Deia and Induca turned. Deia’s bow created layered spell formations and aimed the arrow at Gurren’s opponent that looked like some vine, tree, shrub, and herb garden, making it scream out in pain as it fought against the Fire spell that was contained within the arrow.
“That’s not a druid. Druids take on the shape of animals!” Dave said as Induca’s fireball landed.
“Fine! It’s a holy, burning, plant-changing weirdo-twig!” Gurren said as the creature was now indeed on fire in a spectacular manner.
“More importantly…” Jung Lee paused as he weaved through a defense of a minion bending backward. His right palm reached out to touch the minion; a flash of white light appeared as the minion was hurled to the side by the spell Jung Lee had insta-cast. Jung Lee moved in a flash and his blade pierced through the minion before he continued on. “What is Steve doing?”
“Good point,” Anna said.
“Shit,” Lox said.
“I’m not getting him this time,” Malsour said.
“Who’s Steve? I don’t know a Steve,” Gurren said.
“So, Dave, what inspired you to make your magical mecha of doom?” Anna asked.
“I’m putting the blame of this on anime,” Dave said. His body shifted to the side, escaping a swipe as he rushed forward. His twin swords rippled in the air. Air blades hit his opponent; he teleported, unleashing Mana bolts from one side, then needles from another. He teleported from place to place, overwhelming the battlefield minion.
“Incoming!” Induca said.
Flames appeared around Dave as he quickly dodged away. He had been so focused on the battlefield lord he hadn’t noticed the three minions trying to hit him from behind. As he disappeared, their attacks landed on the battlefield lord.
Arrows pierced through two of the minions, others following the third.
“No one hits my fiancé!” Deia yelled.
Malsour’s claws shot out shadows through the air, hitting the battlefield lord and tearing them apart.
Lu Lu unleashed a lightning attack on them. Dave’s cannon fired; the explosion covered where the battlefield lord had been until the bloodied lord came shooting out of the cloud left by the explosion. Bob appeared behind it. Just as it started to turn around, a look of shock and fear on its face, a claw tore through their back and chest before pulling out, leaving a ragged hole in the lord’s chest.
Deia’s arrow broke the third minion’s defenses. They were set aflame as they dropped toward the ground.
“Miss me?” Steve’s voice rang through the party chat as they all looked to the portal that he had exited through.
“Oh, come on! You look ridiculous!” Gurren said as Steve, a new eighteen-meter-tall Steve, stepped out from the portal.
“Ah shit!” Steve yelled as he fell out of the portal. His runic lines flared to life, not before he crashed into the ground, leaving behind a crater.
He soared up into the sky, bits of rubble and dirt on him. He no longer wore the Devastator armor but instead had armor made from soul gem composites and a new axe.
“I thought you loved Alex the Axe,” Lox said.
“Well, this is Alex the Axe the second,” Steve huffed, sounding more like a petulant child than an eighteen-meter-tall monstrosity.
“Let’s keep advancing. We still have a lot of distance to cover.” Deia shook her head. To anyone else, they might seem downright insane.
“Woo-hoo, Weapons Master Three!” Dave yelled, sharing a message with the others as his power took another step upward. Nothing could even attempt to stand in his way. He flashed across the sky, his weapons transforming in his hands. With every appearance, dozens fell from the sky. He was an unstoppable god of war.
Deia glanced at what he had shared.
Quest: Weapons Master Level 4
One handed and shield 1000/1000
Two handed 1000/1000
Dual wielding 1000/1000
Archery 1000/1000
Rewards: Unlock Level 5 Quest
+20 Vitality
+10 Endurance
+15 Strength
+15 Agility
+300,000 EXP
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.)
Class: Weapons Master
Status:
Level 5
Effects:
+100 to Vitality
+50 Endurance
+75 Strength
+75 Agility
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.
&n
bsp; “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 everything 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 Man
a 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.
Empire Burning (Emerilia Book 11) Page 25