Author's Note: Um... Sorry....
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Inside Gnosia. It has been 6 hours since Winford had started his operation. Smoke bellows from destroyed buildings. Robots are wrecking havoc everywhere, destroying homes and wrecking buildings. These robots look like they are destroying just for the sake of destroying, but the robots are ultimately a diversion.
Winford's true purpose is to destroy the library that the people of Gnosia regards as the city's symbol. The rebels march towards the library in orderly formation. Winford's march is mostly unimpeded, as most know they are no match for him. People right now don't have the luxury to try to stop him, so they are only just trying to survive.
There are some brave civilians that group together to try and stand up to Winford, but it is futile. Winford wipes them all out without hesitation.
After a long march from the rebels, the library is finally in sight. Gnosia's army surrounds it, preparing for a long, drawn out battle. There is no way that the army of Gnosia would just let Winford wantonly destroy their symbol. This library was established by New Reality's first librarian.
The landscape around the library changes. Winford sees various weaponry such as cannons, guns, and even arrows, coming out of the surrounding areas. Various bright, red dots show up on the rebels. Some of the rebels seeing these bright red dots show fear, but Winford is still calm as if the weapons wouldn't have any effect on him. He shows no panic nor fear. If you were to look closely at his face, you would see relief, despite all the weaponry taking aim at him.
All he has planned for. All the research he has done was for this moment. Once the library falls, the symbol of the old system would have been destroyed.
The weaponry changes position and shape while being manipulated to cause the most damage towards the rebels, while not trying to cause friendly fire towards the army. Joyce is manipulating the defense system to its maximum power. The area surrounding the library is where Gnosia's defense network's power is at its highest. The rockets and bullets start firing. Soon, displays like fireworks go off in front of the library.
The rebels in the front are hit with the blasts. Bullets hit them like rain. There are so many projectiles firing at them, that they could not possibly defend them all. They are the first casualties.
This did not deter the rebels though. As Winford was calm, his calmness rubbed off on them. It seemed like the rebels were trying their hardest to make it to the library, blindly charging in like raging bulls, but they kept falling one by one. This filled Gnosia's army's side with much needed morale.
“Kill them all! HAHA!”
“That'll teach ya to mess with Gnosia! Our city's defense is unrivaled!”
Archum looks at the scene of the rebels falling and frowns. He is a tall man with a powerful build and a long beard. He wears heavy armor, befitting of his powerful physique. Even though he's old, he doesn't look weak in the slightest. General Archum is who all the soldiers in the army look up to the most. One of his men notices Archum's mood.
“Sir, what's wrong? Our side is winning heavily! They can't even get close!”
Archum shakes his head and says, “Look at Winford. Despite suffering such heavy losses, he hasn't been moved at all, as if everything is going according to his whims.”
Archum then starts pondering something. 'Wait a minute. The various robots Winford has that have been scattered around this city. Why hasn't a single one come over here? Unless...' Archum's face changes in realization. 'This is a diversion!'
It was then that a rumbling sound was heard coming from underground as it steadily got louder.
“What is that?” Someone from Gnosia's side asks afraid.
The general's face shows worry, as he doesn't know what will happen.
“Lachford!” Archum calls out.
Lachford is an earth mage that has managed to make great grounds in using the earth transmutation circle in various ways. If he wasn't limited by the gods' curse that had befallen everyone in Gnosia, which prevents them from learning elemental mage skills, he could probably rival the top earth mages in all of New Reality. He's Gnosia's best earth mage.
“Sir!”
“I want you to check underground. See what's the cause of that rumbling.”
Lachford nods and closes his eyes. He makes a tremor which travels everywhere underground. Since Lachford is a very proficient earth mage, anything he can't control underground will be the most probable cause of the tremors. When Lachford opens his eyes, his face looks pale. He starts to shiver. When the general looks at his expression, he knows this isn't a good sign.
“I've- I've never seen this model before!” Lachford says flustered. He then looks at the general frantic. “We have to get those robots out of the ground! They're attacking the library underground!”
Archum nods. 'Attacking where the defense is the weakest. I should have seen this coming.'
“Earth mages!” The general shouts.
All the earth mages line up in orderly formation. Archum points to half of them.
“You half are in charge of detection.”
He then points to the other half.
“You half are in charge of bringing those robots up to the surface.”
