First Bloody Battle In Space

Heian Ciemnosc waited in his position and watched as the Fighters formed up behind and before him. His darkest eyes narrowed as he looked far ahead, and the silence in the world slowly ate his calmness as his skin numbed for whatever reason. That was when Beto shouted with his teeth surely grinding, motioning to the Fighters and surprising the contractor. "FIRE!!"

Pfsh... pfsh... pfsh...~!

Heian Ciemnosc remained immobile, but the Fighters at the front launched 3 missiles each, raining the space with rapid projectiles flying forwards, as if towards a general target. However, Heian Ciemnosc's pupils shrank, and his eyelids widened further as the area before both parties warped, and torpedoes hidden from eyes and Spirit Sense reappeared, silently moving but at a slower pace than even second-hand missiles.

The missiles changed their direction towards them as soon as they appeared, and subconsciously, instinctively resorting to what the Crimsonbreaking Faction has taught him in space battles, Heian Ciemnosc braced himself for the incoming response. It would've been fine if he didn't. Beto's voice, directed towards the merchant spaceships, would've reminded him.

"Those are torpedoes! Brace yourselves! Don't activate your protective array formations! Just let your shields endure it!" - "What?!"

The team leader's words shocked the contractor, who immediately turned off the few array formations she had just ordered to be activated. In time, she and everyone from her mini-fleet looked ahead at the torpedoes and missiles. One missile had finally reached the other, and then...

... woooooong- CRAAAASHHHHHH~~!~!~!~!

"!" Heian Ciemnosc looked ahead as the universe seemed to shake and push him backwards, but what his darkest eyes looked at the most were the explosions going off thousands of kilometers in front. The first missile blasted a torpedo, immediately sending it into a cloud that extended instantly and instantly ceded, creating a solid bubble with spikes spreading everywhere, rapidly consumed by the Elemental Poisoning and affecting the other torpedoes.

Immediately, a wall of solid clouds with spikes coming out of each like a crazed volley of bolts emerged between both parties, turning into smoke as the Elemental Poisoning got rid of it fast. However, the shockwaves from missiles and torpedoes struck towards the mini-fleet, as the direction these torpedoes had was towards Heian Ciemnosc and not the other side. Fortunately, the Crimsons alerted the merchant spaceships, or their infrastructure would've been laid to the open in under a second.

"Resist!" Beto's voice brought everyone back to attention. Every spaceship in the mini-fleet was trembling and swaying a little but left unharmed, other than superficial cracks and ruined painting on the surface. These torpedoes were too far away, and they had warring spacecraft and those that could at least last a few rounds in a battle.

Heian Ciemnosc could see how, in the front, the torpedoes' solid clouds were destabilized, and the shockwaves rapidly dissipated. The pressure on their Fighters lessened quite a bit, and the clouds turned into smoke that only shrank. However, that was when Beto gave an order, and Heian Ciemnosc followed it while checking one of the new systems he never considered.

"Engage!! Cara, you go after their missiles first!"

"Heard!" The Team's comms loudly sounded before becoming deadly silent. However, their Fighters' machine guns started barraging through the clouds without any clear vision, and with the clouds obstructing any radars for their aiming systems to work beyond them. Immediately, dozens of lines of fire streaked across the battlefield, and Heian Ciemnosc could see his bullets catch onto an enemy after his Spirit Sense caught the location of a few but was deflected and obstructed from seeing again.

Tar... rara... rrrr... The noise the machine guns produced on his Ornament filled Heian Ciemnosc with a satisfying sensation, but he was hell-bent on improving his accuracy as his machine guns' bullets missed their target, found new ones, hit them, and missed again. However, as he fired, his teammates' Fighters also fired, but they seemingly destroyed the enemy Fighters swiftly. They had ample experience and could fight without using any system or depending on their Spirit Sense, simply by judging the enemy they had seen for less than a few seconds before the torpedoes and missiles initiated everything.

While Heian Ciemnosc became used to finding the enemies on the other side and started dealing some real damage to them, the Team finally received enemy firepower, but before that happened, Beto's voice sounded in the mini-fleet's coms again. "Activate your protective array formations! Now!!"

Pshift, pshift, pshift...!

The small-sized spaceships and the medium-sized spaceship activated protective barriers, immediately holding their stance from all angles as Heian Ciemnosc became protected by the same after being identified by the modified scanners. The merchant vessels had to be marginally improved so they could work with the Crimsons.

