The Luminous Empire's Reprisal

The war between the Luminous Empire and the Eclipse Empire was not something weird, and not many nations cared. After all, the two superpowers were always in a state of conflict, and every time they would go to war, it wouldn't change the power balance in the world. Even the Luminous Empire itself only thought of this war as a way of testing it's new Gryphon armor, and no one even considered that things might escalate to such an unbelievable extent.

The first news that shocked the entire world was the disastrous defeat of the Eclipse Empire, and the effectiveness of the new armor. But before the people could calm down, another more astonishing piece of news spread, the Eclipse Emperor Akhamenid the second was killed in the battle!

Suddenly everyone was paying very close attention to this war, and they all thought one thing; 'The Eclipse Empire is going to suffer greatly this time!' And they began to scheme ways to take a piece of the large pie, none more so than the luminous emperor Octavian!

The moment he received the news from his brother Marcus he ordered 40,000 fresh troops to reinforce him. Octavian was beyond happy, and kept dreaming of conquering large amounts of land in the north of the Eclipse Empire, and he even harbored the faintest of hope to be able to capture Abaddin, and all it's invaluable natural resources!

And who could blame him? The two empires had been at each others throats for hundreds of years, and dozens of emperors have tried and failed to conquer the Iron City of Abaddin. This could make him not only a hero of the people, but his name might also be added to the long list of the greatest emperors in the history of the Luminous Empire!

But even though Octavian was narcistic, he was no fool. He could also look past his own ego, and see that if he succeeded he would be able to use Abaddin as a springboard for future invasions into the Eclipse Empire. He could already see his armies ravaging the lands of the Eclipse Empire, he even believed that conquering Ekleposus wasn't out of the reach! Just imagining himself sitting on the throne of the Eclipse Empire made his heart beat so fast it sounded like a galloping horse.

But who would have thought that less than a week after Octavian had reached the most joyful moment in his life, he would fall to his lowest point ever. A few days after he received the news of the great victory, the news of not only the horrifying massacre in the south, but also the capture of his younger brother arrived, stunning him along with the nation. But if that had been the end of it, it would have been fine. Since all he had to do was sue for peace and pay an appropriate amount for his brother's release, and everything would be fine. But his expectations were ruthlessly extinguished!

A few days ago when he was talking to his ministers and generals, about the war and how best to end the war in a way that was beneficial to their empire, an elegant letter suddenly arrived from the Eclipse Empire. He and his ministers all showed satisfied smiles when they saw the message, believing that it was their peace offers, along with their ransom demands for Grand Duke Marcus, but what they read both baffled and terrified them!

The letter was written by Alexander the Third, the newest emperor of the Eclipse Empire, and the architect of the disaster they suffered in the south. Reading the name Octavian scoffed, and opened the letter where he found only a single sentence written "It's time we return the favor."

Reading the sentence aloud both Octavian and the men present were confused, but slowly they thought of a hypothesis that they refused to believe. After all, what they thought off hadn't happened in almost a thousand years. But to their misfortune, their fears were confirmed when a man, less than an hour later threw open the doors to the throne room and yelled loudly that the Eclipse Empire was invading with a large army!

Octavian upon hearing this was stupefied, since he never thought he would ever have to deal with a situation like this, unless it was in a history test when he was still young, since the last emperor to deal with an invasion from the Eclipse Empire was his great grandfather! But he quickly regained his bearing and said with a voice that radiated with the pride, authority and glory of the sun itself "Send an emissary to Emperor Alexander requesting he stop his invasion in return for favorable peace conditions, and also have the emissary scout the army's size and equipment."

Ever since then, Octavian had been stuck in council meetings, listening to his ministers and generals bicker back and forth like children over the course of actions they should take. Meanwhile Octavian was still waiting for the reply of his emissary, and was also attempting to figure out the type of person his new opponent was, and while he was doing so, a man slammed open the pure gold door to the throne room, and said loudly "My emperor, the Eclipse Empire's emperor has rejected your peace offers without even listening to them!"

Hearing this an overly excited general says loudly "See my liege! I told you those savages can't be reasoned with, they will only understand when we once again show them their place!"

Another minister supported this by saying "I agree, sire. We already have 40,000 men in the south and we can easily reinforce them with double that number, and the foolish Eclipse Empire soldiers would run away with their tails between their legs, like the dogs they are."

Hearing this many of the hot blooded men roared in agreement. But Octavian was no fool, one of the first lessons he learned as an emperor was to never underestimate an enemy, and Octavian would especially not underestimate this one. Slowly Octavian was beginning to get a better picture of his opponent, and that image greatly displeased him. The incompetence and cowardly attitude of the last few Eclipse Emperors was the greatest blessing the Luminous Empire had, but now Octavian could tell that the new emperor was the worst possible enemy to have.

