In a distant realm where magic thrives, ferocious beasts shake mountains and rivers with their mighty roars, and individuals wield superhuman strength capable of reshaping their surroundings. It is a magical world where the strong rules.
But rampant...
Austronesian Empire, Imperial Maharlika, Manila, Streets Of Manila.
2000, 1, 1st Week, January
The rain was heavily pouring down in sheets as thunderous roars with its deep, rumbling echoes. To the sides, ten silhouettes of what seemed like men in armor and steel mask were kneeling on the wet ground as if waiting for something.
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On the opposite side of the armed soldiers was a hideous creature that was standing tall as a two-storey house. Throughout its body were scales never seen before on a creature, an alien sight which widely baffled the onlookers from the opposite side.
Was this some kind of park or fairytale? Is this a dream? Nevertheless, the men didn't let these thoughts bother them as they are in reality as of now.
The creature was in a state of slumber, as if unbothered by the violent storm and all the chaos happening around it, such as the deadly lightning splitting the sky and thunder cracked like a whip, yet the monstrous being remained calm and oblivious. To the far side of the scaly creature was a group of fifteen people that were huddled together inside a broken house, being utterly silent, to not wake up the scaly creature.
When the soldiers finally saw where the group of people were, one man immediately headed for them.
"Go, go, go," he whispered urgently to his team and dashed quietly towards the group of people that were inside the broken house. He carefully threaded through the broken rubbles while simultaneously climbing up and down it.
Upon reaching the hiding group, the man raised his index finger to his lips. "Shhh, we are here to save you," he murmured, his voice barely audible. "Stay quiet and follow me."
The man first climbed out of the debris, guiding the group to follow him carefully as he assisted each person as they climbed out. The storm raged on and the people were freezing cold as the cold rain drenching them. Pools of water were forming all around them, and they knew they needed to act fast or it would strand them in this location.
To keep the group together in the harsh conditions, the man held onto the arm of the first person behind him, which was a woman, and instructed her they all need to hold each other and stay close so that the others won't be lost, because of the severity of the storm almost partially blocking the surroundings from being properly seen, making it essential for them to stay connected.
They pressed on toward the point where they could be safe to say the least, however as if fate forced them to suffer even more, the woman behind the soldier was slipped her foot on the wet ground, and she fell with a loud thud that echoed through the surroundings, even bypassing the deafening thunder and rain.
This made the scaly creature snap its eyes open, and when the woman saw this, she screamed to the top of her lungs, which also alerted the nearby soldiers. The man that escorted the people clicked his tongue in frustration and shouted
"Open fire!"
As the man barked orders to his team, he turned to the people he was guiding and told them to duck for cover. Once they crouched down, a thunderous explosion erupted in front of them as ten soldiers unleashed a barrage of rockets from rocket launchers to obliterate the scaly creature.
As if hell descended upon the scaly creature, the rocket launchers battered it and the rocket fire blast caused a substantial amount of damage. This made the scaly creature furious as it let out a thunderous roar that echoed throughout the area, which stunned some of the people that were being escorted.
Unable to move from their location, the man stood up and shouted at the top of his lungs to force the people to move.
"Move! Quick!" The man shouted.
His urgent cry snapped the stunned group back to reality, prompting them to dash towards safety. The man stayed at the rear, helping those who stumbled or lagged behind due to the debris.
Rocket launchers were being quickly reloaded at incredible speeds, as if the soldiers trained this for years as they finished reloading the weapon in a matter of seconds before firing round after round at the scaly creature without pausing, not even allowing the creature giving its turn.
However, there was a small space of time that some weren't being fired, giving the beast a brief opening and gathering a fiery red glow in its mouth before unleashing a searing beam of scorching fire at the group of soldiers.
The camouflage men immediately took notice of this, to which one man shouted at top of his lungs.
"Get down!"
The soldiers quickly took cover, ducking behind whatever protection they could find. However, there were some unfortunate souls who weren't able to duck early.
"Oh fu-!"
Before the man could say anything, he was cut off as the huge beam of flames engulfed him whole, and to the other soldier's horror, the unfortunate man was burned to ashes when the fire blast arrived, not even his clothes, armor, weapons, and the buildings behind him weren't spared. Nothing was left in its wake but scorched remnants as if the fire attack from the Dragon like beast could burn anything it touches to nothing.
The soldiers were stunned by the power of the creature's attack, but they quickly regained their composure and prepared to fire again.
The man escorting the civilians arrived just in time to order them to duck and they did. As he witnessed the losses sustained by his team, a wave of sorrow gripped him, but he held back his emotions for he is a disciplined soldier, and so he ordered his men to retreat as they reloaded their rocket launchers.
After hearing their commander's call to retreat, the soldiers immediately began preparing to leave the battlefield. Unfortunately, the scaly creature was not done yet as it reopened its mouth and started gathering another hellfire attack.
Seeing the creature gathering its attack again, the man felt hopelessness. Fortunately, just as the creature was about to unleash its devastating blast...
*Boom!*
A deafening explosion roared behind them as a silhouette of bright light zoomed through the battlefield and struck the insides of the scaly creature from its chest.
The impact caused the creature's body to explode into pieces of flesh and raining blood over the battlefield. The soldiers turned and saw their saviors: a hulking battle tank, and what made them even more hopeful is its, which was enowned for its immense power.
Unlike most tanks, which could only penetrate five to ten layers of steel, this tank, known as the ZTZ-999 Super Tank could effortlessly breach twenty layers of tungsten plating within seconds. For a creature with scales several times stronger than steel, this is no problem for the super tank made for war.
As the super tank rolled onto the scene, the man leading the soldiers approached. The gunner opened the hatch as the man shouted his gratitude.
