Chapter 72 - Decimation

Ferdinand Joe stopped his horse.

"Do you hear that sound?" He asked the captain to his right.

A thunderous sound rang in their ears, though not as loud, it still made them chill. The sound grew louder in volume and intensity and they began to hear it everywhere.

"Oh no,"

Ferdinand and the rest of the army began to look spastically around them, searching for whatever was causing the thunderous roars.

And then they saw the small specks in the distance. There were many of them, numbering ten to twenty from north to south, west to east.

"Metal beasts!" The army began to panic. The metal dragon that decimated a quarter of their men had called its brethren and was about to eliminate them once and for all!

Joe hastily readied the mages and had the archers position themselves in the center of the army. This was a dumb move. A very dumb move that not even the dumbest of tacticians would do. You already saw the enemy target the center of your positions and yet you position the most effective troops in the center again?

Joe essentially sealed their fate. But, who can blame him? They were facing an enemy that did not fight on equal terms and thus, whatever strategy they cook up would just go to waste immediately.

They just went and hoped for the best.

Most of them prayed and asked the goddess for help.

It seemed so.

These thoughts are soon forgotten as explosions rocked their ranks once more.

The hovercrafts have begun their ȧssault, unleashing a wave of missiles from all directions dealing the same powerful blast over and over again. The center of the army was hit the hardest, the mages desperately cast protection magic, they did not expect the enemy to attack from such a distance.

Their shields were of no use, the enemy bombarded them until there was no order left. Ferdinand Joe rode through the storm of missiles, his horse ran through his routed men. He was going nowhere, he thought of charging the enemy head-on would suffice and this did what he did.

The Theocracy had the advantage of magic on their side, but what kept them from gaining a victory? it was simple psychology, fear. Fear was a key factor in their defeat. Not once did they ever encounter such an enemy that would decimate entire armies and murder hundreds of thousands in a matter of weeks, even days!

Their minds were not prepped, even if they were, they were still human. There enemies? they were men of metal, machines with no emotion or empathy. They entered their world and now seek to claim it as their own, they bring with them destruction and despair but leave behind a peaceful fruit that only a few may eat.

A utopia for humans, but, why?

Only a handful will experience the utopia, a handful of lucky souls.

The God Of Death was present. He watched as thousands of souls went through his being and person.

The hovercrafts then closed the distance and began to fire their guns. Each bullet killed one to four soldiers in an instant while wounding several others more in the aftermath of it all. The flying metal beasts were untouchable, the spells, arrows, all useless.

None were fast enough to hit a single one.

Behold, death.

Behold, despair.

And behold.

One's transport arrived just in time to see the destruction. Opening its rear windows, One watched as his hovercrafts made quick work of the enemy. They were scattering like ants once you stomped on them.

"Good work," One said, "The hovercrafts seem to be enjoying themselves, have they run out of missiles already?"

"It seems so, one of the hovercrafts reported that they have expended their missile munitions a couple of minutes ago before we arrived," Micheal confirmed.

"I see, so we need to expand their capacity then,"

One continued to watch and noticed a peculiar shape among the bodies.

"Are those horses?" One asked hs elite drones.

"It seems so," Micheal again confirmed.

"Micheal, I ask you, what are your thoughts concerning this war?" One suddenly questioned the drone. He had nothing to gain from the question except for one thing, determining just how much the elite drones have evolved in terms of.. well... human nature.

Drones are supposed to be mindless creatures with an intellect far surpassing a human, or near it. They had no emotion, no freewill except what is programmed within them from the start. This was one of the most common questions about life, how does complex life even begin? where did these emotions come from?

Were they an evolutionary by-product? why would they need it? why would humans need it? These questions, though having a solid foundation and credit, would be best ignored by those with intellect. There was no use in trying to find an answer to the universe's hardest question, or maybe, the question was not supposed to be answered? a rhetorical kind.

As the drone answered his question, the more it revealed how far it was in becoming something indeed human. A complex mechanical life form.

One stared blankly at the drone.

And a burning question came into his mind.

As One thought deeper into this, he thought it best to ignore it for now. Well, these drones weren't going to start having an identity crisis, would they? well, he hoped.

Down on the plains, the army continued to be ravaged.  Bullet after bullet rained down upon them with no end in sight. The ground began to absorb pools of blood deep under its surface, at this rate the underground water reservoirs may be tainted red by the blood of the fallen.

