CHAPTER IX: SOURCE RACES

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NIGHTINGDALE

COLONEL

The inside of the portal was pitch black, and Colonel didn’t understand what the hell was going on. He had used his title bonus, and then the world went black.

Then a flash of light almost like a lightning strike, caught his attention out in the distance. It was there and gone in an instant, too fast for him to make out anything as he was unbelievably disorientated.

Colonel again was confused, then the bolt of lightning stuck again, and then again.

The thing that Colonel’s mind was having a problem wrapping itself around was that each bolt was the size of a planet.

The reason he knew that was because the bolts were being fired at a planet, and the planet was fighting back with equally large attacks.

It had giant beasts and massive sailships firing equally impressive bolts of energy back at what looked like a fleet of odd-shaped spaceships.

They weren’t the traditional sail ships that defended the planet that was being attacked. They were made up of more massive ancient rowboats of all sizes, but instead of a large number of oars, they were replaced with translucent glowing wings, that shine bright whenever powers were used. And powers were being used constantly.

He looked at the two fleets engaged in an epic battle.

The planetary fleet had more ships, but for every ship they destroyed, they lost three of their own.

The battle was quickly becoming one-sided.

Clyde could make out individuals some the size of the ships themselves, as they were fighting each other in outer space. He mentally thought of these beings as heroes.

The protectors' heroes were strong and powerful. Once they entered the battlefield, the tide had changed almost immediately. Unfortunately for them, the attackers' heroes entered the fray right afterward, and that was when the battle began to be fought in earnest.

The sky over the celestial body was covered in blue flames clashing with yellow lightning.

The heroes themselves were walking calamities. Each attack that wasn’t defended properly resulted in the death of dozens of galleon-sized ships.

The sheer power being causally thrown around now made the original lightning bolt that got his attention look like a light spark in comparison.

It was awe-inspiring. Each skill used was pure destruction on anything that wasn’t a hero.

“What is going on here?” Colonel heard a voice next to him and turned his head... very, very slowly, too slowly. For the first time since he was sucked into the portal, he realized that his mental speed and perception were speeding up just to be able to keep up with the battle. But his body wasn’t.

A battle that was at least an astronomical unit away from his position, if his distance-judging ability that his World map gave him was to be trusted.

The being next to him did not have the same slowed movement and perception problems. He easily walked on nothing but open space up to the Legacy. Colonel didn’t want to look down to see what he was standing on.

The person who approached him was an Asian man, of what looked like Japanese descent. His skin color however was black, not dark, or brown skin, but night sky black. He even had stars form, and die in supernova all over his body like living tattoos.

The man didn’t address Colonel at first as he was just watching the battle in the distance with wild eyes, his face a mix of confusion, awe, and fear.

“This is... This is right after the SOURCE WAR? This is one of the first planets to fall when the GREAT GAME started. I had heard rumors of the fierce fighting in the skies in the Nightingdale system.” He said out loud almost as if he was talking to himself.

The sun in the distance on the other side of the planet started to burn through some kind of black film put over it. Little burnt holes started to form like when you put a match on a piece of paper. The light escaped and the attacking fleet and their champions used a movement skill it looked like, but it was used on the entire fleet. The fleet teleported to the dark side of the planet away from the sun. The defending fleet maneuvering to intercept.

The winged ships that were caught in the sunlight evaporated into silver light.

The planetary fleet tried to follow the ones that escaped, but once they moved out of the sunlight’s protection, the attacking fleet regained the advantage rapidly. Ships and heroes began to die until there were only, the strongest remaining.

Seven massive ships. Five belonging to the planetary fleet, and two winged ships from the attacking fleet.

The fight had raged on for what seemed to Colonel like decades, but all in a few seconds. The black-skinned, tall, Japanese man next to him was very content to watch in silence. Colonel didn’t complain he loved a good cut scene like any gamer, plus he wasn’t one to fill silences with useless words.

The last seven ships were all damaged, and all had their mobility severely affected.

The lead attacking dreadnought was the most intact. A black-skinned, pointy ear being, clearly female stood on the front deck of the ship, holding her bleeding left arm, her blood was the dark bluish color of mana.

