A Song of Blood and Sunlight (ASOIAF / Warhammer Fantasy / Soulsborne)

[Trafford]

October of Year 10,280 of Lordranese Callendar, Lands of Ancient, Holy Arcadia Empire, Reikland, Anor Londo.


Several months passed since the creation of the Stormcast Eternals, and it was time for the Crusade against the barbarians of the Stormwind's Badlands to begin.


All the preparations were done, and the pieces were on the chessboard.


The Imperial Bashar of the Imperial Military has completed all of the preparations to invade the Badlands of the Grand Province of Stormwind. Imperial Bashar Jacques d'Orleáns was working on the strategies and plans for several months.


The entire HighCom of the Imperial Military created several plans in case something went wrong, and now, they had prepared an overall invasion of the Badlands. Not only that, but they also prepared for the genocide of the Barbarians.


The orders were clear; nobody from the Badladns could survive. The entire Barbarian population was considered as the ultimate enemies of the state, and they were also the vilest heretics to the Healing Church.


They assembled several Imperial Legions from the Grand Province of Caladan, Grand Province of Munn, Grand Province of Faelor, Grand Province of Orleáns, and Grand Province of Stormwind.


The 4th Imperial Legion of Orleáns, 5th Imperial Legion of Faelor, 8th Imperial Legion of Caladan and 10th Imperial Legion of Stormwind were all gathered in the Stormwind and ready to invade the Badlands.


Just the 9th Imperial Legion of the Grand Province of Munn was attacking from the sea, using parts of the fleet that was commanded by one of the newly promoted Admirals of the Imperial Navy, Euron Greyjoy.


The Imperial Navy was still in the fledgling phase, but now, as the Euron Greyjoy was personally soul-bound to the Divine Throne of Sunlight and Cinder, the Holy Imperator let him lead the charge.


Not to mention, that madman was enjoyed and thrilled to finally participate in some war, because he was impatient of just sitting around. Aside from that, he would have the possibility to test the warships and other things that were given to the Imperial Navy.


375,000 soldiers from the Imperial Legions were deployed, and this was just the start because they were deploying many other units. This was one of the most impressive setups of the Imperial Legions that was deployed in a long time on the Lands of the Ancient Lords.


Aside from the Imperial Legions, 2 Legions of the Silver Knights and the majority of the Stormcast Eternals. The Silver Knights of the Silver Knight Order deployed two Legions, which was something unseen because that was already half of their numbers.


The remaining Silver Knight Legions were only two, one stationed at the Skycrown Gate and another stationed at the Orklands, at the wall separating the Orklands from the lands under the control of the Imperium.


2 Chambers of the Reiksgard Temple under the leadership of their Lord Celestant Prime Atreus Atreides, 1 Chamber of the Judicator Temple under the leadership of their Lord Celestant Prime Gurney Halleck and 2 Chambers of the Paladin Temple under the leadership of their Lord Celestant Prime Ludwing the Holy Blade.


This would be the official debut of the Stormcast Eternals. They would be shown on the battlefield for the entire Holy Arcadia Empire to see its Angels of Death and ultimate bulwark against the forces of Chaos and Ruin, against the Heretics, Traitors, Orks and others...


The only thing that was lacking to the Stormcast Eternals was their Lord General-Kommandant, as the position was still vacant. Within the entire Imperium, there was no other person whom Karl Franz trusted with the power over the Stormcast Eternals.


The Lord General-Kommandant had complete and utter control of the Stormcast Eternals and the Stormcast Eternals were the most powerful military unit and organization within the entire Imperium.


With their standardized power reaching the various degrees of the Level 4 physical state, they had the best armor and weapons, the best training possible and everything that the Imperium could give them.


While there were only 4,500 of them, it wouldn't be wrong that they could massacre the entire Imperial Legions altogether with minimal losses.


The Stormcast Eternals were in the best of the best; they were the Holy Imperator's Angels of Death. They were his bulwark against the forces of Ruin and Chaos; they were the sword protectors of the Divine Throne of Sunlight and Cinder.


For that reason, Karl Franz could command over the Stormcast Eternals as the Lord General-Kommandant only to a single person within the entire Imperium. And he was already working on it, as he spent a few weeks, convincing Maria to take the mantle of the Lord General-Kommandant.


"Maria, I am telling you for the hundredth time already, that only you could take the mantle of the Lord Celestant Prime."


Karl Franz looked at Lady Maria Vileblood because they had had this discussion already countless times. He knew that Maria didn't want to be in some official position because she loved her freedom and ability to do what she wanted.


"And before you repeat the non-sensical arguments you are constantly spinning; you are the only person within the entirety of the Holy Arcadia Empire that could assume the position of the Lord General-Kommandant."


Karl Franz was sitting on his chair in his study, with Maria Vileblood was sitting across him as they were having another discussion about this topic.


"The power of the Stormcast Eternals could be commanded only by someone from the Imperial House, something that you should know very well. Aside from that, once you assume command of the Stormcast Eternals, as the Lord General-Kommandant, you will still have a significant freedom..."


Karl Franz explained once again as he tried to convince Maria to take up the position of the Lord General-Kommandant, hopefully, this time with much better results than the last time. When he saw that this time, she wasn't refuting him outright; he knew that he had a good chance.


"Okey... if there is no other way..."


Even though Maria didn't want to be tied down and do something that she didn't wish, she knew that this decision was extremely important for her beloved and even for their future.


She was aware that the power of the Stormcast Eternals was too great to be left entirely in the hands of the outsiders that were not a direct part of the Imperial House. Even the various Lord Celestantises that commanded the Chambers were chosen from the most fanatically loyal followers of the Imperator.


"Splendid, then from today, you are the Lord General-Kommandant of the Stormcast Eternals with all the command over the organization."


Karl Franz stated with his authority as the Holy Imperator of the Holy Arcadia Empire and declared Maria as the Lord General-Kommandant of the Stormcast Eternals. Now, with that being done, they had all positions filled and the Stormcast Eternals were battle-ready for the action.


"Of course, of course... now that you have managed to push this responsibility on me, I will have a lot of work to do. Anything I need to know before I assume my official position within the wheels of the Imperial Administration?"


Maria asked her fianceé / lover as she was sitting down, more irritated than before because she was already named as the Lord General-Kommandant of the Stormcast Eternals. Getting responsibility that she was trying so hard to avoid.


"Not much; I have just one request... when you will step on the battlefield against the Children of Bul-Khatos, you must showcase the strongest side of the Stormcast Eternals for the whole Imperium to see."


Karl Franz stated that the Crusade against the Barbarians of the Badlands wasn't just about clearing them out from the Grand Province of Stormwind but also about showing the force and power for the wider Imperium.


It would also be an ultimate showcase of the power of the Imperium for all others to see.


As the Holy Imperator of the Imperium, he needed to remind everyone of the power that he commanded and what was the better opportunity than the Crusade against the Children of the Bul-Khatos.


"Of course I will..."


Even though Maria avoided politics and everything related to it, she was aware of the significance behind this move and knew that this was also the ultimate show of power of the Imperial House Holswig-Schliestein von Reikland de Anor.


For the debut of the Stormcast Eternals, she knew that it was essential to make a show out of it; she needed to show everyone that was watching the entire endeavor how powerful the Stormcast Eternals were and that they were part of the Imperial House.


"Then that was everything that I wanted to say... everything else, administration duties included, would be handled by the Lords Celestantises of the respective Chambers, as they are in charge of the matters over their Chambers and naturally by the Lords Celestants Primes of the respective Temples."


Lord General-Kommandant of Stormcast Eternals, was someone who wasn't very hard-pressed by the administration duties because he knew that otherwise, Maria would never agree to take the position.


He wanted to have someone whom he trusted the most, so the only option for the position was Lady Maria Vileblood.


On top of everything, he knew that her mother, High Lord Magistrate Annalise Vileblood, would be delighted to see her daughter holding such a prestigious post within the Imperial Administration.


"Imperial Bashar prepared everything for the Crusade, and it has been decided that this time, it would be most prudent that if the Stormcast Eternals would be acting directly as my guardians and lead the Vanguard together with me... at least part of the Reiksgarde Chamber."


Karl Franz stated, that he planned to lead the vanguard and participate in the Crusade personally.


While technically speaking, there was no need for such a decision, as there were other high-level professionals that could take up the position, it was more for propagation purposes.


Aside from these reasons, it was also the Holy Imperator himself, who wanted to test his might against the Children of Bul-Khatos, as there were many powerful Barbarians among their ranks.


This was just the culmination of the problem that they had decided not to solve immediately, and the Barbarians were growing stronger with each passing decade, and they were, right now, stronger than the entire Grand Province combined.


From a certain point of view, it was a pretty terrifying perspective, considering the might of every single Grand Province of the Holy Arcadia Empire.


"As you wish... it would be glorious to participate in the combat together. Two students of the Gehrman on the same battlefield... the old must be proud or at least something along those lines."


Maria remarked as she thought it over because Gehrman the First Hunter would be overseeing the entire Crusade from the side. There were not enough information about the Immortal King of the Children of Bul-Khatos.


***


MC POV


Dealing with the things around the upcoming Crusade against the Barbarians of the Badlands within the Grand Province of Stormwind to exterminate the threat of the Barbarians was tiring a bit.


Not to mention, I decided to participate in the Crusade personally; it would be a good morale boost for the troops and also a heaven-sent propagation material for the Imperium.


Aside from that, it was tempting to fight against some of the most powerful Children of Bul-Khatos, perhaps even the Immortal King himself.


"Also, I wanted to ask... how is your guest taking the training and everything at the Cainhurst?"


While I was getting reports about how she was doing at the Schola Progenium and everything, I wanted to hear it from Maria. She was also personally teaching her how to fight and mastery over combat, so she would be able to put a more precise image how the things were developing.


"Rather good... she has a talent for combat, not like to put her among the most powerful combatants of the Holy Arcadia Empire, but strong enough to put her on the potential of the true Elites of the Imperium. Aside from that, her studies are progressing very well, and her motivation is very strong."


Maria knew that Cersei Lannister was driven by the concept of power.


She wanted power and to use it; for her it didn't matter what kind of power it was, and this motivation was driving her further on her journey.


"And how is she overall? Has her personality problems been culled entirely?"


I knew that Cersei had a very deep arrogance and attitude that was deeply rooted in her bones, and it was something that would be very hard to destroy entirely. It was a relatively sensitive problem because it could lead to grave consequences if not handled correctly.


"Yes... it seems that she managed to acclimatize herself to the society of the Imperium rather fast, and she even started making friends... which was pretty surprising considering her attitude at the start, but now it is getting better."


Maria knew that Cersei was undergoing a very potent character development within the Schola Progenium because the environment was not something pampered "nobling" like her could really withstand.


Yet, at the same time, she was also smart enough to know how to acclimatize to prevail in such a competitive and cruel environment.


"That's actually very nice to hear..."


Still, I knew that once she was put through the machine cogs of the Schola Progenium and lived some time within the Holy Arcadia Empire, it would beat out her arrogance and self-centered personality out of her.


The Schola Progenium already got far worse cases than she was, so only a few months and she was already as good as the new one. She was being prepared for the role of one of the Empresses of the Holy Arcadia Empire.


And as I knew Maria, she would never act on her position as the Empress of the Holy Arcadia Empire; such a thing was impossible.


I already considered it as a miracle that he managed to convince her to take the place of the Lord Celestant Prime of the Stormcast Eternals.


I seriously doubted that Maria would be doing all those "boring" things that the rulers of the nations usually do. Due to this, I was already sure that Cersei would be needed to do all the political work and maneuvering...


"For now, you should be going to the rendezvous point of the Crusade."


The meeting point for the Crusading Army was set to the Fortress where the 10th Imperial Legion of the Grand Province of Stormwind was stationed, but another part of the Army was gathering at the Castle Greystone, which served as home to one of the retired Level 6 Hunters of the Workshop.


Though originally, it was home to a powerful female Sorceress who married the said Hunter at a later date, but that wasn't really important right now.


"Head to the Greystone Castle, bring there the parts of the Stormcast Eternals that were agreed and wait until I arrive to start the Crusade into the Badlands officially."


The Crusade into the Badlands against the Children of Bul-Khatos would commence from three directions. One of them was the Fortress of the 10th Imperial Legion, one from the Castle Greystone and another would be a through seat that would strike directly the lesser parts of the Badlands.


That one would be commencing from the Grand Province of Munn and would target primarily the ports of other places until they were to disembark and march onto the capital city of the Barbarians within the Badlands.


Basically, pincering all of the Barbarians and cut all of their possibilities of escape, slowly but surely exterminating them one by one until no none of them survived. The HighCom of the Imperial Army meticulously prepared a genocide plan for the Barbarians of the Badlands.


"Within a few days, the last reports from the Imperial Military Intelligence would arrive at the HighCom and after reviewing them, we could start the Crusade into the Badlands."


Unfortunately for the Imperial Military Intelligence, it was very hard to infiltrate the Barbarians, due to their distinctive characteristics, which were hardly replicated even with the usage of advanced Magic.


Not to mention, their entire society was very distrustful towards the outsiders; they were a closed society, and even entering the place was pretty much impossible. As unfortunate as it was, the lack of information they had was something that worried me greatly.


Unfortunately, this wasn't even technically speaking the fault of the Imperial Military Intelligence because infiltrating the Barbarian society was nearly impossible from the start, and that was not even talking about their higher-ups.


They were also pretty much paranoid because it had been noticed that many places were highly guarded, as the Shamans and their Druids were using some of their weird powers to scan for any signs of Magic and other things.


Through this method, they managed to uncover many spies and people that the Imperial Military Intelligence sent there to scout and gather information. This in turn, resulted in a state, where the HighCom had relatively little information about high-end combatants of the Children of Bul-Khatos.


And that was something that was deeply worrying me.


***


Fortress of the 10th Imperial Legion


Like the rest of the Fortresses that served as the homes to the Imperial Legions, even this one was an enormous structure of stone, steel and Magic. Everything is put together and built in the heart of the Grand Province of Stormwind.


Fortresses like these were common across the entire Holy Arcadia Empire, as they were constructed to house the Imperial Legions or at least, the parts of the Imperial Legions.


Aside from the main fortresses that acted as the headquarters for their respective Imperial Legions, there existed also smaller forts, among which the Imperial Legion was divided to cover the entire territory of the Grand Province equally.


Naturally, within the Grand Province of Stormwind, smaller forts also existed, but right now, all of the Legion was congregated within the Fortress. Aside from it, there were another one Imperial Legion stationed here.


Two Imperial Legions would be departing from the Fortress Storm together with one Legion of Silver Knights and other special detachments, while the same amount of troops would depart from the Castle Greystone.


And the last Imperial Legion was departing from the Grand Province of Munn by sea.


Right now, the Fortress Storm was packed with soldiers because it was housing two Imperial Legions, which numbered 150,000 soldiers, 10,000 Silver Knights from the Silver Knigth Order, and one Legion of Silver Knights had arrived.


And then there were around three thousand of other troops, that were mainly the newly established Stormcast Eternals, Battle Wizards, Sorcerers and other specialists that were departing to the Crusade.


This caused the entire Fortress Storm to feel a bit cramped already, but that would only last for a few days, because after the preparations are finished, they would be soon initiating the invasion into the Badlands.


Everything was prepared, from the soldiers to the machines of war, like the Heavy Armored Regiments and Artillery Regiments that had tens of machines of war, the pinnacle of Imperial Engineering and technology.


The Battle Wizards that were dispatched by the Byrgenwerth and the Eight Orders of Magic, were already in place and checking their final supplies for the Crusade. The Magic Users of all Classes and types would be playing a crucial role during the Crusade against the Barbarians of the Badlands.


The General of the 10th Imperial Legion was Anduin Lothar, former Head of the House Lothar; he was a middle-aged man with short brown hair reaching to his shoulders and piercing azure-blue eyes.


Someone who spent most of his time within the Imperial Military and was part of the war machine for as long as he could remember. However, he was raised to the position of the Imperial General only ten years ago, when the last Imperial General retired after a grave injury during class with the Barbarians of the Badlands.


Aside from him, there were two other people in the room, which was located in the highest tower of the Fortress Storm, which served as the office / home to the General of the Imperial 10th Legion.


One of them was the General of the 5th Imperial Legion from the Grand Province of Faelor, General Zangru Baruch von Lutheris. He was probably the youngest person to be ever raised to the position of the General of the entire Imperial Legion, which spoke highly about his capabilities and power.


He was a man who looked rather feminine with his short white hair, wearing golden-purple armor. However, behind that feminine appearance was one of the most dangerous warriors that the Imperium had ever produced.


At the age of forty, he was already named the General of the Imperial Legion and he was often titled the Warmaster due to his high mastery over the art of War. Within the Grand Province of Faelor, General Zangru Baruch von Lutheris was famous for eradicating the enormous colony of the Skavenblight a few years ago.


That was in the event when the Imperium started taking the Ratmen rather seriously and actively eliminating their species wherever they found their foul and ruinous presence.


Approximately five years ago or so, within the Black Mountains that was a mountain range spreading through the Grand Provinces of the Stormwind, Orlenáns and Faelor; some locals had clashes with the Skaven.


Until then, the Skavenblight could be found only on the Norsca Peninsula, within the Grand Provinces of the Fenris and Khaz-Modan, or within the enormous landmass that was known as the Daemon Lands.


But they were rather reluctant to enter into the deep areas of the Imperium, and yet, ever contrary to their typical mindset, the Skavenblight was observed within the Grand Province of Faelor.


This, in turn, put many of the high-ranking military personnel on high alert because it was rather close to the Grand Province of Orleáns, which was at that time under constant siege of the Orks from the Orklands and it also bordered partially with the World Edge Mountains.


Thus, General of the 5th Imperial Legion of the Grand Province of Faelor, General Zangru Baruch von Lutheris, got the order to eradicate the presence of the Skavenblight with his Imperial Legion as soon as possible.


While at the same time, similar orders were sent across the whole Imperium, by the Holy Order of the Holy Imperator, that the Skavens are to be actively searched, hunted and exterminated with extreme prejudice.


And General Zangru Baruch von Lutheris didn't disappoint, as within a mere few days, he managed to track down their major lairs, which were hidden in the end of the Black Mountains, bordering the enormous Blackwater Lake and started the siege.


His masterful approach to the siege resulted in the complete annihilation of the Skavenblight, with over several hundred thousand Ratmen exterminated of various ages, genders and subspecies, including some of the Chieftains and Shamans.


Meanwhile, the 5th Imperial Legion suffered only minimal losses during the entire endeavor.


This gave General Zangru Baruch von Lutheris very high prestige among the citizens of the Imperium.


And the last person who was in the room was someone whose fame preceded them all within the lands of the Holy Arcadia Empire. His silver armor reflected the light and radiated power and respect, just with a single look.


Artorias the Abysswalker, was someone who commanded respect, awe and majestiness of the Silver Knight Order. He was Legion Master of the 1st Legion of the Silver Knight Order and was peak Level 5 Professional, who entered the Abyss and returned back to tell the tale.


He was an ancient relic from the past long gone, one of the original knights that served Lord Gwyn, together with the Ciaran, Hawkey Gough the commander of the 3rd Legion of the Silver Knight Order and Executioner Smough Legion Master of the 4th Legion of the Silver Knight Order.


Ciaran the Lord's Blade was right now, in charge of the entire Temple of the newly established Stormcast Eternals, namely the Vindicator Temple of the Stormcast Eternals, as she was raised to the position of Lord Celestant Prime of the Vindicator Temple.


Right now, there was only one Chamber in the Vindicator Temple, but soon enough, within the near future, there would be more Chambers established within the Vindicator Temple, because the work for them would only increase.


The Holy Imperator knew the importance of sabotage, assassination and other similar activities and how important they were for the glory of the nation.


"We have approximately 24 hours or something in those lines until the Crusade starts, and we would be invading the Badlands of the Stormwind."


The General of the 10th Imperial Legion, Anduin Lothar, as he was tasked with being the leader of the Army Group Alpha, not only because of his personal power but also because he was also the most experienced person when it came to fighting against the Children of Bul-Khatos.


"Now, the situation is following. The Barbarians of Badlands, don't really have any fortifications or castles or any other points of interest that could be well defended against invading force, so in this aspect, we would have an easy time advancing."


General of the 10th Imperial Legion Anduin Lother stated as he looked at the map of the Grand Province of Stormwind, which was very detailed and showed all points of interest, cities, towns, forts, castles and so on...


"But that isn't that much of a win..."


The General of the 5th Imperial Legion from the Grand Province of Faelor, General Zangru Baruch von Lutheris, stated, much to the dismay of the people present.


"Yes... it would be far better if they had something like that because they would then subsequently congregate within the places and we could siege them and bombard them to oblivion. On the contrary, right now, we would be forced to deal with them head-on, greatly lowering our capabilities, especially that of the artillery."


Indeed, as the Army Group Alpha and Army Group Beta would be advancing into the deeper parts of the Badlands, there were little to no points of interest that the Children of Bul-Khatos built or operated.


Aside from their capital, Harrogath, which was built on Mount Arreat, there were only a few small settlements, fortifications and so on. But most of their population was living either within the capital, Harrogath, since their entire species was united under one banner or were living on the road.


Moving from one spot to another one.


"That is indeed a problematic element, but we could solve it relatively easily... we only need to send out some Battle Wizards and scouts with specific Danger Beasts to carry out the reconnaissance of the terrain. Through this, we should be able to locate the incoming Barbarians from several tens of kilometers away and give enough time for the Heavy Artillery to send a few gifts to them."


General Zangru Baruch von Lutheris proposed the idea, which was accepted almost immediately by both Legion Master of the 1st Legion of Silver Knights, Artorias the Abysswalker and General Anduin Lother of the 10th Imperial Legion.


"This indeed has a great merit. The journey to the Harrogath would take several weeks with the current speed; even with the fastest speed, we should be able to reach their capital within fifteen days."


Harrogath, the capital city of the Badlands and the sacred place for all Barbarians was built on the ancestral site of the Bul-Khatos and their very first Immortal King, on Mount Arreat.


And the Mount Arreat was located on the edges of the Badlands, so they would need to cross through the entire Badlands to reach the Harrogath. This would be a very arduous journey and nobody doubted that they would be harassed and attacked by the Barbarians during their entire journey.


That also made sense, as their entire civilization and society revolved around the martial might and even their youngest children could be drafted into their armies and be used as the foot soldiers in times of need.


"Yes, it would, but as long as we are careful and exterminate them to the last one, we don't have anything to fear. Still, we need to be careful to no leave anyone alive because if they attack our supply lines before we reach the destination it would be problematic."


General Zangru Baruch von Lutheris stated that before they reached the Harrogath and Mount Arreat, they would depend on the supply lines from the Grand Province of Stormwind for ammunition, weapons, armor, food, health supplies and miscellaneous things.


After they reached their destination, the Wizards and Scholars that the Byrgenwerth was sending would lay down mini teleportation arrays and they would be getting supplies and other things through teleportation.


Such was the tremendous advantage of a powerful and advanced magical civilization.


"As long as we destroy Harrogath and Mount Arreat, their entire spirit would crumble and the rest of their race won't be in danger and we can then systematically annihilate them and the last internal danger to the Imperium would be gone."


General of the 10th Imperial Legion of Grand Province Stormwind stated that for the people of Stormwind, the Barbarians of the Badlands were sworn enemies for centuries.


There was too much of hatred and bad blood between the species and peace was never an option, so even though, the Imperator wanted to recruit at least part of the Barbarians due to their inante gifts, it wasn't possible.


In the end, the Holy Imperator was rather content with the fact, that the Byrgenwerth would be working hard on replicating the gifts of the Children of Bul-Khatos through Magic and advanced research.


Their innate strength or innate resistance to Magic of any kind was too huge a motivator for the Holy Imperator and not only to him but also to the many of the HighCom and upper levels of the Imperial Administration.


Though at the same time, they also knew that it was of utmost importance to exterminate the Barbarians species from the face of Lordran to ensure the utmost loyalty of the Grand Province of Stormwind by destroying their most hated enemy.


***


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[ATP]

Interesting,but why waste time for writing about barbarians? they are arleady dead.
Wrote about enemies who could be dangerous.Like Chaos,Lich in North,or other - for example yellow King from Cardossa.

 

[Trafford]

Fortress of the 10th Imperial Legion, One Hour Later


After one hour, the long-awaited thing happened when the provisionary teleportation array activated, and the Holy Imperator himself exited the teleportation array, surrounded by the Stormcast Eternals in their bulkier runic armor.


Not only him but next to him was his fainceé, Lady Maria Vileblood of the Astral Clocktower, clad in her typical Hutner outfit because she appreciated the freedom and agility, while her lover was wearing the more armored version of the Hunter outfit of the Old Workshop.


Maria's fighting style revolved around overwhelming speed advantage, dexterity, and superior reflexes over their opponents. This required her to have freedom in her movements, so heavy armor was something that was greatly hindering her.


That didn't mean that her Hunter outfit was a weak form of defense; on the contrary, without overwhelming strength, it was almost nigh impossible to even think about damaging the Hunter outfit and the leather coat she was wearing.


It was made from the leather of Super Danger Beast that was comparable to the Level 6 Professional, so even though it wouldn't be enough to defend against some attacks that were comparable to the Level 6, it was still sufficient to protect her against the average Level 5s attacks and spells.


Together with her overwhelming speed, which made it almost impossible for the enemy to land a hit on Maria, and her combat style, she was a pretty problematic enemy to deal with.


Meanwhile, Karl Franz was wearing the armored version of the Hunter Outift, which had some metal plates on certain places of his body. His combat style didn't really revolve around overwhelming speed and such, but rather on overwhelming offensive power that he could release.


In combination with the Longinuslansze Testament, he was walking destruction incarnate on the battlefield. Even during this Imperial Crusade, it was known and anticipated that the Holy Imperator would be one of the heavy hitters during the Imperial Crusade.


***


MC POV


When I exited the provisional teleportation array, I noticed that the mood within the Fortress Storm was rather tense. This wasn't that surprising actually, considering the situation that was coming, but at the same time, the morale was high.


It seemed that having me present, leading the offensive, and bringing with me Maria and Stormcast Eternals boosted the morale several times over. In the individual clash, the Imperial Soldiers of the Holy Arcadia Empire were inferior to those of the Barbarians.


Average soldiers of the Imperial Legions were just ordinary humans who drank the weakest version of the Old Blood available, which only gave them a prolonged lifespan and more powerful physique that elevated them to the human limit.


Contrary to the Barbarians, the Children of Bul-Khatos were physically much, much stronger because even their weakest ones were at Level 1 in terms of their physique and the average warrior was at the peak of Level 1.


But the Imperial Legions were making up for their lack of physical strength with their superior equipment, armor, weapons, runes, Magic, and other means.


Through everything, they were able to fight against the Barbarians, and with specifically developed tactics, that was called Anti-Barbarian Tactics, they were even able to kill them if they acted really fast.


The greatest advantage that the Barbarians had was their vitality and physical strength, yet this also resulted in their disadvantage in another aspect. As most of the Barbarians were too confident in their physical power, they neglected the aspect of defense.


This, coupled with the fact that their entire society was relatively primitive and backward, they didn't really have a means of smelting and forging the armor and weapons that were at least a bit advanced.


Soon enough after we arrived, we were welcomed by the General of the 10th Imperial Legion was Anduin Lothar, General of the 5th Imperial Legion Zangru Baruch von Lutheris and Legion Master of the 1st Legion of the Silver Knight Order Artorias the Abysswalker.


"All Hail the Holy Imperator!"


"All Hail the Holy Imperator!"


"All Hail the Holy Imperator!"


All of them saluted me, as I then waved my right hand as a form of greeting and then, together with Maria, we were led to the main planning office. Within the room, there were zero people, as it was reserved just for me and Maria, for a brief time we would be spending at the Fortress Storm.


Now that I was present at the Fortress Storm, it was only a matter of time until the Imperial Crusade could officially begin.


"How is the state of the Army Group Alpha?"


I asked as I sat down on the sofa, with Maria sitting next to me.


The one accompanying us from the Stormcast Eternals was Lord Celestant Prime of the Reiksgarde Temple, Atreus Atreides, who was in overall command of the Stormcast Eternals that were accompanying me.


"We can move at any moment; the sole problem is with the speed of movement, as we are taking all of the siege engines and other machines of war so that we would be moving at a relatively slow pace."


I nodded because this was within the exceptions of the Military HighCom; while not welcomed, it was noted to be of necessary sacrifice.


Even though I would welcome much faster traveling speed, that would require the Army Groupds to give up many of the machines of war.


And that would, in turn, significantly weaken our capabilities, and the machines of war were of the utmost importance to us because they were of strategic importance during the Crusade.


Without them, we would be much more vulnerable and it would be harder to break through the defenses of the Harrogath and Mount Arreat. And at the same time, there were several plans on how to use them in the field battle against the Barbarians.


"In two hours, I will officially declare the start of the Crusade to the Army Groups Alpha, Beta and Gamma."


I said to the three men that were gathered here, as they then saluted and left the room to prepare their troops for the march. It would be a long and arduous journey, where we would need to advance with utmost caution.


According to the plan, before the official start of the Imperial Crusade, I was to give a motivation speech for everyone. Something that I wasn't really thrilled about, because I didn't really like giving speeches to people.


It wasn't about the skill, but it was more or like tied to the fact that I needed to think deeply about what I was to say and so on because every speech given by the Holy Imperator of the Divine Throne of Sunlight and Cinder was something that would be memorized for the millenias to come.


And the effects it had on society and people listening were great.


"While everyone is tense, many people are getting impatient with this entire endeavor..."


