Origin Seeker

Two days after the battle, all class 4's and class 3 generals, officers, and politicians were called to a meeting

At the meeting, the lead class 4, who was apparently the standing emperor, went over several reports that had been compiled over the two days.

Turns out, Dream's estimate for deaths was rather close. Of the nearly 50 million people who lived there about 12 million had died. And this was only from that sneak attack. This also meant that more civilians died than soldiers in that battle, which amounted to a measly 105,000 deaths. 

While the numbers were massive, nobody in the room was surprised. Those demons had absolutely nothing standing in their way when they had started their sneak attack. Especially those Grand Demons. What else would you expect when a class 4 monster is placed in an area full of defenseless humans?

This was why class 4's were so scary. They were capable of killing those beneath them with nothing but their mana. And when they used spells and techniques, they were able to level entire cities and annihilate hundreds of thousands in seconds. All they had to do was fly around and reap the lives of everyone around them. This also applied to the 2000 class 3's. 

The only reason the demons hadn't destroyed more than a third of the city this time was because Dream and the others had responded quickly. But even though it hadn't been more than an hour, they had been able to kill so many. 

But putting that aside, recovery had gone exceedingly well. Shelter had been handled quickly as did healing. Right now, all the citizens and soldiers were just making sure that everyone was fed and reunited. 

And since they were basically settled, they had time to focus on the future. This involved reconstruction, refortification, and counterattacks. Though as they began to go through possible counterattack options, they came across Dream's newest piece of intelligence. 

This intelligence outlined the demon populations, movements, and current strongholds. And though they were happy to have such eye-opening intelligence, the data itself began to throw them into even further panic. That was because it told them that this attack was only the first.

Dream, of course, knew how bad it was better than them. According to his constant drone scanning, more armies were already on the continent and heading towards them. And these armies were bigger than the one that recently attacked them.

At most, it would only take another two weeks before three armies numbering nearly 20 million total clashed with them once more.

In only this battle, they had encountered 14 Grand demons among an army of 3 million. If they were to face 6 times that? Wasn't that more than every human class 4 across all the Empires combined?

At the very least, the demons would outnumber their current force on every level by a few times. And the problem was that they had no reason not to believe it.

This intelligence came from Dream, the man who had done nothing but provide 100% accurate data on several occasions. He had predicted this very situation and warned every Empire of this happening. And finally, the pieces were beginning to fall into place. They had already lost 12 million citizens, over 20% of their population, simply because they had been caught off guard. 

This was actually the main reason for the meeting being called. They needed to prepare as quickly as possible for the next attack. And one preparation was to request reinforcements. There was no way they would be able to hold the city if they had to face that force with only what they had. 

So that day, the class 4's of different Empires returned as fast as they could. They didn't have the time to wait for a messenger and had to go personally. 

The next preparation they wanted to make was actually to hire Dream again. 

Dream had proven to be invaluable during the battle. Without him, they would have lost much more than just 12 million. It wouldn't have been surprising if the city fell without him. So knowing this, they knew they needed to request his help. 

But there was one problem. Dream was nowhere to be found. 

This made them a bit panicked. But luckily, Riddick was there for them to find. And upon asking him where Dream went, he let them know that he was running an errand. 

.........

At about the same time that the meeting was being held, Dream was flying through the sky with Luna and Iris by his side. 

The reason? He was going to check out the approaching demon armies.

"Dream? Is there a reason we need to look personally?"

Iris spoke, confused as to why they were doing this. Originally, Dream was planning to check it out by himself, but the girls caught him as he was leaving and glued themselves to him, not letting him go alone. Though they still didn't know why he wanted to go.

"I just want to. I don't really know why. I just... have a bad feeling."

Dream spoke with uncertainty. Luna and Iris didn't pry further as they could understand his bad feeling.

As the demon armies weren't exactly far from the Empire, it only took them a few minutes to arrive. And once they did, all of them were shocked.

"Oh my god..."

As the three looked down from up in the sky, all they could see was a sea of monsters. 

