Ember Dragon

On the Eastern Front, the city of St. Michael fell in just a few days.

The commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front, Imperial Marshal Dror, led a large army across the Glorious Mountains, like a sharp sword, directly piercing into the heartland of the Thracian Kingdom, and marched towards August at an unimaginable speed.

The Western Front also assembled and rampaged across the vast plains, ruthlessly tearing apart Thracian defenses and leaving those fragmented cities to the Fallen Star Legion.

In just seven days, under the empire's lightning offensive, the Thracian Kingdom's defense line could no longer be sustained, and the legions deployed in various places were all destroyed.

Then, under Wilham's "supreme order", military forces from all over the Thracian Kingdom - whether it was the Holy Guard, the Golem Legion, the Arcane Legion or the Angel God Descendants, all rushed to August in a mighty manner.

At this moment, all the forces of both sides gathered in Augustus, the capital of the Thracian Kingdom, known as the "City of the Rising Sun".

Kingdom of Thrace, Augustus.

The towering Sun God Tower stands in the center of the city. Liquid sunlight-like lines flow on the tower, and the sun disc emblem on the top emits halos day and night.

This is not only a symbol of faith, but also the core of the energy barrier covering the entire city. The surface of the monument is etched with the words of the sun god, which can continuously convert sunlight into a barrier to resist attacks.

The angels, led by Duke Tirena, are stationed around the tower. Their wings are like molten gold, and they hold the blades of judgment as they patrol the sky.

Tirena swung her sword and roared at the angels: "The fate of Fianso will be decided by us!
We are the warriors chosen by the sun god - for Thrace, for the holy Fadlan, and for the great Amaunator, we must not let Auguste fall! Let this sacred land bathed in the sun fall into the hands of the enemy! "

At the top of the tower are three hundred Crusaders. They also have wings on their backs, but their flawless faces are expressionless, like holy statues.

"The sky's feathers burn the pupils, the blazing sword splits the armor; the chants burn the forehead, the divine eyes are like torches"

The Holy Law Choir was standing around the sun disk on top of the tower, chanting sacred hymns, using this power to continuously strengthen the barrier.

The city wall system combines the dual powers of arcane and divine magic.

The outer layer is a gray-white rune barrier of dozens of meters, with expensive alchemical matrices embedded in the bricks and stones. When attacked, a combined defense array will automatically emerge, which can disperse physical impacts underground and absorb 30% of magical energy to transmit it to the Arcane Army.

The inner walls are lined with fifty-yard-high prismatic towers. The crystal prisms on top of the towers are controlled by archmages and can convert absorbed energy into annihilation beams or wide-area shields.

Behind the battlements of the city wall, thousands of golems stood silently. They were nearly ten meters tall, their bodies were made of meteorite iron, and their cores were alchemical devices that imprisoned souls. Once a war broke out, these golems would turn into killing machines that ignored pain.

The streets of the city were filled with officers and soldiers rushing back and forth, driving panicked civilians everywhere and taking them into shelters to prevent anyone from escaping.

"Hurry up, everyone behind you, catch up! Are you walking so slowly, do you want to be whipped?" The Thracian officer riding a tall horse cursed at the refugees viciously.

A ragged woman holding a child plucked up the courage and whispered: "Sir, my child has not eaten for several days. It's really..."

"Snap!" The whip hit the woman's back, causing her to let out a faint moan.

The officer didn't even look at them, but just shouted angrily: "Shut up! Do you want to watch Auguste being conquered? Do you want to become food for the evil dragon?
If anyone doesn't know what's good for him again, I'll label him a traitor and make him lose his life!"

The child in the woman's arms hugged her mother's thin body and cried, "Mom, I'm not hungry anymore. We don't want to eat anymore. We don't want to eat anymore."

Under Wilham's order, all the food and houses in Augusta were requisitioned to support the troops rushing here from all over the place.

Looking at this scene, Dayev, who had just entered the city, sighed deeply and murmured: "I didn't expect the situation in the city to be so bad that people can't even eat."

