<h4>Book 6, Chapter 17 – Deterrence</h4>


    Blisterpeak Mountains, the dead zone.


    This area was baked by high temperatures and caked in volcanic ash that hadin undisturbed for years. Not a single de of grass could survive in this hellishndscape. In fact the only living things were those few beasts and mutants who had mutated to tolerate the extreme heat.


    Beneath the dead expanse was a city, buried underground.


    In times past it had been the seat of an organization Skycloud saw as its main adversary, the Dark Atom. It was one of the wastnds best kept secrets for over a century until recently being thrust upon the world stage. Since then, Nucleus had experienced tragedy after tragedy.


    First it suffered a number of raids from Skycloud. Afterwards, at Wolfde’s direction, soldiers from Nucleus were dispatched to help Woond Vale and the Greend. Now the one legendary city was upied by Convian forces. The Dark Atom had sumbed to Natessa and her armies.


    Twenty to thirty thousand troops were stationed in Nucleus now. In the skies above a hundred Conve warships kept watch with advanced weapons trained on entrances. Dozens of scouting parties picked over the mountains, in outposts scattered throughout the territory. The Blisterpeak Mountains were fully under theirmand.


    At the main armypound near the city, two Conve soldiers with breathing masks were watching the horizon. The skinny one turned to his burly counterpart and muttered through the mask, “I heard we lost two top council members in the southern wilds. Veterans of a thousand battles, and they fall to the Green Alliance. That one Cloudhawk who gave Skycloud so much trouble is back as well. If you ask me, it doesn’t look like we’re in a great position here.”


    Therge one snorted derisively. “Cloudhawk? He’s nothing but a big name, no one in the Northern Barrens pays any attention to that shit. Breaking Sanctuary’s defenses? A few years ago Adder blew up Skycloud’s precious wall, he was a Northerner. If he hadn’t opened the way Cloudhawk would have never even gotten to Sanctuary.”


    “You’ve got a point.”


    “And for all of Dark Atom’s power and reputation, we took it down in six months. Killing those idiots was like ughtering chickens, and those Seeker women are now our ythings.”


    The thinner man remembered the bloody, carnal delights of the day they took Nucleus and grinned. Hisrgepanion continued.


    “However strong Cloudhawk is in the eyes of southerners, he’s a sack of shit up here. News is that the council is also recruiting a bunch of heavy hitters from Skycloud. Scores of strong demonhunters are fleeing the Elysian realm and joining us. Let those fuckers from the Green Alliancee, we’ll make sure they never go home.”


    “Yeah, no doubt! They’ll die out here! All those legends are bullshit! Who the fuck believes a story where some guy destroys a city all by himself?” The skinny man seemed satisfied with his logical deduction. “By the way, I heard that pretty one from Skycloud – Dawn – went south to join Cloudhawk. Lucky assholes. I wonder how many of those wastnders she’s fucked by now.”


    “Heh, wait ‘til we take the south. All their pretty women will be ours, maybe you’ll have a go at her yourself. Ah, almost forget about that Hellflower as well. They call her the prettiest flower in the wastnds. I always wanted to give her a spin.”


    The two men continued to share obscene hopes and chuckle darkly among one another. There was no trepidation or worry. They didn’t think it possible anyone would be foolish enough to attack them here.


    The Conve took Nucleus to lure Cloudhawk and his armies out of theirfort zone. If the Green Alliance tried to cross over to the north, they would probably be attacked on the way. After getting beat up all the way here, would hope did they have to win? If the ambushes didn’t dampen their taste for a fight, being swamped from all sides when they got here sure would. Stupid idea, toe running out here to take a useless city.


    Green Alliance’s equipment and manpower were far inferior to the Conve. They were also under close watch from Skycloud. Any way you cut it, those southerners weren’t going to stop the Conve from taking over everything.


    The two men were bickering over who whether Dawn or Hellflower would be the bettery when suddenly the skinny one saw something out of the corner of his eye. Whatever he saw caused him to freeze in ce. His burlypatriot shoved him. “Hey, what is it?”


    The skinny one extended a finger, and his friend followed it into the distance. When he saw it, the big man’s eyes went wide.


    Ash hung in the air and it shimmered with heat, but even so the two men could see the ck silhouette standing on the distant mountain top. They were too far away to make out any detail, but it was certain this one was looking over Conve territory.


    Whoever they were, they didn’te from the Conve.


