By the time they reached the penthouse suite where the alien artifact was housed, only two groups of Elites remained. Ray's three-man team, "Alpha Team," had survived intact, and the remaining four elites were grouped into “Bravo Team”. Captain Kowalski wasn’t with them—her body was somewhere splattered at the bottom of the skyscraper with the remainder of the battalion.
Kowalski’s absence gnawed at Ray as he recalled her sacrifices throughout the battle. He tried to shake off the grief, reminding himself it was just a game, that no one had truly died. Yet, the stakes still felt incredibly real.
Colonel Rourke’s voice crackled through the comms, snapping Ray back to the present. The order was clear: storm the penthouse and secure the alien artifact. The tension was palpable as the Elites readied themselves for the final push.
Lt. Parker’s eyes locked on the fortified walls ahead, his fists charged with electric fury. With a thunderous roar, he slammed his knuckles into the structure, ripping a massive fissure into the defenses.
Ray acted swiftly. With no hesitation, he unleashed his prepared Plasma Pike Ultimate, targeting the two alien Elites Stark had waypointed beforehand. The energy beam pierced their forms, dropping them to the ground, fatally wounded.
Alpha and Bravo Teams moved in unison, executing a flanking maneuver that cornered the remaining alien Elites. For a brief moment, hope surged as the enemy ranks thinned, reduced to just a pair. The plan seemed to have worked.
But victory was short-lived. The shattered walls began to knit themselves back together, as if time rewound. Stark’s frantic voice erupted over the comms, warning them that the fallen alien Elites were regenerating, defying death itself. Ray’s pulse quickened, a sinking dread washing over him.
The alien Elite leader, sensing their vulnerability, struck with terrifying speed. Bravo Team was the first target, the leader’s energy blade cutting through the air like a predator. In an instant, one of Bravo’s members was cleaved in half, the energy blade slicing clean through flesh and bone. Chaos erupted. Plasma fire filled the air, and telekinetic storms whirled debris like a raging tempest.
Colonel Rourke’s voice cut through the pandemonium, grim and weighted. “Intel was wrong. The artifact—it’s not just an objective. It’s active.”
A chill ran down Ray’s spine as the truth hit him: they weren’t just after the artifact—they were up against a Distinguished. The real battle has only just begun.
---
Stark’s voice cut through the chaos, sharp and commanding. “Ray, Parker—beeline for the Distinguished! Bravo, delay the elites and buy them time! It's no proper Distinguished! Its frozen!” His words snapped the team into focus, redirecting them toward the real threat.
Ray’s mind raced as he activated the Chrono Accelerator, time slowing around him. The battlefield blurred, slowing down as he and Parker surged forward. Behind them, Bravo Team and Stark fought to hold the line, desperately engaging the Elite Leader to buy them time. The air crackled with plasma fire, and Bravo was rapidly overwhelmed by the deadly precision of the alien Elites, who wielded synergistic E-ranked cards with terrifying speed.
Back with Bravo, Stark and the remaining three members—Rodriguez, Jones, and Harrison—hunkered down, preparing for what felt like their final stand. Stark barked out orders, his voice a lifeline in the chaos. They formed a tight defensive perimeter, their weapons firing in controlled bursts as they braced for the oncoming wave.
The alien Elites struck hard. Rodriguez was the first to fall, an energy blade piercing his chest before he could react. His body crumpled, lifeless, as blood pooled beneath him. Jones, wide-eyed with shock, barely had time to raise his weapon before another Elite lashed out. A plasma whip coiled around his neck, cutting through flesh, and he collapsed, choking as the weapon seared his skin.
Meanwhile, Ray and Parker breached the innermost chamber, moving with laser focus. The chaotic sounds of battle behind them faded as Ray’s eyes locked onto the immobilized alien Distinguished. The alien clutched a shimmering card, its frozen form radiating an ominous presence. Without hesitation, Parker charged his Thunderfist and, with a deafening boom, obliterated the Distinguished in a blast of fragments.
Parker reached for the D ranked card, but something felt wrong. He turned to Ray, urgency in his voice. "I’m overloading Fortify Shield."
Ray recalled from the briefing that this would grant them two minutes of near total protection, but at the cost of sending the card into full cooldown. He nodded, understanding the gamble.
Meanwhile, Parker opened a private comm to Colonel Rourke, his voice tense with the weight of the situation. Time was running out, and they needed a plan fast.
Ray’s nerves frayed as he watched Bravo team members vanish from his HUD, one after another. His heart pounded, the weight of the situation pressing in. Then, a static crackle broke through the tension, followed by a voice from Federation High Command.
