Apocalypse Reborn: Demon Lord 11

Apocalypse Reborn: Demon Lord 11

…

The common soldier of the Academy is a cut above the rest of the continent.

The regular frontline soldier has trained for most of his life and isn’t a conscripted peasant. They often fight against monsters in small units in the dungeons beneath the Academy lands. Armed with a pike and trained in formation fighting, their doctrine is to hold fast against enemy attacks with their armor, and advance supported by mages, flying cavalry, regular cavalry, and auxiliaries.

You could say that the Academy’s control over food and education is where their strength comes from.

However, in truth, it was simpler than that.

The Academy used to be the only polity that could support a professional military force in the hundreds of thousands. If you try to grow more food than them, they can come in and destroy you. If you want to contest their control over education, they can march and burn down your institution. Hell, if you wanted to make a large enough army to contest them, then they can marshal their armies and just bury you in bodies. Even with immense losses, they can recover, send more soldiers in, train more of their population, and keep fighting until you lose.

Even if they opposed a powerful enemy Champion, they have plenty of their own, and one enemy Champion isn’t holding off all the forces that the Academy has.

So, in short, I had to make sure their armies didn’t get out of the Academy’s lands.

The best way to do that way through a terror campaign.

“Alright, we’re here. Stay close.” The Academy only had one, a massive metropolis where they centralized power, information, and technology. Even in their own lands, they segregated populations between those who lived in the eponymous Academy and those who lived in administrative towns. “We’re dropping on my command.”

Towns that were in the tens of thousands tended to vast fields, maintained road networks, and were points for traveling merchants and army units to congregate around as strong points. The towns had walls and were to be used as shelters by farmers if the Academy came under attack. A few towers and mages provided them with some protection, but when the military arrived it could be rapidly transformed into a fortress and strongpoint in truth. These logistical strongpoints were my targets.

 I wanted them to all be transformed and take up bodies by requiring garrisons.  

“Now.” I leapt off my gryphon and I was followed by Red and Ilych. Three heavily armored warriors descending from a massive, flying beast were enough to get the bells ringing below and some magic to come and try to meet us. I batted the flames away and smashed the locations where they came from in return. The towers crumbled, while shouting and screaming began to rise up through the town. I slowed our fall and with a wave of my hand sent the first defenders to arrive flying towards walls and buildings. They broke. “Keep my flanks secure. I will destroy what needs to be destroyed.”

Ilych and Red nodded, ready to do as they were told, and I focused.

A lot of people were going to die now.

Many of them not soldiers or warriors.

However, if that was difficult for me in my new body, I wouldn’t have gotten this far this fast.

With a word, I began to spread fire across the town, began swinging my mace, and focused on annihilating this future problem to my plans.

This is just the first of a dozen that I need to destroy before the end of the week.

…

The Academy’s response was slow, ungainly, and could not match my pace.

I ravaged the countryside between my lands the Academy’s central city. Towns broke along with their garrisons, while I put the fields to the torch, and when I encountered dungeons, I smashed them apart. We sped through each one, taking artifacts from them, and sending the monsters within scurrying away. My gryphon circled ahead and cried out whenever flying foes approached, and with that warning, I was able to mount a defense, kill them at range, and ambush the Champions they sent speeding towards my way after they survived falling thousands of feet.

Hundreds died by my hand within days.

Thousands more from the effects of the fires that I cast across the vast fields of the Academy, along with the unleashed monsters, as well as the panic that I created.

It was probably the first humanitarian crises that the Academy ever had to face, and it was coupled with a force that all their elites would demand defenses against. Through my actions, I forced the Academy to take in tens of thousands of refugees, while curtailing their future harvest, and upping the demands of their most influential people to be protected.

Champions are just that busted when used properly.

In the endgame, Expeditions into crisis territory with Champion teams are much like this. They target key infrastructure, logistics points, and put fear into the hearts of the enemy. They stall the global powers by being one-man armies that can appear seemingly anywhere by implementing everything from flying horses, to Ancient transports, and even teleportation. Assassinating the leaders of the enemy, bringing whole cities down, and ending whole armies before they arrive… that’s why Champions exist in the first place.  Living WMDs for asymmetrical warfare.  WMDs that need to be invested into, that need support from an established nation to be the most effective, and who can be deployed in conventional battles with ease.

WMDs that can be put away, not raised, or put down, once civilization reaches a certain tech level, too.

The Demon Lord born from the Champions is mostly likely a mutation that exceeded the genetic limiters placed by the Ancients.

But that’s enough of that for now.

It was still time for war.

Riegert and Rita took the gate fortification into the Academy and met with me, Ilych, and Red after our excursion.

They were already fortifying the Academy side with trenches and palisades by our arrival.

“You took the gate more swiftly than I expected. Well done.”

“They left to try and intercept you, I believe.” Riegert gave me a nod, and eyed me from the top of my head to my feet. I was covered in ash and dried blood from nearly a week of constant terrorizing the lands between the Academy and this single point. “You caused a quite the commotion. How’d you survive the nights?”

“I didn’t need the rest. Ilych and Red took turns in nearby caves.” The longest I’ve not needed sleep ran around ten days. It took a lot of food to maintain my level of energy, and eating gave me time to recuperate, too. Food was plentiful in the places that we attacked. This place was the agricultural heartland of the whole continent, after all. The one issue, of course, was that I dirty as heck. “I’ll be recuperating at the nearest Citadel and returning within a few days. I need to check on our supply lines.”

“We haven’t had any problems on our end, but you should go anyway. Get some rest out of sight and in the protection of the Citadels.” Riegert gave a nod, before giving me a wry grin. “Though, I think the Citadels would be the ones more protected. After all of that, you’re still far too strong, your excellency.”

