Chapter 1934 – Era’s End 1 – The Attack

“Fusion will begin preparations immediately. We will be ready for the operation in two days.”

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Boys thought that brawn and heroism dictated the outcome of wars.

Men knew it was logistics.

Throughout the entirety of the scouting phase, John had scattered out supply hubs in every location that was suitable for it, all in preparation for this. Moving through Alaska still had its difficulty, especially in the middle of winter. Even cars equipped with Mobile Barriers had to contend with the thick snowfall that made highways borderline unusable. Mages shovelled the crystallized water out of the way, using supernatural gifts. That was the easy part.

Once the forces arrived in Fairbanks, they were given further orders. Group by group, they sent out soldiers, making them trot through the snow as quickly as they could go. There was no infrastructure there whatsoever. Scarlett and her technomancers had to work overtime to make sure everyone followed the pre-set routes, communicated via GPS. Swerving into the Lorylim territory could have been disastrous.

After the first part of the operation, the raids began. Izha knew he had been located and must have spread that fact to Tiamat. There was no doubt they were on the right track when the camps established were frequently struck by attacks, most of which were repelled. The times that they weren’t added trace amounts to the horrid death toll the war had already taken.

The middle ring established itself simultaneously. Individuals in the level range of 50 to 100 went up to 50 kilometres into the search zone, established a camp, and spread out from there. It was that camp where those that would storm the centre of the area gathered up.

It was a ludicrously rapid operation. Even the US military, with all of their modern equipment, would have failed to move this many people in these remote locations in the middle of winter. Enchanters and arcano-tech engineers worked overtime to prepare the tools that let people move quickly through the snow. Fateweavers moved in pendulums, keeping up Mobile Barriers that allowed rapid deployment. Food was provided, winter equipment was provided, intel was provided, all of that across faction lines. The greatest minds that the Abyss had to offer were working it all out.

After two days, they were all exactly where they were supposed to be.

John looked at his gathered combat party.

From Fusion, most of his harem was present. The only ones that had stayed in the Guild Hall were those that lacked any combat skills. Out of precaution, Nightingale had also been made to stay behind. The goddess was not the most able combatant, but would be enough of a deterrent, combined with other forces the Guild Hall provided, to make sure nothing short of a massive push would break the defences of that location. Fianna was also left there. Snipers did not shine in offenses. It was a minor role she played in this war, compared to the resources invested into her, but the peace of mind that she had bought was worth it to John.

In return, Lee was accompanying them. The Fateweaver carried on her back an extremely expensive, miniature and yet potent Mobile Generator. She would ensure they could move at proper speeds. She was also their emergency portal back, in case this whole operation was a clever ruse by the Lorylim. Committing all of their core forces to a central push was less of a risk when she was around to reverse that commitment.

Technically also part of Fusion were Moira, Lucifrena and Lyndell.

From the Sons of Rome, Romulus, Sol, Luna and Remus were present, the expected four.

From the Illuminati, only the Horned Rat and Malady had shown, with Celeste reportedly unfit for engagement of this style.

From Rex Germaniae, Lydia made her appearance.

From the Mandate of Heaven, Lu Zhi stood ready, the massive, armoured form of the Black Turtle beside her.

‘This is either going to be the greatest blow ever dealt to the Lorylim or one of the largest disasters ever recorded in the Abyss,’ John thought. ‘There is no in-between.’ “Everyone ready?”

It was a simple question, but this was not the crowd to give speeches to. These were his equals, these were conquerors, kings, queens, and gods all of their own right. They did not need outside motivation to do what they considered the right thing, only their will to make the way.

“Lead us to vengeance, Gamer,” Romulus stated, voice hard.

“To the end, the end of this blight,” the Horned Rat agreed.

“Let this war be over, so that all under heaven can return to the lesser squabbles between mankind,” Lu Zhi declared.

“This must be done swiftly and efficiently,” Lydia said.

“Then let it be done. Let’s go,” John said and gestured forwards.

The force of individuals, level 500 at the lowest, moved out towards the conclusion of this war.

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The shimmer of melding Illusion Barriers was their warning. A prismatic aurora of light, just solid enough to be likened to the way light broke on the surface of a soap bubble, delineated the edge of their space and the space they had sought to find. It was exactly where John had predicted.

Vengeance, an outlet for this rage, for this hatred, was finally at hand.

“I cannot command you, so I won’t,” John addressed everyone one final time. “Moira, Lucifrena, I ask you two to stay with Lee and protect her. Of everyone else I only ask that you operate in your own corners. It is best for me and mine to take the centre. We are the most numerous and we have Friendly Fire protection – it makes what comes next much easier.”

His announcement was taken with a variety of nods.

