Chapter 29 - First Great War (2) (Patreon)

"We are concerned with the future. The victory of the Imperium depends on those who lead and those who serve. That responsibility is ours; that future is ours to bring to pass."

- Imperial Magister Bernar Skrayling of the Psijic Order

*

Psijic Order Codex: Divine Magic and Celestial Order

Celestial Order is one of many Orders of the Psijic Order of Artaeum, and it's devoted to the study and mastery of the Divine Magic. 

The Divine Magic is certainly one of the most peculiar types of Magics, because it shares a lot with the Holy Light, or how it's also called, the Light Magic. Yet on the fundamental basis, the Divine Magic couldn't be more different from the Holy Light.

Light is one of the Great Six Fundamental Forces, and because of that, on a more practical level, the Light itself doesn't have sentience, and anyone with the aptitude for it could use it.

The Divine Magic, on the other hand, is an act of using the power of God in the form of Magic. The Divine Magic is notoriously arduous to execute because the Mage would need to first obtain the Divine Blessing of the God to even be allowed to cast a single spell. 

Next and the greatest problem with the Divine Magic is that only the most powerful of the Mages, mostly only Archmages and Magisters, could cast Divine Magic. Such Magic is not for mortal hands because even if cast by a mortal, the Divine Attributes within the Magic itself are still geniue ones.

Among the Orders of the Psijic Order, the Celestial Order is considered one of the smallest because of the rigid requirements. Despite the low number, the Celestial Order is also one of the strongest Orders of the Psijics, because of the overwhelming power of the Divine Magic itself.

Omitting the fact that every Mage in the Divine Order is master of at least one or two other types of Magic. Many Mages who mastered or learned Divine Magic were already powerful Mages prior to obtaining acess to the Divine Magic itself. The Psijic of the Celestial Order rarely appear on the battlefield, but if they do, then they always possess unparalleled might and power that decides the outcome of the battle.

The Celestial Order often fought against the other Divine Magic users across Azeroth, especially the ones worshipping the Evil Gods and Old Gods. It is a commonly accepted notion that the Divine Magic certainly belongs to one of the most powerful branches of Magic, yet there is nothing free in the world.

Aside from the general harsh requirements for casting the Divine Magic, there are other unspoken requirements for the Divine Magic. Every Divine Mage must obtain the Divine Blessing of their Deity, from which they borrow their power to cast the Divine Magic, and they must withstand the Essence of Divinity flowing through their bodies.

Most fail at this task.

The Essence of Divinity, no matter how small, is not for mortal hands. Even powerful Champions could be reduced to ash or, in the cases of the Evil Gods and Old Gods, mutate into abominations that lose all of their rationality and reason.

Another thing is that one needed not only to obtain the Divine Blessing, but also to be a person of very strong faith in God. This usually excludes most of the Mages, because many of them consider Gods as just another Level of power.

Not beings that are to be worshipped.

Within the Sacred Phoenix Empire, all Divine Mages of the Celestial Order obtain their Divine Magic from the Aeldari Gods. Some of the Gods are more open in giving the Divine Blessing, while some are testing the people with rigid and seemingly impossible tests before they can obtain their Divine Magic.

- Orders of the Psijic written by Loremaster Aethas Sunreaver

***

Security and power were everything.

With the addition of Orbal Technology, a new part was added, stating that firepower is everything.

She knew that rushing into the fight with the Horde was a foolish thing to do... the Horde had both quality and quantity of their troops, and according to Aenarion, who searched in his memories, the Top Tribes were extremely powerful.

The only thing that the Orcs lacked was finesse.

Finesse in equipment, as they were using very crude weapons, or something that seemed even more advanced than that of any nation of Azeroth, which meant they must have looted it.

Finesse in strategy, because they were just rushing into the battlefield without any strategy or thought, as they only cared about the fight. Depending on their strength and numbers, they can push through the enemies and defeat them.

"We need to weaken them as much as possible before the reinforcements from the Homeland arrive. How long till you make the contact, Admiral?"

Esdeath asked as she looked at the projection of Admiral Yueya, to which the woman in question looked at something before answering.

