125 The Empress, Valerie

Will turned to face the corpse of the mountain dragon. After his death Will thought that it would have shrunk down to its original size, but it didn't.

'Now that Silvas hid his body I must do the same.'

Will took off his mask and with it he touched the mountain dragon's corpse. Will held tightly onto his mask as the mountain dragon's corpse was being violently sucked into the mask. The force was so great Will was being pushed back as he was leaving a trail on the dirt, but Will kept holding tightly onto his mask and not letting go.

{Magical apex dragon-scale mask {full potential}

{Ability: Can store an unlimited amount of items inside}

The ability remained the same even after it got pack-a-punched, but it was the perfect ability to have for carrying the mountain dragon's corpse because there is no limit to what his mask could carry.

It took nearly an entire minute for the entire mountain dragon to be inside Will's mask. 

Will put on his full dragon-scale armor except his pair of boots. He still had trouble controlling his strength when putting on his armor.

"Master!"

A couple of Incredible Golems rolled up to Will. Their voices sounded different than usual because of the pack-a-punch. The Incredible Golems sound raspy and hard to make out because they weren't designed to talk, but now their voices sound deeper, more menacing and a bit clearer to hear.

It was the same with his other Golems. For some reason being pack-a-punched changed their voices.

"Golems, go to the Empire now and circle around it. If you find anything there, report to me asap, and if you think it's a threat, shoot it! Make sure you use the Helicopter Golems to fly around and cover as much area as possible. The Devourer of Gods can stay hidden underground for now."

"Yes, Master. What do you want me to tell the people who are still hiding in the mines?"

"Don't tell them anything yet unless they're getting restless, not even Sandra. Just keep them down there for a while. I need to make sure of something first."

"Yes, Master. Also, the Empress has already attacked the Reyes kingdom. It is going much easier than expected." 

"Okay. Just go do what I said." Will couldn't care about that for the time being.

The Golem thought that Will would be happy to have killed the mountain dragon, but he sounded worried instead.

Dozens of Incredible Golems rolled towards the Empire at a greater speed than before, the ones who were already stationed there were not pack-a-punched, and they were still stationed as their one objective is to protect the Empire from any threats. 

The Helicopter Golems split up to cover as much ground and to find whatever Will was looking for.

Will took out a communication stone to send a message to the Empress, but to his surprise he already got a message from her right before he could send her a message.

{Thank you for your help. You clearly weren't exaggerating about these new Golems of yours}

Valerie had indeed gone the long way to avoid the mountain dragon's roar affecting her and her men. It ended up paying off. She had arrived hours before the Great Sage died. 

She waited patiently for the Great Sage to die. She knew he couldn't live past the time that was given to him, so all she had to do was wait.

Before she arrived she messaged Will to send over the promised Golems.

To her surprise she learned he was helping in taking down the mountain dragon. From what she knew Will was strong, but he was nowhere near strong enough to help the Great Sage take down the mountain dragon.

With that Will told her he could send her only five Increible Golems. It was much less than she expected but she complied as she understood it was important. 

She didn't know if the mountain dragon was due to die anytime soon, but if it wasn't dead after she took over the Reyes kingdom then they would all die soon.

Will had sent over five Incredible Golems that had been pack-a-punched. It didn't take much resources so he didn't mind, and Will was a man of his word. And as it turns out, five pack-a-punched Golems were as powerful as 200 ordinary Golems, at least that is what he told the Empress.

Will send her a message anyways to hopefully get a response. But, halfway through his message, he stopped.

He was still uneasy so he decided to teleport over to the Empire. With the improved ring of teleportation reaching the Empire would take no time.

'I need to see for myself that the Witch isn't back!'

According to the memories he got from the Great Sage, the Witch never died because she can never die, instead she was sealed. And the Great Sage firmly believed that she would return one day, for three hundred years he has been waiting for her return, only this time he didn't believe he had a chance.

She is the only one that the Great Sage feared more than anything in the world.

The place where she was sealed was near the Empire.

Some time ago…

Valerie counted the seconds when the Great Sage would die. 

Currently, her and her army are hiding near the Reyes kingdom behind some thick trees. They were a bit far away so as to not get spotted. They were all sitting while some were on watch duty. Because of the large amount of supplies they brought they didn't worry about food, water, sleeping, or healing potions.

There was absolutely no one guarding the Reyes kingdom aside from a few guards who were stationed at the lookout towers, none of them were taking their job seriously as they were forced to do this job and suffer from the mountain dragon's deafening roaring.

Every time the mountain dragon roared the men stationed at the lookout towers would retreat and new ones would take over their positions. Whereas the Empress's men would use healing potions to heal their wounds. The roaring usually happened every 6-8 hours.

Valerie didn't expect it but the mountain dragon was helping her a lot in achieving her goal of taking over the Reyes kingdom.

Many in the Reyes kingdom had hid in the underground dungeon to avoid the dragon's deafening roar.