Then, inhaling deeply, they advanced the final few metres and beheld the heart of corruption.

John had seen depictions of the Tower of Babel before. A gargantuan stone construct, growing from a broad base towards a narrowed tip that reached the skies. A man made mountain of cement and arrogance.

Depictions did not compare to what John saw before him now. Black was the stone, whose cliff-like walls were decorated by the white snow. Undulating flesh moved the frozen water towards a trench in the base of the construction. The gap on its own was hundreds of metres wide, enough to contain the tainted glacier that sat in it, and yet it was just a small gap inside the singular titanic structure.

Abyssal Prague had been of similar make, but even it could not compare to the sheer size of it all. Story upon story of black stone and fungal matter was stacked, all the way up to a dome that disappeared above the clouds. It was architecture at an impossible scale, the load-bearing of the fundament tearing to shreds all scales. It was a lifeform of an impossible scale, a multitude of tendrils squirming, hundreds of metres in length. Eyeballs as large as apartment blocks blinked, turning into maws of uneven, sharp teeth.

Snow crunched under the group’s feet, as they stepped at the foot of the walls. Just looking up at this fusion of organic and inorganic skewed the perspective. John was no stranger to megastructures, but even Arkeidos’ fortress looked small in comparison to this.

“Sumerian-Cyclostone,” John muttered. It was a material he had only heard of. It was only found near the Levante and extremely potent – it was also always steeped in Lorylim corruption. Possessing it was punishable by death even in the most permissive of guilds. “They must have been mining mountains and creating it in mass. We are looking at a battery the size of several cities stacked on top of each other.”

“Filled with human bodies,” Romulus added with open disgust.

“And dead gods,” the Horned Rat added grimly.

Darkness within vast open arches rippled, giving birth to a variety of forms. John recognized some by descriptions that Metra and Ehtra had given him.

There stood Enlil, a mockery of lightning, wreathed in clouds of spores, his paternal features always at the edge of melting. A halo of blinding light hovered behind his face, making him blazing to behold.

Bowed was Ashur, crowned with swords from sharpened bone. He relied heavily on a long spear made of fused human bodies, always drenching his hands in blood. His body was marred by the unhealing marks of a hundred battles.

One who once blessed the fields, Nabu, now was himself a walking host of diseases. Worms crawled from holes all over his skin, a nightmare of puss and mould. Thick drool dripped from a face that was made all the more haunting by the beauty it had once possessed.

Eternally fused in sexual embrace, Ishtar stood as two made one. Her four arms held aloft four weapons and her bones protruded from the skin that was too little, exposing muscles and organs all over her profane form.

There were more of them, most twisted too far for John to recognize from his second-hand knowledge. They were giants, so large that they appeared as regular people compared to the scale of Tiamat’s tower.

All were gods that had been carved from Tiamat’s flesh, living again through her long after they had been meant to perish. To call them gods still by the Abyssal classification of the word was likely wrong. Their Faith had long since been reclaimed, be it by the flow of the world or new entities entirely. Their minds, if they were in there, were shattered beyond the point of return. To call them their names perhaps was a mockery to the entities that were not present at all. These monsters could have been nothing more than horrid facsimiles, shaped by the crazed mind of Mother Chaos.

Most broken of all, Marduk emerged beneath the clouds. His head was distorted, a circle of eyes bulging outwards, seeing all that was around him. He wore a cloak of human leather and bled from torn nails with every step. Yet, when he spoke, his voice was warm and full of gravitas.

“Mongrel intruders. You profane upon the land of the sublime mother. Turn away, so that we may prepare, or accept your assimilation peacefully.”

“We’ll take on these,” Romulus declared. “As you planned, John, your position is the vanguard… all I ask is that you make Izha suffer.”

John beheld the Apex, who did not take his eyes off the enemies. What was going through the emperor’s head, that he let John get the first shot at revenge? Did he simply not care as much, did he think that the Gamer deserved it more, or was there a greater calculation at work? It did not matter. “Gladly,” he growled in response.

Charging in first, the Gamer knew his women were behind him. Rave and Aclysia flanked him, defending him with claw and sword from Lorylim tendrils that broke from the cracking snow below. Gnome, Sylph, Undine, Salamander and Siena formed an elemental storm around him. Beatrice, Claire, Ehtra, Momo and Nahoa wielded their weapons, given and natural, and broke from the main group to meet a charge of disposable bodies that poured out of the tower in a flood.

Everyone else remained behind him. Nathalia, Eliana, Lydia, Nia, Scarlett and Lyndell, those six moved in his shadow. He allowed himself one more glance back, to where he left Lee and Lu Zhi, the only two of his harem that would not join him

“We’re going into the tower?” Momo asked.

“We’re going to destroy everything in that tower!” John confirmed.