Devourer

I sat on top of this random house as I watched the sun crest the horizon. The house I was sitting on was abandoned, no idea where the original owners are but if they are still alive they are going to need a new roof. Cecilia and I have decided to do some serious renovating after all of this is over. Part of the plan was to create this utopia where everyone lived with little wants beyond those that would be considered the most lavish of luxuries. With my Hive I can remove almost all the resource scarcity so most people will be able to live far cushier lives. Now people will not work for meat, they will work for the finest cuts. Wine will become just a simple beverage; the finest vintages will be luxuries. The streets will be paved, the houses will be completely revamped at no cost for the residents. Cecilia already had plans for an aggressive expansion plan for Averlon. In her words she wanted her capital city to be the hub of the world. Basically she wanted the best of everything in Averlon, the best infrastructure and that environment will attract talent to her city. 

All of this was a plan to deal with Heaven in the long run. We wanted it to be painfully obvious that without me and Cecilia around the lives of everyone was going to get a lot worse. Heaven won’t want that of course, nothing shakes faith in a group of divine beings like said divine beings destroying the paradise the faithful found themselves in. Of course I may do some… subtle things…

Like making certain luxuries like rapid transport and logistics dependent on my hive. With some aggressive reforms I can make this transition extremely quickly. So if I were to do this in a certain way I can make it so that if I am removed by heaven well then societal collapse would be likely. So if I go down, an entire continent of people will lose faith and since apparently the Seraphim draw power from prayer… well anyway I doubt they will choose mutually assured destruction especially considering I hear they are having some trouble up north. I don’t have anything concrete on that considering it's mostly rumours that have trickled down through Sarana’s spy network and Mahaila was so tight lipped she might as well have her lips sewn shut.

But I guess all of that is for the future, I have plenty of time to think about it once I tear this nation down. I sat up and I felt the roof creak as some of the internal beams cracked under my weight. Well time for the closing act…

I spread my wings and launched myself into the sky. I circled around to the people’s square and the first thing I saw was a pair of priestess chatting on the stairs leading up to the church. Interestingly I saw that one of them had robes bearing Elysian markings while the other bore Volerian markings. I could sense no hostility between them which is certainly a good thing. Cecilia said the church was one of the main linking points between the two peoples, sharing a religion was a useful tool for unification.

I looked over at the crowded square filled with soldiers and saw Cecilia standing in front of them along with Legiana and her other aides. I landed next to them and noted the two invisible rogues standing nearby. I knew they were there for quite a while of course, Legiana told me that Cecilia wanted to make an example of them. Many see her beauty and think she is some meek woman but Cecilia is probably the most powerful human mage on the continent. She’s not as powerful as Mahaila, me or some of my hive members but honestly that’s not a fair comparison. From what Mahaila told me she did have the potential to be one of the most powerful mages in the world.

So these two little assasins would serve her well as subjects for her little demonstration. I landed lightly next to Cecilia so as not to kick up too much dust and debris. In great contrast to what I usually do which is to crash down and buckle the stones below me. 

“Hey Cecilia, had a good night's sleep?” I asked with a chuckle.

“As well as one could expect friend.” Cecilia replied airily with a smile of her own.

“So shall we get this show on the road?” I asked as I flashed her a malicious fanged smile and Cecilia returned it with a wide smile of her own.

“Of course… but first there is something I need to handle.” Cecilia said with a smirk and the other human aides all turned to look at her in slight confusion.

“Oh isn’t that the show?” I asked in mock confusion as I tilted my head. We were doing our usual theatre routine, speaking with inside knowledge and generally cryptic words, spreading the idea that the two of us worked very closely together. Which we do definitely but sometimes you need to broadcast this fact.

“Yes friend, I just thought you were talking about the capturing of the inner city. I suppose we have been working together so well we are starting to act like we have some sort of telepathic ability.” Cecilia said as she let out a laugh and snapped her glowing fingers. As soon as she snapped her fingers she fired out her ether jamming spell, it was a weaker variant of ether jamming known as [Transverse Flow]. It was a simple spell that fired out a disruption signal in a sphere around the caster, causing the ether flow in a spell to reverse for a brief moment. If the caster is not skilled enough to maintain concentration and stabilise the spell…

“ARGGHHHHH!” the two rogues behind me screamed out in pain as their invisibility spells shorted out and the discharging ether ended up electrocuting them. 

Ether disruption spells were so useful against the uninitiated, not so much against skilled mages of course. There isn’t an ether disruption spell in existence that can affect Mahaila thanks to her skills, racial resistance and additional resistance from her one of a kind equipment. 

“Silver ranks. I suppose that’s why you left them there.” I said to Legiana and she just lightly shrugged in response.

