Besieged Saint Theo

On the North Aethel Plains stood the city of Saint Theo, the second-largest city within the partitioned duchy, named after Saint Theo, once a revered saint of the Church of Amaunator. At that moment, the sky was exceptionally clear, stretched out without a speck of cloud, yet people's hearts felt shrouded beneath a heavy pall of gloom. Far beyond anyone's expectations, in the span of just a few days, the Cinder Empire had swept across and crushed their defensive lines like snapping dry twigs. Those formidable steel behemoths roared across the land, wyverns screeched in the skies, and a raging deluge of artillery fire left the earth riddled with scars... In the face of such devastation, the surviving soldiers had all fled to the cities seeking refuge. Atop the towering ramparts of Saint Theo, a man clad in bright silver armor with white feathered wings sprouting from his back barked in fury, "An army tens of thousands strong, wiped out in three days! Amaunator in high heaven, we are the brave and battle-hardened Fadlanese! Even if you set loose fifty thousand sheep, you couldn't catch them all in three days!" He was Cullen Ferguson, a confidant who had followed Duke Walter in rebellion, and the godblood marquis garrisoning Saint Theo. Duke Walter had dispatched these godblood nobles to hold various cities, while he himself remained in Corinth to face the brunt of the Cinder Empire's fiercest assault. Yet no one had anticipated that before their defenses could even be fully established, the Cinder Empire would launch a surprise offensive, advancing at an unbelievable speed. "Lord Cullen, there is no need to be so pessimistic; we have not lost yet. The key to deciding victory or defeat does not lie with those insignificant common soldiers, but with godblood beings like yourself, and... those mighty figures standing at the pinnacle of the Material Plane whom Lord Walter has enlisted." The speaker was a man in white robes holding a scepter who appeared beside Cullen. His name was Zalan Jarvis, a reinforcement sent by the City of Myriad Laws. Raising his silver scepter, he projected an illusion before them showing the Cinder Legion crushing the Aethel soldiers. "The Cinder Empire's army is far more savage than I imagined. I never expected that in merely a dozen years, such a power could arise." Cullen looked into the distance, deep in worry. "Over a century ago, the Fadlan Empire also rose abruptly with the backing of Lord Amaunator. I fear..." Buzz— A shrill shriek suddenly cut through the air overhead, drawing rapidly closer from afar and roughly interrupting his words. Cullen and Zalan couldn't help but look up toward the sky, and the civilians throughout the city also raised their heads, confusion etched across their faces. "Do you hear that? What is that sound?" "Amaunator preserve us..." "Could it be... the army of the Cinder Empire? But why is that sound coming from the sky?" A trail of black dots abruptly emerged in the distant sky. Amid a low rumble, they ripped across the heavens, drawing closer and closer to Saint Theo. With golden irises brimming with divine power, Cullen clearly saw the uninvited guests in the sky—a swarm of wyverns! These bizarre wyverns were fitted with broad wings cast of steel. Black metallic spheroids were strapped beneath their talons, and half-dragon knights rode upon their backs. They streaked swiftly across the sky, tearing through the air with their steel wings and etching trails of white vapor across the azure dome. And the target of this flock was none other than Saint Theo. "Enemy attack!" Flapping his wings, Cullen took to the air, drew the golden longsword at his waist, and raised it high. "Archers and ballistae to positions! Shoot those wyverns down!" The soldiers hurried to man the ballistae along the walls and drew their bows, but it was already too late. Enhanced by custom-made steel wings, the wyverns glided at a terrifying speed, akin to dragon-shaped "bombers." In the blink of an eye, they had reached the skies above Saint Theo. Their shadows stretched long across the ground like harbingers of death, striking a chill into every heart. Within Saint Theo, men, women, and children strained their necks upward, fixing their eyes upon those phantom-like silhouettes, cries of shock bursting from their lips. "Wh-what on earth are those?" "What are they trying to do?" Having never experienced modern warfare, these people could not foresee what was about to unfold—they could only stare up at the sky in terror and astonishment. Atop the wyverns, the players laughed wildly and let out excited cheers. "Barbecue is on me, folks!" "Taste my bombs!" Without the slightest hesitation, the wyvern knights struck the bomb-release levers, and