Eastern Quarter - First Ten Minutes
Malvorn entered the capital through shattered eastern wall. Two hundred eighty thousand people trapped inside. One hundred thousand population in eastern quarter alone.
He raised his leg. Slammed down.
Magnitude-eight earthquake. Five-hundred-meter radius devastation. Buildings collapsed like houses made of cards.
Fifty thousand died instantly. Buried, crushed, structures pancaking on top of each other.
Two minutes later. Another slam. Residential district further west.
Thirty thousand more died. Walls fell inward, roofs caved, stone and timber becoming tombs.
Stone Legion materialized. Two hundred earth elementals sweeping through streets. Crushing buildings. Hunting survivors in rubble.
Five thousand died to elementals. Caught fleeing, cornered in alleys, buried beneath animated stone.
His tail swung as he turned. Twenty-meter club demolished entire city blocks. Districts erased with single movement.
***
Eastern quarter after ten minutes: eighty-five thousand dead. Fifteen thousand survivors fled west toward city center, deeper into capital, away from immediate destruction.
***
Five Kilometers Away
Baker Elara—thirty-four years old, mother of two—watched from distance. She had fled her village when Malvorn passed through days ago. Reached capital outskirts this morning.
Now she watched eastern quarter collapsing. Dust clouds rising. Screams carrying on wind. Malvorn towering above buildings like mountain come to life.
Her daughter clutched her arm. "Mama, what is that thing doing?"
Elara covered both children's eyes. "Do not look. Do not watch. We survived the village. We will survive this. We keep running"
She turned north. Away from capital. Away from god's wrath made manifest.
***
Government District - Minutes Ten Through Twenty
Malvorn moved deeper into capital. Government district. Eighty thousand people living and working here.
Imperial Palace already destroyed. But he demolished it further. Ensuring nothing remained.
Senate buildings—ten major administrative structures. Tail strikes and slams reduced them to rubble.
Military barracks. Five thousand garrison soldiers inside. One slam. Building collapsed. All five thousand died.
But Malvorn barely noticed these. Something else drew his attention.
He could smell it through the earth. Control rods. Shackles. Forges. Pain. Two hundred years of pain. All from one place.
*There. Underground. Them*
Chainkeeper Headquarters. Two hundred meters below surface. Directly beneath his feet.
***
Chainkeeper Headquarters - Underground
Four hundred fifty Chainkeepers trapped underground. Grand Chainkeeper Morvek among them. Evacuation failed. No time. Nowhere to run.
They felt the earthquakes above. Getting closer. Stronger. Knew what approached.
Morvek stood in main chamber. Sixty-eight years old. Architect of modern control systems. Created suffering as science. Refined pain as art.
Now that art came for him.
One Chainkeeper—young, twenty-five—asked desperately. "Is there any way out?"
"No," Morvek replied quietly. "We built this place to contain god-level power. Ironically perfect prison. For us now"
"Why did he come here specifically?"
"Because we hurt him. Two hundred years. Every day. Every moment. We were his world. His entire existence was pain we inflicted. He remembers. Gods do not forget"
***
Above, Malvorn positioned himself directly over headquarters location.
Raised both legs. Prepared double slam.
Morvek looked up at ceiling. Knew what was coming.
*We created this. Two hundred years. Perfected suffering. Refined control. Thought we were gods ourselves. But we were just mortals playing with power we did not understand*
*He was slave. Became god. And gods do not forgive*
***
Malvorn brought both legs down simultaneously.
Double Tectonic Slam.
Magnitude nine point five earthquake. Epicenter two hundred meters underground. Focused. Catastrophic.
***
The underground complex pancaked.
Three levels—each fifty meters apart—compressed into ten-meter space in seconds.
Stone ceiling fell. Walls crushed inward. Floor buckled upward.
Four hundred fifty Chainkeepers died instantly. No time to scream. No time to run. Just: darkness. Weight. End.
Grand Chainkeeper Morvek's final thought was simply recognition. Not regret. Not plea. Just: *We made this*
Then ceiling collapsed. Darkness took him.
***
All research destroyed. Two hundred years of torture refinement. Control rod prototypes. Training manuals. Schematics for Soulsteel shackles. Methods for breaking beasts' spirits while keeping bodies functional.
Gone. Buried. Lost forever.
Malvorn's seven shattered shackles—still in capital from his march—buried with headquarters ruins. Symbolic ending. Chains destroyed alongside chain-makers.
***
Malvorn stood over the ruins. Felt through earth. No more heartbeats underground. All dead. Four hundred fifty Chainkeepers extinct from capital headquarters.
He roared. Words forming through rage and satisfaction and something else he could not name.
"Two hundred years you chained me! Thirty seconds I ended you!"
Not triumph. Release. Grief mixed with satisfaction. Was this justice? Vengeance? He did not know. Just: done. That chapter closed violently.
***
Government district casualties after ten minutes more:
Fifty thousand dead from district collapse. Chainkeeper headquarters area devastated completely.
Ten thousand military garrison crushed in barracks.
Total: sixty thousand dead. Twenty thousand survived by fleeing toward city edges.
***
Residential Sprawl - Minutes Twenty Through Thirty
Malvorn's exhaustion beginning.
Slams growing weaker. Magnitude seven instead of eight or nine. Smaller radius.
Movement slower. Steps covering three kilometers per minute instead of five.
Stone Legion elementals dissolving. Power draining. Only one hundred active now instead of two hundred.
But still devastating.
Four more Tectonic Slams across residential districts. Four hundred meter radius each. Buildings collapsed. Fires spreading through wreckage.
