Meteorite?!
In space, hundreds of transporting ships flew towards the Upper Kingdom ahead. Within one of them, Heian Ciemnosc waited in the hangar of a leading vessel as they rapidly neared its space territory. The space stations around it had already given them the green light to proceed and didn't need to stop for a revision. While the space stations nor the leaders of the Kingdom knew what the deal was about, they knew not to mess with it since it came from the highest status above their heads.
Heian Ciemnosc stood with Anastasia at his right. They were looking at the screen, revealing the Kingdom’s surface increasing in sight and rapidly becoming too big to see any bit of black around it. Anastasia ‘wowed’ as Heian Ciemnosc held her hand, with his Eternal Return Team members behind him. They watched as their boss alone was about to lead an entire, special operation.
The trip to the Dragoon Ore Kingdom was silent, peaceful, and without any emotion. Other than the thrill and excitement of working with the intention to turn upside down an entire 2* Region. In another 30 minutes, they could already feel the air around their respective transporting ships. And just 20 minutes later, Heian Ciemnosc ordered the preparation to disembark and find their starting point before heading to the Aqualian Drake Sect.
The Aqualian Drake Sect was in the southeast, while the Forestalress Academy was located in the southwest. The Aqualian Drake Sect had less land terrain compared to the other 3 land sections. However, it counted with more terrain beneath, and it wasn’t pure, simple dirt and rock like it was in the other 3 land sections. Other than ore and more natural resources that take from hundreds to tens of thousands of years to start regrowing. Even then, those resources were enough for a peak Third Step organization for generations.
The Aqualian Drake Sect and Forestalress Academy are situated near the oceanic river, separating them from sharing land. The location Heian Ciemnosc’s transporting ships were moving to was near the eastern borders of the Aqualian Drake Sect’s land section, where another Region’s territory commenced.
Veeeem- WHOOOOSHHH~~!! WHOOSH! WHOOOSH! WHOOOSH! WHOOOSH!
The vessels came closer to the ground, and their speed rapidly slowed down. The sound they emitted wasn’t that of fairly big spaceships advancing through the world at a great speed, but that of flying objects coursing at a more credible pace.
Cultivators poured out from it when they neared a 2 kilometers distance from land. It was all green and full of vibrant, small wildlife. As Heian Ciemnosc also flew out, and the transporting ships were only going to land for a few minutes so the resources Heian Ciemnosc’s Universal Conveyance store got him were delivered, a sudden communication from the Carrier echoed.
“Huh?” Heian Ciemnosc looked up at the Carrier. His gaze penetrated into the distance and past the orbiting space stations to land on the Carrier. Alyona’s voice immediately reached him via the medallion, but… something really strange happened… It had static!
“Hei… Ci… sc… Fl-!... Inc… Mov-... wa-... nosc…!!” The voice sounded grave, and it made Heian Ciemnosc frown, but he couldn’t understand what was going on. His Spirit Sense had already detected the Spirit Sense barrier in the distance, where the enemy should be conducting their operations. However, as he instinctively focused his Spirit Sense up, as if something immediately attracted him, Heian Ciemnosc’s frown became mysterious.
… CRRRGGHHH… A low, very low rumble that crackled through space and arrived at the Dragoon Ore Kingdom was followed by the sight of a tiny speckle of orange or yellow appearing in the empty blackness of the world.
‘Wait a minute, if this is too far away… how come it’s so loud already?’ Heian Ciemnosc wondered. And just as he planned to ask Sara, her voice finally sounded. “Heian Ciemnosc! This is not good! Not good!!”
“What?” Heian Ciemnosc asked after hearing Sara. He thought it would be something troublesome, but with how much Sara delayed speaking and her sudden eruption, it had to be something really terrifying!
“It’s a meteorite! But- agh!” Sara suddenly held her head in Heian Ciemnosc’s inner universe as she stopped herself from saying anything else. Her trembling eyes relaxed as Heian Ciemnosc felt she was looking at him with a flurry of emotions, but a clear glow surfaced in her pink eyes and cross before shouting. “Get your people to safety!!”