“Yes sir!”
The people in charge of detection spread out and surround the library equally spaced out. They all start making tremors underground. Although they are not as proficient as Lachford, they don't need to be as all the robots underground were converging on the library's location. When an earth mage finds one, they place a small pillar above it marking where the robot is. They then move on to finding more robots. The other earth mages then use their power to bring the robots above the surface.
Robots flood the surface coming up one after another like a geyser. The army gets a good look at the robots. The robots are around 5 feet long. There are drill bits at the front, and thrusts on the back.
“Adams, your class is Beast Summoner. Do Monster Identify to see what we are dealing with." Archum says.
“Yes sir.” Adams looks at a robot. “Identify.”
Robot: Digger Model XG2416Information: Have the ability to travel through ground as easily as people do air. Has thrusters that can dramatically increase it's linear speed. Not good at turning well.Level268 Health ???Mana ??? Strength ??? Dexterity ??? Vitality???Charisma???Intelligence???Wisdom???Luck???Attack???Defense???
Since Adams is part of the army, everyone can see the information that Adam had scanned.
“So their goal was to use these robots to attack underground this whole time.” Someone says.
“As if we'd let them get what they want!” Lachford yells out. “Earth mages! Do not let them get within 100 feet of this library! It would be too huge of an embarrassment! Show Winford he made a huge mistake betraying Gnosia!”
The earth mages make a general strategy. They've noticed that these digging robots can only use their thrusts for a limited time, around 4 seconds in total. However during that time, they become nearly impossible to bring above ground. They have to predict where it will go. Their only strategy is to bring it above ground, where they are slow. They cant build earthen walls underground as the robots could easily penetrate through them.
Archum feels the situation is under control for now. Gnosia's defense system was keeping the rebels at bay, and the earth mages are doing a good job of finding and bringing the robots above ground. He looks at the rebels. The shield warriors are blocking the attacks from Gnosia's defense system and are barely hanging on, but it's clear they won't last much longer.
Each time grenades or rockets fall, someone on the rebel's side falls. The shield warriors found it increasingly difficult to protect others and had no choice but to protect themselves. Every time a shield warrior tried to charge through, all the attacks of the defense system would focus on that person. It was when the shield warriors fell to a scant number that Archum made a decision.
'Now should be a good time to use it. A pity. You're about to be taken out by the weapon that you yourself designed.' Archum thinks looking at Winford.
What makes Archum uneasy is that despite losing a lot of personnel, and despite being cornered by Gnosia's defense system, Winford isn't flustered in the slightest. He's just standing there calmly while the metallic tentacles on his armor deflects the projectiles aimed at him like flowing water. The density of people around Winford is the highest, partially because people want to protect him, and partially because around Winford is where it is safest.
“Activate the trap!” Archum yells out.
BZZZZ!
A circle glows under the rebels' feet. It's around 100 feet in diameter. It starts glowing white and buzzing.
“What is this?” One of the rebels asked.
“There is no escape from this once it activates. Claris has most likely upgraded this to a feature I can no longer recognize.” Winford tells him.
A calligrapher tries to make a transmutation circle, but finds that it keeps failing.
“I can't teleport out!” He yells frantic. “We're all trapped in here!”
One stubborn shield warrior tries his luck escaping. He runs towards the edge of the trap with bullets firing on him. Strangely enough, the projectiles do not focus on him, as if saying even if we don't hit you, you still won't be able to leave. He felt an invisible force pushing him back. The closer he got to the edge, the more the force pushed him back. He wasn't even halfway there before the force multiplied exponentially and pushed him back towards the center.
“How in the world...” The shield warrior scratches his head confused.
“The worst is yet to come.” Winford says calmly.
Sounds of mechanical parts turning is heard. A platform raises from the ground. Whats looks like a massive rifle forms once the platform finishes raising. The rifle looks to be around half a kilometer long.
“What is that?” A rebel asks looking fearful at the weapon that's aimed at them.
“That's one of Gnosia's most powerful weapons. A weapon that relies on pure kinetic energy to fire a pillar of black iron at subluminal speeds that can penetrate anything in its path. Its impact is the equivalent of 10000000 tons of gunpowder. Shields and barriers can do nothing against it. It really is exceptional I was able to make something like this that didn't rely on the new technology I invented.
