Dark Burst (4—Last Part)

Whooosh, whooosh, whooosh, whooosh...

The wind blew against the opened hatch as half of Heian Ciemnosc's body peeked out. He was looking at the enemy small City's barrier. It was still only a mix, but additional protective array formations around it outwardly. They belonged to small fortifications around its barrier, little forming defensive points. But they weren’t tall and were particularly low. Any transporting ship could bombard and decimate them. However, the enemy small City would destroy the transporting ship in return.

Comparing it to the army he belonged to before it was semi-crippled, Heian Ciemnosc calculated it would take at least 5 weeks for 13 transporting ships to take down the barrier. And that was if that barrier wasn’t replenished, the fleet would have unlimited ammunition without losing a single vessel. It was incredulous, and it made no sense. Heian Ciemnosc could see thousands of transporting ships flying behind him and more above him by simply looking around.

… Step, thud. Heian Ciemnosc stepped backwards and closed the hatch, returning to the temporary personnel hangar and joining his people. The tens of thousands in this vessel looked down, examining and rehearsing their actions. They were wary of the possible outcomes once they landed on the enemy’s territory. Debating with their team leader and sub-commanders how to follow other instructions and the enemy’s most vulnerable spots.

There were tablets lying everywhere. It was the Academy’s courtesy since this would be a preoccupying battle. The better the soldier units were prepared, the more the Academy could feel at ease letting all these students charge into battle.

“Ready up,” without saying any other command, Heian Ciemnosc’s words got everyone into position. Even the sub-commanders in the Spirit Rebirth realm attended to him before walking to their respective groups to check up on everyone. Heian Ciemnosc crouched with his teams and prepared to fall. He looked at his COs one last time before facing the floor and closing his eyes. The COs followed suit, and soon, there was only silence.

Plock- slid- WHOOOOOSHHH…

The familiar noises and sensations arrived. The sub-commanders and their group were unfazed and steel-faced as they pushed their bodies onwards! To the ground!

Whiiiiiiiiistleee~... However, they were still slower than Heian Ciemnosc. And just as they thought to lead the way this time, a whistling sound passed them with effect, sliding and gliding a little through the skies as it nose-dived without a care. The dark cone was already extended. With the speed it went, it would take less than a couple minutes to enter the enemy’s fire range. With that in mind, the sub-commanders from the same transporting ship didn’t falter and increased their diving speed!

Whistle, whistle, whistle, whistleeee~~... As this transporting ship advanced first and faster than anyone else, it impulsed and shoved courage into the hearts of the other vessels’ soldier units as they followed suit and nose-dived to their targets.

Tarararararararara…

Heian Ciemnosc found himself and his small group rapidly before the enemy’s fire. He maneuvered a little and avoided several bullet tongues from the ground, but more and more were focusing, and his while leaving other translucent whitish cones alone. Even those from other fortifications ignored the other small groups and focused on Heian Ciemnosc’s.

Swish, pshift- pshift… Pshift~. Left with no choice, Heian Ciemnosc kept the cone on but turned around, leaving his Vocón Link in the device’s handles so it wouldn’t deactivate. He faced his COs and sent his dark Power Energy to their bodies. Their armor was covered by it as they ‘danced’ in the air, forming a spiral ring before slowly closing in on each other’s backs. When they were in position, their backs against one another with Gloria mixed in their formation, Heian Ciemnosc connected their armor devices with his and covered them in an egg-shaped protective layer.

Whiiiistleeeeeeeeeeeee!

Heian Ciemnosc didn’t waste any second. After wrapping his COs in this protective egg, he turned around to face the ground and grabbed the device. His Vocón Link moved backwards and up like it had a life of its own. It hooked onto the dark egg and pulled it to rest on Heian Ciemnosc’s back. Thankfully, Heian Ciemnosc’s small group speed increased, and their protection was overwhelmingly enhanced.

Tarararara- plik pluk pluk pli pli pli- clan- clank, twiing~...

Just in time, bullets barraged Heian Ciemnosc’s shield device. Some of the enemy bullets penetrated, but instead of harming or directly killing a soldier unit behind him, the egg-shaped, dark protective layer bounced them off without stress, and no harm was done to the egg. Heian Ciemnosc’s small group zoomed downwards, leaving the sub-commanders from the same vessel and others baffled.