Heian Ciemnosc was still fine and didn't have to do anything. Just as he was evaluating things and going through the enemy's next possible actions, he wasn't left disappointed as the enemy overflew the torpedoes and coursed through it! A dozen enemy Fighters crossed through the smoke, while 3 enemy Fighters flew from the top right corner of the wall of smoke, with missiles already shot under their bellies and moving in a straight line towards the Fighters at the front, placing Beto and the others in danger!

Pew... "..." Without saying anything, Cara took flight 40 degrees from the universal focus, flying towards those 3 enemy Fighters and their launched missiles, forming a long line several dozen meters long. Her machine guns kept firing at the dozen enemy Fighters coming from the smoky wall's middle, but she launched several missiles towards the 3 enemy Fighters. The latter responded in time and started defending themselves, but the first missile they exploded from Cara destroyed 3 of their missiles as it flew near them.

They weren't slow to adapt and unfocused their anti-missile turrets near their missiles, allowing Cara to chase them and stop them from launching any more. She continued flying towards the enemy missiles, though. She faced them with her SC Fighter until she finally arrived before the 4th enemy missile in the line, which became the first after she tricked the enemy.

Prr-...prrr... pprrr...

Cara's Fighter did a 180, and as her SC Fighter gave its back to the missiles, she distanced herself from them just a couple dozen meters and started firing at the enemy missile at the head. It rapidly exploded, and before Heian Ciemnosc knew it, like a satisfying, niche fireworks project, the missiles turned into smallish rectangular tubes that blasted off and halted nearly immediately. As they were forced to detonate, they didn't exhibit their whole prowess due to the Elemental Poisoning, but if it had penetrated through a spaceship, it wouldn't have been limited in the slightest.

Yet, before Heian Ciemnosc's darkest eyes could stop praising Cara, she went after the 3 enemy Fighters who were struggling to not defend themselves without their anti-missile turrets! While still firing at the enemy missiles!!

Poof... poof... poof!

Cara didn't waste time, chased them fast, and went into near melee with the 3 enemy Fighters. Her Fighter's wings displayed tremendous Neutral Energy rings that rotated nonstop in position, not moving sideways a bit, and shooting towards the enemy Fighters, like rings shooting with impressive speed!

Those that penetrated through the enemy Fighters elongated up to 3 meters in diameter, creating terrible destruction within them. Those that didn't constrict around the enemy Fighters, letting them suffer a worse condition, as her Neutral Energy continued bathing and overpowering them, killing them swiftly or a little slow, depending on their cultivation base. However, none of them seemed to be on the same level and died in under 10 seconds of her catching up to them.

"Clanton, you're up next!" Beto said while still firing at the enemy Fighters, already having crushed more than half, even as they took evasive maneuvers and used array formations and defensive tools to buy as much time and attract as much attention as possible. Heian Ciemnosc looked as Clanton positioned in the same slightly different way than Cara before and continued destroying the remaining enemy Fighters.

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Soon, the enemy Fighters were turned into clotting bags of blood, and Cara was finally flying back to the front formation. Heian Ciemnosc suddenly saw a dozen enemy Fighters come flying from all 4 sides of the dissipating wall of smoke, rapidly moving through space towards them and firing machine guns at them and the mini-fleet's spaceships!

P... pf... p... -Peeew...

Heian Ciemnosc watched as Clanton said nothing after he heard the enemy Fighters' on the left launch missiles and flew directly towards them. At the same time, Beto shouted, surprising Heian Ciemnosc as he placed his hands on the Ornament's control. "Heian Ciemnosc! You're next!! Don't worry about your position. Your fighters will remain behind, and Moy will cover your return. Just focus on doing what they did! Understood?! Here are your chances!"

"Heard..." Heian Ciemnosc lightly whispered, keeping the only noise in everyone's ears that of their machine guns firing and their systems giving them a bit of a vibrating sensation whenever they hit an enemy Fighter's body. Beto didn't say anything else and started aiming at different enemy Fighters. Meanwhile, Clanton began his act, as his Bulldog Fighter turned its back towards the enemy missiles while his' chased after the enemy Fighters who launched them.

