Ten great beasts stand before the army. Armored beasts whose size easily dwarfs that of any known dragon. Each beast has two pairs of legs, like a centaur but perhaps most fearsome is its two pairs of arms. At the edge of these arms is a massive claw, so huge that it could tear down even the sturdiest wall as if it were made of paper.
The beasts had armored hide and a predatory smile on their faces as they gaze upon the army, ready to devour their meal. While the fifty four foot tall beasts distract the incoming army with their impressive size, its smaller and more numerous brethren began appearing. Hydralisks and Roaches popped out of the ground, ready to rain down acid on the enemy army. A mage snapped out of the daze and prepared to attack the beasts with his powerful yet ultimately harmless spells.
While charging, the mage did not notice a spine speeding through the air at around 330 km/h towards him. Upon making contact, the spine shattered his head like a watermelon as blood and chunks of flesh were flung away. Noticing their comrade dead with a spike looking thing stuck in his right shoulder, the troops around began issuing orders to attack, forgetting the ten behemoths before the army. The Overlords, noticing the soldiers snapping out of their daze and beginning to march forwards and attack, inform the ranged zerg to start the massacre.
On the sides of the army, hydralisks fire spines at the nearest soldiers while roaches prepare their acid. Soon, a rain of acid showers upon the army, quickly killing hundreds upon contact. As more acid showers fire, all things begin to die in the thousands as acid vapor corrodes and kills the nearby panicking soldiers. With weak armor and even weaker bodies, the roaches can maximize kill efficiency by spreading their acid out to maximize area damage.
With this modification, the army quickly fell under the combination of spines and acid sprays. In the sky, mutalisks quickly take down the wyvern riders as glaive worms reflect from one rider to another, increasing the total damage. When they realized that they should disperse, it was too late. With too little to fight back, the remaining wyvern riders attempted retreat back into the gate.
However, they were all quickly brought down under concentrated mutalisk fire. The remaining few thousand immediately retreated, horrified by the destruction these beasts caused.
"Run, run for your lives!"
"By the gods, what are these abominations!"
"Gods! Save us all from these demons!"
Of course, there are stupid, hard headed people who cursed at them and swore revenge. But hey, a single shot from a hydralisk and they'll shut up.
"We will have our reve-Ackk!"
"The empire will exterminate you Ack!"
Thousands of wounded and lucky soldiers escaped back into the gate, surviving the four thousand strong zerg army. Thousands poured out from the gate in Alnus Hill, most of them lost an arm or had parts of their body melted till their bones showed. When the empire's second half of the expeditionary army asked them, they responded with mad ravings about giant beasts and monsters that slaughtered their army in a storm of spikes and green like slime that melted things with ease, even the trolls.
To say that the army was baffled is a massive understatement. Armored monsters, acid spitting turtles and spine shooting serpents, alongside the mention of ten gigantic beasts twice the height of an ancient dragon, the army dismissed them as mad ravings and took their warnings as nothing but the enemy's illusion magic. They theorized that it must be a powerful illusion spell that let them capture so many soldiers, probably because the first half of the army sent consisted of the weaker and less experienced mages. However powerful the illusion magic is, the remaining army believes that the empire shall conquer all.
No enemy shall they fear and no enemy shall not fall before their endless might and power! The empire's mages prepare an anti illusion spell and casted upon the army, preventing even the strongest of illusions from tricking their senses. The army changes their formations, placing mages in the outer areas, mixed with the layers of infantry and meat shields such as trolls. This would let them dispel any large scale spells casted upon the army.
After reshaping their formations, the army entered the gate with high spirits, completely unaware of the extreme danger from beyond the gate and the slaughter that will come.
In Kashrya,
The bodies of the first half of the army was quickly taken away by the zerglings and thrown into the bowels of the nearby hives. More than two hundred thousand bio energy units were added when these bodies are dissolved inside the hives. With no casualties except for injuries from lucky shots, the zerg expeditionary army was quick to recover from their battle ahem one sided slaughter. To add tactical experience to the command organisms, the creator commanded a large queen to be transported here through nydus worms to lead the army.
