The disaster was not just happening to the Pyra Empire.
It unfolded across every Empire at once, as if so unseen hand had turned a key beneath the world and unlocked catastrophe in unison.
In the Naiadae Empire... The people who were supposed to enjoy their peaceful night after lots of work were now screaming for their lives,
"OH GOD!!"
"WHAT KIND OF HORROR IS THAT? SOONE TELL WHAT THAT IS!"
Screams collided with one another as families flooded into the streets, pushing, tripping, clutching children to their chests.
Behind them, buildings did not rely collapse; they were crushed inward, as if sothing was crushing their foundations. The light crystals embedded within the buildings exploded in bursts of blue-white brilliance, then died, and darkness spread like a fire!
Those who dared to look back saw it first as two red lights suspended in shadow.
A cold wave slid down their spines, and their breath caught in their throats.
"DADDY, PLEASE, WHERE ARE YOU? DON’T LEAVE HERE!"
"RUN, ALL OF YOU RUN, DON’T LOOK BACK, JUST RUN!"
A man stumbled on broken stone and fell hard against the pavent. His palms split open against shards of crystal, and when he turned, those crimson lights had advanced.
They were close enough that he could see faint outlines of segnted tal shifting behind them.
"PLEASE, I HAVE A FAMILY, I DID NOTHING WRONG, PLEASE DON’T TAKE !"
"GET UP AND MOVE, NOW!"
A single soldier stepped between the man and the advancing darkness. His armour trembled from the vibration in the earth, yet he planted his feet and raised his blade.
The sword reflected the red glare, and for a brief second, it looked as though he held a strip of burning tal.
"Listen to . Run straight down the canal road. Princess and other soldiers are guiding the civilians."
The fallen man nodded frantically, tears streaking his dust-covered face.
"T-Thank you, sir. I will never forget this. I swear I will not waste it."
He scrambled up and bolted into the smoke, convinced he had escaped death by the narrowest miracle.... or so he thought, when sothing shot forward with blinding speed.
A tallic tentacle, segnted and plated like the spine of so serpent, coiled around his torso. Crimson energy pulsed along its surface in rhythmic surges, and the air around it shimred from heat and force.
The soldier watched in frozen horror as the tentacle constricted....
"ARRHHHHHHH—"
Crack!
BUFFF!
The man’s scream rose... Bones cracked one after another, and blood burst outward in a violent spray that painted the stones and the soldier’s armour.
The crushing did not stop quickly... It continued until the human shape collapsed inward and beca nothing more than ruin, flesh compressed beyond recognition.
The soldier staggered back, his breath breaking into ragged fragnts. His sword slipped from his fingers, clattering uselessly to the ground. He tried to run away, but another chanical limb extended from the darkness.
"NO, THIS CANNOT BE REAL. THIS IS A NIGHTMARE!"
The second tentacle lashed forward and seized him around the waist.
"LET GO, I AM A SOLDIER OF NAIADAE. I WILL NOT DIE LIKE THIS. I WILL NOT DIE LIKE THIS!"
Another tentacle wrapped around his legs and... The force pulled in opposite directions.
The soldier’s face turned horrified when he saw this, his heart beat faster,
"N-No! No, no NOOOO—"
Muscles tore first, then joints separated, and his scream broke into sothing animal, sothing beyond language.
The sound ended abruptly when his body split under the strain.
What remained fell heavily onto the shattered street, and the red lights in the darkness shifted upward, scanning for the next target.
"It’s coming. It’s coming for us. It is right behind us!"
From the swallowing darkness, six additional tallic tentacles erupted outward, each one moving with terrifying synchronisation.
n and won were seized mid-step, lifted like helpless bait on iron hooks. The tentacle tightened, joints locking with a grinding hum as crimson energy surged along their length.
The glow intensified, pulsing faster and faster, as though sothing within the core of the construct was building toward release.
"No, no, please let go. I have children. I will give you anything. Please do not do this!"
The pleas dissolved into shrieks as the pressure increased. Bodies folded unnaturally, ribs snapping inward, limbs bending at impossible angles.
The red light flared violently, and the hum sharpened into a piercing frequency that drilled into skulls.
Then it discharged.
PUUUUFEEEEEEE!!
A razor-thin beam of concentrated energy sliced horizontally across the street.
It was not wide... Just a precise line of annihilation drawn through flesh and bone. Those who had been running continued to move forward for a single confused heartbeat.
Their legs carried them two more steps, while their torsos remained suspended in the air for the smallest fraction of a second before falling down with a sickening sound.
Eyes that had been wide with terror dimd instantly... Upper bodies collapsed in heavy thuds, while severed legs stumbled forward and then crumpled, twitching briefly like puppets whose strings had been cut without warning.
The street fell into a suffocating silence broken only by the wet sound of blood spilling across stone.