"Something below one hour. They are approaching more quickly than anticipated, most likely due to the lack of armaments on their ships. Which brings the problem... It's highly possible that they would be powerful Warlocks in among their ranks to replace the role of the weapons."

One hour was more than enough for them to prepare against the Orcs and their landing at the Freljord.

Warlocks.

When Esdeath said that, everyone held their breath, because nobody wanted to have Warlocks on the battlefield.

"Is this information confirmed, Your Highness?"

One of the Generals asked as the presence of the Warlocks among the nemeies was an indicator of something more dangerous. For many, it also meant that the enemy would be far more powerful than the initial anticipation had given.

"Yes. It has been detected and confirmed. These ones bear the signature of the Twisting Nether."

For the Psijic Order, it wasn't hard to confirm something like that, because everyone's Magic or Chi was something unique to them. Every Mage could be identified from just bits of his Mana, well... if a person was skilled in such arts, they could precisely tell what the strength of the Mage was, what Magic the person used, and if there were any foreign attributes in the Mana itself.

"If they have Warlocks, it means that they must have very powerful backers..."

Esdeath's father said because Warlocks usually had...

Warlocks were the most volatile and insatiable of spellcasters. Though they often pledged themselves to the service of noble causes and are not innately evil, their desire to understand darker Magics and exercise unwavering command over demonic forces bred mistrust among even their closest allies.

Warlocks peered into the Void without hesitation, leveraging the chaos they glimpse within to devastating ends in battle. Their greatest abilities are fueled by the souls they've harvested from their victims.

They exploit powerful Shadow Magic to manipulate and degrade the minds and bodies of their enemies. They employed Fire magic, dropping hellish rain from the sky, to immolate the opposition. They summoned and commanded indomitable Demons from the Twisting Nether to do their bidding, or even to be sacrificed as the Warlock sees fit, empowering and protecting the dark caster from harm.

Overall, the presence of Warlocks was indeed bad news.

Nevertheless, one hour or so was still enough for the defenses to be prepared in full. Even right now, as they were speaking, approximately half of the preparations were already completed, because in the case of an attack, everyone knew what to do.

Since the Aenarion's Reform, all armed forces have been conducting War Games and Battle Drills in the event of an invasion or attack. Thus, every single soldier and trooper knew exactly what to do in this case.

And based on that, they could easily handle the basic things without the need for the higher-ups to issue the orders as tens of thousands got into their defensive positions or prepared the Orbal Weaponry to welcome their new arrivals.

"Preserve strength and ships. If it becomes inevitable, you are allowed to retreat if the Air Fleet doesn't make it in time. Don't press too much into the ranks of the enemy, even with the low number of armanets on their ships, they are still very dangerous... especially if they board our ships. I will also order Psijics to operate the portal to the Flagship and set you detachment from the Brigade and two Teigu Users."

Teigu. 

That was the name of the weapons that were circulating among the higher-ups of the Sacred Phoenix Kingdom for the past years.

Aenarion knew that in the short term, it would be impossible for the Phoenix Kingdom to approach the Quel'Thalas, Dalaran, or even Stormwind in the numbers of powerhouses because that required time.

Time that they didn't have because of the impending arrival of the Horde to Azeroth.

Thus, he proposed to create weapons.

Power weapons that were a merger of Science, Alchemy, and Orbal Engineering, together with the most powerful metals that Azeroth had to offer, and other exotic materials that were found all across the Eastern Kingdom, or from the Royal Vaults of the Sacred Phoenix Kingdom.

Currently, the Sacred Phoenix Kingdom has created around twenty Teigus, but not every one of them is active, meaning that not everyone has User rights now. The Teigus could bring even an ordinary person to the Hero Level if one was trained in the use of the Teigu after bonding with it.

While the Teigu give their users amazing powers, they are not almighty. Even if a user is strong enough to use a Teigu, it can still reject them, and a user's first impression of it affects their compatibility. The user must be compatible with the Teigu in order to wield it.

Biological Teigu are shown to be capable of regenerating after serious damage, but are not indestructible; if their core is destroyed, then so is the Teigu itself. And they complete the execution of the command even after the death of their owner. Some Teigu have limitations in their usage. Overusing a Teigu has had a variety of consequences.