Maria remarked as she leaned over me, and I knew that what she was talking about.


"Yes... this would be the biggest opportunity to obtain Noble Status or to rise in the social ladder; there are even some of the Free Companies congregating on the Borders of the Badlands and would be joining us in this Crusade."


According to the reports of the Imperial Military Intelligence, there were approximately fifteen thousand mercenaries of the Free Companies that would be joining the Crusaders on the Imperial Crusade against the Children of Bul-Khatos.


That was because it was easiest to obtain the Noble Status within the Holy Arcadia Empire; through war, one could easily accumulate tremendous merit and be raised to the highest Noblity within the Imperium.


There were even cases where some people were directly raised to the Viceroy Status during one conflict.


"I saw that many of the Noble Houses sent personal expeditions into the Crusade in aim to obtain Merit."


Maria said, as I was already aware of the thing. While the lands of the Holy Arcadia Empire, aside from the Household Guards, the Nobiltiy of the Imperium possessed no armies, soldiers or levies.


Greatly contradictory situation to that of the Westeros or even parts of the Essoss, where most, if not all was concentrated in the hands of the Noble Houses.


Yet, despite this, the Noble Houses were focusing on producing powerhouses, powerful warriors, or Mgaic Users. Many mighty Professionals and Sorcerers actually stemmed from some of the Noble Houses of the Imperium.


This, in turn, gave the Nobility a certain degree of power and through this power, they could contribute to the Holy Arcadia Empire because, in the conflicts like this, there was a constant need for high-end Professionals.


Naturally, the Imperial Crusade attracted the attention of many Noble Houses of the Holy Arcadia Empire and many Nobles decided to participate in the entire endeavor to obtain presite, glory, and merit for their House and Lineage.


"That is good; it would increase the number of high-end Professionals by several degrees, which would be really needed to combat the Barbarians effectively."


Most if not all of the nobles of the Holy Arcadia Empire were high-end Professionals, as it was the elementary requirement of the Impeirum to raise someone into the status of the aristocracy.


***


Two hours later, Fortress Storm of the 10th Imperial Legion, Grand Province of Stormwind.


The two-hour deadline passed relatively fast; the only thing that happened during the two hours was that the entire Army Group Alpha got into the march-ready state as they were to commence the invasion into the Badlands and fight against the threat of the Children of Bul-Khatos.


I was already prepared to deliver the speech for the invasion forces of Army Group Alpha, Army Group Beta, and Army Group Gamma. Everything was prepared by the Scholars of the Byrgenwerth who were present as part of the Imperial Crusading Force.


"Everything is ready, Your Holy Imperial Majesty."


I heard someone say, noticing that it was one of the Scholars of the Byrgenwerth that was in charge of building up the transmission array to the other Army Groups, the one that was not far from them at the Grand Province of Stormwind and the Army Group Gamma that was at the Grand Province of Munn.


"You can activate it."


I said, after which I looked at the small magic circle that was in front of me.


"Proud sons and daughters of the Holy Imperium, this day, marks the great milestone in the history of our glorious nation. We stand on the side, before the decision and war that will see the complete unification of the Lordran and extermination of the enemy that has been plaguing the lands of the Imperium for whole centuries."


I started the speech, after a while, I made a pause before I continued.


"The Children of Bul-Khatos are cancer in the heart of the Imperium, destroying the stability of the entire Grand Province and thus, they are aiding the foul powers of Ruin and other heretics to the Great Ones that want to wipe us out. And yet, we stand strong, unbent, unbroken and undefeated and we will address the threat that is before us. Our enemy will be broken and destroyed by the might of the Imperium."


Even though I wasn't present among the troops, I could sense that the excitement was rising as was the morale among the troops, because of my speech.


"They would be annihilated under the might of Faith, Steel, Magic and Gunpowder of the Holy Arcadia Empire. They would be hunted to the last person and their entire species would be exterminated from the face of the Known World of Azyr and be buried in the annals of history. In these words, we would fight the Barbarians in their towns and cities, in the plains and forests, in the ground and sky, let them witness the fury of the Imperium, as I declare the Imperial Crusade."


Making a short pause for approximately a few seconds.


"Proud sons and daughters of the Imperium, we shall march and achieve victory; let them witness the might of the Imperium; let this be remembered as our finest hour."


"All Hail Imperium!"


I knew that this speech wasn't transmitted just to the Crusading forces, but with some minor delay, it would be transmitted across the whole Imperium. From the smallest village to the Holy Cities of the Imperium.


"It was a glorious speech, Your Holy Majesty."


Immediately some of the people present here were coming to kiss my ass, not something that was unusual literarily, and I already got used to it.


"You could really pass as someone from the Department of Propaganda."


Maria snarked from the side as she attempted to tease me or maybe even insult me, I didn't know which one, but I was proud of my ability to spout propaganda.


"Thank you very much... something like this is an essential skill for every skilled politician, my beloved fianceé."


I said back with faux haughtiness while I went to join the Stormcast Eternals that were part of the Army Group Alpha.


***


3rd POV


Fortress Storm, Headquarters of the 10th Imperial Legion


As the speech of the Holy Imperator was transmission through all of the Army Groups participating in the Imperial Crusade against the Children of Bul-Khatos, sooner enough with a small time delay, the speech that was given at the start of the invasion was broadcast through the whole Imperium.


The morale among the Crusading Troops was rising with every word being said and with every single sentence that was finished.


The soldiers of the Holy Arcadia Empire, be it the Imperial Legionaries of the Imperial Legions, the Knights of the Silver Knight Order or various special units such as the Household Guards and Aristocrats, the Battle Wizards, and Scholars of Byrgenwerth were eager for the battle.


Be it for various reasons, everyone now felt eager for the conquest and extermination of the Barbarians.


It was either the fanatical loyalty of the Imperial Legions, Silver Knights, and Stormcast Eternals that would do everything that the Holy Imperator ordered, or the officers of the military that sought opportunity for military accomplishments.


Or the members of the Aristocracy of the Imperium, who aimed for the merits that they could obtain during the Imperial Crusade or the Battle Wizards and Scholars of the Byrgenwerth who wanted to achieve something so they would get more resources for their research.


For the Scholars of Byrgenwerth and the Battle Wizards of the Imperial Battlemage Legion of the Faust, this entire Imperial Crusade was nothing more than a means to the end. And that end were the resources for their research.


Most of them cared a little for the material matters, aside from the fact that they were using this to further their own agenda, which stemmed in pursuing the deepest secrets of the Arcane.


And then there were the mercenaries from the Free Companies across the entire territory of the Holy Arcadia Empire who wanted nothing more than to achieve glory and achievements on the battlefield so they could obtain either the status of Nobility or something that they wanted from the Imperium.


With a single command from the Holy Imperator of the Holy Arcadia Empire, this enormous machinery of soldiers, knights, wizards, war machines and others started marching into the Badlands.


With a single command from one man, the fate of the entire species was decided to be extinction and extermination, as everyone was eager to see the Children of Bul-Khatos annihilated from the face of the earth.


***


Badlands, One Day Later with Army Group Alpha


The Badlands or often also called the Barren Lands, was a very inhospitable region that was located in the southernmost area of the Grand Province of Stormwind. The Badlands were the most sandy, dead desert with many mountain ranges and high hills, even though there were not used for much.


According to the various analyses of the Badlands, enormous richness was hidden within these mountains in the form of many precious ores that were not found across the Imperium.


Fortunately enough for all parties that were interested, the Barbarians were not advanced enough to carry out large-scale mining operations and smelting operations. In order to melt the ores into the metals and create advanced weapons and armor.


Even if they attempted to do so, they were sabotaged through the efforts of the Imperial Military Intelligence and House Marian, who were doing everything they could in their power to keep the growing power of the Children of the Bul-Khatos as low as possible.


From a certain point of view, they succeeded in the aspect of hindering their progress as a civilization, which was successful.


If the Barbarians were armed properly, with powerful weapons and armors, that were for example, carrying a certain degree of magic resistance or something along those lines, then, they would be far more dangerous enemies.


So yes, from a certain point of view, this was a great success to cull the civilization of the Children of Bul-Khatos, so they remained rather primitive, which was greatly advantageous to the Holy Imperium.


Right now, an enormous caravan of armored vehicles, war wagons, siege engines and other machines of war that were built either by the Byrgenwerth, Engineering Guild or Dwarves of Khaz-Modan was moving through the Barren Lands under the protection of tens of thousands of soldiers.


Among them, one could see countless Danger Beasts of various Grades, that were serving as mounts for the Silver Knights of the Silver Knight Order or the Stormcast Eternals that were using all Griffons as their mounts exclusively.


Other common Dangers Beasts were a special type of warhorse that was used by the members of the Imperial Legion or the Silver Knights of the Silver Knight Order.


Tens of thousands of soldiers were moving in perfect unison, as their target was clear this time.


It was the first major point of interest for the Barbarians and one of the few that their species had; it was called Almorel, which was a small Fortress City that was operated by one of the more powerful and larger Barbarian Tribes of their society.


Fortress Almorel was one of the gates into the deep Barbarian territory and if the Imperium wanted to breach their fortifications and reach the heart of the Badlands, they needed to breach both Almorel and Quaraband that was on the path of Army Group Beta.


"We would be arriving at the vicinity of the Almorel in ten or twelve hours..."


Karl Franz I. Holswig-Schliestein von Reikland de Anor was sitting on the back of Deathclaw, with Maria sitting next to him and hugging him from behind as they were flying above the entire convoy of the Army Group Alpha.


Basically, Almorel would be the first step in the conquest of the entire Badlands and unifying the Grand Province of Stormwind under Imperial rule for once and all... Among the higher-ups of the military command, everyone knew that Almorel was a poor excuse for the Fortress according to the Imperial standards.


However, nobody doubted the fact that the Children of Bul-Khatos would defend the Almorel with all of their military might, and they would give Imperials one hell of a fight for them to gain control over the Fortress City.


And even despite this, nobody had a heavy heart or was nervous because their strategy regarding the two cities of Almorel and Quaraband was clear. They could be destroyed into piles of ash and rubble because they were of no importance.


The Barbarians didn't have any kind of infrastructure or anything that the Imperium wished to preserve and keep for their own use. Due to that fact, they could use the thing that was giving them their greatest advantage in this Crusade.


Their overwhelming firepower of the Aritlleries and Battle Magic of the Battle Wizards.


With that, they will be able to raze all and any fortifications that the Children of the Bul-Khatos would prepare to the ground until nothing remained from them. As unfortunate as it was, the Barbarians didn't have anything that the Imperium considered important to keep for the future.


Thus, the usage of nondiscriminatory artillery bombardment was allowed, together with the free use of War Magic that could envelope large scale. The Army Group Alpha was advancing slowly on the Almorel and in a few hours, the first theatre of war would be opened.


***


Grand Province of Munn, Fortress City of Starlight


The Capital City of the Grand Province of Munn was located on a small island that was in the middle of the Azure Bay. The entrance itself to Azure Bay was protected by the enormous gate that rivaled or even eclipsed that of the Skycrown Gate.


It was an enormous construct that prevented anyone from entering Azure Bay.


In the middle of Azure Bay was a small island, that was often called the God's Eye Islands, due to its solitary position, and the entire Island has been transformed into the Capital City of the Grand Province of Munn.


Right now, the entire Azure Bay was filled with enormous warships, there were countless of them, numbering in hundreds, and each one of them was filled with thousands of soldiers, war machines, materials, and other things that were part of the Imperial Crusade.


The City of Starlight was one of the marvels of the Imperium; it was the white city with an enormous citadel of Stars that was located in the middle of the entire City. The whole city has strong defensive structures.


The walls of the Capital City of Munn were very high and thick, countless watchtowers were built every few meters. On the top of the walls were countless cannons, mortars, scorpions, and other machines for war.


On top of that, every few hundred meters, there were Mage Towers, that served the sole purpose of empowering the Battle Wizards that served on the military garrison of the Starlight, together with several Magitek Machines of War.


The harbor part of the Starlight was well-developed port facilities with docks, warehouses, and shipyards to accommodate a variety of vessels. The harbor was designed to provide shelter from the storms, safety for the ships, but it was it was armed and built with defensive purposes in mind.


The 9th Imperial Legion of the Grand Province of Munn was going to invade the Badlands through the sea, led by the newest Imperial Admiral of the Imperial Navy, Euron Greyjoy.


Their task was also to create a blockade in case the Children of the Bul-Khatos decided to evacuate some of their members through the sea, this was not really possible, but the Imperial Military Intelligence had noticed some connections between the Barbarians of Badlands and Orks of the Orklands.


Euron Greyjoy was standing on the deck of the main battleship of the 1st Imperial Fleet, he was also given an entirely new battleship, that was named Kos's Silence, after a mythical creature from the religion of the Great Ones that dominated the seas and oceans.


"How long till everything is loaded?"


Euron Greyjoy was spending a few past months within the Imperium...


After he was captured by the Holy Imperator himself, when his entire crew was slaughtered, he was soul-bound to the Divine Throne of Sunlight and Cinder and given a position within the Imperial Administration and Warmachine.


He knew that as the outsider, he wasn't really met with trust or anything, but because he was bound to the Divine Throne of Sunlight and Cinder, he was aware that the moment he showed even the slightest thoughts of betrayal of the Imperium, he would die in the most gruesome death.


Yet, he didn't really care about that; the only thing that he cared about was to sail through the seas and make his own name known across the entire Known World of Azyr as the explorer and sailor, the one that would be remembered through the annals of the history for all eternity.


"We would be done in one hour."


The man who answered him was the General of the 9th Imperial Legion which was native to the Grand Province of Munn, Mazer Rackham. He was a bald man, visibly a bit aged, converted with runic tattoos.


He was born in the Grand Province of Munn, to a tribe of people that were native to the Grand Province of Munn and lived in the deserts of the Munn, called Namyr-Tharos Tribe, the dwellers of the sands.


"Also, the Elector Count's son, Rhuen Allander, would be joining the Crusade together with several hundred of the Household Guards of the Allander; we would be having one of the best swords of the Imperium with us."


Mazer Rackham of the Namyr-Tharos was a natural-born warrior like everyone from the Namyr-Tharos Tribe. From an early age, he was considered as the prodigy of the Namyr-Tharos and after he reached adulthood, he created his own Free Mercenary Company.


After thirty years of acting as the leader of the Free Company, he was scouted by the House Allander and was drafted in as captain of the Household Guards of the House Allander, which was already a very prestigious position within the Grand Province.


Approximately another twenty years later, he was personally approached by the previous General of the 9th Imperial Legion of the Grand Province of Munn and entered the Imperial Legion, where he was soon, in only a few years, promoted to the General of the 9th Imperial Legion.


As the General of the 9th Imperial Legion, Mazer Rackham has proven himself to be one of the most capable Generals of the entire Imperial Legion and the entire Imperial Military; within certain circles, he was even considered the next Imperial Bashar of the Imperial Military.


"After establishing the blockade, we will disembark on the shores of the Badlands and take stand where they have built some primitive docks, from there on we will advance onto the Harrogath's southern area, where we will build the fortifications and wait for the Army Groups Alpha and Beta."


The plan of the Imperial Crusade was excellent and there were no blank spots; for that, the role of the Euron Greyjoy as the Admiral of the 1st Fleet that would be leading the attacks on the Baldands was clear.


Nobody can leave the Badlands; not even the smallest ship could leave the shores of the Badlands and he knew this task he was given must be completed splendidly, or else, his head would roll.


After everything was loaded onto the ships, the 1st Imperial Fleet, which was numbering something around one hundred ships of various Classes, started sailing towards the Star Wall, opening the path to them, as the Admiral gave the command to the march.


***


A few days later, somewhere around the Badlands. On the deck of Kos's Silence.


Approximately one hundred ships were now sailing around the seas of the Badlands, not far from the shores of the Badlands itself. Till now, they hadn't seen even a single ship that belonged to the Children of the Bul-Khatos.


"Ships on the horizon!"


Someone shouted as they spotted several ships of very crude design, clearly indicating the Barbarian origin, on the horizon.


"Everybody on the position! Load the cannon and fire at the moment of distance!"


As the Admiral of the 1st Imperial Fleet, Euron Greyjoy was in charge of the assault, so the moment they finally spotted some enemy, everyone was eager for action, because it was becoming a bit boring in here.


There were only a few of the Barbarian ships, but, making up for their small numbers, they were rather huge, even bigger than the average Imperial Warship. This was already some sight to behold because the Imperial Warships of the Imperial Navy were already huge enough to house hundreds upon hundreds of soldiers.


As the ships of the Barbarians were approaching the 1st Imperial Fleet, the sailors and soldiers that were on the ships, all assumed their position, and if they didn't, then those who couldn't get into the combat-ready state.


"Fire!"


The Admiral of the 1st Imperial Fleet shouted when the ships of the Children of Bul-Khatos were close enough, in the distance of their cannons and other machines of war, as the thunderous roaring of the artillery firing was heard through the entire area where they were.


Hundreds if not thousands of cannons and mortars were firing as one, all aiming at the sea hulks of the ships that were built by the barbarians. And as expected, the ships of the barbarians, couldn't withstand the concentrated firepower of the Imperium and were being sunk down one by one.


Only a few of the barbarian sea hulks were still floating on the sea, though they were too heavily damaged from the artillery bombardment. Seeing this, gave Euron Greyjoy the idea of boarding the ships and capturing the people, perhaps they would be able to find some useful information from them.


"Send down the order to prepare for the boarding, we will capture the ships and interrogate the Barbarians."


As soon as the order was passed down, several ships of the 1st Imperial Fleet split from the rest of the Fleet and started surrounding the damaged barbarian warships from all sides, while at the same time, the scorpions from the ships started firing hooks on them, while pulling the ships a bit closer.


When the distance was lowered enough, Imperials outstretched several makeshift bridges in between them, as the soldiers of the Imperium started pouring onto the warships of the Children of Bul-Khatos and massacring barbarians here and there.


It was relatively easy for the Imperials to know who was important and who wasn't because, in the Barbarian society, usually those with higher social status were bigger and stronger, but aside from their physical traits, the greatest indicator were clothes and tattoos.


The barbarians on the ship were already injured from the artillery that was being fired at them some time ago, and when they were met with the ferocious charge of the Imperial Legionaries, they stood no chance as they were quickly killed or subjugated.


***


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[Trafford]

Somewhere near the Almorel, with the Army Group Alpha.


Almorel was a sprawling city; buildings were almost all built out of wood and designed to be low and wide, with most households having attached stables and barns as well as gardens and workshops.


It was extremely rare for any building to have more than two stores. Wealthy families or those powerful Barbarians erected stockades around their properties. There were only a few stone buildings, which were mostly built by the population of the grey dwarves who lived in the Almorel.


The grey dwarves of Almorel lived in a series of tunnels beneath the city. Traditionally, barbarians were not allowed down in the tunnels, but the dwarves had set up small guest houses to receive barbarian visitors.


The dwarves did not speak openly about their underground homes, which elicited much rumormongering of the secrets the dwarves kept down there. Most of the dwarves that lived within the Almorel were the ones that were either enslaved by the Barbarians or subjugated by them a very long time ago.


Almorel possessed wooden walls and an ancient six-story wooden tower fortress called the Raumkreml, which was painted black and served as the city's seat of government. The city was also defended by a force of Watchmen, and it also had its own standing army.


In the case of need, the Almorel could be defended by any able man, woman, or child of the Barbarian species, as practically everyone who was capable of holding a weapon could be called to fight.


The Army Group Alpha, which consisted of two Imperial Legions, had effectively surrounded the entirety of the Almorel, as the Barbarians were cut from the means of retreat and the heavy artillery was being placed down.


The entire city was surrounded by the Great Cannons, Mortars, Hellblaster Volley Guns, and Helstrom Rocket Batteries, which were ready for the command to bombard the entire city to oblivion.


Because the Holy Imperator was present at the Army Group Alpha, ironically though, the command over the entire Army Group befell to Karl Franz, who wasn't exactly most thrilled about the idea of commanding the entire Army Group.


Karl Franz personally observed how effectively the Army Groups under the oversight of General Anduin Lothar and General Zangru Baruch von Lutheris were in their acts, together with the Legion Master Artorias the Abysswalker.


"The siege preparations are finished, Your Holy Majesty."


The General of the 10th Imperial Legion Anduin Lothar, stated respectfully as he walked up to the Holy Imperator, who was standing on the small hill that was giving him a good view of the Almorel, together with Lady Maria Vileblood and Artorias the Abysswalker, who shadowed over the Holy Imperator for the whole time.


"And the Battle Wizards? Are the magical means of war finished?"


They had entire contingents of the Imperial Battlemage Legion present within the Army Group Alpha, and Karl Franz also ordered the Battle Wizards that were sent here by the Byrgenwerth to prepare the magical sealing of the entire area.


They basically created a domain over the entire city, so nobody would be allowed to enter through the barrier, and nobody would be allowed to leave. Sealing of the entire area was another means to ensure that they wouldn't be attacked by possible reinforcements of the Children of Bul-Khatos.


But that was a very low possibility because the second city, which was standing in the path of the Imperial Crusade, the Fortress City of Quaraband, was also under the siege of the Army Group Beta, so there wouldn't be any reinforcements from there.


And Harrogath was too far to actually send any kind of help to either of the sieged cities and even then, it would be futile because of the Magic interference, so nobody could even send any message for help.


"Everything is finished; we are only waiting for the command to start the bombardment."


General of the 10th Imperial Legion Anduin Lothar said, as the Imperator of the Holy Arcadia Empire nodded and soon gave the command to commence the attack.


"Raze it to the ground..."


Several moments later, everyone heard the deafening sounds of the artillery firing.


***


Fortress City of Almorel


The machines of war of the Holy Arcadia Empire were firing non-stop, be it the Great Cannons, Mortars, Hellblaster Volley Guns, or the Helstrom Rocket Batteries and the hell was unleashed upon the Barbarian Fortress City of the Almorel.


The overwhelming artillery power of the Holy Arcadia Empire wasn't something that the Barbarians could withstand and soon enough, the entire Fortress City, if it could be even called that, was turned into a blazing hell.


Due to the stable supply lines, the Imperials didn't fear a lack of supplies and ammunition and started madly firing at the Almorel, obliterating everything from the face of the earth and ground.


Turning entire city districts into inferno, as they were burned down in a fire, together with most of the inhabitants were being killed. Because the heavy majority of the city was made of civilians, the military personnel of the Almorel was only something about 20% of the overall population.


The bombardment of the Almorel continued for something around half an hour before the Holy Imperator gave the command to stop the bombardment and another command to prepare for the ground invasion.


"Send in half of our forces to clean out the remains of the Almorel. Order the Wizards to cast the protective spells on the Imperial Soldiers to withstand the heat in the city."


The heat from the bombardment in the city was so intense that even the ordinary Imperial Soldiers would have trouble entering the city without proper protection over them.


And naturally, the best protection was that of the Magic, as that would protect them the best; even though the amors of the Imperial Legions had some runes inscribed on them, Karl Franz chose to be extra careful when he ordered the Battle Wizards to cast protections over the Legionaries.


***


1st Regiment of 2nd Division of the 10th Imperial Legion of the Grand Province of Stormwind.


Hawthorne Byron was the Commander of the 1st Regiment of the 2nd Division of the 10th Imperial Legion of the Grand Province of Stormwind, an old, seasoned soldier who spent his entire life fighting against the Children of Bul-Khatos.


He was a man with short brown hair and beard and piercing azure blue eyes, stemming from the common origins of the Grand Province of Stormwind. He was also relatively young because he was only sixty years old, an orphan from the streets of the capital city of the Grand Province of Stormwind, the Stormwind City.


When he turned fifteen years old, he entered the Provincial Army of the Grand Province of Stormwind and for the next ten years, he spent on the frontlines against the Children of the Bul-Khatos, having hundreds of kills.


After that, he was recruited into the 10th Imperial Legion, where he rose to the position of Regiment Commander and already commanded a company of 5,000 Imperial Legionaries.


Hawthorne Byron grabbed his one-handed hammer, engraved with the runes of the Great Ones. As a firm believer in the Great Ones, he was also someone who was able to control the Holy Power of the Great Ones, like the former Holy Knight Executioners and now the Stormcast Eternals.


He then looked at five Questors who were in command of five Battalions of his Regiment.


"You all heard the orders; we march in five minutes, everyone prepare your Battalions and the orders are clear; we are taking no survivors, aside from the high-ranking Barbarias, Shamans and Elders."


Regiment Commander Hawthorne Byron issued orders to the Questors of the Battalions, as everyone then went to carry them out and prepare their soldiers for the fight. The soldiers that were tasked with clearing the Almorel or at least what has remained from it, were ordered to kill everything that moved.


Naturally, this meant that all Barbarians who managed to survive the bombardment were to be put to the sword, but only some of the high-ranking ones, such as top warriors, Shamans, Wizards or Elders, were to be taken as prisoners.


Those ones would be either a source of information or be transported into the Byrgenwerth to serve as experimental subjects so they could develop some more advanced Mana-Resistnat Runes and other things from their Genome.


The rest of the ordinary Barbarians, be it warriors or civilians, those ones could be killed instantly because they were of no use to the Imperium.


It wouldn't be the first genocide that the Imperium carried and everybody was certain that it won't be the last one. According to the Final Doctrine of the Holy Imperator, for a better future and certainty, only complete extermination of the enemy would ensure the prosperity of the Imperium.


Thus when the Imperium was fighting some enemy, they would always root them out entirely, not giving them any opportunity to survive any further and cause the Imperium problems in the future.


For that, the Children of Bul-Khatos were too dangerous.


So, the extermination was the only safe way.


The 1st Regiment, numbering 5,000 Imperial Legionaries, was quickly gathered in one place, as everyone stood there in their pristine armor, with facemask helmets covering their faces, as they were holding their halberds and ready to march.


"1st Regiment march!"


Hawthorne Byron shouted as the five thousand Imperial Legionaries started marching in perfect formation toward the ruins of the Almorel.


The Battle Wizards of the Imperial Battlemage Legion put some protective spells on them to protect them from the intense heat and they were ready to go. The heat that was within the Almorel, or the ruins of it, was so intense that it would cause them some light injuries, if not that, then at least some discomfort.


As the 1st Regiment of the 2nd Division of the 10th Imperial Legion started marching into the flaming Almorel, everyone was in high spirits. With the bombardment done by the Artillery and Machines of the War and Battle Wizards of the Holy Arcadia Empire, the subsequent ground invasion was a piece of cake.


Most of the resistance was already broken, and there would be zero to no enemies; most of the people were already killed when they bombarded them to oblivion. Nevertheless, because they were going for the complete extermination of the Children of the Bul-Khatos, they needed to be thorough.


For that, the ground invasion and clean-up operation were necessary.


Due to his long military career, Regimental Commander Hawthorne Byron saw a lot of situations like this, but this was probably the first time he was leading his men into the flaming inferno.


But he was confident in the soldiers of the Imperium, for the brave sons and daughters that were serving in the Imperial Legion and their Homeland.


When they entered the flaming Almorel, it was evident that the majority of the city was already destroyed, together with its inhabitants. According to the preliminary results from the Spells that were cast by the Battle Wizards present in the 1st Regiment of the 2nd Division, only a tiny portion of the original population should have survived.


And even then, most of the people that survived were either right now dying because they were under the rubble of the city, or were being burned alive by some of the infernos that were burning down this place or were succumbing to their injuries.


When the soldiers of the Imperial Legion started marching into the Almorel, they immediately spread out and started searching for survivors of any kind to put them down. It wasn't that hard with some advanced Magic, to locate them all, before they started ruthlessly exterminating them one by one.


Only after five minutes or so did they discover the first wave of the Barbarian soldiers who had survived the artillery bombardment of the Almorel and who were right now counterattacking their forces.


Surprisingly enough, the Barbarian Soldiers that were attacking them were in relatively good state and shape as they were attacking the Imperial Legionaries with newfound hatred and ferocity, not seen anytime before.


Regimental Commander Hawthorne Byron had to admit that the Children of the Bul-Khatos were strong; they were very, very strong, but their other areas were poor. Most of their weapons were crude, and their protections in terms of armor and supportive equipment were almost non-existent.


This, despite the great physical disparities, especially in terms of physical strength, vitality, and defense, between the Children of Bul-Khatos and the Imperial Legionaries, the Barbarians were the ones at the losing end.


Such was the great advantage of having superior equipment, armor, weapons, supportive equipment, tactics and strategy, and a unified front when advancing, something that the Children of Bul-Khatos lacked.


Yet, even though all things were considered, Regimental Commander Hawthorne Byron noticed that his Legionaries were being pushed back by the Barbarians, which was troubling, but it didn't take long for him to realize why such a thing was happening.


"They entered the Blood Rage... this is indeed troubling."


Blood Rage was a special unique state that the Barbarians could enter into, which often resulted in tremendously increased combat prowess. It wasn't often seen, because the requirements for the Children of Bul-Khatos to enter the Blood Rage were severe.


It usually worked in a way where, due to the extreme emotional stimuli, the Barbarians would enter the state of Blood Rage, where all of their physical parameters would increase several folds, their ability to ignore pain would skyrocket, and they would basically fight until they were incapable of fighting one way or another.


It was very similar to that of the Berserker Warriors of the Grand Province of Fenris, who also could enter a similar state, albeit a bit weaker, because they could actually control their transformation to a great degree.


The Barbarians that entered the Blood Rage lost most of their sanity, and they could not even tell foes from friends in most of the cases, though this only made them even more dangerous than ever before, so...


Fortunately, this wasn't the first time that Regimental Commander Hawthorne Byron saw something similar and knew how to act when fighting the Barbarians that entered the Blood Rage effectively and without suffering high casualties.