Clanton's Fighter was rotated 90 degrees from the universal focus, not needing to fully turn it around for all its anti-missile turrets to fire in the same way as Cara's SC Fighter did. In fact, a Bulldog had more anti-missile turrets, making the dozen enemy Fighters' launched line of missiles easier to dismantle. Fiery rectangles started coating the black canvas before the Team as Clanton slowly arched his Fighter, moving it towards the fleeing enemy Fighters who started destroying the missiles he gifted them.

"Incoming- from our left!" Miss Rila's voice suddenly sounded, bringing emotion to the battle as Beto and his Team watched their left, where they saw more than 15 enemy Fighters warp into their retinas after hiding, showing themselves after slowly traveling.

"!..." For the first time, Heian Ciemnosc found himself bested at... in space. He had already been nearly slaughtered once, and that was after he joined the Wrath Nihility Academy by someone way above his battle prowess. Thus, as soon as the enemy showed up, Heian Ciemnosc's 2 Fighters flew slightly and turned towards them. They flashed their underbutts and offered the enemy 3 missiles each!

Pf... p... p... p... The missiles rapidly flew towards them, and while Heian Ciemnosc's 2 Fighters returned to their position of defending the medium-sized spaceship, the 6 missiles they launched quickly met the enemy. They expected a response, but not this fast or... simple. Before they could answer, 5 of their Fighters were turned into bloody fire, with some cultivators remaining with only half their bodies, choking in the Elemental Poisoning and losing signs of life quickly.

Although they were in the Second Step and could last more than 1,000 minutes in space, they were suddenly seriously injured, and the missiles disrupted their energy, let alone the fearsome Elemental poisoning. The Team looked with gladdened expressions while the merchant fellows were astounded!

"That's the way to go!" A team leader from a small-sized spaceship yelled, bringing their merchant's side's morale back up. They had felt aghast when finally recognizing they were under the enemy's eyes. Fortunately, this little action brought a large portion of their previous confidence back up, and the medium-sized vessel became more attentive.

"Shut up and focus! The battle isn't over!" Heian Ciemnosc said, his eyes turning ultimately coldly as Beto could afford to send 2 batches of missiles towards the enemy Fighters at the front, but there were still 10 enemy Fighters on their left. The battle waited for warriors, but time for no one.

Veeem... veeeeeeeeem! Just as the enemy Fighters at the front were being obliterated by the Team's firepower, stagnated in a defensive position with the mini-fleet's merchant spaceships in the middle, behind the frontline, another bunch of Fighters came flying from the front-right, as the smoke was finally 99% gone.

"Heian Ciemnosc! Deal with these in front! Moy, you go for the left!"

Peeew... ...tick- peeeeeeeew!

Heian Ciemnosc was about to silently go on his way towards the enemy Fighters he was to deal with, as they immediately sent missiles when Moy's Fighter broke formation and rushed towards those from the left. The enemy from that side hadn't launched missiles, but Moy's task differed. While Heian Ciemnosc had to focus on detonating those missiles first, Moy had to exterminate 10 enemy Fighters on his own.

Heian Ciemnosc became very aware of that as his Ornament zoomed in the distance and closed in on the enemy. Nobody proportioned a cover for him to get close. Heian Ciemnosc had to go there alone, face this task, and complete it... on his own. Heian Ciemnosc felt... for the first time... he was let free!

Ta- ta- ta- ta... rarr... rarrraa... rarrr... raa... Heian Ciemnosc's Ornament initiated machine gun fire immediately, not waiting for anything. His Fighter wasn't as fast as the bullets, much less in space, but he was only 1.5 seconds behind. It quickly arrived before the first missile but was headed directly at them, not just in the direction they were coming. Yet, at the last moment, Heian Ciemnosc's Ornament stopped. Its concealed smallish engine lighted up a little and then continued at a mild speed, in just the same way as the others.

Futomp! Peeeeeeew! Tara- prrrrrrrr, tarara, prrrrrr...!

Anti-missile turrets went off immediately, destroying the enemy missiles' long line of several hundreds of meters, not letting them advance any further, detonating when reaching the last point that the first enemy missile destroyed reached before becoming a fiery rectangle halted in space!

The enemy was ready this time, and as they watched Heian Ciemnosc do the same as the others, not knowing this was his first time, and the first time he witnessed it, they spun around him and flew towards the distant space far from the battlefield, only to notice Heian Ciemnosc hadn't launched missiles at them!