The heroes were the first ones to hide, then the royal family, nobles, half nobles, sorcerers, and the peasants last. They couldn't handle the roar of the mountain dragon, as its roar was deafening and painful to hear. That didn't stop the king from sending some soldiers outside to keep a lookout.

The dungeon, which also worked as a refuge, had been built hundreds of years ago when the Great Sage ordered it to be constructed should the Witch ever return, it could easily maintain over 100,000 people and enough supplies to last those 100,000 people for half a year. 

After two hundred years the place hasn't been properly maintained due to lack of everything. And all the supplies that were stored for those 100,000 people had been consumed to save up costs.

Since the kingdom had suffered from the economy collapsing they didn't want to hire people to clean the underground refuge or restock it with useful supplies every now and then, because of that it was covered in dust, was dark, cold, moldy, infested with rats, and insects, and the furniture is broken and rotten, the remaining food was infested with maggots, and all the useful supplies for surviving in the dungeon were broken.

The kings before didn't see a reason to clean the underground refuge until now, they thought they would never need it because the Great Sage was there to protect them from any and all threats.

Most of the refugees had gone deaf permanently and were suffering from many unforeseen problems. Luckily there was one hero who had a healing ability that can heal most wounds even those that are permanently deaf. The king felt lucky having her ability so he wouldn't waste any healing potions which cost money.

The magnificent kingdom that had stood proudly for hundreds of years appeared to be almost like a ghost town.

Parts of its structure began to fall when the mountain dragon began roaring.

"We're going to attack tomorrow. Tell everyone to be prepared." Valerie said to her men who relayed the orders to the others who couldn't hear her.

She walked up to the five Golems who were stationed away from her army, all five were sitting down, covered entirely in leaves, grass, and mud, their new color scheme and huge body stood out so much that they would've been spotted easily by the guards especially at night.

"We'll be attacking in exactly five minutes. You remember the plan?" She whispered to them.

"Yes, Empress. The five of us will commence the invasion as soon as you give us the command, and your real objective is to get the summoning circle so we will not use explosive ammo as to not accidentally destroy said summoning circle, which is located on the other side of the kingdom that is guarded by small iron bars. Then you want us to protect the summoning circle from anything that could damage it."

"Correct."

This was the greatest time to launch an attack at the Reyes kingdom because it's when the Great Sage dies, they are also totally unprepared, and their entire force is holed up underground, most likely everyone was too weak to fight back properly from lack of food, their economy is at an all time low, the majority of their heroes are basically good for nothing, and those heroes who are worth something were killed by Will (Josh and Victoria) and the rest were too weak to be considered a threat, with the exception of Shaun Quincy.

It was simply too perfect to not launch an attack.

She does admit the Golems were impressive and seemed more powerful and menacing compared to the reports she got, it made sense as as the time pack-a-punched Golems didn't exist yet. Though none of them had a chance to see what they're capable of.

Valerie didn't plan to completely rely on the Golems, that was why she brought her army with her.

The Golems were also given a task by Will that if they saw a young, short, brown-skinned girl who is a sorceress, they should escort her out of the kingdom safely along with her family. 

Jasmine was still in the Reyes kingdom, she is a friend of Will. He has been trying to reach her but she hasn't responded back.

The Empress's men were still chatting away and getting mentally prepared. Many were getting nervous, not only was this their first ever siege, then again there has never been a human invasion in this world before, but also the Reyes kingdom was home to the Great Sage. 

Valerie has thought of telling everyone that they had nothing to worry about, because the Great Sage was going to die in less than five minutes, but she knew that there was a chance there are spies among them, which is why she lied to her army so no one would tell the king and let them have a chance to be prepared.

And she was right, there are two spies within her army, both are no-named low-rank soldiers who don't get told anything special.

Valerie was only following a quote she read from the book "The Art of War: Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as the night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt."

Meanwhile…

The king already knew about her army and he wasn't worried at all, because they had the Great Sage with them, a single snap of his fingers could erase her entire army. He was expecting the Great Sage to finish his fight with the mountain dragon any second now and should be back in time before they invade the kingdom.

He could send out his army to defend the castle just to be safe, but if he did that and the mountain dragon was to roar again, his entire army would be incapacitated, they only had one hero who can heal and she couldn't heal thousands of people fast enough. It was simply not worth sending his men out when the Great Sage could handle it. 

The Empress's army was fine since they still had an abundance of healing and regenerative potions.

And he recently got news that Valerie was somehow able to obtain five Golems from Will. This did worry the king, as Shaun Quincy couldn't even damage an ordinary Golem with his magical weapon. 

But then he also thought that even if they had five or five hundred Golems it wouldn't matter because the Great Sage was still stronger.

This actually made him happy after he gave it some thought, this gave him the perfect excuse to pillage the Empire of all its resources for trying to invade the Reyes kingdom, but also the Sun kingdom for aiding the Empire.

He plans on telling the Great Sage exactly that, and he absolutely has to agree to help them, at least that's how it goes down in his plan.

