Legate was still waiting for... anything really, he still wasn't sure if he made the right decision, he managed to boost morale of his army and fix their dissarray. But that wouldn't last long, sometimes waiting was the worst part of the wars. Lıke a calm before the storm and this truly felt like one, he was still tempted to just retreat and get away from that gate as much as possible, but his pride and honor couldn't let him, not to mention what kind of punishment would he get for his failure? No it was indeed better to stay here, waiting, at least for some time.

Even most arrogant nobles on horseback were quiet, including the ones suggested him to not bother with scouts and he hoped they would stay that way. Of course there were still some idiots who scoffed at him for letting a ''simple mist'' stop the advance of the glorious saderan army. Thankfully he kept his emotions on check like he was trained, or there could have been some injuries for morons.

So they waited for minutes, they would probably would be here for hours, waiting for something to happen.

And then after what felt like for eternity it happened:

A single blue figure suddenly materialized in the front of the army everyone in the army suddenly focused on that figure, figure almost looked pretty with that magic blue light, it was humanoid and armored with a strange helmet.

Legate's eyes widened in terror when he realized what it was, what Manius told him about the lands beyond the gate.

Ghost

Everything happened so fast, before he could even give orders, figure suddenly turned red, and fired them with rays of light, few men in the front turned to ash, army quickly attacked the ghost, some of the savage demi-humans eagerly launched themselves with sickly grins to the figure, but their grins fell from their faces when they realized their attacks did nothing and turned to ash by the ghost.

It was futile, arrows, swords, even magic was inneffective, just like Manius told him, ghost just kept coldly shooting them, Legate was frozen in horror, he could the screams of his men as they died, smell of burning flesh reached his nose, his hands and entire body was shaking in pure primal fear. It was pointless he realized, everything in his life, all the things he endured and achieved, from his childhood brutal trainings, friends and comrades he lost, his entire life was pointless, there were forces in universe so powerful so vast, he was nothing when compared to them, Empire was nothing, The whole world was nothing, perhaps even the gods were nothing.

Then his army started to explode.

Despite everything he managed to look away from the ghost to the gate and he noticed it just now, an army, there were few dozen of them but many more of then were coming and they were not human, they looked so... strange, alien, creatures looked like they were made of metal, with a horse-cart wheel, if he did not have greater concers, he would wonder how such a wheel managed to carry such a huge figure. Just like the ghost, they too fired things to his army, even dragon riders fell when golems attacked them. Sometimes men exploded their limbs flying, sometimes they just turned to ash, sometimes they just dropped dead with huge wounds on their bodies.

''WE ARE CURSED!''

''GODS HAVE ABONDONED US''

''ARE THEY ALL MAGES!?''

''RETREAT! RETREAT! LEAVE THE SLAVES BEHIND!

Some of the men screamed these words, morale completely has crumbled in the army, pure terror, fear confusion raged in them. As they desperately tried to escape,

Last thing Legate saw was huge yellow metal scorpions emerging from underground and killing even more of his men, one of the metal scorpions launched itself to him, Atticius tried to kill it with his sword, but sword did not even left a dent in monster's armor, as scorpion knocked him unconscious, his last thoughts were cursing the universe for being so cruel.

Courier watched with morbid fascination, a single hologram alone managed to give a such huge damage to such a big army, she originally planned to use it as a distraction, so securitrons could approach withoug being seen until it was too late. She used a stealth-boy and approached in the front of the army, then she used her hologram projector to ''fire'' a hologram, and watched the carnage unfold. At this point securitrons were not even necessary, hologram could probably kill all of them alone, sure it would take a long time but it probably could, unless if the projector's batteries run out. Since she never used a single hologram on such a huge army. Or if army decided to do the smart thing and retreat.

''it's like holding light in your hands. Can't fight it... only watch it burn. Just one is a portable army. Arm it - anyone stands against you, dies.''

Elijah's words ringed in her head once more, she had seen them in action many times of course, she wiped out many factions with them in Mojave, but sometimes it was so... to hold such power in her palms, it made her feel invincible, a God.

She quickly purged that corrupting line of thought from her mind, it seemed despite everything she was only merely human.

Securitrons quickly approached, roboscorpions digged the ground to make a surprise attack, as hologram killed everthing in it's sight, securitrons fired everything they had, with rockets, lasers and guns. Even those strange mutants and flying creatures(were they dragons?) did not stood a chance as they fell to the ground. In minutes ''Legion'' army crumbled, limbs flied around, wind carried the laser ashes, screams echoed the air. She did not understand what they were saying, but obviously they were not very happy. Humans were so fragile...

She had doubts, but she was sure of it now, they were not legion. They were more like twisted mockery of legion, they were too primitive, their armor and army was a joke, they had mutants in their army, they crumbled so easily. She had many questions about this whole thing. And was glad to see roboscorpions and securitrons already managed to capture some of them. She shut down the hologram, the battle was won, survivors escaped and ran away quickly as they could. She did not want the hologram to kill prisoners. They were lucky to be alive.

