The Mana barrier underneath shuddered with these massive impacts.
“Move along deployment path,” Josh said, watching the destruction that was being loosed on Markolm, his face grim but resolute.
“I’m ready to move the innocents out from Markolm,” Bob said.
“Go and secure the prisoners,” Josh said.
Bob waved his hands as an interface appeared. He poured power through Anna; She rose up into the air, behind her, Bob’s image appeared as a full twenty foot tall avatar of him.
He let a low growl filled with his anger, He waved his hand, Anna doing the same motion as her hand passed the people that were being drained of energy by Light’s formations disappeared. Unlike the people of Emerilia, Bob was classified as a God and could teleport people at will without the Jukal AI’s freaking out.
The angels were still charging forward, unleashing attacks to destroy the oncoming dwarven artillery shells, their eyes filled with rage as here and there their shields shook with impacts. They were powerful enough to take on direct hits of the artillery shells. It might take two or three for them to be destroyed but that was impressive compared to most other forces that could do nothing but die under the dwarven fire unless they had massive protections in place.
Josh looked up as he felt the wind changing. Alkao flapped his wings; around him were the generals of the aerial forces from across Emerilia.
Josh gritted his teeth. They might have a number of tricks on their side, but the simple fact was that their aerial forces and fighters might be a third again the size of the angel’s legions, but most were only half as powerful. Even with the dragons gaining such a boost, they might be two times stronger than the angels but their supporting forces weren’t strong enough.
Suddenly, a message appeared on his Mirror of Communication. He stared at it in shock and then looked to Alkao.
There was now a light of hope in his eyes. He had been prepared to sacrifice all of their fighting force in order to weaken the angel legions, hoping that the rest of the Terra Alliance would be able to defeat them.
“I think I like this new Dark Lord,” Alkao said.
Bob looked to the two of them, filled with questions.
Alkao and Josh ignored him.
“What are you thinking with this?” Josh asked.
“Have the DCA aerial forces and dragon forces moved together discreetly. The rest of the forces will move into the shields of the flying citadels and take out targets of opportunity. We’ll take the fight to the angels,” Alkao said.
“Well, it’s a ballsy plan, but we don’t really deal with the normal around here.” Josh grinned.
Alkao returned the grin as Bob shook his head. It was clear the other two weren’t going to tell him what was going on.
“I’ll get my forces organized.” Alkao’s wings flapped as he shot into the sky once again.
“I have some cleaning to do,” Bob’s cold voice made Josh shiver as he disappeared.
Bob reappeared over a convoy that were about to leave Markolm.
He flicked his hand dismissively, summoned swords shot out, piercing the caravan, killing those manning it, groups of Angels rushed out from the coverings.
Bob let out a cold snort the waves of power left the Angels quivering.
“This is the power of your so-called Goddess,” Bob said, unleashing his full aura, it was tens of times more powerful than the Lady of Lights, all were cowed under its power.
Spears pierced the Angels as Bob moved to the caravans, with a wave of his hand the caravans fell apart revealing people bound in powerful chains. These were the strongest of those that had fought back, they were being transported to another location, setting up fall back positions for the Angels and Light to operate out of if needed.
Their chains and bindings fell away as Bob stepped into the sky once again, people gave their thanks but Bob didn’t hear it, teleporting away to a secret location where draining spell formations had been set up and Angels were guarding against intruders.
Across Light’s secondary location her people were left with lifeless corpses while those her people were using were freed.
***
Alkao’s orders had been passed throughout the aerial forces. The DCA moved closer to the dragons as the other aerial forces moved to the outside of the formations, closer to the flying citadels.
Alkao looked over them all, proud not only of his people, but all under his command. When he’d come to Emerilia, he had thought that everyone was against him. Dave and Party Zero had showed him that wasn’t true, that he could make friends and rely on others. He could come to have allies.
He touched the shield on his back, a look of melancholy on his face as his hand then moved to the necklace that lay under his armor. It had been melted and its original appearance changed—it had been the necklace he had given to Anna.
He knew that she was up on Bob’s ship, but he also knew that she had lost most of her memories of Alkao and her time as she had fought as a member of Party Zero.
Still, it didn’t make his smile dim in the slightest.
“It was hard enough the first time getting her to be my girlfriend—hopefully it’ll be easier the second time.” Alkao’s smile actually grew even as he faced the oncoming angels.
He let the necklace fall under his armor once again. “All right, you lot! Look after yourselves and listen to orders from higher! Force One, we will clear a path for the flying citadels. Force Two, protect the rest of the Alliance and secure the air above Markolm! Force One, move out!” Alkao yelled out, his eyes focused on the enemy ahead as he detached from what was happening.
The two forces split apart as if it had been rehearsed time and time again. Force Two split from around the DCA and dragons, who surged forward and spread out into a massive inverted V-formation that birds traveled in. Denur and the most powerful DCA, including Alkao, were in the forward part of the inverted V. Dragons and DCA fell in behind them in lines, creating one solid V-formation of dragons and DCA that shot ahead of the flying citadels and stretched across their front.