Spanning a few dozen miles were massive legions of demons of all shapes and sizes. All of them were chaotically walking in the direction of the Empire, causing rumbling through the earth and plumes of dust to be kicked up. 

Even as they were walking, there were hundreds of battles being fought between pairs of demons. They would just casually get mad at each other and fight, trying to eat the other. And upon eating the other, they would gain strength. It was like an internal leveling system for the demons. 

But Dream didn't really care about that. He just cared about the utterly massive size of these armies. He had never seen anything of this amount in one place in his entire life. It was unbelievable, but real. 

As the three looked at the armies, they could also feel an oppressive aura radiating away for miles around. The aura was filled with disorder, chaos, death, and destruction. It rejected all life, all sense of civility, and it sparked fear within the souls of those who looked at them.

Even Dream and the girls couldn't help but be afraid.

"How can there be so many demons in one place?" (Luna)

"Dream, are you sure we're safe up here?" (Iris)

"...We're safe."

"But the Empire isn't." (Luna)

"They aren't going to be able to fight this army no matter what they do. They'll just be overrun and slaughtered. Unless of course they have you." (Iris)

Iris looked to Dream, who was just silently staring at the demon hordes. She titled her head though when he didn't respond.

"Dream?"

"..."

"What are you thinking?"

"...We can't destroy them without those weapons."

"What weapons?"

"...I think I need to go somewhere."

"Then we'll go with you."

"...Alright. Hop in."

When he said that, a plane descended in front of them from the sky. The three boarded the plane and locked in, taking off a few seconds after.

The plane flew through the atmosphere along a very specific path. At first Luna and Iris thought he was going to his factory. But after getting into orbit and speeding along for a bit, they were eventually able to reach a certain satellite.

"What is that?"

After getting close to the satellite and flying up to it, the girls looked out from the ship. This satellite looked very different from anything else Dream sent into space. It definitely wasn't his factory, at least.

Making them stay in the ship, Dream floated out and up to the satellite. Well, calling it a satellite was inappropriate. 

"This is an orbital weapons platform."

Dream looked at the platform that was many times bigger than he was. Inside this platform was nearly 20 missiles of the same type. The girls tilted their heads.

"A weapons platform? What kind of weapons does it have?"

"Nuclear."

"Nukes...Those are the ones capable of killing millions and making that big cloud right?"

Luna and Iris both remembered the many things Dream told them about, including the weapons of his world. Not only that, but they had full access to all the knowledge of his world, which included detailed descriptions of things just like these nuclear weapons. They had always been interested in those things, so they knew much about it.

"Yes."

"So...Are you planning on using it?"

"I may have to. Although I don't want to. The aftermath of the explosion is unpredictable in this world, especially with bombs as powerful as these. And one isn't enough. I would have to hit targets across the continent. Not only that, but I'm not sure as to how effective they would be, at least against class 4's."

"...But this is saying that they can reach tens of millions of kelvin in the fireball, which can reach sizes of 8 miles wide. I'm pretty sure a class 4 wouldn't be able to survive that, especially unprepared."

Iris spoke while looking at the information in her vision. Luna had also looked it up with the suit.

"I guess it depends on their skills. I myself can control things like heat."

"But they aren't you who has ridiculous skills like that."

"But they have lots of mana. The biggest problem with these nukes is that they have no mana. That means that their explosion would be fighting the inherent strength of the target as well as the mana it uses to defend itself. Only if it can break past that with just sheer physical heat and pressure could the nuke do damage."

"So just enchant it."

"The problem with that is that these nukes are built in a very specific and precise way. Any alterations due to mana can disrupt the reaction process and render it useless. If I wanted mana enhanced nukes then I would need to make them myself. Which...wouldn't be too difficult. But again, I'm worried about the fallout."

"...I can see why."

Upon looking at information regarding the fallout, Luna and Iris could understand. Nukes were capable of affecting the globe. Should he use several, the results would be even greater. And according to what they were seeing, the fallout could cause disastrous effects to people, plants, and the atmosphere. 