This trap that we're in, nothing can escape it. It is able to contain that weapon's massive power so that it doesn't damage the surroundings.”
This sends terror to the rebels trapped in there.
“Sir, what do we do?”
“Patience.” Winford says calmly.
*******
Inside Gnosia's defense center. Claris is sitting in the main operator's chair. Her fingers are a blur. She is constantly gulping down mana potions to replenish her mana due to it being lost by constantly upgrading. She's in charge of protecting everyone in Gnosia, and it has been a really taxing job for her. Constantly upgrading various parts of the defense system has not been easy on her. The coup d'etat had only started a little more than 6 hours ago, but for Claris, it feels like it has been an entire day.
“Ma'am. Bertha XL is charged at 60%.” A tinkerer tells her.
“Good. Turn off the rest of the safety valves. Archers, make sure your shot lines over the trap Winford and the rest of the rebels are in. I do not want us to hit anyone from our side. Only take the shot if you are 100% sure!” Claris tells them. That weapon can only be fired when all 10 archers press the trigger.
“Yes ma'am!” Everyone replies back respectfully.
Sounds of various switches flipping could be heard.
“Ma'am. Bertha XL is charged at 80%.” A tinkerer tells her.
“Okay. Now is the moment of truth. Load the pillar into the firing chamber.” Claris tells them.
The pillar was put into the chamber like a bullet being loaded. The front of Big Bertha started spinning. The pillar that was loaded in started rotating. Each second that passed by, the speed of the pillar's rotation grew faster and faster. The pillar started to turn red because it was generating so much heat.
“Ma'am. Bertha XL is now at 100%!” The tinkerer says.
Claris closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.
'Master, thanks for the memories.' She thinks, remembering fond memories. Her face then changes to one of resolution. “Fire!”
*******
“It looks like that thing is about to fire.” One of the rebels says.
“There won't even be a piece of us left if that thing hits!”
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Winford then says, “These things, I had already foreseen them. I wanted them to bring out this library's best defense, because when bring it down, their hope and morale will follow.”
Just when Gnosia's side was confident of their win, someone yelled something that poured a cold bucket of water on them.
An airmage said, “Sir, there are hundreds of air borne robots coming this way! I haven't seen this model either!”
These robots looked like bombers, only sleeker and faster in design. Some of the wind mages in the air tried to attack these robots, but their armor was just too strong.
“Let's just attack one robot at a time!” The head wind mage said.
The wind mages together create a giant air blast that destroys that robots armor, then finally the rest of the robot. When that robot broke apart, their hearts shook. Loaded on the robots were hundreds of bombs.
“Everybody below! Run!” The wind mage leader said to his allies.
The wind mages tried their best to deflect most of the bombs from Gnosia's side, but there were just far too many.
All the robots in the air released their payload. Some earth mages made huge barriers made of earth above them to protect their allies. Some earth mages brought the people around them underground to protect against the explosives.
Unfortunately, some of the bombs had exploded on the locking mechanism on the trap which had freed the rebels.
With that done, around three or so calligraphers who had found a way to bind with a teleportation circle, came out and ran towards Bertha XL. That gun was very close to firing. It had already built up too much power. If it didn't launch, Bertha XL would explode killing them all.
*******
“Shit! Winford managed to escape!” Claris yells out in frustration. 'Looks like we have no choice but to dampen the power and fire at a barrier trap in an unpopulated area.' She thinks clenching her teeth.
Just when she was about to issue her commands, one of the people that were supposed to be on her side suddenly held something in his hand. The assassins hidden in the shadows were quick to react. They cut off his hand before he had a chance to even use what he had. Another assassin quickly beheaded him. When his body fell to the ground, green gas had poured from his clothes and quickly spread around.
“Shit! We have to get out of here!” Yells Claris.
Seeing the cloud of death heading towards them, they quickly ran out the room. The air conditioning unit turned on, and started cleaning out the air. They would be able to go back into the control room, but it will take a while for them to reenter.
********
The calligraphers had created a giant teleportation circle around Bertha XL. Bombs were still raining down on Gnosia's side, so they could not do anything. It took them around 10 minutes to complete the circle. They then activated the teleportation circle. A blue glow starts flowing through the newly laid out teleportation circle. When they were done, they had passed out due to not having any mana in their system. In the real world, people can live without mana, but in New Reality, mana is inextricably linked to someone's body. People evolved with the mana.