Random tail strikes as he turned. Building demolition incidental. Not even intentional destruction anymore. Just turning around causing death.
Footsteps crushing whatever lay beneath. No awareness of what he stepped on. People? Buildings? Could not tell difference anymore.
***
Residential sprawl casualties after final ten minutes:
Thirty-five thousand dead. Residential collapse, fires spreading, civilians trapped.
Thirty thousand survived. Fled to city edges, outside destruction radius.
***
Total Capital Casualties - Thirty Minutes:
Eastern Quarter (100,000 population): 85,000 dead, 15,000 survived
Government District (80,000 population): 60,000 dead, 20,000 survived
Residential Sprawl (100,000 population): 35,000 dead, 65,000 survived
**Total: 280,000 trapped, 180,000 dead, 100,000 survived**
Plus twenty thousand who escaped before arrival: one hundred twenty thousand total survivors out of three hundred thousand original population.
Dominion Capital: sixty percent destroyed. One hundred eighty thousand dead.
***
Exhaustion Arrives
Malvorn stopped moving.
Stood in center of ruins. Body heavy. Power fading. Vision blurring.
*Tired. So tired. Body heavy. Power fading. Cannot maintain this*
*Slams weaker. Elementals dissolving. When did I last feel tired?*
*Two hundred years. Always pain. Never tired. Always forced to continue. No rest. Never rest*
*But now free. And free means can stop. Can rest*
He stopped. Looked around.
*Where am I?*
Ruins. Buildings reduced to rubble. Dust clouds. Smoke rising. Fires burning.
*Did I do this?*
Memories flooding back. Fragmented rage clearing like fog lifting.
*Chains broke. Ascended. Power flooded me. Rage. Dominion. Empire. Handlers. Kill. Destroy everything*
*Came here. Capital. Chainkeeper headquarters. Destroyed them. Good. They deserved death*
*But others? Buildings? People?*
He looked down.
Bodies. Thousands of bodies. Civilians. Not soldiers. Not handlers. People.
*No. No no no. Not them. They did not chain me. They were not handlers*
Realization hit like physical blow.
*I killed them. Not just Chainkeepers. Not just Emperor. Everyone. Civilians. Innocents. Children*
***
Horror Dawns
He saw them clearly now. Rage no longer blinding him.
Child's body. Ten years old, girl, crushed beneath rubble. Still clutching doll in small hand.
Family of four. Huddled together. Died together trying to protect each other.
Elderly baker. Half-buried. Flour dusting his clothes. Died in his shop doing morning work.
Malvorn's voice broke. Magnitude-three tremor with each word.
"No. I did not mean this. They were not handlers. Not them"
"I wanted Chainkeepers dead. Emperor dead. Empire destroyed. Not children. Not families"
"What have I done? What have I done?"
He roared. Not rage this time. Anguish. Self-hatred. Grief for one hundred eighty thousand innocent dead.
Magnitude-seven earthquake from roar. Uncontrolled. Emotional. Buildings still standing collapsed from aftershock.
Another five thousand casualties from grief-roar alone.
***
Malvorn collapsed to his knees. Crater formed beneath his weight. Fifty meters deep, hundred meters wide.
"Two hundred years they made me weapon. Chained me. Forced me to kill when commanded. And now I am free. And I am still weapon. Still killing. Still destroying"
"I became exactly what they made me. Monster. Destroyer. City-killer. Exactly what they wanted me to be"
"Chains are gone. But I am not free. Still slave. Slave to rage. Slave to pain. Slave to this"
He wept. Beasts do not cry tears. But sound emerged. Low rumbling. Tectonic grief. Felt one hundred kilometers away.
***
Notes:
Eastern Quarter Destruction: First ten minutes, 85,000 dead from three Tectonic Slams plus Stone Legion, 15,000 survivors flee deeper into city, five-hundred-meter radius devastation with each slam.
Elara Witnesses: Baker from Chapter 101 village destruction watches from five kilometers away, covers children's eyes, chooses to flee north rather than enter doomed city, survivor of Malvorn's path twice.
Government District Targeted: Minutes ten through twenty, Imperial Palace demolished further, senate buildings destroyed, military barracks collapsed killing 5,000 garrison, 60,000 total dead in government quarter.
Chainkeeper Headquarters Destroyed: Malvorn smells control rods underground through earth, double Tectonic Slam magnitude 9.5 focused two hundred meters down, three levels pancaked into ten meters, 450 Chainkeepers killed instantly including Grand Chainkeeper Morvek, all torture research destroyed, organization decapitated, Malvorn's shattered shackles buried with headquarters symbolically.
Morvek's Final Thoughts: Recognizes they created this through two hundred years perfecting suffering, no regret expressed just acknowledgment of consequences, ceiling collapses ending architect of control systems.
Residential Sprawl: Minutes twenty through thirty, exhaustion beginning with weaker slams (magnitude seven), slower movement, fewer elementals (100 instead of 200), 35,000 dead from four final slams, incidental destruction from turning and walking.
Total Casualties: 180,000 dead in thirty minutes (85k eastern, 60k government, 35k residential), plus 5,000 from grief-roar aftershock equals 185,000 total, 100,000 trapped survived plus 20,000 pre-evacuation equals 120,000 survivors from 300,000 original.
Rage to Grief Transition: Exhaustion arrives, clarity returns, Malvorn sees bodies clearly, recognizes children and families among dead, realizes he killed innocents not just handlers, horror and self-hatred overwhelm, understanding he became the weapon they made him, chains gone but still enslaved to rage.
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