Passive skills from other weapons increase from 25% to 50% when designated weapon is not equipped. (Example: While using Dual-wield blades, one is able to gain 50% of the archery skill’s abilities.)
Steve let out a sound of complaint as he, too, teleported. Deia’s eyes went wide as he appeared in the midst of the enemy. Both he and Dave were now able to show off the power that they had been hiding from the Jukal for so long.
They had made fusion reactors, Mana wells, and grand working missiles and shells. Even if they only spent part of the time thinking about ways to augment their abilities, it greatly increased their combat ability.
A new wave of destruction covered the land as people started using their most powerful abilities. Their enemy now realized they had poked a slumbering dragon.
Chapter 17: Endure
The emperor smashed his hands against his chair. The reinforced armrests were beaten into submission as he watched his battlefield lords being torn apart by the Emerilians.
They’d been taught with the Mirrors of Communication, armed and armored by the Pandora Initiative, and tempered in the fighting of the event on Emerilia and the fights across the Jukal Empire in order to remove the Jukal’s influence.
They might not have lived a life filled with bloodshed, but instead of only knowing how to fight, they had a goal, a purpose. They had people to defend because if they lost, Emerilia would fall. With such a purpose and goal, how could they allow themselves to fail! The Jakan beside them were fighting to become allies with the Emerilians, to be shown how to gain star travel in order to expand through their system and to also allow them to fight.
They threw themselves into the fighting right beside the Emerilians, their reasoning odd to the humans. But at that moment, they didn’t care, only thankful to have more allies on the battlefield.
“They’re making their way into the battlefield!” the emperor bellowed. As the needles had struck the ground, the battlefield underneath had been crushed and a massive pit revealed itself. The Emerilian forces were pushing the slaves back into this uneven territory.
“Nephew, for now we will endure. Then we will send out our true army,” the emperor’s uncle said, comforting him.
The emperor thumped his hand into his armrest one more time, but didn’t say anything to refute him. “Get me a new chair!” he bellowed, his anger reaching new heights.
***
“I don’t understand how dwarves can like this so much,” Kim muttered.
“I’m a dwarf and I’m digging a hole, diiiiigging a hole, yada yada yah, lumde dum de!” Dwayne said. Even as they were flying, he moved his body as if he were marching.
Yemi, who was leading them, snorted at their actions.
“Seems like Party Zero rubbed off on you idiots,” Josh said as they flew through the ground. Several Blood Kin were in front, chugging potions as if it were two-dollar tequilas on a Friday night.
They hadn’t been so happy with that comment when Josh had made it.
Their speed was incredible. In front of them, the ground opened up as they flew on. Behind them, the stone, dirt, and ores would close back together, leaving them in a perpetual open sphere.
All of them were using party chat to talk as they had Mana barriers keeping their air in.
“Are we there yet?” Kim said.
“No, not yet.” Lucy rode on her magic carpet, wearing her caster’s robes and reading a book.
“How much longer?” Kim played with her hair, a bored expression on her face.
“Four more hours,” Yemi said.
Kim blew a raspberry and pulled out a crossword. “What is seven letters long and makes people smell better?”
“This really the time for that?” Josh asked.
“A shower?” Dwayne said.
“Not enough—seven letters,” Kim said, the two of them ignoring Josh.
“Perfume?” Josh sighed.
“Fits!” Kim said as they continued through the heart of the Jukal planet.
***
Frank checked his screens looking at the ground. The Emerilian forces there were pushing back the slave army in vast numbers. They had entered the caved-in area that had been their home and battlefield. It made it hard for the units to stay together, making it so that they had to break into smaller units, getting into fights all over the place as the sky above the area were still covered in aerial forces.
More of the flying citadels were joining in on the fight. Their firepower joined to demolish more of the floating defensive structures and helped those on the ground. Now all of the flying citadels were on the Jukal home world.
Frank checked over the ship’s systems. After coming through the Jukal fleet, they had destroyed five Jukal ships, losing one destroyer along the way. The BloodHawk had also been heavily damaged and needed to teleport out of the battle to the rally point. The rest of the fleet followed and immediately worked on repairs.
They’d left behind the portal relays they’d taken into battle. They’d been able to take out another three ships before they were overwhelmed with fire and destroyed.
The main fleet was just seconds away from clashing with the Jukal fleet. Already their battle was heating up. It was impossible to say what the outcome would be as weapons fired and destructive forces rained down on both groups.
“We’ve got a station coming into range in two minutes!” Sensors called out in a panic.
“Why didn’t we see them before?” Xiao hissed. The tension in the room ramped up. “All ships to full readiness. Start flushing missiles and get some portal relays out to support!”
“It was hidden among the civilian stations. It only just started opening its weapon ports,” Sensors said.
“I hate it when the enemy are trying to be sneaky bastards.” Xiao cursed.
Portal relays that had been placed onto the spine of the battleship now had a surge of power go through them as they expanded rapidly. This way, their redeployment would be a lot faster than if they were relying on just their own power to get the first portal started.
