Horus bent down to his knee and glared at the crystal. One of the repair mechanisms hopped off his armour onto Draven's outstretched arm, then dropped back down, unable to hang onto it. It climbed back on Horus.
This substance, it seems, was really what he needed, after all. Wait... could it be?
He looked at the glyphs in his armour, glowing purplishly. Most of them he knew what they meant... others he had an idea of... but the one symbol he has never been able to even vaguely understand has caught his attention once again. It was a figure of a dragon with four wings, with a sword in the background. He noticed the same pattern on Draven...
Horus looked at the man. He understood his speech, but he had no way to reply. Battle was the only language he knew. He put his maul down before Draven, its magnitude almost hiding the man, and lay back down. Few repairs were still in need to be made, and although Horus did not feel time, his unexpected helpers probably did. He powered himself down, allowing the reparation mechanisms to do their job unhindered.
--- --- ---
The grand armies were marching through the lands of the Crimson Continent. They were ripping through the terrain like a spear through flesh. Wherever the legion under the seal of Kandarin passed, nothing remained other than charred, scarred land. Thankfully, they were not that far in their conquest...
...yet.
Division Odin was conquering a small castle, its defences completely inferior to the might of Kandarinian war machines. The clockwork scorpions were launching heavy projectiles at the walls, crumbling them. One of the mechanical abominations managed to crawl inside the castle. One was very much enough.
The castle gave in almost immediately after that. People were falling down with gruesome-looking spears fixed through their bodies. Their red-hot passion for defending their families, their battle yells and their weapons could not stand up to the cold speargun-like weapons that the Kandarian troops used. Others were getting ripped to shreds by the clockwork scorpions' claws, reluctant to waste ammo on such a small bother.
---
Division Dva was still advancing through the plains. Having shredded through a few small hamlets only made them angrier, and they continued marching onto their next target: a nearby town, which Kronos has labelled for destruction. It would seem that there are rather powerful entities in there, which Kronos detected. There must not be anyone more powerful than Kronos. No one.
---
Division Tri has just destroyed a large village, perhaps even a township. It was rather amusing: after the walls were torn down, the villagers got scared and ran into a nearby church to pray. The clockwork scorpions massed up around the church in a tight circle, with nothing but fires and corpses around them. The commanding officer of the Tri division stepped up onto one of the war machines, and, after clearing his throat, began preaching:
-"Sacred is our Lord; Sacred is our Master. Those who wish to live and embrace lord Kronos-"
A general sigh of fear broke the silence. The higher-ranking officers were one of the few who could pronounce his name.
-"lord Kronos, come out now."
A few people appeared from the side of the church. They were visibly scared.
-"We accept lord Kronos!"
The officer... laughed.
-"HAR! Fire at will!"
The small church was levelled almost instantly. The scorpions didn't even shoot, they just walked over it. Their legs (?) were splattered with blood, and loose bodies were hanging from a few. The sharp ends on the legs really did pay off...
The officer continued.
-"We do not want anyone who changes sides this easily. However, their loyalty will greatly improve once they are touched by the Lord's essence, letting them live once more."
---
Division Chetire was repleneshing their supplies, after a somewhat tough battle. The fort they were assaulting proved to be surprisingly well-armed.
After losing a hundred or so warriors, the entire army backed off and just let their war machines do the job. The scorpions' armour was invulnerable to the arrows and stones thrown from the fort; the larger rocks fired from ballistas and catapults put dents in their somewhat rusty armour, nothing beyond that. Most of the projectiles were either deflected by the scorpions' tough carapace, or shot down in the air with heavy round cannonballs, fired from their tail cannons.
Once the initial defences were overthrown, the rest was pathetically easy. The major populace of the fort were surprisingly peaceful civilians. The soldiers, after toying with the people, flayed them (skinned), and hung them upside down from the fort's crumbling walls. The soldiers that were not busy repleneshing resources from the fort's plentiful supply piles were drawing a large version of the Kandarinian symbol on the town hall - in blood, of course.
---
Division Piat encountered no resistance along their way at all. They, along with divisions Sheist and Vyosem, were to arrive at a Crimson-controlled fortress labelled on the maps as "North Point". They will start by offering peace to the commanders of the place, and if they will not get a satisfactory answer, they will assault the fortress from three sides. Splitting is often the most effective way to take down large targets.
---
Division Sedmoi, Deviat and Desiat were regrouping with each other, sharing supplies and men. All three divisions were almost undamaged, but due to their proximity to each other, they decided to meet together. Having three large forces meet, all from the same command, did miracles for the morale.
The least damaged of all ten divisions was Sedmoi. After crawling up to their target, they realized that they had a huge advantage. The settlement they were ordered to attack was in somewhat of a natural basin. They stationed their scorpion machines around the edges of the basin and began bombarding the settlement with cannonballs. The civilians rushed out of the burning remains, only to be greeted by cold spears through their hearts. The Sedmoi soldiers were always wary of such things, as insignificant as they may seem.
--- ---
"I was beholding the glorious battles that my warriors were waging (and winning!), when I got a telepathic message from Roland.
-"My lord. It seems that Sizri have unlocked the power of the orbs you gave them. Perhaps it would be wise to see it for yourself."
With a deep sigh, I phase-shifted, and floated through the floor, down through the seemingly endless halls of my grim palace, and out to the door. This is going to take some time..."