“Trainee Ray,” the voice began, firm and direct. “This is Federation High Command. Stand by and follow these instructions:
The alien artifact is a D-ranked card. Lt. Parker lacks the deck capacity to carry it. You will temporarily hold the Omnipotent Restorer and transport it to the extraction point or any Distinguished marked ‘Objective’ on your HUD.
Acquire the card and familiarize yourself with its abilities. Once done, signal us. We will nuke the skyscraper before your Fortify Shield expires.”
Ray picked up the card and read it carefully
"Omnipotent Restorer (Grade D)”
Ability: Repairs equipment and heals friendly structures in a very large area.
Ultimate one: Revive fallen allies within a moderate area of effect
Ultimate two: Creates a space-time lock preventing portal jumps in an enormous area. Requires two hours of charging up.
Costs: 5000 deck capacity.
Ray added it to his deck, and then signaled high command
---
The Federation nuclear mines, buried deep at the tower’s base, erupted in a chain of blinding explosions. The ground buckled, and a massive mushroom cloud shot upward, tearing through the foundation. The tower groaned as steel beams twisted, and entire floors crumbled. The shockwave blasted outwards, shattering windows and sending debris flying in every direction. Flames roared up the structure, consuming it from the bottom, while thick smoke billowed into the sky, choking the skyline with ash and ruin.
Inside the chaos, Ray and Parker stood firm, encased in the shimmering Fortify Shield. The wave of explosions slammed against the barrier, but it absorbed everything, creating a distorted bubble of light and energy. Shrapnel and debris disintegrated as they made contact, leaving the two in eerie silence.
Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
Fortify Shield blinked out just as the ground beneath them gave way. The tower, gutted by the blasts, collapsed in on itself. Ray and Parker plummeted alongside falling debris, huge chunks of steel and concrete tumbling past them. The wind whipped at their faces as they fell through the wreckage, the once towering skyscraper disintegrating around them. The sky above was a swirling inferno of smoke and fire as they hurtled toward the ground with the crumbling remains of the building.
From his command post, Rourke watched the chaos unfold, his heart pounding as he tracked Ray’s free fall through the collapsing skyscraper. "Ray, activate your emergency descent!" Rourke shouted into the comms. "I can’t do it for you—you're still a trainee, I don’t have override auth—" He cut himself off, grinning in relief as he saw Ray’s jetpack sputter to life, stabilizing and reorienting mid-fall.
High Command seized control of Parker's jetpack, sending him rocketing away from the collapsing skyscraper. Enemy scanners would lock onto Parker, assuming the stronger soldier carried the card.
Suddenly, the district’s orbital shield dropped. Alien ships fired from above, and in a flash of light, Parker was vaporized.
Rourke’s eyes followed Ray's rapid descent, watching helplessly as the trainee plummeted toward the irradiated ruins below.
Ray’s voice boomed over the comms, raw and defiant: “Mass Revival!”
Rourke’s heart sank as he watched in disbelief. Ray had wasted the Omnipotent Restorer's ultimate the moment he landed. The element of surprise was shattered—the aliens now knew the Restorer was still active. What could have been a game-changing trump card in a battle against a Distinguished was now exposed, its full potential squandered.
Yet, despite the grim realization, Rourke couldn't suppress a grin. The battlefield lit up with hundreds of green dots, the revived members of his fallen battalion.
"Battalion, evacuate now!" Rourke barked. "Jetpacks at full throttle!"
On his display, the green dots swarmed into motion like a wave, scattering in all directions. High Command quickly shut down all tracking and comms to Ray for security, and in the chaos, he disappeared from their grid—impossible to trace.
Rourke's heart sank as the ground trembled with the unmistakable Thrummm. The air pulsed with deep resonance, and suddenly, reality was replaced by a bright yellow 3D grid. With a sharp collapse, the world began to reassemble from the outside in, filling everything in toward the skyscraper. It was a portal jump—the first of many.
---
A portal jump is a highly conspicuous event. All documented examples of D Grade portal jump cards exhibit considerable cooldowns and restrictions. Stealthy portal jumps are a non-existent concept; rather, they draw significant attention.
When a portal jump commences, the vicinity transforms into a vivid yellow 3D grid. Time comes to a momentary standstill, and with a resounding "Thrummm!" – the signature sound of a portal jump’s WarpEcho – everything loads from the periphery to the center, aligning with the portal jumper.
The entire process takes roughly a second, and countless academic papers delve into portal jump combat and strategy. Most strategies are divided into two categories, the first is logistical, how nationstates can set up chains of portaljumping Distinguished to bring as much as their force to bear in a short amount of time. The second kind are thinly veiled advertisements for life insurance and spacetime locked servers.