Or perhaps not, they were going to the Big Empty after all.

Atticus regained consciousness in a cold metal slab, naked, he looked around, everything was metal in here, with those strange magic lights, he had no idea where he was.

He tried to move, but failed, that was strange because he was pretty sure he was not tied to the slab, realization came in. He was paralyzed!

In terror he tried to look around and moved his head as much as he could, he looked for something to escape to find something to use.

Metal door opened, and from it, a metal demon arrived, it could not be anything else, it had a human brain, it had metal limbs, and three faces with the mockery of human mouth and eyes, with a glowing purple light.

''Ahh so you have awakened by little lobotomite' it said with a seductive female voice, Atticus had no idea what a 'lobotomite' was and he did not care. He had greater concerns, like how did this demon learned his language. But He couldn't do anything, he could not even speak.

''I suppose you are wondering how I learned your lobotomite language? Oh you don't have to worry about that, it was nothing really, we just extracted the brains of your fellow lobotomites and drained their knowledge, they were so clean, filled with fascinating knowledge, and now it's your turn''

Atticus wanted to scream in horror, to beg for mercy from the demon to spare him, but he could only watch. He had no mouth and he had to scream.

''Shhh, don't worry, there is nothing to be afraid of, this will only sting a little'' Dala said in a seductive voice as she activated her vivisectors and sedative injector.

''For a decade''

A Week Later

Think Tank were many things, they were one of the smartest scientists humanity has produced, they were geniuses, they created many world-changing technologies, In Big Empty, they were basically gods. After they tortur- errr lobotomized the saderan prisoners, they arrived in sink to discuss their findings as if like nothing unusual happened.

And Today they had many things to discuss indeed with revent events, reports were... fascinating.

''So let's sum this up shall we?'' Robert House, their newest member announced, Courier was the one who brought him in, of course Doctor O complained about it, but courier convinced him how ''advancement of science was far more important than his petty feelings''. Courier also convinced the Doctor 8 in the exact same way when she arrived there with Elijah who hacked him in the past. Strangely it worked again.

''We literally have a reality warping portal in the mojave, this portal appeared out of nowhere, humans arrived from it but mojave killed them, these humans somehow have pure DNA untouched by radiation and beyond the portal, there is new whole clean world filled with literal gods, magic, elves, demi-humans and legi- sorry I mean roman cosplayers. Am I the only one who realizes how surreal this whole situation is?'' House asked with bewilmerent.

''OH COME NOW HOUSE! WHO CARES! THERE IS NEW WHOLE WORLD OUT THERE! FILLED WITH IDEAS AND POSSIBILITES! IMAGINE WHAT WE COULD DO WITH SUCH WORLD! FOR SCIENCE!'' Dr. Klein replied loudly. His brain in tank glowing in blue light.

''NOW GENTLEMEN! AND LADY! WHAT SHOULD WE DO WITH THIS WORLD? PERHAPS WE SHOULD FILL IT WITH CLOUD TO EXAMINE HOW IT WOULD INTERACT WITH PURE HUMANS AND THOSE NEW SPECIES? OR PERHAPS WE SHOULD LOOK DEEPER TO THIS SO-CALLED ''MAGIC'' AND MANIPULATE IT! GIVE ME YOUR IDEAS!''

Ever since the Courier, Klein was more open to the different ideas, and less rude, at least for the other members of the think tank.

''Well I'm personally very interested with the biology of these ''elves'' my favorite teddy bear brought me. The data I achieved from their corpses were very interesting, and I would love to examine them in detail, like their reproduction, its uh- for scientific reasons of course'' Dala suggested eagerly, her tone betraying the excitement she tried to hide.

Klein looked at her in disgust, but he did not made any comment when Borous spoke next.

''I'M MORE INTERESTED WITH THESE NEW CREATURES! These 'wyerns' and 'demi-humans' have a unique biology, I want to see what I could achieve with them in DNA splicing LABS! I need living specimens!'' I say we splice them all to create lovely animals like my Gabe!'' Borous said with excitement.

''Or, we could just use this new world to fix the mistakes of our ancestors while also learning from our mistakes'' House replied, with a tired and amazed tone ''It is a clean new world! untouched by radiation! we can use this to create an utopia with technologies our ancestors failed to utilize. Sierra Madre vending machines would provide everything, use holograms, robots for security and labor. use botanical garden technology to grow food and plants, use Auto-doc for medicine, this world handed to us in a silver platter, It is a second chance. We can also use this to advance my plan to show humanity the way to the starts! are we really going to just ruin it with our experiments for no reason!? and make it no better than wasteland!?'' House asked in despair, brains looked him in bewilmerent. Even Doctor O looked at him with pity.

''Cleary he is malfunctioning...'' Dr. Klein muttered quietly, He then meddled with terminal nearby, House's tank suddenly spasmed and shaked, then he spoke again:

''I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure, then construct bunch of casinos to exploit the survivors and use their money to create space program'' House suggested again.