“!” Heian Ciemnosc didn’t doubt Sara’s words. If she implied this incoming meteorite danger level was astronomical, he could only obey. He looked at his people, including the commanding assistant, and loudly shouted while dragging Anastasia to the side. “Use the transporting ships! Take cover! No time to run! Get behind them and set their defensive measures at maximum!”
Then, Heian Ciemnosc looked up and directed his words at the Carrier as his 50,000 soldier units and 150,000 auxiliary units nodded and abided by his orders. They rapidly placed the transporting ships to face their bellies where the meteorite came from, while Heian Ciemnosc spoke tremendous words to their Chairwoman.
“Alyona, don’t come here. Just let me be, okay? I have ways, still. Don’t put any more of the Faction in danger,” Heian Ciemnosc immediately cut the communication off. He didn’t know if their communications were still jammed, to say the least. But if he heard any of his wives’ imploring words, even if it’s his Master’s calm, collected order. Heian Ciemnosc didn’t want to bet he wouldn’t listen to them.
The military units looked at Heian Ciemnosc, somewhat startled, before resuming their hard work. Although they didn’t know where the meteorite would fall, they could only operate the transporting ships and position them, so their bellies could be freely moved depending on where the meteorite turned to fall.
One thing was certain, though. The meteorite would fall on this Kingdom. If worse comes to worst, they’d receive the whole thing head-on. But that was clearly impossible, right?
“It’s coming!” - “Dammit!” - “Doesn’t it seem like 'that' legend? Haha, we’re about to die anyway…” - “No time to think like that, fuck!” - “Shut it and prepare for the impact… don’t use energy.”
Heian Ciemnosc spoke the last, as everyone else became silent once their operation commander spoke. More than 200,000 soldier units moved behind the transporting ships, and their tensed bodies relaxed as they watched the meteorite rapidly becoming bigger and advancing faster towards them!
Before, they couldn’t tell how fast the meteorite was moving as it was heading straight towards the Dragoon Ore Kingdom, but now, they could tell it was stupidly ginormous…
“Dad…” Anastasia clutched Heian Ciemnosc’s wrist in complete, utter astonishment. She looked up with trembling eyes, while Heian Ciemnosc felt a strange sensation in his sternum, as if it was something with affinity towards him. But he had no time to think about it. He slowly muttered under his breath, allowing Anastasia to hear his words. “It’s… the size of a Divine Kingdom…”
“!!!” Anastasia and the soldier units became awestruck as they heard him. While other soldiers didn’t, they had also seen a Diving Kingdom from far away while going on missions or traveling via the Crimsonbreaking Faction Space Station. Looking up, everyone could see a ‘ball’ so big it was greater than the Upper Kingdom they were on by thousands of times…
Supreme Kingdoms were above Upper Kingdoms in the classification ranks, but this was a Divine Kingdom-sized meteorite. And yet, this was no disaster, but simply a meteorite! Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes observed, shocked, and feeling his overly pale skin numbing and… brimming with new-found ecstasy!!
‘What’s going on?’ Heian Ciemnosc thought, ‘Why do I hear something… what it… what could… what’s this… calling?!’
WWHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSHHHHHHHHHHH~~~~~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“...!!!” Inside the Carrier, Alyona leaned over a panel as her distressed facial expressions became more intense and furious than anyone else’s reaction to this sudden meteorite appearance. Everyone looked as their people, barely put on the Kingdom, were about to die… But Alyona’s feelings were in disarray, and only with Hong Mei slightly holding her did she not fly out already and lunged herself at Heian Ciemnosc.
CRAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCKK~!! The sky suddenly broke apart. The Divine Kingdom-sized meteorite immediately blew space stations to tiny dust. As for the people inside them, not even a particle of their bodies’ components remained. The meteorite broke into the Dragoon Ore Kingdom’s aerial space, and the world suddenly moved hundreds of kilometers ‘downwards’ to its universal focus.