10 minutes later, the large queen emerged from a nydus worm on one of the hive clusters. The queen's arachnid bottom skitters as she made her way towards the gate. Spotting the creator standing towards the gate, the large queen approached him. Showing her subservience to the almighty creator, the large queen did a curt bow and announced in her raspy voice, "My creator, I have arrived."
The creator turned to look at his appointed commander. As a large queen, she appeared almost identical to a normal queen except for her slightly larger crown like head, a little more spikes and a more humanoid upper body. He placed his right hand on her torso and imbued power into her. Blue energy flowed from the creator's hand and into the queen.
Her nerve cords floated as immense amounts of power entered her form, bestowing her with new abilities unlike anything before. Mana particles bonded with all of the large queen's particles down to the sub atomic level where electrons, protons and neutrons are strengthened by the inserted mana. Her carapace hardened, its strength and durability multiplied tenfold. Now, the large queen can withstand even the full might of a pulse cannon and survive, though taking severe damage.
Her limbs are increased from three to four, a thumb added on each hand. Brain matter was expanded to hold the new energies that enhances her psionic abilities exponentially. Now, she can manifest thunderbolts and perform telekinesis on large objects, her power is only secondary to Praelis within the Swarm. The large queen's psionic abilities also have a special new property.
It can absorb magic from anything it attacks. If the large queen attacked mage, all the mage's magic and mana would be transferred into her, giving her more spells to add into her arsenal and capacity for magic use. After the short metamorphosis session ended, the creator spoke to her, "I name you Nesfel, the Destroyer of Falmart. Your duty is to destroy the empire of Falmart. Once you do, leave that world and expand into the stars beyond."
Showing her respect and gratitude, Nesfel bowed and while doing so, she replied, "Your will be done, my Lord and Creator." Nesfel decided to test her magic eating abilities. When the enemy army comes, she will personally descend into their lines and devour the creatures called mages to increase her power. With greater power, she will be of better use to her creator and there is nothing that can stop her from serving her creator's every divine will.
The large queen sensed the army enter the gate, making their way to Kashrya. From her new magic sense, the magic eating zerg can detect the location of every mage in the army. The mages are like lanterns in the darkness while the wyverns and their riders shine like dim stars in the night sky. Nesfel called a horde of zerglings to her position, intent on encircling the enemies and preventing any escapees during her time for slaughter.
Hydralisks position themselves behind the zerglings, their scythe like claws clicking in anticipation. Roaches are randomly assorted, ready to jump and kill by shooting their all corrosive acid bolts. Ultralisks burrow themselves near the gate, prepared to jump out to close the enemy's only way of exit back into Falmart. Queens station themselves in groups of nine, prepared to wreak psionic havoc into enemy lines.
As for the Overlords controlling this army, the bloated zerg float in protected areas where many zerg are stationed on. As for the mutalisks, Nesfel placed them behind the gate, ready to be used when they enter the gate and destroy the world beyond it. The large queen now waits, hidden within the rows of zergling, ready to pounce on their unsuspecting and idiotic foes.
In the Gate…..
Since the first forces failed, the imperial army's commanders and nobles entered the formation. Believing that the first army was captured, not killed, due to lack of good leadership, the nobles and commanders decided to lead on the front lines. With them relaying tactics and commanding the army into position, there is no enemy that can stop them. In case of an illusory attack like before, each noble is flanked by two mages, one on each side.
The nobles wore medium armor, grossly underestimating their foes from beyond the gate (it's not like they have any armor to withstand it anyways). With the nobles leading the charge, morale was at an all time high as the conquest of a new and much more primitive land is nigh. Wyvern riders flew ahead, acting as scouts for the attack and to harass their foes before the main army arrives. White dragons and their riders flew past the army at great speeds, quickly emerging into the other side of the gate.
Instead of the red skies and monsters that the first army told about, they found blue skies and an endless field of grass. Instead of woah, the first thing they said was, "I knew it! I knew they were lying. Trying to get all this land for themselves!"