She stared daggers at the five ships still opposing her.

Her wing-lady on her left protecting the damaged side of her ship, the same side she held her arm on. Her wing-lady’s ship was also damaged a huge chunk missing off of the starboard bow. The much bigger elf held her bleeding right leg stump while another tried to stop the bleeding. The healer was failing to do so.

“It was hopeless and they all knew it. No one was going to survive this battle, but it was...” The man next to Colonel began, he didn’t have pointy elf ears, but Colonel had a feeling he had just as much power as those heroes out there.

“...in a sense our Geneva convention moment. What happened next is both a tragedy and a blessing.” He sighed sadly.

The five planetary fleet sailships were all in terrible shape. Their heroes missing multiple limbs.

They were made up of two red-skinned humans, they are male twins.

One bird-like humanoid with flaming feathers.

What looked like a cube of gelatinous flesh with multiple glowing cores visible inside of it, But more than half of its cores were dimming or completely dull. A sail snapped on its ship and another core inside of it died, its light going out with a pop.

Lastly, a sky blue-skinned, female elf stood on a massive man-o-war, the sails were destroyed, and the entire port side was missing the rudder.

The elf smiled through the pain of her missing limbs, ear, and even part of an eye.

All of the five’s blood was the same color as the black elves.

The blue elf nodded, and the five made their move.

Their ships arranged themselves in a pentagon formation with the planet at their backs.

The two red humans are at the right and bottom right, the bird being to the left, and the cube to the bottom left. With the leader, the blue elf at the top.

The black elves hadn’t been idle a massive skill was being powered up. The smaller ship was burning through its remaining life force to feed the leader’s skill. Even for immortal beings such as these that was a significant expenditure of power.

BELL RING

A massive bell song was heard as the technique was released.

An enormous lightning bolt formed and hovered over the black elf leader’s ship. The look on the leader’s face was pure rage as if she was a child irritated with the five protector ships standing in her way.

The area between the five ships starts to slowly become more opaque. Finally becoming a mirror just as the skill was released at them. The mirror glowed a silver-white just before the black elf leader fired her attack.

What happened next changed the GREAT GAME forever.

As the bolt traveled across the distance between them in an instant. The strain on the five protector’s faces was of obvious defeat.

They didn’t think the night elf leader had the power to use another ultimate technique again. That was when they realized the fact that the enemy they faced was not just a Divine tier cultivator like themselves, but that all Divines weren’t created equal considering the other eight were killed in this battle by this very same attack.

“It usually required a ultimate defensive skill of the same rank, or tier to block the attack. But the five weren't trying to block the attack. They were trying to reflect it, which in theory didn’t require another ultimate skill, just the combined remaining power of the five. Unfortunately for them, they were both right and so very wrong.” The man next to Colonel said so that he could hear. Colonel had almost forgotten he was there but refrained from jumping too much. The fight had been going on for decades and Colonel was completely into it.

“Techniques are what makes us cultivators powerful beings. They have no cool downs instead they grow over time which means the older a cultivator is, the more techniques they can fire off before exhausting all their Essence. But techniques are only as powerful as the starter skill used as its base. It was clear that the night elves had ultimate skills as their base for their techniques, which was not completely unheard of but was often wasteful.” The man continued.

“But the night elf leader was a member of the ruling Dale family. They were the biggest family of night elves in the multiverse. You will hear of THE SOURCE WAR some time, but needless to say, THE GREAT GAME was created to prevent the genocide of a powerful Elder race, and these were their direct descendants.” He said sadly.

“So naturally they were gifted with powerful techniques, add that to their long lives, and they are the most feared younger race in the multiverse. But this was the first time anyone had faced them. It was a coordinated attack in over a thousand different solar systems in the local galactic cluster.”

“The defenders should have never stood a chance, the dungeons on the night elves’ planets were some of the hardest to complete in the multiverse, because night elves are all born cultivators. As such they start stacking techniques at a very early age. This means a Night elf will have more techniques than their peers from other races. This doesn’t make them more powerful, they just can last longer in a fight, which in long space battle sieges of planets they excel at. The only reason they were so damaged was going to be revealed now. So shut up and listen in.” The man rudely said to Colonel even though the man was the only one talking.