However…
“!!!” Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes widened further, showing his eyeballs unnaturally as the meteorite suddenly seemed to… self-consume a portion of its body?! Its size suddenly shrank by an enormous margin, nearly losing half of its diameter. Furthermore, as it finally descended towards them, the meteorite’s size dwindled to an incredibly rapid speed to the naked eye!
PPPPPPHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWW~~~~~!!!!!
The world rumbled, the earth shook, and spatial cracks appeared around the sky as the meteorite rushed towards the land. Mighty wind bursts rushed to the sides wherever it passed, leaving some dust from space behind as well, heading towards faraway space stations and breaking them apart in tremendous explosions, turning into chunks of debris.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Commander?!” - “Commander!!” - “Should we do anything?!” - “Fuuuuuck~~!!”
PPKKPKPPKKK– CRAAAACKLEEEE~~~~~...!!!!! RUUUUUUMBLEEE- PEEEEWW!!!!!!!
Reality seemed about to distort as everyone felt their eyes growing hot and their breaths dissipate. The earth shook, but no creaks or ‘new’ ravines were created, as if the Upper Kingdom suddenly chose to tremble innocently.
The meteorite could only keep on destroying their hope as it flashed towards the ground. Fortunately, it seemed to target an area southeast of the Calatida Region. Thus, the military units faced the transporting spaceships towards that direction and waited as they watched with horror.
“!!!” However, their eyes were amazed as they witnessed the meteorite shrinking even faster! Their eyes couldn’t follow the meteorite’s size changes as it shot to the ground!
From a Divine Kingdom, it was just halfway to crash against the Dragoon Upper Kingdom before its size decreased to a Supreme Kingdom. Nevertheless, it was still moving. The only reason it looked stuck was because its size was rapidly diminishing.
Everyone in this side of the Kingdom watched as the meteorite continued advancing, but not at the same time, while shrinking. From Supreme Kingdom-sized, to Upper Kingdom… Middle Kingdom… Minor Kingdom… Until, finally, the meteorite advanced lower, nearing the ground as it gained the size of a failed Kingdom before rapidly diminishing its structure to a Hollow Kingdom without life nor richness.
Under the awestruck eyes of trillions of people fearing for their lives, and at least a third of the Dragoon Ore Kingdom’s space stations destroyed, the meteorite’s body shrank as it was only mere seconds from crashing into the Kingdom!
It rapidly became hundreds of kilometers big in diameter, but shrank to dozens of kilometers in the next second. A few seconds later, it was the size of a human. Then, under the gloating yet terrified eyes, the meteorite, which was just a few hundred meters from reaching the ground, finally shrunk to an invisible volume to the naked eye and disappeared just before reaching the ground.
…poof…
“...” A sound akin to a small puff of air shot through a beast’s nostrils in a cold environment sounded. But while others were rejoicing, Heian Ciemnosc’s senses warned him like bells and the notion of death. His pitchest-blackest eyebrows furrowed.
“Take cover!! Do not come out!! Brace for-” WWWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“!!!!!!!!!!” The world suddenly roared, surged, and lunged towards them. Heian Ciemnosc watched as incessant, most-powerful, endless wind bursts moved towards them. One second ago, they weren’t there. But an instant later, more than 200,000 people were nearly blown off tens of thousands of kilometers if they hadn’t acted out of discipline to Heian Ciemnosc’s words.
Even then, they were still slow to react. But not too slow, and managed to secure their bodies behind the transporting spaceships. Even then, while the wind bursts broke their sound limit, the transporting spaceships’ structure deteriorated after a couple seconds, and thousands of smallish debris flew away and left their side.
Heian Ciemnosc watched as his soldier units struggled to keep themselves on the line as the auxiliary units were protected by them. He looked down at his daughter, who crouched down and hugged his knees. He impaled his feet on the ground, but he still had to move behind one of the transporting spaceships because those wind bursts were too powerful for him to withstand, even with his [All-Devouring Force Chronicles] 7th level.
