Tension grasped the hearts of billions as they awaited the System's timer end.
[00:00:00:00:59]
[00:00:00:00:01]
As the final second passed, the world shuddered and a sickening feeling engulfed every organism on Earth.
What followed next were a few seconds of silence as something ripped apart space on the Northen and the Southern Pole. A massive gate appeared and its screeching sounds as it opened welcomed the invaders.
Behind the gates were armies numbering in billions made out of small green, blue, and even red creatures.
In the midst of the waves of small imps, goblins and more were gigantic creatures, towering sometimes even over 4 meters as they held various blunt weapons.
A portion of them pushed mediaeval types of siege weapons. Once both armies stepped out, a notification appeared in the retinas of all Earthlings. And a special one appeared in the retinas of both players.
[The wave 1 begins!]
[Defend your homeland! Creatures incapable of foresight were plunged into depravity by an unknown being. Now, they were turned into mindless creatures desiring destruction, lust and gluttony!]
Some sighed in relief as they realised the frontlines wouldn't impact them as much. However, some were alert, as they knew how close they were.
Humans acted without delay as they created blockades to the points nearest to both Poles. Under the leadership of Magnus, most of them became united and stopped aggressions against each other.
That didn't mean that they would help if the other one was on the verge of destruction, at least not for free...
...
[Magnus]
Magnus felt his body become sluggish as a painful inertia hit him.
[Wave 1 began! As the player, you are restricted from making moves. Let the world show your level of leadership! Players may make moves in the later stages of the war.]
[99.9% of stats locked, calibrated according to the second strongest human nurtured on Earth.]
As he read the text, his face became grim. Thankfully, he still had his disciples that could pull their weight, and it seemed that his clones were still able to make moves.
They were quite nerfed though, as they could only exhibit a slightly more powerful force than his disciples and that was only because of his experience.
With the lack of elites in the first army, from what Magnus had seen and heard from the reports. The first wave signalled the arrival of scouts.
Though humans had to spend 1 month after they arrived back to fully map out the world once again, it became an invaluable resource.
They had the power of knowledge and knew all the chokepoints, though the massive problem still became the ocean.
With the lack of a real naval power and the cost that was not affordable yet, they proposed it to create an elaborate plan.
Like satellites, humans would band together and each superpower would dedicate part of its main force, and especially the weaker ones, to scour the entire ocean 24/7.
Although it was an ambitious plan, it was eventually passed.
Furthermore, a union was made with Magnus at its helm as he sent his mana researchers to create satellites and other forms of advanced communication as soon as they could.
The greatest supporter of this were actually the Five Lords of the North as they sent most of their manpower. At least, the one they had shown on the surface.
Fine as they might look on the surface, the Roman Empire became the weakest link, as they were still quite fragmented.
What changed, though, was that it turned from a violence type war to a political one. And politics made everything crawl at the speed of a turtle that lacked its limbs.
In the end, Magnus and his organisation had to interfere as he had withdrawn his disciple and supporters. Although that massively weakened the Empire, it would at least guarantee that they would not join the other side short term.
Magnus didn't trust them fully and invested a lot of his manpower to 'reinforce' it all.
Sadly, the Himalayas weren't pointed towards the Poles as it would act as a perfect barrier.
Good news were soon being delivered left and right as the enemies were wholly unprepared for aerial combat.
With this in mind, they gathered their elites as each nation sent out a special legion which rained chaos.
The enemy army wasn't to be so easily outdone though, as they managed to set up some temporary camps near the gates.
The top echelons would be celebrating by now if it wasn't for the countdown, which appeared above the gates once again.
The timer gave them 6 months before another wave began.
With the expansion of Earth, it made it harder to travel, even through flying. It was a major oversight that strained their plan to scout the entire planet 24/7 through humans.
Thankfully, the progress accelerated once everyone had something to nudge them forward, and they expected the satellites to be sent out in 3 months.
They did not dedicate those 3 months much to the actual development, but the spells and self maintenance needed to escape the sights of one of their most hated enemies.
The feathered serpent liked to wreak havoc for no reason all across the globe, and no one held the slightest doubts that it would take down the satellite the moment it finds it.
The wave 1, though, was progressing really well as they kept their casualties within dozens, which was a mind boggling comparison compared to the millions they had managed to slay.
What made the leaders frown was the impossible speed at which those things recreated. Some early estimations predicted that the ones who reproduced the fastest could do so in a mere weak.
It was unimaginable, as beings purely fed by mana could become battle ready in just a week, and the observed pregnancy period was just 2 weeks.
Another problem came in the form of their reckless behaviour. Those things just didn't care if they died or not. Even 1 more meter explored and mapped by the enemy army seemed to be worth it.