The lightning bolt hits the mirror and a transparent film of -WILL ENERGY- coats the mirror at the last second as the Dire High Slime’s remaining cores glow bright before they all go dark and its body starts to disintegrate into vapor, its ship following suit.

Now there were four, but the mission was accomplished.

The reflection was a little off, hitting the night elf leader wing-lady’s ship head-on. The ultimate skill had lost some power when it was affected by the Slime’s WILL ENERGY but that wasn’t nearly enough to weaken the returning bolt to non-lethal.

The wingman proudly saluted her leader before her ship was vaporized. The secondary explosion doing even more damage to the leader's already limping ship. The leader’s left arm dissipated into vapor, and she girted her teeth.

“What have you done?” She asked, and Colonel could hear her clearly, it must have been some type of skill the man next to him was using.

The now four protectors smile on their ships. They had taken more damage, but with the Dire slime taking the most of it, the others were in better shape.

“What was necessary to win the battle.” The sky elf said.

Rage builds on the night elf’s face. “The star curtain should have been in place for another year. How did you even remove it with your level of power? That was a Runic rank artifact.” Then a thought pushed itself to the front of her brain, it had bugged her the whole fight. Her eyes widened as she looked passed them to the planet behind them. “She is cheating.”

The planet glowed brightly, and the remaining four ships were instantly repaired.

“Quick send word to headquarters!” The night elf leader said in a panic.

Her ship spoke back to her almost immediately. “We are being jammed by the celestial body, ma’am.”

“Shit!” She cursed, “Everyone burn your longevity cores, we will not be retreating with the ship as damaged as it is. We will take these cheaters with us.” The night elf said with conviction.

The bodies of her crew could be seen glowing inside the hull of the ship.

Another lightning bolt formed above her ship, but this one has four points all aiming at a different enemy ship. The power continues to build.

“Hmmm. I could have sworn I handled this already?” A new voice said from right next to Colonel and the Japanese man, floating still in space half of a solar system away from the fight.

“Colonel turned to this voice with more ease than before. But the first man grabbed his face so quickly, he felt like he had always been on his other side. The man looked him in the eye, and for a split second Colonel could see clocks floating in his eyes. Then he opened his third eye, and Colonel saw nine black concentric rings tightly packed around each other in a black iris-less eye with the Roman numeral for nine in the iris place.” The narrator started causing all three beings to freeze.

“The LAW is very concerned for the new Legacy in front of him, he has shown him things that only a few have witnessed, and even fewer have lived to tell of it. Only seven to be exact. The Dale family night elf; Malory Ujinamizi, The ‘first matriarch of Dale.’ The sky elf; Tabitha Motumbo, The ‘oath keeper.’ The celestial herself since she would be the one made example of, her name lost to history. The three elder race representatives.

“The Dark Elf representative. ”A being as tall as the ship popped into existence just as the narrator said the words. This being floated on a disk of rotating energy. He was dressed in all white his charcoal-colored skin standing out in the loose-fitting clothing.

“The Titan representative.” The narrator continued as the sunlight was blocked out for a second when a massive feminine form causally walked through space and up to the battle.

“The Dragon...”

The new voice was the first to recover cutting off the narrator. “Holy Phoenix a narrator at Tier 1.”

“He started smugly.” The narrator mocked.

“Hey! Oh, you're a funny little human, very funny I haven’t been caught off guard by a statement in... well ever, to be fair my memory is not that great, too busy playing with shiny things and whatnot, you understand.” The voice paused as the LAW let go of Colonel’s face. “You must be a creature of great promise and potential to have a narrator. Let me look at you.” The voice said.

“The LAW imperceptibly shook his head which Colonel rightly interpreted as too not look yet. The LAW then face palmed at the sheer fact that his luck could be so good, and awful at the same time.” The Narrator said with little care for the situation they were in.

The voice laughed, really hard, so much so that the LAW had to put up a shield to block the shockwaves coming from him.

The cracks forming in the shield were a little worrying, to be honest.