The enemy seemed confused, so they returned and noticed Heian Ciemnosc was seemingly timing the destruction of their missiles, but so could his Team realize this. Knowing how difficult it was to put the systems at full work and still manipulate them to work at their every little command, their eyes sparkled as Heian Ciemnosc started spinning crazily, with his machine guns firing at the enemy Fighters returning from the failed attempt to divert his attention early on.

Heian Ciemnosc's Ornament fired like uncontrolled madness, directly sending bullets far from the battlefield but still threatening the enemy Fighters with accurate hits that made their shields wobble and lose sustenance, shocking the enemy into halting and firing at Heian Ciemnosc using their machine guns with utmost precision.

However, to protect himself, other than to trust his meager shield that a Fighter can have to cover itself for only so much, Heian Ciemnosc's machine guns with the highest range and less speed firepower fired ahead of his trajectory, and since they were still faster than his Fighter, they became thin line-walls that deflected incoming enemy bullets.

In just a few moments, the scenery changed many times, only to continue with a unique Fighter flying upwards from the universal focus as a line of more than a hundred missiles was destroyed by it, even when it was already over 1,000 kilometers away from the first destroyed enemy missile. With enemy Fighters firing at it, it defended itself by firing bullets in the direction it was moving, deflecting some bullets, dodging others, and getting hit by quite a few of them.

However, what they couldn't see, and only the mini-fleet noticed, was that each time one of the Ornament's artillery barrels faced the line of missiles, it would shoot once. The missiles were top-notch, so something like even the sharpest machine guns couldn't penetrate through it, let alone one whose installed body was rotating nonstop, destabilizing the artillery gun's precision and efficiency due to it being a Fighter and not a warring spaceship, like at least a Frigate.

Every time a missile was hit by such shelling, once, they would come out of their formation for less than a second before forming back into the line. However, it was thankfully due to this that the Ornament's anti-missile turrets, stuck in place instead of rotating as they could, could finish the enemy line of missiles without complications.

"This kid... he has it, alright," Beto said as he looked at Heian Ciemnosc in amazement. He was about to send Ruo Wei in to help Heian Ciemnosc obliterate the enemy Fighters quickly since their missiles launched this time were too many. But, as the time Heian Ciemnosc spent out there was less than 20 seconds, and he was already forcing the enemy to halt, it caused a bit of a praising ruckus inside the Team.

Meanwhile, the contractor looked at Heian Ciemnosc's tactics with a slight knit, wondering how come it could look like a ballad and a painter's black canvas with brushes everywhere, yet slowly forming a masterpiece with everything in between?

"You told him, right? You gave him the chance to show up," Moy, who had just returned from dealing with 10 Fighters on his own, said. His Bulldog Fighter had a few bullet hits on its armor but nothing more. Moy added, "Hey, Wei Wei, are you recording this right? Don't forget to show it later by mistake so his achievements are not forgotten easily, ey."

"Bah! Why call me that? I feel soooo disgusted now. Thanks, tower." - "..."

Heian Ciemnosc finally destroyed the last of enemy missiles, but his Ornament continued flying away, this time rotating slower as the enemy Fighters were seemingly enraged and chased after him with the intention to turn him into a tiny star several thousand kilometers away.

Futomp- pom... pom... pom... pom... tarara... pf... pf... p... p- p- p- p-...!

However, Heian Ciemnosc's Ornament suddenly stopped and faced them with its upper side. The enemy Fighters continued flying towards him, flying beside their comrades' firing lines and preparing their missiles. Just then, the Ornament's machine guns aimed directly up and started firing as the artillery guns fired between the enemy Fighters flying towards him. They received hits and sensed their shields' damage, but before they knew it, their Fighters were forced to move around as if indestructible bubbles were hidden in space, obstructing a smooth journey to their enemy, the Ornament!

Yet, when they recovered and saw each other again, some of them were bubbles of fire, already halting with missile's armor plates flying off to the sides, some hitting their Fighters. They could only follow the tiny contrail left by the missiles, in the midst of being eaten away by the Elemental Poisoning, to see a barrage of missiles coming towards them like a bunch of pencils held by the hands of death pushing them onto their faces.

Just as they responded and their anti-missile turrets were effectuated, more and more of them fell under the remaining machine guns' firepower. At least there was no shelling anymore, but that was just Heian Ciemnosc being frugal. They were battling in the middle of nowhere, no?

...Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

...