However, the enemy kept aiming at Heian Ciemnosc, as if staring at him with hatred, for dozens of machine guns and mini-turrets fired at him simultaneously. It was to the point Heian Ciemnosc began feeling his device start weakening, so he sent another amount of dark Power Energy into it and continued fearlessly crashing down the skies. Just as he was about 7 km from the ground and the fortification, a missile went up, targeting Heian Ciemnosc as it gave him no chance to react and banged against his shield device.

Boom- whoosh… whistleee~. But Heian Ciemnosc’s cone was still there, and Heian Ciemnosc himself was half-buried in the dark egg. Only his upper torso and arms were revealed as he was slightly awkwardly hovering before Violet. But it was fine. Heian Ciemnosc kept managing the cone and rapidly fell another 2 km. The enemy was starting to sweat bullets. The other fortifications had already struck down a couple transparent whitish cones, which meant they could lessen the initial strange bombardment. But this infamous dark cone was as fearful as they imagined, as mentioned!

“... You, rapid fire!” - “But, sir, we are missile tea-” - “It’s an emergency!! If you don’t stop that cone, we’re all dead! Why care about shooting any transporting ship down? Fire, I said! Fire!!” - “Yes, sir!”

From below, on the enemy side, a team of 5 Spriit Rebirth realm cultivators listened to their boss, aiming up even with the transporting ships still taking their time at detouring to siege the small City’s barrier at once for several different angles. Heian Ciemnosc could see what was happening below, but he kept nose-diving. Then, as his dark cone reached approximately 2 km above the ground level, the enemy’s missile team fired at him!

Wlorp. Whistle, whistle, whistle, whistle, whistle… …-BOOOOOOOMM…

Five rapidly approaching streaks soared into the skies, their target only one and altogether. They moved not by the mere launching but seemed to be directed. This evident change in the enemy’s missile use made the army apprehensive. It was difficult to hide from these experienced soldier units and commanders. The vessel was far too above them and couldn’t help at all. The five missiles took less than 5 seconds to reach Heian Ciemnosc’s dark cone, gliding upwards to land simultaneously and on the same spot, even making arcs before spearheading into it.

Just as they were about to land on the dark cone, Heian Ciemnosc fully submerged himself in it, falling down and landing on someone’s lap as tremendous ‘boom boom booms’ resounded right outside and below. Violet was covered with dark layers of his unique dark Power Energy. But she knew only Heian Ciemnosc could do this in this protective egg. She looked at him in silence. He looked at her silently… “...” - “...”

“... We- we did it!!” Below, on the enemy’s side, the team leader shouted with ecstasy as the dark cone was covered by extensive smoke that extended from the impacted area further up into the sky and to the ground. More than a kilometer was covered in whitish-blue and gray smoke. He looked at his team members and, exhilarated, shouted again. “We did it! Hahaha, we took their little demon out. Look at that! Turned into smo-”

WHIIIIIISTLEEEEEEEEEE- POUUUUUMMM… CRASSHHH, FWUSHAAASHHHKKL~...

The team, in general, was just hugging each other and smiling in victory at the destruction of an enormous achievement before the battle was even unfolded. They looked at each other and chatted as their team leader held one of them by the arms and looked into that person’s face with wide eyes. In the end, though it seemed sudden, they figured almost every powerful and notorious presence in war goes like this when their time comes. It was a spectacular death, after all.

However, before they could continue nodding at their team leader and see this last battle in a new light to gain eternal ground in the Blackotia Kingdom since it was impossible to defeat it now. From the smoke, a simple and baleful sight abruptly stunned them. It was the protective egg. The shield had been broken. However, a small fraction still remained. They looked like wings when placed on the lower side of the egg as if the son of destruction and the daughter of calamity were about to crash onto enemy soil.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

This image was unique and impactful. The enemy faltered, especially those below the immense egg, which had notoriously grown after the coalition explosion. To the rest of the Wrath Nihility Academy’s armies, the sight was an unprecedented boost inside their chests, right in the middle, where the soul’s branches sprouted. It was a memory and picture that would remain even after the war, long after this time.

The egg didn’t give this fortification any time to respond. Heian Ciemnosc didn’t plan on giving them the chance he wasn’t given. In another few seconds, the earth crumbled. Hundreds of meters in the air were covered with dirt, rocks, and debris as everything exploded outwards. The dark egg slid through the soil, destroying any green nearby and devastating any structure along the array formation in one go.

