A few seconds before the release of the horde.
Standing at a spot right above the Citadel, which should actually be called the Cathedral but had been changed in order to accommodate the very strict rules that had to be followed if one wished to teleport over such a large distance using Blood Sacrifice, the one from the Church could not stop himself from looking down again and again, where he could see the crust slowly but gradually breaking apart due to the repeated explosions that were happening all around him.
He had once had a name, but once one entered the Church, names didn't really have too much use. They would usually be called by the position they had obtained, and even though he had had a higher one before, due to everything that had happened recently, he had been bumped down to be just a Priest.
He had been quite livid at this, because the general power level of Priests was the Champion level, while he was a talented Hero who had proven himself multiple times on the battlefield.
However… The Bishop's word was law, and she had been quite angry because of his stunt where he should have brought the entire continent to its knees with fear, but had ended up encouraging them to fight back with everything they could by showing them his defeat, and subsequent scurrying away that had been quite pathetic.
Even now, he could feel the shame that had burned more than all of his skin that had been scorched off due to the Head's attack, but as he watched everything that was going on around him, he tried to drown out these memories and feelings.
"Priest, we need 30 more seconds to wake up the rest of the forces! Even if we send them out now, they cannot use the elementary particles that are present here! Like I said, the polarity…"
"Shut up! I don't care! Shorten the time period, or we are all going to die!"
It wasn't the first time he was saying this, so all he heard on the other end was a gulp.
Below him, the place which should have been the entire reason for their swift and relatively inexpensive victory was in chaos, with hundreds of thousands of mosquitoes that had been born after their brethren had exploded and brought down the barrier were buzzing around, landing on any source of Energy they could find and happily blowing it to kingdom come.
Defensively, those inside had already begun to use certain methods to fool the mosquitoes into thinking that the white marble that the Citadel was made of also contained Energy, and this was thankfully keeping most of them from targeting the crucial areas, which had to be protected at all costs.
And this… Was mainly because of all the Heroes who were behind those doors, in a weakened state, ready to die if even a single mosquito landed on them.
This was the secret that they wanted to hide at all costs, and it was why he was standing there without moving. If worst came to worst, he might have to sacrifice himself to protect all of these Heroes who were much more valuable than him, and there was no option of disobeying orders, either, because of all the stringent vows that every member of the Church had to take when they joined.
Thankfully, it wasn't all bad news - the Annihilation Corps had been able to recover, mainly because of their sentient flames which had always known how to burn no matter where they were.
Of course, the entire reason behind all of this was that they had intruded forcefully upon a foreign place whose Will was rejecting them actively, and it was to be expected, as their goal was to eradicate each and every living being that it had given birth to before taking it for their own.
If the continent was like a mother, then they were the enemy who had entered its womb to kill the children it had lovingly given birth to, so of course, everything that could be done would be done to make them get the hell out.
If it was one or two individuals, it was different, as they might be able to sneak by. But with such a large force…this problem was something they had to deal with.
Thankfully, this wasn't their first rodeo, and they had means to get over this rejection, but what they didn't have… was time.
The Priest could still remember the horror he had felt when he had seen this decision that had been taken by that brat - he had read many, many records of many continents being taken over but this… Was definitely a rather unique situation that not many had faced in the history of the Mainland.
After all, what kind of incredible decision-making skills were required in order to reach this solution, which was ruthless but also highly effective?
No one in their sane state of mind would choose to cut off their hand even if they knew that it might lead to their death, because this was a decision that would only be able to be taken by those who were exceptionally strong-willed. It was even more exacerbated by the fact that this 'dying' part was not sure, and many would try everything else before choosing to do so.
Of course, in the case of the continent of Angaria, with all of its forces lying either tired or senseless, there was no other option, but still, the Priest hadn't been able to stop himself from feeling a little bit of grudging admiration at this ruthlessness which would definitely fit right in with the Church, and its tenets.
Hence, he could also not stop himself from cursing those who had tried to take this man into their fold and had failed, as if they had succeeded, this situation would not have come to be.
Turning around, the Priest was about to bark out another order, but he paused when he suddenly saw the barrier is going down.