Meanwhile…

Valerie was secretly afraid that this wouldn't work. She has been planning this for years. All she wanted was to use the summoning circle so all her men could teleport to Earth and live safely in a monster-less world. 

As for how she's going to accomplish that? She doesn't know, but if she could obtain it she might just find a way. She needed to find a way because she believes as long as they're in this world nothing in their lives would improve, and also with the threat of the Witch returning she had all the reason to leave this world, especially if the Great Sage was dead by the time she returned.

All of a sudden a blinding blue light came from far away from the sky. It was so beautiful and so bright it almost looked like a meteor was crashing down. The light crashed down before disappearing completely. Anyone who witnessed the light was equally confused.

'Was that the Great Sage? It has to be him.' Valerie thought. There was no way to confirm it was the Great Sage, but she was sure it was him, who else could it possibly be?

A few minutes passed and everyone was talking about the light. Then they heard a loud noise going off beside them, the five pack-a-punched Golems began rolling towards the kingdom together.

The guards who were on watch saw five giant metal balls of weird color rolling towards them at high speeds. Before they could react one of the Incredible Golems stood and shot the watchmen from afar using enchanted, pack-a-punched mini guns.

The bullets were so quick and powerful, like a laser, that the guards bodies exploded, like crushing a couple of grapes. Not only did their bodies explode but their bodies had smoke and fire coming out what remained of their corpses.

The only survivor who witnessed it thought 'I don't get paid enough for this shit!' and ran away to safety.

*Crash* *Crash* *Crash* *Crash* *Crash*

All five Golems crashed through the Reyes kingdom walls leaving behind five huge holes. All five split up and rolled through all the buildings causing damage to the kingdom wherever they went.

Then they saw it, the summoning circle.

"Objective achieved."

All five Golems stood around the summoning circle. Any watchmen they saw were immediately shot down.

The Empress hurriedly got on top of her lizard, fully equipped with her enchanted armor, and gathered her men. 

"GO! WE ATTACK NOW!" She yelled as she rode on her lizard straight to the Reyes kingdom.

Her entire army, although very stunned and confused at the turn of sudden events, took less than a minute to gear up and began charging towards the Reyes kingdom. 

"TO THE EMPRESS! TO THE EMPRESSSSSSSS!!!" They all charged bravely following the Empress.

The two hidden spies quickly send the king an emergency message. In their hastiness both of them got caught right after they managed to send the message to the king.

The king who was sipping some fine wine while sitting down on his bed all warm and cozy, checked the message his spies sent him. 

Upon reading the message he choked on his wine, let go of the expensive bottle which stained his mattress, and he fell off of his bed because he was caught in his own bed sheets like a fly to a spiderweb.

The bed he was lying on didn't originally belong in the dungeon, the king had ordered some of his men to exit the dungeon, and to bring their own beds from the castle to the dungeon. Then he sent them back nearly a hundred more times so that the heroes and nobles could also get beds.

He struggled hard trying to get out of the grip of his bed sheets. 

"Ev-EVerrr-Everyone! OUT! GET OUT! We're being attacked!" He yelled but there was nobody near him.

Finally he managed to leave his private room. Everyone was looking at the king. All the guards, nobles, and sorcerers weren't even carrying a single piece of equipment. The heroes were sitting down doing whatever it was they were doing, the peasants were just sitting down eating some radish soup.

The only one who was even prepared was Shaun Quincy and Bruce Man. 

About a week ago Shaun had been ordered to find a way to infiltrate the Sun kingdom solo. When the mountain dragon first roared, Shaun immediately felt a terrible pain from his ears but they healed naturally. 

Bravely he went to check out what it was, and saw the Great Sage fighting the biggest dragon they had ever seen.

The Great Sage had actually sensed Shaun from far away, and teleported him safely to the Reyes kingdom. Shaun would then report what was happening to the king.

"SHAUN!" The king ran to him. "GET OUT! THE EMPIRE IS ATTACKING THE KINGDOM! EVERYONE GET OUT NOW! GRAB YOUR SHIT! HEROES! PEASANTS! EVERYONE JUST GO!" 

Shaun immediately ran up, followed by Bruce Man. Everyone else was panicking, tripping, pushing each other, hurting each other by accident trying to leave and get their equipment, they were actually doing more damage to themselves.

The rest of the heroes were too afraid to leave and they all huddled to a wall. They were already afraid from before.

Aside from Bruce and Shaun, the only other two remaining heroes who had gone outside the kingdom, Henry and Britney, didn't leave either. Not because of fear, but because Henry was depressed believing that Pete had died. For the past week Henry hadn't eaten, showered, slept, or talked to anybody.

Britney stayed by his side and helped him however she could because she loved him. She, too, was affected thinking Pete was dead, but not nearly as much as Henry.

Shaun kicked the door open, and charged outside of the castle by kicking open the castle doors. Then he stopped running when he saw two Golems aiming their powerful weapons at him. 

