Outside of the military base, several mountain peaks suddenly cracked apart accompanied by deafening sounds, revealing dark, metallic tubes within.
"Target locked, please confirm if we should proceed with the launch?"
[Affirmative.]
Followed by an affirmation in a cold voice, the nuclear missile silos trembled slightly.
Immediately after...
Swoosh!
Swooosh!
Swoooosh!
Several nuclear missiles slowly rose from the ground and flew into the sky.
Not only here, but nuclear missiles were also being launched from several other military bases across Mindanao. However, compared to this launch site, most of the other launch sites primarily carried tactical nuclear warheads that had a range of up to ten to twenty kilometers at most.
In contrast, this particular nuclear bomb launch site was equipped with strategic warheads.
These warheads' range was enough to swallow a radius of one hundred kilometers, not to mention the continuous nuclear radiation, which was even more deadly.
And unless given the green light from both leaders, which are the Emperor, the President, and the Prime Minister, the Austronesia Empire will launch their first-ever nuclear weapon in an act of aggression.
—————————————————
At that critical moment, while Andromalius continued to watch the unfolding massacre before him, a sense of danger suddenly gripped his heart.
"What is this?"
Slowly raising his gaze, his golden-crimson eyes were drawn to a certain direction and his gaze locked onto several missiles heading toward him.
"Interesting," He chuckled coldly as his face turned even more solemn.
After a brief moment, his claws began to shimmer as a terrifying amount of demonic energy began to gather around them as it radiated a sharp aura that slightly trembled the space surrounding him.
"[Reality Slash]"
With a calm voice, Andromalius waved his hand diagonally upwards and four waves of energy sliced through the night sky, heading straight for the incoming missiles.
Furthermore, when you take a closer look, the edges of these waves of energy that traveled across the air seemed to tear though the fabric of space itself.
Not long after...
BOOOOOMM!!
BOOOOMMMMM!!!
BOOOOOOOM!!
BOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!
The sky erupted in consecutive explosions, each giving rise to mushroom-shaped clouds on the horizon.
The terrifying shockwaves spread at a speed invisible to the naked eyes, even Andromalius could feel the resulting turbulence.
However, what surprised him at this moment was that the sense of danger was not diminishing but intensifying.
"Wha-"
Before the Demon Lord could utter another word, a metallic object, moving at incredible speed, descended from above and hit directly at his forehead.
—————————————————
"Too late."
With a cold smile, Bagwis and countless command personnel stared fanatically at the screen, where a nuclear missile was descending toward General Santos city, or aimed directly at the Demon Lord traveling at the speed of mach 30 from outer space.
Project Zeus wasn't just capable of launching itself into outer space, it can also strike various parts of the world by utilizing the rotation of the planet, even striking targets across continents.
Apart from ICMBs, it's one of the few missiles in the Austronesian Empire's arsenal capable of carrying strategic nuclear warheads.
On the surface, the four tactical nuclear warheads are attracting the attention of the Demon Lord, while in secret, the Space Missile known as Project Zeus is approaching it from outer space.
Even if the Demon Lord sensed its approach, it would be too late as it has the engines nearly comparable to the Apollo's Arrow, making it travel at a speed more than Mach 30.
Because now, even if the Space Missile is intercepted, it would still explode in high orbit.
At this moment, the strategic nuclear warhead would show the demons and the New World what true terror is.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
Accompanied by a terrifying explosion, the entire world fell eerily silent, followed by a mushroom-shaped cloud rising in the horizon, and brilliant flames dyed the sky red.
Looking from afar, even a small town, which was roughly twenty kilometers away from General Santos, was shrouded.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Countless windows in the small town shattered under the force of the blast. At the same time, the whole town started quaking uncontrollably, as if an earthquake of magnitude 10 had struck.
But before it could continue any longer, a visible shockwave of tremendous force descended from the sky, and numerous tall buildings in the town failed to withstand the terrifying shockwave even for a breath and collapsed within moments.
Looking from afar, this remote little town had been completely razed to the ground by the aftermath. Fortunately, all of the towns and cities within a hundred-kilometer radius around of General Santos had been evacuated beforehand, so nobody was harmed.