"Order for the retreat, Battle Wizards slow them down and once the Legionaries find defensive positions, create a shield wall and hold the ground."


Regimental Commander Hawthorne Byron barked one order after another, as eh knew how exactly to deal with the Barbarians that were in the Blood Rage state. As someone who spent his lifetime fighting theme within the Grand Province of Stormwind, he knew of their weakness very well.


The one reason why the Barbarians obtained such high explosive power when they entered the Blood Rage was because they were essentially burning their very own Lifeforce on an almost subconscious level...


So, while this Blood Rage resulted in a tremendous increase of explosive power, but a the same time, the Barbarians could maintain the Blood Rage state only for a very limited amount of time.


And when the time was gone, the music had finished... the ball had ended.


Death has come.


"We need to hold down until the Blood Rage ends and their force depletes, then we won't have any problems to deal with."


Once the Blood Rage has ended, the Barbarians won't be a problem. And from what the Regimental Commander Hawthorne Byron saw, the Barbarians here were not the most powerful ones.


The more powerful the Barbarian was, the stronger his Lifeforce was and then, it was equally translated into the length of the Blood Rage. The stronger they were, the longer they could maintain the Blood Rage and the more power they obtained from the Blood Rage.


Fortunately enough, most of the Children of Bul-Khatos were relatively weak in the great scheme of things, so the only thing that they needed to do was to wait. And that was exactly what the 1st Regiment was doing.


Instantly after getting the orders from the Regimental Commander Hawthorne Byron, the Legionaries started withdrawing from the parts of the Almorel, where they encountered the Barbarians in the Blood Rage and started searching for the defensive position.


Meanwhile, the Battle Wizards and Gunners of the 1st Regiment, be they of the Gunner Cohorts of Heavy Crossbow Cohort were covering the retreat of the Infantry of the 1st Regiment and very effectively at that.


Battle Wizards were casting elemental spells that were meant to hinder the progress of the Barbarians or to bind them down, while the Gunner Cohors or Heavy Crossbow Cohorts were aiming at the weak, unprotected spots of the Barbarians to bring them down.


When the infantry of the 1st Regiment found an excellent position to defend, they created a shield wall from their shields and put their halberds out so they could strike the incoming Barbarians while the volleys from the Guns and Heavy Crossbows were still being shot at the Children of Bul-Khatos.


While a few of the Barbarians in the Blood Rage state were killed by the Guns and Heavy Crossbows, it didn't really change the overall fact that soon enough, the Blood Rage Barbarians clashed with the Imperial Legionaries that were holding up the shield wall.


Regimental Commander Hawthorne Byron observed how the Imperial Legionaries of the 1st Regiment of the 2nd Division of the 10th Imperial Legion defended against the Blood Rage Barbarians, as they were falling down.


Once the Imperial Legionaries created the shield wall around a very well-defendable position, they started counterattacking the Blood Rage Children of Bul-Khatos. The Barbarians that were within the effects of the Blood Rage completely lost their very own sanity and any resemblance of the logic and reason.


When they saw the shield wall around the place, the first thing that they did was to rush madly at the position of the Imperial Legionaries without any care for anything within the world and tried breaching the shield wall.


"Send them greetings from the Crane Gunners."


Regimental Commander Hawthorne Byron ordered as it was time to speed up this endeavor because he noticed that due to the state of the Blood Rage that was prevalent among the Barbarians fighting his men, they were able to take even a few projectiles from the Guns before they were killed.


Their ability to ignore the pain and even increased healing factor was proving to be a great hindrance and the Imperial Legionaries within the shield wall were mainly focusing on the defense and not on the offense.


The mighty Crane Gun requires two people to lift, set up, and fire. One is positioned at the trigger, ready to sight and shoot anything in a massive range. The other carries the tower shield on which the gun rests, steadying the shooter as well as providing built-in cover.


It is a specialist device for the highly trained, but it can be devastatingly effective when properly employed. Range and precision are nothing to scoff at, especially if they are pointed at your head.


The firepower of the Crane Gun was many times higher than that of the ordinary gun, especially considering the fact, that with the newest Runic Enhancements over the guns, the Crane Guns were even more fearsome than even before.


The effect was almost immediate, as the Crane Guns took the position on the half-destroyed buildings and like small portable canons they were, they started firing rounds at the incoming Barbarians in the Blood Rage.


Contrary to the ordinary guns that required at least a few of the good-positioned shots at the Barbarian in the Blood Rage to kill them, one shot from the Crane Gun was enough to cull them down, as they were shooting almost non-stop for more than ten minutes.


Together with the cooperation of other Gunners, Heavy Crossbowmen and Battle Wizards, they were able to clear out the Barbarians in the Blood Rage inducted state rather easily within the next half an hour.


This was already being considered as a splendid result because they suffered very low casualties numbering only a few tens, which was already far better than anyone could actually ask for.


So the Regimental Commander Hawthorne Byron was very pleased with the results, as he then started barking another wave of the orders now that they had dealt with the Barbarians, as according to the Wizards, they were already safe.


The reconnaissance spells were not showing any hostiles or enemies in their vicinity and he already got a message from the other Commanders that they too, encountered and cleared out the remnants of the Children of Bul-Khatos within the Almorel.


"Advance deeper into the city, search through the ruins of the building and kill the survivors, advance into the central castle and search every nook and cranny of it, link with the 3rd Regiment of 2nd Divison and 1st Regiment of 1st Division that are advancing into the central castle."


Regimental Commander Hawthorne Byron ordered as it was time to finish the fun within the Almorel because the real battle would await them at the Harrogath and Mout Aralat. That would be where the real fun began, this time, it was only an appetizer.


Cleaning out the rest of the Almorel wasn't much of a problem, because the majority of the resistance coming from the Children of Bul-Khatos was already broken during the time when the first Regiments of the 10th Imperial Legions entered the flaming ruins of the city.


***


MC POV


Listening to the reports that were coming during the battle was probably one of the most exciting things to do during the battle. It was always something that I enjoyed, especially when the good news was flooding in like in this case.


Right now, I was within the command center of the G-1 Base Landcruiser, which was the newest machine of war, straight out of the Forges of the Ironforge in collaboration with other Dwarven Clans and Byrgenwerth itself.


G-1 Base Landcruiser was an enormous machine of war, something akin to a movable mobile fortress of steel and margin, which housed a series of facilities, like an entire armory, field hospital, command center and many other things.


Right now, there was only a single one constructed and it was given to the Imperial House, before the Imperial Crusade started, I got a request from the Dwarves to test it in the field because, in the future, it would be mass-produced.


The overall plan was to distribute one for every single Imperial Legion because it would tremendously increase the combat prowess of the Imperial Legions if they had a movable fortress, because, despite its enormous size, this thing was pretty useful.


Considering the number of weapons and features that the Dwarves and Scholars of Byrgenwerth built here, It would be disappointing if it wasn't.


"Your Holy Majesty, the Almorel was effectively destroyed and right now the Imperial Legionaries are searching through the ruins of the city, but according to the preliminary results, there are no things of importance or interest."


Anduin Lothar the General of the 10th Imperial Legion of the Grand Province of Stormwind, submitted the report, as I just nodded my head, because the result was already predictable and nothing new.


"How are our casualties?"


I asked about the more negative aspect of waging war, but since the establishment of the Holy Imperium, things often turned out for the good, especially when it came to healthcare and giving the soldiers the best healthcare and protection means as possible.


"Overall we lost only around 350 of the Imperial Legionaries due to the surprise attacks by the Barbarians that survived the artillery bombardment and subsequent fire and entered the Blood Rage state. Fortunately, the commanders that were present on the battlefield acted swiftly and executed tactics that were developed to handle such problems."


Imperial General Anduin Lothar said with a certain degree of pride in his voice as he said that he was one of the people who developed the so-called Anti-Barbarian Tactics that was right now commonly used against the Children of Bul-Khatos.


"We need to head toward the Harrogath and Mount Arreat before the leadership of the Barbarians recall the rest of their population to defend their sacred places."


I said that right now,m we were in some sort of theoretical race against time because it was clear that a large part of the population was living outside of the Harrogath, as the Barbarians were not really an urbanized society.


Due to the fundamental nature of the Harrogath and Mount Arreat as Holy Sites for their race, it was relatively hard to get a permanent residence in that place and only members of the powerful Clans and Tribes of the Children of the Bul-Khatos were allowed to live there permanently.


I was aware that sooner or later, hopefully later, the leadership of the Harrogath, the Elder Council, will recall all of their members back to the Harrogath and Mount Arreat to defend their most holy place within the Badlands, where they will make their final stand.


Such a situation was, naturally, unacceptable.


"We also got the report from the Army Group Beta and Army Group Delta."


I turned my sight to one of the members of the Imperial Military Intelligence who was assigned to the Army Group Alpha. The person who spoke was in charge of the Intelligence and Information exchange between various branches of the Imperial Military.


"And?"


If the results of the attack on Quarabrand and the southern coast of the Badlands were the same as ours on the Almorel, then we have basically accomplished Phase 1 of the invasion, which would be great progress.


The Children of the Bul-Khatos would be bound and imprisoned within the Badlands with no possibility of escape. With them constrained to the Badlands and no possibility of escape, the Imperium would have no problem when it came to the systematic extermination of their species.


"The 1st Imperial Fleet led by Admiral Euron Greyjoy has completely decimated the Navy of the Children of the Bul-Khatos and took over the entire southern coast of the Badlands. As we speak right now, the 9th Imperial Legion of the Grand Province of Munn should be securing the last remaining holds of the Barbarians on the coast."


The unnamed man from the Imperial Military Intelligence reported I smiled hearing that, because this was a splendid piece of news. With the sea routes cut down, they don't have anywhere to escape, and we are not even talking about the possible reinforcements from the Orks of the Orklands.


The Imperial Military Intelligence already concluded that there was a relatively high chance of some of the Orkish Tribes and more powerful Klanz or even Warbands sending reinforcements for the Barbarians in case they were attacked by the Imperium.


Now that the sea routes were held by the Imperium, the Orks would need to clash with our Fleets on the sea and that would result in their loss because even though the Imperium wasn't really used to the concepts of Naval Warfare, the Greenskisn were even less.


Not to mention, this was a problem that we were already working on correcting now that we obtained someone with real experience when it came to Naval Warfare.


"That is indeed splendid news... and of the Army Group Beta?"


The Army Group Beta consisted of the 4th Imperial Legion of Faelor, the 8th Imperial Legion of Caladan and the 3rd Legion of the Silver Knights led by the Legion Master Hawkey Gough.


"The siege of the Quarabrand was executed as planned and the city was captured with minimal casualties with the entire population being exterminated. Only a few of the strongest Barbarians that somehow managed to survive were captured and transported to the Byrgenwerth as test subjects."


This wasn't a surprising result, considering the size and strength of each of the Army Groups that were participating in the Imperial Crusade. With their firepower, they were able to raze the Qaurabrand to the ground, even faster than the Army Group Alpha.


But the real reason for that was that Almorel was actually a bigger city of the two of them and had an even bigger population, so we were stuck at the siege of the Almorel for a bit longer, while Army Group Beta was already advancing on the Harrogant near the Mount Arreat.


"Is there anything of importance to report?"


I asked when I noticed that this was probably the end of the report, as the person from the Imperial Military Intelligence shook his head in denial, so this meant that we could advance further on the Harrogath.


"Now that we heard the reports, we need to strike at the Harrogath as fast as possible, what is the approximate time in linking with the Army Group Beta?"


Looking at the two generals of the Imperial Legions, for a brief time, General Anduin Lothar and General Zangru Baruch von Lutheris before the General of the 5th Imperial Legion stepped forward to answer.


"In a few days, we would be within reach and could create a wall against the potential counterattacks from the Children of the Bul-Khatos."


When they linked together, the two Army Groups would be able to support each other in case one of them was attacked. The HighCom of the Imperial Military counted on the possibility of the Barbarians organizing large-scale counterattacks against their Crusading Forces.


Still, considering all the facts, I doubted that the Barbarians would organize any kind of large-scale counterattack because they were right now facing different problems, namely the incoming collapse of their fortifications on the southern coast and also, they lacked inner unity for such an act.


The Elder Council formally ruled their entire species and the territory of the Badlands consisted of the representatives of the most powerful Tribes and many of them had very deep-seeded hatred for each other or very different philosophies of life.


***


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[ATP]

Genocide all enemies? even mongols were not that stupid.Sure,you could do so....but problem with genocide ,except being immoral,is that it:

1.Take time,soldiers and resources - which are always needed in other places.
2.Made soldiers worst - dudes who murdered children and womans are less effective against real enemies later.Even germans during WW2,who belived that murdered polish/jewish /whatever children are underhumans,still have mental problems and ceased to be good soldiers.
That is why germans start using gas.

If you really want enemies gone without wasting resources,use some magical version of A bomb or super plague directed to hit only your enemies.It should be easy for your mages.

 

[Trafford]

Genocide all enemies? even mongols were not that stupid.Sure,you could do so....but problem with genocide ,except being immoral,is that it:

1.Take time,soldiers and resources - which are always needed in other places.
2.Made soldiers worst - dudes who murdered children and womans are less effective against real enemies later.Even germans during WW2,who belived that murdered polish/jewish /whatever children are underhumans,still have mental problems and ceased to be good soldiers.
That is why germans start using gas.

If you really want enemies gone without wasting resources,use some magical version of A bomb or super plague directed to hit only your enemies.It should be easy for your mages.

Click to shrink...

It doesn't take a time at all... few Life Drain War Spells and its done, not even a few minutes until entire cities are dead... and probably in conflict that lasted thousands of years nobody cares about morality... not to mention I personally believe that it most logical and easiest thing to do, you get rid of the problem with its roots...

 

[ATP]

It doesn't take a time at all... few Life Drain War Spells and its done, not even a few minutes until entire cities are dead... and probably in conflict that lasted thousands of years nobody cares about morality... not to mention I personally believe that it most logical and easiest thing to do, you get rid of the problem with its roots...

Click to shrink...

It is not problem of morality.People,even those who belive that killed by them children are subhumans,are still damaged mentally doing that.Only exception were mongols who could genocide entire city in one day,and feel notching - but they were nomads,and nomads then really do not considered settled people as people.

When jacobins send to genocide Vandee failed that,becouse instead of killing everybody quickly they tortured victims to death,so 80% could run and survived.

But if you kill babies from afar and do not see bodies - yes,then it could be done.That is why i asked if they have magical nukes,or not.

 

[Trafford]

3rd POV


Army Group Beta, Free Companies Detachment, Free Company of Horus Guard


The Grand Province of Munn was a rather hostile place to live due to the deserts and inhospitable environment of the entire Grand Province. It was primarily filled with dunes and hostile Dangers Beasts that were far more powerful than the native population.


Due to that, the area was known just as the Munn Region before the unification of the Imperium; it was the poorest and also the least populated region of the Lands of the Ancient Lords.


In the far past, though, even before Lord Gwyn walked among the mortals of the Lordran, the Munn Region was probably the most prosperous region of the entire Lands of the Ancient Lords, with very advanced civilization and Empire that spanned outside the of the Region of Munn.


Their ancient Dynasty of Nehekhara was one of the most advanced civilizations, with the capital, Memphis, being the jewel of the civilization and the pinnacle of their very own advancement and achievements.


But in all of their unbridled arrogance and unrestricted pursuit of Magic and Divinity, they called a calamity on their very own people in the form of something that could almost translated as the Divine Punishment from the Gods, if nothing more or less.


Overnight, their once mighty Dynasty of Nehekhara was left in rubble, and their crown jewel of Memphis was razed to the ground, with not even stones and ash remaining from once the biggest city on the Lordran.


They were almost entirely slaughtered by the Tomb Kings, causing damage and loss, which was never recovered, even after the danger of the Tom Kings was destroyed by the Lord Gwyn after establishing his court in the Anor Londo.


Nowadays, in the Age of the Old Blood, or how it was also called the Age of the Imperium, the descendants of the Nehekhara Dynasties survived scattered in a small tribal settlement and mostly in poor conditions.


It was clear to everyone that their very own culture was already on the verge of death and that their Tribes were becoming part of the history. More and more of their people fell to the dangers of the deserts and dunes or the Dangers Beasts that ruled the sands of the Munn.


Only a tiny portion of them chose to leave their tribes for the wider Imperium to search for the betterment of their people, who were either too reclusive or too prideful to do so.


One of such people was Ehri-Ra Thoth.


Bearer of two Divine Names of power of the long-forgotten civilization.


Born in the Grand Province of Munn, near the Capital, the City of Starlight, in a rural village to a Tribe of the native people of the deserts of the Munn, Khemenu Tribe. The Tribe itself were descendants of the citizens of the Hermopolis, one of the major cities of the ancient Nekhehara Dynasty.


Today, the Khemunians are very reclusive Trbie, normally not leaving their small territory, as their numbers were gradually falling into obscurity, like the rest of the descendants of the natives of the Nekhehara Dynasties.


After the Khemenu Tribe was included in the wider Imperium during the incorporation of the entire Grand Province of Munn, their faith slowly shifted to that of the Great Ones of the Healing Church and their traditions and origins were slowly becoming part of the history.


One peculiar thing about the Khemenu Tribe was that they were often believed to be Divine Descendants of the native Gods that were long ago worshipped within the Grand Province of Munn before the Age of Ancient could officially begin.


Ehri-Ra Thoth was the leader of the Free Mercenary Company called Horus Guards, which was also participated in the Imperial Crusade against the Children of Bul-Khatos. Horus Guards were not any kind of big or famous Free Mercenary Company, but it was still a relatively powerful one.


Most commonly created from the warriors that were part of the Nehekhara Descended Tribes and wanted to change their people before they would be overcome by the destruction and become the passage of time itself.


Ehri-Ra Thoth was relatively tall, standing around 1,8 meters in height, with lustrous raven black hair, that were reaching up to her shoulders. The color of her black hair was deeper than the darkest night, which was contrasting with her rather pale skin and sharp gaze.


Her eyes had a unique color of amber, brownish amber, but there was a small twinkle of gold in them, hiding the cunningness behind the mask of calmness and tranquility. She had smooth skin, a bit pale, which was relatively unusual among the people of the Khemenu Tribe.


Ehri-Ra was wearing pitch-black armor, with red linings, that was made from metal plates and covered certain parts of her body, mostly to provide enough movement space for her, as she was an oriented fighter.


Some of the most notable features about her was a pair of red crystal earrings that she was wearing, that went well with the red lining across the armor she had donned. The armor she was wearing, there were several Hieroglyphs inscribed, all of them connected to the inheritance of the Nehekhara Dynasties.


She was born in the sign of the Thoth, the ancient patron deity of the Khemenu Tribe, and with several Runes inscribed on her body upon her birth. Due to this, she was able to achieve high mastery over the Lore of Light and Lore of Heaven while also obtaining the lost ancient Bloodline Ability of the Khemenu Law Scribe.


"How long are we from reaching our target?"


Due to the decree that the Free Mercenary Companies could not be a direct part of the Army Groups that consisted of the Imperial Forces, the Mercenaries had a different role in the Imperial Crusade.


While the Army Groups of the Imperium targetted the biggest cities and fortifications, the Generals from the HighCom decided to send the Free Mercenary Companies after the smaller ones or the small Tribes that could present any level of threat to the Crusading Force.


Such mission was also assigned to the Horus Guard who were led by the direct descendant of the Khemenu Tribe and Nehekhara Dynasties, Ehri-Ra Thoth.


They were given a mission to destroy the small legion of the Barbarians that were harassing the supply lines of the Army Group Beta. Somehow, they managed to slip through when the Quarabrand was still standing and, right now, The Unclean Tribe.


The Unclean lives to this day, hunting in the ruins of Sescheron, killing any outsider on sight. Years of isolation and constant murder made them fearsome warriors, such that even Danger Beasts and other Barbarians of the surrounding lands did not dare attack them.


"One hour... The Unclean are congregating in a camp within the hills when they notice us; it is highly probable that they would meet us on plains..."


She didn't know that why she was given the task because this was out of the capabilities of the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company, as the Flesh Eater Tribe of Barbarians were powerful, but at the same time, she was eager for the task.


The Uncleans, apparently, have some gruesome traditions that make even other Barbarians feel disgusted, so even among the Badlands, they were ignored, and nobody really wanted to have something with them.


They often pained their faces and clothes with blood; the Uncleans often adorn themselves with human skulls, ears, tongues, and other body parts. The Unclean filed their teeth to sharp points, which only affirmed their appearance as cannibals.


One of the things that made their Tribe dangerous were the war wolves that they bred for war. The hierarchy of their tribe was similar to that of the other Barbarian Tribes, with Chieftains and Elders that were the strongest of the Tribe.


They sometimes traded with other tribes, yet usually took body parts in payment, but that was only in a few cases, as other tribes averted them as much as possible.


"It would be a very hard fight against the Flesh Eaters..."


The leader of the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company muttered as she looked at the plains of the Badlans, heading towards the smaller hills that were in the far distance.


"Yes... even though they are the most stigmatized Tribe of the Children of Bul-Khatos and have one of the smallest numbers, they are no denial of their combat capabilities, which are already top-notch among them."


The Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company had only around something of five hundred members, but despite its small size, all of their mercenaries were top-notch that she collected across the tribes with the descent of the Nekhehara Dynasties.


"Fighting The Unclean would be hard on the plains... not to mention we are lacking firepower of the heavy artillery or machines of war."


While Ehri-Ra Thoth managed to create a rather powerful Free Mercenary Company, that was far from the biggest Free Mercenary Companies that operated within the territory of the Holy Arcadia Empire.


Her own one didn't even have a lot of siege equipment, and because her aim in creating the Free Mercenary Company was to help the people of the Nehekhara Dynasties, she was saving money for that.


But there was still one thing in which the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company had a tremendous advantage.


The people who were descended from the lineage of the Nehekhara Dynasties were exceptionally talented in the areas of Magic. Ehri-Ra herself was a very talented Sorcerer and Battle Wizard in the Lore of Light and Lore of Heaven.


And she wasn't alone because, within the Horus Guards, there were many powerful Battle Mages, especially those that practiced the Lore of Heaven due to their lineage and affinity for the celestial bodies.


Fortunately enough, they had enough Battle Wizards that would be able to act even more effectively than any piece of the war machinery that was developed by the dwarves and gnomes in the Khaz-Modan.


"We will use our Battle Wizards to maximum advantage and give them hell, even before the battle can start. Afterward, we should head toward the Chieftain and slay him and the Elders of the Tribe; rest will fall apart."


It was a simple plan but a relatively good one because of its simplicity. Due to the stratified society of the Children of Bul-Khatos, once the Chieftain was killed, their entire hierarchy would crumble as fast as it was created.


Unless the Elders of the Tribe took up the control, but that was something that she would also take care of, so with nobody up for the leadership, the rest of the Flesh Eaters would be hunted down by the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company one by one.


"That would be a good plan... we can use their mindless state against them..."


Setesh was one of the oldest members of the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company and was from the same tribe, the Khemenu Tribe, as Ehri-Ra. Within the Free Mercenary Company, he acted as "manager" or in their own terminology; he was like an Elder of the Tribe.


Just for the Mercenary Company.


Aside from that, he was also someone who realized how much drastic change was needed for his people unless they really wanted to die out. But he also knew that most of the Tribes that were descended from the Nehekhara Dynasties were too prideful or traditional or worse, both to admit anything else.


They would rather die with their traditions and pride than change and assimilate into the wider Imperium.


Probably their only luck or whatever, was that nobody really cared about the Lineages of the Nehekhara, or else the Elector Count Allander would be already knocking on their doors a long time ago, but nothing like that happened.


For most of the time, they were ignored by the rest of the Imperium, even though they were nominally part of the Holy Arcadia Empire.


***


Plains of Sinia


It didn't take long for the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company to reach the plains, which were located in front of the small hills where The Unclean had their camp. For the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company, their movement speed was relatively fast, also thanks to the factor of their equipment, which was mostly light armor.


As the majority of the members of the Free Mercenary Company came from the Tribes and Lineage of the Nehekhara Dynasties, so they also adopted more or like, traditional clothing, armor and even combat style.


Not that far from the plains of the Sinia, the barbarians of the Flesh Eater Tribe started gathering their forces because it didn't take long for them to realize that somebody was attacking them on their turf.


So, they quickly called all of their forces on the offensive against the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company. From a distance, this was also noticed by the scouts of the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company and relayed to Ehri-Ra Thoth, the leader of the Mercenaries.


"How many are there once again?"


She asked the scout as he returned to the main party of the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company with almost disbelief in her voice.


"Something around two and a half thousand, Captain."


That was way above what they had initially anticipated; right now, the forces of the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company were outnumbered by a ratio of 1:5, which was a lot and that wasn't even counting their war wolves or other monstrosities that they may have brought with them from the dunes of the Badlands.


Ehri-Ra looked a bit nervous as she observed the incoming Flesh Eater Barbarians because the numbers were terrible for them.


"Immediately tell the Battle Wizard to activate the War Magic and start releasing the most powerful War Magic on the Barbarians... we need to cut down their numbers as much as possible."


Ehri-Ra gave the first orders to the officers of the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company before she, too started casting the War Magic by herself.


As someone who was born in the sight of the Thoth, the God of the Moon, Wisdom, Knowledge, Writing, Hieroglyphs, Science, Magic, Art and Judgment.


The specifics of the Nehekharian War Magic were right now showing themselves in full power because while their civilization had long ago perished, many of their advancements in the area of Magic survived to this day.


In a split of a moment, several huge Hieroglyps appeared high above the sky over the battlefield as the dark clouds started congregating around the shining symbols in the sky.


Not even a mere moment later, huge thunderbolts started striking down at the ground before they turned their attention to the incoming army of the Flesh Eater Tribe. With each thunderbolt strike that landed down at the Flesh Eaters, it took the lives of several tens of them.


Unfortunately, the War Magic usually had tremendous upkeep on Mana, so it couldn't be maintained for a prolonged amount of time, even in this case. However in the case of the Hieroglyph, that stemmed from the War Magic cast by Ehri-Ra was a bit different.


Her own, shined in the color of the radiant moon, reminiscent of her very own beauty, shot concentrated rays of pure energy toward the Flesh Eaters, obliterating them from existence with one mere contact.


As she was a Divine Descendant of the Nehekharian Deities, bearer of the Divine Blood of the Ancient Deity of their civilization, Thoth, her Moon War Magic was much stronger and more potent than any other War Magic.


"There are still many of them remaining even after withstanding one round of the War Magic..."


Ehri-Ra Thoth looked at the incoming The Unclean Tribesmen with a grim expression, but she knew that with this round of the War Magic, they managed to kill several hundred of the Barbarians.


"Using the Sun Hieroglyph would be dangerous even for us, but they are still outnumbering us in the ratio of 1:3..."


In the end, she still had one trump card that could be called Army Destroyer Magic, but in this case, she wasn't sure if she wanted to use it. While the Khemeru Tribe were the descendants of the Ancient Deity Thoth, she had even one more peculiarity about her Bloodline.


"Unless I want to use my trump card right now..."


Ehri-Ra was contemplating about what to do because she still had one certain War Magic in her arsenal, but that would be basically using her last trump card even before the clash between Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company and The Unclean Tribe fully started.


'I would still be left with the Ignition and Law Scribe Ability...'


In the end, she decided to use her strongest trump card to reduce the number of the Flesh Eaters as much as possible, because if not, then the losses that the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company would suffer...


It would be very severe.


She then closed her eyes as her entire body was enveloped by a mixture of Golden and Silver light that was stemming from her back. The light itself then started taking the shape of two dragons that were interviewed with each other...


On her back, she had an engraved Runic Tattoo, made from several runes, that of two Dragons that were intertwined with each other. Each of the Dragons symbolized a different aspect of her powers and the Lineage of the Nehekhara.


The Silver Dragon represented the Apophis, the Devourer of the Sun and Lord of the Disorder, while the Golden Dragon Represented Ra, the God of the Sun and Lord; the Contradiction of the Rune was the origin of its strength.


Her entire back was shining from the Runic Tattoo on her back, as the entire area started getting more and more dangerous when the intertwined dragons appeared in the sky and everyone could swear that a True Dragon's Roar was heard through the battlefield.


"Divine Punishment Solar Flare: Chaos Revelation!"


She raised her sword, aiming at the intertwined Dragons that appeared in the sky.


Instantly, the projection of the Runic Tattoo of two Dragons shined in even more bright and blinding light as they grew in size and power several times over in a span of mere moments.


At the same time, an enormous Solar Flare erupted from the projection and scorched down hundreds of Flesh Eaters in one mere moment before the projection crumbled apart into thousands of crystalline-like shards.


"Create the shield wall and assume the formation!"


She supported herself with the sword she was holding, albeit barely right now, as she was tired from the usage of her trump card, as it consumed a lot of her very own reserves. But she instantly issued several orders to prepare for the clash between the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company and the Unclean Tribe.


The numbers of the Flesh Eater barbarians were cut down to approximately 750 to 800, which was way better than what it was before because now, the numbers were a bit more equal, and her own forces were not so heavily outnumbered.


"Also, order the Battle Wizards to start preparing another wave of surprises for guests, and some of them should start on the Battlefield Control."


Ehri-Ra then took out the specifically prepared Old Blood Concoction that was used for healing and recuperation as she injected the vial's content into her veins while she was getting better at a visible rate.


Even despite the scorching heat and raging inferno that was left on the battlefield by Ehri-Ra's War Magic of Twin Dragons of Sun and Chaos, the Barbarians of the Flesh Eaters didn't stop.