Much better! Klein thought to himself, Whatever they decide today, it would decide the fate of Falmart.

''There are not words available in vocabulary to describe by hatred for the six of you'' House suddenly spoke again, Huh it seemed this time Klein's fix for his malfunction only worked for a short time. He had to make it better.

''Come now Robert, stop complanining like a lobotomite!'' Dala said to House, House looked at her with his monitors in fury.

''You! and Courier! forcibly removed me from my life support chamber, brought me here, and put my brain in one of these damned jars! Now I am stuck with all of you for decades!'' House replied with venom in his voice.

''Decades? you mean for eternity!'' Doctor O chuckled to him.

''Stuck? we don't have time to be stuck! we have to do SCIENCE!'' Klein shouted, and he meddled with terminal again.

''You sadistic barbarians...'' House couldn't finish his words, as he was spasmed and shaked... again.

''Barbarians?! We are not Communists!'' Borous screamed.

It was just another ordinary day in the Big Empty

Saecilius Severus was one of the men managed to escape from the gate. He joined the army to make money for his family in village, he never had interest for glory or honor or any of that nonsense, there is no glory in war. There never was and there never would be. Those who suggested otherwise were fools who yet to see an actual war. To know the loss of your brothers in arms, to march without knowing it may be your last.

His training was harsh, but he already hard-life in village anyway, such was the fate of peasantry, they worked while nobles reaped the rewards like vermin they were. His last campaing was in north, where he was sent to pacify a demi-human rebellion. After that successful campaing he was sent to Gate.

It was a one sided slaughter, it was the worst defeat Empire has suffered. And he had no doubt that it would follow. The enemy, whatever they were, unleashed powerful magic, ghost and golems against them, he personally witnessed everything. An invincible blue ghost single-handedly decimated the army, followed by metal golems and metal scorpions. It was a not a battle, it was a slaughter. The nobles ignored this '' cowards who can only fight with us with heretical magic'' he heard one of them say. They weren't the ones who joined the battles and fought of course.

His memory was mixed... he couldn't exactly remember what happened in battle, everything was so unknown that his brain desperately tried to find explanation and failed. Scream of pain of his comrades, booms of explosions, light beams of ghost and golems, emerge of metal scorpions from underground. He felt fear, it was a type of fear when facing with the unknown.

At that moment he decided, after waking from another nigthmare in the camp, By Emroy, he saw his comrades reduced nothing but ash with his own eyes!

''Curses open the Empire, curses open the army, curses upon the nobles and curses upon to that fucking emperor!''

Fuck this, he was going to get out of the camp tonight, before enemy arrived here. He was going to return to his village.

Ever since they read the report a legate brought them. Many things happened after the news of failed invasion. Zorzal accused the Legate and the army for being weak cowards, Pina was shaking in fear while Diabo had a calculated look on his face. The Council was assembled amongst politicians and military leaders was held before the king for what their next move should be.

Main speaker started the conversation. ''My king, We have underestimated the power of lands beyond the gate, as we have approximately lost fourth of our Empire's total fighting force. Now we have powerful heretical magic threatening our Empire! How do you intend to compensate for this disaster?!"

Emperor Molt the Emperor of the Empire spoke. "Marquis Garcel, I assure you, I share your concern as well. I spend sleepless nights of nigthmares about ghosts roamind in our lands, this red cloud covering the sky. But haven't we managed to pull ourselves in every disaster? Like the Artec War two-hundred and fifty years ago? defeats happens in wars. A god I am not. I am not invincible. I believe we can still defeat them, majority of our army still active, these monsters will learn our might''.

Thus the floor was opened to the concerns and accusations of those present.

"But how are we going to defeat them! Some claim our lands are cursed with necromantic magic from that gate!"

"We heard the sound of explosions and light beams. A single ghost caused chaos and disarray then those metal golems attacked! Our soldiers were caught in surpside and completely annihilated! and this red mist kills anything near the gate, so we can't even approach it! I have never seen such horrifying magic!"

"Then we have to fight! If our forces are insufficient we just have to gather more from our vassal states!"

The bickering continued for some time, their king demanded their attention as he stood up from his throne.

"We don't have time for this! and we cannot remain idle!" Molt commanded. "Enemy are mindless monsters, consisted with undead and golems, unless we can find the necromancer who rules them we can't negotiate with them. That means we have no choice but to fight! Send envoys to request reinforcement from our vassals now! In order to combat these monsters from another world seeking to destory our world, we have to muster our full might and then recapture Alnus Hill! And show those monsters our might!" Emperor's speech earned an applause from the military leaders.

Of course while that was the Emperor's primary intention it was also a clever ploy. Since the Empire weakened from their failed battle, it wouldn't take much for a civil war to break out as the vassal states they had subjugated would try to rebel. So before they could get any ideas they have to be weakened as well as not to compromise their authority. Even if the allied kingdoms were to claim victory or defeat, Saderan Empire would still remain in power.