"Brigadier General Liver Partas and Colonel Daidara would be teleported over through the Portal in the case of boarding or a powerful enemy."

Aenarion obvisuyl didn't give the Teigus to the normal or average person...

No. 

They were distributed acorss some of the strongest people of the Sacred Phoenix Kingdom.

All Teigus could grow and evolve to a certain degree, some to higher, some to smaller.

Nevertheless, if one was compatible, the Teigu would grow with them.

Overall, the Teigus had the potential to reach the Champion Level of power.

Liver Partas was given the Teigu XX: Water Dragon Possession: Black Marlin. It was an Offensive-Type / Support-Type Teigu, which had the ability to control Liquids. For a powerful Waterbender like Liver, it was something that tremendously increased his power.

Daidara was a member of the Partas Tribe, albeit not of the Partas Clan itself. Still, he belonged to one of the most powerful members as he was an utter battlemaniac who only cared about fighting strong opponents.

He was given Teigu IX: Double-Bladed Axe: Belvaac. Offensive-Type Teigu with ridiculous requirements for physical fitness and strength in front of a double-edged axe, which can be split into two axes that can be thrown and will pursue a chosen target until it's hit.

And when it hit the target, it would release tremors through the body of the target... Its power was strong enough to crack apart even the strongest rocks with the tremors.

Even Esdeath had one.

Teigu IV: Demon Sword: Incursio.

Powerful Attack-Type Teigu in the form of a longsword with a chainlink tassel in its form. It was one of the most powerful ones, as remnants of powerful Danger Beasts from the North Pole of Earth were used in its creation. It had the ability to give the User tremendous physical enhancement and evolve itself through the assimilation of killed enemies.

"Then, if we are all decided, execute the orders."

Seeing that no one had anything to add, Esdeath ended the meeting, and everyone went to their assigned positions or completed the tasks they were given. 

Even though Esdeath was rather eager for the war, it would be a lie to say that she herself wasn't nervous about it. She knew well that this time it would be different, as the opponent would be someone even stronger than them.

Despite everything.

Barbarism, technological backwardness, idioticism, and so on...

Horde was stronger than the Sacred Phoenix Kingdom.

They were most probably stronger than even the rest of the Eastern Kingdom, even if they allied with each other. What was rather fortunate was the fact that the Horde couldn't cross into Azeroth in their full power.

That would certainly be catastrophic.

The Horde symbolized the overall collective civilization of the entire world, as there should be tens of millions of Orcs within the Horde, if not more than a hundred million, perhaps even more, but the number was unknown because nobody could really go into the Draenor to check it up.

Esdeath knew that Aenarion himself didn't know, and he was very wary of the Horde's true capabilities. 

But he also told her an interesting piece of news.

If the Vanguard forces are defeated, then the Horde would crumble apart like a house of cards. In fact, he told his wives in private that if they managed to slay a Chieftain of the Horde, then the Horde itself that was on Azeroth would split, and the one in Draenor would most probably dissolve.

According to Esdeath's understanding of the Horde that was brought by Aenarion from his memories, the Horde was a primitive tribal society that was held together by the strength and personal prestige of the leader.

Once that was gone...

Everything would disipatate, and Orcs would return to what they once were.

A bunch of warring clans that hated each other too much and spent their time trying ot kill each other.

Which made dealing with them...

Wider than they initially predicted.

***

Territorial Waters of the Sacred Phoenix Kingdom, Not Far From Freljord, Fleet of the Horde

Their world was dying.

And in the death of their World, the Orcish Clans have turned on each other and waged war for resources, or at least, what has remained of them.

It was then that Gul'dan found this world.

Lush and green.

Vibrant.

Full of life.

Suitable for their race.

Under the leadership of their Warchief Blackhand, the Chieftain of the mighty Blackrock Clan, Gul'dan of the Stormreaver Clan, and Leader of the Shadow Council, the Horde opened the Dark Portal and invaded the new world.

Initially, the plan was to bring around one million Orcs as the vanguard, but fortunately enough, they managed to bring close to 7 million of their people into the new world.

