Out of Space
Chapter 396: The Eternal Emperor

United Nations, Fortress Singapore, Command Bridge

Captain Blake stood watching the UAV feed that was broadcasting the action hundreds of kilometers away attentively. He watched as part of the roof of the castle collapsed inwards and the tiny figures of Marines exiting from the castle in a hurry.

"That doesn't look so good..." He mumbled as he watched the scene.

"Nope, it definitely doesn't look good..." Intelligence Officer Tavor standing next to Blake agreed.

"Damn..." Blake cursed before he made a prayer. "Please don't let it be another God..."

"Chances are quite high it will be some godlike entity..." Tavor said in a matter of fact way. "Considering all the strange powers the Empire has, they do have a very high chance there's a God involved."

"Fuck..." Blake cursed as the image show a strange humanoid creature bursting out from the debris of the collapsed roof. "It is some kind of fucking god again..."

"The men on the ground should be more than enough to handle the God or Hero..." Tavor said confidently. "We had the troops trained in dealing with these... crisis... Just in case of another incident of encountering a hostile God or Hero."

Blake sighed as he leaned on the safety railing before the displays. "I pray that will be enough for the men..."

-----

City of Silverton, Citadel

Major Joseph made his way out with the Marines as the explosives went off behind them. They emerged from the smoke and out of the main doors of the castle and quickly turned around to re engage the flesh abominations that had survived and still chasing them.

The heavy gunfire managed to pop the remaining flesh abominations into bursts of blood and gore before they even managed to exit the castle. The Marines continued to remain warily as they nervously eyed the exit of the castle for the strange featured creature to appear.

Joseph turned to his radioman and asked, "Check with the other Battalions of their position! We need all the firepower we can get! And tell the reserves to bring up all the heavy weapons and special equipment! We are gonna need them!"

Suddenly the ruins of the castle roof rumbled and cracked. A feathered creature broke out from the ruins and hovered over the castle before it looked down at the Marines with crazed looking eyes. Its arm wings flapped so fast that it became a blur. The creature cocked its head to the side and shrieked, "WORMS! YOU BARBARIAN WORMS! I SHALL FEAST ON YOUR FLESH!"

The Marines quickly fired their weapons at the creature which dodged nimbly in the air. The few lucky shots only made the creature's magic barrier flare up without any other effects. Joseph cursed as he waited for reinforcements as they need a lot more fire power to break that creature's barrier and kill it.

The giant deformed Hummingbird appeared to be warily of their guns as it sought to dodge their attacks. The concentrated gun fire barely managed to keep the creature at bay as it flew around in glee, toying with the Marines as it sought to replace a weakness.

"Tyrier!" Joseph yelled to the Claymore One leader. "Any tricks to get that thing down on the ground?"

"Hold one, Sir!" Tyrier yelled back before turning to Hitsu. "Get the net gun out!"

Hitsu nodded and dug into his bag of holding before retrieving a stubby tube with a pistol grip. "I am gonna need some cover, guys!"

"Got it!" Tyrier nodded. "Everyone distract that flying piece of shit!"

"Ready?" Tyrier leaned out from cover and aimed his weapon at the creature who was darting here and there in mid air. "FIRE!"

The extra fire power managed to distract the Hummingbird as it swerved in the air wildly, allowing Hitsu who carried the net gun to approach it. The Hummingbird was flying around the height of roughly 10 meters in the air where Hitsu gauged it was the best opportunity he can make do.

Hitsu readied the net gun which was part of the hooman's original non lethal arsenal. He raised it as high as he could stretch his hands up and fired as he judged the position the creature would appear at. Like a party popper, except much louder and with a stronger kick, the CO2 compressed gas inside the tube tossed the folded net out.

The force of the gas sent the weighted ends of the twirling outwards and the net which could cover an area as large as a jeep spread out. But the net missed and it alarmed the Hummingbird which swooped away angrily, shrieking. "Damn worms! You barbarians shall never defeat me!"

With this sentence, the Hummingbird flew away towards the walls at the bottom of the slope. It charged towards the dumbstruck remains of the Imperial soldiers still holding out at the walls and attacked them.

"After it!" Joseph ordered. "Don't let it make more of those abominations!"

The troops ran down the slope hurriedly, but they were too late. The Hummingbird had managed to turn several unlucky Imperial soldiers into more flesh monstrosities, and those monsters were dragging their previous comrades out to be sacrificed to the Hummingbird.

"How many more shots you have for that net gun?" Tyrier asked Hitsu as they ran down the slope to join the Marines.

"Two... more... shots!" Hitsu panted as he caught up with Tyrier. He eyed the creature using its stubby clawed feet to grab a flailing Imperial before stabbing downwards with its super long beak and drinking the Imperial like some kind of packaged drink.

"It is moving too fast!" Hitsu stated as he stopped to take a breather. "Hard to gauge where to shoot it!"

"No..." Tyrier frowned before he pointed to the creature. "There is a way..."

"How?" Hitsu asked as he checked the load of his net gun.

"We just have to wait for him to grab someone..." Tyrier said in a cold voice. "That's our only chance!"

"Wait..." Hitsu looked up and stared at Tyrier. "You mean to sacrifice the Imperials to it?"