bomb after bomb dropped from the wyverns' talons. Whoosh— Piercing shrieks echoed above Saint Theo like the howls of the Grim Reaper, sending shivers down everyone's spines. Strings of bombs traced lethal arcs, laden with destructive force, raining down upon Saint Theo like droplets of black storm. Boom! In an instant, deafening explosions sounded as fiery blasts soared skyward. Dense smoke filled Saint Theo as dust billowed everywhere. Under the glare of the flames, all surroundings blurred into chaos. Rows of houses swayed under the blasts before collapsing with thunderous crashes, churning up gravel and rubble and burying countless citizens beneath the ruins. The statue of Saint Theo in the square was blown into shattered stone. Flames spread across the streets, and choking smoke engulfed the city. "Ye gods..." "Help me! I'm pinned under a slab!" "Ah! My arm!" "Amaunator above, I beg you, please send down a miracle and save my child—!" People in the streets fled blindly in panic, scrambling in utter desperation. Those caught in the explosions were scorched black. The luckier ones lost limbs and cried out in agony, while the unfortunate were mangled beyond recognition. There were mothers clutching the charred remains of their children, kneeling on the ground in despair, wailing uncontrollably. Beneath this relentless bombardment, life seemed so fragile. The acrid stench of gunpowder and the reek of death hung thick in every corner. People cried, screamed, and wailed, praying to the deities they revered in hopes of a miracle, yet nothing availed. The flight of dragons—or more accurately, the Cinder Empire's First Air Regiment—swiftly climbed in altitude after completing their bombing run, disappearing beyond the distant horizon. Leaving behind only burning ruins, and endless death and sorrow. Hovering in midair with beating wings, Cullen looked down at the citizens of Saint Theo struggling and weeping among the ruins, grief and fury burning in his golden eyes. "Curse you, Cinder Empire... I will make you pay for this." He immediately ordered his soldiers to fan out across the city, rescue victims, and soothe the populace. With the civilians completely unprepared and possessing zero experience against such attacks, this single bombardment claimed over a thousand lives and collapsed countless structures. More importantly, it cast a psychological shadow over the populace far surpassing the death toll itself. It stripped them of any sense of security within the city walls, and their confidence crumbled completely—just like the fallen statue of Saint Theo. "Ye gods..." "Th-they'll come back." Pessimistic whispers like these permeated the city. People even imagined phantom drones buzzing in their ears, prompting reflexive scrambles for cover that threw the entire city into chaos. Returning to the gate tower, Cullen asked with a grave expression, "Zalan, do you have any way to counter this kind of attack?" Zalan offered a bitter smile, but rather than answering directly, he murmured, "A scholar once remarked that the Cinder Empire would transform the nature of war, making warfare far more efficient—and far bloodier. We thought it mere alarmism back then, yet reality has proven to be... hardly different from what he foretold." Cullen sighed, gazing across the ruins strewn throughout the city. "If this continues, Saint Theo won't be able to hold out." Zalan pondered for a moment before speaking. "My lord, you should send men to move the citizens into reinforced keeps or order them to remain in their basements to protect against the explosions. Furthermore, my colleagues from the City of Myriad Laws and I can weave a temporary spell-web to intercept those bombs in midair." Cullen gripped his longsword, beat the wings behind his back, and soared into the air, his tone vicious. "If those filthy beasts appear again, I shall slaughter every last one of them." Zalan and several white-robed mages raised their scepters and began chanting incantations. Shimmering radiance flickered above Saint Theo as gleaming threads interlaced, gradually weaving a glittering canopy of light that enveloped the entire city. The citizens hid either in cellars or inside the sturdy church of Amaunator, praying unceasingly for divine protection. Just then, the earth began to tremble slightly. A muffled rumble rolled in from the distance, shaking loose dust, tile fragments, and stone chips from ceilings, causing the cowering people to crowd together once more in shivering terror. Boom— Flapping his wings, Cullen flew back to the towering wall and looked outward. A grim look surfaced on his fair face as he muttered under his breath, "Damn you, Cinder Empire..." On the distant horizon, rolling plumes of grayish-black smoke