And at the same moment… He realized why Arnold, at his side, had been nudging him continuously.
Their roars inundated his ears, and their eyes filled with rage were enough to make anyone shudder in their boots.
Each varied from being 7 to 12 feet tall, but as they were all bunched together, it seemed like one big monster had entered and was looking for its prey.
The first thing that the Priest thought that there was no way these things could be controlled…but in the next moment, he gaped as he saw them make a beeline for the Annihilation Corps.
Startled, these individuals tried to put up barriers, but each of them were mobbed in barely a few seconds.
True, there had been the distance of a hundred kilometres between the border, from where they had entered, and the location where the Annihilation Corps were safely standing, but the same man who had unleashed them had also cast numerous spells to make teleportation formations appear which effectively distributed the monsters to all parts of Axelor.
The result…was a clusterf*ck of pure rage given physical form, which managed to break through the defensive means of the Annihilation Corps in the span of 2 seconds.
"Retreat!"
With no other option, the Priest managed to come back to his senses and give this order, which made the Annihilation Corps heave sighs and relief and teleport back.
They were only 200 strong, but as each was a Hero who had chosen to give themselves over to the Church and undergo various mutations instead of dying, they were extremely powerful.
However, they could only act if they were ordered to, and if the Priest had been a few seconds late, they would have had no option but to stand there and be pummelled into nothingness.
"10 seconds, sir! 10 seconds! I managed to make the transformation matrix more efficient!"
Usually, this news would have brought joy to the Priest's face, but seeing the heaving masses of bodies which were all congregating around the barrier…he knew that they might not make it.
Just as he was about to reluctantly chose a plan where he would mostly have to have a very close shave with death, Arnold, the rogue Empire Spirit, finally spoke up.
"Target the citizens. If you want to make him fall back, do it."
The Empire Spirit had acted in a masterful way, concealing himself for so long from all of the forces on the continent, including the one who was hellbent on bringing about their ruin at the moment. That tale was definitely one which would impress anyone if it was told, but until now, since his declaration at that juncture where the King had been about to relax which had clearly been quite satisfying for him to deliver, he had mostly been silent.
But now, he finally gave some advice, and finding it excellent, the Priest immediately ordered, "Attack all of the settlements you see nearby."
The hooded green-robed men and women simply nodded, but if one caught a glimpse of their eyes, they would have found glee shining within them.
The green flames in which the skulls were happily dancing were still present in their hands, and as one, they all chose a settlement in the distance and launched the globes, just like they had done before.
Due to the sentience of the flames, it was their specialty to launch long-distance course-correcting attacks, and once again, the advantage of this ability showed itself.
"F*CK!"
On the other side, right outside Axelor, Daneel saw this and exclaimed, before saying to the system, "Are the formations ready for the ones which are being attacked?"
[188/200 formations of targeted settlements ready.]
"Then activate them!"
The Priest and Arnold were both prepared to see tens of thousands of people scream as they burned to death, but unlike what they had been thinking…they were not done being shocked by the King.
Right before impact, a bright flash of light appeared around almost all of the settlements.
Towns, cities, villages- many, many areas all disappeared from the vision of those watching for a split second, and after that…the globes of flame reached them.
However, even though all of these globes imploded and started to burn merrily, the individual skulls within the flames all seemed…disappointed.
This was the case for most of the settlements, and after a second, the Priest read the signs, and understood what the f*ck had happened.
"More…bugs! Our information…was all wrong! He's a master of genetic modification! That is his main power! He created a special race of bugs that can arrange themselves in certain shapes and create formations! They sneaked in, because all typical formations ignore tiny bugs! This is…revolutionary! If the Church obtains the method…THE MAINLAND WILL BE OURS!"
Daneel was honestly startled by the utterance of the Priest, but he was busy assessing the rest of the battlefield.
The system had already told him that an extremely massive force in the citadel was close to rousing itself. If it rose…even his horde, which was attacking the secondary defensive barrier of the citadel that had been newly set up due to their approach, would not be enough.
The truth was that an army was much more effective when it was in full control of its mental faculties, as multiple methods which perfectly used the strengths of those on the offensive and the weaknesses of those who were being attacked could be utilized for maximum effect.