And this said town was just the corner of a circular crater that had appeared in the ground all of a sudden.
In other words, centered around General Santos, a circular crater that was akin to a scar on the continent gradually becoming more visible as smoke and dust settled.
"Gentlemen, nuclear detonation is a success!" Bagwis announced.
Accompanied by peals of laughter, the operations command room erupted in excitement. Countless people jumped up, many even raised their glasses in celebration of their victory.
The Space Missile, armed with a strategic nuclear warhead that is about as strong as a 30 megaton of TNT, had detonated successfully.
Its destructive power rivaled that of the infamous "Weltenzerstörer" from the Deutsches Reich, raising temperatures comparable to the surface of the sun and enough to distort space itself.
The terrifying shockwave swept through hundreds of kilometers and the intense radiation from the explosion was capable of depriving life of everything in its range.
Nuclear weapons are so terrifying that it is enough to make all humanity on earth shudder in fear.
In their knowledge, a life capable of resisting nuclear weapons did not exist.
"Quick, quick, inform the Emperor and the others that we've successfully eliminated the Demon Lord!"
In the midst of joyful shouting, the military personnel exclaimed jubilantly and hurried to spread the news throughout the operations command room.
However, amidst the celebratory atmosphere, a surprised voice suddenly broke through the excitement, startling everyone present.
"Hold on a minute. Wait... What the!?" someone exclaimed in shock, causing most people to freeze in their tracks.
After a moment, following the gaze of the person who had spoken, countless people were astonished to find that on the screen, that was something bright as daylight.
It was as clear as a crystal. Faintly, it was shimmering with the starlight within the darkness of the night. As the dense smoke soon dissipated, it revealed to be an enormous dome made entirely of crystals became visible that covered the entire city of General Santos.
Looking from a distance, it appeared as if a massive crystal bowl was placed on the earth.
The commanding room fell into a stunned silence as they witnessed something appeared seemingly unscathed from the devastation caused by the nuclear explosion. The disbelief among the military personnel was palpable as their earlier jubilation was replaced with a mix of shock and horror.
"What is this?!"
"This is fake, right!?"
"Are you kidding me!? How is that possible?!"
"It's an illusion, it must be an illusion!"
Exclamations of disbelief echoed as countless people could not believe their eyes.
But right then, as if to mock their disbelief, they noticed a small figure can be seen after the cloud of smoke fully dissipated.
Wiping his head with his hand, Andromalius looked at his finger while wincing in pain, as if he had a very bad headache.
Before him, a tiny stain of black blood can be seen on his finger.
"All that for a drop of blood," he muttered, his words transmitted clearly through the satellite feed to the astonished onlookers in the command center.
"...What?"
In utter disbelief, none of the people wanted to believe it, but they couldn't, because what they were seeing and hearing was reality.
"It was confirmed to be a direct hit, but the missile... is ineffective against the target," murmured one of the staff members in complete horror and disbelief.
As for General Santos city, the city and the Demon Lord's army remained unharmed within the protective shield of the crystallized dome that the Demon Lord had summoned. The dome had absorbed the impact of the nuclear explosion, shielding everything within from harm.
Not before long, the Demon Lord snapped his fingers dismissively, causing the crystallize dome to shatter into dust.
The portal and all of the demons within the city were remained untouched under the protection of his magic.
In the command room, the reality of their failure to neutralize the Demon Lord sank in. Their best efforts, their most powerful nuclear bomb that was ever built on earth, had been rendered utterly futile.
Fear and uncertainty gripped the hearts of the military personnel as they faced the daunting prospect of confronting a force beyond their comprehension and power.
"It's over, it's over."
One of the military personnel stared blankly, his face draining of color as he nearly fainted.
"It's fine, it's fine!" Patting his shoulder, another person continued to console him, "Didn't it just survive a nuclear bomb once? It can withstand it once, it can withstand it twice, but can it withstand three or four times? We have like thousands of nuclear weapons, we can just-"
But before he could finish speaking, a thunderous roar filled with raging fury resounded through the sky.
"MORTALS! IT SEEMS YOU ARE DESPERATELY SEEKING DEATH!"