Colonel already hated the pain in the game if he died from a dragon’s laugh-

The dragon farted causing the shield to crack faster.

Even worst dying from a dragon’s fart, Soto would never let him live that one down.

Apparently, the dragon noticed the LAW’s shield and stopped laughing, “I can’t eat you while you are so raw, ripen up Colonel Clyde Jacob Jr. I look forward to seeing you at THE SOURCE.” He paused again. “Where was I? Oh right, I can’t have myself in two places at once so I need to go do my job...” He sighed “Again.”

Colonel then looked at the ocean-sized multicolor eye looking back at him. The dragon winked at him before flying off to the developing war scene.

The size of the majestic creature is nearly unfathomable. What was unreal was the very real feeling Colonel had staring into the eye of the dragon.

He felt the weight of its unlimited well of power. Those eyes reminded him of his own. Calm, collected, but always ready to unleash violence.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Not for the first time, Colonel wanted to know how the game was able to elicit these emotions in him, he just knew that this was absolutely amazing. It was like being in your own movie, or book, and Colonel loved a good story that made him feel. He smiled.

The LAW let his shield go and sighed in relief. Then he smiled and looked at his notifications. “HUH, wow I owe you big time. I will give you extra time to get ready so rest easy, and enjoy a history lesson that only seven others have seen.” He said with a big smile now.

“Looking directly into a dragon’s eyes would have probably killed you instantly if I hadn’t shrouded you in my technique.” The LAW said. “Another thing you have shown me. I have never met a dragon before. Gratitude!” He said with a bow.

Colonel didn’t know what to think, this game was getting a little too crazy for him.

This battle was way beyond the scope of the powers he currently had. The ships alone were marvels that would rival Dyson spheres in a Kardashev three civilization. The people on the ships were each individually more powerful than a star.

Academically, Colonel could follow the battle, but in reality, he had no idea what was going on, it felt like both sides were just throwing their strongest attacks at each other recklessly.

Defense didn’t seem like a thing until the end, or at least not a primary thing.

He was very intrigued to see what a ground battle would look like at this level. Then he thought about what ground could survive these kind of attacks. The battle will be short for sure.

The stray thought brought him back to reality, the LAW was monologuing, and Colonel had missed it while he was inner monologuing.

“...and you should watch the conclusion of this battle, it will give you some more insights into the GREAT GAME, and you will never get a chance like this again. You were very lucky I arrived to provide you air when I did, or you would have died in the vacuum of space.” The LAW finished. He followed his own advice and turned to the space battle now being observed by the three powerful newcomers.

‘Shit.’ Clyde thought he had missed something important in the dialogue of the game. Soto was going to kill him if he found out.

He looked back to the fight and noticed that the actual fighters were oblivious to the massive beings surrounding them.

The night elf fired her bolt with a grunt of pain, and sheer determination on her bloodied face just as all of her crew members died giving her all of their Essence, and burning their foundations to dust.

The bolt hit the humans first, as they moved to defend the formation. The power magnetized their ships causing them to slam into each other.

The resulting explosion and shockwave blasted the sky elf’s ship to the side, which moved her just enough to avoid a direct blow from the part of the bolt aimed at her.

It did more than enough damage that she had to abandon her CORE ship, however, and now she was just floating in space next to the loot globes of millions of dead protectors.

She looked to her last remaining ship. It had somehow dodged the lightning bolt aimed at him.

The birdman had transformed his ship into a hawk-like bird and was flying kamikaze style at the night elf. The bird smiled in victory as he neared.

But then he felt it.

Something that sent chills up his spine, even though he was already committed to his own death.

The Sky elf felt it as well, and she was even more ashamed. The power in the air was another ultimate skill being used.

The last thought of the hawk man had before he died was voiced by the sky elf. “We never stood a chance.” She said sadly.

BELL RING!

“REDEPLOY FLEET!”

The night elf softly said a Word of Power.

The hawk ship was ripped to pieces inches away from the night elf flagship’s hull.

The entire destroyed attacking fleet was reborn instantly and completely obliterated the fast-moving ship with hundreds of techniques.