"However, things like cancer, radiation poisoning, and mutations may not occur as easily here due to mana. Even ordinary people are enhanced rather significantly. Plants hold mana as well, giving them resistances. And I would probably be able to build something that can handle a nuclear winter of any kind. Or...I can build a hypothetical weapon."

"Hypothetical?"

"Something that hasn't been made yet. Something with no fallout. Like a fusion weapon. Or even a kinetic weapon."

"What's a kinetic weapon?"

"A way of delivering devastation through pure kinetic energy. Though...something like that wouldn't be able to kill most demons, only the weaker ones since it only destroys the ground. So fusion weapons..."

[It's totally possible, a pure fusion weapon.]

Sophia suddenly spoke while bringing up schematics for an on-the-spot design. Dream looked at it while taking in the data.

All nuclear weapons are either fission based or have a fission-fusion combination. The famous hydrogen bomb is one that uses a fission explosion to ignite the rest of the bomb and cause a fusion reaction. But a pure fusion bomb wouldn't need fissionable materials like uranium, instead only using fusion materials like hydrogen. This would give the power of a nuclear bomb without the radioactive fallout.

[Using some principles behind the fusion reactor, creating a pure fusion bomb is very possible. We could use a system of reactors that are forced to suddenly fuse a large amount of nuclei in a confined space. Though every fusion bomb we make would have a generally lower yield, they would have much more explosive power than conventional bombs and we could use much more of them.]

"...How hard would it be to make them?"

[Not too hard, but it wouldn't be easy and it would need us to personally build it. The materials also don't need to be too strong.]

"Alright. Though for the sake of slowing the demons down some right now, I think we should launch one or two of these rods."

[I already have targets that would lose the most from an attack. We would just need to wait so the platform reaches a specific point in the orbit.]

"Alright. While we wait, let's head down to the target. I want to see the explosion."

Saying that, Dream went back to the ship. When it closed, it headed back down through the atmosphere. Luna and Iris didn't question it since they had heard the conversation. In fact, they were a little excited to see such a powerful weapon be used.

As they flew, the platform was armed and prepared for launch. The systems blared digital alarms for no one. 

[The nukes launched by that platform have a yield of about 113 Megatons. It will be detonated several miles above the ground to cause as much destruction to the demons as possible. I will place you three about 120 miles away for optimal viewing experience.]

"Is watching this any dangerous?"

[You three will need your suits equipped, but otherwise it'll be fine.]

"Ok."

[Approaching destination.]

Moments later, the ship came to a stop about 40,000 feet in the air. The three floated out of the hatch and looked into the distance.

About 120 miles away was a castle. An utterly massive castle. And all around it was a devastated environment, demons, and breeding grounds. 

The estimated demon population in this expanse of land was about 130 million. The rest of the population was spread out across the rest of the continent in other kingdoms similar to the one in front of them. That or they were invading the other continents.

"...And I thought the army of 20 million was a lot."

Iris spoke dumbly as she overlooked the castle. All around this castle was demon-infested lands and no other life to be seen. It looked like the apocalypse had descended.

"Go get Riddick and Selene too. I'm sure they wouldn't mind seeing this."

[Ok.]

Suddenly, the ship behind them closed up and left for the Empire. At the same time, Riddick and Selene were alerted on their suits as to what was going on.

Only ten minutes later, they had arrived. Both of them stepped out.

"Boy? What's this about you launching a nuke?"

"You remember when I put another star in the sky, Old Man?"

"Uhh, yes."

"Well I'm about to crack open another can of liquid sunshine. Equip your suit."

"Why?"

"Because things are about to get a little toasty."

[Attention. 40 seconds to nuclear launch. Please equip your suits.]

"...You're insane."

Riddick muttered as he looked at the simulated weapons platform in space and received the data on it. Selene also saw what it was and couldn't help but widen her eyes.

Dream smiled as the countdown ticked.