System's POV - Chapter 1287: The Horrors Of War [Part 1]
Chapter 1287: The Horrors Of War [Part 1]
“According to our scouts, the armies of Castor Deneb and Regulus Serpens are currently headed here, the Main Continent,” Thirteen said to the world-wide broadcast. “The traitors who wish to usurp the throne will bring ruin to our prosperous empire.
“However, do not be afraid, for we will emerge victorious! I only hope that our brothers and sisters who live in the villages, towns, and cities, where the army of the two traitors will pass through, will obey the Jinns who have come to help us in this time of conflict.”
The Jinns had made their appearance a few days ago, and King Astrion told everyone that they were beings from another world who had answered his call for help.
In the eyes of the Artemians, the Jinns were practically monsters, so some feared them. However, with Thirteen backing them up and telling everyone that they were their allies, the bias of those who lived in the main continent started to shift.
After mapping up the flight path of their Airships, the teenage boy had asked the Azothralls, as well as the Jinns who specialized in digging underground tunnels, to create temporary shelters for the Artemians.
Thirteen had already explained that in order to prevent the traitors from harming the innocent, everyone was required to follow the evacuation protocols that he had created.
Although it would still take a few weeks for the two armies to reach the continent, Thirteen made sure that they would not gain any resources after their arrival.
Castor and Regulus already planned to pillage the villages that they would come across during their journey to the capital, but Thirteen was one step ahead of them.
All the food supplies in the granaries, and warehouses had all been emptied, moved to a secure location.
Of course, there were still people who didn’t believe that the Celestials would hurt them and refused to evacuate.
Thirteen didn’t try to persuade these people because he didn’t want to help those who didn’t want to help themselves.
While everyone was preparing for the eventual arrival of the two Celestials, Thirteen, the Azothralls, and the Jinns were hard at work in the war preparations.
A week later…
“It’s about time, Cranky,” Thirteen said. “Time to decrease their numbers.”
Cranky nodded before turning into a lightning bolt.
He flew toward the Western Part of the continent until he reached the sea.
After traveling for a few minutes, he finally saw the countless flying ships that belonged to Regulus’ army.
Regulus and the High Archons immediately sensed his presence, and so raised the alarm for combat.
However, Cranky was simply too fast for them to do anything.
With the speed and power of a lightning bolt, Cranky zapped his way to the Airships, destroying them mid-flight.
Thirteen made sure that the armies were far out in sea, with no islands in sight before this operation started.
With the speed and power of a Celestial, the Flying Ships were destroyed easily without any resistance.
It took Regulus and the High Archons a few minutes to stabilize the situation and deploy the defensive formations that stopped the unknown assailant’s rampage among their ranks.
The moment the Artemians deployed their advanced weapons to attack Cranky, the Celestial hurriedly retreated and disappeared from their sight.
Thirteen had repeatedly told him that he shouldn’t underestimate the technology of the Artemians.
So the moment he saw them activate their weapons, he escaped away from the scene and headed to the west.
He had successfully wiped out half of Regulus’ army in that attack, which made the Celestial feel aggrieved.
At first, he thought that it was Rana who attacked them, but the energy fluctuations that Cranky emitted surpassed the Celestial of the City of Lyra.
The discovery that there was an undocumented Celestial in Artem made Regulus realize that this war that they were going to wage had once again stumbled upon another unexpected variable.
After leaving the battlefield, Cranky made his way to the Western side of the world.
This time, his target was Castor’s army. However, since Regulus had already reported that they were attacked at sea, Castor made the necessary preparations before Cranky arrived.
A battle at sea was waged above the sea, with Castor using his magical abilities to prevent Cranky from obliterating his army.
With the help of the High Archons and Archons under his command, they were able to fend off the Honey Badger’s attack.
However, they still received significant damage, with a tenth of their army destroyed after that exchange.
This hit and run tactic lasted for several days until the two Armies finally saw the lands of the main continent, Ravion.
All of them were tired and weary of the non-stop raids that happened at random times of the day.
Cranky was truly relentless, so by the time they reached land, Castor, and Regulus both ordered for the Flying Ships to head to the nearest town or city, where they could replenish their supplies.
But they were all met with ghost towns, not a single soul in sight.
The houses were all abandoned.
The granary and warehouses were empty.
Of course, they had tried to locate the townspeople, but they were unable to sense anything.
They were not aware that the people they were looking for were hiding hundreds of meters deep underground, in the shelters that the Azothralls and the Jinns made for them.
Once the Armies of the Celestials left their city, the Jinns informed the people that they could now return home because the danger had passed.
This further solidified the belief that the Jinns were their allies, which now earned them a good reputation in Artem.
’Zion is really a scary person,’ Queen Xeres thought. ’I’m glad that he is not our enemy.’
Queen Xeres had been stationed on the eastern side of the continent and was the one managing the evacuation of the villages, towns, and cities who were on the flight path of Regulus’ Army.
Of course, not everything was smooth sailing.
Since some Artemians refused to cooperate with the evacuation, the armies of the traitors finally found their first victims.
When Castor came upon a town that still had people in it, he ordered the Airships to land.
As soon as they landed, they immediately started to pillage the town, with some of the soldiers even resorting to vile deeds that horrified the Artemians who were able to watch it in real time.
It took the two Armies nearly three months to reach the main continent, and during that time, Thirteen hadn’t been idle.
He had created runic formations in the towns that refused to evacuate, allowing him to project these images to other cities, which allowed the citizens to see the horrifying truth about the war.
The City of Lyra wasn’t spared from these projections, and Rana watched the atrocities with gritted teeth, knowing that the same fate could happen to her own citizens if Castor and Regulus were to arrive at Lyra City.
Her city was the Gatekeeper of the capital city of Velgrande.
If invaders wished to invade the capital, they would have to pass her domain first.
The projections showed the horrifying reality of the fate of those who were unlucky enough to cross paths with the rebels, who didn’t know that the evil that they were doing was being broadcast to the entire world with the help of Thirteen’s magical formations.