Bertha XL didn't move that much: Only a few degrees. However, the more mass something has, the more mana is required to move it. When Gnosia's side saw where the gun was aimed at, their blood had turned cold. Bertha XL was now aimed at the library.
Bertha XL was about to explode. Someone had to fire the gun before it could endanger the city.
********
A beeping sound is heard that signaled that it is now safe to enter the control room. Claris and them ran in hoping to salvage the situation. They saw that the computers were beeping a warning. Bertha XL was about to explode!
“Ready the controls! We have to fire this thing!”
“Ma'am! Bertha XL is aimed at the library!”
“We have no choice! The library has a powerful barrier surrounding it, so no lives will be lost if we fire this there!”
The archers got in their computer chairs.
'We were played for fools.' Claris thinks. “Ready, fire!”
********
A deafening sound was heard all throughout Gnosia. Most people did not know what the cause of that sound was.
A pillar was fired. It was so fast, that no one would be able to see it even if they were looking at the weapon directly. Huge arrays of glowing transmutation circles start to surround the library. The transmutation circles were glowing and dancing around. It was a beautiful site.
The pillar that was launched had already turned into plasma by the time it reached the library's shields. Sounds of a huge explosion coming from the impact rang throughout all of Gnosia. Everyone in the city had to shield their ears. If it weren't for the fact that the library's shields absorbed most of the sound damage, everyone there would have turned deaf.
The explosion was about to spread out, but the library's shields absorbs them in time. It didn't take long for the library's shields to completely fail. The explosion starts to fade. Sounds of glass cracking could be heard. The sounds were coming from the breaking barriers surrounding the library. Centuries of accumulated mana inside those transmutation circles were all used up.
Meanwhile, the rebels themselves were celebrating.
“The libraries shields are down!”
“Now nothing can stop us!”
“Sorry for deceiving you all.” Winford tells his allies. “I had to keep you in the dark. If you were to know, they would know what I had planned.”
“Sir, it's fine. This was all necessary. We have to get the gods' blessings.”
The rebels started walking towards the library with Winford in the front. He had all of this planned: Bertha XL guarding the library, goading Gnosia to use it. They had all fell for it and Gnosia's side realizes it. The army was mostly incapacitated right now. The few people who could fight back were badly outmatched. Now the robots that were all over Gnosia had come to this place.
Right before the stairs leading up the library, Winford climbs up the stairs and addresses the rebels.
“All that we have waited for, all that we have dreamed is now finally about to be realized!”
Cheers could be heard. The rebels were smiling from ear to ear. Some were jumping up and down. Some were doing fist pumps. Winford watches this briefly, then his face changes to seriousness. He walks up the stairs, and takes his first step into the library.
**********
Null and his group were in the middle of resting when they heard the boom that spanned Gnosia.
“What was that?” Null asks the people with him.
He's been hearing signs of battle, but he has never heard something that loud so far. That did not come from an ordinary weapon.
“Wow. To think we were forced to use Big Bertha XL. Winford truly is formidable.” Aldan says sighing.
'What in the world is Big Bertha XL? We are in an almost sound proof room, and yet I still almost became deaf.' Null thinks in astonishment.
“Null, Big Bertha XL is Gnosia's most powerful weapon. It fires a pillar that relies only on its momentum to deliver a powerful blow!” Aldan says with pride. “It's something only a tinkerer would be able to make.”
“Just its momentum?” Null says in shock. Null knows physics, and knows that for something to release that much energy relying just on momentum either requires a high mass, high velocity, or both.
'I want to see how that weapon works.' Null thinks.
“Hmph. You tinkerer's think you're so smart, yet you still got duped by Winford.” Someone there says in disdain.
“What? Your primitive mind too small to even comprehend what Null and I are talking about?” Aldan replies disrespectfully back.
'*sigh* I regret choosing to help these people.' Null then shakes his head.
'Remember Null. This is only temporary. This is the price I have to pay in order to advance. When this is over, I will never have to see another person in this game ever again.' Null thinks in his mind as he watches the people he's with arguing.
Null and the people assigned to him are currently in Aldan's laboratory. They had just come back from rescuing as many people as they could. They've been repeatedly going out for the past six hours and had only managed to take out 27 robots. If it weren't for the fact that Null could manipulate mana, and could somewhat make the robots lose control, Null's team wouldn't have even been able to take out 10.