    There were outposts all over the ce, it shouldn’t have been possible for someone to slip through and get so close. Yet there they were, standing at the top of the mountain with their ck cloak pping in the hot volcanic winds like some sort of specter. For half a minute or so the figure just stood there. Then, they slowly raised their hands as though holding something up.


    Weird... they had to be from an invading force! The scouts prepared to sound the rm. However, a few momentster they stopped when the deafening sound of something like breaking ss was heard overhead. Then came the roaring sound. Slowly the two men raised their eyes skyward, peering through the smoke and ash toward the source.


    Plummeting toward them were dozens of meteors, none smaller than a hundred meters across! Without rhyme or reason, they’d just appeared a thousand meters above them. Gravity was pulling them toward the ground so fast mes were belching off the sides.


    “Aaaaahhh!”


    “Run for your life!”


    But it was toote to run. Troops all throughout the area nched as the meteors closed in. As they madendfall, aside from the immediate impact force, a set of chain reactions followed. Earthquakes,ndslides, and fissures appeared all around. Even a number of volcanoes threw up their innards in violent eruptions. The meteors kepting in a truly apocalyptic disy.


    No human in history could stand alone against an army or a city. Even a man as legendary and frightening as Arcturus Cloude would run out of energy eventually. Against an army of eighty or a hundred thousand – or against a fortified citadel or city – the Master Demonhunter would run out of steam half way and be left helpless.


    But there was one exception. All he needed was the will to do so, and any city or army would beid to waste before him. Cloudhawk’s destructive capabilities were beyond anything seen before. He merely had to summon the meteors forth and let gravity do the rest of the work. By the time they madendfall, their speed and weight annihted anything nearby. Now, without the aid of mental amplification techniques, he could bring down entire mountain ranges upon his enemies!


    If he were to use today the sort of amplification altar he’d used at Sanctuary, he would not limited to meteors a hundred meters across. He could probably bring forth smalls! Theoretically Cloudhawk merely needed a stone at high enough altitude topletely pulverize Skycloud city. Of course this was in theory only, for the higher the altitude the more difficult it was to hit urately.


    Cloudhawk’s meteor swarm was aimed by guesswork and feeling. As such there was a wide margin of deviation. To be more urate and summon meteors at higher altitudes he would need to take into ount wind speed, resistance, even the earth’s rotation.


    Reduced uracy was only one part of it. Even if he did tten a city with one meteor it would erase all life – soldiers, citizens,plicit and innocent. They would all die in the aftermath, that wasn’t Cloudhawk’s aim. Here, however, things were different. He knew that no one remained in the city except Conve soldiers and dangerous nuclear bombs.


    Under these circumstances Cloudhawk didn’t need to hold back. He was here to erase the Conve’s forces entirely, destroy as much of Nucleus as possible, and strike the fear of devils into the hearts of his enemies.


    They will know the Green Alliance is not to be trifled with. They will realize Cloudhawk is even more terrible than the stories say. Ruin would remain as a testament to those who fought the Green Alliance!


    After the destruction, Cloudhawk teleported to the valleys below. His dark figure appeared from the devastation among the survivors.


    Those devastated, ash-covered remnants still had fight in them. When Cloudhawk appeared they brandished their weapons and tried to shoot him down. However the bullets, rockets and ming arrows passed harmlessly through the enemymander without discing a single hair.


    Like a spirit of doom, Cloudhawk hovered over them. With azy wave of his hand green fires spread forth like a tidal wave. A hundred meters were suddenly drowned in it. Anything living was devoured, their remains indistinguishable from the volcanic ash in the air.


    “Demon! He’s a gods-damned demon!”


    What remained of the Conve’s forces finally broke and scattered, running for their lives. The power at Cloudhawk’smands were impossible for mere humans to contend with.


    Cloudhawk watched them drop their weapons and flee. “Go, tell them that it is time for the Conve of Judgment to be judged. I willy waste to every city, every outpost, and every vige who stands on their side. If you wish to escape death by fiery boulders from the sky then abandon the Conve. Otherwise, your time wille.”


    Upon delivering his final, menacing threat Cloudhawk vanished. Feary in the wake of his warning. Would he really destroy everything the Conve had touched? He was crazy!


    Word of Cloudhawk’s devastating performance in the Blisterpeaks quickly spread across the Northern Barrens. No one knew if they would turn out to be the madman’s next target. Everyone – from city Governors to everyday citizens – lived in constant fear.


    It was exactly what Cloudhawk wanted to see.