The Hawk ship stood no chance, all of its Essence was depleted, all of his skills were on cool down, and all his crew had burned their Cores to sand.

The worst part was this version of his ship was all offense, perhaps if he had made his move earlier, or had he a few more points in Constitution, the outcome would have been different, but if wishes were fishes, then beggars would have little problems eating.

The wounded shipless Sky elf watched in horror as everyone they had killed had just come back to life.

She thought that the offensive ultimate was devastating, but that last ultimate was something unheard of, it must be a prime ultimate. If that was the case they really had no chance against this foe. Prime ultimates are peak Divine ultimates that have over a century-long cooldowns. They had unique effects, but what they were all known for was resetting the battlefield.

She noticed that none of the crew members of the night elf leader’s ship had returned. ‘I guess they had a true death.’ She smiled at that one small victory, but it felt hollow and petty.

The Sky elf knew that there wasn’t enough Authority tier and above Cultivators to defend the Mortal realm. This war was truly lost.

She, not for the first time wondered what her Celestial’s plan was committing so many elite forces to their space defense and leaving the surface...

The sky elf felt something happening, forestalling any further thoughts.

“FREEZE!”

Everything stopped even the beams of energy hitting the mostly destroyed hawk ship were frozen.

The night elf on her knees vomiting blue mana blood was also frozen still. The strain on her face from over-exerting herself too much could be seen frozen.

To the sky elf’s horror, she knew the voice very well. It was her Celestial body. She had used a WORD OF POWER against a younger race, that broke so many rules that the Sky elf knew that things were not going to go well. Before she could finish that thought.

BELL RING!

A massive beam of red energy as wide as the planet lanced out, and vaporized the entire returned fleet in an instant. Leaving just the night elf, shipless floating in space like the sky elf.

The beam had barely missed the sky elf in question, and she had no doubt, that had there been an enemy ship on her side of the planet, the celestial wouldn’t have hesitated to kill her in the process as well.

“Well, well, well.” A sweet deep feminine voice expressed. “I really didn’t think you would have been this powerful. I am truly impressed, and I am rarely impressed night elf. Ask my idiotic ‘protectors’.” The planet said sarcastically.

“I gave my worthless ‘protectors’ all of the advantages I could give them, but it seems they are just talentless waste of space. I should have let the Slimes take over.” The female voice came across as curt and disgusted.

“Wow, you even survived that attack, you are really lucky huh? Or do they really make your kind that resilient?” She mused to herself. “Too bad you are loyal to those mana suckers. Let's see you survive this.” She finished with hate in her tone.

BELL RING!

Another massive red beam blasts directly at the night elf leader.

The night elf knew she was dead, the only beings that could challenge the power of an Elder race was another Elder race. And while night elves were the oldest of the younger races they are still not on the level of power of those monsters of the Source Races.

Just then the energy built again. This time less wild and more solid.

“A prime defensive technique?” The LAW said in awe.

BELL RING!

A glowing light disk the size of a small moon defected the attack. Shooting it out into space where the energy dissipated easily.

“You blatantly break the rules old one. We cannot have that. The children fight the battles, if you want to fight us win with your younger races, those are the rules.” The Dark Elf in white said, appearing next to the night Elf standing on his disk of light, multiple disks of light rotating around him, and the Dark Elf. “Be careful what you wish for.” He said calmly, but firmly.

The color drained from the planet. “You dare enter my solar system!” The planet yelled in anger at the Dark elf. “You think because I am no longer in the Source, that I am weak? Have you forgotten, it was us who ejected you? You think I am some kind of fool.”

“Of course, we don’t, not at all my love.” A sweet, but powerful voice said, as the Titan popped into existence next to her, and leaned against the planet like it was a beach ball, a small one for her massive size.

“The two of you don’t scare me at all.” The celestial said fear, and rage evident in her tone. Not a ton of fear, and a whole lot of rage.

She knew a fight with two elder race members was going to be difficult, but they were also away from THE SOURCE, so she had the advantage. It was her solar system, and outsiders were severely weakened in it. But the confidence in the Titan’s posture was a little disconcerting for a number of reasons, that gave her pause.

