Doomed Kingdom
Whoosh! Whooooshh!! Whoo-... tttttara... pmf... pfffm...
Heian Ciemnosc's Team escaped the tunnel. If nothing had occurred before, they would've expected a nice, comfortable, warm spaceship interior as soon as they came out of the portals. However, they were expecting the worst, and the only thing meeting them head-on was space, Elemental Poisoning, and top seats to observe the battle... As a space battlefield unfolded everywhere around them. Tens of thousands of spaceships expanded over millions of kilometers, with the least amount between the Dimension's entrance and the Mistaken Fissures Kingdom.
The worst wasn’t the battlefield around them, as spaceships at war can hardly focus on individuals in space. That alone would become an advantage to their enemies. Yun Tang and Heian Ciemnosc’s Team members looked around before staring back, waiting for him to come out.
Pshiiiffft~! A whistling, piercing noise sounded behind them as the portal started destabilizing. Heian Ciemnosc’s body shot from it absurdly. His body seemed like it would go for kilometers with the momentum it carried. But when it was met with the outside world and space, it immediately stopped as if he had fallen into dense waters.
Heian Ciemnosc was limp for a second before he raised his head and mimicked a breathing motion, his mouth opened wide. That was when his Team realized there were colorful spikes coming out of his body. They were naturally stabbed into him, but it looked as if Heian Ciemnosc sprouted them instead. Heian Ciemnosc connected them with his vast Spirit Sense, unafraid of getting exhausted, and let everyone speak to each other without their mentality being eaten away by the Elemental Poisoning.
“Yun Tang, please help them. I’m fine…” Heian Ciemnosc’s voice was tired despite being spoken through his mind. Yun Tang nodded, and his body started glowing with a green resembling life. Yun Tang’s body glowed and encompassed Heian Ciemnosc’s Team as they looked at him. Ruo Wei was worried but couldn’t do anything now, so she calmed down and waited to see what was next.
Heian Ciemnosc took his medallion and immediately contacted the Frigate’s commander. Before he could even effectuate it with his Spirit Sense, Heian Ciemnosc’s medallion was forced into direct communication with her. The Frigate’s commander’s voice sounded inside his head, “Heian Ciemnosc, don’t waste time. I’ve already learned of the situation. Beto’s information reached me when you exited the Dimension. Bring your Team to my area. We’ll temporarily exit the battle. Be fast.”
The commander’s voice was collected, but noises sounded on the other side, helping Heian Ciemnosc realize how hectic the battle had become. Not knowing how long it had been going, Heian Ciemnosc rushed to take his Ornament out. It was a little damaged, but fast. And speed was what became most important at this point. While he flew towards this Team and let them board, he asked the Frigate’s commander, “Commander, were the enemy cultivators who went into the portals dealt with?”
“Yes. All enemy cultivators perished in the tunnel. You are the last Crimsonbreaking Faction Team to exit the Dimension, you know? Everyone else is here, fighting and waiting for their turn to enter combat. Report immediately. This isn’t over.” The commander spoke before cutting the communication off. Might as well, as Heian Ciemnosc heard the noises on the other side become louder and more constant. The Frigate must have been targeted when the enemy realized they were retreating. Good choice.
“We’re reuniting with the Frigate. We were the last Crimsons out of the Dimension,” Heian Ciemnosc said as everyone took a seat in his Ornament. Ruo Wei sat close to Heian Ciemnosc and kept quiet, trying to keep herself professional and focus on what was to come. Yun Tang was a little exhausted, but he walked to Heian Ciemnosc’s behind and started pulling those colorful spikes from Heian Ciemnosc’s back.
Before, they weren’t affected by the Elemental Poisoning, and it even seemed like they got along. However, they didn’t enhance or boost the other, which caused Heian Ciemnosc relief. He briefed his Team while Yun Tang took the things off, activating the smallish engine to rush a few hundred thousand kilometers to the coordinates in his mind. Several minutes later, with the Team meditating, recuperating, and stabilizing their state of mind, Heian Ciemnosc spotted a Frigate moving laterally towards them.
