16 First Conquest
I got a lot of help from Oversimplified—truly a marvellous YouTube channel.
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Another decade had passed. Tensions have started to rise in the surroundings. The Roman Republic is getting bolder and the Gauls don't like that. They also don't like what I am doing, helping the hundreds of villages all around the Alpes. I tried to keep the number of villages rather low for now. I will expand as soon as my army is ready. After finally succeeding with my first Unit of Spartans, which I will now call Spartan-I, I have been going over what I learned in smithing and the creation of weapons and armour.
The Spartan MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor System was still too advanced for me to create. So I did something different. Taking inspiration from the Adeptus Custodes, I started to recreate that armour. Of course, replicating it would be impossible, but I could come somewhat close. I tried to recreate some of the more powerful metals from fiction like I did with Adamantine, but it didn't work out so well. The reason for this was that Adamantine is basically a magic-conducting metal, that is just very powerful. There is not that much theoretical knowledge necessary, because I have magic.
But creating something like Vibranium, Adamantium, let alone auramite-alloy is still not possible for me. I will need to do more research and then use magic to achieve the desired effect. So not yet invincible super soldiers. But compared to the current time, I already have that.
The Spartan-I's have been undergoing extensive training over these 10 years. At first, I put them through a series of simulations that were meant to give them the necessary attributes I was looking for. They are fiercely loyal, proud of their 'history', and have powerful wills. They will never give up or betray me, that is something I made sure of by having them sign a special magical contract. Should they ever think of betrayal, they will die and their body will be teleported back to 'Eagle Eye'.
I made sure to keep the Spartan-I as humans. I didn't want machines, I wanted humans. So I instilled those values into them. Not all is allowed in war, not under my watch. Killing the enemy is alright, but being able to tell who the enemy is and make independent decisions is imperative for those under my rule. Killing innocents such as civilians is a no-go.
I took my time with this part of the Spartan's training. If they were to encounter a group of female warriors and attack their unit, then they would be the enemy. It doesn't matter if they were female. But even a man could be a civilian and to be able to make that decision is hard, so I had them undergo massive amounts of simulations, to get the desired outcome.
Now they wouldn't fall for any female seduction, as I took away their desires for such things. They would never ever harm children and even young teenagers were a no-go for them. They will never rape or even touch civilians. There will be no senseless killing. I also added a kill switch to their brains that would activate, should they ever go against something like that. If that ever happens, they will die.
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The armour was finished. I tried to create the armour by hand and use magic to help me forge it. After many trials and errors, I succeded in creating something like reinforced steel armour. I managed to make it quite light, to allow the Spartans to move freely and quickly. They were already more powerful than many men combined so they would be beasts on the battlefield.
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I made the armour golden, as they were to be my guard, at least for now. I will use their genetic information when they die to create something better than they were. This way, I will make them stronger over the years and never stagnate in this regard. I have created a very useful analytics spell, 'Historiae Analysis'. This special spell, allows me to view the genome of both humans and animals or magical beasts and find out their defects, advantages and more. It is like reading a report of all the genomes.
But ... this only works for the chromosomes I have already understood completely. I will have to do a lot of research to advance in this field and create truly powerful units.
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Things were beginning to grow more intense. The second Punic war was about to start and I was also going to enter the mix. The Romans have some of the northern Italy territory, that belongs to me ... or will belong to me. Yes, that's right. So in order to do something about that, I will start my Conquest very soon. But for now, I will first strengthen the villages I already have under my control.
Over the years, I have apparated to the villages and helped them fight off opposing forces, mostly the Gauls and Goths. They thought they could take advantage of my hard work and the rather lacking military strength in the growing villages. I had to put an end to that. And the way I did that, was rather smart. I didn't kill them all, instead, I killed their leaders and then used the 'confundus dust', to make them loyal as well.
That way the villages grew much bigger and could expand and prosper in only 20 years. All the weapons the enemy forces had were taken from them and used to improve the military of each village. This way, my villages were growing more powerful in both military might and infrastructures and food supply.
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Hannibal had risen to command the Carthages and he was doing a good job. I can tell that the tensions are very high right now and if my history knowledge doesn't fail me, the Second Punic War is about to start.
Saguntum had been declared under Rome's protection. This clearly went against the Ebro River Treaty. Rome was deliberately trying to interfere with Hannibal's Spanish expansion and used Saguntum to maintain a staging post for a future war with Carthage.
Using magic, I can get all the information I need without anyone knowing about it. My Leglimency has grown truly powerful and I believe that soon, I will be able to unlock something.