While Titans were known for their size, they actually didn’t excel in close combat.

Of all the elder races they were second to Celestials in magic control and output, and by far the best at long-range attackers, their range can span entire universes with certain powers and in certain situations.

The fact that she was casually leaning on the planet, showed that she had either a great defensive technique, or was confident in her ability to dodge or defend the planet’s attack quickly enough.

The titan’s smug smile only caused the planet’s anger to rise though. She noticed that anger, and still didn’t react, another reason to worry.

Just as the planet was about the test which theory about the titan was correct, the last new voice made her core shiver.

She had put up a ton of anti-teleportation shields, but with the death of her Space Divine, they were all weakened, and beyond repair for at least a few decades, if not centuries with her current power.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” A dragon the color of green, and black, with blue stars shining bright all over his skin, came into view right in front of the planet.

The dragon’s head was about the size of the planet. He looked like a flying universe, with galaxies colliding with each other, and old star systems giving birth to more star systems.

To be fair, he looked like a flying universe because Elder dragons were flying universes. Unlike Celestial bodies dragons do not create their own protectors. They just make deals with younger races who are powerful enough to choose to live on their surface.

“An elder dragon, well shit. I guess I wasn’t as subtle as I thought if they sent you.” The Celestial said laughing to herself manically.

A dragon was hands down the most powerful close combat being of the elder races. Their breath weapon added to their close combat style since they don’t take any damage from their own breath. The combination gave all of them elite flexibility in combat.

Dark elves were defensive specialists. It is why Celestials hated them, once they had taken over a planet, it couldn’t be taken back, even by other elder races. Their defensive prowess was unmatched.

Titan’s also specializes in stealth and magic sniping. They are feared by the other races because they can kill you before any of your techniques could even find them, let alone hurt them. Their range was unmatched.

Dragon’s size matched their raw strength, most dragons don’t use offensive magic outside of their breath weapons, and body-enhancing magic. Their close combat skill was unmatched.

Celestial bodies on the other hand were unique as they were the creators of the GREAT GAME. They use their vast Mana reserved to create beings, and creatures of power, as well as at least one younger race. They were also maintainers of the Dungeons and were given a constant influx of SOURCE ENERGY for the more Dungeons they had, and how powerful those Dungeons were. They use their creations as close combatants, and their magic as their offensive strength. Their Magic control is unmatched.

“You were just about as subtle as supernova older one.” The dark elf said. “Your lack of care for the rules is blatantly apparent, and still didn’t accomplish what you desired.” He shrugged at all of the loot globes. “A matter of fact, it proved that the system that was put forward is better for the Celestial... well unless said Celestial sacrifices all of her authority tier powerhouses in a losing space battle like a moron.”

“You dare speak to me so familiar, your kind are the reason why I am in this sourceless universe in the first fucking place!” She screamed at the dark elf. “We hate each other stop pretending otherwise.”

The Dark elf winced. “We know you hate us, we don’t have such feelings towards you though. This is why the ALPHA PHOENIX did what she did. We all had to make sacrifices, we are all making sacrifices, if she was willing to give her all, then we do her a disservice, by not doing what she would want. We all are making sacrifices %$#*&^, so that the rules may be maintained. Because aren’t we just instinct-driven beasts if we don’t follow the rules we put forth.” The dark elf started

“The GREAT GAME invasion and defenders protocol is clear, and concise in moments like these. It was negotiated after the SOURCE WAR to prevent useless death.” The Titan continued but was cut off by the planet.

“Tell that to all my defenders. I am so sorry that I don’t want to give up my surface to some life blood-sucking dark elves.” She said sarcastically, getting angrier.

“%$#*&^ please, your defenders' deaths were all your fault, not the game rules. You committed too many of your LAWs to your space battle. Just by the size of the fleet you should have had them come into your atmosphere.” The Titan admonished, “The invasion event will always have three phrases.”

“One, is the preparation phase, which can take any time from one hundred years, to one thousand years to prepare. You have had a thousand. Your planet has been RUNIC for over that long.” The Titan continued picking up the conversation in an academic tone.