The portal was flung out into the space above the Jukal home world, quickly transforming. A half-dozen of them populated the outer Jukal atmosphere. Quickly, portals started to grow out from them as the station noticed what they were doing and started to open fire on them.
“We’ve got orders to defeat that station! If it continues on its path, then it will be right in front of our fleet as they come through the Jukal home world fleet. They’re going to get hammered,” Xiao said, his face grim.
It had taken the wealth of fire from the entire fleet to down the other stations.
“Frank, what are you going to need?” Xiao asked.
Frank’s mind worked as he checked out the information that came from the spells locked on the station that was shedding its outer skin, leaving panels behind as weapons and missile ports became visible.
There was a grim look on his face as more and more information started to compile.
“Launch all of our missiles this minute. Flush out the portal relays, all that we have—get them to pour out more missiles. Have our portals shoot out missiles as well. We’re going to need to have Nalheim avatars prepared and the kinetic energy needles for our broadsides, as well as many of the shield orbs as possible. Those laser cannons will tear through what’s remaining of our shields with ease,” Frank said.
“I’ll see it’s done and pass word to the rest of the fleet,” Xiao said.
Moments later, the portal relays pumped out compact portal relays and missiles. The Pandora fleet ships’ missile ports fired constantly as their portals glowed with the light of arcane fire flight drives.
They were wreathed in a corona of missiles.
The light cannons of the station came online and started firing. They cut down the missiles that acted as a screen, creating clouds of debris that made it harder for the light beam to cut through.
With their items of holding, the fleet had missiles to spare as they fired out eve
rything they had, creating a cloud of them in front of the portal relays that were advancing, many of them still forming and growing.
The light cannons made it through the missile screens every so often. The portal relays, even if they had Mana barrier protection, were torn apart.
Some beams went wide, but others struck the vessels of the three Pandora fleets that were gathered together.
“Give the order to the fleet—rotate so that their belly portals are facing the station. Compute the kinetic energy weapons’ trajectories,” Frank said.
“Aye!” Communication said as Nav shifted the ship. Xiao left it all in their hands, knowing that these seconds counted, separated them from winning and defeat in a space battle.
All of the fleet started to rotate their ships.
The orbs around the BloodHawk were burned out as a laser cannon hit them. Three layers of Mana barriers were destroyed in an instant. However, there were still two more layers and the Mana barrier of the battleship that was still recovering from the previous battle.
If it made it through those two barriers, the ship’s barrier would fail and there would be penetration.
“Fire the needles!” Frank said.
The ship’s portals connected and their needles shot out. They didn’t have any guidance as such: the ships had all altered their point of aim to bring them into line with the station. Two fired from every vessel, the rest of their portals all firing out missiles.
The first wave of missiles was taken under fire by the defensive weapons of the station, but there were too many of them.
From around the portal relay stations, Nalheim warriors appeared behind the wall of missiles. Holes appeared in the missiles as the Nalheim’s spears shot the station, all of them focused on the same area.
Their bodies faded as the disruption attacks landed. The Jukal Mana barrier shook, changing colors before shattering like glass. Missiles reached into the station, their explosions hammering the station that was now a wealth of fire.
Missiles sprouted from the station; explosions dotted the skies around it as they smashed into the impeding waves of missiles from the Pandora fleets. Even as it seemed like a waste, they were able to clear the Jukal home world’s orbit, opening up their cannons to fire on the Pandora fleet.
The portal relays facing the station changed; kinetic energy needles shot out and targeted at the opening. The rest of their portals fired missiles nonstop.
A Pandoran destroyer was struck by a light cannon. Their Mana barrier orbs were destroyed; their main barrier failed and a chunk of their rear section vaporized.
“Put the ship on automatic and evacuate them immediately!” Xiao barked as the ship started to drift.
Its portals and its missile ports continued to fire. The ship rotated. The force of the impact threw it into a spin. The weapons along the broadside started firing, the ship fighting to the last.
The full strength of the missile barrage arrived. The shields all over the station started to fluctuate and dim.
Sections started to collapse as the station tried to rotate to bring more shields into place. Barrier-disrupting grand working spells started to play havoc with the shields, creating massive interference and opening them up to attack. Through the openings, tens of missiles that had survived so far hit the hull of the station. Its hull couldn’t be compared to the hulls of the Pandora, Deq’ual, or Jukal ships. It could take the hits, weathering them as the Mana barriers fought to come back online.
The Pandoran destroyer that had been wounded exploded as three more laser cannon blasts tore it apart.
Light spells poured out from the station, seemingly unstoppable as they broke shields, pierced armor, and left the ships of the Pandora fleet battered and torn.
The needles fired by the three fleets landed on the station. The station was forced backward by the impacts. Mana barriers shattered; weapons were scoured off the face of the station as it reeled from the massive damage.
The BloodHawk shuddered as it, too, was struck by light cannon spells.
The Mana barrier orbs had created four layers but they were unable to stop the blasts.