The Empress was also there with them. Her entire army had almost completely surrounded the castle.

"Hero, remember me?" both the Incredible Golems spoke.

Seeing them made Shaun feel weak. 

One thing he didn't understand is why did they look different from before, and why does its voice sound more menacing than before?

Three Golems were protecting the summoning circle. The other two Golems protected the Empress.

The Empress was sending a 'thank you' message to Will before turning to face Shaun. All of her men were also pointing their weapons at Shaun. 

Seeing this Shaun didn't have a tiny bit of hope in taking them down, only the Great Sage could.

"Shaun, what are you dooooooooooooinnnnnnnn…" Bruce stopped in his tracks to see an army in front of him.

Instinctively Bruce put both his hands up.

"Bruce, go back to the dungeon." Shaun said. Bruce's safety was his main concern.

"Yeah, I am not going to let that happen." Valerie interjected. "Bruce, stand over there and leave any weapons you have behind for your safety. Same goes for you, Shaun. If any of you wants to continue being a hero, then you better be prepared to die a hero."

"No. Bruce, do not listen to her." Shaun pushed Bruce back with his arm.

"Very well. Golem, shoot his spear."

*Bang*

Before Shaun could react, the tip of his spear disappeared and part of it had melted as if it were made of wax. The bullet traveled further and left a burning hole behind him on the ground. 

Shaun could react fast enough to block and dodge bullets, but that was the most powerful and fastest bullet he had ever seen.

Bruce was taken aback. The weapon that could absorb damage from anything, even from dragons, broke from a single bullet?

Even Valerie was surprised. She thought his spear would be thrown back.

"Bruce, listen to what she says." Shaun pushed Bruce aside, he had no way of defending him now. 

All he could do was stall enough time for the Great Sage to return. 

No matter how he looked at it, they were at a disadvantage in every single way possible. 

"ATTACK THE EMPRESS!" Many guards began charging without knowing what was happening.

Shaun, who knew what was about to happen, grabbed Bruce and pushed him down on the ground.

"GET DOWN!" 

One of the Golems shot three bullets at the guards. A single bullet traveled through an entire line of guards, made their bodies explode, burned them, and killed them.

In reality the bullet from a pack-a-punched gun had so much energy and power that it seemed it made a normal man explode, but it would melt them instantly and their bodies would travel everywhere making it seem that they would explode.

The rest of the guards who saw what happened to their friends were shocked. They couldn't even process it.

Bruce and Shaun looked back, even with their regeneration there was no way they could survive a single bullet from the pack-a-punched Golem.

'Did Will actually create those things?' Bruce was beyond scared.

Ever since he saw the first Golems he just knew that Will created the Golems despite what Shaun says.

The Empress and her men were also shocked. They hadn't seen the Golems in action before either. The guards who were shot earlier were too far away for anyone to see.

Valerie was beyond glad she sided with Will when she had the chance. With these creations of his, many would say that Will could rival the Great Sage, maybe.

"Golems, good job. Kill anyone else who points a weapon at us."

"Yes, Empress."

"Go, Bruce, don't look back, just go." Both of the heroes began crawling to the side of the door. One of the Empress's men took some anti-hero cuffs and cuffed Bruce and Shaun. 

"Don't kill them unless they're asking for it." Valerie said to her men. She didn't want to see unnecessary bloodshed spilled. 

She just wanted the summoning circle, and to eliminate any future threats.

More and more guards would show up, many would end up dying, and just as many would surrender. Since there was only one entrance leading to the dungeon, anybody who would leave the dungeon would be immediately surrounded.

There was a secret exit leading outside the kingdom, but it was lost in time as there has never been a need to use it. It was a complete disaster for the kingdom of Reyes.

When sorcerers exited the dungeon they planned on using their magic to turn the tide, but eventually failed when the Golems started shooting down their most powerful sorcerers. Eventually most sorcerers would surrender as well.

As soon as the Golems saw Jasmine being taken away, one of them walked over and said, "are you Jasmine?" 

Jasmine was scared and surprised. She saw how powerful and merciless it was. The melted bodies of the soldiers and sorcerers were still there.

"Y-yes?" said Jasmine, scared for her life.

"My Master said to escort you out of here safely. You can bring your family with you."

The Empress squinted her eyes, she didn't expect Will to give them those orders.

Everyone was looking at her, unsure of what to think. The Empress's men felt like refuting, as their Empress hadn't given those orders, but the Golems didn't belong to her but Will. And they all know that those Golems only listen to Will.

"Your… Will? You mean Will? You're his?"

Jasmine hadn't seen a Golem before, but she had heard from Jack about the Golems Will had created, but those Golems he mentioned had a humanoid appearance and weren't powerful like the ones in front of her.

Jack hadn't told her about the Incredible Golems because he hadn't seen one either.

Jasmine just didn't think Will would think of her as important enough that he would want to spare her.

