Way of the Knights

A couple of months passed and the ‘stalemate’ between Humanity and Abyssals forces continued.

One thing to not is that, General Grimm already discovered where Divine Realm is. During the past couple of months, he had been sending several platoons in order to gnaw at Humanity’s defenses, however due to the distance and tenacity of Humans, the attacks didn’t do much.

He had been keeping track of Humanity’s casualties and he discovered that despite them being physically weaker than them, humans truly didn’t suffer much. At most, their injuries only piled up but only a few truly died.

In fact, most of those who died on Humanity’s side were the older folk who were at the last sprint of their lives anyway. And they went out with a bang, making sure to bring down as many Abyssals with them as possible.

This is a huge problem. Grimm discovered that Humanity isn’t really weakening despite his repeated assaults. In fact, he’s just sending his men to their graves, which is unbecoming of him.

It usually the other way around, with him returning home in glory.

The situation was truly going worse than he imagined. He didn’t even notice it until recently but the morale of his troops were low. With every step he took closer to Humanity’s home, the more bodies of his kind piled up.

He asked himself: ‘Is it really this hard to win this war without the God Emperor’s presence?’

Sadly, the troubles didn’t end there. Today, he’s about to receive a terrible news that will plummet their morale even lower.

“General Grimm! I have an important news. Please let me in.”

One of soldiers urgently knocked on his door with panic obvious on his tone. General Grimm let the soldier in with a frown on his face.

“What’s the matter?”

“It terrible, General. News about a horrible pandemic just reached us. Our people are clamoring outside the God’s Tower demanding for urgent assistance!”

“A pandemic?” General Grimm was confused. “How is this possible? We’ve gotten rid of that possibility when we evolved.”

“I have no clue, General. But I did see one of the patients and it was practically confirmed by our healers. The symptoms are horrible, first it would start as a mere sore throat but as days passed, it will worsen.”

“The afflicted will feel severely drained, unable to even life a muscle. They will lose appetite and be bedridden until cured. The longer it goes, the more they will deteriorate.”

“I’ve already seen some losing their hairs and muscle mass. Even breathing was laborious for them. And this only the result of less than two months affliction. Those who had weaker physiologies already succumbed and lost their lives.”

“I’ve heard that the casualties already reached hundreds of thousands in number and are still rising as time went on. This unsettling situation already caused them to panic and brought them here to demand aid from us.”

Grimm’s face turned uglier the longer he listened to the soldier’s reports.

“Why am I only hearing this now?” He asked with a cold fury in his tone.

“We have no clue, General. The healers I’ve talked to said that they’ve been sending people to inform us about it and so far they never received a reply from us and that they got tired of waiting so they decided to come to us instead.”

“I told them that we were uninformed but they didn’t believe me. They seemed convinced that we weren’t willing to help them because we’re wary that the pandemic will reach us as well.”

General Grimm felt trepidation on his heart. He marched outside of his office and was immediately greeted by a loud commotion outside. He could see several things flying in the air as well as the cries of the people beneath the tower.

Just like the soldier said, they were demanding aid from them.

As he peered down, he could see some people in their wretched state. There’s a foul stench in the air and the other soldiers are having a difficult time pushing back the protesting people.

“Please! You’ve got to save my child! He’s the only one I have!”

“Help us! Don’t just hide in that tower! Your people needs you! What the hell is wrong with you all!?”

“Hey! Don’t you dare hurt me! I will sue you, you hear me! I’ll have you know that it is my taxes that are being used to pay people like you! You ingrate!”

“Medicine! We need Medicine! Actually, anything that could help! Please! This can’t go on! People are dying everywhere!”

“Bring them down everyone! Bring the dictator down!”

“Down with you, you arrogant piece of shit! You don’t deserve to lead our race! Begone! Die!”

“Please! Help us!!”

It is truly horrible.

General Grimm was at a loss for a moment. He had never been in this situation before.

