Empire Burning (Emerilia Book 11)

by Michael Chatfield

  Light made them see stars before the roar of battle filled their ears.

  Dragons and aerial creatures dove from above, unleashing their attacks on the Jukal’s drones and the various custom creatures and creations that the Jukal elite had created over the years.

  Magical formations, plasma rounds, light cannons, artillery rounds, missiles, grand workings: all of this magical power painted a world of destruction. The clouds were dark and oppressive, the very weather of the Jukal home world whipped up to the extreme with the incredibly powerful spells and energies that were being unleashed.

  In the breaks between the clouds, one could see the flashes of the battle that was occurring over the Jukal home world as the Deq’ual and Pandora fleets engaged the Jukal defensive stations, fighting for control over the planet’s orbitals.

  The reserve Jukal fleet were on their way while the Jukal fleet that had headed out was grouping together and heading back.

  Although most of the forces that were part of the Jukal fleet were nothing more than aristocratic children trying to improve the position of their parents, those who made up the Jukal home system fleet were people who had scored the best on the testing that the Jukal fleet had created. They were the last true Jukal fleet. Combined with the defenses of the Jukal home planet, they were sure to make the lives of the combined fleet’s harder.

  Groups were securing the portals that had been dropped off by the arks and destroyers so that the people weren’t killed as they came through and stopping Jukal rounds from heading through the portal and killing the forces on the other side.

  “To the front!” Deia yelled. Induca and Malsour changed while Steve, Lox, Gurren, and Jung Lee ran across the ground. Dave and Suzy took to the sky, throwing out items that revolved around them. Suzy had cores while Dave had orbs, vault soul gems, and different magically coded plates that seemed completely random. There were also grand workings in the mix of items around him. Anna and Deia rose into the air on their Fire and Air magic and pushed ahead with everyone else.

  It didn’t take them long to get past the units that were getting organized and make it to the rear of the advancing dwarven lines.

  The dwarves marched forward, their shields ready but not deployed as the contracted creatures above their heads unleashed attack after attack on the different automated weapon mounts. The dwarves called in artillery fire on the defenses as ranged attackers joined their lines, sowing more destruction. Dragons and DCA covered their advance, laying down heavy long-range magic.

  The power unleashed in these attacks made the air shake and ground rumble.

  Shields were revealed, covering multiple weapons systems.

  Around Dave, the different plates moved into a position, orbs moving around what looked to be a massive barrel. Power was drawn from the vault soul gems as Dave threw out a grand working.

  The grand working shot out at a speed that made the air explode in its path. The grand working exploded against the shield of the powerful weapon system that was slowing the dwarves’ advance. The shield shuddered as the shield disrupting spell imprint on the grand working destabilized it.

  The flying creatures fired attack after attack on the weapons system. It exploded into sparks as they continued to advance.

  “Looks like they’ve been experimenting.” Dave closed his eyes as his Touch of the Land spell picked up spell traps buried in the ground. He poured power into the traps or had his orbs attack them, clearing the ground ahead of the dwarves.

  The rest of Party Zero did what they could to help defeat the targets at range, allowing the dwarves to continue their march forward at a faster pace.

  “This place is huge. It’s going to take awhile before we can get to the emperor’s residence!” Lox said.

  “Why can’t we just bomb it from orbit?” Gurren asked.

  “We would need to sit in orbit for hours. The shield around the Jukal emperor’s home is as powerful as the shield that covered Emerilia, but condensed down, and we don’t know how much power it has. Might be able to last days,” Steve said.

  “Oh, good point,” Gurren said.

  “And here I was thinking it was only Steve that asks dumb questions,” Jung Lee said.

  “Welcome to the club, buddy!” Steve clapped Gurren on the back. The sound of metal on metal rang in everyone’s ears as Gurren had to fight to stay upright.

  More and more people from Emerilia came through the portals. Hundreds quickly became thousands as they advanced through what was the emperor’s backyard that spanned some three hundred kilometers.

  As more forces joined into the battle, they were able to advance quicker. Spells passed over the forward forces, dropped from the skies and rose out from the ground, destroying the defenses in their way.

  “We’ve got floating islands on their way,” Deia said.

  “Well, time to see how our flying citadels compare to their floating weapons platforms.” Dave’s head whipped over to a point just in front of one of the forces that were moving forward. Mana from the air seemed to be thrown into chaos as a high-level tiered spell formation appeared, a gate descended made from blood. The doors opened as hellish-looking creatures looked at those advancing.

  They let out hungry wails as they charged forward in glee, leaving the gate and jumping at the Emerilians.

  “Shit! Where did that come from?” Malsour asked.

  “I don’t know, but that takes a lot of power,” Dave said.

  Tens of the creatures—some looking humanoid, others looking like creatures—looked as if they had been partially eaten or were decaying as they rushed forward.

  The mages nearby launched attacks on the gate, destabilizing it.

  They continued to advance but more of the blood-red gates appeared at random. The spell formation for the door didn’t change, so as they learned to defeat it once, they could use the same method to break it again and again.

  It seemed as if some force was angrily throwing a tantrum as more and more of the gates appeared. It was as if they were trying to go with what they knew, not worrying about the fact it had no effect.