Given a choice, anyone would take a bunch of normal, willing soldiers over a bunch of monsters, any day.
Here, Daneel hadn't had a choice as the option was to either let them take a nice nap, or make them fight in this manner.
Hence, even if they might have been able to put up a defense if they normal, now, the horde had a large probability of losing if they went up against the actual force of the Church.
Daneel could not let that happen.
He could see what would happen after that- his mosquito production spots would be destroyed, the crust would no longer be under attack, and the force from the Church would sweep over the defenseless continent, obtaining victory in one fell swoop.
NO!
They had to be stopped.
He needed to speed up the explosions underground…but how?
Daneel racked his brain in urgency, wondering whether it would fail him in this crucial juncture.
Only…there was no way that that would happen.
With a smile that acknowledged its ability that had allowed him to crown himself the King of Scamme-err, the King of Tactics, Daneel said in his mind, "Carry out calculations to choose a stress point which can cause a chain reaction if an explosion of enough size takes place there. Then activate the Divine Cockroach Bloodline, teleport me there, and…blow me up."
[Host will undergo severe damage. Chances of Survival: 60%, based on size of explosion needed. Please confirm if host wishes for system to carry out the order.]
Well, those were odds he was fine with.
"Confirm."
The Head had been looking around with worry, wondering how this whole thing would end, but suddenly, he got a message from Daneel, who used a communication trinket even though he was standing right beside him.
"Head, I'll be out of commission for a little while now. Take care of Angaria for me, will you? And make sure my sovereigns regain their memories. This is the spell you should cast to make it happen- do it right after these f*ckers drown. In the end, I was not able to save everyone, as hundreds of thousands more will die, even though many have been teleported away. The alternative was allowing Angaria to perish…but I'm sick of making sacrifices. I came to dominate…but I wonder if I failed. When I come back, let me know whether you think the same."
By the time the Head turned around, Daneel was gone.
And in the next moment…citizens all over the continent felt the earth shake under them.
Together, they tried to find things they could hold on to, and in front of him, the Head saw a miraculous thing.
He was flying in the air, and he had a clear view of the shore of Angaria.
Hence…as jagged cracks started to appear from a spot to the east, near the border of Axelor, he was the first to see it.
Of course, second was the priest, who finally let go of his excitement to scream, "NO NO NO NO! NOOOOO!!! BISHOP, IT WAS ALL HIM!"
As he turned around, he saw the monsters being teleported away in the midst of their attacks, but below him, the Heroes from the Church were still disabled.
The resources, the manpower, the planning…as the Priest remembered it all, madness took ahold of his mind, but he could only scream unintelligibly.
He knew that they were done. Even if they recovered, they couldn't teleport over as the natural protection of the continent had been changed to encompass its new borders, and they couldn't even carry out an attack, as their foes…were now the countless beasts in the Endless Sea.
He couldn't accept it. He just couldn't. They had been so prepared…but it had all been for naught.
It was done in three seconds. The cracks in the earth had begun at multiple places at once, and by the end of this span of time, the large chunk of land had already been separated.
Looking around, the Priest tried to find the one who was the reason behind it all, but he was absent.
He had seen him disappear, and he had felt an explosion larger than all of those until now from below. Had…he been the one who had blown himself up?
Realization flashing in his eyes, he searched below, but he saw nothing.
This led to new screams of frustration, all while they started to drift away due to the fury of the Endless Sea, and while the sky changed to become one covered with lightning, a shadow fell over his face.
His eyes changed, and he suddenly stopped what he was doing. He went rigid, and his eyes changed color to shine a jade green, which was followed by his lips compressing into a thin line.
He spoke, but the voice that came out was that of a woman's. It sounded as if it was coming from far, far away, but the vehemence in its tone…was clear.
"King Daneel? The days of you being underestimated are over. We shall return much sooner than you think, and when we do…you are mine. Empire Spirit, the promise we made to you shall be kept. Engineer, chart a way back using the awakened Heroes. And Priest…bring back all of the citizens. I have something special waiting for them. Move, quickly! The battle has been lost, but the War has just begin. Move!"