"Yes," Tyrier nodded. "Its the only time it slows down enough for you to hit it with the net gun!"

"Damn... that cold even for you!" Hitsu sighed as he got ready to sprint towards the creature again.

"You want to use our boys instead?" Tyrier glared at Hitsu who bobbed his head to cede the point. "The rest will support Hitsu!"

"You two know what to do right?" Tyrier gestured to Altied and Tavel who both had an RPG - 1 tube over their backs. "Alright, let's go!"

"Shit... you guys better cover me from those... super sized... things!" Hitsu said as he ran across the courtyard to get in range of the Hummingbird. He made a beeline towards a row of small ornamental bushes while praying that no one accidentally shot him in the back as machine gun tracers and whizz of bullets flew around him.

The rest of Claymore One followed him, keeping their bodies low as they crouch ran across the courtyard littered with debris and bodies. The Marines kept up their fire, trying to tag the Hummingbird and at the same time, shooting at the newly created flesh monsters.

The surviving Imperial soldiers finally broke as they witnessed the feathered creature turning their comrades into wilted bodies before turning them into some bloated monster. They dropped their weapons and shields, some even tried to shred their armor as they abandoned the walls and strongpoints.

Some attempted to fight off the Hummingbird, only to get picked up by it and snacked on. The Marines couldn't really help the Imperials. They instead ignored those running and focused their fire at the Hummingbird.

Suddenly there was a burst of gunfire from the city as reinforcements from the other Battalions that were pacifying the remaining Imperials arrived. They added their weight of fire at the Hummingbird and its magic barrier started pulsing as more and more bullets hit it.

The men of Claymore One managed to hide among the ornamental plants and they laboriously crawled their way towards the Hummingbird inch by inch. Finally, Hitsu judged the distance to be there, raised his net gun up again.

He followed the darting movements of the Hummingbird and waited patiently for it to swoop down to grab a Imperial hiding within the watchtower. The Hummingbird hovered over an opening of the tower and suddenly dart forward, its long beak piercing through the back of the platemail of an Imperial soldier.

The soldier screamed as he was yanked out from the tower and dangled weakly as his body was sucked dry by the Hummingbird. Hitsu without hesitation, squeezed the trigger and the net gun fired, flinging the net out.

The shot was not accurate but close enough, as a couple of weighted ends landed over the right wing of the Hummingbird. Due to the speed of its wings, the weighted ends were dragged into and the net tangled up its wing.

The Hummingbird gave out a surprised shrill, dropping the shriveled up corpse and without one wing, it could only drop like a brick. Tyrier pushed himself up and yelled, "HIT IT!"

Both Altied and Tavel shouldered their RPG - 1 and fired in just a second apart. The loud double thunderclap of the two rockets hitting the magic barrier was followed by a chest thumping shockwave. The rest of Claymore One joined in by firing their own personnel weapons at the shocked creature.

The rest of the Marines seeing the creature downed roared out in triumphant and unloaded every arsenal they had in their hands. Rocket after rocket slammed into the barrier while machine gun tracers seemed to converge all at the same spot as the MG teams focused all their fire at the monster.

Suddenly a glow of light flashed out from the downed creature, forcing everyone to cry out in pain as they were nearly blinded. As their vision recovered, they saw the blinding figure of the Hummingbird standing up from within the cloud of smoke.

"YOU... DARE HARM THIS EMPEROR?!" The Hummingbird stretched its wings and for a moment, seemed to float into the air. The Hummingbird tilted its head up towards the sky and said in a shrill voice, "EYE... OF... THE... SUN!!!"

A bright flash burst out from the skies as an glowing eye appeared above the Hummingbird. "YOU FILTHY BARBARIANS! YOU DARE DEFILE MY SACRED BODY? YOU ALL SHALL PAY IN FLESH AND BLOOD!!!"

Those Marine who were further back recovered their sight faster and resume their gunfire at the glowing Hummingbird. The lead bullets appeared to slam into an invisible field and glowed cherry red for a second before vanishing. The 70 mm rockets from the RPGs fared slightly better as each hit rocked the Hummingbird.

Irritated by the constant hits on its magic barrier that made its insides hurt, the Hummingbird landed on the ground and raised one arm wing before sweeping it down towards a group of Marines. Instantly a glowing orange white slash burst out and slammed into the Marines at a super fast speed.

Screams and cries were cut short as the Marines were chopped in half by the Sun Blade. Their uniforms and combustibles burst into flames while their wounds were immediately cauterized by the extreme heat. The Marines seeing their own taken down by that attack quickly warned the rest. "TAKE COVER!"

The Hummingbird threw out another couple more Sun Blades, making the Marines scramble for cover. Those that ran too slow died quickly while those that were too close to the Sun Blades, suffered third degree burns. They rolled and screamed as their uniforms and gear melted over flesh that was flash cooked.

"Spread out! Don't cluster together!" The enraged Marines quickly disperse before they heroically stood their ground and returned fire their weapons at the glowing Hummingbird. "KILL IT!"

"KAKAKAKAKAKAKAA!" The Hummingbird shrilled out in ecstasy at the cries of dying and fear. "FEAR ME YOU BARBARIAN WORMS! BOW BEFORE ME!"

"FOR I AM THE ETERNAL EMPEROR!"