  “Seems like someone with an AI and a ton of power is putting down spells,” Malsour said.

  “Lovely.” Dave shook his head. “Well, at least we can confirm that there is at least someone using the same system as the people of the Pantheon back on Emerilia.”

  “Hopefully our gods can keep up with them.” Suzy looked back to where Fire, Air, and Water stood over the portals, making sure that nothing hit the forces that were coming out.

  “Oh ye of little faith.” Bob dropped down from the sky. With a wave of his hand, a plasma round exploded in the sky and a pillar of metal also dropped from the sky, breaking through the shield of the plasma cannon and destroying it in a fiery explosion. “That should just be the emperor. With all the inbreeding he’s gone through, there’s no wonder that there isn’t much rubbing together in his brain anymore.”

  “Seems that something is coming,” Steve said. His senses were the best as he was able to link through an internal Mirror of Communication to the ships that were all across the Jukal system. With these powerful spells relaying information back to him, he could practically look through walls.

  “What is it?” Deia asked.

  “They’ve got power fluctuations of arcane energy and they’re covered in Mana. I think they might be magic users,” Steve said.

  “More of the modified slaves,” Lox grunted.

  ***

  The emperor’s fist lashed out, breaking apart the wall in front of him.

  His uncle frowned but didn’t say anything. The military members shivered where they stood but didn’t say anything. The only person who didn’t move was the guard captain of the emperor’s household, who looked at the military members with dead eyes, his disdain clear.

  “Why is this happening? I want them to be destroyed now! Get me my army!” the emperor bellowed.

  The women in his arms shivered but continued to fill his ne
eds. His outbursts had become more and more frequent as the fight with the Emerilians and their human allies continued. They’d become slightly used to them and continued on, afraid that the next outburst would be aimed at them.

  The fate of one of the girls who had been in shock after one of his outbursts made them pale with fear.

  “Yes, my emperor,” one of the military commanders said, quickly lying on his back in a servile manner as he transmitted the order.

  The emperor let out a cold noise and his tongue moved around angrily as he chewed on some delicacy placed in his mouth. He didn’t even taste it, his eyes red with bloodlust.

  The emperor’s uncle made to say something, but paused, seemingly thinking it over. He stopped and watched what was happening with everyone else.

  A feed showed humanoid-looking creatures. Their bodies were in all different colors and variations of the humanoid shape; however, their bodies rippled with power. Some floated in the air; others glowed with lightning. These were the enhanced slaves that made up the emperor’s private army.

  Army was a broad term. To the emperor, they were simply his playthings, items to be kept in order to entertain him. They lived in a large area underneath his residence.

  With his order, passageways were opened from this underground world to the surface. Word passed quickly through this land, which was little more than a never-ending battlefield.

  The different forces rushed toward the openings and entered the tunnels. Some of them fought one another as they rushed forth; others waited below, cautious to find out what was above.

  Openings appeared on the surface of the emperor’s residence. Creatures appeared in the skies and on the ground, looking at the Emerilian forces that were under attack from the Jukal defensive weaponry.

  Their interfaces appeared in front of them, informing them of a quest. Many of their eyes lit with greed and they charged toward the Emerilians. Others started to leave, only to find their bodies start to disintegrate.

  After the first couple of tries, they turned back and rushed the Emerilians to vent their frustration and anger upon them.

  “Yes! Yes! Now we will see a true fight between my army and theirs!” The emperor’s hand shook in a sign of victory. In his eyes, there was no way that the Emerilians could survive; they could merely give him something interesting to watch. He laughed and bragged to those around him as he looked at the battlefield.

  Chapter 16: Changing Tide

  Dave’s eyes went cold as panels appeared around him, creating barrels. Grand working shells fired through the air as a bow appeared in his hands. His floating orbs shot out Mana bolts into the mass of people rushing toward the Emerilians.

  “Shields!” the dwarves barked. Shields came together, creating the famous dwarven formation.

  Those in the sky or in support of the dwarves used their attacks against the enemy force that was coming straight toward them.

  As they unleashed spells, the new arrivals also started using their spells, the power of which even left the Emerilians stunned.

  The ranged attackers hit people on both sides of the fighting. Formations opened up as people disappeared under the attacks. Calls for healers were sent out, only barely audible under the ranged attacks.

  Dave looked up as he felt a familiar Mana signature. A cold look passed over his eyes as a howling filled the sky. The flying citadels had arrived! The portal that they had come from was away from the emperor’s residence and the defenses, so it took them some time to cross the distance to the battlefield.

  They were still some distance away, but their new guns put them in range as their artillery shells appeared in the ranks of the advancing army.

  The elements seemed to turn against those attacking the Emerilians. Plants rose up to try to slow them down, while the ground became harder to traverse and spikes made from plants jutted upward.

  Dave’s eyes thinned as he watched the slave army’s members start to dodge the attacks after just a few instances. What lives have they lived in order to adjust so quickly in the middle of a life-and-death battle?

  Explosions covered the ground, turning the ground into craters and opening up holes in the slave’s army.

