Without a moment of warning, Sam teleported again, and this time the woman was unable to escape. Terra’s Will descended like a meteor, and a moment later, all that was left was a spray of blood and gore, soon whisked away by the wind. Sam shook off his weapon, and flitted over towards the Overlord, who was now engaged in a battle of his own.
The Overlord played with his enemies, dancing around the strikes of half a dozen high F Rank fighters like they were shards of mist floating in the languid wind of a summer’s day. His stats were far greater than theirs, and his Dao made them even greater. Every moment that he spent flexing his might upon his opponents caused it to surge further and further, until eventually he snapped out both hands, sending shockwaves through the air. The aliens fell from the sky, their bodies shattered by his might. His aura diminished, but there were no more foes to battle. He looked up to see Sam descending from the sky, too late to lend his aid. His Dao gained a tiny bit more power at that observation.
The few aliens left living fled the city, their spirits crying out in pain and fear. Both men watched them leave, with the satisfaction of a job well done resonating throughout their minds.
Below them, the ruins of the city stretched out like a legacy to what the planet had once been, and a monument to what it would never be again. The old era of human innocence and exploration was dead. The secrets of the Multiverse had been exposed, and nothing would ever be the same again.
With a sharp flap of his wings, the Overlord took off, quickly followed by Sam. He had to say, he felt a little jealous of the other man’s ability to fly, as it looked far more impressive than his own teleportation. However, his skill was far more versatile in battle. He supposed that the Overlord used it because it helped him glean more Dao energy than normal.
They flew down the coast of the state, and passed over deserted towns, and lonely forests, devastated by the coming of the apocalypse. In the larger towns, alien forces lurked, launching sorties every now and again to claim more land. A quick attack from either of the men put an end to their ambitions, along with most of the fortifications that they had built. Sam felt a sense of mirth that the aliens who had come to his planet, seeking to subjugate its inhabitants by virtue of their strength, were now the ones being outclassed by the natives.
Soon, the largest city in the state came into view, its massive sprawl visible from miles away. The city was still in a picturesque location, but what remained of Los Angeles was hardly an inspiring sight. Most of it lay in flaming ruins, and the material of the buildings had been repurposed to fashion a series of forts across the city, each of which hummed with activity. Ships took off from the open spaces of the city every few minutes, bearing hundreds of alien soldiers with them.
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On the streets, teams of what looked like robots labored over the ruins, extracting anything of value. They weren’t alive, so Sam had no issues with bringing the wrath of humanity down upon the city.
As they entered the city limits, alarms began to blare, likely at the sight of two unidentified fliers entering the area. Such a level of skill would identify them as elites, and people that would require a high degree of strength to combat. Within the forts, massive cannons turned their barrels to face the sky, and fired. Beams of coruscating energy raked the sky around them, but Sam simply teleported out of the way, while the Overlord flitted in and out of the beams. It was quite easy to see where they were coming from if you had enough stats.
They headed down towards the city, and Sam landed before a patrol group. They snarled at him, before sending a barrage of energy projectiles arcing towards him. He batted them aside with his hammer and charged, each step shaking the ground as he expanded his hammer to its fullest size. The massive weapon descended like the judgment of some god of old, cratering the ground as it landed. The shockwave of Dao energy that radiated outwards finished off the patrol in a single hit, sending battered bodies flying everywhere.
Sam strode down the street, twirling his hammer menacingly as he did so. Hordes of fighters raced towards him, clearly professionals from the way they moved. Such things mattered little in the face of overwhelming force.
Bodies went flying into the sky with every swing of his hammer, and that was if they were not simply reduced to red mist by the first strike. Meanwhile, the Overlord fought some distance away, leveling buildings with lances of red energy.
Sam started to up his level of power as he went, slowly incorporating more and more energy into his strikes. Attacks that went from leaving craters now obliterated entire buildings every time he swung, reducing any soldiers garrisoned inside to ashes.
He slowly made his way towards the nearest fort, a grim affair of dark rock and metal. A swarm of flying objects erupted from the fort as he approached, revealing themselves to be drones equipped with large machine guns. Sam looked up, curious, before the horde attacked. A veritable maelstrom of hot metal sprayed down towards him.
The street erupted into a storm of shrapnel as the concrete shattered, but as the dust cleared, Sam was revealed to be unharmed, simply standing there as the bullets bounced off his armor.
He raised one armor clad foot, imbuing it with his Dao energy. Then he stomped down, and a wave of power erupted forth, cracking the ground. When it hit the fort, the walls trembled, but did not fall. The thunderous blow from his hammer the very next moment broke the stone, and exposed the interior of the fort.
His left hand shot forwards, and a beam of energy rocketed into the center of the fort. He purposefully kept his energy allotment low, but it still sent a mushroom cloud of power rumbling through the building, turning it into rubble in the blink of an eye. It felt quite liberating to have reached such a level of power, as if the laws of nature did not apply to him any longer. He could safely say that he possessed as much destructive power as a nuclear bomb, if not more.