"Yes. Two helicopters are on their way. Once you're ready, be prepared to leave this place with your family, for your safety."

"I… uh." Jasmine wanted to leave, she didn't have much of a connection to this kingdom or its people, she came to live in the kingdom to protect her family even if it meant paying the taxes, which by now placed her in debt.

But she felt that if she left and left everyone else behind she would be betraying the Reyes kingdom.

"You should leave. Don't be stupid. Take the chance while you still can." 

Shaun, who was still handcuffed, saw she was hesitating for dumb reasons and decided to intervene.

"Jasmine, do you not want to leave?" The Incredible Golem asked.

"I… yes, I do. I need to get my family first." Jasmine wanted to run towards her family, but was afraid she would get shot down by the Empress's men if she did so.

"Let her go, and let her get her family." Valerie said to her men. 

She didn't know what her history was with Will, but she was important enough for him to command his Golems to protect her.

Valerie didn't want to get on Will's bad side, so she'll go out of her way to spare Jasmine and her family.

Jasmine did find her family among the rows of prisoners. Many prisoners begged and pleaded her to take them away with her, to lie and pretend they were family. Jasmine did think about it, but she was given this chance by Will, what would happen if he found out she took advantage of his generosity?

Not much time later had passed when two helicopter Golems had landed outside the Reyes kingdom, and took Jasmine and her family away to the Sun kingdom. It was a rocky ride as the helicopter Golems didn't have seats or doors installed. They were not designed for such purposes.

All the other prisoners could only stare at her, not being able to say anything because they weren't lucky enough to be friends with Will.

When the first noble left to fight, he was shot down by the Empress's men to be made an example for the other nobles; Valerie didn't want to rely on the Golems for everything.

In a matter of hours thousands of prisoners were taken, peasants, guards, nobles, half-nobles, sorcerers, lastly the heroes. It was already the middle of the night.

Many heroes, nobles, sorcerers, and guards remained inside the dungeon as leaving the dungeon is no different than a death wish. They began fortifying the dungeon with whatever they had to protect themselves.

At the end the king could tell just how screwed they were as he was desperately looking for the secret exit, he planned to have the 90-ish remaining heroes launch a sneak attack, and fight for the kingdom for once in their lives, and to take it back.

He was told of the secret exit one time by his father when he was five years old, but even his father didn't know the exact location of the secret exit either, just the general area because his father also didn't know the secret location.

The Empress's men would storm the dungeon and aim their enchanted weapons at the royal family and the heroes. Even with the nobles and sorcerers defending themselves, ultimately they were no match for the Empire.

Of course none of the heroes helped because there was nothing they could do to help. They were all scared, despite having months to practice, to become stronger but never grasping the opportunity.

The heroes were forced out of the safety of the dungeon by gun threats with anti-hero cuffs cuffed to their arms. Many were obviously beyond scared, but they all complied. This was the worst experience they had gone through.

The Empress's men would cheer happily to see the heroes out in anti-hero cuffs.

Finally, the king and his family were escorted out of their own kingdom in chains. The cheering only got louder.

The king was put in front of everybody and kneeling before the Empress. His daughter and wife would be placed beside the captive heroes in cuffs.

The king felt horrible upon seeing the state of his kingdom. Houses destroyed, everyone else was being held prisoner, they were outnumbered and outmatched, his castle was damaged and had corpses lying everywhere. In fact when he exited the dungeon there was a horrible smell coming from the charred corpses. The magnificent Reyes kingdom has never been in a worse state.

Valerie raised her hand to quiet her men who were still cheering as they had won. Everyone went quiet, it was almost too eerie.

"You all might be wondering about something important, the Great Sage." Valerie spoke loudly for everyone to hear. 

"I don't believe we have a chance to defeat the Great Sage. He is a powerful man, the most powerful hero this world has ever seen. Even after his prime he is still extremely powerful, we all know that."

Many of the prisoners agreed. Some of the Empress's men forgot about the Great Sage and started to feel nervous again. The king smiled, they might be in this horrible situation but the Great Sage will save them, just like always.

"But I have good news! We don't have to worry about him anymore. The Great Sage is no longer living with us!"

'Wait, what did you say?' Many were thinking the exact same thing.

"The Great Sage is dead. Haven't any of you wondered why we haven't heard that mountain dragon shouting the past couple of hours? I'll tell you why it hasn't shouted, it's because it's dead, but where is the Great Sage after all this time? He's gone as well. There is nobody else that can protect this kingdom anymore."

There was a moment of silence. Then people began doubting her, calling her a liar, names: 

"You fat lying bitch!" 

"The Great Sage will never die!"

"Just wait till he gets back here!"

They began getting restless with the Empress's men pushing many of them back with weapons.

*Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew*

One of the Incredible Golems shot at the sky making a laser noise which made everyone shut up.

'Seriously, why are people still calling me fat? My weight is average.' It was a pet peeve for Valerie.