“The empress detected them and didn’t tell me to remove them. They never had a chance to harm her anyway.” Legiana said as she nodded in the direction of the two rogues.

 A pair of adjutants appeared behind the rogues and dragged them to their feet. They were swiftly restrained and brought to their knees. These adjutantas were the updated variants who were more suited to their roles as bodyguards. Some of the adjutants have also been retrofitted as commando units and I sent some of them into the inner city during last night's raid. They were quite effective all things considered but more improvements could be made.

“That won’t be necessary.” Cecilia said with a calm wave of her hands and the adjutants released the panting rogues only for their bodies to glow and they struggled as they were lifted up into the air.

“I was thinking, lightning, fire, ice… all so uncivilised.” Cecilia said with a smile as the rogues looked at her in fear. The reality that the Empress herself was a mage capable of silent casting was dawning on them. Only the best mages could silent cast naturally, it was ability born from talent not effort. Either you could do it or you couldn't, that is all there is to it. It could be learned to an extent but the attempts were usually sloppy and slow.

“Are you going to use that trick I taught you? Gravity spells are draining, you know.” I said as I crossed my arms and waited for the inevitable show.

“Well it’s worth a try.” Cecilia said with a shrug and her eyes glowed an ominous purple rather than the usual blue. I sensed the mages around us seemingly leaning in interest. As it stands now I have a wealth of magical knowledge thanks to the books from the divine seer, the book from my mysterious friend down under and Eternal Mother’s memories. Most of the spells I knew actually couldn’t be casted by most humans since they just lacked the power to do so. But regardless, some ancient lost spells would no doubt be of great interest to the mages. From what I heard all they had were old scraps of incomplete instructions.

Cecilia’s hand crackled with power and I saw her eyes widen in anticipation. I could sense her raw unbridled excitement. Few things could excite her like magic did, if I had to name one thing that she was passionate about, it would have to be magic.

Cecilia closed her fist and the two rogues had their bodies crushed together into a ball with a satisfying crunch. The sound of their bones being powderised rang out across the square. Although this may seem powerful it requires a significant channel time and the target must first be bound for it to work. Not exactly that useful in combat but nonetheless devastating if pulled off. Magic resistance could defy it but most humans did not know the defensive spells or had the equipment to survive it. Mahaila would probably just break free and walk it off, as for the regular humans… Well, mulch is their fate.

“Now that the show is settled you should probably send the army in, I’ll move ahead and start softening up the wall. With any luck the walls will be captured or surrendered by the time you get there.” I said and Cecilia nodded in response.

“Legiana keep her posted on what’s happening.” I said to Legiana who bowed in affirmation.

“See you soon.” I said with a smile as I spread my wings and Cecilia returned my smile with one of her own.

With that I was off, to claim the Volerian’s final bastion. I activated my [Gravitic Hover] ability to give me a burst of speed as I rose high up into the sky. I was going to give them their final chances to surrender. But these soldiers were also the most loyal and fanatical. I looked down at the ruins of the houses that were part of the night raid. Most of the houses have been blasted open and completely collapsed. Whoever owned those houses, didn’t have houses anymore. That’s gonna make a dent in their finances…

I knew they had these crazy bombers so I sent my hive in to take the hit. The last thing I wanted was the humans getting suicide bombed, that would make the post war rebuilding more complicated. Better that these insane tactics are used on my soldiers, the humans would be less horrified by that and it makes the suicide tactics more understandable for their tender sensibilities.

So now I needed to fully impress upon the remaining defenders that resistance was futile. At the end of the day, these were professional soldiers and skilled personnel. It was a waste to kill them all, they could certainly be useful after the fact.

I finally cleared the clouds and I saw my phoenixes all rested up and waiting for me. I made sure to make the defenders see me rise up above the clouds. A little extra fear is always good.

“Are your forces ready?” I asked as I turned to face Azatherine.

“Yes my king, the flesh stores have certainly proved useful.” Azatherine replied as she referenced the special flesh I have prepared so as to quickly recharge the Phoenixes in emergencies. They do say an army marches on its stomach after all.

“Good, now we give them two chances to surrender. If they refuse then we carve our way in. No need to wait for the humans. I grow impatient with this piece of bad theatre. It is time for the closing act.” I said and the phoenixes all lowered their heads in a bow.

“Two, my king?” Azatherine asked as she tilted her head.

“Follow me, just start blasting when I tell you.” I replied with a chuckle and I flapped my wings diving back down through the clouds.

I arrived in front of the gate and I looked down at the soldiers and mages. All of them looked at me defiantly. I could sense the fear but I could also see courage. It would be such a shame to kill them all. Yes… if they surrendered they would certainly be useful in the future.

With that I said my little lie to get the ball rolling.

The Empress wishes to parley…