With these numbers, it was clear that the Horde would be victorious. This was good news, because it meant that they wouldn't be pressured into opening the Dark Portal as soon as possible.

The rituals that the Warlocks prepared were always lengthy and required a lot of sacrifices.

On Draenor, there were still tens of millions waiting for the Dark Portal to be opened once again so they could cross into the world.

Every Orc was a warrior. 

Right now, only the Top-Ranking Clans, High-Ranking Clans, and some other strongest factions of the Horde participated in the first wave.

Blackrock Clan, Stormreaver Clan, Dragonmaw Clan, Warsong Clan, Shattered Hand Clan, countless Warlocks of the Shadow Council, Twilight Hammer Clan, and tens of thousands of Ogres.

Obviously, there was then the Bleeding Hollow Clan.

Which was now attacking the island that was closest to the mainland.

According to Gul'dan, there were a lot of humans there...

As this species was called.

In the personal opinion of Killrogg Deadey, Chieftain of the Bleeding Hollow Clan, they were weak. He was so named because he lost his left eye too.

He forged the Bleeding Hollow Clan into one of the strongest Clans of the Horde today.

More than a decade ago, the Bleeding Hollow dwelled in the remote corners of Tanaan and faced many threats, from botani and genesaur to ogres and arakkoa. These enemies pushed the clan to the brink of extinction, until Kilrogg Deadeye came to power by gouging out his eye and murdering his sickly father to take control of the ailing clan.

Under his leadership, the orcs stormed through the jungles and eradicated their old enemies.

Shortly after Blackhand was named Warchief of the Horde, he assigned specific roles to the various clans. The Bleeding Hollow were among the clans assigned to act as scouts, raiders, and auxiliary forces that could quickly move from one region of Draenor to another.

Later, Kilrogg and the Bleeding Hollow launched a campaign into Farahlon, a lush island serving as the last bastion of the Primals. 

The forests there were dense, but Kilrogg and his followers were well adapted to fighting in such terrain. As the orcs were not seafarers, the orcish forces relied on ogre shipwrights to build vessels capable of crossing the ocean. Once in Farahlon, orc Warlocks leeched life from the Primals and used the stolen power to set the forests ablaze while Kilrogg and his army slaughtered every botani and genesaur they could find.

They won every time.

He didn't understand why Gul'dan told him about the humans.

He fought a few, and they barely had any strength.

"The second and third group went ahead, while we are heading toward the place that seems to be their port."

Kilrogg Deadey stood on the helm of the biggest ship that the Orcs of the Bleeding Hollow Clan... if it could even be called such. Their people were not builders, so they just mashed up together some logs of wood and loaded catapults on them.

Still, it was enough.

In his opinion, who would even fight on the water?

And how.

The Bleeding Hollow Clan had more than four hundred vessels of various sizes and more than two hundred separated from the main group, divided then into two groups and sailed toward the different points of the island.

"Anything on the horizon, Grillok?"

He asked another Orc beside him. 

Grillok was the second-in-command of the Bleeding Hollow Clan and was the most powerful Warlock of their group. Even though most Orcs were not really fond of the warlcioks because in the orcish culture, a proper orc should fight with his fists or a weapon.

Not casting Magic shite.

Still, Kilrogg had to admit that the Warlocks were powerful, and power was all that mattered right now in the face of the conquest.

"Everything clear, Chieftain."

So far, there were no traces of the enemies, so it seemed that their invasion would be much easier. 

And why not? They were ambushing them, and their enemy had no idea that they were coming. On top of that, the Warlocks cast some Magic or whatever on them that was hiding them from the prying sight of anyone who would want to see.

"They won't even know what hit them, and the banners of the Bleeding Hollow Clan would claim new lands!"

Just as he finished speaking with thunderous sound in the backround, several of the boats next to him exploded.

In a split second, several more explosions took place across the entirety of the fleet under the command of the Bleeding Hollow Clan as the fire started spreading across the ships.

Even though the Chieftain of the Bleeding Hollow Clan didn't know what exactly had happened, he knew that they had been attacked. That much was clear, because someone or something was targeting his ships.