Heian Ciemnosc piloted the Ornament to enter without the Frigate using its thrusters to slow down or turn its small engines off. The maneuver had to be crystal clear and fast. Heian Ciemnosc realized it without problems, and his Team didn’t even flinch as he elaborated it. The Ornament turned on and off its smallish engines, and its body rotated and changed position like lightning as it went inside one of its hatches.
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessshh~~!!
Once inside the Frigate, Heian Ciemnosc took the tunnel passageways around its interiors before arriving at the main hangar. There, Heian Ciemnosc descended the Ornament and opened its cabin, letting the soldier units around take a look at his Team members. The soldier units were silent, and so was Heian Ciemnosc’s Team. He slowly stood up from his seat and out of the Ornament, followed by his Team members and Yun Tang.
“... Welcome back, team leader Heian Ciemnosc,” a Soldier walked over and clapped hands with Heian Ciemnosc. He said while looking straight into Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes. Heian Ciemnosc looked back at the Soldier and noticed a heartfelt sentiment. He nodded slightly, and the crowd of soldier units around the Ornament erupted in cheers before he knew it. “Waaaaaaaaahoooo!!”
“Team leader Beto was one of our greatest and oldest Second Step cultivators. Are you ready to spread his name and intent throughout the battlefield?” Another Soldier stepped forwards and spoke to Heian Ciemnosc with his armor helmet under his left armpit. Heian Ciemnosc looked at him as the crowd became silent and opened his dried lips to hoarsely utter, “My Team will always be ready to do that.”
“...” The second Soldier smiled, lifted his right hand, and an auxiliary unit in the First Step moved inside the hangar’s command module. Meanwhile, the second Soldier returned his gaze to Heian Ciemnosc and loudly spoke before straight out shouting, “This is how a team leader must be. I’m second-in-command under the commander, and I’ve been given authorization a few minutes ago… I give this Frigate’s Fighter Teams permission to go into battle!”
“Huaa!!!” Everyone roared, including Heian Ciemnosc’s Team. He maintained calm and silence as he wore a decoration-ish helmet because he didn’t like wearing armor and turned around to nod at his Team. They were each given a new Bulldog and SC or General Fighter by the auxiliary units, rapidly moving around without bothering the soldier units.
All Fighter Teams were ready in less than 20 seconds and floating in the hangar as the Frigate noticeably rushed back into the battlefield. Heian Ciemnosc breathed out, sighing at his new post and possible promotion to become a Soldier. He had all the requirements, even if his cultivation base slightly lacked.
Beep. “It was a relief knowing you were alright,” the Frigate’s commander’s voice suddenly sounded in the Ornament. It was only for him. Then, the commander switched as her voice was heard in the Frigate’s channel. “To all Fighters, we’ve lost one today. Before he could even fight and before he could lead his people into the battlefield. Carry his intent today, tonight, and until the battle is over. Because our fight isn’t!”
“Hua!! Huaa!!! HUUAAA!” The Frigate responded to the call of their lost one. Heian Ciemnosc felt like his Team members were breathing beside him, behind him, with him. His shoulders, which were tensed and semi-dancing before, quickly became composed. If that wasn’t enough, Ruo Wei’s private channel and voice did it. “Hey, it’s not a problem for you. You’re a natural. You can do this, blackie.”
“Oh, mh-hm~,” Heian Ciemnosc exclaimed, softly smiling as he blew through his nostrils. His darkest eyes became resolute, and before Ruo Wei could cut the private channel off, he quietly spoke a few words. “I don’t doubt myself or underestimate you… I just never thought I’d return to this side of the world so quickly and unbridled.”
“Humm~,” Ruo Wei softly exclaimed before cutting off the private channel. The hangar’s hatch opened, but an energy barrier acted as a safety measure, and the order to rush into death wasn’t given yet. So far, Heian Ciemnosc had never seen someone nervous fighting an enemy, even when the battle scales were large or the enemy stronger as he watched from the sides… Only excitement was present in those moments.
“Entering combat on 3…2…1… fly away, Crimsons…” The Frigate’s commander’s voice echoed. When her words finished, the hangar opened, and the first to act among the Second Step Fighter Teams was Heian Ciemnosc, who immediately grabbed his Ornament’s controls and flew into space like a brute. His Team members followed suit, also like brutes, and led the charge in a sharp formation.
