to lunge himself at Rory's left side before completely disappearing and appeared on Rory's right side. His foot was swung towards Rory's waist level. The attack would have managed to hit anyone else, but not Rory.

The Apostle of War was able to see through Pandemonium with her Mystic eyes to move to counter attack. She spun around to face Pandemonium with her foot raised, kicking towards Pandemonium's incoming kick with the "Cross Fang Dragon Slayer Kick."

The two kicks collided and pushed each other for dominance. The stronger kick would push the weaker back giving advantage to the stronger.

Pandemonium seeing his attack blocked, brought back his foot before swinging another. Rory leaped back to avoid Pandemonium's attempt to kick her. She landed a few feet away from the Beast.

Without further due, she charged at Pandemonium, appearing in front of him. Rory brought out her right hand and attempted to punch Pandemonium on his gut. The Beast being experienced in battles jumped back quickly, narrowly avoiding Rory ground-shattering punch.

As soon as Pandemonium landed down, Rory was again in front of him. She was going for a roundhouse kick on Pandemonium, which was blocked rather easily by the Beast. Rory blurred out of Pandemonium's front and appeared behind him. She had moved in such speed that surprised the Beast of the Apocalypse.

Pandemonium did not have time to block or dodge as Rory's kick connected with Pandemonium's back and sent him flying. Pandemonium winced as he felt like he was hit by steel at his back. Rory kicked hard, even the punches were painful.

While Pandemonium was still in flight, Rory appeared above him and kicked him to the ground. Pandemonium went down towards the water in a fast speed. He crashed down the water separating the water. Rory landed a few feet away from where Pandemonium had crashed.

Pandemonium recovered quickly and appeared from the water, albeit soaked. He stared at Rory, "Chaos Release: Water Dragon!'' the Beast yelled. Capitalizing on the water lying around the battlefield he created a gigantic water dragon. The enormous dragon formed and steadied as its eyes trained on Rory, its prey.

Rory looked at the water dragon impassively. She knew that the water dragon could be controlled remotely. There was no use for to try to dodge or running away from the spell. It would seek her out till it hit. Rory began to cast her own incantation as Pandemonium's water dragon charged towards her. ''Fury of the Dragon King: Majestic Fire Destruction!''

Rory breathed out a stream of flames of intense heat. The flames spread towards the water dragon that was still on its charge towards her. The flames and the water dragon collided. Rory's flames exploded into a sea of flames upon hitting their target. The water dragon was consumed by the sea of flames. The hot flames melted the flames nothing more than steam. The flames also reduced the water in the battlefield considerably, creating a cloud of steam.

When the cloud finally cleared, all the spell's had died down and neither of the users were in danger of any sort. Other than the fact that Pandemonium was slightly panting, he was alright. He had yet to receive any real damage from his battle with Rory. On the other side, Rory was in near perfect condition, she was tired slightly, she just was not showing it.

The mana Rory had released replenished her reserves. However, that was not the only good thing about the stored up mana with Magia Erebea, it also replenished her energy...Rory could as well say that it worked as a soldier pill.

After recovering his breath, Pandemonium charged at the unmoving figure of Rory. The ebony-haired apostle was just standing there motionless as if waiting for Pandemonium to attack her.

Pandemonium appeared in front of Rory and spun around attempted a back kick and Rory. Rory deflected the kick by her own leg. She summoned her Dark Spear. Holding it tightly on its handle, she slashed it vertically at Pandemonium. Without a proper weapon to defend against the blade, Pandemonium jumped back to avoid being cut.

You could not fight against someone with a double-blade sword when you did not have weapon. Dodging was the only way he could fight. Rory lunged herself in front of Pandemonium not giving him much time to plan for a way to fight. She swung her left foot towards Pandemonium forcing him to bring out his hands to block the kick.

Rory was expecting Pandemonium to do just that. She put more power behind her kick causing Pandemonium to lose his footing. Rory slashed her blade across Pandemonium's chest. With his hands occupied by Rory's kick, Pandemonium had no way to defend himself.

Regardless of that, he was not some weak demon. He allowed his body to lean back despite not having complete balance over his body. His action did enough to avoid the sword from leaving a large gash on his chest. The tip of the blade cut across his chest leaving him bleeding slightly. The spear of darkness instantly absorbed Pandemonium's blood.

Rory not leave things as they were, she delivered a knee to Pandemonium's gut while the beast was still processing the fact that he had been cut in a melee fight. She jumped up and spun around delivering a hard kick on Pandemonium's face sending him flying away.

After crashing down, Pandemonium got up panting slightly and swiped the blood that was leaking off his mouth. He stood still for a moment staring at Rory. That bitch was still in good condition while he had a cut across his chest, though not deep it was still a cut. The cut from that spear healed unusually slow. That spear had to be a living thing, it was absorbing him.

"What a splendid performance, Sister!" Aleister praised. "It's my turn now." He added excitedly.

"Dragon-Slayer V: Blood Spear."

By merging the enormous magical power of "Blood Phoenix" into the spear form of Iaculatio Fulgoris, this spell concentrates the intense destructive power of "Blood Phoenix" into a focused "spike". The Blood Spear struck the Beast with the force of an atomic bomb, vaporizing anything within a mile radius.

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The battle of Saudi Arabia is inspired by Terror Belli, Decus Pacis by TheShortGrenadier. I hope the original author don't mind.