Most people now have made it to one of the shelters in the city. Those that couldn't make it to one have chosen to hide. Now everyone out in the open are the people who have chosen to participate in the civil war.
“Null, when do we head back out?”
Null frowns as he puts his hand on his chin while thinking on his next move. “I have an idea of some kind. I don't know if it will work, so I will stay here with Aldan while the rest of you head out.”
“But, you're the reason we can even take out Winford's robots! There would be no point going out if you're not with them!” Aldan yells out.
“The way we're taking out the robots is far too inefficient. At the rate we're going, we will fail the overall mission of protecting this city.” Null says calmly, but you could hear the annoyed undertones.
“I agree with Null's decision. If we were to keep going with the same method, we would eventually lose this war.” The blacksmith with them says.
That blacksmith's name is Ferron. He is one of the best blacksmiths in the city. The blacksmiths and the tinkerers' relationships could be described as less than civil. In fact, you could call it downright hostile. It's unknown whether Ferron is agreeing with Null due to liking his idea, or disagreeing with Aldan. It's probably both.
“Of course the primitive blacksmith would disagree with me. Hmph.” Aldan snubs his nose at him looking away.
“You weak uppity tinkerers need to know your place!” Ferron says angrily to Aldan grabbing his hammer.
“You blacksmiths only know how to resort to violence!” Aldan says grabbing his wrench.
Seeing Aldan and Ferron about to go to blows, Null sighs once again and says, “You know what? I'm tired of all of you. This city being destroyed has nothing to do with me. Maybe I should just break into the second floor of the library while everyone's distracted with this war. It would be a lot easier than putting up with you people.”
Aldan, Ferron, and everyone in the room stare at Null.
“Pffft.”
“HAHAHA!”
Everyone starts laughing.
“What's so funny?” Null says annoyed.
Aldan wipes his tears while chuckling and explains. “Null, you know that this defense system is relatively recent right?”
“Okay, so what does that have to do with anything?”
“Even before this defense system protected Gnosia, even though Gnosia has been conquered by outside powers numerous times, that library has never once been breached throughout its history.”
This came as a huge shock to Null.
“How is that even possible?”
“It's because of the librarian that guards the library.” Ferron continues where Aldan left off.
“The librarian?” Null says skeptically momentarily forgetting that he's a librarian himself.
“Well, its only one powerful librarian at a time. The powers have been passed down, though no one knows how it works but them. Even if Winford were to completely destroy the city, I'm confident that the library will still stand.”
“Huh.” Null says sort of intrigued.
**********
A sound reverberates throughout the area. It sounds as if something metal were broken through with a single blow.
What was even more surprising was the sight of Winford being knocked back. He flew through the air as if he were a football. A huge hole was made in the library from where Winford started flying through. He went through five buildings before finally slowing down. When seeing Winford, he looks a mess. The armor he is wearing looks broken beyond repair.
'Heh. I thought this armor would last a little longer going against him. He was already placed extremely high in my mind, and yet I still underestimated him.'
Winford takes off his armor and replaces with even more powerful armor.
“This little brat.” A gruff voice is heard coming from the library along with footsteps. The hole Winford made going through the library wall had already shown signs of healing as if it were a living thing!
A man walks down the steps slowly.
“I don't care what you do to anything else, but when you tried to destroy this library, your little coup d'etat became my problem.”
He was a rather tall person who had a long white beard, glasses, and had on scholarly robes. He looked rather old, but still looked like someone you didn't want to mess with. The glare given off from his glasses made the rebels' hearts chill. He had no weapons on him: Only a single book.
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Author's Note: The librarian enters the stage. Next chapter you will see what a librarian is capable of.
So... About my absence. Honestly, I had just gotten bored with this. No pay and I was working so hard on this. I just needed a break. Then I had forgotten about this thing.
It was when I was looking at the original One Punch Man web comic by ONE. Everyday, I would look at the updates and there would be none. One month. Two months. Three months. Nothing.
I thought to myself, 'Geez. This guy doesn't update for months at a time with no warning. What an asshole!'
It's then I remembered I never updated my own work in a long time. I'm that asshole! Fuck!
So this work isn't canceled, and I intend to finish it. Well, as a consolation, I finished this arc, so there's that.