As more forces joined into the battle, they were able to advance quicker. Spells passed over the forward forces, dropped from the skies and rose out from the ground, destroying the defenses in their way.
“We’ve got floating islands on their way,” Deia said.
“Well, time to see how our flying citadels compare to their floating weapons platforms.” Dave’s head whipped over to a point just in front of one of the forces that were moving forward. Mana from the air seemed to be thrown into chaos as a high-level tiered spell formation appeared, a gate descended made from blood. The doors opened as hellish-looking creatures looked at those advancing.
They let out hungry wails as they charged forward in glee, leaving the gate and jumping at the Emerilians.
“Shit! Where did that come from?” Malsour asked.
“I don’t know, but that takes a lot of power,” Dave said.
Tens of the creatures—some looking humanoid, others looking like creatures—looked as if they had been partially eaten or were decaying as they rushed forward.
The mages nearby launched attacks on the gate, destabilizing it.
They continued to advance but more of the blood-red gates appeared at random. The spell formation for the door didn’t change, so as they learned to defeat it once, they could use the same method to break it again and again.
It seemed as if some force was angrily throwing a tantrum as more and more of the gates appeared. It was as if they were trying to go with what they knew, not worrying about the fact it had no effect.
“Seems like someone with an AI and a ton of power is putting down spells,” Malsour said.
“Lovely.” Dave shook his head. “Well, at least we can confirm that there is at least someone using the same system as the people of the Pantheon back on Emerilia.”
“Hopefully our gods can keep up with them.” Suzy looked back to where Fire, Air, and Water stood over the portals, making sure that nothing hit the forces that were coming out.
“Oh ye of little faith.” Bob dropped down from the sky. With a wave of his hand, a plasma round exploded in the sky and a pillar of metal also dropped from the sky, breaking through the shield of the plasma cannon and destroying it in a fiery explosion. “That should just be the emperor. With all the inbreeding he’s gone through, there’s no wonder that there isn’t much rubbing together in his brain anymore.”
“Seems that something is coming,” Steve said. His senses were the best as he was able to link through an internal Mirror of Communication to the ships that were all across the Jukal system. With these powerful spells relaying information back to him, he could practically look through walls.
“What is it?” Deia asked.
“They’ve got power fluctuations of arcane energy and they’re covered in Mana. I think they might be magic users,” Steve said.
“More of the modified slaves,” Lox grunted.
***
The emperor’s fist lashed out, breaking apart the wall in front of him.
His uncle frowned but didn’t say anything. The military members shivered where they stood but didn’t say anything. The only person who didn’t move was the guard captain of the emperor’s household, who looked at the military members with dead eyes, his disdain clear.
“Why is this happening? I want them to be destroyed now! Get me my army!” the emperor bellowed.
The women in his arms shivered but continued to fill his needs. His outbursts had become more and more frequent as the fight with the Emerilians and their human allies continued. They’d become slightly used to them and continued on, afraid that the next outburst would be aimed at them.
The fate of one of the girls who had been in shock after one of his outbursts made them pale with fear.
“Yes, my emperor,” one of the military commanders said, quickly lying on his back in a servile manner as he transmitted the order.
The emperor let out a cold noise and his tongue moved around angrily as he chewed on some delicacy placed in his mouth. He didn’t even taste it, his eyes red with bloodlust.
The emperor’s uncle made to say something, but paused, seemingly thinking it over. He stopped and watched what was happening with everyone else.
A feed showed humanoid-looking creatures. Their bodies were in all different colors and variations of the humanoid shape; however, their bodies rippled with power. Some floated in the air; others glowed with lightning. These were the enhanced slaves that made up the emperor’s private army.
Army was a broad term. To the emperor, they were simply his playthings, items to be kept in order to entertain him. They lived in a large area underneath his residence.
With his order, passageways were opened from this underground world to the surface. Word passed quickly through this land, which was little more than a never-ending battlefield.
The different forces rushed toward the openings and entered the tunnels. Some of them fought one another as they rushed forth; others waited below, cautious to find out what was above.
Openings appeared on the surface of the emperor’s residence. Creatures appeared in the skies and on the ground, looking at the Emerilian forces that were under attack from the Jukal defensive weaponry.
Their interfaces appeared in front of them, informing them of a quest. Many of their eyes lit with greed and they charged toward the Emerilians. Others started to leave, only to find their bodies start to disintegrate.
After the first couple of tries, they turned back and rushed the Emerilians to vent their frustration and anger upon them.
“Yes! Yes! Now we will see a true fight between my army and theirs!” The emperor’s hand shook in a sign of victory. In his eyes, there was no way that the Emerilians could survive; they could merely give him something interesting to watch. He laughed and bragged to those around him as he looked at the battlefield.
Chapter 16: Changing Tide
Dave’s eyes went cold as panels appeared around him, creating barrels. Grand working shells fired through the air as a bow appeared in his hands. His floating orbs shot out Mana bolts into the mass of people rushing toward the Emerilians.
“Shields!” the dwarves barked. Shields came together, creating the famous dwarven formation.