An hour of senseless destruction passed. The dust has finally settled, the winds blew from the north. There was nothing left, swords, shields, spears, bows, all their weapons lied on the ground. Some still had hands gripping, well, some were hands while others were just charred remains of what was a hand.

The bodies were by the hundred thousand, they were all scattered across the grassy plains and were shone upon by the morning star. Insects began to fly around the remains as quickly as the dust settled. There was really nothing left. Craters and holes littered the land also.

There were severed limbs scattered about, a few bodies were trembling and shaking. Though they were dead, their nervous system still functioned somewhat and sent signals through what remained of the nerves. Horses were not spared from the bloodshed, nay, they lied on the ground as well, some even had their riders still clinging on their backs.

The Theocracy's last army has been defeated. There was no recovering from this.

Ferdinand Joe, a man renowned for his might and glory, his position and triumphs, was now reduced to a bloody mess. A bloody mess of what he once was, he died along with the rest of his army. There were no survivors.

The hovercrafts were circling the scene, taking out those unlucky enough to survive. Yes, to live after this was a nightmare. You were only giving yourself more time to suffer. More pain and no gain.

The transport ship landed near the southern edge of the massacre. The hatches opened and One walked out along with a hundred drones. They marched in formation with One leading the way. They marched through the bodies with One ordering the drones to shoot those who were still alive.

And yes, to end their life after such a traumatic experience was merciful indeed. To end their life after suffering as much as they did was mercy, that he believed and that belief shaped how he treated the survivors. They must embrace their demise, there was no coming back from this. Not even magic could save them from something as devastating as this.

The decimation thorough and left no stone unturned. One's occupation was complete. The Theocracy's ability to defend itself was no gone. Their cities were now easy prey with some already being besieged by bandits.

The bandits were remnants of those soldiers who survived the Machine Empire's offensive. They gathered themselves under a self-proclaimed warlord and have decided to fend for themselves instead.

"Death is nigh and not sweet, and thus we shall live to our heart's content!" Most of them would say. It was their excuse to pillage and rȧpė. Medieval times mostly saw undisciplined armies who wound commit acts that would be considered atrocities in the modern-day. One had no room for savages in his utopia, and so, issued a permanent command in which all bandits were to be executed.

The mere fact they became bandits was enough for their deaths. One still had no sympathy over those who were innocent. He just did not want to hand himself more problems.

The sun began to set when he finished marching through the bodies, it was an unpleasant scene. The bodies had begun to rot and thus produced an awful smell. Vultures and crows have begun to feast on the buffet of corpses. Arguably they had enough bodies to feed hundreds of thousands of them.

One watched as a group of vultures swarmed over a body, the body of Frederick Joe. One did not know who he was or how much of a pain he might have been if they were to have engaged in combat. But, his red robe was enough to tell One that he was a powerful foe. A powerful foe that was wasted.

Dusk finally settled and the two moons shined.

"Another full moon?" One said with wonder.

"This world will soon be our own, right? Commander?" Micheal walked to the other side.

One stared blankly into the distance as the wind swayed his hair.

"Yes, all of this, will be ours, and all of this will help us rebuild the earth, rebuild our true home. Even if we have to kill a billion more sorry excuses of humans. Magic, a pathetic energy that prevented any further scientific advancement in this world. There will be new enemies, new opportunities, and also, new beginnings. Our first journey has come to an end and tomorrow, another shall begin and we shall walk through it all once more,"

"There will be many paths, won't there be?" John asked.

"Yes, yes, of course, there will be many paths and we will be forced to make decisions whether to follow the left... or the right..."

"Each path is unknown and to the unknown, we shall venture forth," Micheal said with glee.

"Yes, the journey will be confusing as any other journey through the unknown. Although we may fear the unknown, it is always our mission to find what is in the unknown and understand it, learn from it and most of the time, defend from it," One continued.

"The journey will also be rough," John added.

"Yes, all journeys are rough, some are just rougher than others," One replied.

"Rough enough to kill those who can't bear it. This is why we machines are superior, we can face any problem and make a solution. In every mathematical problem, there will always be a solution for one to find the answer," Micheal added the conversation.

"Yes," One smiled.