“Mana barrier failed. We have strikes on the fourth and fifth floors!” the officer overseeing the Mana barriers said. The others had pale faces but they bent down to keep up their work.
“Teleportation runes are offline. Channeling power into them!” Navigation said.
“Start evacuating the ship!” Xiao barked. His words rang through the ship as people quickly started rushing through onos, leading to the portals inside, and quickly evacuated back to the asteroid base.
Wounded were hauled through the ship, their hull open to space as Frank continued to man his station, watching the station in the distance.
A missile boat was struck, going up in an explosion of spell formations as missiles in their tubes had their grand working warheads activate, tearing the ship apart.
Frank poured power into his console, unlocking the limits on the spell formations around the battleship. The fusion reactors ramped up past their limits as spell formations appeared around the ship. Light spells shot forward; multiple light beams shot off, striking the station and puncturing its hull. Dozens of spell formations appeared and then dissolved around the BloodHawk continuously.
“Frank, we need to go!” Xiao yelled. All of the personnel in the command center made for the emergency ono at the rear of the command center to evacuate.
“Go! I’ve got this!” Frank barked, his eyes red as he looked at the station. Its weapons were failing, being torn from its surface as the weapons started to open up its thick hull, gaining access to the vulnerable areas inside.
Frank continued to control the spell formations, controlling them manually as the ship was hit by another blast, eroding the control of the AI that assisted the BloodHawk.
The station was covered in weapons fire, a juggernaut that wouldn’t give up.
“Focus on this point!” Frank yelled to the other fire controllers.
Light spell formations flared to life. The other fire controllers listened to their brother, pushing the limits of their magical coding. The second fleet’s battleship’s Mana barriers failed, a hole appearing in her hull.
A Pandoran destroyer was ruptured and another missile boat sent adrift but their weapons kept firing, their attacks landing on the station. They didn’t teleport away; they didn’t try to escape. They knew that if they didn’t destroy this station, then it would recover its Mana barrier and tear apart the combined fleet.
Those in the main fleet and the Jukal home world fleet looked at the two forces locked in combat, neither giving an inch. The station continued to tear apart ships with ease while the Pandora fleets held on, pouring out all of the potential that they had.
It was savage and brutal as ships were turned to shrapnel, decks opened to space.
A hole opened up in the hull of the station under the onslaught of Frank’s attacks. Multiple light beams tore into the hull of the station; portal relays that could bear on it fired out needle rounds.
They smashed into the opening. Armored panels were contorted and destroyed. The needle turned to shrapnel that ripped through the interior of the station.
Another needle round slammed into the point that the ships were focusing on, opening it wider and rushing through it. It hit what must have been a missile bunker on an inner section of the station. The whole quarter of the station exploded outward as a miniature sun exploded inside the station.
Sections of the hull were contorted and shaken. Many of the weapons systems failed. Missiles and needles that had already been fired didn’t stop as they mercilessly opened up the hole in the station’s hull and tore through everything inside. The station’s systems were broken and destroyed as it started to break apart, nothing more than a broken hull.
Frank leaned back in his chair, noticing that things were floating around. A ping on his interface told him that his Mana barrier had automatically activated, as the command c
enter was open to space and without atmosphere.
A pop-up appeared in his face, asking him to join a private chat. He accessed it.
“All right, Navigation. Try to see if we can’t level her out. Engineering, let’s link some of our portals up to a power source in order to speed up the recovery of the soul gem constructs. I want us sealed up first and the air sorted. Communications and Sensors, direct teams to those wounded or trapped—let’s get them sorted out. Once we’ve got that, we’ll render assistance to the other forces. Frank, could you send orders for those portal relays to return? Let’s have them on defense, covering us,” Captain Xiao said from his command chair.
Frank looked around the room, seeing the core members of the command center all there.
“Sir, why didn’t you evacuate?” Frank asked.
Xiao chuckled slightly, holding back from replying as Navigation spoke up.
“Well, you needed someone to keep you level. Don’t tell me you didn’t notice we were drifting,” Navigation said.
“The sensors were a bit wonky—not going to let the targeting be thrown off by that,” Sensors offered.
“Needed to make sure you didn’t break all of the runic lines. Was a pain managing that power so the spell formations didn’t collapse,” the officer for Mana barriers said.
Frank choked up as he looked to them all. Even as they joked around, he could sense the care that they showed toward him.
A smile appeared on his face. He rubbed his eyes, clearing away any signs of tears, his emotions a mess from it all. He sat back, realizing how close he had come to death and how they had stood beside him, facing the same struggles as him, without a second glance.
“Thank you,” Frank said simply. The atmosphere turned awkward.
“Well, you’d do it for any of us,” Xiao said. “Now let’s get to work. That second fleet is almost here and the main fleet is tearing the home world fleet to shit,” Xiao said.
Frank looked through his sensors, seeing the three Pandora fleets giving everything they had. The combined fleets seemed to have found new strength as they tore through the Jukal home world fleet.
Emerilia Series Box Set 5 Page 62