The fighting spirit of those in the formation soared as they held their position, their wings battering the wind into submission as their speed increased.
Those on the ground looked up. Their hearts trembled under the pressure that the flying formation pressed down on all those who saw it. A steely, cold look filled their eyes.
They were halfway to the angels who were flying in their block formations when massive black clouds filled the air ahead of Force One.
A massive clawed foot descended from the clouds. Dominating in the extreme, it was nearly two times the size of Denur’s. A powerful aura swept across the sky as wings shot out from the clouds, breaking them apart, revealing a dragon with scales that shone like black diamonds.
The dragon snorted.
“Angels? I prefer demons.” Malsour’s voice boomed through the heavens as magical circles for the second time that day appeared in the sky, wrapping around the demons who made up the DCA aerial forces.
Power flooded through Alkao. His muscles bulged as his body grew; his wings shook, growing larger as if they could block out the sun in the sky. His horns grew from his head, forming a crown as they turned obsidian black.
The demons all felt the surge of power; it filled their very bones, as they felt as if they had traced the outline of godhood. Their roars ended as they hovered in the sky for but a moment. Their eyes locked onto the angels.
Today, your blood will soak into Emerilia and your crusade will end. Alkao’s thoughts resounded through his head as he flapped his wings. A gust of wind incomparable to that of before rushed through his body.
Malsour flapped his wings, taking up position above the inverted V-formation.
“Well, let’s see how the angels like our new powers!” Alkao yelled through the party chat to the V-formation.
Demons and dragons roared, unleashing their anger upon the world.
“For Emerilia!” As
Alkao’s words fell, a second sun appeared in the sky as every person within the formation as well as Malsour unleashed their strongest attacks. The demons unleashed their most powerful spells or used their wristbands, overclocking the power going through them to get the most powerful blasts possible.
Dragon breath tore through the sky, meeting at a point ahead of the formation. Denur unleashed a spell that combined the effects of the dragon breaths, their attack turning from six colors to gray. The gray streams were thinner but as they reached in front of the angels, a spell formation appeared once again. The streams of dragon breath turned into a gray rain.
The flying citadels separated behind Force One, headed for different points around Markolm as they focused their artillery on the Alturarans or armies of Light that they saw on the ground.
They were now crossing over the edge of Markolm with bay doors and drop chutes opening, ready for the drop forces that would descend upon Markolm.
The angels activated the large-scale barriers they had. Shock filled them as the gray rain impacted the large shields. Each impact sounded like metal striking metal as the barriers started to shake. The angels shot out attacks at the dragons and demons. Here and there, the different attacks hit one another, resulting in mutual destruction and damaging the surrounding spells.
The air was filled with chaotic and brilliant explosions that only increased in ferocity as the two forces closed in on one another.
Orbs appeared around Force One. If someone was to know Dave, they would think these orbs similar. They were the same ones that he and Party Zero had used to protect themselves as they charged into the Dark Lord’s hall.
They unleashed Mana bolts that destroyed incoming spells as a Mana barrier appeared between all of them.
There were thousands in the sky; all of the orbs that the Terra Alliance had were devoted to protecting those in the formation.
Alkao looked at the angels. They were more than double the number of demons and dragons that had taken the field of battle. Instead of feeling despair, he felt alive, if he was to die today, he would do so alongside those that he would call his brothers and sisters, no matter their race, species or background, here they were all Emerilians fighting for their home.
He pulled his sword free from its sheath. The sound of his blade ringing, heard clear across the formation, as they were just a few hundred meters from the angels.
Weapons were freed as the dragons unleashed their dragon breaths. There was no time for another gray rain attack.
The formation followed in on the tails of the attack.
The two forces didn’t slow down in the slightest as their forces piled into one another. The screams of pain and clashes of weapons filled the air as explosions from spells shook the battlefield.
The orbs retracted immediately, four to a person, creating personal Mana barriers and firing Mana bolts nonstop.
Alkao met an angel head on. The angel made to swing; Alkao’s sword snapped out, hitting them with the flat of the blade. Their barrier shattered as they flew back, like a kite without its strings. With a flap of his wings, he was past the angel, who was looking up in the sky in disbelief, its body cut in two.
Alkao wheeled around with those who had passed through the angels. They formed up together, their wings beating the air into submission as they fought against it and gravity. Alkao raised his hand, unleashing Mana bolts. The orbs followed his fire and shot at the same angel. Under the attacks, the angel’s Mana barrier collapsed as Krenua, Alkao’s old bodyguard, slammed his sword through the opening in their helmet.
There was no time to look around, only to react, as the sky was filled with fighting.
The angels were stronger on a level-by-level basis, but the demons hadn’t stopped training since they’d come back. Now, with their new strength as well as the weapons and tools they’d gained from Dave and their allies, they were evenly matched. Maybe with an advantage. The angels were used to holding sway over the people of Emerilia, those who wouldn’t be stronger than Level 100. The demons were used to fighting those stronger than them and putting their full effort forward at all times.