On the contrary, they charged at their target with newfound ferocity and brutality, as many of them even entered the Blood Rage state, which made the situation even worse from a certain point of view.


Meanwhile, the warriors of the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company assumed the shield positions, as they created an elementary shield wall, ready to make their stand. The ones using the long-distance weapons stood behind the infantry, readying their heavy crossbows and guns, waiting for the order to fire.


Only the Battle Wizards were probably most relaxed about the entire endeavor as they were farthest from the battlefield, hiding in their spots and casting spells as much as they could either to kill as many of their enemies or to support their allies.


Meanwhile, the warriors of the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company were already prepared for the combat and awaited the orders of their communing officers; Ehri-Ra herself was skimming the entire area for the Chieftain of the Unclean Tribe.


Aletur of the Howling Storm was the Chieftain of the Unclean Tribe and one of the more powerful Barbarians within the Badlands. His physical prowess was enough to put him on the high end of Level 5 in terms of the physical prowess.


He was a huge, more than two meters tall barbarian warrior with a bald head, and around his entire face and body, he had tribal symbols painted with the blood of other Barbarians or humanoid beings that he killed and ate.


Unfortunately for him right now, he was one of the unlucky ones who were hit by the Ehri-Ra's Chaos Solar Flare, which burned a large part of their army and even he himself suffered grievous injuries.


But at the same time, due to his literarily frightening vitality and regeneration factor, he was already healing at a visible rate. However, this still considerably lowered his combat capabilities because a large part of his entire being was focused on healing.


In a span of several seconds, Ehri-Ra Thoth located her target, which was the Chieftain of the Unclean Tribe. She raised her sword, which started shining in an ominous-looking crimson-red color, reminiscing that of blood and flaming with a small shadow of flames.


Bloodviolet was its name, and it was also one of the Divine Heritage Items of the civilization long gone.


But the power within the sword itself remain, as when it was Ignited, it became somehow alive. Bloodviolet was an Artifact from the Age of Fire, but nobody really knew when it was created or by whom.


The only thing that was known about the sword was that it was found in the ancient Necropolis and was associated with the Seven Star Infernal Fiend and it was the weapon of Death and Blood.


Now that Ehri-Ra had recovered enough, she Ignited the Bloodviolet to its limits, as an enormous baleful aura exploíded from the sword itself, giving off the shape of flaming fire as she dashed towards the Chieftain of the Flesh Eater Aletur.


In a mere moment, she appeared before Aletur, decapitating two of the guards that were closest to him; as their heads were freed from their bodies and blood splattered high in the air, she aimed the tip of the Bloodviolet at Aletur's unprotected neck in the aim of the same result.


Even though the Chieftain of The Unclean Tribe was injured and rather gravely at that, he still reacted almost instantaneously, as he raised his two enormous blades that were made from Orichalcum and blocked the strike in rather an effortless manner.


Not only that but by the moment of collision, he pushed the blades in the x-shape forward, as he managed to throw Ehri-Ra backward relatively effortlessly due to the enormous disparity in physical strength.


Though for the warrior woman of the Khemetu, this wasn't any problem because she struck the sword on the ground as she was sent flying, and in one nimble movement, she landed gracefully on the ground as she locked her beautiful amber eyes at the enemy.


'Even despite all of the injuries that he suffered from the Chaos Solar Flare, his power is still frightening... I need to find a moment of opportunity to use the Law Scribe to create Domain and kill him for good.'


In an almost instantaneous moment, Ehri-Ra formulated a plan in her head on how to deal with the Chieftain of the Unclean Tribe. At the same time, the forces of the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company already clashed with that of the Flesh Eaters.


Gunfire was heard through the battlefield, together with the Spells that were being cast by the Battle Wizards of the Horus Guards and unleashed hell on the Barbarians of the Unclean, as the warriors of Horus Guards held the line and counterattacked against the raging barbarians.


Getting up together once more, she again rushed at the Aletur; this time though, she only dodged the huge blades as he repeated her motion and decided to lead the offensive against her.


She dashed below the trajectory of the blades and, using the window of the opportunity, she slashed with the Bloodviolet at the Aletur's tendons at his legs, causing the huge barbarians to scream out of pain, but contrary to her expectation; it wasn't a crippling blow.


But at the same time, this provided her the window of opportunity that she needed to activate the Law Scribe Bloodline Ability.


"Law Creation: Domain of the Moon and Sun. Scribe: Descing Down from the Stars above, punish the enemy for the transgression towards the Divine Grace of Thoth and Ra and damnation of the Apophis."


The very moment she said that, the entire area around them changed as if they were transported into an entirely different world.


Domains were the most peculiar things that were often regarded as the pinnacle of Magic, a personalized space that was cast by the owner, the creator of the Domain, who was basically a God within the said Domain.


And even within the Holy Arcadia Empire, there were actually not many people aside from those within the higher echelons of the Byrgenwerth, Healing Church, a few Magical Enclaves and Imperial House and their most loyal, who could cast Domain.


Ironically, though, Ehri-Ra Thoth was one of them due to her special Bloodline that was of the Divine Descent of the Ra and Thoth, giving her an affinity for the Moon and Sun, for the Stars out there and for the Law and Scribing.


The last ones were probably the most important because it meant that she could achieve a certain degree of limited reality warping to create her Domain, which was the most impressive feat.


The very moment the Domain was created, they appeared to be on the wasteland of a celestial body, where the only things that could be seen and felt was the light from the Sun in the sky and the shining of the Moon from the Moon that was opposite to the Sun.


But for the Chieftain Aletur, the change of environment didn't represent any problem, as he looked at his opponent before he clashed his twin blades against each other until they started creating sparks and kicked off the ground, rushing at her.


'Indeed... not known for their intelligence or the brain usage overall.'


Ehri-Ra scoffed when she saw that the Chieftain of the Flesh Eaters was mindlessly charging at her like some brute, but that was just playing into her cards, as he soon fell into her trap.


In a split of a second, her entire body was enveloped by the Moon's light, which was accelerating her healing rate by a ridiculous degree and also regenerating her Magic reserves almost immediately.


At the same time, the light that was descending down from the Sun started congregating on the tip of the Bloodviolet before it spread towards the entire sword and, soon enough, toward her entire body, as she was feeling much stronger than before.


She grinned at the cannibal Child of the Bul-Khatos as she went to meet the enemy head-on with a sword in her hand because it was time to end this entire charade and slay the beast.


The Bloodviolet trembled in excitement as it got a boost in power from the Sun of Ra, as it released a tremendous explosion when it clashed with the twin blades of the Barbarian Chieftain.


The intent heat from the Sun of Ra burned through the flesh and bones of the Barbarian Chieftain, this time, in an even more intense way, that even the fabled regeneration of the Barbarians was taking some time to heal it.


But Ehri-Ra wasn't giving Aletur any time, as she appeared in front of the Barbarian, who was thrown away several tens of meters by the explosion, and started furiously attacking the Barbarian, together with subtle manipulation of the Sun of Ra, which began shooting condensed rays of light at him.


She knew that maintaining the Domain was a major drain on her reserves, but fortunately, due to her Domain being very special, as it was originating from the Bloodline Ability Law Scribe, she still had a few minutes until the Domain would collapse.


So she needed to finish the fight before the Domain collapsed because now she had a tremendous advantage over the Chieftain and could kill him fast without wasting a lot of energy, something that she was going to realize.


As the attacks from the Sun of Ra, which was shooting scorching hot rays of condensed light, were too fast and too powerful, it was clear that the injuries over the Aletur were accommodating too fast and his agility was still significantly lowered as his tenods were still in the process of healing.


When Ehri-Ra cut through the tendons at his legs, she also inserted there some nasty old curses that greatly hindered the healing.


Noticing that the Chieftain was getting slower and his reaction speed was getting longer, so she made use of it as she was attacking even more and more.


She was always aiming at the weak spots of the Aletur until she heard the roar of the Barbarian that entered the Blood Rage state, losing every bit of sanity as his combat prowess was getting out of the charts at the price of his very own life.


Ehri-Ra didn't waste any moment, as she appeared behind Aletur before he could do anything and pierced through his neck with the Sun-empowered sword Bloodviolet, though, at the same time, she probably underestimated a bit the power of the Barbarian in the Blood Rage as she received kick by Aletur, that sent her flying several tens of meters, as she crashed in the ground.


She managed to stand up, as she coughed up a bit of blood, but beneath her bloodied smile, she grinned at the Aletur; with a wave of her hand, a small talisman with Hieroglyph for the "Horus Eye" exploded in a violent supernova, annihilating the Barbarian Chieftain from the face of the Known World.


***


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[Trafford]

As the fight between the Ehri-Ra Thoth concluded, the battle between Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company was also nearing its climax. Fortunately enough for the Horus Guards, their disciplined advance against the Flesh Eaters was giving them an edge in the combat.


Aside from their superior Magic, that they were using for the whole time to either weaken the Barbarians or to Control the Battlefield.


While the forces of the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company were not the best of the Free Mercenary Company within the lands of the Imperium, they were still elite warriors and had superior tactics and training to that of the Unclean Tribe.


The Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company suffered minimal losses because they lost only a few of their warriors to the brutal charge of the Flesh Eaters. When Ehri-Ra finished the fight with the Chieftain of the Unclean Tribe Aletur, the forces of the Barbarians were shaken by the death of their leader.


The Elders of the Unclean Tribe were killed when she used her trump card of the Chaos Solar Flare that killed two Elders of the Flesh Eaters, so when there was nobody to assume the leadership position among them, the only thing that ensured was pure, unbridled chaos.


When panic ensued among the barbarians of the Unclean Tribe, the moment of opportunity was exploited by the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company as they started pushing forward and forward, killing more and more Flesh Eaters.


Ehri-Ra didn't join the combat directly; instead, she remained to observe the entire situation from the sideway as her Mercenaries were destroying the last remnants of The Unclean Tribe at an almost systematic pace.


"We suffered far fewer losses than anticipated, Captain."


As she was standing a little far from the actual battlefield, she heard the voice of Setesh, the prime manager of the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company. This was indeed something that was making her situation better, as the results were excellent.


"I know... though at the same time, we had a great deal of luck in this one, if not for the Chaos Solar Flame obliterating most of them even before the clash started and me killing the Chieftain at the start, together with the Elders, the results could be vastly different."


Ehri-Ra observed how the forces of the Flesh Eaters were destroyed while she drank a concoction made from the Old Blood to accelerate her healing rate. In the fight against the Chieftain Aletur, she suffered pretty severe injuries and was exhausted Medically and Physically, so she needed to regenerate as fast as possible.


"There are new orders coming from the HighCom of the Army Group Beta. After the extermination of the Flesh Eaters; the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company is to depart and clean the path from the Dangers Beats... and appearance Daemons started appearing in the Badlands. Right now, there are a few roads that could serve as supply lines, but they are infested with the supply lines."


The leadership of the Army Groups was in constant communication with the Free Mercenary Companies that were tasked with cleaning some troublesome places on the maps. Hearing that Daemons started appearing within the Badlands was indeed troubling news.


That was something that the HighCom of the Imperial Military didn't really count on because it was out of their expectation.


It meant that either this was the natural occasion or... or somebody opened the portal to the Abyss and allowed the Daemons to pass.


"They expect us to clear the Daemons? Are they out of their mind?"


Ehri-Ra was enraged beyond belief because the last thing that she wanted was going to clear out the supply lines from the Daemons, as this was probably even more dangerous than fighting the entire Barbarian Tribe by themselves.


"Either we do it, or someone else will do it, but... the rewards are very tempting for it."


Her brows furrowed hearing that, so even though she was skeptical about the entire ordeal, at the same time, she knew that the rewards for something like this would be too tempting.


She was already calculated within her mind that coupled with achievements of annihilating the Unclean Tribe; she would get enough merit for the Aristocratic Status from the Imperium, probably only the lowest one of the Grand Paladin, but even that would elevate her status within the Imperium tremendously.


She would also gain access to the meetings of the Landsraad and obtain access to the highest politics of the Imperium. And that was something that her own people desperately needed at all costs.


"Relay them the newest that the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company is taking up the mission."


In the end, Ehri-Ra Thoth decided to take the mission, even though something in her was warning her not to, but as Setesh stated previously... the rewards from the Imperium were too tempting to be just outright refused.


"Also, after we clean the battlefield, order everyone to rest for a few hours before we depart to search for the Daemons and exterminate them."


She said with a grin as her sharp tooth sparkled in the light because one of the most prominent Magics of the descendants of the Nehekhara Dynasties was that of the Lore of Light.


The ancient Magic of the Nehekhara Dynasties was its very own anti-thesis of the Daemonic Essence. The sole thing that made Ehri-Ra doubt about the orders was that it was possible that they would encounter a powerful Daemon...


Something that she would wish to avoid at any cost unless she wanted to use the last part of the Artifacts to pacify such a creature.


The clean-up of the battlefield that followed after the battlefield was relatively short, as the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company methodically exterminated the Barbarians to the last one until the last remaining cannibal of the Unclean Tribe was killed.


The sole unfortunate thing about the entire battle was that there was almost zero loot from the cannibals because they didn't have anything precious on their person, but that was something that was already expected from them.


***


Three hours later, Plains of Silas, Provisionary Command Tent of the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company.


While those who were injured were being healed or those who were not were preparing for another battle, this time against the Daemons. For that purpose, they were preparing the Anti-Daemon Weaponry, Divine Symbols or Runes or other means of combat against the Daemons.


As this was going on, Ehri-Ra, together with the officers of the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company, were planning their next steps against the Daemons of the Chaos who were appearing in the area and harassing the supply lines of the Imperium.


Having the steady supply lines that provided the war effort, such as weapons, medicine, armors, Runes, potions, ammunition and other things for the Army Groups that were leading the Crusade, was of the utmost importance.


At least, until the moment they arrived at the Harrogant at Mount Areat, where they would construct the Teleportation Arrays, which would allow them to transport the supplies directly from the Imperium straight to the frontlines.


Until then, they needed to have secured supply lines for the army to function properly.


"Sorcerers attached to the Army Group Beta reported that to the southeast of the Plain of Silas, there was heightened Ruinious Energy typical for the Daemons of Chaos, so it is most probably that in this place, a portal to the Abyss has been opened."


One of the officers of the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company reported that he was the one tasked with the Imperial Millitary Intelligence for the entire company and, thus, in charge of communication of the Military HighCom.


"That is problematic because the entire area is covered by a small mountain range, which gives the Daemons an advantage on the field... they could be hiding almost everywhere."


Another person said, who was probably the eldest from the group, judging from his appearance of an elderly man with a white beard and hair.


"Yes, it is... the best strategy would be sending only a few of the squads targeting the portal to banish the Daemons from the Material Plane. Appearly, they have descended only for a very short time, so if we play our cards right, we can banish them back to the Abyss without fighting them directly."


Ehri-Ra knew that if they destroyed the portal that was connecting the Abyss and Azyr, all Daemons would be banished back to the Abyss; if that didn't work, then probably killing the Summoner or the person who opened the portal would also work as well.


It was clear that the Daemons had descended on the Material Plane only for a short time, or else, at least the majority of the Plains of Silas would be turned into the Ruinious Area, filled with the Daemonic Miasma.


"We should use interconnected Runic Formation with Eye of Ra to call the descent of the Sun's Blessing; that would give us enough power to enter deep into the mountains and have all weaker Daemons avoid the squads without a problem."


Everyone agreed with Captain Ehri-Ra's proposal because this would be the safest method of entering the dwelling of the Daemons. If the Runes of the Sun were powerful enough, then even Level 4 Greater Daemons wouldn't dare approach them lightly.


Coupled with the fact that all the people that Ehri-Ra planned to send there were Level 4 and some peak Level 3, she believed that they would be okey with this mission.


"Then prepare the Runic Talismans and distribute them to the Level 4 Warriors and a few of the Battle Wizards; assemble the team within the twenty minutes."


With that being said, the strategy was concluded and everyone knew what to do; they would now need to assemble a ten-man team of the strongest members of the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company that would be part of the squad that Ehri-Ra would lead personally into the depths of the Daemon infested area.


The rest of the Free Mercenary Company would remain here, as they would only wait for their report, possibly reporting back to the Military HighCom in case something went wrong or if the situation was worse than the HighCom suspected.


***


Sahratesh Mountain Range, several kilometers southeast of the Plains of Silas.


Sahratesh Mountian Range was like most of the places within the Badlands of the Stormwind. It was barren, sandy, dusty, gloomy and overall thriving with the creepy environment and atmosphere.


Additionally to that, one could sense the presence of the Ruinious Powers in the air, without much of a problem, which signified the strongest presence of the Chaos in these parts of the Lordran.


That was naturally troubling for the squad of the ten strongest members of the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company, which was advancing carefully into the Sahratesh Mountain Range right now.


All members of the strike team that were participating in this near-suicidal mission were wearing Runic Amulets with the Hieroglyphs for Ra, the ancient deity of the Sun for the Nehekhara Dynasties from the past.


Due to this, the Sun and Light themselves were protecting them from the powers of the Ruins that were in this place and basically allowed them an unhindered journey through the valleys and roads of the Mountain Range as they were advancing deeper and deeper.


"There are a lot of Daemons here... though most of them are only Lesser Daemons, but the numbers are high."


One of the people, wearing the garbs of the Battle Wizard, muttered as he was scanning their surroundings with his Magic. Most of the Lesser Daemons were running from Level 1 to Level 2; only some were at Level 3.


Aside from them, there were a lot of Daemon Beasts running around the entire Sahratesh Mountain Range, but none of them dared to approach the group due to the very powerful presence of Sun and Light that were lethal for them.


"It seems that the portal leading to the Realm of Ruin is big... we need to hurry; it seems that the situation may be even graver than the Military HighCom anticipated."


Ehri-Ra gritted her teeth in a mixture of annoyance and frustration because she knew that it was highly possible that the Military HighCom had the wrong information about the situation in the Sahratesh Mountain Range in the first place.


That was especially dangerous to them because, from the point of view of the Imperium, the Free Mercenary Companies were just a bunch of disposable pawns in the grand scheme of things.


If they succeeded and destroyed the Daemons of Chaos, then everything was okey, and it was counted as a win for the HighCom.


If they failed and instead, their forces were exterminated by the Powers of the Ruination, then it wasn't okey, but at the same time, it also wasn't a failure for the Military HighCom.


In that case, it was also a win for the HighCom because they would obtain valuable intelligence about the strength of the Daemons hiding within the Sahratesh Mountain Range, and they would send Hunters or someone equally powerful to deal with them.


In the end, it was the Free Mercanry Companies that pulled for the shorter end of the stick.


Not to mention, because their Free Mercenary Company wasn't sponsored or created by some of the Noble Houses of the Imperium, then the chances of them getting some reinforcements from the Imperial Forces were practically zero to low.


"Increase the speed... if there are too many of them, then perhaps they will try the wave tactics on us."


Ehri-Ra commanded as all of them increased their running speed because the last thing that they wanted was to get caught in the waves of hundreds or thousands of Daemons.


Upon her command, they started running at their top speed, as they were aware that while the Daemons feared the Sun and Light, at the same time, they were also aware that all it needed was one smarter Daemon that was more cunning and more powerful than the rest.


Through that way, they would be able to gradually break through the blessings of the Sun and Light that were protecting the strike team that Ehri-Ra Thoth was leading to the depths of the Sahratesh Mountain Range.


Fortunately enough for them, there were not powerful and smart enough Daemons that would take command of the Lesser Daemons. Within a short time, they managed to locate the place where the Abyssal Miasma was the densest.


It was clear that the portal leading to the Abyss was located somewhere beneath the Sahratesh Mountain Range, so that was the place where they were heading.


***


Underneath the Sahratesh Mountain Range, approximately around the same time.


Deep under the Sahratesh Mountain Range, there was an enormous underground space, that was evidently man-made, judging by the various stone pillars that were all around the place, though most of them were half-destroyed or already collapsed.


"Daemon Noble and a very powerful one at that..."


From the hidden spot, Ehri-Ra and her group of warriors from the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company were observing the layout of the entire underground space.


The one thing that Ehri-Ra noticed about the entire place, was its origin was related to the Nehekhara Dynasties. That was mainly due to the various Hieroglyphs of the Nehekhara Dynasties that were inscribed on the ceiling and collapsed pillars.


It seemed that this place was very, very old and it was outside of the area of the Munn, where the Nehekhara Dynasties were first established. Most of the history of the Nehekhara was lost in the passage of time, so it was a great surprise for Ehri-Ra to find a place related to their ancestors outside of the Munn.


Or at least, within the records of the Tribes that survived till now, there were almost no records about places under the control of the Nehekhara Dynasties outside of the Munn...


"It seems that this place is related to the Nehekhara Dynasties; judging on the Hieroglyphs over the pillars, this should be related to the 3rd Nehekhara Dynasty that was ruled by the Pharaoh Nagash."


Nagash, known by many names such as the "Great Necromancer," the "Great Betrayer," the "Usurper," the "Undying King," the "Supreme Lord of Undeath" or simply "He Who Shall Not Be Named".


He was the ultimate personification of death and the Undead, an ancient, evil being who sought to conquer this cruel, chaotic mortal world and bring about an age of Undeath that would rule for all eternity.


"Then it could be explained why this place was chosen for the experiments by the 3rd Nehekhara Dynasty."


During the 3rd Nehekhara Dynasty, in the times when their nation was still unified, powerful Sorcerer Nagash became the Pharaoh of the Dynasty. He who was obsessed with uncovering the secrets of the Magic and Arcane, started conducting various forbidden experiments.


At the same time, he was also conducting research on the Powers of the Ruins, something that was probably the most dangerous thing. Yet, despite all of this, at the start of his rule, Nagash and those who followed him, started conducting the research in the places outside of the Munn.


"We are probably within one of the first places where accursed Pharaoh Nagash started his research in the Ruinious Powers."


Ehri-Ra said with a grave voice because it seemed that they had found something really dangerous, but at the same time, something that possibly contained a lot of treasures and ancient knowledge.


After the fall of Nagash and complete destruction of the 3rd Nehekhara Dynasty, the empire crumbled and from that day, we could talk about the Nehekhara Dynasties as a whole, because the the enormous Dynasty was devolved into countless smaller Dynasties fighting among each other for the resources and Legacy of the 3rd Nehekhara Dynasty.


It was no wonder that the portal between the Abyss and Material Plane opened exactly here because it was the most suitable place. Probably somebody found the research lab of the Pharaon Nagash and started tinkering with the place and things that were left there.


"It's not only the average Daemon Noble but also a peak Daemon Noble that is on the verge of evolving into the Daemon Lord and it is a Bloodthirster. Far more powerful than the Chieftain of the Unclean Tribe Aletur... aside from that, I have a feeling that he is directly sponsored by one of the Chaos Gods."


The Elderly Setesh stated as he looked at the Daemon Noble, who was standing near the enormous purple portal, surrounded by tens of Greater Daemons that were at Level 4 and hundreds upon hundreds of Lesser Daemons.


The Bloodthirster Daemon Noble was a massive Daemon with crimson skin that perspires blood and a fearsome appearance overall. It has the lower legs of a beast, blending the traits of a goat and bull, with the upper body of a man, though covered in thick, curly black hair sodden with gore.


From its back spread two massive leathery wings, not unlike those of a Dragon. Atop its neck is a bestial, tusked, dog-faced head fitted with two bull horns that spread to either side.


The horns and head of this Greater Daemon are decorated with profane symbols of the Blood God, including the Mark of Khorne. Covering its body are plates of brass Chaos Armour bolted directly to its bone and fused to its flesh.


Many Drinkers of Blood also tear the faces of their victims from their skulls to add them to their armor like some perverse purity scroll.


This armor is forged upon the Daemon's flesh by Khorne himself and thereafter becomes a living part of the Daemon's physical form, even while maintaining a brutal intelligence of its own. As such, even the Bloodthirster's armor is wrathful and longs for slaughter.


"We are severely outnumbered... and it seems that the existence of the portal into the Realm of the Ruination is connected to the Daemon Noble, so by killing him, we would most probably banish all of the Daemons back into the Abyss..."


Ehri-Ra looked at the Daemon Noble after she looked at the people of the strike teams, as they needed to decide the strategy.


'The Abyssal Miasma within this place is too strong and too powerful; we would need to lower the density by a great degree before the confrontation could even begin... somewhere within the place, there should be some Hieroglyphs Suppressing the Abyssal Miasma.'


Even though the madmen of the 3rd Nehekhara Dynasties carried out almost free and unbridled research into the Powers of the Ruination, they were still smart enough to install a few Hieroglyphs whose purpose was to suppress the Daemosn and Abyssal Miasma.


"We need to activate the Chaos Suppressing Pylons; at least part of them should be functioning, and they would be of great help in the fight against the Daemons; at least they could suppress the Daemons greatly and allow us greater movement freedom."


Soon enough, they divided into three groups, from which two groups had a mission to activate the Chaos Suppressing Pylons, while the remaining group would confront the Daemons and take their attention on itself.


'Even under the suppressed state, Bloodthirster that reached the Daemon Nobility is way above my capabilities, so the sole choice would be to use the Divine Descent...'


This was her final trump card, aside from the usage of the Runic Tattoo of the Twin Dragons of Ra and Apophis... the Divine Descent.


Even though the religion of the ancient deities of the Nehekhara Dynasties was heavily replaced by that of the Healing Church, that didn't mean that the power of the ancient Gods once worshipped by them had diminished.


Every time, here and there, some people would be born or be gifted the ability of the Divine Descent and right now, the number of the people within the Holy Arcadia Empire who could achieve something like that could be counted on one hand.


Naturally, the most notable was the Holy Imperator himself, The Lord of Sunlight and Cinder, Heir of the Old Blood, Karl Franz I. Holswig-Schliestein von Reikland de Anor.


"I summon the power of the Sun, by the will of the Gods and by the will of the Aten, let the might of the King of the Gods, the God of Sun and Light, flow through my body and let me be its vessel on the material place, witnessing the glory of the long-forgotten past and banishing the enemies of Sun and Light into the eternal damnation and oblivion."


As she finished the prayer, instantly, her entire body was enveloped by gentle light.


Her hair started turning from the previous raven black to the bright golden, like she had in her childhood and her younger years before they turned raven black, and her eyes turned from the previous amber-colored to shining gold.


At the same time, this transform alarmed practically every single Daemon in the vicinity as they all started rushing toward her position, as two imaginary dragon-like wings created from the Sunlight appeared behind her back, allowing Ehri-Ra to fly in the air like the aerial Daemons.


She gripped the Bloodviolet in her right hand, whose crimson-red appearance turned into a flaming sword of light as she rushed directly at the Daemon Noble Bloodthirster that was commanding all other Daemons to attack Ehri-Ra.


For a certain moment, she appeared like an Angel as she was enveloped by the Holy Light of Sun that belonged to the God King Ra, which was burning away all Abyssal Miasma and turning all weaker Daemons near her into the dust.


Yet, even that didn't stop the Daemons of Chaos and Ruin from mindlessly attacking her as they rushed at her in hundreds and hundreds. Before the Daemons could pounce on her, Ehri-Ra flapped her light wings.


In a split of a moment, rays of light burst from her wings and turned all of the Daemons into ashes, and even the stronger and more powerful Greater Daemons were severely injured by the rays of light that Ehri-Ra released.


She then looked dangerous at the Noble Daemon Bloodthirster, who already appeared in front of her, swinging at her with an enormous waraxe, as she flipped in the air, flying behind the Noble Daemon Bloodthirster and attacking him from behind with the Bloodviolet.


But the Bloodthirsters were the Greater Daemons of Chaos God of Blood, SKulls and War, Khorne, so his combat instincts were absolutely out of the norm, as the enormous Daemons Bloodthirsters.


Sensing the danger, Ehri-Ra used her wings of light to protect against the sudden attacks as the waraxe of the Noble Daemon Bloodthirster clashed against her wings of light, creating an enormous explosion that threw both of them away.


From the explosion, the entire underground space shook greatly; the tremors penetrated into the depths of the ground.


Meanwhile, Ehri-Ra stabilized in the air; she looked at the Noble Daemon Bloodthirster because, from the brief clash, she sensed its power very well... she knew that the Bloodthirster was an extremely powerful Daemon of Khorne.


'Far more powerful, the Sunlight of Ra is lethal for them; the Noble Daemon Bloodthirster is too powerful, so unless the Chaos Suppressing Pylon is activated, I will have a very hard time injuring him severely enough.'


Ehri-Ra thought, but her train of thought was shortly destroyed once the Noble Daemon Bloodthirster attacked her once again. Though with the Divine Descent Abiltiy that she called upon, Ehri-Ra was able to fight against them on the relatively same level.


She kept exchanging one blow after another with the Noble Daemon Bloodthirster, but she was purposely attacking certain places on his body to lower his fighting capabilities. This plan was a rather good plan because it was working as the Bloodthirster was sustaining were slowing the humongous Daemon down.


After approximately ten minutes, even Ehri-Ra's body was full of injuries; her armor was cracked in several places, and an entire part of the armor covering her right arm was missing from the last attacks by the Daemon of Khorne.


To her advantage, the Divine Descent Ability also gave her an unprecedented healing rate that allowed her to regenerate injuries rather fast because if not for that, then she would be already blind in the left eye.


As she assumed a different battle stance in an attempt to lure the Daemon into a trap, she suddenly felt the appearance of some very weird energy over the entire place, which meant that the Chaos Suppressing Pylons were already activated by her subordinates and were in full power.


Not only that, but they were working way better than she anticipated because she could see that all around the place that now became one huge battlefield, the Daemons started losing strength, as their connection to the Abyss and Ruination was diminishing at the visible rate.


