The ground merged into one stream of color beneath Somnus as he approached the elven army at considerable speed. The wing blades arranged themselves behind him in a fan shape and constantly blasted off a torrent of crystallizing dust through which a blue light diffused.The Gateway grew in size as Somnus approached and only then did it reveal its true, deceptive size. The Gateway was the top half of a circle and at its widest it was nearly an entire kilometer across. Magical formations coalesced into a physical material made up the walls of the Gateway, and in the center, a light pulsed through grey mists.
The first ranks of the elven army appeared in Somnus"s vision, and soon after the rest came into view as well. The Elves easily numbered over fifty thousand and their composition differed vastly from the Empire"s army. They had no traditional cavalry; Instead, they used flying horses akin to the mythological pegasus from Somnus"s world. The front row infantry held glowing silver spears, while in the back, thousands of archers waited for the signal to fire.
Interestingly, as the enemy army saw Somnus and the vapor forming around the shockwave of his supersonic movement, they began laying down their arms. But Somnus had no interest in mercy; A foreign feeling burned in his carbon veins. Bloodl.u.s.t. He could not understand why, but so far deep in the desire for destruction he found himself unable to care either way. He wanted to destroy the enemy for no particular reason. Destruction for destruction"s sake.
Somnus called to mind the image of Aurora using the [Lonely Blade]. It was not a skill; He was sure of that. It was not a spell either, as Somnus did not detect any magic circles, but he did detect a flow of mana. In the split seconds of deciphering Aurora"s technique, Somnus thought about her words and what happened to her in this world. What was it like being trapped in this world for thousands of years? Going from an Immortal Empress to a servant to some ambiguous thing. Unable to die with honor. All her glory in vain.
Deep within his core—perhaps his very soul—he felt sorry for Aurora. He felt angry for her. Perhaps this was about vengeance. Not just against the elves and the G.o.ds, or the humans, but the world itself. In a way, he could reason that this was h.e.l.l; The purgatory for all those who wors.h.i.+pped War.
His mind reached through the medium of reality and tapped into the information dimension, similar to what he could do with Aeon"s Apotheosis Engine. He realized that as a high level adventurer he could perform such a feat and enforce his will unto the world.
Aurora called her technique [Lonely Blade] and Somnus understood why. For so long, she had been among the most powerful beings in this world—if not the most powerful. Only now did Somnus understand some things about Aurora that should"ve been immediately obvious. She was lonely—a lone existence at the pinnacle—waiting for someone to dethrone her. Somnus did not give her that, but still, for some reason, she was happy at the end. Why?
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He channeled his mana into the physical realm and gestured towards the army with a finger.
"Wait, we surren—" someone shouted.
"[Hateful Blade]" Somnus uttered the words with a grave tone and the world flashed before his eyes. A thin white line appeared horizontally before him and seemed to extend for an eternity. Reality warped and flowed into the line, collapsing the s.p.a.ce within everything the line touched. It was like a giant sword cutting through everything that existed, fueled with hatred and vengeance.
As the line—the hateful sword—pa.s.sed through the elves, their bodies. .h.i.t the ground in several pieces. Blood colored the brown dirt entirely crimson—rivers of it flowed.
The [Hateful Blade] dissipated before it could reach the Gateway, but it had already claimed tens of thousands of souls. Only a small fraction of the army remained; Those at the corners near the Gateway, and the flying cavalry. But it was not enough for Somnus. A few dozen thousand souls could not satisfy his desire for vengeance—it could not blunt the sharp edge of his hatred. He needed more. Not even the burning wreckage of the elven Heaven could satisfy him. So long as the heart of the world remained intact, the blood would never stop flowing.
He pointed at the cavalry, narrowed his eyes, and channeled mana into his wing blades.
[Harmonics]
A whirlwind of undefined energy burst from the center of where the elven army was and warped reality even further, causing black cracks to appear in the air. Like shattered gla.s.s, the cracks in the air extended outwards, slas.h.i.+ng, crus.h.i.+ng and atomizing everything it touched, including the remnants of the enemy army. Their panicked screams were still ringing in Somnus"s head when he reached out towards the Gateway and began weaving magical symbols into a new kind of magic circle.