Well…he kind of did but in the opposite way. Back then, instead of insulting them, these people were fanatically showering them with praises and adoration. He used to stand here with an expressionless face but deep down he was happy to bask in glory, yet now it is the complete opposite of that.

Grimm felt tired. Oh so tired.

First he had to deal with this war all by himself. Then his life was threatened to the point where he considered fleeing to leave everyone behind. The only reason he stayed behind was for the purpose of completing one final order to call it quits and now, this…

He truly doesn’t know what to do anymore.

The people are calling for the God Emperor but he won’t be coming. Even if he was here, who can say that he’d give a damn anyway? He’d probably just ask someone, most likely Skroll, to deal with everything but that’s not happening today.

The soldier who’s observing Grimm’s behavior saw how the general’s shoulders slumped miserably. A thick regret and sadness was plastered on his face.

The humble soldier was stunned. He had never seen Grimm wear that kind of face. He used to be the sharpest blade of their race, the fearsome general. The very inspiration why this soldier joined the army in the first place.

Now, that very same general looks so defeated. And it shook the soldier’s mind so much.

The soldier thought that his general was invincible. Yet now…

The dread was contagious it seems. With how horrible their situation is, everything seems hopeless and bleak.

What do they do in this situation?

“Take me to the healer you talked to before.” General Grimm faced the soldier and commanded.

The soldier was caught off-guard but he nodded in the end. Though he can’t shake the feeling of despair pooling in his guts.

***

“Man…that’s sad…”

Raven looked at the God Emperor who’s watching what’s happening beneath his tower.

The poor dude looked so desperate and wretched. His eyes turned bright crimson as he glared at Raven.

“Are you happy now? Was this you aim? Do you really need to take it this far? You didn’t even spare the young ones!”

“Wow! The hypocrisy of those words! Are you even hearing yourself?” Raven scoffed and retorted: “Back when you were conquering other races out in this boundless Outer Worlds, where were those words of yours?”

“When those creatures and races that you fed to the Forbidden Ultima Core, came to you, groveled beneath your feet and begged you for mercy? Did you spare them?”

“When you sent this pathetic general of yours to raze their world; burning their lands, poisoning their seas and seizing their providence, did you think, even once, if you took it too far?”

“When you mercilessly threw their flesh into the core, refining them of their essence to feast upon, you didn’t spare the young ones either. In fact, you specifically asked for them since they are tastier, am I right?”

“…”

The God Emperor could do nothing but to gnash his teeth in simmering rage. Everything that Raven said so far was true and he can’t refute it which makes this even more infuriating than it already is. In addition to that, Augustus can’t understand how this human knew all of this.

“Come on, Augustus. Don’t pretend that you care about them now. You and I both know that you don’t.”

“You’re just trying to weaken my resolve by appealing to my Humanity. Unfortunately for you, that will never work.”

“If it were humans, then sure. But those people aren’t humans so I literally couldn’t care less about them. In fact, I’m glad that they’re suffering since that means less trouble for my own. Isn’t this great?”

“DAMN YOU!!!” Augustus truly couldn’t take it.

He threw a reckless attack fueled by all of his rage and desperation to hopefully hurt Raven but alas…he truly never learns.

Raven casually shrugged the attack, closed the distance between him and Augustus. He grabbed him by the neck and slammed him at a nearby wall which caused the whole tower to shake.

He leaned in and said his words dripping with venom.

“Imprisoning you this way truly is the best way to deal with you.”

“It’s only this way that I can force you to watch as we dismantle everything that you owned and worked so hard for…”

“Piece by piece…”

“Layer by layer…”

“You will bear witness to the very destruction of your home without being able to do anything to stop it, just like how your victims did before.”

Raven released his grip and turned ethereal once more, but before vanishing, he said this…

“I usually am a calm and kind person. But since you dared to scheme against my home…”

“…I will enjoy breaking you, Augustus.”