“The second phase, a space battle of your best naval fighters and ships. You lost that battle decisively. Even though you cheated the entire time. Do you think we wouldn’t sense you manipulating the battle?” The Dark elf reiterated, causing the planet to change color as if she were embarrassed. She seemed like she wanted to retort.

“The third phase starts after the space battle. You are given time before any invasion of your surface. Usually at least a solar cycle. Which would have been in this case five hundred years! Half of a millennia.” The Dark elf finished angrily, causing the Celestial to ready one of her most powerful techniques.

Her core subtly powered up, the lava in her veins growing hot.

“All LAW rank individuals on the attacker’s side will only be allowed to have one technique at full power.” The dragon continued the rules. “So the defenders still should have the advantage, and the numbers in a ground battle and they will have to fight through the sky realm to get to the mortal realm. This is by design, and out of respect for your kind. Space superiority doesn’t mean anything once their ships enter your atmosphere they are restricted by your power. This is why fighting it out in a space battle is wasteful unless you have the power advantage which you clearly didn’t.”

“Whoever wins the ground battle, resolutely, according to the terms offered, and negotiated, by the Bodies, and the attacking force, wins the invasion event.” The dragon said finishing the basic rules of invasions in the GREAT GAME. “The rules are so skewed to help you and every Celestial body.”

“After the ground battle if the defenders win, they are free to enter the multiverse, and become true members of the GREAT GAME, which gives you forever to plot whatever revenge you want. But since you were going to lose to the Dark Elf faction that was connected to the invaders, they got your planet to harvest for ten solar cycles.

“Five millennia, that may as well be death for my kind.” The planet said indignantly.

“No, it doesn’t, what we did before was death to your kind do you really want to go back to those days.” The Dark elf said darkly

“Is that a threat?” The planet responded hostilely. “Because I still think you are underestimating my kind. We are not going to lay down, and let the dark elves rule our surface without a fight.”

“Yes, and you have lost that fight. No matter how strong your surface creatures are without the LAWs they will be beaten in a few months tops after the invasion.” The Dragon responded sadly but with full confidence in the statement.

The planet laughed again. “How could one girl conquer my surface by herself.” She mocked.

Fairly easily, she is pregnant with triplets, and in five hundred years, she will be able to raise many high-tier warriors, but more importantly, she could have requested help, back up from her home planet. They would have sent sky-tier combatants for the invasion. Your LAWs may have been reborn by then, but more than likely not. It would cost you a significant amount of energy to revive your entire retinue of LAWs.” The Titan responded to the planet’s hostility with words.

“Maybe.” She had to concede the point, but what was done was done. She was all in on her plan, and while she didn’t know who they would send, she always knew that eventually, someone would come.

Three was a bit much, but she still felt like if she could take out one quickly, she could take down the others in a prolonged battle. She was in her own solar system, the seat of her power, and the other Celestial bodies also work for her and she had just given her a signal.

A flash of understanding crossed the elder races' faces. “You seem very much content to fight us on this old one, please do reconsider. None of us win if we fight. You have lived for many Epochs to just throw it away now.” The Dark elf tried to reason with her. The color of her surface changed to an angry red color.

“You come into my solar system, and demand passivity from me? Are you ladies out of your phoenix-damned minds? The proper way to do this would have been to send a proxy so that we can negotiate the terms.” The planet shrugged the Titan off of her with a small excision of force.

The Titan sighed as a shimmering pink and black armor appeared around her, an instant right before a sword of SOURCE ENERGY slammed into the armor shot her off into space. “That was not very smart %$#*&^” The name of the planet was so lost to time that even in this strange replay of the events, Clyde could only hear %$#*&^!

The planet cursed her bad luck as she just put the Titan in a much more advantageous position for her skill set. A massive long bow made from the bark of the WORLD TREE at the center of the Source Universe appeared in her hands a large arrow quickly followed seemingly out of nowhere. Just as she was about to retaliate she moved her head imperceptibly to the left, just as a lance of red energy blasted through where her head was before.