The wooden ships were mashed up together, and in many cases, the materials that were used in the construction to make the wood and logs stick together were flammable.

So they were burning like firecrackers...

"Enemy attack!"

Killrog Deadeye shouted, but the Orcs were not accustomed to fighting on the water.

On Draenor, they always fought on land and never on the seas, as that wasn't the battlefield for the Orcs. Even right now, they were using the ships, even though mostly they were just pieces of logs patched up together to transport troops and equipment to the mainland of the island that they were going to attack.

So, technically speaking, they were pretty much defenseless on the open seas, sans the power of their Warlocks that already sprang into action and were preparing their defensive spells.

Unbeknownst to the Chief of the Bleeding Hollow Clan, the Warlock Professions didn't really have acess to much defensive Spells, because the majority of their Magics were solely oriented towards combat.

Or killing the user so the being that lent them power could claim their souls.

Fortunately for the Orcs of the Bleeding Hollow Clan, the Warlocks that were among their ranks were fairly powerful, and they managed to conjure some sort of shields over the large swaths of the fleet.

While some of the Warlorkcs that could cast defensive Spells, resorted to casting offensive spells and tried to counterattack their attackers. Yet, that solution proved to be futile, because their enemy was quite a distance from them, as even Killrog couldn't see the enemy ship's location correctly.

"Full speed attack!"

Killrog Deadeye roared with an enraged voice because he was pretty angry at the attackers who were attacking them in such cowardly methods. For the Orcs, anything that wasn't close-quarter combat was considered dishonorable and cowardly.

He could see that there were some ships in the quite distance, but they were only throwing at them these shooting projectiles or whatever the things were... still, it didn't change the reality that the Orcs were on the losing ground and that they were losing their numbers.

Fortunately enough, the enemy was pitifully small from the point of view of the Chieftain of the Bleeding Hollow Clan, as he could see only a few vessels. Thus, he ordered part of the fleet to pursue the enemies, while the rest would go to the island and land.

He himself would be going for the island, as it was clear that it was more valuable, because it was being protected by the enemies. His second-in-command, Grillok, would take charge of the ships that were going after the enemies to slaughter them all.

***

Deck of the Flagship, Devastation Flame

The Flagship Devastation Flame was enormous, with a metal hull that was almost eight hundred meters long and several tens of meters tall, and was armed to the teeth with countless Orbal Guns, artillery, several pairs of main batteries, and automatic Orbal defenses.

One could even say that this was a fortress in the shape of a ship, and it wouldn't be fundamentally wrong. 

Unforuteny, the Sacred Phoenix Kingdom had only four of these ships in their arsenal as building even a single one took an arduous amount of resources, manpower, Magical expertise, and Orbal devices.

Still, they were the foundation of the undisputed rule of the Fire Nation across the Forbidding Sea and even the parts of the Vashj'ir Sea where they were often fighting against the Nagas that were inhabiting the region.

"The volley was successful, Admiral."

Admiral Yueya was an old member of the Fire Nation's army who was smart enough to side with the Phoenixians during the revolt against the Fire Lord Ozai. When he was overthrown, she remained in her position as Admiral, and after the reforms in the military, she rose to the position of being one of four Admirals in the entire Fire Nation.

She was also a very powerful Firebender who profited a lot from the Great Shift and innovations like RegenX-E. She looked like a middle-aged woman of high beauty, clad in the new naval uniforms that were issued only several years ago.

"Order retreat... lure them back to the trap..."

The goal of their fleet wasn't to engage the forces of the Greeks in an open battle, but instead to ambush them and cause them as high losses as possible within their capabilities.

After that was done, they would retreat to a pre-planned place that was rigged with traps and sea mines, which would decimate any greenskin ship that dared to sail there, and they would just pick up the remnants.

They were already briefed about he presence of the Warlocks, and for that they had Lieutenant General Liver and Colonel Daidara present. Both of them were very powerful Chi Masters and also Teigu Users.

General Liver Partas, especially because he was also a very powerful and skilled Waterbender, and when coupled with the Teigu Marlin, he was a powerhouse to be reckoned with.

Right now, as they were on the sea, he was in his natural habitat where he was strongest, and technically speaking, even though he was at the Hero Level, he was confident in killing even Champions in a place like this.

