Hiroyuki was a shadow of his former, glorious self. His clothes were unwashed, even after having been worn multiple times in a row; his hair, which was once neat and tidy, was now greasy and unkempt. He now was nearly overwhelmed with stress and would constantly pace back and forth in the deepest levels of the palace, wincing and cringing with every shudder that rippled through his hidey-hole.

Every few minutes, he would gaze over to the portal left by the Pope for him to use, knowing full well that if he did go through, he would be killed shortly thereafter. Like the former Leader of N*zi Germany, he still held some insane belief that he would make it out of this not only alive, but also as the unconditional victor. But, in truth, there was no hope for him or for anyone else that waited in the depths under the prison that lay beneath the imperial palace.

…

The battle for the city of Sunhallow was nearly over; all that remained was one last bastion of resistance. Arkhan himself wanted to be there when the turtle’s shell was cracked, so he invested heavily in the process of magically scrubbing the city and the surrounding lands of any traces of atomic radiation. He figured that eventually they would need to move people through the areas effected by the ‘Nuke-Spam’ and dealing with the fallout (pun intended) of his decision sooner rather than later would be in everyone’s best interest.

With no citizens left, migrants from the Human Democracies (formerly known as the Human Kingdoms) had begun to settle in the now vacant Imperial Lands. Arkhan was not going to let them suffer due to his actions; he was not going to let the damaging effects of radiation poisoning and genetic mutation cause a rift to form so soon after establishing positive relations. There was still a decent amount of discontent among the populace. Despite having become more accepting, free and equal there were still some who had a twisted romanticism of the ‘good old days’, despite having been alive during them.

As Elven mages pushed deep into the effected areas, they would occasionally meet some sporadic resistance from pockets of survivors who had been overlooked by the MSGs. This forced them to be accompanied by Elven Warriors, who had earned a particularly potent reputation among the Theocracy.

It had all started in the early days of the counter-invasion when the Humans, looking for a slur to call their foes in battle, ended up using the term ‘Knife-Ears’. Rather than be appalled, the Elven Warriors took a shine to the name and began referring to themselves as such. Whenever the ‘slur’ was used, the Elves would always respond along the lines of, “We’ll show you just how sharp we can be!” or, “How about we give you a taste of our knives, then?”. The elves were so nimble with their melee weapons it was as though they were dancing among their foes. Sometimes, just to screw with people, they would give them ‘Death by a million papercuts’.

But why were the elves pushing into a radioactive zone, you might ask? Simple; as the best magic users the world had to offer and directly in tune with nature they were perfect for the effort of magically scrubbing the land, air and water of any traces of radiation. They were more than willing to do this to ‘heal the planet’ and were seriously miffed at Arkhan for using ‘World-Killer-class Weapons’ in the first place.

Arkhan stood firm by his decision; he wasn’t going to throw bodies at a problem until it went away. Sometimes, drastic measures had to be taken to secure victory, even if the cost is great. He did promise that he would never use nukes again if he could help it.

…

When the radiation had finally been cleared, Arkhan made his way down into the deepest depths of the Imperial Palace. He passed the prison, which had been emptied before the siege, and the numerous shattered remains of barricades and sometimes people. At last he stood before the mighty metal door that was between him and the cowardly emperor of what little remained of the Holy Crux Empire. Several MS-15kg Gyan Kriegers and RX-81FC G-Line Full Customs prepared to use their melee beam weapons to melt a hole in the gates, but before they could do so something surprising happened.

The gate began to open.

Hurriedly, several MSGs moved to protect their creator, even if it meant using their bodies as shields. This proved to be the proper course of action, as the few remaining combatants that stood against them rushed out to face the ‘Metal Demons’ as they were routinely being called, only to be cut down by several volleys of shotgun fire from the MS-18E Kämpfers and both kinetic and energy-based fire from several RGM-79Q GM Quels.

Several tense minutes passed as the forces of Arkhan waited for the next wave, but after waiting for over thirty minutes with no sign of another attack they were left with no other choice but to move in and face what remained themselves. Using tactics commonly associated with Earth’s elite police units like SWAT, the MSGs advanced further into the final stronghold. When they finally got to the last room, they breached the room and attempted to clear it, only to discover that there was only one person within the room. They secured the only other person in the underground aside from their creator and after cuffing him and intending to leave with the prisoner they were commanded by Arkhan to instead prepare him for a ‘chat’.

…

Hiroyuki was furious. How could the Kami force him to experience such hardship? Wasn’t he the chosen one? Now forced to wear cuffs like a common criminal, he was forcibly made to sit in a metal folding chair while gazing at a luxurious throne that sat in front of him. Upon that throne was a child roughly 15-16 years old. He was one of those Kami-damned barbarians and seemed to command the Metal Demons.

A thought occurred to Hiroyuki; what if he killed this boy? Would his force of Metal Demons vanish into thin air like the summoned entities that they were? He had to try, as there was nothing to lose anyway. Even with all these guns pointed at him, he still had both the speed and the strength to deal a mortal wound to this bastard.

Besides, he was the Chosen One. He was the favorite of the Kami, even more so than the ‘divine emperor’ of his homeland. He was destined for greatness, and by slaying this brat he could once again move towards his destiny. He just needed to stall for time until he could gather his strength and launch a divine attack against this gaijin.