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Interlude 17

Beta-Reader: Ant0nius

The throne room had been devoid of the life it once had mere days earlier.

Things had gotten out of hand, there was no denying that the situation had degenerated into a matter well beyond resolution within the few useful bureaucrats the Emperor could rely on. An empire built to endure time and crises now faced an internal collapse that no one could have predicted. Or rather, no one that lived long to mention the possibility.

The Chaos Temples have been subjected to numerous purges which removed any potential dissidents, starting with a few 'disobedient priests' that contemplated the Empire's fall from the very first day that thorn on his side came to be. The human, the Grand Knight- the pest that gave hope to a futile rebellion.

The youth stood against him as a force that was beyond his initial understanding. He had a glimpse back then, and what he saw left him disturbed. Then he got another direct confrontation, and there he saw a monstrous growth of strength within the mortal.

Absurd. It was impossible for a young man to pull such a feat this early on. A Prime would have taken years to adapt to Magic, regardless of the Crests being there to provide him with boosts to their respective powers. And that's when they discovered Earth, the other humans and... their potential.

The Emperor had always prided his Narakhans as the finest representation of Chaos, yet he called that belief into question now that he knew humans existed. Entities devoid of gods which managed to achieve forms of chaos that would normally require magic.

While they couldn't salvage much from any prisoners, they managed to find some interesting videos that gained the attention of his generals. Specifically, the imagine that constantly repeated in his head, of a mushroom-like cloud that ensued after an entire city was erased from existence. A single bomb born with the idea of 'fastening the end of a war'. This power, this malice- despite the moral justifications, the creator of such a diabolical weapon spoke the truth: I become Death.

Such confession channeled a single thought of what Human could have been in his Empire. It wouldn't be wrong for the Emperor to assume they would have been more flexible than what he had now. Narakhans had started his glorious reign, yes, but the Emperor was pragmatic enough to know they held potential above Primes and Narakhans.

Yes, both original species were superior in many regards to Earthlings, but they were so due to their reliance on the Gods. Humans were special because they had no one to protect them in that sort of way. They were naturally proficient in conquering, in being dominant elements within an environment. And were creative in finding new ways to kill others.

Sadly, these were thoughts of an unattainable what if. The rebellions spreading all over the Empire had long shredded any interest to negotiate their surrender. Earth stood with the worst sort of traitors, and their deceitfulness was to be paid in destruction. Humanity was not going to stand in his way to achieve the final peace over the royal cause.

The religious faction was facing a true collapse, the bureaucrats were showing their own petty ambitions now that the Empire walked a shaky road and the military... was plotting something. Not even he could see what it was all about, but with Minos now out of the picture and Sem following through, his own forces were now dealing with a leadership issue which was going to cause issues.

The earliest solution was to employ loyal sorcerers to keep the troops under control, but the army and the navy had both been particularly 'secular' and devoid of religious interference for centuries now. This quick and drastic policy was going to take time to fully enforce and even more with how many were opposing it.

And considering how the pace which the revolt was spreading with, it was necessary for Earth to fall as quickly as possible. Once his own fleet was ready to set sail and blockade the planet, things were going to get better everywhere else. But he had to act quickly or face an outrageous new bout of rebellions to crush. And right now the military wasn't up to that sort of matters with how many losses they sustained. The Emperor wasn't going to fail.

Earth shall fall, this was his will, his demand, his order- his imperial edict!

The dark figure grinned maliciously as he knew that their feeble defense was going to fail them- just like it happened with Prism. They managed to win only through the weak minds sent to orchestrate the first few invasions, but Earth was still a frail target. And one that had no means to fight off someone like him. _Something_like him. An unavoidable force of chaos!

d-d-d-d

"He's truly desperate," Pandora mused quietly as he watched the descent into true madness of someone that once outsmarted her.

She could only sigh and watch as he fell deeper into the hole he made for himself. His own grave, and all because he couldn't see how dreadfully unstable his glorious empire really was. She sighed again, this time as she turned to watch as her newest protege struggled to apprehend the new form of chaos magic that was slowly pulling her mind away from the mark. It was working, but it was tedious work that would take a while to fully accomplish.

Her spy was close to being ready to provide the fool one last error to endure before his demise, a betrayal from his most loyal servant that no longer believes and worships the emperor's cult. Chaos was resurging, and it was going to storm her old champion into a quick death. But that wasn't what Pandora was really pondering about, not when there was a true ending to create out of this.

_ And the Dragon Gods were going to cause no little issues about it, that much she was sure about... _

d-d-d-d

AN

Blep.