The mana in the air also became more and more abundant as Earth clearly wasn't taking the invaders for free without any repercussions.
The north was fine though as the ice kept moving, nullifying any potential changes, at least till they reached land.
In the south, they had encountered much less opposition in the beginning, not long after signs of military bases were seen.
Including a construction of vessels which could float on water made out of unknown material.
Magnus promptly retaliated and wiped out any structures they could find. With the absence of the African Confederation, thanks to that unknown entity, Magnus and his organisation were tasked with defending the entire South Pole alone.
Albeit not hard for now, it was clear that humans had to expand either by forging alliances with the mana beasts or by reproduction.
Dozens of deaths might seem negligible, especially with the billions of humans on Earth, but it took almost 2 decades before a child grew up long enough to be barely considered battle worthy.
It was a dilemma that they would have to tackle sooner or later, mainly in the later stages of the war.
This problem, though, was only considered by Magnus so far as others had other things to think about, especially the speed of the development.
When there is a war, although enemies are considered the number 1 problem, oftentimes it wouldn't be wise to let your ally become powerful.
It was for this precise reason that Magnus had to shoulder the weight of an entire frontline.
He also invested heavily into the South American and Australian continents, both of which now held most of the members of the sub-division called Earth Alliance.
Ironic as it may be that it was the subdivision of an organisation without a real name. It became the path of a standard military.
People, especially of the ex-African Confederation, hoping to subdue the unknown entity, and the fragments of Asia, were mainly the members of the Earth Alliance.
Although a surplus of members joined because of the split from the Roman Empire, they still outnumbered them by a lot.
The Southern American people, or rather the people of the Nahua Confederation decided to split from the Earth Alliance to create their own sub-division as they were on the other side of the Globe, commands would be ineffective and slow in case of an emergency.
The sub-divisions had gained their leaders as Sophia took over the Nahua Confederation branch and Oliver took over the Earth Alliance.
Although Aki and Han weren't stupid, their leadership had to be still developed, on the other hand, the competence in leading that Sophia and Oliver had surprised Magnus.
For the most part, Sophia handled everything well with precision, but Oliver had something else mixed into it.
He used his charisma, knowledge brought by his upbringing and experience from leading armies to create an effective system which would be like an iron wall, stopping any kinds of threats from the first wave.
The fourth month rolled by as satellites were being sent out everywhere on Earth at once. They launched a total of 50 satellites with the expected outcome of half of those failing to reach their destination due to mana beasts or the more extreme weather conditions.
It was on that day that humans could feel the absolute power as the launch of the satellites enraged the feathered serpent.
Its long range capabilities stunned even Magnus as the entire sky was basically its playground. Blasts and blades of air appeared and swiftly destroyed a large chunk of the satellites.
Stealth spells they designed against multiple types of detection means, including the one through air friction. A few satellites slipped by undetected.
Soon, they reached the exosphere and thermosphere as humans celebrated their victory.
Due to the size of the Earth, they weren't able to cover everything, however through magic, they were able to combine some technologies like the SAR which was used for high resolution images.
A perfect tool for scouting the enemy and a wind scatterometer, which they hoped would help them predict the appearance of the feathered serpent.
These satellites and future ones as well were designed to be a top secret even amongst humanity, especially with the karma ranking.
Who knew how immoral could the humans get? Even now, they were wreaking slight havoc amidst the frontlines, though they didn't dare to totally fall out with the human side.
But after 10 or even 20 waves? Who knew what kind of things would have changed?
The enemy wasn't idle as well and even though they were being totally suppressed, they still managed to barely hold on.
Skirmishes weren't uncommon and so far the only things capable of breaking the ice were heavy artillery from the humans.
The now termed goblins and imps weren't to be so easily outdone, albeit disgusting. Each time a human fell to a lucky goblin or imp, they would evolve on the spot.
And so a new division of enemies appeared, the mages. Contrary to the freedom, humans had over mana and spells they wanted to master and use.
Goblin and Imp mages had some kind of divine help which gave them the power to summon spells with just some gibberish and mana from their body.
The now named Trolls didn't change much once they evolved. They would, however, change their skin colour, which would dictate their path.
They especially feared the red one as it seemed that Trolls began to turn their body into hot molten lava defying and last shreds of science.
The other more pesky variant were the green trolls capable of near perfect regeneration.
It was another day as humans grew more and more accustomed to the war. When the second wave began.
Gates opened their mouths as avian type monsters made their appearance and aquatic types of monsters as well.
This wasn't the end, as the two monsters made their appearance. Decked in silvery armour, their presence was overwhelming.
First two majestic demon generals made their presence known...