"Bunch of traitors!" Agreed another. After a few minutes of flying, they came across five villages with large stone buildings. Oddly, only fifty people seemed to be there, carrying some sort of blue crystal or green bag from a well into the biggest building at the village's center.
Without being suspicious, the riders decided to fly back and report about the large village. They seem to have special things that can allow big buildings to be built with so few people. With this good news, they might just be promoted into senior wyvern riders or if the empire's gains are large enough, they could be minor nobles. They could retire to a backwater village where no one can conscript them to join the army ever again.
On their way back, they passed a thick forest shaped like a crescent. They did not recall seeing anything like it but shrugged it off, too stupid-I mean too engrossed in their profit fantasies to even care about these slowly moving trees.
The creator decided to put an illusion spell on Kashrya to get the imperial army to enter in and prevent many from escaping. In fact, this illusion spell is a weak one and would immediately break under a spell breaking attack from a contingent of mages. This illusion is needed to draw them in and once someone is dum enough to dispel it, they would already be trapped and surrounded by zerg forces. As for why, he would like to eliminate the whole army out and then placing the heads of each arrogant noble and soldier on a stick around the perimeter of Alnus Hill as a reminder of never attacking.
Of course, he already knew that the empire will not heed the warning and attack anyways but he'd like to add more plot into it, you know. Not to mention, he could get the demons from afar thing going on and propagate the church of destruction in Falmart. With both external attacks and internal rebellion, the empire would crumble both ways. He secretly placed a magic marker on Colt Formal so that all those who believe in him being a prophet of the Goddess of Destruction will be protected from the zerg.
In fact, he had plans to make his church live in coexistence with the zerg to accelerate their development into entering the space age. Oops, I already told too much about my plans. Back to the army of bucket heads, the wyvern riders have returned to the recently emerged army. The second half gazed in awe upon the beautiful blue sky and the endless field of green.
"Beautiful."
"Amazing. No wonder the first army lied, they wanted this all to themselves!"
"This is the perfect place for the empire to grow!"
"Once His Majesty hears of us finding this land, we will all be rich! I might become a Count or even a Marquis thanks to this!"
The army begins to spread out and set up camp, completely unaware that the grass below them is actually creep in disguise. After the wyvern riders relayed their reports, the nobles and commanders are overjoyed. 'More people to take in as slaves and a seemingly endless land for farming, will the wonders ever cease?' To commemorate this beautiful discovery (secretly a death trap by alien bugs to eat your ugly faces off!), the army delays their attack for an hour and conducts a feast with food brought over from Falmart.
While they feasted, the 'forest' slowly moved towards them. Due to its presence since their arrival and the fact that it moves very slowly, the soldiers barely noticed that it approaches. The mages were slowly aware but they weren't anymore thanks to Nesfel using a psionic attack to slowly drain their magic without them noticing. Even when the forest is right in front of them and completely surrounded them, they did not notice anything.
Even Nesfel, the leader of this future brood couldn't resist saying, "Idiots. I fail to see how they conquered their own world with such imbeciles as leaders." Halfway into the feast, the illusion still continued as none of the mages even tried checking if anything is wrong. Tired of waiting, Nesfel leaped into the air and dispelled the illusion.
The grassy fields immediately turned into a carpet of gray purplish goo. The shrubbery transformed into monsters spoken of by the first army's survivors. Acid spitting turtles spoken of by the first army emerged from the ground, firing bolts of acid into the nearest soldiers, dissolving them into green puddles. Not one soldier managed to approach as the puddles melted their armor and their feet, causing them to collapse and be melted further.
Archers aimed and opened fire against the roaches, but their hardened carapace easily reflected the iron tipped arrows. Mages prepared to cast spells but found their spells taking longer than usual. In that charging span, the roaches retreated into the ground and evaded the various launched spells. Around the army's outskirts, the wave of zerglings, christened by the army as Blade Hounds, devoured their ranks.
