Piece by Piece

The sight of several hundred ships standing in a row in the depths of space was a sight to behold, indeed. However, the truth was that this was just a façade. These weren't true ships, they just appeared to be.

These deep black platforms, each of which was capable of holding several dozen warriors comfortably, were actually just that: platforms. Leonel was cleverly keeping them in a defined path using the Forces in the region and a few hidden Force Arts that linked these platforms as one.

Though these platforms couldn't be considered to be real ships, they were still able to provide comparable safety and could also double as resting and medical centers.

The choice here was obvious: They would hold this line. This battle would decide whether Earth could defend its Fold of Reality or not.

Earth was definitely at a great disadvantage. Fighting in space was something that only Sixth Dimensional existences could do comfortably. However, Leonel had considered this as well and solved it using the third hidden ability of these hundreds of platforms.

When linked together in this fashion, the platforms could refine and produce Force, creating an atmosphere that was somewhat like Space Lite. It wasn't as comfortable as a planet, but it wasn't as volatile as space itself.

As a result of this, Leonel managed to turn a disadvantage of Earth into the opposite.

Space normally didn't have Force and if you were unlucky enough to run into pockets where Force did exist, they were normally extremely dangerous. By the time you noticed them, you would likely already be dead.

Due to the nature of space, absorbing Force here was particularly dangerous, especially if the Force didn't acknowledge you. So, where was the advantage?

The advantage was in the fact that this was Earth's Fold of Reality. This Force innately recognized them. However, it wouldn't do the same for their enemies. Normally, it would just be difficult for invaders to absorb Force in a world that wasn't their own. But now, it would be almost lethal. Content is property © .

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At the helm of the fleet of platforms, Leonel sat in silence, his feet dangling down into the vast expanse of space. The artificial gravity in the surroundings wasn't as strong as it was on Earth or EarthX1, so he felt exceptionally light at the moment, his gaze looking off into the distance.

Just a few years ago, Leonel would have never thought that he would have the chance to see the stars like this. Sitting far outside the solar system he had spent almost two decades of life in, gazing at moons and planets he had never even seen pictures of, let alone laid his own eyes upon… It was a surreal feeling.

For much of Leonel's life, he had never really been ambitious. Nothing caught his attention enough for him to put his full effort toward it, and though he Respected everything he did and gave it all its due, there was always a tiny piece of him buried deep that never seemed to truly activate.

But at this moment, staring off into the stars, seeing the vastness of the universe laid out before him as his people were being oppressed from all sides, he felt a dull throbbing within as though a deep recess of his soul was ready to be awakened.

Space suddenly shook and shattered.

Watching on in silence, Leonel didn't even move as the ten kilometer long starship came into view, crashing through layers of space one after another.

To Leonel's back, eight young men appeared, all of them standing tall. One couldn't truly grasp the horror of a starship, even a junior one, until you laid eyes on it personally.

It felt like watching reality itself collapse as it tore a seemingly empty space to shreds. Space shattered and cracked like glass, miniature blackholes formed and collapsed, combustible star cores sparked as though they were nothing more than lit matches before they too crumbled.

It looked as though the starship wasn't moving at all, just standing in place. And yet the violent commotion around it painted a completely different picture as what looked like black lightning danced about it. And then…

BANG!

As though a pouncing beast, the ten kilometer long behemoth shattered the final layer, its body coming to a sudden and violent halt.

Upon the helm of the junior starship, the five family Heads stood, the gaze of each one of them practically dripping with blood. However, when they saw Earth's fleet ahead of them, these very same gazes couldn't help but narrow.

Though their one junior starship was far larger than any single ship Leonel had brought forward, the number of the latter was still great enough to surround them.

At the forefront of it all, Leonel continued to sit, his feet hanging down to the endless abyss below. Even in their presence, he didn't stand. It was as though he didn't remember at all that he had brutally murdered Avarone's younger brother.

"Ram them through." Avarone spoke coldly, his expression hardly fluctuating.

To these Heads, fools would be fools. Did the people of Earth really believe that just because they had brought their people out here that it would be enough? Since they were foolish enough to pool all their strength here, they would just crush them in the crudest way possible.

However, just as the junior starship was gearing up to charge forward after losing its momentum breaking into this Fold of Reality, reality struck hard.

Leonel continued to sit indifferently, watching as a wave of Force swept by.

'Your blueprints… I have them.'

It looked like nothing more than a gentle breeze, but the moment it touched the exterior of the junior starship, it began to shut down. Its light flickered off, its accumulating energy dissipated, even it forward momentum entered a cruising state.

To the horror of the five Heads, their junior starship became nothing more than a hunk of metal, stuck in the limbo of space.

At that moment, the black platforms took action.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

One after another, dense chains shot toward the junior starship, each lancing through the exterior hull and locking the junior starship in place.

Just below Leonel's feet, another thick chain shot outward, this one piercing the very front-center of the starship.

With a light hop, he landed on the heavy chain, his halo manifesting above his head and his silver armor beginning to appear piece by piece.