Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1248 Doomsday Earth (Part 2! Please vote at the end of the month!)

The pale twilight made the raindrops pouring from the skylight at the top of the cave resemble dusty rubies. A large number of snake-men, clad in the pale green robes of the Kukulkan Order, unconsciously entered the dimly lit pool of water, immersing their elongated, scaly bodies in it. Despite the pool's overcrowding, these mutants did not argue; their muffled murmurs were replaced by increasingly indistinct hisses.

It wasn't until the Imperial Guard and the Emperor broke in that the snake-men raised their heads from beneath the slimy surface of the water, made of dander and other metabolic waste. Their mutations were more pronounced than those of the snake-men in the outer caves; their scales and feathers were more vibrant, and even their bones had become longer and more slender, as if they needed time or certain other factors to fully transform. But their similarities ended there; their wildly proliferating tissue made them resemble half-rotten lizardmen.

Upon discovering the intruders, angry hissing began to echo through the cave, and the snake-men charged towards them expressionlessly. Their sharp, deformed limbs moved with ease over the rugged rocks and uneven cliffs. The knights who followed unleashed explosives at the creatures that seemed to have transcended the realm of humanity; a hatred for mutated beings ingrained in their genomes gave them satisfaction in slaughtering these monsters.

The Imperial Guard, a golden spearhead, fired at Dr. Pedro Domiggs while escorting the Emperor forward, confident that the genetically modified warriors could control the situation behind them. The mutated creatures attempting to stop this squad didn't even give them a moment's respite; in the blink of an eye, they were cut to pieces by the guards' spears or sentry swords. Their assault formation was an improvement on an ancient formation invented during the Ming Dynasty, and combined with the war-godlike Imperial Guard, no infantry force in the world could delay them for even a second.

Hammurabi and Supiluliumas quickened their pace, using their shields to deflect several tall, serpent-like figures riddled with bullets from beside Dr. Pedro Domigus. They plunged their greatswords into bodies covered in amphibian scales and colorful feathers, then emptied their magazines, turned, and swung their swords, killing the monsters in less than two seconds. Dr. Pedro Domigus, however, seemed oblivious to what was happening around him. He stared intently at the human heart in his hand, muttering to himself, his other hand gripping the blood-stained Chakcher dagger tightly.

The Emperor stepped over the head of the creature, which had mutated into an amphibian, and swung his holy sword, severing the invisible shackles in the air. Amon and Hannibal immediately turned to stand guard, and then the Emperor grabbed Dr. Pedro Domiggs' wrist until his heart fell out, at which point the madman regained some of his senses.

"He needs sacrifices!" Dr. Pedro Domiggs looked up, his frantic eyes fixed on the Emperor. "He needs sacrifices to quell his anger, or he will destroy Paititi."

Amon and Hannibal opened fire on the altar to halt the snake-men's advance. After a brief exchange of fire, the well-trained knights gradually took control of the ruins, clearing a safe area from the mutated creatures' corpses. The commander of the Royal Guard walked to the altar, his eyes filled with disgust as he surveyed the mountain of entrails piled below the platform. Without a respiratory filtration system, the stench would be unbearable even for the Royal Guard.

“There are many hearts here, all sacrifices.” Constantine frowned, his face contorted with a deep disgust for the corrupting influence of witchcraft inherent in genetic alchemy. He glanced at the deranged Dr. Pedro Domiggs, his heart filled with rage at the man's audacity in daring to corrupt human genes. “Should we kill him, my lord?”

"No need." The emperor's eyes held no pity. He placed the silver casket, guarded by the Yasok clan for generations, on the altar stained with human blood. Faintly, the veil of reality seemed to roar with satisfaction at tasting the blood of the Paititi people. "You know what this is. Use it. This is your final salvation, Amaru."

The emperor's words and the divine artifact that appeared before him seemed to restore the poor man's sanity. Dr. Pedro Domiggs eagerly picked up the blood-stained obsidian dagger and, with trembling hands, inserted it into the crevice at the top of the silver box. The obsidian blade and the silver box were perfectly joined. In that instant, the flowing, congealed, and semi-congealed red and black blood on the altar and below the platform all rushed into the silver box along the shallow grooves, as if a bloodthirsty monster was devouring the essence of human life.

It might have been an hour, or it might have been a few minutes, when an orange-red glow began to shimmer on the ancient runes on the surface of the silver box. Dr. Pedro Domiggs held the box with rapt attention, meticulously deciphering the symbols that had previously appeared to be mere rust—the mystery he had pursued his entire life, and now he had found the answer. Laura Crawford's voice came through the Emperor's communication headset, gradually synchronizing with Dr. Pedro Domiggs's—she was intently focused on the screen on the Pegasus Heavy Assault Transport Ship, connected to the Imperial Guard's combat system, deciphering the runes she could see. One of the Emperor's tasks for her was to ensure that the last member of the Trinity High Council did not lie.

