A Story of Evil

Sol saw Pandora's body crumble in front of him.

It was the strangest sight to see. King Jubilee warded the two children away. Saying that it was dangerous to come close. Hence the two complied. Standing perfectly still just like the King and Queen of the Void. Watching Pandora slowly turn into a pillar of rock.

However, Pandora saw the worried expression on the face of Alice. So, she gave some words of reassurance to the group.

"Don't worry. I just transferred my ego into this host. I'm not actually dead, I'm still at Pentagon." Pandora calmly stated. Like she didn't even feel pain from her body slowly deteriorating.

The shadows began rising from all around her. Forming into cloth like objects that wrapped themselves around Pandora's body. With her wings also moving slowly as it enveloped her whole. Covering her until, they couldn't see anything anymore. 

The shadows spun in a small hurricane like figure. Getting bigger and bigger until, it completely vanished. Spreading and disappearing. Not leaving a single trace of Pandora.

"Okay that was weird." Alice remarked.

"I couldn't agree more." King Jubilee mentioned, confusing the girl who gave the king a look of confusion.

"Haven't you seen this before my liege?" Sol asked.

"Nope. This is the first time we did that." 

"You mean it was an experiment?" Alice's tone was surprised.

"Well yes of course. Although we were sure of that it would work so, it's not much of an experiment. What happened to the body was also within calculations although, I didn't think that the whole thing would actually disappear."

At that moment they heard a rumbling sound. The earth shook intensely which gave them all an idea of what was happening. The monsters have finally arrived. 

"This part is actually a lot earlier than I expected." Jubilee said in an excited tone.

"You mean they;re already here?"

"Yeah. Let's see how the defenses hold up." The king furthered. Riding the griffin along with everyone and proceeding to the walls.

…

…

…

Damian and the four remaining emperors watched from a distance. Floating in mid air as they saw the barrier holding up the defenses. 

Below them were a multitude of monsters of every kind. Hounds. Felines. Humanoids. Birds. Overground Dwellers. All of these charged at full speed, without any sign of hesitation. Wanting to avenge their master and to honor his name.

On the other hand, the emperors had no interest on this. They simply wanted to see how their enemies respond. Specifically, their interest was on the barrier. Something which Aeolus commented on at that moment.

"Hey you guys feel it right?"

"Yeah. This is definitely the work of that Shadoweaver. This is gonna be a lot more difficult than I thought."

Even with a fair distance between the monsters and the wall, the fight already began. This started with massive attack that was charged from the walls. It took so much mana out of the surroundings that, even the emperors felt it from where they were. Watching earnestly as, after thirty seconds, it was finally fired.

The next thing that happened came like a flash. Literally. As if lightning itself struck to the ground. The initial strike extended into a full blast of mana, widening in a spiral of light that made the scenery seem like the breaking of dawn.

Every watchtower from the wall fired this. Creating blast after blast which took down a large number of monsters. With an ear deafening sound and a ground shaking intensity.

However, the creatures were far from giving up. They had healing and regeneration, allowing them to recover even from that state. With most of them still being alive although limping. 

The others who weren't struck, especially the air and underground units, continued charging in. Getting closer and closer until they were finally within attacking range.

However, the underground units were caught in an explosion. With their body parts splattering all over the field. Killing all of them without exception.

Meanwhile, the monsters floating in the skies began their counterattack by using black smokescreens. Destroying the vision of the watchtowers although getting hit by the gunning soldiers that settled on top of the walls. Taking down the the crow like monsters which nevertheless accomplished their goal.

More clouds were released by the crows spread as black smoke. Taking away every form of vision which, was supposed to put a considerable advantage for the monsters. However, something began sounding from beyond the smoke. Like an engine starting and, before the ground monsters could make out what this was, bullets already rained on them.

This came in quick succession. Travelling at an insanely high speed and moving across the battlefield. The soldiers were still blinded by the black smoke. But they nevertheless continued firing. Remembering what Queen Lilia instructed them following the order of attacks without hesitation and worry. Resulting in the killing of even more monsters along the way.

Herald's army of two thousand monsters got taken out just like that. Reduced to nothing than eight hundred at that point. Yet the effort of the fallen was not in vain as, the remaining troops finally reached the barrier. 

With this they thought that victory was still within reach. Making an ear splitting battle cry as they began striking the barrier. Trying to tear it down. Using every spell at their disposal.

Rage of Lightning

Flame Burst

Explosion.

Pillar of Death

Berserk

Black Lightning

Spiraling Seclusion

Dragon's Roar

Howling Wind

These were only some of the multitude of spells that were fired at that point. Creeping up the barrier as the elements mixed together. Increasing in intensity more and more as, the monsters continued firing their spells.

A good ten minutes of this passed. With the monsters exhausting themselves from the attack. Yet, the barrier stood. Without any sign of shattering. Without any sign of breaking. 

It was like an unbreakable aegis and, at that point, the soldiers finally retaliated. With the guns fully loaded once again, the humming of death's symphony resumed.  With the soldiers beginning to fire their heavy artillery. With gunpowder mixing with the smell of blood and flesh as the remaining monsters died one by one.

All of the creatures screamed the name of their lord who passed. Wanting to bring him glory yet instead, all they brought was shame. They couldn't even make a dent. They couldn't; even take one life. All of them passed. Defeated by the defenses of men. With the emperors watching the whole thing.

"H-hey, isn't that a bit too much?" Aeolus mentioned, thinking that there was no way to get past it.

"What do you mean? We should expect this much from our opponent. Plus, we did get some valuable information." Damian said, still calm despite the hopeless one sided massacre they witnessed.

"And what is that?" Aeolus furthered. Making Damian sigh as he raised one finger and began explaining. 

"First. The barrier probably has a limit below the ground. That's why they resorted to explosives to kill the underground units." Damian then raised another finger.

"Second. They can only fire that powerful beam once. If they can fire it again, it would probably take them more than ten minutes. Seeing as they didn't follow up from the initial firing of that weapon." Damian then raised another finger. 

"Third. The barrier isn't impenetrable." This was the only thing Aeolus didn't understand. Questioning it with squinted eyes as he asked:

"What do you mean it's not impenetrable? Didn't you just see what happened Damian?"

"I did Aeolus. We all did." Damian gave a short moment of pause for Aeolus to reflect on these words before finally continuing. Seeing that his fellow emperor couldn't catch on.

"However, I also saw how they needed to shave down the number of our forces. With the monsters forced to scatter their attack all around the barrier, of course they wouldn't be able to break it. But you're forgetting one thing, every defense has a weakness. Every defense has its limits."

At this cold water seemed to have been poured on Aeolus. He thought so highly of the enemy because of how grand the display was. Forgetting the fact that their opponents were only humans.

"Just like any normal spell, that barrier is made of runes. No matter how strong that is, there should be a ceiling to the amount of damage it can hold. Or, there is probably a trick to taking it down. It's just a man made barrier Aeolus. It's not God's defense."

This was another reason why Damian lead the group. Aside from the fact that he dominated them in terms of strength., nobody could also question his wit. Damian saw things that the other emperors didn't even notice and, for that alone, they respected him.

With this the fight concluded in a very anti-climatic way. And although defeated, Damian knew that they were far from losing. Spreading his wings as he commanded his fellow emperors.

"Let's return. I've seen enough for now."