As a wave of dirt and stone was carried up into the air, he heard a siren going off, alerting the defenders to his presence. Up upon the citadel, a dome affixed to the side slid open, revealing a cannon the length of a city block. It glowed with a bright blue light, before loosing a charge of mana the size of a school bus. The air around it steamed, evaporating before its head. Sam simply grinned, and raised one hand, channeling his power into it. This occasion required something a bit above the ordinary, and his upgraded projectile skill was just that.
A beam of power erupted from his fingers, scorching across the air. It slammed into the mana charge like a railgun blast from hell, and erupted, sending a shockwave across the heavens. A wave of air pressure buffeted the streets, cracking rock and blowing away dust. The expanding shockwave backfired on the defenders of the citadel, destroying the cannon emplacement.
The Overlord let out a bellowed laugh, and then exploded forwards, propelling himself with great flaps of his crimson wings. He reached the citadel a moment later, and paused, suspended above it by his sheer speed. Then he dropped, and a shell of scarlet light appeared around him, driven by his own descent. He flipped over in the air, and thrust downwards, his form beginning to blur.
When he landed, the ground shook, and an expanding wave of energy tore through the citadel, shattering the rock and bending the metal. A localized earthquake tore through the fortification, and it began to fall apart. Cracks radiated out through the streets, and the water in the bay was stirred up. Sam refused to let the Overlord upstage him, and he started to teleport along the streets, butchering every last piece of alien filth in his way. Normally he would have been a lot more circumspect in his meting out of justice, but considering the icon crowned with human heads, all of his mercy was gone.
His hammer flashed out quicker than most of his enemies could see. None of them were expecting a peak F Ranker to come calling. Thousands fell within a few minutes, but it was far from enough. As the Overlord demolished the citadel, Sam watched as orbital cannons were trained upon him and his ally, floating miles above the city. They fired with thunderous booms, sending lances of energy down with enough force to demolish a city block.
As they fell, forcefields extended alongside them, attempting to lock Sam down within their line of fire. Instead, he simply shattered the fields with his hammer, the E Rank artifact more than capable of such a feat. Explosions detonated throughout the city, but it had already been lost.
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The Overlord triggered one of his stronger skills, and a wave of scarlet power tore through the center of the city, uprooting buildings and tearing apart the citadel down to its very foundations. Sam sighed, realizing that he was having far less of an effect on the alien forces.
He rose up into the sky, teleporting a few miles up, and raised his hands, using his hammer as an elemental focus. A beam of pure power shot down from the weapon, and impacted the ground below. A wave of energy tore through tens of thousands of invaders in the blink of an eye, and a quarter of the city was leveled. Had he used his Primal skill, he could have destroyed it all, but that would have taxed his channels and endangered the Overlord. Otherwise, he would have risked it.
Instead, he plummeted down behind his own skill, and landed a few seconds after it detonated, using his Dao to propel himself, becoming the avatar of his own vengeance.
By this point, the alien soldiers were in disarray, but a small effort to muster a defense had started, and a trio of heavily armored aliens floated up from the ruins of the city, their armor tattered, but unbroken.
“We know not what artifacts or consumables you used to devastate our troops, but this ends now,” one of them said, hefting a lance.
Without warning, he charged, a propulsion skill activating behind his armored boots. The sound barrier cracked apart, and the lance gleamed as energy filled it. He was a high F Rank fighter, and three beings of such strength would have been a match for almost anyone in the rank. However, Sam was far from normal.
The incoming attack appeared to move in slow motion as he began to activate his buffs, only realizing in hindsight that they were unnecessary. Pretending that he was stunned by the speed, fueling the misconception that the fighters seemed to be under, he waited until the perfect moment to strike.
His hammer surged forwards like a striking cobra, and utterly atomized his target. A detonation of blue and red light erupted out from the impact point, occluding his position for a moment. Then he teleported in, and attacked the remaining two. One of them let out a shrill cry of alarm and retreated, using the opportunity to teleport. However, it was not a true teleportation ability, as Sam saw an artifact blaze with light upon the woman’s belt, before cracking apart. The other fighter was not as lucky, and his brains painted the air around him as Sam’s hammer crashed through his head.
“No! It can’t be...” the woman said, horrified. “The Arbiter?”
“You’re damn right. You pieces of scum have plagued this planet for far too long. Attacking us, sure, but you crossed the line when you started mounting our heads upon your banners.”