Heian Ciemnosc caressed the back of his Little Anastasia’s head before lifting his head and focusing his gaze past the wind bursts. It wasn’t just them who suffered this result after the meteorite ‘failed’ to destroy the Dragoon Ore Kingdom. The wind bursts spread everywhere, and from what he could tell, the wind bursts reached several Regions.
…WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSHHH…~!!! WHOOOOOSHH!!... WHOOOSH…! WHOOSH… WHOOSH… WHEEESH… SWIISHH~~... WHISTLE~...
“... Move out…!” Heian Ciemnosc called out 2 minutes after the mighty wind bursts dissipated and only silent, smooth wind remained. He could still feel his dark coat and pants tightly pressing on his body as the wind flew towards him, but it was incomparable to the previous scenario where his skin might’ve layered off immediately.
“AGGH~...” - “Mmf!” - “Sigh… these were new…” - “Hey, who touched me while we almost died? Was it you? It was you! What were you thinking, fucking pervert?!” - “I- I was going to die! I didn’t know we’d survive! If not, I would have never dared!” - “How dare you! I’ll claim you tonight, disgusting pervert!” - “What…?” - “Check everyone up! We’re moving away in a jiffy!”
Step, tap, tap, tap. Commanding assistant Etherea scurried towards Heian Ciemnosc with her digital clipboard in her arms and stopped beside him. She helped Anastasia, who still held Heian Ciemnosc’s knees strongly, before directing her words at him. “Sir, the destruction isn’t small. This is our side’s territory, should we look for the settlements to see how they are doing? They might be deserted, though…”
“No need… just move to the settlement we already planned,” Heian Ciemnosc calmly said. His Spirit Sense detected the settlements on Calatida’s south mostly intact. Although the buildings at the perimeters were damaged, and some seemed about to crumble, the people sheltered towards the center were seemingly ignored, as if the wind knew what not to do.
On the other hand, anyone who was outside the settlements, like his people, would suffer the onslaught of the meteorite’s strange effect despite having already dissipated to nothingness…
“Sigh… 4 extra minutes. Then, we’ll continue our mission.” Heian Ciemnosc stretched his body and looked at Anastasia, who was now smiling like an idiot and feeling joyful. Seeing his daughter’s first death experience causing her to smile so big, looking as sweet as the mother who shared her blood essence to nurture her, Heian Ciemnosc felt warm in his heart.
“Alyona, we are good… What about you? And the Carrier,” Heian Ciemnosc lifted his medallion after confirming it wasn’t damaged and communicated with the Crimsonbreaking Faction’s Chairwoman. He received her thunderous response after waiting for 3 seconds. “Motherfucker! How dare you call so late?!”
“Don’t you know 3 billion have already been identified dead near the settlements on your side? Idiot! Dumbass! Bad husband!!...” Alyona went on to bash him with caring words for a long minute until Hong Mei held and calmed her down. By then, all the central command personnel on her end were aware what kind of relationship they had.
“Sigh, it’s good you are both fine. Don’t worry, Grietta and Tania confirmed your safety after those wind bursts nearly killed everyone. Continue on your task, don’t worry about us… Take care!” Hong Mei’s voice sounded after a while and cut off as soon as she finished.
Heian Ciemnosc grinned, stored his medallion, and hugged his Little Anastasia’s shoulders. She leaned her head and neck on his torso, feeling slightly tired mentally. They walked together and led westwards; where a settlement waited for them. Their original plan was to come to that village and start the special operation from there.
The meteorite hadn’t changed that, but they were now a little down. The commanding assistant followed behind Heian Ciemnosc and Anastasia, with Grietta and Tania flying to catch up a few minutes later. They inspected the little princess as if they would devour Heian Ciemnosc alive if anything happened to him. Not that they wouldn’t either way.
‘But… what the hell was that?’ Heian Ciemnosc still couldn’t let go of the sensation before the meteorite appeared, and as it crashed down.