The scorching heat that had been building up on the surface of the silver box surged up Pedro Domiggs' arm, yet the madman clung to it tightly, refusing to let go even as his hands burned. The heat then formed a tattoo of alternating orange and white, transforming him into a humanoid star radiating an orange-red glow. This light was entirely different from the Emperor's; it was a luminosity of the material universe, not the light of the soul. The power armor of the Royal Guard and Knights automatically activated its light-filtering mode, blocking out the intense light that could burn retinas. Even the hidden snake-men screamed in agony as the light blinded them.

"Illumination flare, target Alpha," came the voice of the commanding sergeant of the self-propelled artillery crew in the chain of command. At the same time, Aparisha was also watching the preparation status of the fire support unit through the chain of command on the data panel. As the preparation icon of each self-propelled artillery crew turned green, it indicated that the automatic loader and CNC aiming system were all ready.

"Target locked."

"Constant velocity firing, fire!"

"Hurry, Constantine, hurry!" With the scheduled battle time drawing ever closer, Aparisha's anxiety grew. The thunderous cannon fire couldn't even drown out the pounding of his heart in his ears. He stared anxiously at the mountaintop illuminated by the dazzling light, the Emperor's resolute words still echoing in his mind. If he hadn't been able to monitor the situation within the ruins on the mountaintop through the communication system, as the frontline commander, he would have already used his highest authority on the chain of command to lead the support forces that had descended from the Skysword Space Station into the ruins and bring the Emperor out.

He muttered curses under his breath as he hoped for a turn of events. In his eyes, Constantine now seemed less than competent as a bodyguard. Aparishia wanted to suggest the Emperor replace the entire Royal Guard with Hell Knights, but this was consistently rejected by Legion Commander Malcolm at secondary military councils.

"Sir," his adjutant replied with the same sentiment, "Should we extend the operation?"

Aparisha took a deep breath of the air thick with the smell of gunpowder and earth. Each time the self-propelled artillery fired, the supports driven deep into the ground kicked up large swaths of mud. Aparisha hesitated for a moment, then looked at the sun gradually being swallowed by the eclipse and said, "I trust the Emperor's precognitive abilities. He said fifteen minutes and forty-five seconds, so it's fifteen minutes and forty-five seconds, even if there are only twenty seconds left. Have the artillery prepare its terminal-guided armor-piercing rounds according to plan, and when the time comes, we'll know who to hit."

Fifteen seconds.

The countdown on the helmet's HUD holographic display is approaching the red line, and a tense atmosphere permeates the battlefield.

ten seconds.

The next flare was fired, and the automatic loader had already changed the type of ammunition.

Five seconds.

The last rays of sunlight had already been swallowed by shadows. Aparisha gripped the handle of the execution axe and pressed the power switch.

three seconds.

He filled his three lungs with filtered air, a battle cry brewing in his chest, but a sudden, violent earthquake abruptly silenced Aparisha's cry. This was an unprecedented magnitude earthquake; mountains and the ground shattered and crumbled amidst the violent shaking. If not for sufficient support structures, even self-propelled artillery with its firing parameters already set would have lost its accuracy due to the ground vibrations.

one second.

At that moment, it was as if the sun was rising from the earth's crust, and a deafening roar echoed from the depths of the earth before rushing up to the mountaintop.

Ancient ruins and massive boulders were blasted to pieces, and immense heat swept through the rainforest, spewing forth colossal plumes of smoke and crimson lava from the mountaintops. Damp trees were ignited in swathes, and the muddy ground melted into magma in the blink of an eye. The deafening roar of the mountains splitting apart was even more deafening than the thunder flashing across the sky. A towering wall forged from multicolored scales rose from the ground, and above the leaden-gray cumulonimbus clouds, two enormous, blurry, colorful curtains slowly unfurled amidst the thunderstorm, like a creature spreading its wings behind the clouds. On the coastline unseen by the knights, a tsunami surging from the deep sea was gradually approaching, and satellite images showed a colossal creature rising from the ground.

With his modified eyes and electronic eye system, Aparisha could even see the mangled bodies of numerous mutants being propelled high into the sky by the pressure of the Earth's crust. Some lighter rocks even rubbed against the atmosphere, burning intensely like meteors before crashing back to the ground, triggering one near-miss explosion after another. Many tanks and armored vehicles were either submerged in lava and burned to scrap metal after being pierced by meteorites. Only a few lucky armored vehicle crews managed to withstand the onslaught of nature thanks to their close-in weapon systems that protected against anti-tank missiles.