  Patches of the sky were blotted out by rolling clouds that converged above the battlefield. The clouds started to rumble and flash angrily as lightning built up in them. Tornado tunnels appeared, cutting toward the slave army. Hail formed from the clouds and shot through the sky, descending like arrows that would cut through tempered steel. Spell formations glowed in the clouds, controlling it, as other spell formations appeared in the midst of the clouds. Lightning shot out from them, blinding those looking in the direction of the falling lightning that tore the ground apart with their impact and killed all of those within twenty meters of its impact point without fail.

  Suns seemed to appear in the sky before descending on the slaves, exploding outward into raging infernos with green flames that didn’t go out. Creatures formed from different Affinities let out their howls, roars, and keens as they locked eyes onto the slaves and charged forth. Summoners, beast tamers, and necromancers called on their hordes. The numbers on the battlefield swelled rapidly.

  The sounds of arrows filled the air, falling in black clouds. As tough as the unfortunate slaves were, it took multiple hits for the slaves to fall, even as dragons and the aerial forces dropped attacks on them.

  They were not the only ones feeling the pain. The Emerilian forces were maintaining their standing but with all of the incoming magical attacks and their massive power, they were taking their own casualties.

  The Emerilians had a large army on the ground already. However, these slaves seemed to be coming in a never-ending stream from the ground. Some raced up into the sky, directly fighting those who were mounted on flying beasts or relying on their own power to stay in the sky.

  On the ground, it took them a bit longer before they reached the Emerilian lines. They didn’t care to be stopped by the dwarves, many trying to get over them to reach the weaker targets behind them.

  There was little coordination to the slaves’ actions, though some of them seemed to come together into bands that worked to pressure the dwarves.

  “Get back down there!” Lox barked. He leapt up into the sky, his armor powering him up. It was covered in gray rune lines; black lines filled his upper body. His speed was so fast that the fighter in the sky had no time to act as a flash of light passed them. Lox’s sword took off their head as wings appeared around his back.

  “Cut them down!” Alkao’s voice made the air tremble as he led all of the aerial forces. It was not only the fighters of Emerilia on the Jukal home world; their leaders and those who had military merits had come to fight as well.

  The aerial forces turned and shot toward those in the sky. They yelled out in anger, brandishing weapons and charging the aerial forces.

  Dragons unleashed their attacks, making the slave fighters look in shock as their ranks thinned greatly. They didn’t have time to get over their shock before the two forces in the sky crossed one another. The sounds of battle rang through the air and the ground.

  The rumblings of more flying citadels cut through the sky. On the horizon, Dave could see shadows closing in on them. More explosions started to rain down on the frontline forces of the battlefield, coming from the flying islands that dotted the air above the emperor’s residence.

  The arks started to move away, the destroyers covering them as they increased speed, leaving the flying citadels in place. The citadels’ drop pads glowed with power, as portal relays that were already in the process of growing shot out from between the different defensive walls of the citadels.

  They smacked into the ground, expanding.

  “Fight!” Steve yelled. He surged up into the air. Wings made of soul gem sprouted from his back, covered in runic lines. The others followed his lead, yelling out in anger as they rushed in groups into melee range.

  Dave closed his eyes. Using his Touch of the Lan
d spell, more items poured out from him. As the rows of bands on his arms moved, Mana surged around him.

  His body glowed with powerful runes that lit up the darkness of his hood. Around him, there was a tempest of parts moving, as if he were in the middle of a hurricane.

  Dave raised his hand. With it, the items stopped whirling around him and formed into different machines.

  A sonic blast ripped through the air, sounding like the screeching of wraiths. The slaves in front of him covered their now bleeding auditory organs. Barrels covered in runic lines made of multiple layers of items flared continuously, sending out hundreds of spells, one after another. They hit the ground, exploding as they hit. These were his true grenades.

  A slave expanded in size. Water that had been covering his body turned into a suit of armor. They let out a roar as their power surged. They stepped into the sky, the water in the air transforming into steps for this slave.

  Dave grabbed his conjuration rods. One moment, he was in the midst of his weaponry; the next, he was behind the large slave. His sword shot out, but his opponent had been tempered in the battlefields underneath the emperor’s residence. He destroyed the step he was on. The blade caught his leg instead of going through his back as he flipped forward; his legs lashed out to hit Dave, who raised his shield. The impact sent him back through the sky. His face was the epitome of calm. He hadn’t even opened his eyes yet and he was still controlling the sphere of weaponry above.

  Dave disappeared just as the attacker recovered.

  He reappeared, a spear in his hands as he lunged forward. The spear slammed into the water armor and buried deep between the attacker’s ribs. Dave targeted the attacker’s weaknesses using his Touch of the Land.

  They grabbed the spear; water rushed up their arm to form into a spear.

  “Too slow.” Dave’s voice was calm as he opened his eyes.

  The end of the spear inside the attacker grew. The metal head of the spear turned into spikes that shot through the body of the attacker in a second, sprouting metal shards. The spear and the metal of it fell away. The attacker’s water armor and spear collapsed as Dave turned and looked to the chaos around him. His conjuration rods turned into sharp swords.