Even the weakest of them were already getting banished back to the Abyss one by one at rather a fast rate because they couldn't withstand the strong suppression of the Chaos Suppressing Pylons.


Even the Greater Daemons that were present started losing their strength at a visible rate, something that was naturally welcomed; Ehri-Ra even noticed that now that they lost the connection to the Abyss, their combat prowess dropped tremendously.


While the Daemons had inherently powerful physiques and physical capabilities, one of their strongest abilities was access to the Abyssal Miasma that they could draw either from the Abyss itself or from the more powerful Daemons or the Chaos Gods.


But with the Chaos Suppressing Pylons, such a thing was impossible and the only thing that was left for them were their physical capabilities. And now, at the moment when the Pylons started working, all the Daemosn were being ambushed by the warriors of the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company one by one.


Even Ehri-Ra used this opportunity to the maximum, as she unleashed all the power that she could muster after drinking another vial with the Old Blood Concoction and attacking the Noble Daemon Bloodthirster.


Her wings, which were already in a wingspan of three meters, now grew to ten meters as they were enlarged by the flowing power of the Sun God King Ra as she commanded the Light and Sun to congregate in the Bloodviolet that was almost burning with the light itself.


She shot toward the Noble Daemon Bloodthirster at the speed of light itself, with the Bloodviolet piercing through the shoulder of the Daemon of Khorne, who shouted in pain as the Holy Light of Ra started penetrating deep into his very own existence.


Using the small window of opportunity that was presented to her when the Daemon of Khorne attempted to purge the Holy Light of Ra from his body, Ehri-Ra attacked once again, this time aiming at the lower part of his neck, which wasn't protected by any armor, as she buried her sword deep into the neck of the Daemon Noble.


Instantaneously, she pushed all of her power into the Bloodviolet, which resulted in violent explosion of golden light as the entire upper part of Daemon Noble's body was obliterated from existence.


The very second the Daemon Noble was killed and his entire being, including his soul, destroyed by the Holy Light of Ra, the already weakened portal connection between the Abyss and Material Plane crumbled entirely faster than one could blink.


The portal was already greatly weakened and on the verge of collapse the moment when the Chaos Suppression Pylons were activated, but Ehri-Ra knew that just the Pylons wouldn't be enough; killing the Noble Daemon Bloodthirster was needed to banish them all completely.


"We succeeded... and we even found something so miraculous as the Chaos Suppressing Pylons... if they are sold to the Imperium, then the situation with the descendants of the Nehekhara would be solved overnight..."


While Ehri-Ra wasn't really privy to the state secrets of the Imperium, for that, her social status was technically speaking non-existent, from her travels, she knew that the Byrgenwerth was researching something that would act similarly like the Pylons of the Nehekhara Dynasties.


"This could even fetch me Baron Title and entire Barony..."


She muttered as she looked at the corpse of the Daemon Noble that was decomposing at a visible rate due to the Holy Light of Ra destroying it from the inside and at the ruins of the place, which was filled with treasures from the Nehekhara.


***


Check out the new permanent story, Saga of the Astral Mysteries!
***
Support me on the Patreon! Without the patrons nothing would be possible written and published... thank you in advance.
***
Read up to 10 chapters ahead on the Patreon and join Discord for images and other content for the novel...
PS. Only due to the patreon are the stories still published and can exist... thank you for your support

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[Trafford]

I unlocked the Free Trial for the Spectator Tier once again for some time... please support me. Right now, there are only 22 paid members from the overall 122, so hopefully, it will be able to rise!

Thank you very much...

Also, soon enough, I will be changing the structure of the schedule releases to the daily release of every say something.

I have created the new Tier = Premium Novel Bundle, which consists of the novels Sigmar in WoW, Records of Magic, Dungeon Overlord, and DxD Seraph God of Destruction.

Novels like this would be released based on the results of the monthly poll conducted by the paid subscribers to the Patreon. Essentially, two novels with the highest votes would be released that month.

To this also greatly adjusted the Tiers of the already existing pledges, especially when it came to the Premium Novels, though all Tiers got increase in premium chapters of the Saga of Astral Mysteries.

Also, Song of Blood and Sunlight will, from today, have only one chapter per month as its release rate, always at the start of the month.

Also, for those who missed it, the prices for the Spectator-Tier, Reader-Tier, Prophet-Tier, Author-Tier, and Visionary-Tier were greatly lowered.

I will be uploading the chapters for the newly updated Tiers during this month.

******************

Spectator Tier

- Increased the number of premium chapters of Saga of Astral Mysteries from 2 to 5

- A Song of Blood and Sunlight and Records of Magic are no longer part of this Tier

***

Reader Tier

- Increased the number of premium chapters of Saga of Astral Mysteries from 5 to 10

- Lowered the number of premium chapters of A Song of Blood and Sunlight and Records of Magic

- Right to Vote in Polls

- Added new Benefit: Premium Novel Bundle:

* Access to 1 chapter ahead of regular release.

* Records of Magic, DxD: Seraph God of Destruction, Sigmar in WoW, Dungeon Overlord

***

Prophet Tier

- Increased the number of premium chapters of Saga of Astral Mysteries from 10 to 15

- Novel Records of Magic is no longer part of this Tier

- Right to Vote in Polls

- Added new Benefit Premium Novel Bundle:

* Access to 3 chapters ahead of regular release.

* Records of Magic, DxD: Seraph God of Destruction, Sigmar in WoW, Dungeon Overlord

***

Author Tier

- Increased the number of premium chapters of Saga of Astral Mysteries from 15 to 20

- Novel Records of Magic is no longer part of this Tier

- Right to Vote in Polls

- Added new Benefit Premium Novel Bundle:

* Access to 5 chapters ahead of regular release.

* Records of Magic, DxD: Seraph God of Destruction, Sigmar in WoW, Dungeon Overlord

***

Visionary Tier

- Increased the number of premium chapters of Saga of Astral Mysteries from 30 to 40

- Novel Records of Magic is no longer part of this Tier

- Right to Vote in Polls

- Full Acess (Everything I wrote) for the Records of Magic, DxD: Seraph God of Destruction, Sigmar in WoW, Dungeon Overlord

***

Premium Noble Bundle

- Price: 8 Euros

- Right to Vote in Polls

- Full Acess (Everything I wrote) for the Records of Magic, DxD: Seraph God of Destruction, Sigmar in WoW, Dungeon Overlord

****************************************************

Hopefully, these changes will have some positive impact on the number of paid subscribers...

Thank you very much for your support and hopefully, we would see each other on the patreon; only thanks to it am I able to write and publish.

Trafford

 

[Trafford]

Saga of Astral Mysteries - Promotion of New Primary Fanfic
Main Setting: A Song of Ice and Fire (ASOIAF) - Game of Thrones (GoT) x Lord of the Mysteries (LOTM)
Characters from: League of Legends (LoL) / Arcane
Elements from: Warhammer Fantasy, League of Legends / Arcane
-
"My life spans across the centuries. Legions have risen to test me… My ascendance is inevitable. A day, a year, a millennium—it matters not. I hold the patience of stone and the will of stars. Your striving is insignificant. Your efforts are useless. From the grandeur of the Valyrian, surviving the Doom, overcoming dangers of the Valoran, rise of the Noxus, and Divine War of the Gods. There is no call we do not answer and no challenge we do not overcome! For we are the Noxus, Forever Strong!"
- Immortal Emperor's Ceremonial Speech of 400th Celebration of the Empire of Noxus
***
Tags: Alchemy, Army, Army Building, Alternate World, Aristocracy, Beautiful Female Lead, Calm Protagonist, Character Growth, Charismatic Protagonist, Cunning Protagonist, Dark, Depictions of Cruelty, Destiny, Dragons, Devils, Elves, Evil Gods, Evil Organizations, Evil Religions, Family, Fnatasy Creatures, Fantasy World, Fast Learner, God Protagonist, Godly Powers, Gods, Hard-Working Protagonist, Harsh Training, Hidden Abilities, Immortals, Industrialization, Kingdoms, Kingdom Building, Lost Civilizations, Lucky Protagonist, Magic, Male Protagonist, Manipulative Characters, Money Grubber, Multiple Realms, Mythical Beasts, Mythology, Nobles, Overpowered Protagonist, Pets, Philosophical, Religions, Schemes and Conspiracies, Secret Identity, Secret Organizations, Sentient Objects, Skill Assimilation, Souls, Special Abilities, Spirits, Strategic Battles, Time Skip, Transmigration, Vampires, Wars, Weak to Strong, Strong to Stronger, Wealth Characters, Werebeasts, Demons, Early Romance, Harem, Polygamy, Firearms, Knigths, Leadership, Loyla Subordinates, Magic Technology, Mediaval, Modern Knowledge, Monsters, Multiple POV, Politics, Royalty, Technological Gap, Conquest, Strong Love Interest, Gate to Another World, Strength-based Social Hierarchy, Sword and Magic
***
Dungeon Overlord: Unexpected Results of Worshipping Outer Gods

"Worshipping the Outer Gods isn't really the best idea, and for many, it won't really end well.
For me, though?
At the start, it was shit, but now I am Dungeon Master of the Interdimensional Dungeon, tasked with Harvesting Fate, Magic, and Life from the worlds. I am bringing the End Times to the worlds in the name of the Great Old Ones.
Oh yes, did I tell you that I managed to have several beautiful, overpowered wives on top of that?"
- Archaon the Everchosen of the Great Old Ones

Theme: ASOIAF, Bunny Black, Dungeon Hunter, Dragon Age, Warhammer Fantasy

***

Sigmar Heldenhammer in World of Wacraft

"When the sun rests, and the world is dark, and the great fires are lit, and the ale is poured into flagons, then it is time to sing sagas as the Dwarfs do. And the greatest saga is the saga of Sigmar, the mightiest warrior. Harken now, hear these words, and live in hope."

—Excerpt from the Legend of Sigmar "Heldenhammer" Hinderstern, The Orcbane, The Demonslayer, The Justiciar and Master of Holy Thunder, The Hero of Great Wars, Hero of Stormwind, Protector of the Azeroth, Hierarch of the Holy Stormcast Templar Order and Founder of Covenant

Theme: World of Warcraft x Warhammer Fantasy + Age of Sigmar Elements
***
STARLESS: Transmigrator's Debuchery Life

Just your average story of an ultra-rich, morally depraved transmigrator who has a harem of his wife and daughters and other women, as they enjoy debauchery of all kinds and...
Based on the STARLESS Series from the EMPRESS

Theme: STARLESS, GREAT DECEIVER, SLEEPLESS SERIES

* Read on your own risk

***
DxD: Seraph God of Destruction
"So I have been reborn... that is good.
In the Highschool DxD... could be better; reality is often worse than a shitty presentation.
Fortunately, to the son of Shiva the God of Destruction, and Thashamal the Seraphim of Doom, that was certainly good.
But you know what wasn't good?
In a few years, the Khaos Brigade would be making a mess, awakening the Trihexa and machinations of the Spirit Gods of Etoulde. Those self-righteous bastards have drawn the attention of Evies to Draconic Deus and other threats."
-
Theme: Highschool DxD, ???, ???, ???
***
Records of Magic

Beyond majestic mountains, across the emerald dale, on the ivory standard united, we prevail. Records of Magic, the records of the rise of Magic in 21st Century, through the World War III to the Invasion of Burning Legions.

We are the Yotsubas, the Untouchable; we fought against the Dahan, we fought against the USNA, and we fought against the Demons of the Burning Legion.

From the distant shores of Amani, the ruins of the Troll Wars, it was recorded that a new power would rise for every trial suffered and every ally mourned; they would be the guardians of Azeroth.
-
Tags: Alternate World, Anti-Magic, Fantasy World, Magic Technology, Military, Nobles, Politics, Clan Building, Domestic Affairs, Power Couple, Schemes and Conspiracies, Kingdom Building, World Hopping, World Travel, Gate to Another World, Demons, Dragons, Magic, Sci-Fi, Wars, Strong Love Interests, Special Abilities, Overpowered Protagonist, Army, Army Building, Conquest, Magic Formations, Orcs, Sword and Magic, Wars
-
Theme: Mahouka Kokou no Rettosei / Irregular at High Magic School, World of Warcraft, Type-Moon Elements
***
A Song of Blood and Sunlight
It was the 10th Millennium; for more than several centuries, the Emperor and High Lord Magistrate sat on the Divine Throne of Sunlight and Cinder. He is Lord of the Lands of Ancients by the will of the Gods and Master of the City of Gods by the power of his inexhaustible armies. (Soulsborne influence)
-
Tags: Antihero Protagonist, Army Building, Calm Protagonist, Daemons, Dragons, Elves, Fantasy World, Gate to Another World, Gods, Domestic Affairs, Handsome Male Lead, Kingdom Building, Male Protagonist, Management, Polygamy, Harem, Ruthless Protagonist, Sword and Magic, Vampires, Wars, Conquest, Knights, Politics, Nobles, A Song of Ice and Fire, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Warhammer Fantasy, Game of Thrones, Religions, Interdimensional Travel, Aristocracy, Elemental Magic, Multiple POV, Royalty, Special Abilities, Strong to Stronger, Early Romance, Industrialization, Magic, Marriage, Romantic Subplot, Schemes and Conspiracies, Strong Love Interests, Elves, Strategic Battles, Technological Gap, World Hopping, World Gate
-
Theme: A Song of Ice and Fire (ASOIAF) / Game of Thrones (GoT), Warhammer Fantasy, Bloodborne, Dark Souls (partially - more lore-wise)

 

[Trafford]

3rd POV

Somewhere in the Badlands, Grand Province of Stormwind, some time later, En Route on the Harrogath

After the Fortress City Almorel fell and was razed to the ground, the Crusading Army of the Army Group Alpha continued into the depths of the Badlands, marching onto the final destination of theirs.

Harrogath and Mount Arreat, where the headquarters of the Barbarians was located and where their kind would meet their most unfortunate and certain demise, where the Lordran shall be united under the might of the Imperium.

And he would become the Emperor of the Known Lordran, with everything aside from the Dark Lands and Orklands, as those were full of Daemons and Orks, yet they would become targets for the expeditions to gather resources.

As the Holy Imperator, Karl Franz was resting within the private chambers of the G-1 Mobile Base when he was suddenly woken up by someone knocking on the door.

While he didn't really need to sleep per se, he still found enjoyment in the moment and it brought him one of the world's pleasures.

"Your Holy Majesty, Lady Maria is calling you to the command center and she says it is the most urgent."

When he heard the voice, he noticed that it belonged to one of the officers of the Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence or the O.I.M.I., who was stationed on the G-1 Mobile Base.

So, even though he wasn't really excited about this, he was forced to wake up, albeit with a good addition of irritation, when he noticed that Maria was saying that it was most urgent situation.

She would never make assumption of things, so it really meant that something indeed happened that certainly warranted his immediate attention. When the Holy Imperator arrived at the commander center of the G-1 Command Base, he attracted many gazes, as he was wearing his sleeping outfit.

"So, what was that important that you needed to crush my sleep?"

Karl Franz asked with an irritated voice as he looked at Maria, who in turn smirked on her fianceé before she turned on the projection of something on the table.

It projected certain objects, which Karl Franz didn't really recognize at all, but judging on the gazes of others; he knew that it must be something pretty important.

"Approximately one hour ago, one of the Free Mercenary Companies, named Horus Guard Free Mercenary Company led by Ehri-Ra Thoth, finished the mission within the Badlands that was assigned to them by the HighCom. After they exterminated The Unclean Tribe of the Flesh Eaters, which were a problem for the supply lines, they were tasked with investigating the Sahratesh Mountain Range..."

Karl Franz knew something about the Unclean Tribe, as he heard that they were the worst of the worst barbarian tribes; they were the outcasts of the entire barbarian society, mainly due to their practice of cannibalism.

"Within the depths of the Sahratesh Mountain Range, they found an entire smaller Daemon colony, led by Noble Daemon..."

Hearing that the Noble Daemon that was comparable to the Level 5 Professional this made him wonder how the hell were they able to kill the Daemon Noble. According to his knowledge, the descendants tribes of the Nehekhara Dynasties didn't produce anyone that reached Level 5 for several millennia already.

"And if you are asking how they were able to achieve this feat... the answer is pretty much simple and is the reason why I was calling you right now. It seems that they were fighting in the depths underneath the Sahratesh Mountain Range, in the abandoned research center of the Nehekhara Dynasties, where they were studying the Ruinious Powers and it seemed that as the insurance against the Chaos, they had there several Pylons... fully functioning Pylons were found there..."

After hearing that, not only Karl Franz but even other people who were present within the Command Center looked at Lady Maria in shock and disbelief because they knew what the Pylons represented.

"This is... Pylons... they found the Pylons..."

Karl Franz wasn't even able to think straight because he was probably more aware of the significance of the Pylons than most. They were the pinnacle of the Magitek of the Nehekhara Dynasties, and because most of the Magical Engineering was lost with the fall of the Dynasties, some records remained.

The Pylons were the peak they achieved, the ultimate weapons against the forces of Chaos. If the Holy Arcadia Empire was able to get their hands on the Pylons and recreate them, they would be able to ensure the ultimate protection against the powers of the Ruin.

"Immediately send there an entire Sadality of the Stormcast Eternals and squad of Battle Wizards and transport the Pylons back to the Anor Londo... make this mission of the highest priority..."

Karl Franz instantly decided to send there his best and most powerful to oversee the transportation of the Pylons back to the Anor Londo.

If they were able to recreate them, then all major cities would be essentially safe from possible Daemons Incursions and they could also tremendously strengthen the Skycrown Gate.

With the addition of the Pylons at the Skycrown Gate, they would handle all future invasions of the Daemons with ease because the Pylons were extremely powerful weapons against the Ruinious Powers.

Unfortunately, till now, it has been lost in the passage of time...

Until now, it was recovered by the mercenaries.

"Also, tell the leaders of the Tribes that I want them to present themselves at the Imperial Palace of Anor Londo after the Crusade has been ended."

It seemed that they would need to spend more time excavating the ruins of the Nehekhara Dynasties, something that wasn't really done before as there were more important matters and nobody really thought that something could have survived the passage of time.

But now, it seemed that it was false, and some artifacts indeed survived the passage of time.

And if the Pylons have survived, it meant that other things may have survived...

Gods knew what the tribesmen were hiding there... everybody in the Grand Province of Munn was ignoring the Tribesmen who were descendants of the Nehekhara as they were already slowly on the verge of extinction.

And yet... it seemed that Fate had smiled at them and given them another chance, this time, in the form of Pylons that were found underneath the Sahratesh Mountain Range.

"It seems that their civilization will have a certain level of revitalization..."

Karl Franz knew that they would need to invest more resources into the natives of the Grand Province of Munn...

Their people had a lot of potential, especially when it came to magic, but they were mostly neglected due to their reclusive and secular nature. Now it seemed that Karl Franz would award one of their people the Aristocratic Status of Baron, hereditary one, of course, together with the entire Barony.

This would be the first time for them and would signify the rise of the entire population because as long as they had someone with such achievements as Ehri-Ra Thoth, they were sure to get a certain degree of state help.

Her achievements of annihilating The Unclean Tribe of the Children of the Bul-Khatos, annihilating the possible Daemons Incursion and Banishing the Level 5 Daemon Noble was no small feat.

Even Karl Franz was a bit impressed by it, considering that she was only a Level 4 Professional...

Not to mention, the Chieftain of The Unclean Tribe was confirmed Level 5 Barbarian, and yet, he fell to her blade, which was very surprising and shocking in itself.

"On a different note... it is confirmed that the leader of the Horus Guards Free Mercenary Company is Divine Descendant of the Ancient Nehekharan Deities Ra the God King of Sun and Thoth the God of Moon and Wisdom and other things..."

When Maria stated that, Karl Franz stopped in his tracks instantly because Divine Descendants were rare... like very rare things to happen and for the ones that could control their powers, those were even rarer.

"I want to see her... how the hell managed someone like that be undetected by the Imperium for more than three decades or so..."

This was almost mind blogging because the Imperium was watching for all of the Divine Descendants either to conscript them to the Imperial War Machine or they were silently disposed of if they proved to be a threat to the rule of the Divine Throne of Sunlight and Cinder...

"Who knows... most probably because she spent most of her life living with her tribe hidden from the sight of the wider worlds; their people are living in places where it is impossible even for the members of the Office of Imperial Military Intelligence to infiltrate effectively."

The Imperium didn't really pay attention to the descendants of the Nehekhara Dynasties much because they were not of the points of interest.

"Is there anything besides this discovery?"

Seeing Maria shaking her head in denial, Karl Franz decided to return to his quarters to just laze around, enjoying his privilege as the Holy Imperator. And because he was here to be just a heavy hitter, he didn't really participate in the strategy meetings and other activities.

Sometimes, acting like a hired thug was the best thing, and enjoying the luxury of the G-1 Mobile Base was the best thing.

***

The entire Imperial Crusade against the Barbarians in the Badlands was progressing smoothly, as all of the Army Groups were advancing at the capital of the Barbarian race, Harrogath, at Mount Arreat.

Army Group Delta, under the leadership of Admiral Euron Greyjoy, completely cut the entire Badlands from the sea and blocked the sea paths that the Children of Bul-Khatos could possibly use to escape from the Badlands.

Aside from that, the Army Group Delta secured the shores, cleared out the area of several smaller Tribes and Clans that were living there, and started advancing toward the Harrogath.

Meanwhile, the rest of the barbarians have also retreated back to their capital and Mount Arreat where they were building their last stand. Now that the forces of the Imperium were pressing them too much, they decided to fight till the bitter end.

This wasn't really surprising, and it was even something that was anticipated by the Imperial HighCom as they were prepared for the barbarians resisting till the last man.

After the description of The Unclean Tribe, there was nobody who would harass the Imperial supply lines, so the Imperials had steady arrival of supplies. After the destruction of the two initial Fort Cities, there were only some minor Tribes that refused to move and decided to die in their homeland.

Which was fine, as they were either bombarded to oblivion or Battle Wizards blasted their entire Tribes from the face of the earth. From there on, the path for the Harrogath was rather clear, because all of the remaining forces of the Children of Bul-Khatos were within their Capital.

***

MC POV

Some time later, Grand Province of Stormwind, Badlands, Mount Arreat, Harrogath.

The capital of the Barbarian race was something that wasn't surprising anyone or rather it was only mildly surprising because it was enormous in size and compared to the other pathetic attempts of cities, this one clearly was more advanced and proper.

They even attempted to build some walls and fortifications up to a certain degree naturally, while it wasn't anything excellent, it would probably fulfill its purpose of hindering the progress of the Imperial Troops.

Probably the most problematic on the other hand, were countless trenches and huge trench lines that were all around the barbarian capital, entirely blocking the progress and possible advance of our War Machines into the Harrogath.

Still, the entire city was right now being surrounded by the three Army Groups of Alpha, Beta and Delta. All routes of escape and survival for the Children of the Bul-Khatos were cut entirely and the sole ending that was awaiting them was extinction.

Everyone was lying down the siege equipment, especially the artillery of various types and Battle Wizards were building up a provisionary teleportation circle so that we could teleport the resources directly from the heart of the Imperium.

"How are the preparations?"

Overseeing the siege wasn't anything thrilling, even though I enjoyed the sounds of artillery firing, which was practically non-stop since we arrived. We were bombarding the defense lines of the Children of Bul-Khatos and even the capital Harrogath with everything that we had.

For several hours already the approximate losses of the Barbrains were already numbering in the thousands, but it was hard to tell. With their physical capabilities, unless they were hit directly by the artillery shots, they would be able to survive the explosions with some luck.

Not to mention their frightening regeneration capabilities.

"They won't be giving us the luxury as it seems..."

With my keen eyesight as a Level 6 Professional, I was able to clearly see that they were already preparing to stick back at our forces. It seems that the newly crowned Immortal King, the Barbarian King Worusk was leading the charge.

And when I laid my eyes on the man, fortunately enough he didn't reach Level 7 as many feared and predicted, but still... he was standing at the peak of Level 6 and had even the ancestral armor of the ever-first Immortal King, Bul-Khatos.

Fortunately enough, the Imperial Engineers, which consisted of humans, dwarves, and gnomes, worked very fast to build our siege lines so that we could defend against their counter-attack, and I would need to fight against the Immortal King personally.

This would be a good opportunity, in fact, because he was the sole person in the authority over the other Barbsarfains. Even though Worusk evidently unified his people, it was only faux unification and the control over the respective tribes still fell onto the Chieftains and Elders of their respective tribes.

That wasn't anything surprising because it would take decades or even centuries until the stubborn Barbarians transitioned from a Tribal-based society into the idea of a proper civilized nation.

So If I keep the Barbarian King Worusk occupied, he won't be able to command his army, which in turn would leave the command for the Chieftains, and due to nothing that even remotely reminded that of the chain of command, every Chieftain would command his troops individually and do what they wanted on the battlefield.

Chaos ensued, and we could use this to our advantage by picking the barbarian up.

"General Lothar, I give you the overall command over the Crusading Forces now that are to begin the battle. Cooperate with the other Generals of the Imperial Legions and Chapter Masters of the Silver Knight Order... the moment the battle starts, I will be taking the Barbarian King together with the Hunters and the Stormcast Eternals."

I said to the General of the 10th Imperial Legion Anduin Lothar, the native of the Stormwind ,as gave him the overall command over the Crusaders. He was the most experienced of all present Imperial Generals participating in the Imperial Crusade, and he was most knowledgeable about the Children of the Bul-Khatos.

Not to mention, there was a need for someone to coordinate the other forces to advance unitedly and not chaotically...

"And what of Lady Maria?"

Maria Vileblood was another Level 6 Professional aside from the Senior Hunters who would be targeting the strongest powerhouses on the side of the Barbarians together with some of the most powerful Scholars of the Byrgenwerth that were here for the Shamans of the Barbarians.

"I ordered her and some of the Stormcast Eternals to remain on the standby in case something unexpected happened. According to my prediction, my own strike force against the Immortal King should be enough, but nobody could be sure of everything..."

Even with the abilities like Sha Naqba Imuru, I couldn't be 100% sure of the future, thus I ordered Maria to be on standby in case something unexpected happened so she could intervene in the matter.

She was one of the most powerful Professioanls in the Lordran in the end and would ensure the protection of the Crusading Army. In case some powerful Barbarian managed to slip through my eyes or those of the Senior Hunters and decided to wreak havoc in the Imperial Army.

Maria would be there to take care of them.

While she wasn't thrilled at the idea, she also understood that this was a tremendous responsibility and that somebody needed to do it, or else, the consequences could be devastating for the Imperium and the Imperial Forces.

"As you command, Your Holy Majesty."

General Anduil Lothar gave me a bow before he departed back to the G-1 Mobile Base to assume the overall command of the three Army Groups, as just ten minutes later after he left, the Barbarians started charging toward our positions.

I also saw the new self-proclaimed Immortal King, Barbarian King Worusk who was holding rather ominous looking two-handed war axe as he was leading the the charge together with his closes, all of the most powerful Barbarians of the Harrogath were at his side.

Indeed, it was undeniable that the Barbarian King Worusk was powerful, very powerful, but he was in no way Immortal King Bul-Khatos. Even though he had self-proclaimed himself as the one, he wasn't.

If he was, then the armor and weapon would, have already reacted to him, but seeing that the entire famous Immortal King Set was in some kind of semi-active state confirmed my idea that Worusk didn't obtained the complete Legacy of the Immortal King Bul-Khatos...

At least yet.

But with me being here, he won't ever have the chance to obtain it as he would die.

Stuikll, just the fact that he was able to wear the Immortal King Set and the ancestral weapons of the very first Barbarian King meant that Worusk had very strong Blooldine and was a descendant of the Immortal King Bul-Khatos himself.

Such valuable specimens would accelerate the research of the Byrgenwerth by entire decades.

All around us, hundreds of artillery weapons started firing as much as they could; most of them were directly aiming at the humongous barbarian army numbering more than two hundred or three hundred thousand that was charging at the positions of the Imperials.

The Battle Wizards of the Imperial Battlemage Legion were doing their job in support of the Scholars of Byrgenwerth in casing the Super-Tier War Magic, which required the effort of tens of Magic Users combined together.

And I, as the Holy Impererator of the Holy Arcadia Empire, donned my runic armor and gripped the Longinuslanze Testament in my right hand as I looked at the enemy that was coming to us.

With each salvo from our marvels of weapon engineering delivered, hundreds upon hundreds of Barbarina were killed in the explosions, while many more were injured, and this was being repeated over and over at a frightening pace.

There were several Senior Hunters of the Workshop that would be fighting the strongest experts on the side of the Children of Bul-Khatos. The Longinuslanze Testament cracked with the Golden Light of Holy Destruction as I awaited the combat.

"Dispose of the Elders and Chieftains, target those who may be the commanders of the horde, while I will take care of the Barbarian King Worusk."

Aside from the Barbarian King Worusk, who reached the peak Level 6, there were a few Level 6 Barbarians, but none of them even had part of the power that the Barbarian King held.

All of them were the Chieftains of the strongest and most powerful tribes of the Badlands among the Children of Bul-Khatos. I wasn't really keen on engaging in close-quarter combat against the Barbarian King because that was the department where I would lose for certain.

While I was very confident in my combat skills and martial capabilities, I knew that Worusk was certainly on an entirely different level. Not to mention he was also eclipsing me in the department of the physical prowess.

I also saw that in the distance, the entire Army Grop Delta already started moving closer to the Harrogath as they attacked the defensive positions of the Barbarians, while the Barbarians were attacking the positions that were held by the Army Group Alpha and Beta.