Alkao was not the leader of Devil’s Crater or Force One anymore. Here and now, he was just another demon fighting in the swirling fight above Markolm.
The flying citadels were now moving around Force One.
***
Admiral Osh’Rhal watched the feeds with rapt attention, cheering at times, others silent as he waited out the end of the battle, his hearts rolling in his abdomen.
Then an alarm broke through it all, a dark expression on his face as he paused the feed and opened up the alert.
His frown turned into one of shock and then thinned into anger. He pressed a button on his control chair, connecting to the command center that was based in the moon that had been turned into a base for the Jukal forces overseeing Emerilia. “What’s going on? There’s something about an AI issue?”
“We have a rogue AI! It’s not listening to our commands and it’s infected all of the AI that are connected to the Emerilia infrastructure!” Admiral Osh’Rhal’s second-in-command yelled out.
“What do you mean? How is that even possible?” Osh’Rhal demanded.
“It looks like this AI was connected to all of the other AIs. It created backdoors and the entire Emerilia system was based upon it. It was thought that it was offline, but instead it was operating in all the different AIs that are across Emerilia. Now it’s been activated by Lo’kal and he has complete control over the feeds from Emerilia!” the second-in-command said.
“Change to the backups and wipe that AI out! I want to know what’s going on down there! Get me the controller commander and tell him what you told me. I’ll be in the command center in a few minutes,” Osh’Rhal said.
“Yes, sir,” the second-in-command said.
Osh’Rhal didn’t send a message up the chain of command. Instead, he sent a message to his clan. In the Jukal Empire, being part of the right clan, by either marrying or being born into it, would either make a person’s life easy with nothing barring their way, or they would have to fight to gain those positions.
Reporting it up the chain of command might alert those who were part of competing clans and they could use this to show the incompetence of the Rhal clan. Thus, sending a message to his family to see what was the best reaction politically was a good way to alert the clan to any fallout or make the best of the situation for the family’s gain.
What he didn’t know was that his second-in-command had already done the same thing, sending the information back to their clan before making a decision on it. This was part of the political system that ran the Jukal Empire.
He finally got word back from his clan, slowing his pace to the command center so that he wouldn’t get there before he knew what he was doing.
He puffed out his furred chest after getting the message and then walked into the command center, where there were a number of the different screens now filled with alerts.
“What’s happened?” A faint panic settled in the pit of his four stomachs, as it seemed that things had changed rapidly as he had moved from his quarters to the command center.
“We moved to the backups and…” Rhal’s second-in-command didn’t know what to say but instead pointed to the main screen, where there was a portal underwater with a shield covering it. Every few moments, there was a flash of light as something coming through the portal hit the shield and was torn apart.
“What is that?”
“It’s the portal in the Per’ush bay. There’s some kind of shield that has been strapped to it and we have no control over it,” the second-in-command said, their eyes wide as their tongue shot out, showing their nervousness.
Rhal looked at it, his sense of panic rising. “What does the operating procedure say?”
“Kill those who interfere with the portals, but we don’t know who did it! I went into the logs and the teleportation is coming from an unknown device,” the second-in-c
ommand said.
“Unknown device? All teleportation devices are tagged throughout the empire!” Rhal said in disbelief.
“Other than the ones on Emerilia,” the second-in-command said.
Silence fell over the command center. Everyone looked to the two leaders, their eyes wide and their tongues moving, their nervousness clear. These were all people who had come from some of the more powerful families. They were doing their military service and were hopeful that in their time at Emerilia they could make a name for themselves that would benefit the clans they came from.
They were not used to making decisions but instead following what their clan elders said and then trying to increase their connections and power in the meantime.
“So, you’re saying that one of the gods did this?” Rhal asked, his voice now hoarse as he stopped his tongue from coming out and showing the anxiety that was building.
“No, this wasn’t done by the gods. I checked—all of the AI for them are running on a system separate to the overwatch AI that monitor Emerilia and also run the different sensors and systems,” the second-in-command said. He didn’t add in the fact he had only done this as his clan had walked him through his job every step of the way.
“Who the hell is doing all of this?” Rhal yelled. His tongue flickered out into the air as he looked at the different alerts coming up.
A new one flared to life, accompanied with a voice. “Lo’kal has been confirmed to be assisting the people of Emerilia to rebel against the Jukal Empire. Terminate project Emerilia.” The dull AI’s voice shook all of those within the station.
Rhal heard the message and read the same lines on the screen in front of him. His face turned ugly as he sat into his seat. “Prepare the drones. Send them down to Emerilia and kill Lo’kal. Wipe out the Datskun carrier. Lock down all of the god AIs,” Rhal said, making one of the first decisions of his life.
Then, to his shock, everything changed.
***
“I have been found out.” Anna’s voice came through the command center of the destroyer that Dave and the rest of Party Zero were on. This was one of the few that were supposed to be battleships built in the ark yards but had instead been recycled and turned into destroyers. It was one of three that had been built within Emerilia.
The Pantheon Moves Page 35