Atlas Chapter 1 - Prologue (Patreon)

Somewhere in the Amazonian Rainforest

In the dense woods of the Amazonian Rainforests, birds were singing, and life was thriving as always, completely unaware of what was happening down there.

On the moist soil, the mist that usually emerged in the early morning was right now being dispersed by the power of engines from vehicles that were going through the dense forests of the Amazon.

On the ground, among the densely packed trees, several SATO APCs and Kronos-Class APCs were in convoy; there were more than fifteen of such vehicles. On top of the convoy, there was something that appeared to be a tank, more precisely, a T-600 Titan Tank.

On all sides of the convey, there were several tens of Hoverbikes with soldiers sitting upon them, protecting the convoy from all sides. All of the Armored Personnel Carriers were heavily armed, created with the best technology and weapons available in this age.

"This is Sergeant Avery to Captain Gideon; we have found the target."

In one of the Kronos-Class APCs, one of the soldiers picked up the call.

"Hear that Sergeant. Stop the convoy, secure the perimeter."

Captain Gideon was tall, around 1.78 meters, with black hair and blue eyes, Union Jack Tattoo on his lower neck, and wearing Exoskeleton Armor like everyone else within the group of armed soldiers sitting in the APC.

After that, several tens of soldiers, all clad in combat uniforms and Exoskeleton Armors, wearing armbands that had a dark red "Λ" inverted V symbol, and the words "ATLAS Corporation" are embroidered below started jumping out from the APC vehicles and securing the perimeter.

After several minutes, Captain Gideon sent out another message when the entire perimeter around the entrance to the ruins that they were searching for was finally secured.

"This is Alpha-01 to the Command; the area is clear."

Several minutes later, a man exited one of the APCs, though he was different from the soldiers just from a first glance. He was around 1.8 meters tall, wearing a black combat uniform, very reminiscent of that of the rest of the ATLAS soldiery, but more advanced than that.

Compared to the rest of the soldiers, at least most of them, he wasn't covering his face, revealing azure blue eyes and short blonde hair. 

"Sir Barthomeloi."

At the time, the officer who came with "Sir Barthomeloi", wearing exactly the same protection armor as the man who appeared to be the leader of the entire operation, asked as he looked at Captain Gideon.

"What exactly is going on? So, important that it requires your personal visit."

The man also wore something akin to a Gas Mask over his face and every single part of his armor seemed to be far more mechanized that rest of the average ATLAS soldiery.

"You should have more patience, HUNK, like VECTOR there..."

Barthomeloi pointed at the man who was similarly clothed and armored like HUNK but was just standing there silently, observing the surroundings while he had one of his hands on his weapon, while the other in the distance of his combat knife.

Captain Gideon looked at the smiling Sir Barthomeloi, who was smiling at the American captain. Who was as confused as possible, one had to admit.

Imu Nerona Barthomeloi...

The founder, sole owner, President, and CEO of Atlas Corporation personally went to the depths of the Amazon Rainforest to search for god knows what in the ruins, which were several centuries old and could fall down at any moment.

"Sir, Sir! The ruins are there... exactly as it was written there! We found it! We found it!"

The experts and researchers affiliated with Atlas Corporation were overjoyed that their suspicions had been confirmed and even talked about creating some scientific miracles and confirming the existence of the supernatural.

As for Imu Nerona Barthomeloi, who organized and planned the operation, he frowned slightly and stared at the entrance to the ruins not far away with a complicated expression.

Because that "stone door" was the last lead that he obtained, the last lead about the existence of the supernatural in this world. 

In fact, Imu Nerona Barthomeloi wasn't native to this world, but rather he was something that was scientifically called a "Reincarnator". He was born in London approximately 160 years ago to a family of fallen aristocrats.

In his first life, he was a professional soldier from the Black Units of the U.S. Army, where he was tasked carrying out unsanctioned operations in the hardest conditions and so on. One day, when he was returning from the local military base, ironically though, he was hit by truck.

A truck...

He survived shitton of battlefields, wars, combat operations, and so on, and he died in a stupid car accident. 

This was a rather ironic death...

Surviving in the London 19th Century was shit, so when he could, he got onto a ship and sailed to the United States. Unfortunately for him, during the time he was on the sea, he was caught by the storm and woke up on the shores of the continent.

He lived in the border town, near Washington D.C., for a few years before he went to the West with colonists. In the West, he utilized his experiences and military doctrines in hunting criminals, bandits, and other unsavory individuals for bounties on their heads. 

In the summer of 1845, he moved to the south of the future USA, because it was near the Mexican-American War. Just a few years before that, he used all of his money to establish a weapon manufacturing company in Washington and started selling weapons to the U.S. Army. 

He even enlisted in the U.S. Army to make military exploits for himself in that Era, and due to his superior knowledge and strategies, he achieved several remarkable victories. Using his newly obtained fame and position as U.S. Army General, he obtained a lot of contracts for his company.

Effectively becoming a very, very rich person. 

He used this newly found wealth to buy several very important locations within Texas that had oil, basically buying practically all large reserves that he remembered from his past life. After the Republic of Texas was annexed by the United States in 1845, it was rather easy to buy all the lands that he wanted with his power and influence within the states.

He also started adopting orphans, especially males with potential. He took care of them and gave them food, clothing, a roof over their heads, and education; after that, it wasn't that hard to obtain loyal personnel.

Sometime after the end of the American Civil War, he established a private security company that was in charge of sheltering all of the Barthomeloi family's companies and investments within the United States of America.

Twenty years later, the world came to the beginning of the twentieth century.

Imu Nerona Barthomeloi II. not only owned several weapon manufacturing companies but also several Oil Fields in Texas and Oklahoma, two gold mines, three copper mines, and an enormous complex in the Arklay Mountains in Arklay County in the midwest of the USA.

In 1914, the First World War broke out on the old continent after the Heir to the Austria-Hungary Empire throne was assassinated in Sarajevo. Soon enough, the entire Europe was embroiled in a brutal conflict and war that was bloodier and more savage than anything seen before.

Imu Nerona Barthomeloi III., who had gradually stepped from the front stage to the backstage, used some connections to obtain official Federal Permission before World War I and began to sell arms, medicine, and daily necessities to European countries.

In the same year, he also merged and fused all of the companies under the Barthomeloi Family and their subsidies, all weapon manufacturing companies, and every single private security company or mercenary company into the ATLAS Corporation.