The small force recuperated after a few minutes and formed a short line before directly forming a wide formation. Soldier units at the front and rear as auxiliary units followed behind. Heian Ciemnosc led his people for a couple days before resting on the 2nd day’s night. They were just a few tens of kilometers away from the village.
This village was a couple hundred kilometers from another village, whose relationship has always been commercial and polite. The most important part of these 2 villages was that, from the information that the Crimsonbreaking Faction gathered, was that these villages were a cruel in between 2 towns.
The Aqualian Drake Sect’s management wasn’t… worthy to speak of. As a matter of fact, it looked as if they moved and tweaked a few things when they arrived here and then left everything else to nature. The southeast had 2 messy settlements congregations far to the north and close to the south from where the Sect’s individual territory was located.
The south was well-connected, so the livelihood there was optimal…at least in this southeast’s standards. However, to the Sect’s individual territory’s north, it was sparse and lacked diligence. Northeast of the Sect were the only connected settlements on the rest of this land section. The rest of the section’s northern half had its settlements too far from each other.
Without those 2 villages Heian Ciemnosc set his eyes on, the northern half would have a much slower and less efficient trading within this land section, let alone the entire Region.
The Aqualian Drake Sect was aware of the Heraxle Clan’s movements. How could they not? They were the new dogs from this Existential Sixth Step organization. Nevertheless, their attitude was to be defined, and Heian Ciemnosc wasn’t planning on being a nice guest however they behaved.
Capturing these 2 villages was optimal for his plans. As for his commanding assistant or his small force, would they doubt him? Heian Ciemnosc could command millions of crew members and their spaceships simultaneously. If there was a young generation commander they’d follow, Heian Ciemnosc was one of them.
Of course, it would’ve been easier if rumors didn’t travel so fast within the Crimsonbreaking Faction. Although they wouldn’t divulge such information outside the forums in the Universal Conveyance, when the entire Faction practically knew Heian Ciemnosc ‘is’ with their precious Chairwoman and gem. The actions that transpired in the central command before his recent departure only made things official.
But instead of giving the Soldiers, Officers, and Security Elders a good-natured sensation, they felt resentment towards him. But who wouldn’t? Alyona and Hong Mei were too godly. Why would they have to share the same man?!
Nevertheless, such was life.
While Heian Ciemnosc’s small force felt that resentment, it didn’t influence their following of orders and instructions from the black monster. It was an attitude matter. One that Heian Ciemnosc had to deal with in due time. And what better place to start than in a special operation?
… That 2nd day’s night, Heian Ciemnosc sat with his Eternal Return Team, commanding assistant, and vice commanders just 10 meters from the village. They were observing their target, although there were no powers that could threaten theirs.
The Dragoon Ore Kingdom was an Upper Kingdom, not just for its size. It had hundreds of peak Third Step organizations, although their might, influence, and territory vastly varied. In the Calatida Region, things weren’t as rich and high-end.
Compared to other 2* Regions, and even half 1* Regions, the Calatida Region was below them in everything. Be it cultivator number, resources’ gathering, overall might, and management of the civilians and progress of the ruling organizations.
It was divided by 4 land sections, which was an optimal situation in the Dragoon Ore Kingdom. Unfortunately, it suffered a devastating war half a million years ago. Its natural resources had just restored to a 100%, which was an ordinary case whenever a Region suffered to such an extent in the world, not just the Dragoon Ore Kingdom.
It was as if a brand-new Region had formed, and mighty powers sent their vassals to dominate it. From how it looked, one could deduce the Heraxle Clan wanted to create more Academies, so these could form a Universal Land-global alliance and struggle to uproot the Wrath Nihility Academy from its status.
Of course, many Eras had to happen before such a possible plan could even take effect.
Heian Ciemnosc couldn’t know how the northern land sections did, but it was easy to discern the Sect and Academy’s fear of the enemy, since their individual territories were located to the south and near the oceanic rivers.
…