Thinking of this, he took out a piece of black bread from his arms and threw it to the crying child.

"Thank you, sir," the child said, choking back a sob.

Hearing the voice, the officer riding on the tall horse turned around angrily, but when he saw Dayev's official uniform embroidered with the holy emblem, he said nothing and continued to wave his whip to drive away the refugees.

Dayev walked on the street, preparing to rush to the kingdom's intelligence department to report to them on the military situation in various places.

He looked at the troops coming and going on the streets and the bodies of refugees discarded on the roadside, and sighed in his heart - this once holy and glorious city has become like this now?

From the day he was sent to Istalia, Dayev had a premonition that the Burning Empire would bring earth-shaking changes to the kingdom and even the entire continent.

But he never imagined that this day would come so soon. In just a few years, the Burning Empire led its army to attack August.

"Amaunator, above."

“Oh my God.”

"Look! It's His Majesty Wilhelm! What a divine gesture!"

"Your Majesty Wilham will surely lead us to break through the siege and move towards a bright future!"

Dayev couldn't help but look up, and saw the sun god's tower radiating brilliant light, and Wilham slowly rose and appeared at the top of the tower.

He was bathed in endless light, his tall and burly body was covered with divine patterns, his six burning wings were waving slowly, and there was a clearly visible golden sun in his pupils, he looked like a god who had descended to the earth.

In his hand was a spiral spear named "Final Judgment". The spear body was made up of seven entangled chains of holy light, and a miniature sun was suspended on the top that was constantly collapsing and reorganizing.

Even Dayev couldn't help but mutter to himself: "His Majesty Wilham. He, he seems to have become even more powerful."

Ever since the Sun God fell into a deep sleep, the power of the gods in various places has gradually weakened. Only His Majesty Wilham remains strong, like the sun in the sky, which never sets.

"Long live His Majesty Wilham!"

"Long live Thrace!"

The Thracian soldiers cheered wildly.

Wilham swept his surroundings with a stern gaze, and then he slowly spoke: "My subjects, the people bathed in the glory of Amaunator - the most critical moment has come!
The evil dragon from the north and its minions have crossed the Glorious Mountains and are heading towards Augustus. It wants to make Thrace its territory.

It wants to enslave the people of the Sun God, to drain our blood and souls, and to turn this sacred land into a sinful land filled with blood and killing!"

Suddenly, the soldiers were in an uproar, cursing and spitting viciously, wishing they could chop off the dragon's head and break its wings as a sacrifice to the sun god.

"What a fool you are!"

"This damn monster!"

"Oh my God!" "It's okay, Wilham will lead us to kill it!"

Wilham’s expression suddenly became stern, and his voice became sonorous and powerful: “But I will let that evil dragon know that it is just daydreaming!
I will make them understand that the great Majesty Amaunator cannot be desecrated, and the people of the Sun God will never submit to these cruel and tyrannical people!

Long live Thrace! Long live Holy Fadran! "

Wilham grasped the spiral spear in both hands, and a beam of light suddenly shot out from the tip of the spear. A huge holy emblem of the sun suddenly appeared in the golden sky.

In an instant, a burst of extremely warm cheers suddenly broke out in the city of Auguste.

"Long live Thrace!"

"Long live the Holy Fadlan!"

"For the Supreme Lord of Eternal Glory!"

Whether it was the angels surrounding the divine tower, the holy guards guarding Wilham, or the arcane legions within the city walls, they were all shouting at the top of their lungs.

Even the Pegasus let out a loud cry, and the golem was roaring dully, as if venting its desire for victory.

The Thracians have always regarded Wilham as the successor of the old emperor and their admiration for him is beyond words.

But Dayev had seen with his own eyes that His Majesty Wilham's body was covered with cracks. How could His Majesty become flawless in just a few years?
When thinking about August's continuous disappearances in recent years, Dayev often felt his scalp tingling, but he dared not investigate further.

Suddenly, a messenger on a Pegasus appeared in the sky and waved at him: "Sir Dayev, Lord Carlisle is looking for you. As an extraordinary warrior, you are assigned to the third defense zone."