"Thank you. Anyone who gets out of line will be shot, heroes aren't an exception either, if any of you feels like you want to be heroes, for the first time in your lives, then you can die like one!" 

Not one of the heroes felt like standing up against her, as they knew they would die. Most of them were crying, snot and tears ran down their faces.

"And as for you." Valerie pointed at the king. She took out a pistol and aimed it right between his eyes.

She could see the time remaining he had left.

{00:00:0:00:00:02}

{00:00:0:00:00:01}

*BANG*

"NOOOOO!" Harmony, the king's daughter, let out a horrible cry and started to tear up and sob uncontrollably.

"Lock up all the prisoners, don't kill them unless they attack. One of you, keep a close eye on the heroes and nobles." She signaled to one of the Incredible Golems.

Thousands of prisoners were being escorted out of the Reyes kingdom in chains. Beside them were the Empress's men escorting them with guns on hand. Behind them was an Incredible Golem keeping a close eye on everyone.

Valerie has gone through this scenario many times in her head, and she didn't know how to resolve the prisoners in a peaceful manner. All she could rely on was fear, and physical force to keep everyone at bay.

She imagined what she would've done if her Empire was besieged by the Reyes kingdom, with the heroes and the Great Sage helping, and all her people were taken as prisoners. The answer was simple: revolt even if the chances seem small.

As she was thinking that, a foolish man jumped on top of one of the Empress's men to take his gun away, but he was immediately pelted with bullets.

In an hour most of the prisoners had been escorted to the Empire to be imprisoned until she decides their fates.

"You did it, Valerie. How does it feel?" Veronica offered her a towel.

"I don't know, it feels like it was too easy, but it's probably for the best."

The best part about this victory was that there were minimal casualties on the Empire's side.

"It really does, then again I don't think there was a better moment to attack the Reyes kingdom than today. I mean, the Great Sage died, the mountain dragon forced everyone in a dungeon which gave us a positional advantage, the kingdom's economy was at an all time low, the majority of the heroes are of no use, they were not prepared in the slightest while we were preparing for this moment for months."

"I agree as well."

They heard a voice beside them, both jumped up out of fright. It was Will.

"Will, you scared us." Valerie said as sighed in relief.. 

Veronica stared at Will cautiously. 

Some of Valerie's nearby men attempted to point their weapons at Will, but Valerie quickly dismissed them.

"First, congratulations on taking over the Reyes kingdom," said Will.

"Thank you. Oh, this is my friend, Veronica."

"Hey."

"Hi there." Will looked back at Valerie and said, "secondly, I want to talk to you about something, about a zombie."

Valerie's eyes were wide open for a second.

"Veronica, everyone else, leave us alone." Valerie said loudly enough for everyone to hear her.

"But-"

"Just do it!" 

Everyone went far away until they couldn't hear her anymore but they could still keep an eye on her.

"How did you know about the zombie?" Valerie asked, bewildered.

"Well, I killed the zombie within the first few days since I was summoned here. But I didn't know that it came from the Empire, until now when you just confirmed it for me."

"Hm, smart… what did you do with the body?"

"I left it on the ground where I shot it, at the time I didn't know that the zombie came from the Witch and that it was such a huge threat, in fact I didn't even know about anything at the time. Its body went missing when I went back to look for it."

Valerie had been worried about the zombie that escaped. But after months there hadn't been a zombie outbreak which was a good thing.

"Will… what do you want to ask me exactly?" Valerie sat down on the ground and signaled Will to sit beside her.

"Did you manage to find the Witch? Is that how that zombie came to be?"

"No, I'll tell you what happened."

Valerie went on to explain to Will about the sword she found on the ground, and how one of her men got infected with it and managed to escape.

Will wore the ring that tells him if anyone was lying to him. So far she was telling the truth.

"And that's what happened."

"So the sword just happened to be there? I find that hard to believe."

That part didn't make sense at all. The Witch had been sealed for nearly three hundred years, how was it possible for one of her weapons to still remain near the Empire, out in the open, for so many years without being spotted?

There was a strong possibility that it meant that the Witch had broken out of her seal, or was about to.

After Will received the Great Sage's memories, he quickly went to see if the Witch had escaped her seal. The Great Sage firmly believes that the Witch will return one day, most likely the day he died, or much later.

After searching for hours around the Empire, Will, nor his Golems, could find anything.

It is the reason he hadn't crafted armor made out of the mountain dragon's corpse, because the Witch could turn it into a zombie. It is also why Silvas hid the Great Great Sage's body in a place where Lea could protect him. The last thing they needed are those three powerhouses working together.

Then Will remembered something important while looking for the Witch: the zombie he killed. He had no idea where it came from. But if the Witch was sealed near the Empire, wouldn't it make sense for Valerie to know about the zombie?

"I also don't want to believe it but it's the truth. That's why I want to leave this world as soon as possible." 

"Leave this world?"

Valerie stood up, patted the dirt from her clothes.

"This way."

Valerie led Will to the summoning circle, being protected by three of Will's Golems.