Because Barbarian King Worusk mobilized a large part of the Harrogath's army in aim of killing me and ending the Imperial Crusade, he left a large part of the city and surroundings of Mount Arreat underpowered.

The entire southern part of the Harrogath's defense lines were now facing the assault from the Army Group Delta, as it would take approximately half an hour to break through the defenses and reach the Harrogath's gates.

"Prepare for the impact!"

I shotued as I looked at the incoming barbarians as the first ones were already in front of our lines, as I swung the Longinuslanze Testament. In a split of a moment, enormous wave of the Golden Light of Holy Destruction that swept away the Barbarians.

Turning thousands of them to nothingness, not even ashes remained from them after they were hit by the Golden Light of Holy Destruction. Kicking off the ground, I gripped the Longinuslanze Testament and shot toward the Barbarian King Worusk, who was about to attack several of the siege engines.

As we clashed in the air, a small shockwave erupted from the force behind our strikes, as he was visibly surprised that someone matched him in power. While I was severely behind him in the physical department, even though we were both Level 6, I was making up for the difference with the usage of Arcane Energy.

Briefly, I contemplated if I should use some Mgaic, but I quickly dismissed the motion because the Magic Resisnce of the Barbarian King was too high, and even someone on the level of Supreme Patriarch Balthasar Gelt would struggle to cast a spell that could severely injure him without a proper preparations.

Both of us started at each other for a moment, before the Barbarian King Worusk charged at me once again, holding the enormous spiked two-handed war axe, as he swung the humongous weapon at my head, only for me to dodge as I attempted to strike him with the Longinuslanze Testament at his neck.

Most of the barbarians when wearing armors, they were not protecting all of the vital, but only a few of them. It was part of their culture and traditions, but at the same time, it also suited their combat style.

Unfortunately for me, the Barbarian King Worusk managed to dodge the blade of Longinuslanze Testament easily, as I found myself flying as he kicked me in my chest.

I crashed onto the ground but managed to quickly get ahead of myself and assume the battle position before Worusk could strike at me again.

***

3rd POV

The clash between the Holy Imperator of the Holy Arcadia Empire and Barbarian King Worusk was slowly, but surely coming to the end.

While the Barbarian King Worusk was very powerful, especially in the aspect of his physique, he was still losing severely to the Golden Light of Holy Destruction that was used by the Imperator.

The power of the Golden Light of Holy Destruction was something that was entirely eclipsing any kind of defense that the self-proclaimed heir of the Immortal King of the Barbarians could muster and it was all crashing onto him.

While it was clear that the Holy Imperator was mildly losing in the confrontation, in the area of pure martial skills, because that was the area where he coukdl't even hope to match the Barbarian King with the skills he currently had.

While Karl Franz wasn't a slouch in this area, no, in fact, he was one of the best fighters within the Holy Imperium, but at the same time, his age and experiences were a bit against him because the Barbarian King was far stronger and far more skilled.

If it was a pure showdown of skill, Karl Franz suspected that he was only a tad level below that of the Gehrman, the First Hunter of the Workshop. Yet, at the same time, the area where the Barbarian King Worusk was losing severely was the raw power.

That was an area where Karl Franz was several leagues above him, especially when he used the Golden Light of Holy Destruction, which was tearing through the Barbarian King's defenses like a hot knife through butter.

Just out of nowhere, the entire battlefield stopped, and nobody moved for several moments as everyone looked at the same point within the battlefield. Everyone was looking at the same place on the battlefield without a pause.

And yet, some were shocked, some were delighted, some were angry, despaired, or cheering outright, depending on the side they were fighting on.

But everyone was looking at the same place, at the same two people; from which one of them was holding a golden lance that pierced through the heart of the second man.

The second coming of the Immortal King of the Children of Bul-Khatos, the Barbarian King Worusk has fallen to the Holy Imperator of the Holy Arcadia Empire, Karl Franz I. Holswig-Schliestein von Reikland de Anor.

Till now, the Imperial Legions under the leadership of the Stormcast Eternals that were acting as the speartip of the offensive were tearing through the Barbarians like their cold and methodical precision leaving behind thousands of corpses.

But now...

With the death of the Barbarian King Worusk, the morale of the Barbarians was broken in mere one moment. From there on, things went to shit for the Barbarians as most of them lost the will to fight and were slaughtered without any problem.

Karl Franz joined the fray as he was searching for the more powerful Barbarians who were posing a threat to the advancing Imperial Forces, as he was cutting them down in droves. With the death of their King, the Barbarians were not really a threat.

Even in this situation, probably on the verge of extinction off their species, they were still arguing against each other, because various Elders refused to listen to each other and maintained only the most basic rudimentary cooperation which was far from enough.

From stopping the ruthless advancement of the Imperial Forces.

It didn't take long for the Harrogath to be breached by the Imperial Legions and the Stormcast Eternals, as the Hunters and the Officers within the Stormcast Eternals disposed of the stronger Barbarians.

And with the fall of their capital, the entire Mount Arreat soon enough followed shortly and was stormed by the Imperials.

The fall of Mount Arreat signified the end of the Children of Bul-Kathos; their entire civilization and species were ruthlessly slaughtered to the last infant. The sole members of the Barbarian species that survived the genocide were the ones that were captured by the Byrgenwerth to serve as material for experiments and research.

Karl Franz remained on the battlefield for some time, as he joined the fight alongside the common Legionaries and Stormcast Eternals, as they were finishing up the scraps of the Barbariasn that resisted till the bitter end.

Surrendering was not in their dictionary and nobody would even accept that.

The Barbarians were actually very proud people, who would never bend the knee to the Divine Throne of Sunlight and Cinder and that was something that Karl Franz couldn't really tolerate as they represented threat.

They were not under his control, and they were strong enough to resist the Imperial Legions; this entire Crusade was proof of that fact. If they were given even more time to develop and better equipment, then the losses that the Imperium would suffer would number in hundreds of thousands.

Karl Franz and practically not only him, but also the entire HighCom were aware of the more unfortunate and cold truth that the Children of the Bul-Khatos didn't lose because they were not skilled or powerful enough.

Or even numerous enough.

No...

They lost because they were divided and they had practically non-existent industry and their equipment was terrible. They lacked proper strategies, armaments and other things, especially those that were common for the more advanced civilizations.

As the Holy Imperator of the Holy Arcadia Empire overlooked the battlefield with scattered corpses, he saw that the Imperium suffered losses numbering in tens of thousands. They won, yet the price was high, at least for the Imperial Legions, Free Mercenary Companies and personal soldiers of the Imperial Aristocracy.

The losses were heavy because the Barbarians, with all they had, were still able to fight and kill many of the Imperial Legionaries. Only the Stormcast Eternals from the Imperial Force sustained very little and minimal losses.

"The Mount Arreat has a large underground structure, and we are currently breaching their defenses there, Your Majesty. It would be done within a few hours, they have prepared a lot, possible to give the non-combatants time to escape."

As the Imperator was observing the battlefield, he heard the voice of General Anduin Lothar as he contemplated the words of the General of one of the Imperial Legions.

"Send in Hunters and all of the Stormcast Eternals that are not necessary on the main battlefield; order the Battle Mages and Scholars and every single Magic User you can find to create a barrier as large as possible, reaching deep into the earth..."

There was still a possibility that underneath Mount Arreat, there were some hidden paths leading to some places unknown to the forces of the Imperium. They couldn't allow even a single of the Barbarians to escape.

"It shall be done, Ave Imperator!

After saluting, the Imperial General left the Imperator, who continued staring at the battlefield as if he were counting the casualties of the Imperium. With the countermeasures in place, it would be impossible for the Barbarians to escape.

The last thing that Karl Franz wanted to see were the Children of Bul-Khatos escaping and rising somewhere else and becoming problems once again.
***
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[Trafford]

MC POV, sometime later

The Imperial Crusade against the Children of Bul-Khatos was successful... indeed it was.

The Harrogath was destroyed, and the mighty city was laid to ruin and bombarded to oblivion. Mount Arreat, which was their Holy Mountain, and the underneath complex, which was large enough to be considered a smaller city, were also torn down by the might of the Magitek.

Everything was destroyed: their idols and totems were destroyed, their sacred places were ruined, and their people were all exterminated to the last person. It was very bloody and, at a certain point, also morbid...

Nobody survived from the Badlands; everything was killed due to my order and the orders of the Landsraad.

In fact, I felt a bit regretful because the Barbarians were very powerful... yeah, they were very powerful.

They would have been a great boon for the Holy Arcadia Empire, but unfortunately, they were too proud folk, and they would never bend the knee to someone who was no bearer of the Lineage of the very first Immortal King.

And actually, that was something that I couldn't accept just like that... that was something out of the question.

One could call it my own arrogance or something, but the fact that there existed a nation of people that were very powerful, on the Lordran, bordering the Imperium and not under our control.

That was something that I couldn't really allow.

They would have to go... one way or another, and obviously, they did.

Interestingly enough, I was taking a luxurious War Wagon back to the Anor Londo because I wanted to ponder over things. With the speed of the War Wagon, I would arrive at the Anor Londo in one or two weeks, mainly due to the newly installed Magitek Engine in the War Wagon.

The experimental Magitek was proving itself stable enough to be installed in various War Machines of the Imperium. Maria remained in the Badlands, mostly on my order because I needed to have her there.

The Stormcast Eternals were needed to be present until the entire Badlands were scoured at least several times over, in case someone survived. And this was something that only the best Magic Users and Stormcast Eternals could do.

Maria was naturally pretty unhappy about that, because I was returning back to the comforts of the Anor Londo, and she was stuck in the middle of nowhere, so she wasn't really thrilled at the idea.

Yet, she didn't complain much and carried out the order as she was told. It was unfortunate, but she knew that with her new position as the Lord General-Kommandant of the Stormcast Eternals, she had different kinds of responsibilities right now.

I planned to return through the Grand Province of Stormwind, to the Grand Province of Caladan, and then through the Grand Province of Bretonnia before finally arriving a the Grand Province of Reikland.

During the time of the journey, I would also be stopping at a few places and inspecting a few places.

So, I think that I would give a few people a heart attack when I appear at their doorstep together with the procession of the Stormcast Eternals and a few Brigades of the Imperial Legion and Silver Knight Order.

I especially planned to stop by the Arakeen for a few days, which was the Provincial Capital of the Grand Province of Caladan, and discuss something with the Sword Masters of Caladan to improve the weapon training regiment of the Stormcast Eternals.

A large part of the Stormcast Eternals was actually drawn from the Sardaukar and Knigths of the Caladan, who were most well-versed in swordsmanship. The Stormcast Eternals needed to be best in everything, not only in the Augmentations that they received but also in everything other.

And Caladan was a place that was full of weapon masters and masters in various martial arts, mainly due to the history of the place. The entire region of Caladan was considered a holy place for martial artists, and they have been developing their martial arts and weapon arts for the entire millennium.

The current Elector Count of the Grand Province of Caladan was even the previous General-Kommandant of the Reiksgarde, Atreus Atreides. And right now, he was Lord Celestant Prime of the Reiksgarde Temple and was in charge of the protection of the Imperial House and Imperial Palace in the Anor Londo.

Aside from that, I also needed to check on the progress of the Bretonnia with my own eyes, because the Bretonnians were having mild problems after the disbandment of the Grail Knights as they were incorporated into the Stormcast Eternals.

The Grand Province of Bretonnia was actually a place where the Greenskins and Beastmen were concentrating in huge numbers; in the ancient forests of the Bretonnia, where it was incredibly hard to search for them, there were huge populations of both.

Both the Greenskins and Beastmen were thriving there, and often, they would raid the towns and cities of the Bretonnia.

For that, the Provincial Army and Imperial Legion, the 7th Imperial Legion, which was stationed in the Grand Province of Bretonnia, was constantly clearing out the forest and conducting expeditions to the depths of the ancient forests.

The Bretonnia was also a place where the finest Knights and cavalry of the Imperium were trained and created. It was the land that took the Code of Knights and concepts of Chivalry and Honor to new heights.

***

Imperial Capital of Anor Londo, The Landsraad, Office of the High Chancellor of the Landsraad, December of Year 10,280 - of the Imperial Lordranese Callendar

With the conquest and assimilation of the Badlands and extermination of the Children of the Bul-Kathos as it was called... very nice word for genocide, not something that the elderly High Chancellor of the Landraad Luca Brewster fully supported, but he was also aware of the risks.

And risks were something that the Imperium never took with anything and anybody.

Right now, as the High Chancellor of the Landraad, it fell to him to manage the territories of the Badlands that were conquered by the Imperial Crusaders and to make things right.

Afterward, they would be assigned to someone, probably to some Aristocrats that were risen to the Aristocracy for their merits. There was a lot of work to do with the aftermath of the Imperial Crusade into the badlands.

The High Chancellor of the Imperium was already in the state, where he wished nothing more than to retire, somewhere nice where he would have some peace. Not being buried under the paperwork and other administrative duties, which was slowly killing him.

Not to mention, his age was already catching up with him, or at least he was telling himself that, as he had a lifespan of entire centuries, but the mental burden was too high on his mind.

"Enter."

He said before the person who was standing behind the door could even knock on the door as soon someone from the Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence entered the office of the High Chancellor of the Landsraad.

"What do you have for me?"

Dealing with the spooks from the Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence wasn't something that he was very accustomed to during the past centuries, but it was becoming more and more often.

With the Ciaran officially being separated from the Silver Knight Order and the second Legion of the Silver Knight Order was now merged into the Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence, while a new Legion of the Silver Knights would be established to take the place of the 2nd.

Now the Imperium and especially the Imperator were giving more and more resources to the Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence and paying more attention to the happenings in the world.

As they said, information was power, and thus, they needed to create a professional spy agency, something that wasn't that much necessary before.

Mainly due to the lack of targets and uses, normally the Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence was only monitoring the domestic subjects and possible threats on the home front.

Now, the field of the Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence was spread towards the rest of the Known World, which was a lot, and they were still establishing their network all around the world.

While in Westeros, the network was already growing promisingly, in Essos, it was very scarce, and only in the biggest cities, the Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence had some presence, which wasn't very good.

"Latest news from the Seven Kingdoms of the Westeros, High Chancellor. It seems that the civil war that his Holiness has foreseen is very close."

The man from the Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence was covered in combat gear, with a mask covering his entire face. Nobody knew the identities of the members of the Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence; probably aside from the Holy Imperator and Director, their true identities remained mysteries to everyone.

"Invitation to the Tourney of Harenhall?"

This was certainly weird; he would understand that if some of their allies were invited as they were technically speaking Westerosi and subjected to the Iron Throne, but the Holy Arcadia Empire were foreigners to Westeros.

"Organized by the Crown Prince of the Seven Kingdoms, Rhaegar Targaryen. He sent invitations to several of the major players, or it would be better said that he invited everyone to fish for support for his coup against his mad father."

The officer from the Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence stated stoically, with his voice didn't give any emotions at all.

"Did Starks and Lannisters receive the invitations as well?"

This was becoming interesting, but it was also crucial for the plans of the Imperium. As one of the members of the High Council of the Holy Arcadia Empire, High Chancellor Luca Brewster was privy to the true plans of the Imperator.

Which was for the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros to fracture into independent kingdoms as they were before they were conquered by the Aegon the Conqueror. With the resurgence of the Magic, they would become a serious threat if they were somehow unified.

While at the same time, due to the rising presence of the powers of Ruin, the Imperium couldn't afford to send their forces to conquer somewhere far from the lands of the Lordran; that was totally out of the question.

"Yes, he sent them practically to everyone... those who could read the political climate astutely would know that those who would show up at the Tourney of Harrenhall personally would join him in his ambitions. It is anticipated that a lot of Lords would show up, with the King acting madder and madder with every passed day, and the return of Magic to the Westeros didn't really help it. Apparently, he now sees enemies really everywhere, even among the members of his own House."

Yes, it was only a matter of time until that keg of gunpowder exploded and took everyone with it. They needed to profit as much from the civil war as possible, with the Citadel of the Maester Order being the prime target for their ambition.

"Have the preparations been finished all or at least a large part of them?"

Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence was responsible for planting their people within the crucial areas, where they would strike amids of the civil war, to loot the knowledge of the forgotten of old.

Westeros once had many powerful Magicians and Sorcerers; most of the knowledgable was lost, but at the same time, it was not and was collected by the Maester Order. The grey rats that feared Magic collected everything even remotely connected to it as they were keeping it in their Citadel.

"Mostly done... planting of some of our agents into the City Watch of Oldtown is finished, but to get some into the Citadel is harder. They are really a bunch of people who are not trusting almost anyone, and the fact that there is some sort of spell formation in the Citadel is not really helping because it is rendering most of the Illusion Spells, Mind Spells, and other similar types of Spells ineffective."

This partially confirmed the theory about the Magic Zones within the Westeros. Such areas were exceedingly rare even within the Lordran, as they were saturated in the Mana and Magic for countless centuries.

It seemed that the Citadel and the entirety of the Oldtown was built on the Leylines; the congregation of Magic was once in the past tremendously strong in that place. Coupled with the fact that the entire place was seethed in Magic, it penetrated its very own existence and developed some sort of resistance against certain types of spells.

As if the Magic in the place was sentient and protected the entire Citadel, which proved to be most problematic for the Imperial spies. However, at the same time, it wasn't anything that the Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence couldn't handle with enough time and preparation.

"What are your orders, High Chancellor, for this?"

The officers from the Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence asked as he looked at the High Chancellor Luca Brewster, who was right now in deep thought.

"Nothing... do nothing... relay the orders for the Elector Count Stark an Russ to participate in the Tourney of Harrenhall and to be on guard, he should know what to do and for what to search for..."

This was the best course of action they could take because with little tug, most of their problems within the Seven Kingdoms of the Westeros would resolve themselves with enough time and care.

"And about the situation in the Essos?"

Essos was proving to be a true headache for the Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence and the Imperium as a whole. Especially with the rise of the Celestial Empire of Grand Cathay, they had one serious opponent on the world stage.

Albeit not right now, but in a few decades?

The Celestial Empire of Grand Cathay would be every powerful nation capable of fighting against the Imeprium, at least in certain regards. The secrets were not known to many, but the Living Gods of Cathayan Dragons were not opponents that even the Imperium could dispose of.

"What are the latest reports saying in that regard?"

The High Chancellor Luca Brewster asked as he finished the last paperwork that was on his table and was ready to call it a day, so he could finally return back home.

"We confirmed that they won't be spreading beyond the Bone Mountains; right now, they are in a stage where they are preparing an invasion of the Bone Mountains and also constructing their enormous wall and series of fortresses to protect them. Certain isolationist tendencies are confirmed, so the people at the Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence are thinking that the Celestial Empire of Grand Catahay won't be expanding further west and crashing with our interests."

Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence conducted a lot of examinations on the plans, steps, and intentions of the Celestial Empire of Grand Cathay. Only a selected few new the true nature of the Celestial Dragon Emperor Xen Yang and Moon Empress Quai Yin.

And it certainly gave a few among the higher-ups of the Holy Arcadia Empire frights, but not even the Gehrman the First Hunter would be able to even severely injure such beings, much less defeat them or kill them.

"Increase the surveillance and spy network, but don't do anything to them. It seems that all of our thoughts about the nature of them are true so we left them alone."

Celestial Dragon Emperor Xen Yang and Moon Empress Quai Yin were basically like the Great Ones that took mortal form. They were beings of unprecedented power, and their true nature was beyond that of the mortal understanding.

Two of them only acted as guides for their subjects; from their modus operandi, they knew that they wouldn't create conflicts or anything, and they wouldn't be expanding and seeking to destroy everyone who opposed them.

Such was confirmed by the Holy Imperator.

But the same couldn't be said about their future descendants or the actual ones.

Those ones were much weaker, much, much weaker, but at the same time, they were not bound by the Rules of Interference, and thus, they could act freely.

"Per your order, may I excuse myself, High Chancellor?"

Luca Brewster just nodded as an officer of the Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence disappeared from his office.

***

North of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, Next Day, December of 280 AC of Westerosi Callendar / December of Year 10,280 - of the Imperial Lordranese Callendar

The mornings in the Winterfell were getting colder and colder, or so the Elector Count of the Grand Province of Fenris thought. It was clear that the increasing density of Magic within the environment was having some effects on the climate as well.

Simultaneously, he was also thinking about the notice that he received from the High Chancellor of the Holy Arcadia Empire that instructed him to participate in the Tourney of Harenhall mostly to observe the developments.

He wasn't very keen on going to such events, but as it was an order from the High Chancellor himself and bearing the sigil of the Holy Imperator, there was no way he could refuse such directions.

Naturally, his daughter and son were much less thrilled about the idea, but they didn't protest... much at least.

Aside from Ysgramor's traditional whining, there was nothing much to do.

"Observing the sunrise?"

He heard the voice of their host at this place, as they were already staying at the Winterfell for more than one month. The greater host of the House Stark an Russ, was host to the Starks of the Winterfell for a whole month as they were doing what they were ordered by the Imperator.

"Partly... I got instructions from the High Chancellor to participate in the Tourney of Harenhall, much to my dismay."

The Lord of the House Stark frowned a bit because from what he understood about the Imperium, the High Chancellor of the Landsraad was probably the second-highest ranked person within the entire Empire.

Aside from the fact, that compared to the Hand of the King within the Westeros, the High Chancellor had far more of real political and military power, with even powers of mobilizing the Imperial Legions and the armies of the Empire in case of threat.

He was also the man who acted on the behest of the Imperator, and he had more than enough authority to order the Elector Counts around, something that the Hand of the King within the Westeros could do only by personal written full power from the King himself.

"So something is indeed happening in the backround."

While Rickard Stark wasn't a politician of the caliber of those like Tywin Lannister or Olenna Tyrell, he was still good enough to tell when something was happening. And it was clear that the Tourney of Harrenhall was something that would decide the fate of the Realm for the decades to come.

Perhaps even for the centuries to come.

"Yes, and per the orders of the Imperator, I now have to entertain these paltry schemes and things... how much easier would it be if everyone could just solve their issues with their fist and axe."

The Elector Count of the Grand Province of Fenris sighed deeply, as Lord Rickard Stark standing next to him chuckled lightly because the Elector Count of the Imperium had an even higher distaste for politics than most of the Lords of the North combined together.

"It seems that your son is once again training in the yard..."

Suddenly both of them were attracted to the sounds of metal clashing when they noticed several people fighting in the training yard of the Winterfell.

One of them was obviously the son of the Elector Count Leman Stark an Russ, Ysgramor Stark an Russ and the others were members of the Winter Knights that were private guards of the House Stark an Russ.

For the average Westerosi, it was very hard even to follow their moments because they were faster than ordinary humans. Every single one of the WInter Knights was pushed to the peak Level 1 at least, though most of them were standing at Level 2 with their superior Rune Sets.

He was holding his runic waraxe Wuuthrad in one hand, while he had a runic shield in the other. Wuuthrad was a huge war axe that should be held in both hands, but in the hands of Ysgramor, it was easily held in one hand without any problem.

Leman Stark an Russ could see that his son was fighting against five titled officers of the Winter Knights almost effortlessly, while they had an enormous crowd of observers that were watching them spar.

For the ordinary Westerosi, such a showcase of supernatural powers and strength was something known only from the stories. Something that was just told in the myths and legends, something that had already become a long-forgotten past.

"Your son fights like a devil..."

Rickard Stark managed to say after watching a duel between the son of Elector Count of Fenris and their House Guards, where the Ysgramor was winning on all fronts without much effort.

"Tsk... that boy has nothing in his head aside from combat; if it were up to him, then our House would become either extinct or bankrupt in a few years."

Hearing that, even though it may sound harsh, Rickard Stark was forced to agree with the statement of the Leman Stark an Russ. Their guards from the Lordran were staying in the Winterfell for some time already, so he knew that Ysgramor was something that the Imperial termed as battle-maniac and training-maniac.

He wasn't interested in anything that wasn't related to training, combat, battling powerful foes and getting stronger. Fortunately enough, Astrid Stark and Russ were far brighter than her older brother was, and she was proud of her father.

At the same time, she was his heir that the House Stark an Russ would survive the next generation, something that couldn't be objectively left to her brother for many, many, many reasons that could be named.

Rickard knew that despite her cold and tough look of shield-maiden, Astrid was cunning as a snake and was a very intelligent young woman. In Westeros, there were almost no cases aside from Dorne, where women ruled the lands, but within the lands of the Ancient Lords, only one sole thing decided everything.

Ability.

The birth, gender, origin...

Nothing of that mattered in front of Ability.

It was a very surreal concept to the Westerosi, where their origin and lineage decided the fate of almost everyone.

Within the Imperium, the Ability was everything that mattered; it was land where even the lowest of the commoners could rise to the Ranks of the Elector Counts if he was capable enough.

From what Rickard Stark knew from time to time, some of the Viceroys that arose within the Lordran's Grand Provicnes were from simple and humble origins. Yet, he could see the merit in this because the Imperials were strong, powerful, disciplined, and without an equal in their vastly dangerous lands.

At the same time, it made him worry about his own future and that of the North in Westeros because the reconnection with his distant kin didn't bring the reconnection itself.

Leman Stark and Russ were also bearing with them information about the Resurgence of the Magic in Westeros, and that was something truly troubling.

"Would he be joining us in the Tourney?"

Hearing the question from the Lord of Winterfell, Lord Elector Count shook his head in denial to the question.

"Out of the question, he would create a scene there and necessary problems. He will go to the True North beyond the Wall and scount the Lands of the Always Winter for the presence of the Lich or whatever is hiding there. The spooks back home don't know themselves for sure, but some are telling tales of Grand Necromancer or even Lich King."

Hearing that, Lord of the Winterfell frowned deeply because he understood the gravity behind those lines after learning from the Imperials. Lich King was something that could obliterate entire Westors in a few weeks, as it was right now.

However, with the return of Magic, the odds didn't look as bad as they were previously.

They would have a chance to fight back against the Lich King or whatever was hiding and preparing their forces within the Lands of Always Winter. Though, for now, that was a thing for the future, right now, there were other things to deal with.

"Everything is going to ruin... impending Civil War, the situation in the Lands of Always Winter and lately, the resurgence of the Weirwood Trees... and from what I heard the situation in the Westerlands is also getting more tense with each passing month."

The five-pointed leaves and the sap of Weirwoods are blood-red, while the smooth bark on their wide trunks and wood are bone white. Most Weirwoods have faces carved into their trunks.

The children of the forest did this in ancient days and it is now done by the free folk as well as other descendants of the First Men, such as followers of the Old Gods in the Seven Kingdoms praying to Heart Trees in Godswoods.

In some cases, the sap has collected in the crevices of the carved faces, giving the trees red eyes known to drip sap as if the trees were weeping. A Weirwood will live forever if undisturbed.

And now, with the Resurgence of Magic, the Weirwood Trees have started appearing all over the North in great numbers. There were even reports in the Winterfell that, once again, Greenseers, Wargs, Druids, and other Magic-Blessed individuals from the old myths and legends started appearing in the North.

Obviously, this, together with the situation in the Westerlands, was not taken kindly by the Faith of Seven, and there were already talks of the impending Holy War. However, this time, it would probably be vastly different because the Faith was greatly weakened from the reign of the Targaryen Dynasty in Westeros.

"I heard... it seems that Lannisters have put everything behind the Healing Church, and they got chummy with the Vicar of the Westerlands, especially now that the Healing Church was officially merged into the Divine Throne, and Imperator leads the Religious matters as well."

Lord Rickard Stark didn't know if Tywin Lannister converted to the Religion of the Great Ones or not, but he knew the cunning lion would do everything to gain advantage and consolidate his power.

With the creation of the standing army of the Westerlands, the might of the Lannisters was increasing, and now that they had a close relationship with the Healing Church, a pretty bloody situation followed in the Westerlands.

Many of the Septons and Septas were killed, their places of worship burned down and desdtoey, their followed hunted by the fanatics of the Healing Church... it wasn't really nice sight.

Though from what he understood, Rickard knew that it was inevitable because the Faith of Seven would never tolerate any other religion besides their own. In the North, the last Sept was closed off, and Septons were banished several weeks ago because the Warden of the North wished for a more peaceful approach as it could get.

"Faith of Seven represents a potential danger to both you and North as well... the Andals were never satisfied that we stopped them at the Moat Cailin and halted their advance further north."

Elector Count of the Grand Province of Fenris nodded in agreement because now, when the Magic was returning to the World, it meant that even the Gods and other beings that were above their understanding would meddle more in the mortal affairs.

However, it was a question of what exactly the Seven were...

Some within the Imperium were saying that they were another trick from the Lord of Chance, the Architect of Fate, Chaos God Tzeentch. Some, on the other hand, was saying that they were extremely powerful Sorcerers from the long-forgotten past who wanted to achieve Godhood through worship.

"How is the reconstruction of the Moat Cailin going on?"

Since the Imperium first landed in Westeros, sometime later, the Starks of the North started implementing many of the changes that took place in the Westerlands.

"Could be better, but the dwarves are saying that it would be complete within a few months. They are even making the fortress to be even more impenetrable and powerful than it was several thousand years ago."

Starks of the Winterfell hired some dwarves to start reconstructing some of their forts and castles, especially the Moat Cailin, because it was an enormous fortress that halted the advance of the Andal Crusaders several thousand years ago when they wanted to spread their faith into the North as well.

Hoarding money for several thousand years, together with living in modesty and most spending much, made wonders of the treasuries of the Hosue Stark and they had a lot of money to spend.

And right now, most of that money is put into modernization and reconstruction.

"I even paid Gnomes to install some of their traps and inventions as you suggested, including Air Defenses against Wyverns, Gryffons and other creatures..."