surged forward, nearly blotting out the sun. Steel behemoths like roaming hills roared and rumbled, advancing swiftly toward Saint Theo. Following behind the steam tanks came combat vehicles packed with giant cannons, firearms, and imperial soldiers. Moving with equal speed, their spinning tires kicked up clouds of dust and left crisscrossing ruts in their wake. Some vehicles were mounted with loudspeakers blaring magnificent, grandiose music alongside a resounding, forceful broadcast: "We are the army of the Cinder Empire, scions of the supreme and ever-victorious Cinder Emperor, His Majesty Cassius! We have come to liberate the people of North Aethel and forge a more just and rational world! "People of Aethel! The godblood nobles wage endless war for their selfish desires and treat you as mere fodder, but you should not bear this calamity! We urge you to see reason and surrender at once, or face even greater catastrophe! "The Empire does not promise you immediate security, but we guarantee that your lives will no longer be endangered—provided that you choose surrender, provided that you submit to His Majesty Cassius!" The broadcast echoed across Saint Theo. Among those sheltering in basements and crammed into churches, expressions varied wildly; some shivered, some cursed bitterly, and some wore subtle, conflicted looks... "Here they come again..." "The Cinder Empire's army is coming again. That horror... I never want to experience it again in my life." "Surrender... what if we surrender..." Atop the towering ramparts of Saint Theo, the hand with which Cullen held his longsword shook violently. His handsome face twisted into a snarl, and he slashed his sword through the air with a furious, guttural roar. "Shameless! Utterly shameless!" "These northern barbarians are twisting right and wrong! We are the protectors of North Aethel, the true heirs to Fadlan! And they are nothing but vile dragon scions—brutal, shameless invaders!" From the distant sky, piercing shrieks and engines roared once more. The dragons that had brought disaster circled high above the imperial army, awaiting their next strike. "Those things again!" "Eternal Amaunator... please save us!" Hearing that scream like the howling of the reaper, the people of Saint Theo instantly recalled the nightmare from moments ago. Their hair stood on end in sheer terror; some even collapsed to their knees in breakdown, fainting on the spot. Raising his longsword high, Cullen hovered in midair and called down toward Saint Theo, "Do not panic, do not fear, and above all do not listen to their deceit! We are Fadlanese! The darlings of the sun! As godblood, Duke Walter will protect you, and I shall protect you! Victory is close at hand! We will drive these savage dragon scions out of North Aethel—" Boom! A deafening blast reverberated across the sky. More than a thousand meters away, a tank abruptly opened fire. The shell traced a graceful arc through the air and slammed into the high, thick walls of Saint Theo, shaking the ramparts and knocking loose showers of stone. The spell arrays etched into the walls suddenly flared to life, conjuring a flickering barrier across the wall's surface. With faint ripples and gleaming light, the barrier stubbornly withstood the explosion, leaving the ramparts unscathed. Infuriated, Cullen leveled his sword toward the horizon. "Damn them! Pierce those iron lumps for me!" The extraordinary soldiers along the ramparts threw their full weight into cranking the winches, spanning the solar ballistae to maximum tension. Massive bolts as thick as arms rested on the tracks, their three pairs of six-meter-long bow arms bending back to store terrifying kinetic energy. "Loose!" Whoosh— In an instant, heavy bolts trailing solar brilliance ripped through the air like arcs of white rainbow, arcing across the sky toward the steam tanks a thousand meters away. These solar ballistae were legendary weapons used by the Fadlan Empire of old to hunt dragons and giants. Possessing formidable power and an effective range of up to two thousand meters, they were capable of bringing an adult red dragon crashing from the sky. Boom! Amid the howling wind, a glowing bolt struck like divine retribution from heaven, punching clean through a steam tank in an instant and triggering a violent explosion that reduced the steel behemoth to a flaming wreck. Yet as powerful as these weapons were, they were exceedingly precious, requiring high clerics of the Church of Amaunator to personally inscribe their arrays. In all of Saint Theo, there were merely twenty-five solar ballistae. And what they were about to face was a storm of firepower comprised of over a hundred steam tanks, two hundred heavy cannons, and three hundred bombing wyverns.