The two glowing crimson eyes lingered on the devastation... They simply observed the efficiency of their own work for several seconds before pivoting slightly, preparing to move toward another location.
Ssshhh~
A sharp hiss pierced the air.
One of the tentacles reacted instantly, snapping sideways to intercept a projectile.
It was a small water knife.
The crimson eyes turned back.
From the far end of the ruined street, a woman approached. Her hair shimred purple beneath the dying glow of broken crystals. Blood soaked her garnts, so of it hers, so of it not.
Deep gashes marked her arms and side, and each step left a faint red imprint behind her. She had clearly fought her way through sothing horrific to arrive here.
Yet her face betrayed nothing of weakness... Only a cold, concentrated hatred that burned hotter than the machine’s own energy core.
In her hand, she held a small blue knife shaped from condensed water essence, its surface vibrating faintly with controlled pressure.
The eight tentacles adjusted their positions simultaneously.
Joints rotated.
Plates shifted.
She did not hesitate.
With a sharp intake of breath, she launched forward.
All eight tentacles shot toward her at once, converging from different angles, aiming to pierce, bind, and crush.
anwhile, across another section of the empire, Aqualina and Celestia moved relentlessly through collapsing territories.
****
In the Zephyra Empire...
"P-Please no, we are not soldiers. We have nothing to fight you with!"
"S-Sir... please... I have a child at ho. She is waiting for . I am begging you."
"Please... mommy... I want to go ho..."
The armoured humanoid tallic figures marched through the streets, boots striking the stone in synchronised rhythm.
Their armour protruded outward in jagged segnts, layered with thick plating that made them appear broader, heavier, and less human than any previous tallic figures they had seen before.
Their rifles glowed faintly, internal chanisms humming as energy cycled through their cores.
They advanced without urgency because they did not need urgency.
The people were already cornered.
A group of civilians backed away until their shoulders pressed against the cold wall of a shattered building.
There was nowhere left to retreat... Smoke drifted through the air.
Being surrounded by those figures, those people feared, yet hoping their Ruler or even Aether would co and save, their eyes filled with fear and pain.
Hands trembled, and Knees buckled. A mother wrapped her arms around her son, pressing his face into her chest so he would not see what stood before them. Father wrapped his arms around them, protecting them with fear in his eyes.
The tallic soldiers ford a circle with calculated spacing. Their visors glowed steadily, scanning life signs, asuring distance, and computing trajectories.
One of them tilted its head slightly and raised its arm in a small, precise gesture.
The rifles lifted.
"No. No, please, do not point that at us. We are unard. We surrender. We surren-!"
BAM!
The first shot tore through a man’s shoulder, spinning him violently before he hit the ground.
BAM!
A second shot pierced a woman’s chest. Her plea cut off mid-word as she collapsed over her child.
"P-Pleas-"
Then the rest followed in rciless rhythm.
BAM!
BAM!
BAM!
BAM!
Within seconds, the street beca chaotic. Bodies dropped one after another.
Blood sprayed across the stone and splattered against the tallic armour of the shooters.
Those still standing tried to run, but the soldiers adjusted angles instantly, firing without rcy.
One man attempted to shield two children with his own body. The beam tore through all three at once.
"ARHH-"
Silence fell, broken only by the faint hum of cooling rifles and the distant crackling of burning structures.
The soldiers stepped forward, boots crushing through debris and flesh without acknowledgent. Their visors scanned for additional targets.
Thud.
The ground vibrated as sothing massive landed behind them.
Dust and loose fragnts were lifted into the air from the impact.
The tallic soldiers pivoted in unison, rifles snapping toward the new presence.
A colossal wolf stood at the centre of the fractured street. Its fur shimred with shifting hues, red blending into blue and faint traces of iridescent colour that reflected the dying glow of the entire burning street.
Its claws dug into the stone, carving lines into the pavent. A low growl rolled from its chest, vibrating through the blood-soaked ground.
From its back stepped down a lone silver-haired elf.
Her boots touched the street softly despite the carnage surrounding her. In her hand rested a compact bow... Her clothes were stained with blood, hers or others... who knows, but she was too heavily wounded, just the wolf beside her... even though the wolf didn’t show it, its body had nurous wounds and burned furs.
She looked at the bodies first.... She did not look at the machines. Her gaze lingered on the fallen child, on the mother, and the father who had tried to shield him.
And so many dead innocent bodies!
When she finally lifted her eyes toward the armoured figures, she just knocked a tal arrow with her bow.
The wolf’s growl deepened, teeth fully bared now, saliva glistening between fangs as it lowered its stance.
"DIE YOU MONGRELS!!!" Liora’s voice echoed in anger as she leapt while Aria shot the arrow towards the joints of the modified tallic figures.
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