Chapter 10: New Cadia.
Once the 450 survivors gathered around in front of him in terror he spoke with the Glaive of their Patriarch held on his shoulder with his left hand. On his right hand was his Guardian Spear which still was surging with energy.
"Listen to me and listen well. I have wiped out your army and you are what remains. If you wish to live, you shall become my servants for the next 10,000 years. If you refuse, present yourself and I shall take your head from your shoulders. Except you."
With a motion of his Guardian Spear, he cleaved the head off of Remnosh's brother causing the Warrior Elites with him to freeze in panic. Once he was dead, Justinian drew on his magic as this was one of the spells he had been working on.
He had refined the servitude spell he used on Remnosh and created an actual spell now. He activated it causing a purple glowing page to appear in front of every Martian.
"Place a drop of your blood on the Contract. Once you do, your souls will be mine for the next 10,000 years. You will not be able to attack me, you must obey my every order, you cannot lie to me, and you will do as I say. Make your choice, sign yourselves to my service or a quick death."
He saw that the regular Martians started to cut themselves on and place their blood on the contracts. When that happened the magical page surged into their heads and fused into their souls.
Now each one knew that they were forced to obey otherwise they would end up dead. As for the Elites, there were 19 of them, but it seemed one chose death. The large Martian walked forward and looked down at Justinian with a sneer.
"End me."
"Very well."
With the same brutal efficiency, he cleaved his head from his shoulders.
"You were braver than most warriors, but foolish. The rest of you, what will it be? A mercy kill or servitude?"
He looked at each of the 18 Elites in the eye, but one stepped forward as well.
"I shall pick death."
"Honorable. May you find peace wherever your kind rest."
He cleaved this Elites head off as well as he was not destroying their souls. His spear could do that if he wanted to, but he gave them this mercy. Once 17 remained they did sign themselves to his service.
They cut their palms and placed their blood on the contract sheet. Since Justinian fused his Psychic Energy and Magic this meant that they were bound through two systems. Even if they removed one they still had the other keeping them tame.
Once the 450 common White Martians and 17 Elites were bound to him Remnosh returned to his side. She had stayed far away from the Rubric because of the Guardians ingraining fire as a fear for the Martian race.
She looked toward Justinian wondering what he would do.
"So what happens now?"
He turned to her with a smile.
"Now, we take over a City State. Take me to your city."
Remnosh rubbed the back of her head and spoke to the Martians.
"You heard him, dig a path to one of the tunnels. Make steps to the tunnel leading to the city."
The Martians began to scatter forward and started to dig into the ground. The Elites used their Psychic Focus blades to cut giant chunks out of the ground before their regular ones used their Psychic ability and super strength to rip out chunks.
With almost 500 Martians the construction would take no time at all. He watched as his servants began to move massive amounts of red Martian earth. Remnosh in the meantime decided to explain some things about her people's cities.
"My people live underground because the Martian surface has a terrible climate even for us. The lack of a proper atmosphere makes solar radiation a constant and despite us Martians being unaffected our livestock and crops do not take the temperatures well.
As for the Kataieus city-state which I came from it was considered a weaker city-state. Our total population consisted of 120k in total. You just killed almost 30,000 so the population is now 90k. Most of those numbers are of nonwarrior casts who grow the livestock or the crops, or even the craftsmen who make our Psychic Focus Weapons."
He wondered something.
"Tell me, what are the casts of your people."
She began to explain them from the order of weakest to the strongest.
"At the bottom are the laborers who are only around 7 feet tall. They have less strength, no heat vision, and weak psychic abilities. They are the ones who tend to our livestock and grow our crops.
Among them are those with different skills, the diplomats, crop and livestock tenders, and even the ones who work in the mines to harvest ore and precious gems. Above them, in ranking while still being weaker are those we call the Shapers.
While still having weak bodies, their ability to shape psychic energy is extraordinary. Since our people live underground we do not use fire since we fear it. Instead, the Shapers are the ones who cut refined metal ore with their psychic energy.
They turn it into our Psychic Focus Blades which are exclusive to the Warrior Elite which I will get into. Above the Shapers, but less prized are what we refer to as Soldiers in your tongue.
They are average, born with strong bodies, heat vision, and decent psychic might, but despite being stronger than the Shaper Cast are seen as lesser. No Soldier will dare offend a Shaper as the Shaper could liquefy his mind before he could think.
They make up the second largest amount in a City State or Kingdom after the Laborers. At the top are Warrior Elites who are usually nobles. In every city-state below Mars, they make up the minority but are the strongest.
Our Psychic Ability matches the Shaper, our bodies are mighty, our heat vision extraordinarily powerful, and as Nobles, we have access to things the lower castes do not. Psychic Focus equipment like my sword, rings, necklaces, and bracelet.
They saved my life from your Missiles by forming a psychic shield which you will see soon. At the peak is the ruler of the City State, Kingdom, or Empire since my people just like any other are not a unified race.
Wars rage all the time for mines, slaves, or territory."
Hearing that made Justinian grin.
"That sounds perfect. It appears that my lucky stars have set upon me. I shall take over Kataieus City State and build a Kingdom from there. I have been in this time for the better part of 13 weeks, and in the coming years, I will grow even stronger."
Remnosh smiled as she glanced up at her master.
