The night fell on the ancient city of Rome. The icy wind of late January blew through the large grass plains surrounding the city.


    The stars and moon shined down, blessing the world with their presence. No clouds dared obscured their light. Like the Gods of Old, the celestial objects stared down at the dark emptiness with anticipation.


    The grass danced to the wind, as the music of nature played, but soon another sound drowned out the peace... The distinct sound of machines of war...


    From the north and south, two separate armies approached the seemingly peaceful city. Their soldiers counted millions upon millions. Their tens of thousands of machines, ready to destroy everything in sight.


    A few kilometers away, both armies stopped and readied themselves for the eventual siege. The commanders awaited their higher ups to make the order, while the soldiers sent one last prayer to the whatever god cared about them.


    None of them wanted to be there, walking towards a city of beauty, fighting in a war, without purpose. They all heard the rumors and had their doubts.


    The Federal Alliance kept up the propaganda. They continued to preach how awful the Deathless Phoenix was. They made her seem like a dictator. None of the Central Command realized the irony of the situation.


    In the eye of the masses, Lady Seraphine was a fair leader, who got disillusioned by the current state of the world.


    When she consolidated her power over her five city-states, she had spilled no civilian blood. She only killed people who were selfish and had opposite interests with the public.


    Even now, many soldiers were thinking of deserting. A large amount of them had partaken in the initial siege of Rome, and they all saw the Deathless Phoenix fight.


    Nobody in their right mind would go against such force. She wasn''t simply an Ascended like the propaganda tries to show her. She is an artist who only works with one color, red.


    At the end of the fight, you either die a quick death as she turns you into ashes, or a slow one as you get dismembered.


    The footage of her army got leaked too. Many people still didn''t understand how she hid such large force, and everyone questioned what else did she hide from the Federal Alliance.


    With fear, the soldiers marched on until Rome was in sight. The gigantic city was only a small dot glowing on the horizon.


    Most of the army marched on, while the self-propelled artilleries took aim at the walls. Both the northern and southern army coordinated their attacks. When both got the green light, they released their first barrage.


    Thousands of salvos flew, leaving behind smoke trails. None of them made it to the wall. As the first salvo got to a few hundred meters close, a previously invisible shield rippled, and the shell stopped.


    It was like the shell hit an impenetrable wall. The metal cartridge crumpled from the force, then fell to the grassy ground below.@@@@


    Thousands of other shells followed, and a magnificent light show ensued. Each salvo sent a new ripple through the invisible shield, making it glow light blue.


    The broken shells piled before the shield, but even then, not one penetrated it. The ripples lasted a few seconds after the last shell hit, and eventually the shield returned to its invisible form.


    The Aegis System stood strong and awaited the next barrage...


    Parts of the shields cracked under the constant hits from this many sources, and after a few minutes, sections of it fell apart.


    Both, on the south and north, sections of the Aegis System spider-webbed, then broke to pieces, which disappeared into nothingness.


    The next barrage of shells went through the cleared out section and hit Rome''s enormous walls. They shrugged off the artillery, but the Transcended didn''t care.


    Getting rid of the shield meant their troops can finally approach and attack the walls. There was only one problem, which none of them noticed... They walked into a trap...


    With Mary''s and James''s adjustments to the Aegis System, the shield had made broke into sections. This meant even though they broke through the shields, most of it stayed intact.


    They made their threshold adjustable and purposefully weakened the two broken sections. Basically, they let them break those two sections.


    The Aegis System would''ve easily held against twelve Transcended, but they didn''t want them to waste all the energy Bran transferred each day.


    Sera also wanted to show how powerful the Angelic Order was. And what was the best way to showcase might?... Destroy a much larger force with minimal casualties.


    The six Transcended on the southern section laughed to themselves and joked as they calmly walked towards the wall.


    At that moment, none of them noticed a new star appear behind them in the sky. But the star didn''t stay there. In fact, it fell towards them at speeds barely observable.


    The regular soldiers stopped in their tracks; the tanks stopped moving towards the opening in the shield; the artilleries stopped their barrage; the Evolved and Ascended froze in their movements.


    The falling star moved so fast the sound couldn''t possibly catch up to it. Multiple explosions echoed, as it broke the speed of sound time and time again.


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    By the time the Transcended noticed it, time was already up, as the star closed in the last kilometer in a fraction of a second.


    The star burned with golden flames, and just before impact, a loud screech marked the beginning of the battle.


    The Transcended saw the star just before the impact. Their eyes widened in surprise, as the creature with its rider hit the middle of their formation, exploding the surroundings.


    A wave of fire went out in a circle for a few hundred meters. The edge of the fire even signed the walls of Rome, but didn''t do any real damage to it.


    It also sent out a shockwave, and the earth quaked in its wake. The shockwave was strong enough to send the Evolved and Ascended, who stood too close, flying.


    Quite a few tanks got upturned too, and many regular soldiers died as the very air hit them with unexpected force. Ribcages cracked and bodies crumpled under the increased pressure.


    From the site of the explosion, a gigantic mushroom cloud rose into the sky, and soon more screeches echoed, as the Angelic Order cut through the smoke!