Veeeeem! Veeem! Veem! Veem! Veem!~...
Heian Ciemnosc flew in an arch upwards, 30 degrees from their universal focus. They were facing below from where most of the battlefield’s fighting happened. As the first Fighter Team to exit the Frigate, they were swarmed by hundreds of firing lines, but the Frigate sent torpedoes that directly formed walls in several angles. More Fighter Teams flew out of the main hangar, taking the same or opposite trajectory, but they either way aligned themselves once they were facing the battlefield.
Heian Ciemnosc’s Team led a line with another line a few hundred meters behind his Ornament and to the right. They were the dozen Fighter Teams in the Frigate of the Second Step. The Third Step remained near the Frigate as it flew between them. Its passing was momentous, and when Heian Ciemnosc watched it from the side. It was as if the Frigate was looking back at him and acting like his and everyone’s protector.
The Third Step cultivators’ Fighter Teams seemed to pass by slowly, too, but they were moving at the same speed as the Frigate and were attached to it by an electric current. It was pure energy transmitted between spaceships with an array formation with a beacon configuration. The Frigate was the receptor, and the Fighters its effectors.
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As Heian Ciemnosc watched, his Team members looked on with longing, as did all other Second Step Fighter Teams. The Frigate didn’t dawdle and immediately led the charge towards the battle. The enemy spaceships that targeted the Fighters weren’t targeted. This was a simple and rapid response to the other side’s spaceship trying to enter the battlefield. Nobody should allow one’s enemy to go into battle smoothly.
Heian Ciemnosc observed for another 3 seconds before looking to his right, where the Fighter leading the other line stared at him and established communication through vision. Their faces appeared on each other’s cabins. Heian Ciemnosc nodded at the fella, but just as he was about to close the digital channel, the other commented, “This is your first time, Heian Ciemnosc. Since you come from one of the best, oldest, top-notch Fighter Teams in the Second Step… you lead those.”
… veeeeeemm! “...” Heian Ciemnosc was left slightly baffled. About 3 dozen Fighters of Fighters were left in his care just as he had already felt burdened leading his half a dozen. Nevertheless, Heian Ciemnosc’s Mommy didn’t raise a weak-minded boy. Heian Ciemnosc connected communications with everyone before changing its setting to the Fighter Teams’ direct channel with their leader. However… no one raised an objection.
“We’ll move,” Heian Ciemnosc said, calming his emotions as he looked at the universe, the battlefield, radars, scanners, and medallion. “Left flank is ours! 80 Frigates and 20 Destroyers, that’s a lot of flies over there. We’re going hunting.”
“Hua!!” The Fighter Teams called upon their order. Heian Ciemnosc led his Team forward as the others slightly rotated their Fighters 60 degrees to the left or right. They formed a laurel formation extending downwards according to the universal focus as they neared the battlefield’s enemy territorial space.
Heian Ciemnosc’s Team was in the middle, higher than the topmost Fighter Team below them by at least 200 meters. They quickly closed in on an enemy Frigate intensely burning from the inside. It was vulnerable to any incursion and busy directing all its available weaponry towards the coalition’s side. Although they lost armor and hundreds of cultivators were consumed by Elemental Poisoning, their artillery guns, machine guns, and missile deposits were untouched.
Despite the nearby coalition spaceships knowing this enemy spaceship was still dangerous, other enemy spaceships rushed to block their firing aim towards it, taking its place as the damaged Frigate continued barraging them with firepower.
Veeeeeem- ta rara… rrrrr… PRRRRRRRR…
As the Fighter laurel formation closed in, the enemy Frigate finally turned a third of its machine guns towards them, but so did Heian Ciemnosc’s formation started firing at the Fighter. Without an energy shield, its central command was turned into scrap, with many cultivators fleeing but killed off by energy Arts and Earth energy attacks from afar. The Crimsonbreaking Faction was a true king of space battle, and something as ordinary but methodological as this was but child’s play to even First Step recruits!