The formation that appeared behind Somnus was a hundred meters across and contained a mechanism that would comprehensively test the properties of the Gateway, allowing him to reverse engineer it. But as the spell completed and the magical formula collapsed into certainty, the results were inconclusive. The type of magic that made up the Gateway was unknown to him and likely Divine.
But why did it still exist if it was Divine? He had slaughtered the Elven G.o.ds. Were there more of them? Or was Somnus simply incapable of understanding the Magic of the Gateway? Eliminating the possibility that the magic type was Divine, Somnus concluded that it had to be a Skill of some sort.
Still, he had the Gateway to the Elven lands. This was an acceptable outcome, even if it wasn"t the ideal one. Ideally, he would be able to open his own Gateway straight to the Empire.
He briefly considered searching the bodies for clues on the Gateway, such as magical items that might be used to create or summon one. Somnus considered the possibility because the likelihood of the Gateway being a Skill was fairly slim. It had to be magic of some sort.
In the end, he decided to wait for his army to catch up to him, which they did by the time the morning sun came up.
When Peron saw the rivers and lakes of blood, he was visibly disgusted even though he tried his best to remain neutral. People like Peron were not used to battles where the casualty rate is higher than twenty percent, in the most extreme of cases. To Peron it was normal to fight until a clear victor is decided and then to break off engagement. In fact, this was the case for all civilized creatures in this world. Therefore, the methods and tactics of Somnus always shocked Peron, even though he had become accustomed to it somewhat. What he saw in the glow of the morning sun was entirely different.
"With this… the elves will have to depart the continent," Peron said.
"This was their entire army?" Somnus asked.
"Possibly not all of it, but certainly their main fighting force. Those banners—The white stag with golden crown—they are the Reg"alfar elite," Peron explained.
"Designation Gemma mentioned that race. Are they the leaders of the Alfar?"
"Not quite," Peron said. "They are divided, but when it comes to war, they obey the orders of the Reg"alfar. Without the Reg"alfar army, they have no leaders.h.i.+p. The local lords or Realms outside the Empire"s influence might take advantage of that."
Somnus nodded, glancing towards the Gram army behind the Duke.
"Now what, my Liege?" Peron asked.
"We go through the Gateway. We will establish a staging area just in case, but our goal is to reach the Empire and destroy Seraph," Somnus said.
"And if we run into resistance?"
"Kill them. Burn their cities to the ground. Salt every acre of fertile soil. Destroy, loot and pillage everything. The more extreme and heinous the better."
"Why?" Peron asked, a touch of confusion in his voice.
"To deter further resistance."
Peron obviously did not agree with these methods, but he could not find valid arguments to counter it with. When it comes right down to it, this was, in a way, exactly the kind of warfare he was used to. But instead of breaking an army after they took ten or twenty percent casualties, they were breaking an entire nation.
"As you will it, my Liege," Peron said, saluting.
Eventually, Somnus withdrew the wing blades and stood aside as he watched the armies prepare for their journey through the Gateway. The Ashborn carried all their equipment on them, but the Deathbringers needed entire convoys for their equipment. Unlike the Ashborn, the Deathbringers were ordinary people who did not even go through a valid or rigorous recruitment process. They were given a weapon they never saw before and had only a week of practice before meeting the largest army the world had seen in recent times—and won. Not only that, but G.o.ds after as well. Every single one of them was now at such a high level that they would be considered Heroes in the Guild. In the span of one day, Gram had become the most powerful nation in the world.
But Might alone does not win wars. The Empire was still larger and far more industrious, something Somnus thought he could change in due time without conquest. If only Somnus cared about such things. Gram didn"t mean much to him. It did not mean anything back when he was in the Dungeon, exploiting the Core for levels and information, and it didn"t matter now that he was actually the nation"s sovereign.
What he wanted was beyond the Empire, beyond even Seraph. Vengeance upon this world, for taking away his true enemy.