"Are you sure you are not a White Martian? That sounds like what a warlord would say."
He reached down and patted her head.
"No, I am human which some would say is worse."
He turned around and saw how his servants were deep underground continuing the work. Already a set of stairs leading underground were quickly forming as tons of stone were piled away by teams of Martians.
'Honesty, the Martians are one of the best races as soldiers. Each one is Psychicly gifted, strong enough to lift hundreds of tons with ease. They have heat vision, just that they lack proper technology.
With my magic, Psychic Energy, and genetic memory I will start to build true technology to arm my city-state. With that, the upcoming Unification War for Mars will be much easier.'
He chuckled as he was effectively going to be the Emperor of Martian Kind at this rate. He had nothing against the race and he did not plan to enslave them all. He would show them why serving him was in their best interest.
Just as he was thinking a giant Martian Elite who stood at least 22 feet kneeled at his feet.
"My lord, construction is complete."
He nodded as he walked toward the stairs.
"Gather some men and collect every dead Psychic Focus weapon and equipment. Any bodies that remain should be dealt with in your culture's way. Oh, and bring the Patriarch's body. Only the head burned away."
The Elite nodded.
"It shall be done."
He sent orders to Soldier Cast which made up the entirety of the 450 White Martians that survived. He had 17 Elites under his command which he felt was good for a start.
"I want every Elite minus you at my side. I will also bring with me 100 Soldiers."
"Right."
Remnosh stood next to him while the Elites moved in around him as guards. As for the 100 soldiers they moved in front as forward unites. With them at his side, they began to descend down into the Underground.
The Martians had built them with Elites in mind so even their giant Elites could move with plenty of head space. Moving with 100 Martians was not even choking the tunnel.
He would have to set up some guards here as a big staircase was going to be quite visible later on. As they walked down into the pitch-black depths his vision was not impaired. His pupils under his control grew larger to take in more light, but he could see better than an owl. As he walked deeper he began to speak to Remnosh psychically
'Tell me more about this Psychic Net of your people.'
'Sure. Every major city-state, Kingdom, or Empire has one which they build around what we call our Psychic Pillar. It is owned by the ruling family which is mine. My Father was the Patriarch or King of our City State.
He imprints his Psychic Mark into the Pillar to show his status as ruler. Every Martian under his command from the Laborers, Shapers, Soldiers, and Noble Elites then links up to the Crystal and it forms our Psychic Net.
We can communicate with our people instantly, but of course, not everyone ever speaks to everyone. There are different smaller Crystals throughout the city-owned and maintained by a particular Noble.
Normally the strongest meaning of the Psychic Pillar is now being maintained by my Mother. You will need to either subdue her or kill her.'
'Do you love her?'
'No. She gave birth to me, but she did nothing more. Not all Martians are brutal, but mine were. They believe in Survival of the Fittest and so many of my siblings have died at each other's hands.
I just so happened to be the biggest rival to my brother who you killed as despite me being a little shorter, my psychic prowess and strength were not reduced. I am more nimble which is why he took his chance to try to kill me. Thanks for that.'
'You are welcome.'
Now she began to explain how deep the City State was.
Our city-state is around 6 Kilometers underground or almost 4 miles.'
'I understand both. I take that any deeper and the temperature starts to get bad.'
'Correct. Our technology is not very advanced as we use Psychic Energy for everything. Even our Bioships are just another Martian creature.'
'I will need one for myself and I will bring great change to the Kataieus city-state. Though, I will be renaming it to New Cadia.'
'Why?'
'Just a reason.'
He cut the link and looked to the sky.
'The Planet broke before the guard did. CADIA STANDS!'
Remnosh would not get this so he did not tell her. Instead, they kept diving deeper along with the 16 Elites who surrounded him which he would get to shapeshift soon. He already had their forms picked out as their numbers were almost perfect.
He was going to be getting his Primarch look-alikes as the leaders of his armies. They were going to need to be stronger which is why he would begin to dive into his Genetic Memory and more Magic taught to him by Ddraig and Albion.
He would create a new breed of Martian using his own DNA much like the Emperor. Without Magic and his Psychic Energy no one else would be able to make use of it. As he was in thought they reached the end of the staircase.
It ended in a tunnel which they all entered. Once he did so, he could see and feel that it was much warmer than on the surface. Humid even which made him realize why all cities were underground. Deep underground it was warmer, enough for liquid water to exist.
He could also see that the walls of this tunnel had been smoothed out with both tools and Psychic Energy. He spoke to an elite next to him.
"How far is the City State?"
This one was on the larger side of 25 Feet tall.
"It is a Kilometer in this direction, my Lord."
"Good. Advanced."
Justinian and his servants moved forward. He might have to get his hands bloody to fully control New Cadia, but he was going to follow the Emperor's example during the Unification Wars. Be brutal and bring those who surrender to your side.
'This is going to be fun. Don't you agree boys?'
[Agreed.]
{We Dragons were never interested in ruling, but for you, that is a different story. There are Millions of these Martians an army to be ruled under a new Warlord. What will you call yourself?}
'Good question, I will think about it. Any good Warlord needs a title to inspire don't they?'
Mars was going to go through an age of War, but in the end, it would work. As for Earth backers, he had one bald mad genius in mind.