They had done it. They were out of the great remnant despite everything. Kaden and Emina were out. While still at the great remnant, the mana presure was much less outside than inside. It could not do them harm any longer.
"Hmmmm, now that there is time, I want to check something", Kaden though to himself and started using the godless mana system. He wanted to know, if it would still work and it wasn't some special condition that existed only back during the cataclysm.
Kaden proceeded step by step and he felt some concern as he couldn't sense anything happen at all. Yet, at the last step, while he didn't really even sense the mana, he could sense it appear inside him and be ready to use. It still worked, but that special mana was even more imperceptible.
"Emina, test the godless mana system again", Kaden said. The tone was basically a demand.
The special mana had been something he was able to quickly detect in the past, but now in the future, he could not. Emina had that problem already back then. Would she be able to use it now?
"Why?" Emina questioned.
"Do it", Kaden demanded. "I must know, if it still is usable."
Emina decided not to complicate matters and did as asked, or demanded.
"It works", she replied shortly afterwards. "I still don't understand how or why it works. Some mana just... appears. Same way as in the past."
Kaden smiled. This was good. There was perhaps some difference in their senses. He was able to sense it back then, but now with the cataclysm being long in the past, mana density or something else was lower. Due to this he was unable to sense this mana in the current date. It was also likely that this 'sense' or whatever it was, was not something that would get corrected as one grew stronger. Someone would have noticed it otherwise!
The steps were specific enough that it was unlikely to be discovered accidentally. One had to know exactly what they were doing and for what purpose. If someone had discovered it before, there was no signs of it. Then again, churches would ensure that was the case.
"There should be some observers", Kaden told Emina, changing the subject. "If possible, we should avoid them and once we are far enough, we shall part ways. If not, I recommend fighting together."
"I agree", Emina said and only that.
Since they were still at the great remnant, it was more difficult to see the two, but Kaden's was able to spot some of the observers. They were surprisingly close. Likely due to the fact that the mana storms that lingered over the great remnant had not come back yet. From their uniforms and other external signs, he could tell they were from Sacronan. He was not able to find any saints.
"Could it be that Sacronan managed to drive them away?" Kaden pondered to himself. "Then again, once the mission ended, was there any reason to keep any troops around. Perhaps observers from Saint Empire are at different direction. It would be counterproductive to constantly quarrel with the ones from Sacronan."
From his location Kaden could not see others than the Sacronan. It seemed to be about a dozen people.
"They could be a problem", Emina said. "There is nowhere to hide in this completely flat and open terrain. How are the weapons in these battle armors?"
"Passable", Kaden replied. "I expected a fight. While the ancients and their ammo that fit in these weapons were not mana enhanced, I put a mana gathering formation on the ammo storage. This should have infused some mana in the ammo. Not perfect and once energy source keeping the formations functioning runs out, so will the mana disperse and they turn into basically normal bullets. Yet, as it is, I wouldn't want to get hit by them."
"Surprise them with the firepower then", Emina said with a nod. "Kill as many as possible so that we can deal with them with or without armors. For the time being, they shouldn't even be expecting anyone. No traps. Very little defenses."
"Indeed, rush them, butcher them without mercy", Kaden replied coldly. "Then leave the area before anyone else notices."
Kaden and Emina quickly made their preparations and rushed out to attack. If Kaden could see his enemies, there was chance they would be noticed too.
-----
"Those strange pulses of mana from the remnant seem to still continue", one of the Sacronan's soldiers at the observation post said as he kept records of the recent events. "Any idea what they could be? Something like this has not happened before."
"Keep recording", said another. "That's all we need to care about right now. That ... 'Reverend' guy is creepy and we only have to do as we are told. Luckily we only have to listen to his orders for a short while longer. Better yet, he didn't choose us to go with him to hunt those retreating saints."
Stolen novel; please report.
"Don't let him hear you say that", the first soldier continued. "That guy is a fanatic. It could be enough to merely say that you didn't want to go after the saints. He will kill you for the smallest slight. He will be returning soon with the group he took."
"Surely... wait? Whats that?!" The second soldier shouted and stood up.
-----
"They have noticed us", Kaden told Emina. "Keep going."
Emina didn't reply, but it seemed she became a bit more tense. She didn't raise the battle armors weapons or prepare spells, but she was clearly prepared to fight.
"We have made a great discovery!" Kaden shouted in a joyous tone at the Sacronan's soldiers. "Things like these armors! Sacronan will have advantage over the Saint Empire! Rejoice!"
He kept spouting that sort of stuff. The soldiers were somewhat confused. It seemed as if Kaden and Emina were on their side and the strange battle armors could easily be devices found from the great remnant. It added to confusion that no one should have come from the remnant anymore either.