Killing young wyvern wasn't anything problematic for the inventions of the Gnomes and Dwarves. In the Ironforge and Gnomeregan and other Forge Cities across the Imperium, there were many things that could kill such beings.

Right now, some crucial places of the Westerlands and North were armed with things that would be highly effective against most types of Valyrian Wyverns. As long as it wasn't some mutated Wyvern or a very old one like Balerion the Black Dread, then they could defend against them.

Even though killing larger ones would be hard, it won't be impossible to at least fend them off from their territories. It was only a matter of time until the Targaryens hatched some of the Wyverns once again now that Magic was returning back to the world.

***

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[ATP]

Genocide becouse somebody do not bow? only mongols thought like that,and only they could manage to do so.
But,even they could genocide ONLY in right territory/so mountains,forests or swamps to hide/ ,and ONLY becouse they were calvary army.


Your emperor have infrantry army - not possible for them to kill everybody,if they decide to hide or run.So,some barbarians survived,only your emprah do not knew that.

 

[Trafford]

Genocide becouse somebody do not bow? only mongols thought like that,and only they could manage to do so.
But,even they could genocide ONLY in right territory/so mountains,forests or swamps to hide/ ,and ONLY becouse they were calvary army.


Your emperor have infrantry army - not possible for them to kill everybody,if they decide to hide or run.So,some barbarians survived,only your emprah do not knew that.

Click to shrink...

You have screening spells to tell you if there are any lifeforms. They could just use Magic Users to hunt down the remaining ones that escaped the systematic extermination. Due to that, they will station extermination teams that would be systematically going through the entire Badlands and killing any survivors found with the usage of Magic to locate them. Not to mention, they have very advanced Blood Magic they could trace them through their Blood.

I always though that genociding your enemy is the best solution possible, it destroys the problem entirely without possibility of the future problems or revenge. Yeah, maybe in the future the history will look at you negatively but that's inconsequential...

 

[ATP]

You have screening spells to tell you if there are any lifeforms. They could just use Magic Users to hunt down the remaining ones that escaped the systematic extermination. Due to that, they will station extermination teams that would be systematically going through the entire Badlands and killing any survivors found with the usage of Magic to locate them. Not to mention, they have very advanced Blood Magic they could trace them through their Blood.

I always though that genociding your enemy is the best solution possible, it destroys the problem entirely without possibility of the future problems or revenge. Yeah, maybe in the future the history will look at you negatively but that's inconsequential...

Click to shrink...

Still not possible,becouse enemy had his own magic to hide.And hiding is always easier then finding.
And,when genocide really was used in the past,it is not problem here,but your Emprah attitude - if he want every strong neighbour destroyed,he eventually must conqer entire Planetos.
Which is not possible,he do not have enough dakka for that.

tsars Russia had the same attitude in part of their history - they fall as a result,and become much smaller after soviet fall.
I do not have problems with being genocidal maniac,only with being genocidal maniac without enough dakka.

 

[Trafford]

Still not possible,becouse enemy had his own magic to hide.And hiding is always easier then finding.
And,when genocide really was used in the past,it is not problem here,but your Emprah attitude - if he want every strong neighbour destroyed,he eventually must conqer entire Planetos.
Which is not possible,he do not have enough dakka for that.

tsars Russia had the same attitude in part of their history - they fall as a result,and become much smaller after soviet fall.
I do not have problems with being genocidal maniac,only with being genocidal maniac without enough dakka.

Click to shrink...

Enemy doesn't have magic, Barbarians don't use Magic

 

[ATP]

Enemy doesn't have magic, Barbarians don't use Magic

Click to shrink...

But you still send your mages to wipe remnants.Do you knew how germans lost WW2 so quickly? they almost finished soviets in 1941,and in 1942 prepared new offensive.They need all trains they had to deliver weapons and ammo for them on railroads.

But,in the same year,they decide that they must kill all jews here and now,instead waiting for end of the war.So,many trains,instead of taking troops to East front,take jews to german death camps.

Result - german defeat in early 1945.If they do not decide to be stupid dicks,they still could win.

That attitude would lead to fall of your Empire,becouse :

"In fact, I felt a bit regretful because the Barbarians were very powerful... yeah, they were very powerful.

They would have been a great boon for the Holy Arcadia Empire, but unfortunately, they were too proud folk, and they would never bend the knee to someone who was no bearer of the Lineage of the very first Immortal King.

And actually, that was something that I couldn't accept just like that... that was something out of the question.

One could call it my own arrogance or something, but the fact that there existed a nation of people that were very powerful, on the Lordran, bordering the Imperium and not under our control."

Dude is manchild.Strong states on your border are normal thing,nobody attack them becouse of that in RL.

When you get to Essoss,you would meet Yi-Ti controlled by dragons,who do not agree to serve you.So,you would try to genocide them.
No matter who win,winner would fall later.

Do you knew how Machomet made his conqests? he waited till ERE finally defeated Persia after long war,and then take Persia and part of ERE.
Te same would happen to your MC emire,unless he stop to be manchild.

 

[Trafford]

But you still send your mages to wipe remnants.Do you knew how germans lost WW2 so quickly? they almost finished soviets in 1941,and in 1942 prepared new offensive.They need all trains they had to deliver weapons and ammo for them on railroads.

But,in the same year,they decide that they must kill all jews here and now,instead waiting for end of the war.So,many trains,instead of taking troops to East front,take jews to german death camps.

Result - german defeat in early 1945.If they do not decide to be stupid dicks,they still could win.

That attitude would lead to fall of your Empire,becouse :

"In fact, I felt a bit regretful because the Barbarians were very powerful... yeah, they were very powerful.

They would have been a great boon for the Holy Arcadia Empire, but unfortunately, they were too proud folk, and they would never bend the knee to someone who was no bearer of the Lineage of the very first Immortal King.

And actually, that was something that I couldn't accept just like that... that was something out of the question.

One could call it my own arrogance or something, but the fact that there existed a nation of people that were very powerful, on the Lordran, bordering the Imperium and not under our control."

Dude is manchild.Strong states on your border are normal thing,nobody attack them becouse of that in RL.

When you get to Essoss,you would meet Yi-Ti controlled by dragons,who do not agree to serve you.So,you would try to genocide them.
No matter who win,winner would fall later.

Do you knew how Machomet made his conqests? he waited till ERE finally defeated Persia after long war,and then take Persia and part of ERE.
Te same would happen to your MC emire,unless he stop to be manchild.

Click to shrink...

I still don't understand what's your point here... also question, why MC should got to Essos and quarrel with Celestial Empire of Grand Cathay? I never even hinted such thing so that was entirely your own assumption. Same as the fact that the Empire would be expanding towards the Essos and Westeros.

And on the side note if you forgot, the Barbarians were basically living in the sovereign territory of the Empire and occupying part of the Imperial Territory.

 

[Trafford]

But you still send your mages to wipe remnants.Do you knew how germans lost WW2 so quickly? they almost finished soviets in 1941,and in 1942 prepared new offensive.They need all trains they had to deliver weapons and ammo for them on railroads.

But,in the same year,they decide that they must kill all jews here and now,instead waiting for end of the war.So,many trains,instead of taking troops to East front,take jews to german death camps.

Result - german defeat in early 1945.If they do not decide to be stupid dicks,they still could win.

That attitude would lead to fall of your Empire,becouse :

"In fact, I felt a bit regretful because the Barbarians were very powerful... yeah, they were very powerful.

They would have been a great boon for the Holy Arcadia Empire, but unfortunately, they were too proud folk, and they would never bend the knee to someone who was no bearer of the Lineage of the very first Immortal King.

And actually, that was something that I couldn't accept just like that... that was something out of the question.

One could call it my own arrogance or something, but the fact that there existed a nation of people that were very powerful, on the Lordran, bordering the Imperium and not under our control."

Dude is manchild.Strong states on your border are normal thing,nobody attack them becouse of that in RL.

When you get to Essoss,you would meet Yi-Ti controlled by dragons,who do not agree to serve you.So,you would try to genocide them.
No matter who win,winner would fall later.

Do you knew how Machomet made his conqests? he waited till ERE finally defeated Persia after long war,and then take Persia and part of ERE.
Te same would happen to your MC emire,unless he stop to be manchild.

Click to shrink...

And to quote your history reason, the main reason why they lost to the Soviets was that, one was Hitler's own obsession with occupying Stalingrad and halting the advance on Moscow, where the central command of the USSR was located, which allowed the Soviets to have time to relocate most of their factories and infrastructure beyond the Ural and receive aid from the USA. It didn't have anything to do with the extermination of the Jews at all... During the operation Barbarossa, Hitler was the main leader of the offensive despite the displeasure of many of Wehrmanch and made many inefficient decisions that made no sense.


Not to mention another great factor was that the Germans were not prepared to wage war in the Winter and made sma mistake like Napoleon when they let themselves to be lured into the deep russia where most of them began to freeze to death because Hitler predicted that the entire operation Barbarossa would be concluded within three months in September 41 at latest...

Not to mention most of the jews they were exterminating within the eastern front were executed on tthe frontlines by being shot, not many were sent to the concentration camps.

Small note... if you have train that is transporting something from the frontline to the homeland, it doesn't mean that you can't use the same train to transport supplies to the frontline.

 

[ATP]

I still don't understand what's your point here... also question, why MC should got to Essos and quarrel with Celestial Empire of Grand Cathay? I never even hinted such thing so that was entirely your own assumption. Same as the fact that the Empire would be expanding towards the Essos and Westeros.

And on the side note if you forgot, the Barbarians were basically living in the sovereign territory of the Empire and occupying part of the Imperial Territory.

Click to shrink...

sea is border,too.And Celestial Empire is behind such border.If MC could not stomach independent strong nation,as you say,he must fight them.

And to quote your history reason, the main reason why they lost to the Soviets was that, one was Hitler's own obsession with occupying Stalingrad and halting the advance on Moscow, where the central command of the USSR was located, which allowed the Soviets to have time to relocate most of their factories and infrastructure beyond the Ural and receive aid from the USA. It didn't have anything to do with the extermination of the Jews at all... During the operation Barbarossa, Hitler was the main leader of the offensive despite the displeasure of many of Wehrmanch and made many inefficient decisions that made no sense.


Not to mention another great factor was that the Germans were not prepared to wage war in the Winter and made sma mistake like Napoleon when they let themselves to be lured into the deep russia where most of them began to freeze to death because Hitler predicted that the entire operation Barbarossa would be concluded within three months in September 41 at latest...

Not to mention most of the jews they were exterminating within the eastern front were executed on tthe frontlines by being shot, not many were sent to the concentration camps.

Small note... if you have train that is transporting something from the frontline to the homeland, it doesn't mean that you can't use the same train to transport supplies to the frontline.

Click to shrink...

That is why Hitler do not finished soviets in 1941.But,he still could do that in 1942 - if he do not wasted part or trains for Holocaust.
But,you have point about trains bringing jews from East to death camps,and coming back with ammo.

My point is,that you do not waste your time for finishing remnants of defeated enemy.Becouse orks would do that for your Emperor.

 

[Trafford]

Harrenhal, Riverlands, Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, Westeros, January of 281 AC of Westerosi Callendar / January of Year 10,281 - of the Imperial Lordranese Callendar

Harrenhal, the largest castle in the Seven Kingdoms, is the seat of House Whent in the Riverlands, on the north shore of the God's Eye. Since the burning of Harrenhal by dragonfire in Aegon's Conquest, however, the castle has become a dark and ruinous place.

During its peak, on the other hand, it was one of the most impressive fortresses in the Known Word; even according to the Lordranian standards, it was humongous. Something that not everyone would build because it was so huge that it was basically impractical without proper manpower and defenses.

Harrenhal was built on a gigantic scale; its colossal curtain walls were sheer and high as mountain cliffs, while atop the battlements, the wood-and-iron scorpions seemed as small as their namesakes when seen from the ground.

Harrenhal's gatehouse is as large as Winterfell's Great Keep, and its stone is discolored and fissured. From outside the gatehouse, only the tops of five immense towers can be seen because the height of the walls obscures the view of them.

Harrenhal's walls and towers are made of black stone, which was reminiscent of the building methods of the Valyrians, but in fact, it was only an imitation of it. Still, it gave the castle much stronger protection on average, when compared to ordinary stone.

The castle had five towers of dizzying size, with equally monstrous curtain walls. The walls were incredibly thick, and its rooms were built on a scale that would be more comfortable for giants than humans.

Yet...

Much of Harrenhal has far gone into decay. House Whent uses only the lower thirds of two of the five towers, letting the rest go to ruin, and many places in the castle have not been entered in decades. Bats infest the tops of some of the towers.

When Balerion the Black Dread burned the Harrenhal together with the House Hoare that ruled the monstrosity of the castle, it fell into ruin, and most of it was currently destroyed and lost its former splendor and beauty.

Even the dwarves that were in the delegation of the House Stark and Russ present marveled at the size of the place, not because of its architecture or its current state, but because they were able to tell the original appearance of the castle must have been truly something.

"This place looks terrible..."

From the House Stark an Russ only the Elector Count came together with his daughter and Heir Apparent Astrid Stark an Russ, while Ysgramor took large part of the Winter Knights and went to beyond the Wall and eventually to the Lands of the Always Winter.

And they had another of the special guests, from the Ironforge; one of the Dwarven Clans, had come here. More precisely, it was the Dunwald Clan of dwarves. It was a small dwarven clan related to the Wildhammer Clan, located in the Dunwald Mountains, not far from the Aerial Peak.

Dunwald Clan were excellent warriors, highly reputable for their combat skills among the Dwarven Clans, and in the League of Khaz-Modan, they were often in charge of various combat-related missions or training the soldiers.

The clansman that was sent to Westeros was Flynn Dunwald, who was rather young-looking according to the dwarven standards. He appeared like most dwarves: small stature, stocky, muscle build, with long black hair and a black beard.

"Yes... pretty unfortunate, but the Harrenhal is simply too huge for anyone to manage properly. The dent in coffers it would create for every single Lord is not something that they could bear... probably only Crown, Lannisters and some of the richest merchant companies would dare to maintain something like Harrenhal."

Rickard Stark knew that Harrenhal was owned by six Houses, since its builder and owner, House Hoare, was extinguished by the Targaryens during the conquest. Obviously, nobody stopped the decay and further deterioration of the Harrenhal, and slowly, it was falling apart.

"Fortress of this size would very hardly be maintained even by Elector Counts of the Imperium... even we would use a large part of them as housing for our most loyal servants and vassals and other subjects."

Astrid voiced her thoughts while she, like the Starks and the rest of the Imperial entourage, observed the Harrenhal from a distance. While the Fortress's size of Harrenhal was not anything new in the Imperium, only a handful of people could maintain one.

Even the Elector Count Houses, usually when it came to the super fortresses like Harrenhal, would basically share the cost of maintenance with several other subjects. For example, some of their powerful Magic Users transform a few of the Towers into the Mage Towers.

This not only increased the power of the Fortress itself but also lowered the rent because the Magic Users, who could afford their own Tower, were very rich. Aside from that, large parts of the super fortresses were used by the most loyal and powerful vassals of the Elector Count to live there.

So, it created some sort of weird symbiosis between various subjects to maintain such a fortress. Even the Valhalla, which was an enormous monstrosity even slightly bigger than Harrenhal, had upkeep of more than a hundred thousand Golden Crowns per year.

And this was obviously shared by several subjects that were using Valhalla as their home, so the House Stark an Russ didn't need to shoulder the expenses on their own. Probably only the Imperial House could do the upkeep like this alone due to their income, as Imperator was also a shrewd businessman as well.

"For some reason, I have very bad feelings about this entire endeavor."

Astrid didn't have a really good feeling about the entire Tourney and about their own presence at this place because it could soon develop into a fight or something even worse; not like she had any choice in this matter.

Orders were orders.

And they must be carried out.

***

The preparations for the Tourney of Harrenhal were already full go, while various Lords of the Seven Kingdoms of the Westeros already started gathering within the Harrenhal before the Tournament officially started.

It was clear that Crown Prince Rhaegar, when all out when organizing the Tourney of the Harrenhal, countless of the smaller Houses of the Westerosian nobility had already arrived, though it wasn't limited just to them.

There were even some guests from the Essos, representatives of the rich merchants and various interest groups, that were leaning onto the faction of the Crown Prince or decided to bet on them.

Even though the Essos and Westeros were divided by the sea, Westeros was most populous continent of the known world, even more than Essos, as the population of the Essos was constantly being culled down by continuous wars, diseases and now, with the resurgence of Magic, countless beasts and creatures raging across the lands of the Essos.

Right now, many eyes are aimed at Westeros as countless people and several factions eagerly await what will happen. To those who studied the political situation of the Seven Kingdoms, it was clear as day that the civil war was inevitable among them.

Now, everyone wanted to get something from the situation, just as the Holy Arcadia Empire was aiming to get something from the current state of Westeros. And it wasn't different for others who were attending the Tourney of the Harrenhal right now.

Several powerful Magisters of the Free Cities of the Essos sent their representatives to attend the Tourney of Harrenhall, especially the cities of Braavos, Tyrosh, Lys, Myr, and Pentos, because they were closest to the Westeros.

Though aside from them, there were also many others; some representing obscure magic organizations or societies of the Warlocks that were observing the development of Westeros so they could obtain something from the impending chaos that was awaiting them.

"Practically everyone is here already; only a few are impending with their arrival, and even a lot of people from the Essos are in attendance."

Procession of the House Lannister was more extravagant than ever because this time, his private guards were wearing the dwarven-forged armors, and all of them were of the Holy Knights of Corrin, newly established Knigth Order of the Westerlands.

All of them were baptized by the Healing Church, pressing them further through the limits of the average human, something that was possible only due to the close relationship that the House Lannister enjoyed with the Healing Church.

"It seems to be truth, Your Excellency."

The voice belonged to the High Scholar Jinfarah of the Byrgenwerth, who arrived at the new continent together with his Imperial Holy Majesty, but for the time being, he decided to remain at the new continent and scout for the possible benefits in this place.

One of them was a temporary contract with the Lord of the House Lannister, who agreed to pay him a ridiculous sum of money and Lacrima Crystals to train some low-ranking Magic Apprentices.

It seemed that the resurgence of the Magic was happening faster than anyone initially anticipated because during the few months he was living in the Westerlands, he already managed to gather a few tens of people who had some aptitude for Magic.

Thus, he already started training the first generation of the Magic Users for the House Lannisters. While most of them could only cast some low-level spells, it was an excellent result, considering the time they were being trained for.

It was true that after the Magic Resurgence, any place that was so rapidly revitalized through Magic would cause the natives to explode with latent magic talent and fast development in this aspect.

The same could be said about Westeros, where people would develop rapidly for the next few years, perhaps even a few decades, until the process was entirely completed. Or, in the Essos, where Magic never truly died off, like in Westeros, where native Magic Users were getting stronger with each passing day.

"Are there any important people attending?"

Tywin Lannister scanned the area, where tens of the various lords were being built, together with their banners. There were indeed representatives from all of the Seven Kingdoms present; such was the truth, though not all of them were part of the Crown Prince Faction's.

Just based on the division of the tents.

It was essentially divided into three sections, each representing one faction corresponding to that political climate of the Seven Kingdoms of the Westeros. One is for the King's Faction, one is for the Crown Prince's Faction, and one is for the Neutral Faction.

"Actually, yes... there are a few powerful Magic signatures all over the place... most curious, this development is indeed interesting, including some Red Priests of the R'hollor."

The Religion of the Red God was always very popular and widespread across the Essos, even reaching the Eastern Essos, beyond the Bone Mountains, which was very rare. And now, with the Magic returning back to the world, the powers of the Red Priests have grown exponentially.

Previously, they could only do some paltry tricks with their meager Magic, but nowadays, they could create fire and bend the flames to their will as they wished, making them very dangerous combatants on the field.

"Keep an eye on them in case it would be trouble... on a different note, does anyone from the Westerosi Lord advance in this direction?"

He knew that due to sheer luck, he was one of the first Lords of the Westeros who got his hands on the real power, though it wouldn't really last long before the other repeated the same thing.

However, without the support of some powerful faction or individuals or organization, it would be nigh impossible to replicate his progress with the same speed. A lot of people were gathering here, and many of them were of even remarkable power; he already predicted what effect would take the Resurgence of Magic within the Targaryens themselves.

In fact, Lineages of the Starks, Targaryens, Baratheons and even partially Nymeros Martels were far more magical in their origin compared to that of the Lannisters. Soon enough, it was clear that more and more powerhouses would be born among those lineages, and the power dynamics that have lasted for thousands of years would crumble apart.

'In the end, in front of the absolute power, everything else is meaningless...'

He had seen how powerful Mages of the Imperium could obliterate entire buildings with their spells, how they could unleash unprecedented destruction, or how knights that tapped into their powers, depending on the concrete source, could perform superhuman feats.

Meanwhile, the delegation of the House Lannister was making their tent in the area that belonged to the Neutrals; other Houses and representatives of various interest groups were already arriving one by one.

Among the Neutrals, the biggest one belonged to the Starks of the Winterfell, who arrived only a few hours prior to the House Lannister. However, what didn't escape the watchful eye of the Lord of the Westerlands was the distinctive banner of the House Stark and Russ of the Holy Arcadia Empire, who were present too...

This only affirmed Tywin's assumption that something was happening here and that the rumors about the civil war within Westeros would probably not be without a base. Still, with the Magic returning back, it would be highly problematic if the Targaryens managed to hatch their Wyverns or if they didn't do already in secret.

He noticed that the dwarves that arrived from the Imperium a few weeks ago were transporting some weapons specifically made to fight and subjugate everything, even remotely related to the dragons.

The Imperials hated the Old Valyria and saw their Blood Magic and entire culture as heretical to their very own existence. During the time he had the "honor" to talk with the members of the Imperium and their fanatical faith in the Religion of the Great Ones.

And it seems that during the past years, the worship of their Imperator as the Prophet of the Great Ones was spreading among the general populace even more and more. This was something that was impossible to fight against because the people of the Holy Arcadia Empire were a bunch of fanatical zealots that he needed to be very careful around.

Especially now that he heard when the Empire essentially became a Theocratic State with their Emperor being openly worshipped across the Churches of the Healing Church. The process of the transformation in the Empire was slow, but it brought unprecedented benefits for the Imperator.

Tywin knew that with one single word, the man would have millions marching for him to death without a single question, fighting the Holy Wars in his name, as it happened against the Barbarians of the Badlands.

He received the information about the end of the Holy Crusade against the Badlands, and in truth, it gave him fright to no end. Hundreds of thousands were slaughtered in the Holy Name of the Imperator by the Divine Decree of Gods.

From what he saw, the religious fanatics and zealots of the Holy Imperium were far worse than those who were known to the Westeros or Essos. He perhaps realized that it was a mistake to become close to the Imperium, even to the degree that his daughter married the Imperator.

But at the same time, his thirst for the power that the Imperium had in their disposition was far higher than anything he could think of. So, right now, Tywin knew that he was treading on very thin ice.

One sole mistake and offense towards the religious fanatics of the Imperium, and his head would roll. He was aware that the moment he offended the zealots of the Imperium, he would be cut down with extreme prejudice.

But... what was done was done and now the fate of his and the whole House Lannister was tied to that of the Imperium.

He saw the spreading of the Religion of the Great Ones among the smallfolk of Westeros, the priests of the Healing Church preaching about the savior and messiah of the Holy Imperator Karl Franz, the one who would lead them to the paradise of the Great Ones.

***

Nothing really interesting happened until the arrival of Crown Prince Rheagar Targaryen.

The precision of the Crown Prince of the Targaryen Dynasty that ruled the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros for almost three whole centuries was grand, as the man was accompanied by hundreds of servants, soldiers, guards, and members of the Kingsguard.

Rhaegar Targaryen the firstborn son of King Aerys II Targaryen and his sister-wife, Queen Rhaella.The heir-apparent, he was the Prince of Dragonstone and Crown Prince for the Iron Throne.

He was a beautiful man with deep purple-colored eyes; elegance was all around him, and he was rather tall and had silver-blond hair, signifying his strong Valyrian heritage.

He wore night-black plate armor, with the three-headed dragon of House Targaryen decorated in rubies on its breastplate, and underneath the plate, he wore golden ringmail. Rhaegar decorated his helm with gold, orange, and red silken streamers resembling flames.

"So, they have arrived too..."

He said with almost a whisper as he skimmed through the banners that belonged to the Lords who were present. Among the ones that belonged to the Westerosi Lords, there were many that belonged to the nobles of the Essos, rich Merchant Princes of the Free Cities, or others representing various interest groups.

The most notable, though, were a few banners belonging to the Nobles of the Imperium and even a banner of the Healing Church that was among the camp of the House Lannister.

Rhaegar too, like many others, heard about the spreading influence of the Imperium within the Westeros, especially that of the Healing Church and Faith that was already taking the whole Westerlands by attack, as thousands upon thousands of the smallfolk were converted each day.

The promises of the savior and messiah in the form of the Holy Imperator, the promises of a better life under the Imperium, were something that not a single Lord could fight against because religion was the greatest weapon of all.

The Crown Prince of the Targaryen Dynasty was an exceptionally intelligent man, and he knew the dangers that such uncontrolled religious fervor represented for the Westeros. Coupled with his father's madness and distrust towards basically everything around him, he was surprised that the situation didn't become much worse than it already was.

Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning and the deadliest knight of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, was standing next to the Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen in an eternal vigil as his closest companion.

The Dornish heritage was strong in his, as he had lightly tanned skin with the purplish eyes of the House Dayne. Arthur Dayne was regarded as the most chivalrous knight in the Seven Kings and probably as well the best fighter that the Seven Kingdoms produced in the past decades, aside from the Commander of the Kingsguard Barristan Selmy.

"Keep an eye on the outsiders... not many came here with good intentions..."

Rhaegar Targaryen knew very well that there were many of the foreigners who came to Westeros, more precisely to the Tourney of the Harenhal, with good intentions.

Even though he wasn't that paranoid, he didn't trust any of the foreigners much, especially those who were more powerful than the Seven Kingdoms or the shady organizations of the Essos that had a terrible reputations even here beyond the narrow sea.

***

The Camp of the House Lannister, several hours later

Only several hours later, after the arrival of Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, there was another unannounced attendee to the Tourney of Harrenhal that gave most of the people a present fright.

The King of the Seven Kingdoms of the Westeros, Aerys II. Targaryen has arrived in all of his decay and madness. Tywin observed everything from the tent because of the movement when the King Aerys arrived at the Tourney, the atmosphere in the entire place became tense.

He didn't know exactly why the King had decided to arrive at the Tourney of the Harrenhal, but he suspected that it was because of his ever-increasing paranoia. King Aerys II Targaryen most probably attended the tournament only because Lord Varys warned him that Rhaegar, his son and the crown prince, arranged the tournament as a pretext to meet with several high lords to discuss removing his father as king in an informal Great Council.

"His decay is even more visible..."

Tywin Lannister wasn't the only one who was shocked by the king's current state; many in attendance were also shocked by the king's physical decline. Now, the entire situation was making a lot more sense, even he had some ideas about the rumors that Crown Prince Rhaegar was planning to depose his father from the throne.

"What should we do..."

In the end, the best course of action would be to just watch everything play itself while strengthening their own power and defenses. Tywin knew that once Crown Prince Rhaegar became the King, the situation would change drastically.

Rhaegar had a far better head on his shoulders than his father and would most probably use the change of the era to his advantage. Something that Aerys would never really do, because he was too preoccupied by searching for the enemies all around him.

"We shall see..."

***

Lands of the Ancient Lords of Lordran, Grand Principality of the Reikland, Holy Imperial Capital of Lordran, February of Year 10,281 - of the Imperial Lordranese Callendar

Within the depths of the Imperial Palace of the Anor Londo, the Holy Imperator Karl Franz was sitting on the Divine Throne of Blood and Sunlingt, while listening to the reports that were forwarded to him by the members of the Imperial High Council.

"What about the situation within the Westeros?"

Karl Franz then turned his attention to the Cross Marian, who was head of the Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence. He gave a lot more resources to the espionage now that they had been making contact with the other continents and factions.

"Yes, Your Holy Majesty."

The Head of the Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence stepped forward as he started explaining the situation.

"Our spies within the entourage of Lord Lannister noticed that the thorn between the members of the House Targaryen is set in stone. It is only a matter of time before the Crown Prince attempts to remove his father from the throne. According to the analysis, our experts are giving the Seven Kingdoms approximately one year or something around that, before the Crown Prince makes his move to seize the throne."

This wasn't really the surprising thing to hear.

***

1st POV

I listened to the reports of the Head of the Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence on intelligence reports about the state of things within Westeros and Essos. Things were not going according to the plans that I envisioned at all...

The process of the Mana Resurgence was happening way faster than it should, which was a great problem because now, many of our plans that were formulated to get as many benefits from Westeros as possible were basically null and void.

"There are also a few pieces of important information to report. The first thing is that our spies have noticed that some of the local Lords have started gathering anything even remotely connected to the Magic and Magic Tomes. Some are going to the extremes, even exerting the books and material from the local Septs, Faith or taking extreme measures to obtain them at any costs."

This didn't really surprise me at all; it was only a matter of time before the nobility of the Seven Kingdoms realized what was happening and started acting against the Faith of the Seven, which was hoarding the majority of the magical knowledge in Westeros.

"There are reports of local Lords even attacking some of the Septs indirectly, mostly using bandits and brigands to obtain the Magic Tomes and Grimoires. Another important piece of news is that... apparently, some sort of schism is appearing within the Maester Order between the Maesters who want to use Magic and study it and between those who refuse the existence of the Magic and want to suppress it."

