Age of Heroes (Age of Heroes Chronicles)

Chapter 509: Exodus (3)

The impact of that punishment and the brutality of this General of the Empire was a most impressive deterrent effect.

The burned cities were redeveloped and the people learn to fear Santiago Capulet. 

Thousands of men die without a grave, 

Turning to ashes blown by the wind, 

Santiago Capulet burning ten cities to appease the court, 

Striking fear in every living thing.

This is a poem created by the survivors of the massacre about Santiago Capulet.

Then there is Giovanni.

Giovanni Montague was a saber user and also a great general of the empire. However he was famous for the Massacre of the Churchmen.

When the Church rose up and create a militant faith to dethrone the Emperor because of the Emperor lenience of other faiths and they marches to Eden, Leander the Minister of War at the time, sent Giovanni to end the threat once and for all.

What he did to the churchmen was so tragic and fearsome that the Church no longer dares to interfere in the Emperor business or establish any militant faith ever again.

Giovanni was once a peasant in the land of Freya. He relocated to Cori which is now Rome. 

During the Church reign of power where the Inquisitor held reigns, his lover Rosaline was sentenced to breast plucking. 

It was a type of torture where the woman breast will be ripped apart by some form of tools of torture.

She was sentenced so because of her provoking thoughts about spirituality and love and God. 

She died shortly after the punishment ended.

Giovanni at the time was too powerless and had no power to stop the Inquisitor. 

He then with willpower and billowing hatred towards the Church went to join the army when the Duke of Arrandy wages his war against Vangua.

He rendered many merits in that war and the war after that. 

In the end, his talent was acknowledged and he was instated as one of the twelve great generals and when Leander ask him to handle the Rome Crisis, Giovanni uses this chance to enact vengeance for all those years ago.

In one region of Rome, Sacret, a thousand priests were thrown into a large pit where they were then later blown up by explosives.

Pieces of meats scattered the pits and the smell was revolting. 

Companies of skeletons filled the streets of Sacret, all the Churchmen in Sacret was executed and then humiliated in the most brutal way. 

Since the Emperor did not allow raping, Giovanni fed the churchmen to the starving dogs he found in some slums. 

People even say that he even laughed during this atrocity was happening.

In Portomento, another region of Rome, the churchmen were buried alive. It has been said thirty thousand people ranging from priest, bishop, clerics, nuns and the army of the militant were buried alive that day.

But probably the most famous of his battle was in Siers where he executed fifty thousand people of the militant faith even after they surrendered.

It is normal to have people executed in a war but what sets Giovanni apart was his way of killing. 

A month before the execution he got himself a giant pot.

Then, the pot was filled with water. Then it was heated by thousands of firewood.

Sometimes, he even throws a few prisoners to the fire just for laughs. When it is finished, the prisoners were then tossed inside the boiling water and they were quickly melted. 

By the end of the execution, the whole city of Siers reeks of blood and even some people of Siers migrated to other places in the human continent.

The Butcher of Rome with hatred in his heart

Bringing vengeance

Ten thousand lives treated like dirt

The Church foundation was shaken

Ghost and Gods move aside

The Butcher of Rome damned to eternity, 

Killing countless lives of people of God

My he be damned to the Hellfire

This was the poem of a certain church in Rome after the massacre and their fates was that each and every one of the people on the church was quartered, their bodies were thrown into different places not having a grave or burial sites.

The people of the city was slaughtered, no one was left alive. 

It is his order when he enters that city that no one will be left alive. 

By the time he was done, nothing that lives exist in that city. The trees were burned, the buildings were destroyed, and the people were killed.

With such abnormal brutal behavior and craziness that shocked the continent, the church in the Holy Land quickly surrenders and the Grand Papnoticon negotiate a full surrender and agreed to every term of the empire.

Now these two great generals of the empire, feared by all have set foot in the new world. 

But why would these two great generals who were pacifying the regions of Venicia will be here? 

Could they be thinking of treason?

The reason why the empire could maintain its grip on the kingdoms it conquered was because of the implementation of the Twelve Great General System by the Emperor. 

Arial himself knew that the border of his empire is very long and the distance to each other also takes a long time. 

If a rebellion or an insurrection happened in the corner of his empire, he alone could not stop a million raving revolutionary. 

So, he implemented the system. 

twelve person chosen for their qualities that made them the perfect instrument of war become direct vassals of the emperor. 

To this twelve person, the Emperor gives them full authority to do what they want as long as they do not commit treason. 

With a million soldiers each, they sweep through the kingdom pacifying the empire. 

When the empire was stabilized, the twelve great generals were relieved of their armies, and the twelve million soldiers that were under the control of the twelve general were absorbed into the imperial army.

But to say that the twelve great generals have lost their influence is wrong. 

As reward of their service to the Empire, the Emperor rewarded them all with a province to rule and some province was also named from their name.

But for the two generals to come hereto the new world and even destroyed the city of Ragora...this is truly perplexing. 

The two great generals survey the area with their gaze.

A man could be seen looking at them with sharp eyes, looking at them from the watchtower. 

Looking at the two generals, the man climbed down the watchtower and greets the generals.

The Generals look at the man shrouded in his veil and a sour smile could be seen from their expression. It is clear that these two great generals did not like the man.

'Orval' Giovanni said.

'We have conquered this city. Your information has been useful.' 

'The Round table Knights escaped.' Orval said with a hint of disappointment. 

'They were very powerful' Santiago remark from behind Giovanni. Giovanni nodded.

'The first step is complete. I can work with that. There is many things to be done' Orval said to himself.

Giovanni look at Orval and then he said.

'You better be able to deliver your promise. I did not mobilize the army of the empire to help you conquer this city. The Regent has ordered us to help you find the emperor. If you could not find him, then your life will be forfeited.' He said this and killing intent was released from his bodies, emitting pressure onto Orval. 

Orval only smiles. He then said.

'Don't worry about that. I know where he is going. After all, the Horn has been sounded. There is only one place he should be going and there is only one place that we can go to search him.'

Saying this, Orval looks into the sky and sighed. There are too many things that needs to be done. 

Preparing to go to the Shadowlands. Not to mention to wait for the Arakath Army to come to join them.

The Regent of the Empire has coordinated with Arakath because for the first time since the alliance between the Dark Lands and the Empire, Arakath and Eden has the same objectives which is to search for the emperor and aid him in his journey.

For what reason..only Orval knows. 

The Demon King must have learned of his lineage. And Silas must have been convinced by Mikael arguments.

'Where?' Santiago ask 

'The Shadow Lands.' Orval reply. 

'The Great War is beginning. All the Great Tribes will be participating.' He added

'Shadowlands. Where is that?' Giovanni said, not knowing. It is understandable since not everyone can sail the treacherous Sea leading to the New World.

Orval pointed his hand to the east and then said.

'There is the place we need to go. And you will help him to reign supreme in the Shadow lands.' Saying this he smiled a bit and remembered about the last Great War.

The Three Great Tribes reign supreme in the Shadowlands. But can that always be the case? Smiling, he returns to the city and the two great general's follows behind him.

Night came and night passes. At dawn, the inhabitants of Ragora begin their exodus. To the Shadowlands they go.

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