The World Is Mine For The Taking-Chapter 670 - 103 - The War For The Holy City (5)

The entire landscape had been utterly annihilated. It was reduced to a scorched wasteland of blackened earth, twisted metal, and rising smoke that blotted out the sky.

The once-proud soldiers who had marched in with confidence and fire in their eyes were now nothing but screaming wrecks. They thrashed violently on the ground, clutching at their burning bodies as the hellish flames tore through them. Their agonized cries echoed across the battlefield. Not even their specialized military uniforms—likely engineered with cutting-edge materials to resist both intense heat and deadly projectiles—could hold up against the power of that nuclear-level magic. It incinerated everything.

Even the tanks—those mechanical titans, symbols of dominance and war—had not been spared. They now sat in grotesque heaps of molten steel, their once-unstoppable forms torn apart and left to rot in the inferno's wake.

From above, I looked down on what remained. Despite the overwhelming devastation, there were still clusters of soldiers trying to push forward, dragging their broken bodies through the chaos, determined... or perhaps too stunned to turn back.

I dropped down.

And then, I slaughtered them.

My body moved in a blur, faster than even the sharpest eyes could track. One second I was there—then gone—then blood sprayed into the air, and another soldier collapsed in a heap of torn flesh. I struck with ruthless efficiency, like a phantom reaper.

Slash. Kill. Move. Kill. Repeat.

I didn't stop. I couldn't stop. My body just kept going, driven by the fury that boiled inside me like a cauldron of wrath and bloodlust. One by one, I took them down, cutting through their lines like a butcher through meat.

By the time I finally slowed, the ground around me was slick with blood, littered with corpses, still-warm limbs, and shattered gear. I stood among the ruin, my hands drenched in thick, crimson gore that dripped steadily from my fingertips, pooling beneath me.

I raised my head and stared into the distance. The horizon was still lined with enemy troops. But something had changed.

They weren't moving forward anymore.

They were backing away, slowly, then all at once. It was clear as day now that they were retreating. Finally realizing that trying to capture this city was a lost cause.

I raised my hand and conjured another sphere of magic, flame dancing to life in my palm.

This one wasn't as world-ending as the last. But that didn't make it weak. Not in the slightest. This fireball was still powerful enough to obliterate an entire village with one strike.

I hurled it toward the retreating soldiers.

BOOM.

The explosion lit up the battlefield with a blinding, fiery glow. A thunderous roar ripped through the air, shaking the ground beneath my feet. A massive mushroom cloud erupted into the sky, its fiery tendrils reaching for the heavens like some wrathful god made of flame and fury.

Then a voice pierced through the crackling silence.

"You, who have resisted us..." it said, calm but laced with venom.

I turned toward the sound. It was coming from a small, hovering object in the air. It was a drone. Tiny, almost insignificant at first glance. But its presence reeked of surveillance. Of arrogance. Of superiority.

Given the world these bastards came from—a place far beyond our modern capabilities—no, something beyond futuristic, filled with automatas and advanced tech—I wasn't surprised in the slightest. This drone was just one of their many toys.

"You are trying to resist the conquest of this city," the voice said again, emotionless. "But do you really think you can continue to hold out? Do you truly believe your world stands a chance against ours?"

I didn't bother replying.

Instead, I raised Ayuru and sliced the drone clean in half. Sparks burst from its shattered core as it clattered to the ground.

But then, another one rose in its place.

"Your resistance will be futile. Your world will fall under our control, and you—along with everything else—will be absorbed into our domain."

I slashed it.

Another came.

"Everything you know will be reduced to ash beneath our might. You are nothing more than a fly waiting to be swatted."

Slash.

Another.

The voice kept speaking. Kept goading. Kept preaching like a mechanical prophet of doom.

"This is the age where your magic is obsolete—where machines reign. Until now, I've used humans. Humans are weak, emotional and fragile. But what do you think will happen when I replace them with machines? Machines that do not know fear. Do not flee. Do not break. Machines built to last, to endure, to annihilate without remorse. What then, boy?"

Then, without warning, the air buzzed and filled with motion.

The drones multiplied.

Dozens... hundreds... then thousands, all moving in perfect synchronization. They swarmed together and began to twist and shift, forming something massive.

A towering figure took shape. It was twenty meters tall. A humanoid titan made entirely of drones. Its surface shimmered like steel scales, and it loomed above me with an expressionless, featureless face. Its hands were clasped behind its back, like a king staring down at a defiant insect.

"Your world will crumble," the voice declared, booming through the massive construct. "And mine... mine will rise. You are nothing but a hindrance. You are an obstacle to be removed."

I didn't flinch.

I just raised my middle finger up at it.

"Bring it on," I said, eyes locked with the towering monstrosity. "Come at me with everything you've got. Then you'll see just how useless your machines really are. Your world is beneath us. And it always will be."

There was a pause.

Then the voice snorted with contempt. "You bark too much, boy. Fine. I'll bring everything I have."

With that, the drones disassembled, scattering into the sky like a broken swarm of angry hornets, speeding back toward their retreating army.

It was clear now.

He would return. And when he did, it would be with full force. It would be everything he had.

But it didn't matter.

I would destroy him. Completely.

***

In the aftermath of the attack on the Holy City, the Magic Knights were deployed.

But not the veterans. These were new recruits. They were fresh faces, still green and still untested. I didn't see Shredica. Or Veronica. Neither of them were among this batch. But I did spot the commander.

They worked quickly, moving through the wreckage with urgency. Civilians were escorted out of danger zones. Medical tents were set up. They began surveying the extent of the damage, trying to make sense of the carnage.

Amid the chaos, I finally found Alice and the others waiting for me.

Their eyes lit up the moment they saw me.

They ran to me. They were relieved, grateful and overwhelmed. Those emotions all at once.

Sister Lily threw her arms around me and pulled me into a trembling hug.

"Thank goodness... Thank goodness..." she whispered, her voice cracking with emotion.

I hugged her back, even though I was completely stick with blood.

Titania and the others returned not long after. From the look on their faces, they'd also been busy helping evacuate the civilians from the danger zone. Even Yr had tried to lend a hand, in her own way, I guess.

Rose's voice cracked through the stillness as she stepped toward me, eyes wide with confusion and dread. "What just happened… Leon?"

I stared into the smoke-streaked sky, the distant rumble of collapse still echoing in my ears. "War," I said, my voice low and final. "War is coming."

The war between machines and magic—two forces that were never meant to coexist—was about to erupt.