The world seemed to have reverted to billions of years ago, when Earth was still a cauldron of boiling soup. Toxic volcanic smoke billowed into the sky, reaching even into space. As far as the eye could see, the once lush Amazon rainforest had reverted to its primitive state in a short time. The only remaining ancient remnants of the mountain structure were protected by supernatural forces—on a sunstone engraved with stars and totems, a golden-armored warrior stood amidst the falling rubble, a shield shimmering with orange-red sparks protecting him from the colossal creature and the royal guards and knights from this terrifying force. However, the continuously falling boulders burned on the shield, and dazzling symbols and topological patterns flashed frequently.

"Fire the cannons!" Aparishia raised his executioner's axe, turned to the waiting knights behind him, and shouted, "For the Emperor's glory!"

Hoverjet motorcycles and hover assault boats roared, and the usually silent warriors, their composure broken, erupted in deafening roars. Braving boulders raining down from the sky, they raced towards the low hills flowing with lava and toxic gases. Even with charred rocks and flowing lava surrounding their vehicles, the armored and artillery units obeyed the orders of Company Commander Aparisha with iron discipline and calm. Shaped explosive armor-piercing shells, rockets, lasers, and high-temperature plasma clusters—the knights unleashed everything they could at the monster shrouded in volcanic ash. The roar of cannons and the shockwaves of shells slicing through the air blended perfectly into this apocalyptic symphony.

Accompanied by a series of deafening roars, piercing howls rang out, far exceeding the frequencies to which the human ear could hear. Even the noise-canceling devices inside the knights' helmets resonated, causing many knights' ears to bleed and some to suffer severe concussions. Before them, a towering wall of flesh and blood, forged from colorful scales, began to twist and distort. The relentless attacks finally shattered the scales of the extradimensional creature, and unnatural blood flowed like a waterfall. But no one had time to cheer, for the moment that unnatural blood touched the soil and magma, numerous smaller, malevolent creatures began to grow out of thin air, slowly solidifying from their illusory forms, and finally appearing alive in the material universe.

Meanwhile, the intense pain caused the red, blue, and green wings above the clouds to twitch unnaturally. The gale-force winds whipped up by the enormous wingspan dispersed the cumulus clouds, triggering thunderstorms that illuminated the night sky. Then, a colossal serpentine head descended from the clouds, resembling a city, its cold, yellow, serpentine eyes fixed on the golden figure within the lava. Even though the genetically modified warriors had overcome extreme emotions like fear through psychological adjustments, the substitute emotions generated during brain information processing still ignited a surge of anger within their veins when faced with such a colossal creature, fueling their hearts like ignited fuel.

Aparishia and his adjutant, carrying the company flag of the Fire Knights, leaped off the hovercraft and ran along the still-unmelted path on the upper layer of lava toward the only intact mountain structure. His explosive pistol fired incessantly at the snakes in the distance, while simultaneously slaying amphibians that shouldn't exist in the material universe and emerged from the lava. His armor constantly emitted overheat warnings, the cooling system overloaded, spraying boiling coolant, and his fire-resistant cloak was completely charred. Only when the molten rock reached above his calves did he realize he had emptied his magazine.

"My lord! Retreat!" The nearly damaged communication grille forced Aparishia to raise her voice to its maximum. She swung her massive axe, cleaving a deformed amphibian in two, its body splattered with foul-smelling pus and blood. "We can use the interstellar missiles! Constantine, you fucking bring the Emperor out here!"

The giant serpent in the clouds continued to lower its body with seemingly slow but actually swift movements.

Just as depicted in ancient murals and sculptures, the serpent's head and body were adorned with dazzlingly vibrant feathers that billowed wildly, even altering the direction of air currents and creating turbulent eddies. Torrential rain, hurricanes, thunderstorms, and earthquakes struck again in an instant, but the emperor remained unmoved. Lightning bolts from the sky spread and crawled across the Shield of Seraphim, the winds of Vatum fought against the hurricanes at his command, and the knights gathered around him fired with their weapons—the emperor raised a silver casket, gleaming with an orange-red molten light and pierced by a dagger, and then time seemed to freeze. The lava ceased its flow, the leaping flames were abruptly frozen in place, and the serpent in the clouds seemed to have crashed into an invisible barrier.

"I know your true name," the emperor shouted. His voice was cold, angry, and disdainful. "You will no longer be my match."

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(End of this chapter)