Pshift, pshift… Ckrsheeeeeerrrrr, ckrsheerr~ ckrsheerr~...

Many cultivators tried stopping and harming the dark egg with Power Energy attacks, every one of them faltering and becoming part of the destroyed remnants as the mere dirt from the dark egg, exploding away, killed them or severely injured them. With absolute power and might, nothing matters, and this was one of its most excellent representations. When the dark egg finally stopped. Half its structure was underneath before it leaned towards the surface and crashed again. This time, it showed all of its form lying on the ground.

POOM, POOM, POOM, POOM, POOM, POOM, POOM…

Before the enemy could come close to the dark egg as it began melting, the rest of the whitish, translucent, and transparent cones arrived! They descended onto the ground and exploded several machine guns and anti-missile mini-turrets the enemy could’ve used. But now, just 10 seconds after the explosions crashed, thousands of student troops came out of the rubble and mist, launching a massive attack on this fortification and not letting the enemy respond!

“Aaah!” - “Charge, go ahead and kill them all!!” - “Graaagh! In your next life, why don’t you shoot your fucking mother down instead? Die fuckers, guwaaah!!” Student troops showed themselves with their uniforms and emblems. Some wore robes, and others wore loose clothing. The enemy, each with their own clothes, couldn’t even have a respective color as they weren’t part of any genuine organization. But they were facing off their enemy like nobody else could, repelling and killing gray-clothed troops left and right.

Pshuuu- dash, dash, dash, dash, dash…

The battle gained a momentary stalemate. The student troops gained the upper hand at first, but after killing a few small groups, they would be held back and couldn’t join other small groups. But there were still more than 100,000 elite soldier units in their transporting ship. Simply put, they had to wait until reinforcements came to avoid unnecessary casualties and wasting effort. However, the enemy wasn’t any weaker than them, and some only cared about giving their lives to kill one or several student troops.

The elite student troops against the elite cultivators wasn’t a joke or a simple fight that would take a couple minutes before being decided. It wasn’t a one-on-one duel but a large-scale fight in the middle of an ongoing battle. What mattered was each individual and what the other side could do!

At this moment, from where Heian Ciemnosc’s dark cone had crashed, the dark egg emitted dark smoke, turning this whitish mist into a dark one. A thing that never happened before. As enemies fiercely fought and killed student troops, they suddenly heard whooshes. Before they knew it, their rears, flanks, and even the middle were suddenly besieged by other student troops coming out of nowhere!

The sides were all encircled or attacked by several small groups and many teams, mowing the elite cultivator troops’ lives without a second thought, pushing the enemy into each other, unprepared and helplessly. On the other hand, the middle was infiltrated by a small team of sneaky, incredibly swift, agile, and lethal figures that could not be seen, hidden by a black mask and mantle cloaking their sex with anti-Spirit Sense array formations inscribed onto them.

There were so many layers that anyone who didn’t know these specifications would turn dizzy just from realizing how many array formations there were. But what was more, it was as resistant and safeguarding as the Wrath Nihility Academy’s uniform. All of this, together, began appearing on the battlefield, striking fear and realization into the enemy’s hearts.

It was him! Those teams and this killing efficiency… It could only be them! Those belonging to and under the Concealed Ornament Team were pulverizing this fortification’s defenses and manpower!

“Aah! Kiiiil!” - “Aah, he- gwaah…” - “AaaHHH!!” - “Oh, nooo- ooo- blwk…” Enemies kept falling horrendously, one by one, in the middle of every battle. There was no end of enemies screaming shrilly to their cruel deaths from their uncaring murderers. As the struggle continued, the transporting ships above were still not coming down. They would only begin bombarding the enemy small City after these fortifications were leveled to the ground.

Tarararararararara- rararara- rararara- rarara- rarararara. Swish, dash, step step step.

Heian Ciemnosc was dashing through the fortification. After discovering the enemy’s movements had weakened their foritication’s center, he immediately separated from his people and began rushing there first. Along the way, a couple machine guns found him. But other than feeling light punches on his chest and forcing an itch on his eyeballs, even his clothes were fine as long as he used his dark Power Energy to enhance himself.

At this moment, he was being shot in the back. A machine gun kept rotating to keep firing at him, but even as it was faster than most cultivators in the First Step, Heian Ciemnosc counted with his bodily strength, giving him a bit more speed than most. Now that Heian Ciemnosc had his back against it, he jerked his right knee upwards and stopped running. He even turned around and gazed at the machine gun atop a tower, annoyed.