Yet, nothing can prepare you for the sheer terror when the space around you transforms into a whirlwind of card convergence.
Well, except for blissful ignorance…
Ray, currently bunny hopping with his jetpack as quickly as possible, finds himself increasingly irritated. The persistent thrums and the grids that materialize make maintaining his rhythm challenging.
Ray no longer receives direct communication; he has been informed that for operational security, all communication is cut off. He must now rely solely on broadcasted information.
Suddenly, he realizes how unsettling broadcasted information can be. Gone are the green and red indicators; in their place are blue and orange indicators – representing friendly and enemy D ranks. And their sheer number is truly alarming.
---
As Ray darted between the towering skyscrapers, the distant rumble of explosions echoed in his ears. Above him, the sky was a chaotic battlefield, streaks of blue and orange slashing through the air like vengeful tendrils. The scale of the destruction was staggering—D-ranked combatants obliterating entire city blocks with each devastating blow.
I thought I was powerful, but this... this is on a different level.
A colossal fireball erupted in the distance, momentarily casting the shadows of buildings across the wreckage. A D-ranked enemy had unleashed the force of a miniature sun. Ray’s heart raced as he watched, struggling to comprehend the sheer magnitude of the carnage. The once-bustling city seemed insignificant and fragile under the weight of these titanic forces.
How can we survive this? The thought weighed on him, the burden of his role pressing like a thousand tons.
Suddenly, a streak of blue light ripped through the air, followed by a deafening sonic boom. A friendly D-ranked fighter moved with blinding speed, the atmosphere rippling with displaced energy. They collided with an enemy, each blow shaking the ground beneath Ray’s feet.
Before he could react, a massive shockwave slammed into him, sending him spinning through the air. A nearby Distinguished battle had crossed his path, the force of their clash tearing apart everything in its wake. Ray scrambled to regain control, activating emergency descent mode to steady himself.
Ray found himself trapped between two D-ranked combatants, their raw power shaking the ground beneath him. Blocking his path was a hulking alien Distinguished, its impenetrable exoskeleton crackling with electricity as it charged forward, bellowing with primal fury. To his right, a Federation warrior in an advanced battlesuit rushed in, wielding a massive energy weapon that hummed with lethal potential.
The alien lashed out first, its claws tearing through the air, sending arcs of electricity toward the Federation fighter. With a swift dodge, the warrior raised his weapon and unleashed a beam of energy that collided with the alien’s exoskeleton, causing the ground to tremble with the force of their clash. Sparks flew as the two titans traded blows, each strike sending shockwaves through the battlefield.
Ray’s heart pounded as he watched, the sheer power of the D-ranks overwhelming. The alien’s aura of electricity flared again, sending arcs of lightning toward Ray. Reacting instinctively, Ray activated his Stormguard Shield, absorbing the incoming energy. The shield flared to life, converting the attack into a crackling electrical field, which erupted outward in a blinding pulse.
The force of the counterattack knocked Ray off his feet, sending him sprawling but sparing him from the worst of the damage. Seeing an opening, Ray scrambled up and equipped his Plasma Pike. With a burst of agility, he vaulted over a nearby building, using the enhanced strength of his gear. Landing hard on the roof, he activated his Chrono Accelerator, slowing time around him. The world around him seemed to crawl, every explosion and clash between the D-ranks playing out in eerie slow motion.
Ray didn’t wait—he reached into his deck, swapping to his grenade launcher, knowing he'd need to shake things up to escape.
With time still slowed, Ray aimed the Siege Breaker at a nearby building, his suit calculating the perfect trajectory for maximum damage. He fired, the explosive round arcing through the air and slamming into the weakened structure. As the effects of the Chrono Accelerator faded, time snapped back to normal, and the building began to collapse with a deafening roar.
The D-ranked combatants barely flinched, shrugging off the crumbling building as debris rained down around them. But the mass of rubble provided enough cover for Ray to slip away unnoticed. Seizing the moment, he vaulted into a nearby canal, disappearing from view amidst the chaos.
Ray grinned, knowing it was tempting to use the Omnipotent Restorer again to help his ally, but he couldn't risk exposing himself like he did before.
To his surprise, his hud showed him an incoming allied portal jump, and it was only about 50 meters ahead. A blue "objective" marker shrouded the Distinguished.
Ray pulled the D-rank card from his deck and, with a sigh of relief, let his ally grab it from his outstretched hand.
[Tutorial Complete]
[All required objectives and optional objectives completed]
[Rating: Excellent]