The enemy Frigate collapsed into 3 parts, with missiles destroying the largest part of the 3, where ammunition and the crew members’ cabins were located. Light fire imploded inside this destroyed segment, pausing and rapidly subsiding as it exited the Frigate’s emergency array formations, but this was barely the beginning…
“...” As Heian Ciemnosc led the laurel formation, it changed to extend backwards as he took the lead and rotated around it. First, they passed below the enemy Frigate. Second, they rushed forth and turned around, directly battering the enemy with bullets and a few missiles. The Frigate became lousy scraps in space as the explosions rapidly quelled, except for that of the missiles’.
Heian Ciemnosc could hear his and every other Fighter flying sound despite being in space. His close cultivation breakthrough to the Second Step’s peak allowed him for a tad of extra insight. But he knew this was significantly due to his unnaturally better senses. The sound of other Fighters’ machine guns was loud and slightly vibrated his cabin, especially with how many machine guns were firing together in splendid cooperation and synergy.
But whenever the Ornament’s machine guns and its artillery gun went off, Heian Ciemnosc felt more turbulent vibrations in his Ornament. The battlefield had brought quite a disorderly sensation to space, and the situation tensed as more people joined it. But Heian Ciemnosc didn’t care.
As Heian Ciemnosc charged the laurel formation towards the scraps. He noticed a few old, barely Third Step cultivators in the Mythical realm gasping for life and salvation. Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes slightly narrowed, and with the others following behind him, he crushed their bodies with his smallish engine off but at maximum speed. Because he did so, the other Fighter Teams went at full speed behind him, watching him destroy those cultivators’ bodies like it was nothing.
Plu- plah- plahrk! Splassssshhhhuuu~~!
The Ornament’s cabin was smeared with blood, rapidly cleaned by the Elemental Poisoning. Heian Ciemnosc kept flying, and with the laurel formation diving downwards in an arch to move onto the next enemy Frigate, his radars and medallion told him a couple enemy Frigates had been diverted by his Fighters’ actions. At the same time, while the laurel formation rotated to stabilization according to the universal focus, Heian Ciemnosc’s acts were praised.
“Way to go, boss!” - “Yuuuuuuhaiaaaaa!” - “Goddamn, that was explicit! Liiiiked it!!” - “Come on, blackie. More to step on!” - “More!” - “MORE!!”
Heian Ciemnosc grinned slightly from the right corner of his mouth, with his upper lip revealing his darkened fangs. His darkest eyes looked at another pair of Frigates far from the close-quarters space combat. A Destroyer was near them, but the Frigate’s commander ensured it was busy receiving its constant and heavy barrage of bullets, missiles, and artillery bombardment.
The commander even sent 2 torpedoes near the enemy Frigates to force the enemy Destroyer to use missiles if it wanted to target her Fighters. Meanwhile, she was in a space fight against 6 offensive Frigates up close, rotating between 100 and 50 meters from hers.
Spaceship Frigates weren’t different in size than the navy’s, so one could imagine the difficulties and immediate receiving-giving firepower. However, despite facing such a fearsome formation, its energy shield was barely damaged. Heian Ciemnosc even saw her Frigate collide with a couple enemy Frigates and force them down or to whichever angle the Frigate moved, shielding itself and firing at them on their weak spots without harming her Frigate’s shield.
That was performed several times. Just to show the prowess, maneuverability, and wits that a ‘mere’ Frigate commander needed to be in charge of one. While he studied the commander’s spaceship fighting capabilities, Heian Ciemnosc arrived at his next target while the other Second Step Fighter Teams were 2,000 km away. They had just destroyed their first target and were rushing towards the next.
“Engaging- 20 missiles each Team, launch! Open fire- dive down!!” Heian Ciemnosc ordered as the nearest target advanced and turned towards them after the torpedoes formed solid clouds, blocking the sight of their Destroyer. The other Frigate continued firing at the commander’s Frigate. These enemy Frigates were defensive and targeted the commander’s Frigate while she was already focused on half a dozen enemy Frigates and their Fighters.
Pfuh… … ta- rararara… PRRRRR… puh… puh… puh… …
The laurel formation became sharp again, led by Heian Ciemnosc as it dived down, and the Fighters fired, launched, and rushed according to their leader’s orders. But instead of Heian Ciemnosc’s Ornament continuing rushing down, it stopped and waited for the other Teams to do so after forming the laurel formation extending downwards again… Rushing towards the enemy Frigate from below it!!
