Troops were loading into the carriers, the Airships had their utility in that they could easily move a thousand soldiers. Made from extraordinary materials, they were very stable craft, their overall noise was the biggest problem. The Carriers landed outside of the Sect, the new recruits were about to go out on their first mission. Vibrations shook the buildings.
The City of Portano had long been a home of demonkin, once it had even housed the evil king, Wang Wei. A brown gas covered its exterior for more than six years. The Mission was a very straight forward one, coordinate with the other teams and eradicate all enemies within the ruins. It was going to be a one week journey to even arrive at the borders of Err, crossing the great plains was no simple matter. Coordinating so many troops was a nightmare, it was easier to let each battlegroup coordinate themselves and to have the commanders coordinate between each other.
The Emperor stood at the lead of it all.
The Carriers couldn't fly very high, but they could move at a decent pace. It would have been great if they could build turbines to aide in the speed functions, but the spellwork often tore the materials apart during their development. Instead, the Carriers were built with wind paddles and propellers like the old aerocraft from Earth's early history. Espers lined the corridors and chose their quarters according to rank.
Sending out the signal to go, The Esper Emperor led the Expedition Teams. He brought The Tower City with him, the Research Teams worked tirelessly while the City was in transit. They were developing memory crystals, the raw data they had recovered allowed many advancements including the new directional weapon coatings.
Fifteen new weapons were under development in total, but one of the more practical was a set of wand like weapons. They could cast area of effect abilities in a cone. It was very promising, but the kickback from some of the magics would cause the wielders to lose control of its path.
The Emperor had brought the finest of his recruits into his office aboard the Carrier and given them each one of the Golden Scrolls. Their new objective during training was to master them. He had studied them all to the best of his ability, but none of them were for hand to hand. His fighting abilities required him to use his claws, teeth and the spots that shared his body. Their tenacious appetites had left him unable to fight conventionally.
In many of the fights he had previously been in, it was the Black Spot, then it evolved into the Rainbow Spot. After it absorbed the Green spot and subjugated it, they were primarily idle. He felt at piece with his body and the changes it had gone through. Being in an Elemental body had its uses, but The Emperor needed to grow and try other bodies. The Demonkin body usually brought out his hotheadedness, but he never truly lost control thanks to Kuzunoha.
"I'm going to go into close door meditation while we transport to the City, You all have your objectives. Make sure to use your time wisely and don't forget your duties." Wu Hai passed the last remaining scroll over, making copies served little purpose, there were highly detailed scans of them done with Qu's help. "Once you've mastered the technique, I'll have Gefest make you an appropriate weapon."
The Automated door to his office closed. 'Back to my book.' Wu Hai had been studying about the Glacier Peak, its history and legends. A few books gave second hand accounts but most of them seemed like gibberish.
They spoke of Giants.
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Six Months ago.
The Snow had fallen considerably and the air grew thin. The Final hurdle, the final step along the mountainside path led to a cave opening and a door. It was locked.
-{"You'll have to put your energy into the push."} Ferser's voice rang within Zhan's head.
"I figured that I would have to do that just to figure the lock out, don't worry, its not the first magical lock I've seen." Zhan argued with himself at the doorsteps to Glacier Peak. "Just keep your senses up and warn me if you need to." Zhan made a blade of Ice and walked through the doorway.
The room was frigid, frozen over and weeping with ice. A sharp sheen covered every surface, untouched for several millennia. An Alter stood at the back of the room, a table at its center. hundreds of different sized and shaped chairs surrounded it. There was blood on the table and a Giant Axe stuck into its top.
Zhan searched the room and worked his way toward the Alter. "What are we here for?"
-{"I thought you said to keep my senses peeled. Very well. Place your hand on the Altar, then the real fun starts."} Ferser's voice cackled suspiciously, but Zhan didn't care. He wanted his daughter back, he wanted Darkwing's head.
Placing his hand upon the Altar, he felt the energy probing his body. Something clicked underneath the podium and a hallway emerged from the wall, it led down into the mountain.
Zhan followed it down, Glowstones lined the stairwell and lit the way. He passed through an open cavern, it was dark but a set of eyes could be seen trailing his movements. 'What exactly is that?' Zhan thought loudly and waited for a response.
-{"That, my dear companion, is Mers. He's been locked up down here since the Great War. The Custodians couldn't kill him."} He stopped talking when Zhan came closer to the base of the stairs.
"So what, am I suppose kill him?" Zhan's head started to spin.
-{"No. You just gotta release him. Then we can start moving, he's going to be one hell of a distraction."} Ferser started laughing uncontrollably, the rebounding voice in Zhan's head really started to give him a headache.
"Just tell me how I do it without being killed." Zhan listened closely. Ferser had him cast an unlocking spell, 76 times. Slowly, the locks were released in the proper sequence and the Chains that were binding Mers began falling to the floor.
The Cavern started to shake as Mers adjusted his body, it grew smaller, compact and muscular. Mers's body shrank to the size of Qilin. When he stood he was only about 8 feet tall. Strange words came out of his mouth, it seemed like he was speaking in tongues. A hole appeared and he walked into it, vanishing from the Cavern.
-{"Quickly, start collecting everything here, those chains..we need them. There isn't much time, someone will come to investigate after Mers starts to act."} Ferser seemed downright worried.
Zhan didn't know what to make of his attitude, but he knew that if Ferser was panicked in some way, the situation wasn't a joke. He picked up anything that wasn't nailed down, debris from all over flew into his ring. There was another Cell closeby, inside, a box stood in the back on top of a pedestal. Zhan reached through the bars, made a long stick of ice and picked up the box.
He brought it up to the bars and opened it.
Inside were two Gygax. Each had twelve sides, one matched the Zodiac, the other had strange creatures on it. He didn't have time to think about it, he picked them out of the box, stored them away and rushed up the stairwell. Passing through the main hall, he saw the Axe stuck the table and took it as well. It gave off a strange aura that felt like it could cut anything. He grabbed the giant cleaver and rushed out of the main door. The Wind was blowing strong, a Blizzard was coming.
The way down was constant. In an effort to conserve energy, Zhan made a scoop-like sled and sped down the mountainside.
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