-rararararara- pupupupupupupu, crrrraaaaaaackkk- slash- PLASHHH.

Heian Ciemnosc’s right foot showed a strange thing. Showing that he was connected to something underground. The moment he lifted it, the ground and streets he walked through were pried open with a terrible, forceful sound as his chest and left thigh welcomed the rain of bullets. But he stood there like a champ, and not only was his body alright, but he didn’t move a single bit.

The Vocón Link exited the ground, no longer hiding, and directly struck the machine gun, exploding it to pieces as smoke came out from everywhere! The firepower it had and the number of bullets still in motion caused a chain reaction along with Heian Ciemnosc’s Vocón Link’s bodily strength. It was impossible for such a worse-off machine gun to handle this degree and type of damage and successfully protect against it. It wouldn’t have been the same if it was a top-notch machine gun.

‘Hm,’ Heian Ciemnosc reacted inside his head after retracting his Vocón Link and patting it before it returned to his body. His right foot didn’t need to remain up all the time. As long as he wasn’t walking on a Second Step ship, array formation, or fabrication, it could go through or penetrate through anything.

He turned around and faced the chubby enemy center, a building no taller than 5 meters with a few towers at the sides with machine guns on them. However, those machine guns had been considerably damaged by the previous debris from the dark egg crashing down and sliding through the entire fortification’s territory. Heian Ciemnosc gave it no further thought and entered the building, his Claws Out sounding out as they revealed their dark.

Click-pshift~, click-pshift.

His hands’ claws came out slowly and draggingly. Heian Ciemnosc enjoyed the process as he opened the entrance and peeked in, his expression casual yet indifferent. At once, he saw a couple figures sitting near the chair, about to peek out after hearing someone walking around. They were astounded to see someone without random clothing like them but in a gray uniform and… with the Wrath Nihility Academy’s emblem on his left chest!

“Ah! He’s not from-” - “Shut up! Ah, fuck! No, it can’t be!”- “Nooo!”

When they saw him, they reacted, attracting others' attention towards the entrance. More cultivators came out their hiding turtle shells and looked at Heian Ciemnosc. When they saw his pale skin, they were visibly startled. But then, someone recognized him. It could be seen by how this person’s eyes. Heian Ciemnosc smirked a little and stepped fully into the building.

Crrreeesshhhhkk… Heian Ciemnosc casually swung his right claw-like hand towards one of the 2 nearby cultivators. The latter’s neck pierced through simply, his body fell limply to the ground a second later, and his head was held by Heian Ciemnosc as his spine smoothly slid out of his neck. The cultivators looked with rapt attention, in terror, and wanted to flee away for their lives!

But they couldn’t. They would die if met with the other elite student troops. They were more and had already been in battle for few tens of minutes. They couldn’t compare right now! However, looking at Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes and pale red lips forming a grin… maybe that was a better outcome?

‘Oh, it has just started…’ Heian Ciemnosc grinned, striking them more with fear as panic filled their hearts. Without hope, they rushed into the building, returning from where they came. Heian Ciemnosc smiled at the smell of so much prey hidden in here. Without needing a guide, Heian Ciemnosc stepped into the corridors and started walking to where the most delicious was hiding.

Both his claws trailed on the walls, filled with blood, the same plastered around his mouth, slowly devoured by his body.

… Several minutes later, Heian Ciemnosc was in the middle of the building and was finishing up a corpse. It was a young woman, and she was at the Spirit Formation 10th realm. If there was any Spirit Rebirth realm cultivator around, Heian Ciemnosc wouldn’t even care about coming here.

“!!” But just then, Heian Ciemnosc’s eyes opened as he leisurely licked his fingertips. He didn’t have any injuries on him. But with his uniform correlating its protection to his cultivation base, it gained new holes and wide gaps. Some smaller ones, looking more deadly, also aiming at his heart from the front and back, in different upper and lower angles. Licking his fingers off the blood from his most recent victim, he looked into the sky before giving a command to his medallion.

“Bring everyone out. We’ll receive heavy fire upon us!!” With that message sent into his medallion, Heian Ciemnosc braced himself and went head over hills backwards, intending to slam himself to the ground before…

WhiiiiiistlllllEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE- BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOOOOOM BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM…

…