While they were diving downwards, Heian Ciemnosc’s artillery piece fired at the enemy Frigate. Its anti-missile turrets were highly effective. Only 40 of the 120 missiles landed on its body. Its energy shield was nearly down, still more than half, and the other Fighter Team’s machine guns rained over a hundred firing lines towards the enemy Frigate. That wasn’t stoppable or easy to avoid when facing Fighters.
Unlike their first target, this enemy Frigate had Fighters within it. And just as their hangar opened to chase after the ‘fleeing’ laurel formation, they were met with Heian Ciemnosc’s Ornament, just as their Frigate turned and rotated to facilitate the deployment. His artillery piece never ceased firing at the enemy Frigate, adding to the already penetrating firepower it showered it on.
When the laurel formation was rearranged a few kilometers below the enemy Frigate, and several enemy Fighters were destroyed by Heian Ciemnosc’s artillery gun on his Ornament. The laurel formation rushed back towards the Fighter.
“Another round of missiles!” Everyone’s medallions seemed about to melt as they followed orders. When Heian Ciemnosc sensed their missile deposits barely opening, he shouted, “Open fire, destroy the Frigate!”
“And the Fighters?!” Another team leader asked, but Heian Ciemnosc ignored it. Before the Fighters, firing away to their heart’s content and flying in formation, strict and disciplined, a torpedo rushed into the enemy Frigate, right where Heian Ciemnosc had fired a shell and opened a gap in the main hangar’s safety measure. That was plenty— more than enough for the torpedo to cross it and explode within the enemy Frigate.
Boo- KAAAAAAABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM~~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“?!?!?!?!” The Fighter Teams in the laurel formation, and their timing showed them the exact moment when the torpedo went off. They were expecting the Frigate to turn into an iced, solid cloud and kill anyone near it under the Second Step’s peak without losing efficiency since their boss ordered them to keep firing, so they did.
They heard the explosion, but, unfortunately, it didn’t come from the Frigate, which did explode and virtually annihilated the entire enemy Frigate. It came… from behind according to their universal focus… From the Mistaken Fissures Upper Kingdom…
The battlefield, spanning over millions of kilometers, halted altogether… Everyone looked forwards or backwards. From the enemy side, some were thrilled, but most were astounded… startled… not knowing how, what, or when to react. From the coalition side… It was perdition.
Heian Ciemnosc looked back, and his body trembled. An Upper Kingdom grew a quarter of a blazing, yellowish sphere of its size. Magma smeared into space, becoming hotter and sending chain explosions everywhere from one side of the Kingdom. The explosion, whatever it was, occurred in the largest body of water in the Mistaken Fissures Upper Kingdom, but anyone, even an ordinary civilian, could see how it expanded outwards, and the land was lifted like scrapping filth from the floor.
It continued expanding for what seemed a few million kilometers before concentrating on exploding spacewards. The Upper Kingdom lost nearly 4/7 of its body, illuminating the nearby Kingdom and all spaceships on the battlefield.
But that wasn’t why Heian Ciemnosc trembled or felt crucially afflicted. His whole body intensely shook on his seat as the battlefield halted. It was because of what he felt… and heard inside his head.
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!” - “Ughk… ah…” - “Ah! Father! Father!! Stand up, stand up!!” - “I can’t… believe it…” - “My home… no… noo… ow…” - “Nooooooo!!” - “Yiyaaaaaaaaa!” - “Yaaaww!” - “Sshh, calm down, baby, shh…” - “...help…” - "HEEEEELP!!"
Hundreds… of thousands of vessels jumped into space from the Kingdom’s exploded direction. More did from the rest of the Upper Kingdom, but there were practically tens of trillions sent into space immediately from the exploded side of the Kingdom. For a change, one side on this battlefield no longer knew what to proceed with. It seemed like an evacuation had already been prepared, and transportation was carried massively in one go… But there were still those who did not make it.
“CRAAAGGHHH!” - “PFWHUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHGGHHHHHH!!!” - “Kshyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaghhhh~~!!!!”
…