Valerie stood on top of the summoning circle. She had been busy all day and she hadn't had the chance to examine it.

"The summoning circle is how you heroes came to this world. But what if we could use it to teleport us to your world? Before the Witch returns. And to a new world where life is better for everyone. As you know this world is horrible, who knows when the Witch will return, or if there's going to be another threat like the mountain dragon? The Great Sage is dead, there is no one who can protect us from those threats. You might be powerful now, but do you think you can protect everyone from such threats?"

Will closed his eyes. She was right, they didn't know if there was going to be another threat. And Will didn't know if he could become as powerful as the Great Sage, or if he had the time. Not only that but he wanted to return to his home, to tell his family, and Sandra's family that they were alive.

"I don't know."

Will walked up to the summoning circle and tapped it.

{Failure 101}

{Able to summon a 'hero' from a distant universe for ten willing sacrifices}

{An incredibly sturdy stone platform created by 'The Conqueror' was deemed as a failed product, because it could only summon heroes at 1/100 of full power of what he was expecting. It was given to his daughter, who gave it away to a human out of pity}

{The product has been damaged by and cannot summon heroes at full strength anymore. Can only summon heroes at 0.001/100 of their total potential}

Before it was even damaged, the first three heroes summoned weren't summoned at the full potential of the summoning circle that the Conqueror wanted. The Great Sage, and the Witch were only at 1/100 of their full potential.

As for how it was damaged? Will actually knew the answer.

Long ago, the Great Sage longed to go back home. After years of failure, in a fit of rage and sadness, he accidentally broke the summoning circle. It could still summon heroes like always, but the heroes it could summon could no longer be as powerful as he was. 

Many would argue this was a great outcome.

It is the reason why there hasn't been another hero nearly as powerful as the first three heroes.

Will backed away from the summoning circle after receiving no valuable information.

"What do you think, Will? Do you want to go back home?" 

"I really do. If you can find a way to go back to my home world let me know. I don't know if there's anything I can do to help."

Will thought there might be some things he should be worried about, such as what would happen if she were to invade Earth with her army? Or if this plan of hers could potentially endanger the people of Earth.

But knowing she wouldn't be able to achieve that any time soon, and that the Witch hasn't been able to return, Will ignored it for the time being. He was tired, hungry, and thirsty. All he wanted to do now was go home to Sandra, take a shower, and sleep for several days in a row.

"At least you're not stopping me. Also, Will, thank you, for your help. It couldn't have gone as smoothly without your help."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm going back home."

Will felt tired. The ring he gave to the Great Sage that gave him unlimited stamina melted when the Great Sage killed the mountain dragon, as well as his magical staff.

To Will it was worth it because the mountain dragon is dead. But with the looming threat of the possibility of the Witch coming back, he needed to go back home and continue crafting, after his well deserved break.

After all, the Great Sage was waiting for three hundred years for the Witch to return. What are the chances she'll return in the next couple of days?

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

The entire planet began shaking violently like a huge explosion had gone off. Everyone on the planet lost their balance and fell to the floor. 

"M-M,0s's-maS… m+ssq." The Golems said.

Will tripped. He flew but he could still feel the intense shaking as if he was still on the ground.

The Golems couldn't even form a sentence or stand upright, as if their cores were being affected by the loud explosion.

Valerie, who was on top of the summoning circle, fell as well. But the summoning circle lit up all of a sudden. 

"NO!" Valerie said, it was only for a second but she knew what was about to happen.

Seeing the light Valerie gasped in fright, she wanted to run but the shaking was making her unable to get away on time.

The light grew brighter, brighter than it had ever glowed, its light pierced through the clouds like a bright beacon that could be seen from outer space, such brightness had never been seen before. It had only lasted for only a few seconds. Once the light disappeared Valerie was nowhere to be seen.

The rumbling noise disappeared as well. 

"M-Master, are you okay?" The Golems, who were fine now, checked on Will.

"I'm fine. What was that?"

"We don't know."

"Spread out and search! Search the Empire again!" 

Before he left he had the majority of his Incredible Golems, and Helicopter Golems patrol the area around the Empire 24/7, since it is the most likely spot where the Witch would appear.

Will was sure that it wasn't the mountain dragon's doing as his corpse was stored inside his mask, but he suspected it might be the Witch. 

Believing that he had no time to spare he wanted to teleport back home, then he remembered Valerie.

"Empress!" 

Will stood on top of the summoning circle. Valerie was gone.

"Did she seriously disappear like that?" Will couldn't believe it. 

{Fsmefk}

{Fm!F@@R@1$@1"!!!}}}

{!!U!*E@*HmMM.f2i2}{}

Will inspected the summoning circle again, but his system was broken. The information that was there before was completely messed up.

"What the hell is going on here?"

Will inspected his items, same result. He tried accessing his inventory, but it didn't work. His system was failing him.

"VALERIE!"

Veronica jumped on top of the summoning circle, they couldn't see Valerie.