Those in the sky or in support of the dwarves used their attacks against the enemy force that was coming straight toward them.
As they unleashed spells, the new arrivals also started using their spells, the power of which even left the Emerilians stunned.
The ranged attackers hit people on both sides of the fighting. Formations opened up as people disappeared under the attacks. Calls for healers were sent out, only barely audible under the ranged attacks.
Dave looked up as he felt a familiar Mana signature. A cold look passed over his eyes as a howling filled the sky. The flying citadels had arrived! The portal that they had come from was away from the emperor’s residence and the defenses, so it took them some time to cross the distance to the battlefield.
They were still some distance away, but their new guns put them in range as their artillery shells appeared in the ranks of the advancing army.
The elements seemed to turn against those attacking the Emerilians. Plants rose up to try to slow them down, while the ground became harder to traverse and spikes made from plants jutted upward.
Dave’s eyes thinned as he watched the slave army’s members start to dodge the attacks after just a few instances. What lives have they lived in order to adjust so quickly in the middle of a life-and-death battle?
Explosions covered the ground, turning the ground into craters and opening up holes in the slave’s army.
Patches of the sky were blotted out by rolling clouds that converged above the battlefield. The clouds started to rumble and flash angrily as lightning built up in them. Tornado tunnels appeared, cutting toward the slave army. Hail formed from the clouds and shot through the sky, descending like arrows that would cut through tempered steel. Spell formations glowed in the clouds, controlling
it, as other spell formations appeared in the midst of the clouds. Lightning shot out from them, blinding those looking in the direction of the falling lightning that tore the ground apart with their impact and killed all of those within twenty meters of its impact point without fail.
Suns seemed to appear in the sky before descending on the slaves, exploding outward into raging infernos with green flames that didn’t go out. Creatures formed from different Affinities let out their howls, roars, and keens as they locked eyes onto the slaves and charged forth. Summoners, beast tamers, and necromancers called on their hordes. The numbers on the battlefield swelled rapidly.
The sounds of arrows filled the air, falling in black clouds. As tough as the unfortunate slaves were, it took multiple hits for the slaves to fall, even as dragons and the aerial forces dropped attacks on them.
They were not the only ones feeling the pain. The Emerilian forces were maintaining their standing but with all of the incoming magical attacks and their massive power, they were taking their own casualties.
The Emerilians had a large army on the ground already. However, these slaves seemed to be coming in a never-ending stream from the ground. Some raced up into the sky, directly fighting those who were mounted on flying beasts or relying on their own power to stay in the sky.
On the ground, it took them a bit longer before they reached the Emerilian lines. They didn’t care to be stopped by the dwarves, many trying to get over them to reach the weaker targets behind them.
There was little coordination to the slaves’ actions, though some of them seemed to come together into bands that worked to pressure the dwarves.
“Get back down there!” Lox barked. He leapt up into the sky, his armor powering him up. It was covered in gray rune lines; black lines filled his upper body. His speed was so fast that the fighter in the sky had no time to act as a flash of light passed them. Lox’s sword took off their head as wings appeared around his back.
“Cut them down!” Alkao’s voice made the air tremble as he led all of the aerial forces. It was not only the fighters of Emerilia on the Jukal home world; their leaders and those who had military merits had come to fight as well.
The aerial forces turned and shot toward those in the sky. They yelled out in anger, brandishing weapons and charging the aerial forces.
Dragons unleashed their attacks, making the slave fighters look in shock as their ranks thinned greatly. They didn’t have time to get over their shock before the two forces in the sky crossed one another. The sounds of battle rang through the air and the ground.
The rumblings of more flying citadels cut through the sky. On the horizon, Dave could see shadows closing in on them. More explosions started to rain down on the frontline forces of the battlefield, coming from the flying islands that dotted the air above the emperor’s residence.
The arks started to move away, the destroyers covering them as they increased speed, leaving the flying citadels in place. The citadels’ drop pads glowed with power, as portal relays that were already in the process of growing shot out from between the different defensive walls of the citadels.
They smacked into the ground, expanding.
“Fight!” Steve yelled. He surged up into the air. Wings made of soul gem sprouted from his back, covered in runic lines. The others followed his lead, yelling out in anger as they rushed in groups into melee range.
Dave closed his eyes. Using his Touch of the Land spell, more items poured out from him. As the rows of bands on his arms moved, Mana surged around him.
His body glowed with powerful runes that lit up the darkness of his hood. Around him, there was a tempest of parts moving, as if he were in the middle of a hurricane.
Dave raised his hand. With it, the items stopped whirling around him and formed into different machines.
A sonic blast ripped through the air, sounding like the screeching of wraiths. The slaves in front of him covered their now bleeding auditory organs. Barrels covered in runic lines made of multiple layers of items flared continuously, sending out hundreds of spells, one after another. They hit the ground, exploding as they hit. These were his true grenades.
A slave expanded in size. Water that had been covering his body turned into a suit of armor. They let out a roar as their power surged. They stepped into the sky, the water in the air transforming into steps for this slave.