“It will take time, but other Champions will be trained to do this duty, and I will only rise from the throne when needed.” I answered Riegert’s unasked question. I knew him well enough. Despite his large frame and unkempt features, he thought things through and looked towards the future. It was obvious that he saw me after my success and thought that I might do it again, because I hadn’t learned any painful lessons. My blitz through the Academy’s backyard basically just got me dirty. “It would be better if this task could’ve been done by specialized teams of regular individuals, in fact. Several hundred soldiers attacking from the air, retreating while burning everything down, would’ve been better.”

This operation was only possible through my direct intervention.

Meaning that I technically risked my nation’s greatest, irreplaceable asset: me.

The fact that I succeeded was outweighed by the fact that it was unreasonable to put myself at risk, as my death alone would ruin the nation completely and any chance of this place countering the coming threat.

So, in the future, I’ll need to do better.

“Find capable individuals up for the task. I’ll train them myself, and they’ll train others. We’ll create the infrastructure needed to have others do this in my stead.” I gave Riegert a pat on the shoulder, before walking past him. I needed to show my face to the rest of the camp. “That’ll be for the next war. In this one, we’ll make do.”

Man, it sure would be nice to have a few hundred infiltrators just wrecking shit all over my enemy’s territory.

Unfortunately, most of my resources were tied up bringing my economy up to speed.

…

Interlude: Celia

…

The Academy was roused to war, launched their great armies, and was put to the slaughter.

Panic and hysteria was gripping the Academy. Parents were pulling their children away from lessons. Thousands were streaming in from the surrounding countryside. Soldiers returned with horror stories of what they faced outside the Academy’s lands, where the Barbarian King now ruled with four ancient Citadels at his command.

Ancient machines erupting from the ground that could cut through any armor, was barely scratched by steel, and who moved as fast as horses. Hordes of barbarians on horseback firing their bows with deadly precision, with arrows made of the same material as the constructs. Foot soldiers armored from head to toe in white plates that resisted magics and did not even shatter when struck by war hammers. Armies filled with Conquerors, Descendants, and Merchants. Some even rumored that the Scholars were aiding them, as nothing could be heard from the Academy’s old ally.

Those were just stories from the wars outside the Academy’s lands, where the Academy was still fighting, and not where they were desperately caught off guard.

Looking out the window, the skies were black and a blazing red dominated the horizon. The streets were filled with thousands of refugees. The Academy was being brought to its knees within weeks of attacking, and they were desperately trying to marshal all their forces for a counterattack.

A counterattack that will most likely fail, so the Headmaster spoke to me.

“I have need of the Guardians of the Moon.” The words were simple, but they invoked ancient rites. The Guardians of the Moon served the Ancients and the Descendants are their inheritors. That was the simple idea behind his words, but the truth was far more complex. Many would chafe at the statement that we were to be servile the Descendants. Only the Ancients would have full control over our people. At this moment, Alistair, the Headmaster of the Academy, was claiming that the Academy was the Ancients reborn. The rulers of the planet… when they were faltering and failing after attacking a budding nation. “What do you want?”

Thankfully, my views on this matter aligned with the nobility’s.

“I am leaving the Academy. We have found our own Citadel and laid claim to it. This war was started by the Academy and it will be completed by the Academy.” I spoke, and Alistair said nothing behind his desk. There was a slight shift in the air. I closed my eyes for a moment and took a breath. “Hold me hostage and you bring the whole of the Guardians upon you. Their honor would demand my rescue, Headmaster. And, to them, honor is everything.”

Alistair was silent at my response, and moved to do something, but I stopped him.

By making a gesture of my own, and for the hidden guards to be neutralized, and for my teacher to materialize behind him and take hold of both his arms.

He grunted as his face slammed against his desk, and I moved beside him to pick up the artifact that he held.

I paused at the sight of it and sighed.

“An Ancient marking of a general. Unfortunately for you, Headmaster, to use this marking you must pass many, many trials. Decades of service to the Ancients, coupled with years of training and education, as well as commendations of the ruler of all Ancients.” I took it and placed it gingerly in a nearby black box that fell from his hand, before placing it in my pocket. He grunted and stained to turn his head my way. His face was filled with fury… and distaste. “Our records show that our people were valued by the Ancients, you know? We were their protectors. The ones who held the line until the very end.”

“Spare me your lies. You’re just like all the others. Always pretending that we’re the foolish ones. That we’ve always been strong. You know as well as I that the Descendants were the first to be brought low, and that we had to take his place with all that we had.” I closed my eyes at his words. It was easy to forget such things. The Academy has existed for centuries as a bastion of the Descendants. A hegemon upon the continent that enslaved the other races and sowed chaos in the frontier to create a moat against would-be opponents. All their efforts and machinations stemmed from centuries of being overwhelmed, outcompeted, and their pleas ignored. However, after their victory, did they have the right to force the same onto others? To never allow any nation to rise to contest them?  “Even if the Academy falls, you’ll fall as well. The Barbarian King that has arisen is an Ancient in truth… and he has found us all wanting.”

“If he such a being, then I’m sure that my council would very much like to meet him and see for themselves.” I shook my head and left the headmaster to wallow and rot. With a gesture, my guards and my teacher returned to my side. The headmaster glowered, but held up his hand when the people he had prepared started to rise. His ploy with the artifact failed. He could not kill me and claim hold over the whole of the Guardians. He couldn’t afford such a thing, especially with the war that he now had with the Barbarian King. “But that will be after your war with him, Headmaster. Despite your actions today, know that the Guardians will not move against you. I bid you good fortune in your current conflict.”

He said nothing in response to my words, but gave the tersest of nods as a reply.

I did not envy him and his position.