Once close enough and with the Sacronan's soldiers gawking and being relatively defenseles, Kaden raised the weapons on the battle armors and opened fire. Emina followed right after.
BRRRRRRRRRRR.
The mana infused bullets had an interesting effects. The mana inside them made sure they could penetrate some defenses, but it quickly ran out. In other words, right after hit, as mana was expended, they became weaker and basically exploded inside whatever wounds they had caused. With still some mana left, the fragments tore open the wounds a bit more, even if the actual wounds were not deep. Yet, still deep enough to cause either severe wounds or even fatal.
Kaden and Emina shredded through most of the camp before the few remaining soldiers could properly retaliate. With proper shielding and spells and cover, the bullets became far less useful. This wasn't a concern to Kaden. He started firing fire balls as he still continued charging forward.
With the battle armor on, he wasn't directly able to use his talons. It had required some modification of the hands and feet back in the past to fit on him, but he was able to extend his mana armor and with that the shape over those parts. It wasn't as good, but considering the extra power the armor gave, it was acceptable trade.
Additionally, Kaden was happy to see the shield formations worked well. He and Emina shrugged off attacks easily as they butchered the Sacronan camp. In fact, Kaden noted it worked better than he expected. He didn't pay too much attention to that, though. Perhaps his formation crafting skill had merely grown further than he had noticed.
The surprise attack had been a complete success. The observer camp was annihilated in a relatively short time.
Kaden was finishing off a soldier who was still somehow alive even after having shredded by the battle armor's gun and then even some burns from Kaden's fire balls. Kaden intended to finish such a cockroach fittingly by crushing him. He was intending to crush the soldier's head, but just as he was about to do so, something really fast hit the shield and exploded with huge force.
The soldier, that Kaden was going to kill, died anyway. The shield surrounding Kaden, seemed to only dampen the force. It still sent Kaden flying with parts of the armor breaking apart.
Luckily Kaden himself, inside the armor, suffered no major damage. Instead, his greatest concern was the attack source.
Not that far away, there was small group of Sacronan's soldiers, among them was one that didn't exactly look like a soldier. Instead he looked more like church personel. The sort of personel you didn't wish to run into.
The man was wearing basically dark colored hooded priest robe over a heavy armor. Usually that was what church's warriors had. On his waist, there was an enormous book, tied with chains. That was more unusual, but it seemed like it was a holy book. That was not the usual thing people carried along. Holy texts were usually left at temples or personal quarters where one could study them in peace. The books were not usually even as heavy looking. Kaden assumed it was probably something more than just a book. There was also a greater problem.
"Early Condensation stage", Kaden muttered as he stood up. "I should have taken more damage, but I have no time to investigate."
The battle armor's helmet was broken so Kaden removed it. It would likely break or fall off on its own anyway. There was no point hiding his identity anymore.
The battle priest was frowning.
"Heretics of the wrong path", he said with a deep voice and cold voice. "I shall send you forth to the true gods for judgement." He then slowly raised his hand and pointed at Emina. He gave order to the soldiers around him. "Kill the other one. I will purge this one personally."
"Yes, Reverend", the soldiers replied quickly.
The soldiers didn't question anything and attacked, yet ignored Kaden completely. As for the battle priest, the Reverend, he had seen fit to kneel down and begin muttering prayers.
Kaden charged up a powerful Fire Beam. If the fool wanted to pray to gods, Kaden was going to take advantage of it.
Just as the Fire Beam was going to hit, a glowing, almost golden, bubble with geometric shapes appeared around the man. He ignored the attack and continued muttering prayers.
"Some kind of special shield", Kaden determined. Church had all sorts of special things. Priests with blessed mana from gods could do such things. "This is bad."
Since Reverend was continuing to pray, Kaden tossed Devouring Flame on the shield. Perhaps it would weaken. On top of it, Kaden shot a continuous beam at it while the fire was burning, intending to see, if he could penetrate it. If he wasn't able to do so, he could at least expend its mana. Kaden knew he had large mana reservoir so some waste was acceptable.
Running away wasn't an option. He wouldn't get far.
Yet, he felt fighting could be an option. He was at peak of his current stages, both human and beast side. He had perfected internal formation. He had gathered pure mana from the cataclysm itself.
Then the battle priest stood up. The bubble burst and the flames scattered away from him. Kaden stepped backwards in preparation.
"Your fate is sealed", said the Reverend. "I rejoice knowing that your soul will be sent to the true gods! It is my sacred duty to purge all that opposes the true order!"
Reverend took up the holy book tied in chains. With a stern face he then performed some spell on it and Kaden watched as some kind of seal broke and the chains fell off with a thud.
"Shit", Kaden cursed. It was surely a weapon.