"WHERE DID SHE GO!"

"EMPRESS!!!"

"VALERIE!"

They spread out and began looking for her. They also send her messages but no answers from her.

"Hero, what the hell happened?" Veronica walked up to Will.

"I don't know. Does this world sometimes shake uncontrollably?" 

WIll asked because this world had man-eating locusts that come once every 100 years, it wouldn't be weird if it had other weird events going on every now and then.

"There's no such thing in this world!"

"That shaking is what caused your Empress to disappear. Golem! Did you find anything?"

"Negative, Master. I am patrolling everywhere and I do not see anything out of the ordinary."

"Then what the hell caused that shaking? Where did Valerie go? Wait, don't tell me she went back to Earth?"

Will and Veronica looked at the summoning circle again.

{Failure 101}

{It is broken beyond repair}

For some reason Will's system returned to normal after thirty seconds, but the summoning circle was broken by the loud rumbling.

'What the fuck is happening?' Will wanted to know.

Meanwhile…

Valerie was still fine. She woke up feeling well. The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was the ground from a distance away from her, and it seemed to be getting closer to her.

"Wait! Wait what?!" Valerie understood she was falling to her death. Looking clearly she sees there is nothing but sand. From far she can see five pyramids bigger than any pyramid built on Earth.

"Nonononononono!" 

*BOOOOOOOOM*

She crashed and it created a large mushroom cloud.

Valerie opened her eyes. She was fine, there wasn't a single scratch on her nor did she feel any sort of pain. A fall from that height should have killed her.

"Wait, what?" Valerie, who was completely confused, stood up. One minute she's on top of the summoning circle, then the ground starts shaking, next thing she knows she's falling from the sky.

The entire area in front of her is a vast desert.

Looking up she was amazed, yet scared.

She saw a beautiful pink planet from where she was sitting. It was so close that any ordinary person could see it without using a telescope. The planet was beautiful, but seeing it so close made it look threatening as if both planets would collide.

"Is this... Earth? Pft! Sand!" She waved her hand to get the sand particles away from her face, but that simple wave of her hand made a powerful gust of wind appear which cleared the sand.

Valerie covered her face not realizing she caused that powerful gust.

"Wait, did I do that?" Doubtful, she waved her hand again, which created another powerful wind gust.

It took a second but she figured it out, she is a hero.

When the summoning circle summoned her it had also turned her into a hero. After all the heroes who were summoned to her world were summoned with many abilities, despite all of them being ordinary people before.

"I'm a hero." Valerie smiled happily, with this strength she could protect her people better, and by the looks of it, the summoning circle gave her many powerful benefits, many of which she doesn't know yet.

Then it dawned on her. Her smile turned to despair and white as a sheet of paper. "Oh no, nonononono. I shouldn't be here! Not yet!"

Valerie's whole plan was to bring everyone from her Empire to Earth to lead them to better lives. But if she was here by herself, she felt as if she had betrayed everyone she promised to protect.

She then hears someone approaching from behind her. Turning around she sees a figure wearing a gold mask with a happy face carved in it. His body was completely covered in a light-dark robe to protect him from the sand hitting his face.

Two things caught her attention of the man in front of her: He had golden wings that extended behind his body. The wings were also moving by itself as if they had a mind of their own.

And since she was wearing her magical earrings, she can see his lifespan, his lifespan is what also caught her attention.

{00:00:0:00:00:00}

She has seen that kind of lifespan once, from Will.

"Ohtg deken noto, susa. Kekn-kotplno?"

He was speaking a strange language she didn't understand.

"I... I don't understand what you're saying." Valerie said.

The man didn't understand her words either. Out of nowhere he produced what appeared to be a golden horseshoe, and he placed it on his neck right underneath his golden mask.

"Can you understand me now, Madam?"

Valerie was a bit taken aback to hear him speak english, but she nodded in response.

"I was saying that you are a very powerful individual, Madam. How did you get here? Why are you here>" The strange man asked. He looked around but couldn't see how the person in front of him got here.

"I… I don't know. I just… fell from the sky."

The individual looked up.

"Madam, by any chance, did you feel some rumbling not too long ago? A small and light earthquake you might say." He asked.

"Yeah, yes I did! That was the reason why I am here. But it wasn't light in any way, it was very powerful where I couldn't keep my balance on the ground."

"I see. So we both felt it but it was a completely different experience for the both of us."

"Is… is this Earth? Am I on Earth?"

The man looked at her. It took a few seconds for him to respond back.

"Earth, Madam? What's that?"

"The planet! Is the planet's name Earth?" 

"Its name is not Earth, but Rogx. I do not know any planet that goes by that name."

"Rogx?" Valerie started to panic a bit. She wasn't summoned on Earth, but a strange planet? 

'This must be how all the heroes feel when they're summoned.'

"What is your name, Madam?"

"My name is Valerie, I am the Empress. Who are you?"

"My name is The Conqueror."