Dave grabbed his conjuration rods. One moment, he was in the midst of his weaponry; the next, he was behind the large slave. His sword shot out, but his opponent had been tempered in the battlefields underneath the emperor’s residence. He destroyed the step he was on. The blade caught his leg instead of going through his back as he flipped forward; his legs lashed out to hit Dave, who raised his shield. The impact sent him back through the sky. His face was the epitome of calm. He hadn’t even opened his eyes yet and he was still controlling the sphere of weaponry above.
Dave disappeared just as the attacker recovered.
He reappeared, a spear in his hands as he lunged forward. The spear slammed into the water armor and buried deep between the attacker’s ribs. Dave targeted the attacker’s weaknesses using his Touch of the Land.
They grabbed the spear; water rushed up their arm to form into a spear.
“Too slow.” Dave’s voice was calm as he opened his eyes.
The end of the spear inside the attacker grew. The metal head of the spear turned into spikes that shot through the body of the attacker in a second, sprouting metal shards. The spear and the metal of it fell away. The attacker’s water armor and spear collapsed as Dave turned and looked to the chaos around him. His conjuration rods turned into sharp swords.
“Time to raise that damn weapons master skill,” Dave muttered to himself as he disappeared from his position. He appeared behind another attacker. His sword lashed out before they had time to attack. He disappeared before they were able to let out a cry of pain, appearing above another; his sword darted out, cutting down through the person’s neck at an angle, piercing their heart. Dave disappeared again.
Dave’s scariest ability in an upfront fight was teleportation. Combining the orbs that were circling him even now, and the power that he had stored up in vault soul gems in his bags of holding, all he had to do was think of a location; power would surge into the orbs and he would teleport, with no strain on his Mana reserves.
On Emerilia, he couldn’t use it for bringing more attention down on him and tripping the AI watchdogs and Jukal controllers. Now he didn’t have to care what they thought.
Dave flitted about the battlefield. Weapons appeared in his hands, hitting the attackers where they were open. They didn’t even know how they had died before Dave flitted to the next victim.
Party Zero battled in the sky.
“Stone Raiders!” A voice carried through the skies as Esa and the Stone Raiders entered the battlefield. Spells shot into the sky and tore through the ground in front of the dwarves, relieving some of the pressure. More and more of the Emerilian forces charged into the slaves; the dwarves’ blades were covered in blood or something very like blood as they moved at a steady advance. Here and there, some dwarves were pulled out of their formation. That being said, these dwarves were all armored in Devastator armor. They were quickly able to clear a space around themselves and allowed the formation to reform before they leaped backward, flipping back over their fellow dwarves’ shields, the contracted beasts covering them.
The losses were coming mostly from the other fighting forces on the ground and those in the sky. These groups were being bolstered by the reinforcements and were the center of the flying citadels’ support.
“Advance at double time!” Lox bellowed. His voice carried over the battlefield. He had trained all of these people who were now using the Devastator armor. His words became their will. Drums sounded off as those in the lines let out new war cries. Baleful horns and trumpets sounded the advance.
The Emerilian forces stepped forward over the bodies of the slave army, their ey
es red and their weapons covered in their enemies’ blood.
“Mounted! Clear us a path!” Gurren barked. There was no sense of playfulness in their voices. Instead, it was replaced with unstoppable iron will.
Mounted forces that had organized themselves behind the advancing forces now kicked their beasts into action. They lifted themselves out of their saddles and seats; elves stood in their stirrups, their armor glinting with the light of spells as they drew back their bows and unleashed arrows over the front lines.
Those with ranged abilities added in their attacks, while others pulled out their swords and spears. Their beasts frothed at the mouth as they rushed forward into battle, eager to rent and tear the enemy apart.
The lines of the formations opened, just as the slaves were going to rush into the openings. Their eyes went wide as the mounted forces hit them like a train; bodies were thrown away with the force of impact.
Spells opened up the slave army, allowing the mounted forces to keep up their pace as they dashed through their army, their speed terrifying.
Dave let out a roar as he appeared among the slave army. Party Zero appeared around him. In their own ways, the slave army had a number of powerful experts but they were divided. If there was someone difficult to deal with, then Party Zero came together, overwhelming them. It wasn’t fair, but this wasn’t a game anymore.
***
The battle on the ground had begun. The initial advance had been slowed, but they were still pushing farther into enemy territory—albeit slowly as they fought with the powerful slave army that was still rushing out from the ground.
Several flying citadels now dotted the sky, moving in to support those on the ground. Underneath them, their drop runes flashed with light as they dropped off more reinforcements.
The arks, under the protection of the destroyers, moved around the continent that was the emperor’s residence. Two arks stopped opposite to each other on either side of the continent that the emperor’s residence covered. The portals on either side opened as beams of power shot out, creating shields. These shields were comparable to the ones on the bastion. However, while the bastions were being hit with extremely powerful weapons, if the same weapons were used by the Jukal on the ground, then it could throw the entire planet’s atmosphere into chaos.
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