To everyone's horror, they seemed to see a terrifying figure staring directly at them through the screen, furious beyond measure.
Boom!
As his hand swayed, the winds howled with an echoing fury. Demonic Energy surged, causing the air to gather.
In an instant, the entire world trembled as if it was afraid of something.
"[World Breaker]!"
With a sweeping gesture, a powerful arc rent through the air, seeming to distort space and time with unprecedented force.
Shattered! BOOM!!
In less than a second, a part of the sky shattered like glass as the magical attack tore through the fabric of reality and reached before the First Austronesian Third Eye, destroying the satellite and reducing it to a useless relic adrift in the vacuum of space.
"W-What just happened!?" exclaimed one of the military personnel in shock and confusion as the screen in front of them suddenly went dark.
"Did... did that thing shoot down one of our satellites?" a military personnel muttered in a stuttering voice, realizing something.
"No, that can't be possible, that is nonsense!" protested another military personnel.
"With all the things we've witnessed, the idea of a creature capable of taking down a satellite may not be so far-fetched," Bagwis lowered his gaze and admitted somberly with a heavy voice.
"No... way."
The confirmation from the General sent a chill through the assembled personnel as many of them shuddered in fear.
Capable of tearing through space and shooting down a satellite? Just a thought of it is horrifying beyond measure.
"Destroying a satellite in space? Please tell me that's the worst thing that could happen... right?"
Right at that very moment...
"RAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!"
Accompanied by a deafening roar, the earth shook violently. Subsequently, to the sheer amazement of innumerable operation personnel, the earth ruptured, mountains crumbled, and rivers fractured.
Boom!
Boom!
Boooom!
Fearsome tremors continued to ripple through the earth.
It was an earthquake of unprecedented magnitude, perhaps a ten, or even a twelve on the Richter scale.
No one knew for sure.
But everyone knew that a seismic event, affecting the entire Austronesian Empire, had just occurred.
With crisp, thunderous cracks, the earth fractured in city after city.
At a speed invisible to the naked eye, cracks spread from one end of the earth to the other and massive fissures raced across vast distances of land.
It is an earthquake, an earthquake of biblical proportions.
It was the most destructive earthquake in human history.
At this moment, the entire country felt the terrifying tremors.
An earthquake alone was already devastating, there was no need to mention it. However, adding to the woes, this night marked a dark chapter for humanity.
After the earthquake, it was followed by the eruptions of many volcanoes across the land, and massive tsunamis that reached dozens of feet high and laid waste to several cities.
Other than these natural and geological disasters, countless dangerous sea monsters hidden deep within the ocean depths awakened from their oceanic slumber.
Roaring and growling, an innumerable of these crazed monsters of the deep swarmed many coastal cities. And at this moment, not to mention mounting any resistance, the continuous earthquakes had filled countless humans with fear and despair.
Buildings shook left and right, occasionally collapsing. As far as humans were concerned, the safest cities had become the most dangerous places in an instant when the earthquake struck.
The upper echelons of the Austronesian Empire understood this. All of this happened because they had angered a terrifying entity, and this terrifying entity was retaliating against them in a way beyond their comprehension.
"Haa..." Andromalius exhaled a long deep breath as a sense of fatigue washing over his entire being.
His Transcendent Tier-3 skill, [Divine Crystallization], had absorbed the impact of the nuclear explosion for his army, even withstood the super-high temperature, which was comparable to the surface of the sun and resisting most of the burnt of the blast.
But for him, he was so caught-off guard that he only cast the protective spell over his army and allowed the explosion hit him directly, and that felt a bit painful, but nonetheless, it was not that serious.
In terms of injuries, it could only be considered a minor one.
Aside from that, what was important was that, in his recent fit of rage, he had subconsciously triggered an earthquake affecting the entire nation.
The [Great Earthquake] skill was one of Demon Lord Andromalius' most fearsome skills. Using this Transcendent Tier-3 skill stirred the entire earth, thereby triggering a catastrophic earthquake.
As for how catastrophic it was?
As he raised his gaze slowly, Demon Lord Andromalius saw numerous cracks extending toward the horizon.
Carrying an exceptionally icy tone, he declared.
"This war, no... This massacre is just the beginning."
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