He couldn't help but think 'A bold and ruthless general, a cunning and guileful politician, and an ambitious and ingenious man. A perfect emperor! And all before he reached adulthood. It appears that the Eclipse Empire will no longer be ruled by a paper tiger that can be moved however we blow him. It seems that a true apex predator has once again claimed the black throne of the south!'

When he thought that, he couldn't help but begrudgingly acknowledge 'And it was nonother than US who put that apex predator on the throne.'

Coming out of his thoughts, his ears were once again filled with the voices of his ministers arguing. Not being able to take it anymore he activated his divine power, as his short golden hair began to glow, looking like it was replaced with golden flames, small wisps of fire seamed to start dancing on his skin, creating a mesmerizing effect, as his golden eyes shone like they were the sun itself.

Feeling their emperor's tyrannical might and pressure they quieted down. Seeing this he deactivated his power and said calmly "Gentlemen, this is not the time to quarrel like children, our nation is at risk. This endless bickering achieves nothing." Hearing their emperor's reprimand, they all lowered their heads in shame.

Octavian nodded upon seeing this and said "I will now listen to your council."

But before they could the door of the room was once again slammed open and a man wrapped in so many bandages that he looked like he had just escaped from a sarcophagus, came in and immediately bowed and said weakly "My emperor, excuse my improper attire, but I have an important message to deliver."

Looking at the bandaged man all the ministers and generals in the room were confused of who he was, and how he had even entered the palace. But it was at that moment that a man skeptically asked with a hesitant voice "...Titus?" Upon hearing this, all the men looked more carefully at the disheveled mummy, and indeed discovered that it was indeed Titus, the second in command of Grand Duke Marcus.

Upon seeing this Octavian quickly asks "Titus? How are you alive? We were told that all the men were killed, and that only my brother was captured alive."

Hearing this Titus said in a voice that showed all his pain and frustration "His lordship Marcus, along with the Gryphon Knights created a diversion for me to be able to escape, so that I may deliver to you a message from the Grand Duke himself."

Seeing his miserable state everyone who still doubted all the reports of the horror, and bloodiness of the battle were forced to believe it, as they thought 'If even after the Grand Duke acted as a diversion, he still was injured to this degree, doesn't this mean that the reports down played the brutality of the battle!'

Octavian quickly urged him to say it, and he obliged "My lord the army we face is no ordinary force. It's the personal army of the Eclipse Empire."

Hearing this the men were shocked since they thought the Eclipse Empire had managed to gather some extra troops they had near the capital, and no one thought that they actually moved their greatest fighting strength! But Titus wasn't done.

"Not only that, my liege, but Hamilcar Seth and Sodarus Indra have also been dispatched with the army!" If the last piece of news shocked them, this one petrified them. And they started rebuking him loudly, with fear evident in their voices.

"Martial Demon Hamilcar Seth, and Storm Lord Sodarus Indra!"

"IMPOSSIBLE!"

"You lie, Titus! Those ancient devils haven't joined any wars in over a thousand years."

"That's right! You just want to justify why you lost so miserably!"

"Indeed! Stop spouting lies Titus!"

Titus was bombarded from all sides by insults, but he said nothing and kept his down.

"SILENCE!" Octavian roared while activating his full power, silencing the hall instantly.

"Titus has risked his life to tell us this, and he would gain nothing from lying to us." Upon hearing this Titus showed a thankful smile and then allowed his body to finally collapse from his intense pain.

"Take him to the royal doctor this instant. He may still have information that might aid us." Octavian said after seeing him collapse.

After Titus was taken from the throne room, Octavian wanted to speak but the door was once again violently opened and Octavian thought angrily 'Would you stop opening the door like that?! Do you have any idea how expensive a pure gold door is?'

The man didn't notice his emperor's anger and quickly said "My liege, news has just arrived from our spies in the Eclipse Empire, and they say that they only have a month's worth of supplies for this war!"

Hearing this the men were first stunned, and then they began to mock and laugh at the foolishness of the Eclipse Empire, and their new Emperor. Immediately their impression of Alexander turned from a formidable opponent to a young and reckless child. Only Octavian felt even more dread than before.

He didn't believe the one responsible for their defeat would make such a stupid decision, especially if Hamilcar Seth, and Sodarus Indra are by his side. 'They must have a plan.' Octavian concluded.

So he chose his next course of action and said authoritatively "Mobilize 80,000 men from my personal army to reinforce the 40,000 men we have in the south, and order Grand General Georgios Gripa to immediately head south to lead the army against the Eclipse Empire."

The throne room was stupefied as they heard their emperor, while he thought viciously 'I don't know what you're planning, thus making me unable to counter it, so you leave me with no choice but to crush you with overwhelming strength!'

Little did he know how wrong he would be proven in the coming days.