"I understand." Dayev responded in a deep voice, then drew out the long sword behind him and walked steadily in the direction pointed by the messenger.

In any case, as a member of the Thracian Kingdom, he must do his best to protect the country and the city behind him.

Passing through the bustling crowd, Dayev quickly came to the inside of the city wall and climbed up the ladder to the top of the city wall, where the familiar General Carlisle was standing with his sword in hand.

"General Carlisle" Dayev hurriedly greeted.

"Dayev, I've been waiting for you for a long time." Carlisle turned around as if he had expected it, glanced at him, and then entered the tower, "Come with me."

"What can I do for you?" Dayev was puzzled. At this critical moment of preparation for war, the general actually invited him to talk alone.

But he followed anyway and subconsciously locked the door.

Carlisle sat on the chair, staring at Dayev, and whispered, "I know you were a diplomat of the kingdom and have been to the empire. Is it really as advertised—a hellish prison?"

When Carlisle mentioned the word "hell", his throat trembled, as if he remembered something.

Dayev hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and replied in a low voice: "No, it is indeed a prosperous and wealthy place. In some ways, it is even not inferior to August."

Carlisle smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Didn't you see the scene on the road? How can Augusta be called prosperous now? It is no longer the glorious 'City of the Rising Sun' it once was.

August is now nothing more than a giant that has been drained of blood by war. Perhaps it was once strong and healthy, but that is now history. "

"."

Dayev fell silent, waiting for Carlisle's next question.

Sure enough, Carlisle stared at him with his extremely deep eyes and asked word by word: "If the person you are loyal to becomes a terrible monster, will you continue to follow him?"

"Could it be that"

Dayev was trembling all over and almost screamed out loud. The horrible guess in his heart was confirmed.

All Thracians say that His Majesty Amaunator has awakened, and His Majesty Wilham has received His favor, which has enabled him to remain strong and establish a Holy Guard.

But what if the sun god is still asleep? Where does His Majesty Wilham's power come from?

There was a hint of despair in Carlisle's eyes, and he lamented in a sad tone: "Dayev, the Thracian Kingdom is no longer the country that you are loyal to, the country that pursues light and advocates justice.

Over the past few years, I have watched with my own eyes the gods I believe in being desecrated by evil demons, the land I guarded becoming a land of sin, and the monarch I swore allegiance to being bewitched by darkness, but there is nothing I can do to change it.

The general turned his head tiredly and looked at Dayev deeply: "Dayev, I know you are different from them. Several years ago, you were driven out of August because you were dissatisfied with the atrocities of the nobles.

I'm sure you won't just sit there and watch this place turn into a devil's den, right?"

"you mean"

Dayev's pupils suddenly trembled, and he thought of something that would never be tolerated by the Thracian Kingdom.

Carlisle said nothing, just stuffed an iron product into Dayev's hand, then turned around, pushed the door and left.

"Amaunator, please forgive my sins."

Dayev stood there in a daze for a long time before he opened his palm. Sure enough, there lay quietly in the palm of his hand a vertical pupil and a flame mark - that was the emblem of the Burning Empire.

"Om-"

On the city wall, twenty-four trumpets with reliefs of angels were blown, making a dull, long sound.

Dayev also pushed the door open and looked outside the city wall. He then saw a scene that he would never forget in his life.

In the distant sky, there were groups of huge airships and various flying dragons flapping their wings in a disorderly manner, like thick dark clouds stretching for hundreds of miles, almost blocking the sun.

On the earth, smoke and dust rolled up, the ground was shaking constantly, the tracks of steam tanks rolled over the wasteland, and armored vehicles towing heavy artillery galloped quickly.

There were also heavy mechas marching towards them with heavy steps, making majestic silhouettes appear on the horizon.

And further away, countless space portals opened in the air, leading to many planes of the multiverse. The Fire Element Army, the Shadow Army, and the Hell Contract Army poured out from the portals one after another. (End of this chapter)