"Reporting to the Admiral, larger parts of the fleet have separated and joined the second half in heading toward the Freljord."

Admiral Yeuya's assistant reported the latest intelligence from the High Command, as everything was interconnected through the Orbal Devices, and the female Admiral of the Fire Nation frowned, because it meant that they would manage to entrap a smaller part than anticipated.

It seemed that whoever commanded the other force realized that the island was of higher priority than what was happening on the sea, and the fact that the defenders were unwilling to directly confront them due to their far lower numbers.

And she was right.

Even though Killrog wanted to tear them apart personally, the Orc Chieftain was pretty cunning and knew that the island was far more valuable. Thus ,he decided to split even this half of his forces and rather head toward the island than to engage the enemies on the seas.

Not to mention, as a powerful warrior, he was pretty much useless on the sea, while the same thing couldn't be said about his second-in-command, Warlock Grillok.

"Ts... Continue with the plan, notify General Esdeath about the development."

She said that they would still proceed according to the original plan.

"General Liver, are you and your troops ready?"

She turned to the Lieutenant General and Vice-Commander of the Khaos Brigade, who was teleported here by the Mages of the Psijic Order not long ago.

"Yes. Please avoid the destruction of their main ship, which houses the Warlocks... we would be taking care of it by ourselves."

General Liver Partas answered swiftly and went immediately to the matter. He wasn't one for lengthy talk, as he preferred to prepare for the fight against a somewhat powerful Warlock that was heading toward their fleet.

His task and that of the Khaos Brigade detachment wasn't just to fight and counter powerful enemies that may appear among the Greenskins, but General Esdeath also issued another kind of order.

They were to capture as many Warlocks as possible during the battle, preferably even capturing the leader of the Warlocks of this Orcish Clan, who should be the most powerful Warlock in the entire Clan by all records.

Obviously, everything actually played into their hands.

With their forces being even further divided, as the Orcs were clearly underestimating them. Most probably, the greenskins believed they were physically weak, and, if the reports were to be believed, they were already acquainted with humankind.

Reports from the southern Azeroth reported that there was someone attacking the colonists of Stormwind. This most probably indicates that the Greenkins are thinking that all humans are weak because they fought and killed some civilian farmers.

Another proof that the enemy isn't the smartest one around.

Yet that didn't diminish the threat in Liver's eyes.

He knew that the enemy didn't need to be smart or cunning to be very dangerous.

"We will try, but if they are within the radius of a sea mine explosion, there is nothing we can do."

Admiral Yueya also received orders from General Esdeath, who was the overall commander of the defensive efforts of the entire operation, that there would be people from the Khaos Brigade tasked with the capture of Warlorkcs. 

Apparently, the Royals needed the Warlocks for something.

She wasn't really privy to something like that, nor did she care about it.

She was a soldier, and soldiers carried out the orders without questioning them.

"That's all that I ask for. Once the initial detonation is off, I will immediately conduct the Battlefield Control after the aftermath."

She nodded at his words and went to take care of the things on her end, as the greenskins would be for one of hella nasty surprises pretty soon enough. The entire area where they were luring them was rigged with traps and sea mines.

General Liver meanwhile went to finish the preparations and check on his troops, as they would soon be going into a very tough fight.

With an extremely powerful Waterbender who also had a matching Teigu, it was possible to execute the Battlefield Control.

Battlefield Control was a rather broad term for the Benders and Mages who could take control of the battlefield and adjust it toward the needs of their side. Such people were exceedingly rare, because usually not even most Grandmaster Benders or Archmages could achieve such a feat.

They could... under certain circumstances, as he could right now, because he was a very powerful Waterbender with a matching Teigu, and he was on the open seas with a seemingly endless supply of water.

Basically, the place where he was at his strongest.

Even though he sensed that the Warlock was pretty powerful, around the higher ends of the Hero Level, just from the Magic signature alone, he was confident in his ability to take him down.

Warlocks were pretty problematic to deal with because, at dire times or when they were about to lose for sure, they could draw more power from their patrons, who had given them the power they wielded in the first place.