I raised my brow hearing this, because this wasn't really something that expected to happen this fast. Initially, I predicted that this would happen much later; probably I was underestimating the intellectual level of Westerosi Aristocracy.

Probably I was wrong.

It seemed that they realized that the times were changing and they needed to act fast; probably, the things happening within the Westerlands and North of the Seven Kingdoms of the Westers didn't really help the situation.

Most of them were really frightened by that, and they started searching for advantages against their opponents... It seemed that we would need to remedy those things. And it seemed to be proved to be a very effective approach by the Nobility of the Seven Kingdoms.

"Most interesting... anything else?"

This would for sure become a topic within the next convening of the High Council and perhaps even among the nobles of the Landsraad. Even though it may seem different right now, Westeros had a very rich magical heritage, and there were very interesting pieces of magical knowledge remaining there.

Most, if not all, of them, were in the hands of the Faith of the Seven or mostly in the hands of the Maester Order. Both of them were constantly searching for these items, for different purposes obviously, but they also had a lot in common.

"Spreading of the Faith of the Great Ones is continuing very well within the Westeralands; the Healing Church is becoming the dominant religion among the commoners because of the various benefits it provides for them. The nobles are cautious, and some from the several Kingdoms of Westeros are outright hostile, especially those of the Riverlands and Reach. The most notable hurdle and enemy is the ruling Dynasty of the Targaryens. The King is ever paranoid, but at the same time, in this area, the King sees unique danger in the existence of the Empire and its reach in the Westeros. Right now, we have managed to confirm that the state of the Westeros is in several-way possible civil war."

I just listened to the voice of the Head of the Office of the Imperial Military Intellignece echoed through the enormous halls of the Throne Room of the Imperial Place, as the members of the Stormcast Eternals stood ever-vigilant within the halls of the Throne Room like statues.

"Change the course of action, relay the orders to the Westeros, and tell them to abandon the previous plans and implement the new ones. Focus on the fortifications of the positions in the Westerlands and the protection of the Churches. Invest more resources into the potential attack on the Citatel and start focusing on the infiltration of the Maester Order. Also... create plans to annihilate the Targaryens from the face of the world."

The last direct lineages of ancient Valyria must be removed from the face of the world; they are a stain on the teachings of the Healing Church. The tenets of the faith and holiness of the Blood must be upheld under any circumstances.

And what the Valyrians were doing with their Blood Magic was considered the greatest blasphemy in the face of the Great Ones and for that, they must be purged from the world till the last one.

The Legacy of the ancient Valyrian Freehold would be used to pay for their heresy together with their blood.

Everything would return to the ashes.

"Did you find their Vault?"

I long ago suspected that the Targaryens must have brought a lot from the ancient Valyrian Freehold, and they were hiding somewhere the remaining relics of the Valyrian Freehold. The Legacy of the Valyrian Freehold was something that even the Holy Arcadia Empire could not ignore.

The legacy of their civilization was precious; their inventions and the advances they made with magic were staggering. The Imperium needed to obtain them for its strategic dominance on the world stage.

Especially now, when the existence of the Cathayan Celestial Dragons was revealed, it honestly gave me a bit of fright. The Cathayan Celestial Dragons were extremely powerful entities that were even stronger than Gehrman the First Hunter, at least in terms of raw power.

"Yes, Your Holy Majesty... it is hidden in the depths of the Dragonstone; clearly, it wasn't built by the Targaryens themselves but most probably by the House Laenanor, judging from the crest on the Vault Door. The most problematic is the opening mechanism."

Seeing the Cross Marian stop, made me raise my brow as I looked him in his remaining eye.

"What problem is there, Director?"

I asked, rather impatient about the entire endeavor.

"It is a rather delicate magical principle and requires the blood of the Head of the House Targaryen to open, old no less than one minute given personally into the mechanism or so... we can't really translate it in its entirety, because the words around the Vaultdoor and the manuals we obtain were no in the standard High Valyrian, but they are written in code words of the House Laenanor."

This really made me frown because it complicated the situation as fuck...

House Laenanor was one of the Triarchy, the ruling Houses of the Valyrian Freehold, fabled for their discovery and creation of the Valyrian Steel or Magi Steel. It seemed that they made the Vaultdoors with extra caution.

And they were also responsible for making the most wonderous and impregnable structures and fortresses of the Valyrian Freehold.

***

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[Kelsier Vin]

Thanks for the chapter!

One thing that stood out to me is that Westeros does not have a bigger population than Essos. I'm pretty sure Yi Ti alone has a bigger population than Westeros.

 

[ATP]

Poor Tywin.He wanted to rule Westeros,and now he must live as unimportant subject of new player.But - better then canon,i quess.

That aside - what about Blackfyres? would they exist here?
Is Varys Blackfyre spy?
Would MC kill them,or use for sometching?

and red demon - how strong it is?

 

[Trafford]

Codex: House Orleáns

Elector Count House Orleáns is one of the most powerful Imperial Noble Lineages of the Holy Arcadia Empire that rules over the vast territories of the Grand Province of Orleáns. Before the unification wars they ruled the Kingdom of Orleáns and were fighting against the Greenskins for countless generations.

The House Orleáns was the Royal House stemming from the City called Orleáns, from which they also took their name. From the small city-state, they created a huge Kingdom, but even that couldn't last forever and was too overrun by the immeasurable numbers of the Greenskins.

That signified their entrance into the Holy Arcadia Empire through peaceful means, as they were one of the few Grand Provinces that didn't need to be conquered and a new Elector House would be needed to be chosen to govern the lands.

***

MC POV

Lands of the Ancient Lords of Lordran, Grand Principality of the Reikland, Holy Imperial Capital of Lordran, April of Year 10,281 - of the Imperial Lordranese Callendar

Two months have passed since I got the information about the situation within Westeros, and it seemed that the situation within Westeros was soon enough devolving into a full-scale civil war between all...

Which, in fact, was rather good.

With the increasing Magic Density across the entire world, Operation: Destabilization for Westeros was right now the prime attention of the entire High Command of the Imperial Military and the High Council of the Holy Arcadia Empire.

For the past two months, the Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence was doing everything in its power to infiltrate Westeros as much as possible and instigate the perfect conditions for the civil war and future plans.

In the end, I have decided to replicate the situation of the Westeros that I remembered from the books and TV Series. Putting Robert Baratheon on the Iron Throne and not preventing the death of Lyana Stark would ensure that the Seven Kingdoms would break themselves for good.

Robert Baratheon was a terrible King who spent all of his time whoring and drinking while the nation was totally in disintegration. What the High Council of the Holy Arcadia Empire agreed was breaking the Seven Kingdoms into individual kingdoms before the Aegon's Conquest.

Basically, revert their state.

At the same time, it creates such big hatred and animosity between the individual kingdoms that any unification, even to a confederation-like kingdom like right now, would be absolutely impossible in the next few centuries or even millennia.

Obviously, when everything is done, then it would be nigh impossible to unfit the kingdom of Westeros once again, and they would stay divided as they should be. Their huge population was a huge threat to the Empire, especially with the resurgence of Magic.

When the Magic Affinities would appear among the common populace and the quality of the people in Westeros would be increased again and again. Even right now, their population was several times more than that of the Empire.

Westeros had huge potential to become a powerful Empire if it was unified in a similar way as I did with the Grand Provinces of the Lordran.

Compared to the population of the Westeros Continent, which was even right now in the tens of millions, the entire Lordran had something around 40 million, according to the last population count conducted by the Minister of Domestic Affairs and Territorial Management.

For the past weeks, I didn't really have much to do aside from the common administrative work that I was doing most of the time. This was a huge advantage of an advanced bureaucratic system that was in place within the Holy Arcadia Empire; there were not really many things that I needed to do personally.

Only a few of the most important documents required my personal attention or some other subjects and projects that I needed to oversee personally. Aside from those, I spent most of the time training and practicing Magic.

"I have finished my job for the next month..."

Maria barged into my office as I was doing my paperwork and totally destroyed my train of thought that I had, and my attention was now gone.

"You just dumped it on the others while giving the rest the strictest training regiment you can think of so we can go slack together."

I instantly knew what was going on in her mind, but at the same time, I wasn't entirely against it. Personally, I felt tired as fuck from this boredom and paperwork, so I would gladly go on a little nice vacation.

"Ts... I already said that I am not very suitable for the leadership position; there is more hassle with it than its real worth."

I didn't really know if I should cry or laugh about the statement because sometimes I wondered if she wasn't right in the end. It was highly problematic, even as the Holy Imperator of the Imperium.

In fact, I would rather prefer to spend most of my time either training or studying Magic, not doing boring office work. Ruling sucked for most of the time, though, at the same time, I rather enjoyed the feeling of power.

It was rather invigorating.

"Do you want to go on a vacation somewhere?"

My fianceé was already lying on the sofa that was in my study room and playing with her dagger; she was really a weapon enthusiast. Not that I minded; it was rather sexy if I should be truthful about it...

Dangerous and arousing at the same time... it was true that power attracted, Maria's power and combat prowess was also one of the factors why I was so attracted to her in the first place because she was one of the most powerful people within the entire Holy Arcadia Empire and probably even the entire Lordran the Lands of Ancient Lords.

"Yeah... but somewhere with enough privacy where we won't be disturbed by others. I was thinking we can go on the hunting trip to the Athel Loren."

Athel Loren, also known as the Everwood in the Empire and the Whispering Wood or the Fey Forest among the Dwarfs, is a large forest between the Grand Principality of Reikland and the Grand Province of Bretonnia on the western slopes of the Grey Mountains.

The forest is steeped in Magic, and it is unlike any other forest in the world. It is said that time flows differently in the forest than elsewhere. You could be in there for hours and come out and see only a few minutes have gone by. Or you could be in there for several minutes and come out and see a century has gone by.

Not to mention the Athel Loren was home to many species of very powerful Danger Beasts that could wipe out even entire armies. Many of the Danger Beasts that were slumbering within the depths of the Athel Loren were classified as Super Danger Beasts and there were even rumors of the Omega Danger Beasts.

"Athel Loren is a good destination... and a hunting trip would also be enjoyable."

Athel Loren was one of the Imperially Protected Zones, so hunting in there was generally forbidden and allowed only when someone had specifically issued a license from the Minister of Domestic Affairs and Territorial Management.

Otherwise, one could face the death penalty for poaching.

Many rare species lived in the Athel Loren and in a few numbers because they heavily relied on Magic to continually reproduce, and even right now, the Magic Density wasn't high enough within the Lordran that would allow them a comfortable life.

"And we are going without any entourage... I don't want to have an entire procession of people destroying the romantic vacation between the two of us."

While not very logical, going into a dangerous place like Athel Loren without at least backup somewhere is irrational behavior, but both of us are very powerful, and I could contend against some weaker Level 7 beings if I used all of my trump cards.

"Okey, but you won't be picking up fights with powerful Danger Beasts for no reason, Maria, and this condition is non-negotiable."

Maria was even more of a battle maniac than I was, and for sure, she would be going to the depths of the Athel Loren to search for the powerful Danger Beasts so she could hunt them down.

This was something that I wanted to prevent, not only because it was dangerous as heck, due to the sheer number of the powerful Danger Beasts that lived within the Athel Loren, but also due to the fact that it was utterly useless and a waste of time.

"Ts... as you wish. When do you want to go?"

In truth, we could go even right now, but it would be better to finish some preparations before they would depart for a few week camping trip in the Athel Loren.

"We shall wait three days; I need to finish some things before going to the Athel Loren and also gather all necessary supplies for the trip."

Obviously, we won't be going to the Athel Loren without sufficient preparations; we need at least proper accommodations with high enough standards and conditions to live. While I appreciated the time in nature, at the same time, I was Emperor of the most advanced nation on the Azyr for several centuries.

I already got used to a certain lifestyle, and that was something that I didn't really wish to trade for anything. So I needed to prepare some things before we went on the camping vacation, at least some mobile house that we could use to move around and have a certain degree of comfort.

At the same time, I also needed to inform the entire High Council and especially the High Chancellor of the Landsraad because I would be away from the Empire and the Imperial Bureaucracy for approximately two or three weeks.

"Do you want to take Cersei too?"

Hearing that, I didn't really think about that because she was right now attending the Schola Progenium within Cainhurst, the City of Silver. From the reports that I got about it, she was doing splendidly, and her academic results were indeed very good.

Even though in the areas of combat, she was a little bit weaker, she was still above the average students of the Schola Progenium, though that was mainly because of the bonus lessons that Maria taught her.

"Probably, yes... she could take some time off from the Schola Progenium, not to mention the vacation won't really influence her time training in the martial arts, weapon mastery, and magic."

The courses of the Schola Progenium were extremely hard, challenging, and arduous, and they were something that only the best of the best could complete. I knew it for the best, because I was one of the people that were creating them in the first place.

So, technically speaking, I wasn't really against it if Cersei was taken out from them; either way, it wouldn't really affect her training in combat and martial arts because that would be fulfilled by Maria for the time being.

I would be teaching her Magic and battle magic.

"Maria, go to the Cainhurst and inform Cersei about this development that she would be going on the family trip. We can take this as a family activity and bonding time."

This would be a perfect family trip for the three of us and also a bonding experience.

***

3rd POV

Several Days Later, Borders between the Grand Principality of Reikland and the Grand Province of Bretonnia, Athel Loren.

Within the Forest of Loren the wooded landscape varies greatly. The forest runs from the plains of Bretonnia up into the foothills of the Grey Mountains. It extends along the banks of two of the great rivers of the Old World for many hundreds of miles. Over this vast expanse, the nature of the vegetation changes from one part of the forest to another.

In some places, the ground is high and rocky, with crags and pinnacles of rock and boulders strewn among the trees. In other places, the ground is boggy, with lakes within the forest itself. There are even huge clearings, which are like Meadowlands, where the long grass predominates over the trees. Some areas are characterized by an abundance of a particular species of tree.

Most of the forest is a strange, almost twilight world bathed only in the muted sunlight or moonlight able to penetrate the canopy of leaves. Dotted around the forest, there are natural clearings where one can look up and actually glimpse the blue sky or the stars at night.

The natives that once in the past lived in the Athel Loren call these clearings 'glades'. As well as being areas open to the sun, they are often places where magical currents flow close to the surface.

One had to admit that the environment of Athel Loren was a very beautiful one.

The trio consisting of the Holy Imperator and his two fianceés already went to the inner parts of the Athel Loren, because it was decided that they would go to the deeper areas of the Athel Loren for a better enviroment.

The best places for the camping trip were within the inner area of the Athel Loren. Karl Franz also took the mobile base, which had the appearance of an armored vehicle; it had a similar appearance to the G1-Mobile Base but was much smaller.

Yet it was still big enough to accommodate several people in high enough luxury, befitting the members of the high nobility of the Holy Arcadia Empire. While Cersei was complaining a bit about being this far from civilization because they were cut off from everything for the next several weeks, her initial protests were mostly ignored.

For the food, they would hunt it themselves because the Athel Loren was full of the Danger Beasts and other resources for cooking. Karl knew how to cook rather well, and Maria too, so this was the last one of their concerns.

The place they found for the camping was large enough to accommodate their mobile home properly, and it had a beautiful view of the Athel Loren because it was on a small hill, which gave a stunning view of the inner area of the Athel Loren and one could see even the edges of the core area of the Athel Loren.

That one was rather recognizable due to the enormous trees that were giving really ancient feeling, just by looking at them. Karl and Maria could see it even this far from a great distance due to their superior eyesight.

As it was right now the sunrise, Karl was sitting on the edges of the hill, while observing the sun rising and drinking the morning coffee. It was a ritual for him, sometimes, to enjoy the sun rising, something that he was doing at the Imperial Palace, where he got a view of the entire capital of the Anor Londo.

As he drank the coffee suddenly he stiffened, because he felt a very disturbing feeling from some kind of very powerful Magic. Something that he felt only a few times in his life, and it was something that he wouldn't really forget.

'The Elder Magic...'

The Elder Magic was something very rare in the world, and even in the Azyr, it was considered the most powerful form of Magic, only attainable to beings of immeasurable power and might.

Not to mention the proficiency in the arts of the Arcane.

Karl was very proficient in the Arts of Arcane and his knowledge in the aspects of Magic was no less than that of the Patriarch of the Eight Orders of Magic and Headmaster of the Byrgenwerth.

"Maria, Cersei, get your weapons and armors... I detected someone using the Elder Magic approximately twenty kilometers away from our position; we are going to check it out."

Karl Franz immediately returned to the mobile home as he saw his two fianceés taking care of their morning routines, with his Royal Griffon Deathclaw sleeping next to the huge mobile home.

Obviously, he wouldn't let this opportunity go away because the usage of the Elder Magic represented the potential to get his hands on the Elder Magic in some form. This could be a moment when he could propel the power of the Holy Arcadia Empire to new heights.

***

Somewhere in the Athel Loren, the inner area of the Athel Loren

The forests of Athel Loren were very dense and dangerous, something that the white-haired young woman realized the moment she appeared there. When she opened the portal, she was immediately attacked by several huge monsters, whom she managed luckily to escape without any previous injury.

When she arrived at this world, she realized that the Magic Density in this world was probably one of the highest that she has ever visited, meaning it was highly possible that this world also very powerful.

That could be good or bad at the same time... depending on the circumstances.

'This is not going well... the forest seems to be endless. I need to find a way out and find some safe place to open the portal again.'

The woman thought as she ran with all of her power, as she suddenly heard heavy footsteps not far behind her. It became clear to her that her pursuers had caught up to her when she realized that tens of heavily armored people were in furious pursuit.

Even though their armors seemed to be very heavy, they didn't hinder their movements at all.

"You are only forestalling the inevitable, Zirael. There is nowhere to run from the Wild Hunt."

One of the armored figures that appeared to be in the leading shouted at the woman, she recognized him as one of the Navigators of the Wild Hunt.

The Navigators were powerful Aen Elle mages who had the ability to manipulate time and space and to open portals between different worlds. They were the most skilled Mages of the Aen Elle, and each one of them was worth of entire battalions of soldiers, and their Magic could bring doom to many thousands.

It was due to the Navigators of the Wild Hunt that the Wild Hunt was always able to find her, no matter what world she fled to. Suddenly, one of the Mages cast a thunder-attributed spell that exploded next to her, causing her to crash into the nearby tree with heavy impact.

"Resistance against the Wild Hunt is futile, little swallow. There is no escape from your fate, and the thing that was once stolen by your disgusting ancestor must be returned."

The Navigator stood in front of her as she was slowly losing consciousness.

'Dammit! So this is the end... I will never see Geral or Yen again, everyone...'

"What do we have here? Temporal-Spatial Magic Users are the most interesting. Unfortunately for you all, you have intruded into a place where you shouldn't have."

The last thing she heard before everything went black.

***

Karl Franz held the Longinuslanze Testament in his hand, donned in the Runic Armor made by the best dwarven smiths in the entire Lordran, as he observed the armored members of the Wild Hunt with great curiosity.

'They seem like a Wild Hunt... unfortunately, my memories are a bit murky, though they shouldn't be really that powerful compared to the top Lordranese powerhouses.'

Karl Franz remembered bits about the Wild Hunt and knew that they were a rather powerful group of people. In fact, the entire Aen Elle civilization was rather advanced, especially in the aspects of Magic, though even that didn't really stop the inevitable doom of their world.

Wild Hunt was not a regular part of the Aen Elle's military, but rather, they were some sort of special forces, created from the best of the best of their armed forces. This means that what he was looking at right now were the high-end experts of the Aen Elle.

'Hmm... ordinary warriors of the Wild Hunt are between Level 2 or at least should be, but several of them are already at Level 3. Aen Elle is indeed powerful considering all the things, not to mention the craftsmanship of their armors and weapons is superb, and their Magic is really advanced; perhaps in some areas, it would be even more advanced than that of the Lordran.'

The Holy Imperator of the Holy Arcadia Empire was pondering over the Wild Hunt, especially looking at their Magicians, the so-called Navigators. Their understanding of the Space-Time Magic should be far superior to that of the Lordran.

Creating Magic that allowed one to travel through the World was already a sign of an extremely advanced Magic Civilization. Something that shouldn't be taken lightly, and right now, it was tempting Karl Franz greatly.

If they managed to get their hands on this kind of Magic and obtain access to the different worlds.

The benefits possible would be immeasurable.

"Leave now mortal."

The one whom Karl Franz assumed to be the leader of the group said to him, though Karl Franz could see a certain degree of nervousness in his voice when he looked at him.

"Mortal? I am afraid, gentlemen, that you are also no different from the mortals themselves.."

The Holy Imperator said with a light smile as he raised the Longinuslanze Testament, and immediately as he finished the sentence, he stabbed the weapon into the ground the entire area was soon enough enveloped by the golden barrier.

This was to prevent the group of elves from leaving the place and block any possible Spatial-Temporal Magic. He didn't want to take any chances and allow these people to escape; he needed to have his experimental subjects.

In a split of a moment, he appeared in front of the leading Wild Hunt member, the Navigator, delivering a punch into his stomach, deforming the amro and sending the Naviator flying, as he crashed into a nearby tree.

At the same time, Maria appeared from behind and started killing the Wild Hunt soldiers one by one with a rapier in her hand. Cersei was standing far from them, casting Spells, specifically targeting the Mages of the Wild Hunt or other ones that had bigger and more powerful magical signatures than the rest.

In front of overwhelming power, even the fabled Wild Hunt, which was regarded as the scourge of countless worlds, was nothing, and soon enough, the entire contingent of the Wild Hunt was either killed or subjugated.

"What do you want to do with her? It is clear that they were after her, and these guys seem to be rather powerful; it would cause problems."

Karl stabbed the Longinuslanze Testament into the back of one of the Wild Hunt soldiers who was crawling on the ground for his life.

"Yeah... but she... she has something called Elder Blood, an extremely powerful and ancient lineage directly related to Space and Time; her affinity for the Magic and even Arcane is something that would put her on the same level as most powerful bearers of the Old Blood."

Cirilla Fiona Elen Rianon, the bearer of the Elder Blood, Lady of Space and Time.

"We need to open a portal here..."

Portal Magic was still something very new to the Holy Arcadia Empire, and it was still a Magic in development. Fortunately enough, Karl Franz knew how to open the portal, and he immediately opened one that led to the Faust.

These elves of the Wild Hunt needed to be transported back to the Faust so the Scholars of the Byrgenwert could properly study them, their equipment, and their Magic. This wasn't the first time they captured someone from a different world, but contrary to the previous time, this time, they could actually obtain something from it.

Previously, they only obtained corpses, and there wasn't much from it.

Not only did they manage to capture several people, probably at least twenty, but also four of them were Mages, and one of them was Navigator of the Wild Hunt, who was proficient in the Space-Time Magic.

Karl Franz could see how all of the Scholars of the Byrgenwerth would fight for the opportunity to study these specimens and uncover the secrets of their Magic.

***

Transportation of all elves of the Wild Hunt didn't take long; the moment the portal was opened, several tens of Magicians from the Byrgenwerth poured in and started restraining the captured unconscious members of the Wild Hunt.

Or transporting the ones that were killed back to Faust for further study. Meanwhile Karl Franz took Ciri back to the Mobile Base that was not far from here and waited for the time when she would wake up.

He knew that sheltering someone with the Elder Blood was dangerous. Even though these members of the Wild Hunt didn't really seem powerful, he also knew that this was only a small part of the Wild Hunt, not to mention the entire Aen Elle.

At the same time, he understood that the Aen Elle couldn't really open portals for their whole armies to pass or so, so the most they could send was the Wild Hunt. And that was something that he didn't really fear.

As long as the situation didn't evolve into an all-out war between two worlds, then everything was okey, and he was confident that the Stormcast Eternals would be enough to deal with the Wild Hunt without much problem.

"The elves were not even particularly strong... I have to say that their intimidation tactics were probably the reason why they are feared, not their personal strength."

Karl Franz couldn't help but agree with Maria's sentiment because he, too, felt that the intimidation and their entire theatrics were the main reason for their success. Not to mention, the Wild Hunt functioned more or like, as the shock troops.

They didn't really fight their battles head-on but rather depended on the element of surprise in their attacks. Against lesser civilizations and nation, especially those without powerful people or access to powerful Magic, it was understandable that the Wild Hunt was especially effective in their endeavors.

"From my own understanding about them, they do not have much experience fighting foes on a similar level or those that are perhaps stronger than them. They are used to fighting only weaker opponents, which we could use to our advantage. Still, their civilization is rather advanced, and it is certainly much older than our Empire so that they would be formidable enemies even to us."

Karl Franz had some rudimentary understanding of the Wild Hunt already and he knew that coupled with the entire military and magical power of the Aen Elle World, they would be rather formidable foes even for the current Holy Arcadia Empire.

He was confident in the power of the Imperium and believed that the Empire could defeat the Aen Elle with a probability of 100%, but it wouldn't be without heavy sacrifices at least.

That wasn't really positive news, in fact, considering the population and societal problems of the Imperium.

"We need to wait until she wakes up and from then on, we will decide our next steps. For now, we should raise the DEFCON to Level 3 in case we are invaded by the larger part of the Wild Hunt."

The fact that the Wild Hunt could appear anywhere was problematic, and aside from the Holy Imperial Capital, Three Great Holy Cities and Capital Cities of the Grand Provinces and a few military facilities was problematic.

Monitoring of such Magic was right now rather problematic within the territories of the Imperium and the network of surveillance was not enough.

"Do you want to launch it prematurely?"

After some time of silence, he heard Maria pose a question that he was already awaiting.

"Yes. The Project Skynet is almost complete, and with the threat of the Wild Hunt appearing anywhere, anytime, we need to be ready in case they decide to attack. We don't have enough High Scholars, Arcanists, or top Hunters covering the entire Imperium and monitoring the appearance of the Arcane Magic."

Project Skynet was something that was proposed within the Byrgenwerth more than fifty years ago, and the goal was to create a nationwide surveillance network that could monitor the entire Lordran in real-time to search for threats.

Another function of the Project Skynet was to create Anti-Magic Zone in any part of the Imperium to better fight against Magicians or super-powerred individuals and most importantly, against the Forces of Ruin.

Theoretically speaking, it should be able to sever the connection between the Daemons of the Chaos and Realms of Chaos, which would allow the forces of the Imperium to counter them much more easily.

"Hastening it would cost us more resources; it should consume more than half of the Arcane Vaults..."

Construction of the Skynet over the entire Holy Arcadia Empire would consume a tremendous amount of resources, especially the Arcane ones that were collected by the strongest powerhouses of the Imperium from various sources, especially from the hands of powerful Daemons that descended down from the Realms of Chaos.

If they decided to launch Project Skynet prematurely, the price would go up by another 20% or 30% of the total costs, and that wasn't even talking about the amount of Reichscrowns that would be needed to finish it.

Still, Karl Franz decided in favor because the appearance of the Wild Hunt showed the vulnerability of the Imperium against such threats. With the ongoing Resurgence of Magic, the threat became even more eminent.

"In the face of inevitable danger, the cost is insignificant. Not to mention, most of the things within the Shadow Vaults and other special materials are just gathering dust there. Right now, our priority should be to gather as much strength as possible because once the Resurgence of Magic is done, it will forever change the face of Azyr."

***

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[Trafford]

Poor Tywin.He wanted to rule Westeros,and now he must live as unimportant subject of new player.But - better then canon,i quess.

That aside - what about Blackfyres? would they exist here?
Is Varys Blackfyre spy?
Would MC kill them,or use for sometching?

and red demon - how strong it is?

Click to shrink...

Yeah, Tywin fucked over himself in this regard for several reasons, but one of the most notable was the fact that Cersei was the one that technically speaking "betrayed" him in some sense. But yeah, still better fate than in the cannon.

Blackfyres will exist. About Varys, you will see. Not spoiling about anything.

If by Red Demon you mean R'hllor, then he would be very, very strong... after the Resurgence of the Magic, one could say that he around Level 9

 

[ATP]

Yeah, Tywin fucked over himself in this regard for several reasons, but one of the most notable was the fact that Cersei was the one that technically speaking "betrayed" him in some sense. But yeah, still better fate than in the cannon.

Blackfyres will exist. About Varys, you will see. Not spoiling about anything.

If by Red Demon you mean R'hllor, then he would be very, very strong... after the Resurgence of the Magic, one could say that he around Level 9

Click to shrink...

Thanks,i mean R,hllor.He would be enemy,but would ne ally with Chaos?
And what about Black goat? i forget,in which city it was god.

Westeros - yes,keep them divided,but why Lyanna die here? North had Russ help,after all.Are you forbid them help their kin?

Ather Loren - are there any elves there?

Wild Hunt - it is always nice to have strong enemies to fight,fighting Others would be anticlimatic with your MC strenght.
Something like:
"Where is NightKing for my boss fight? what,i accidentally crushed him landing?

 

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[Trafford]

Thanks,i mean R,hllor.He would be enemy,but would ne ally with Chaos?
And what about Black goat? i forget,in which city it was god.

Westeros - yes,keep them divided,but why Lyanna die here? North had Russ help,after all.Are you forbid them help their kin?

Ather Loren - are there any elves there?

Wild Hunt - it is always nice to have strong enemies to fight,fighting Others would be anticlimatic with your MC strenght.
Something like:
"Where is NightKing for my boss fight? what,i accidentally crushed him landing?

Click to shrink...

R'hllor would be the enemy of Chaos. Black Goat is worshipped in the Qohor...

Westeros - not spoiling anything.

No there are not any elves in the Athel Loren.

Night King won't be in my story, in his place there would be Undead Scourge like in the WoW or Negash in the Warhammer Fantasy.