Hannibal saw this alliance as another example of Roman arrogance, which of course it is. They made the Carthages pay tons of money, stole their islands and now ally themselves with Saguntum. Both Rome and Carthage are gearing up and preparing for a war and if my divination is to be believed, it will happen very soon.
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And just as I foresaw, the genius population of Saguntum decided to raid into Carthaginian territory. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. Hannibal ... besieged the city of Saguntum. So this gives me the year we find ourselves in, 218 BCE.
War has been declared and now I know what will happen next. The Romans sent Consul Longus to sail straight to Carthage and try to burn the city to the ground. The more interesting thing for me, Consul Scipio will want to head over to Iberia and confront Hannibal. And that's what I will use to announce my presence to the board.
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I observed the army of Hannibal cross the Pyrenees. Then they had to pass through Southern Gaul, which was filled with tribes that were hostile to Hannibal's forces. I watched as Hannibal's forces were forced to fight their way through and incurred hefty losses before they reached my territory and the Alps.
In the area of today's Marseille, Scipio, who was on his way to Iberia discovered Hannibal was right on his doorstep. This caused Hannibal's journey to become a race. He rushed to get his army across the river Rhone and managed to slip through Scipio's fingers.
The Consul Scipio sent his men onto Iberia as planned, while he himself rushed home to raise a new army so that if Hannibal survived the crossing, he would be there waiting for him.
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I waited for Hannibal's forces in the south of today's Grenoble—the place where I had foreseen Hannibal and his army reaching the Alpes. And finally, I could see the army approaching. I was waiting there with my 100 Spartan-I's for them. Waiting for this moment allowed me to create armour for myself as well. Keeping up with the theme of my army, I wanted to go with something similar to what the Emperor of Mankind had, but not as bulky. Sadly that wouldn't be just yet.
I had become more muscular over the years. During the time I was busy with the creation of my Spartan-I units, I created a gravity spell, by reversing the Levitation Charm, 'Wingardium Leviosa'. It was easier than I expected. I was getting much better at spell creation and runes.
So using the gravity spell, I managed to increase the gravity on my body equally and adapted to it over time. This made me much stronger and also more bulky, but still as defined as before. So the armour had a similar style as the Spartans did, with one major difference ... mine was black with purple mixed into it.
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I wanted to use something that would strike fear into the hearts of my enemies. And this was the best I could do for now. The material was Adamantine, unlike the Spartan armour. As for my weapon ... I finally managed to create my flaming sword and the spear, I wanted.
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That was also one of the reasons, why it took me so long to get ready for our first conquest. The way both my sword and spear worked, was that my Phoenix wand would turn into both the sword and the spear respectively, when I wanted it to. So I only have to carry around my wand, which then can turn into either a giant sword or a spear.
But now I was ready and just in time, to see Hannibal approach us with his forces. They stopped a distance away and a delegation was sent forward to find out whether we were enemies or not. After the fighting in southern Gaul, they will want to avoid losing any more men.
"Greetings. We are the Carthage forces of the great Hannibal Barkas. Can you understand us?", the messenger asked me as I was sitting there listening to him. The Spartans looked menacing and they were indeed. Their height was taller than anyone else during that time. Standing at 1.90 meters with powerful armour. And then there was me, approaching the 2-meter mark in height, in all black and purple armour. They were afraid ... and that was for a reason.
"I can understand you, messenger. However, I don't want to talk to you but your leader. If you would tell him to come here, I will continue."
"Y-you see, the great leader of ... ah, we aren't here for war with you, but the Romans. We would only like to pass the mountains."
"You are in the presence of His Majesty, Neoth, he already said what he wanted. Now go and get your leader, or face the consequences.", one of the Spartans spoke, intimidating the messenger.
"I understand. Please excuse me."
The messenger left and after a while, Hannibal, together with a group of guards approached and finally reached our position. I finally stood up and walked towards him as well. When I was in front of him, I looked him over.
"You are Hannibal, yes?"
"That is correct, who may you be?"
"I am Neoth, ruler of the Alps and the territory surrounding it. I understand you want to cross the Alps to attack Rome. Do you still want to do that? It is getting colder."
"I want to do it. The arrogance of the Romans has consequences. We will pass the mountains and attack them directly. With or without you agreeing to it."
"Oh is that so? You wouldn't make it without my help. So think before you talk.", I say and hold out my hand. My wand transforms into a great sword and catches fire, causing every one of Hannibal's guards to flinch.
"You either agree to my demands ... or you die."