Supported by what the army calls Archer Serpents, no zergling fell as all their attackers were sniped down by their diamond hard spines. Due to the disappearance of the roaches, named as venom turtles, the mages shifted their attention to the massively outnumbered zerg horde. Fire balls, lightning bolts and photon balls were launched by the mages. These glowing projectiles streaked across the sky as they made their way towards the smaller zerg force.
The observant troops backed away as they spotted the large scale destruction spells being hurled towards these monsters. With the amount of spells and the firepower behind them, the mages are assured that these monsters would not survive. Unbeknownst to them, four squads of queens are inbound and are ready to reflect the barrage of attacks. As for the rest of the squads, they lead parts of the army to strengthen their encampment and to spread out their forces.
Once the spells prepared to make landfall, the soldiers and their noble leaders started getting cocky. "Take that! Feel the power of the empire, animals!" "Not so scary once flames reduce you to ashes are ya?" Of course, pride leads to downfall which in this case, thirty six queens emerged from the zergling tide. Raising their hands up, they channel their psionic energy, ready to reflect the incoming spells.
When the spells neared, they bounced off an invisible barrier, tossed back into the army. Since the mages did not expect the zerg to reflect the attacks, they are caught unprepared as their own spells descend on them. Balls of flame, lightning and light crashed into the army, burning and scorching infantry, mages and archers alike. While the army is distracted by the reflected spells, the zerg charged and held nothing back.
Queens released concentrated lightning bolts that reflect off their targets, each strike killed tens as each of them were baked inside their own armor. Mutalisks were deployed, their glaive worms inflicting reflective damage, killing as much soldiers as the queens are. Zerglings easily ripped armor apart, slaying enemies by the hundreds every second. The ground shook as roaches jumped out of the ground and began turning soldiers into puddles of acid.
Screams rang throughout the battlefield as the imperial army is mauled, stabbed, melted or scorched by the combined assault of the zerg. The surviving nobles attempted retreat, but hydralisks severed their heads from their bodies. Nesfel descended into the battlefield, slaying the surviving mages and hunting down the escaping wyvern riders. In 15 minutes, what was once one of the greatest armies in Falmart is reduced to bodies and ashes. A hundred drones were called in, harvesting the bodyparts for biomass conversion and for the first hive cluster in Falmart.
The Ultralisks unburrow and along with the zerg army, marched into the gate. Around the temporary camps, servants rushed as they cleaned equipment for their masters and prepared food for when they returned. Most of them were slaves, taken from their homes since they were children and sold to become servants for the upper class of empire society. Some of them don't even know their parents and for those who had terrible fates, they became sex slaves for these rich human filth.
Racism was the common adversary for all of them, they were sold only because of them being demi-humans. Every day, they were reminded of that, they were told that humans are superior than them. If they outperformed their master's relative, they would be tortured for insubordination. Many have tried to escape but met a fate worse than their current state when they were recaptured.
The swarm emerged from the gate, quickly claiming Alnus Hill as their territory. The servants panicked at the arrival of these arthropod monsters. They all ran for their lives and attempted escape while others, sick of being slaves decided that death is a better fate for them. However, the zerg captured all of them and placed them in many cocoons.
Under the order of the creator, they are not to harm the innocent and so, they captured them. The creator wanted them to become his prophets, his envoys to the world of Falmart. He will transform them into Envoys of Destruction, a species of his own creation and their duty is to protect and promote the church of destruction in Falmart. Once they emerge, they will help the messiah Colt Formal in uniting the oppressed demi humans in igniting a rebellion and in forming the new church.
Soon, Hatcheries are established alongside other bio structures needed to grow the zerg forces in Falmart. The heads of each noble killed are placed on top of sticks, a testament of the zerg's power. As for their weapons and armor, the zerg melt them into basic materials to be forged into more effective equipment for arming the church. By keeping the army's messengers alive, the news quickly spreads throughout the empire, inciting fear and insecurity.
'Let the empire fall.'
Records of Intercession 7, Verse 36
Codex Exitium
Holy Book of the Church of Destruction