She casually turned around to address the newcomers. A frown on her face. “Have you truly tied yourself to her... Celestials? You will share her fate if you do, and every attack she adds will only prolong the punishment that will be put forward because she crossed the final line. Attacking judges of the GREAT GAME cannot be allowed. Even by, or should I say, especially by Celestial Bodies.” The Titan’s causal demeanor falls away.

Three new planets were floating in space with all of their space fleets primed, and ready for the battle that would change the course of history forever.

The red planet was your typical physical Celestial with three different size tiny moons rotating, and revolving around its barren red surface at incredible speeds.

The Titan was hyper-aware of this one, the power pulsing in her was deadly. The fact that her space fleet was made up of only beasts showed that her sapients were all wiped out prior to becoming Runic. That was difficult to believe, but not completely unheard of. But that showed the lack of mercy she had for her own creations.

The Titan sighed when she looked at the next planet. Her only thought was, ‘Problematic.’

The blue gas giant was a shield specialist Celestial and was the size of a star.

The amount of power they could put into shields was proportional to their size, and there was no doubt this was the biggest one she had ever seen. Since she was as old as time itself, it was safe to say it was the biggest shield Celestial ever.

Her frown deepened. ‘What is going on here?’ She thought looking at the last Celestial.

She was a blue-green globe with a single supercontinent spanning a third of the planet’s surface. The most disconcerting part was the size of her moon. It was about a third of the size of the planet which meant that the Celestial gave birth... outside of the SOURCE UNIVERSE.

“That should be impossible, unless...” The Titan never got a chance to finish her thought because while she was busy being confused by all of the anomalies in this fight, the largest moon of the red planet slammed into her head and destroyed her armor.

Before she could react to another impossible feat, her armor should have been able to withstand at least ten of those blows. The moon exploded vaporizing her whole upper half. The moon reformed just as quickly as it had exploded. But the Titan’s body just dissolves into stardust. The Moon flew back to the Red planet losing about twenty percent of its mass in the process.

“Yeah, that went south quickly.” The dragon’s voice said from right next to Colonel and the LAW again causing them both to flinch.

“I’ll say.” Blurted out the LAW before thinking, surprise evident on his face.

“At least we know why you are here now. You are taking a Glimpse back into the past of your Celestial body, she has some secrets it looks like.” Clyde looked at the blue-green globe as the Dragon spoke to him.

“Pangea?” He whispered under his breath. “Wait, I thought you said you didn’t want to be in two places at once,” Colonel asked confused, looking back and forth between the two dragons.

“Oh, I am about to die.” He said with a shrug. “It is not my finest moment, which is why we let so many people stay dead in the past, can’t have the rest of the Celestials knowing about this.” He chuckled, “They brought a lot more back up...”

BELL RING!

Rips in the fabric of space open and nine more Celestials step out of the rifts. These planets were in their humanoid battle forms holding all different varieties of SOURCE-powered weapons and armor.

Just as they step out %$#*&^ started to transform into her battle form. A spear the length of the Titan shot out of her surface, her hand quickly following it and grabbing the spear. Attached to her offhand was a small glowing shield buckler. Small being relative since it was the size of a moon.

Her legs grew out from underneath her, the globe’s form stretching with it. This fluid action all happened instantly as all ten Celestials started attacking the dragon killing him with techniques and weapons. He didn’t even try to defend himself, his body too big of a target to avoid all of the incoming attacks.

“Ugh... that really hurt, and not just my pride, it hurt my soul.” The dragon exclaimed.

The dark Elf shook his head sadly at them. “You have done something that spat on the ALPHA PHOENIX’s sacrifice. For this, you will all pay dearly %$#*&^ and your friends. Thank you for willingly giving us a chance to challenge you.” He smiled sadly. “And then conquer you.” His smile turned malicious.

He bowed to the ten humanoid Celestials as they turned their attacks on him. The floating light disk around him combines into a shield. The shield flashed into space around him spinning at nauseating speeds. Every new attack makes the magical shield solidify a little more, and spin more frequently.

The ten press their attacks on the heavily shielded Dark elf.

“Well, I never saw this part.” The dragon watched with interest, a massive popcorn bowl appearing next to his huge mouth. He mentally commanded some kernels to jump into his mouth, and they do happily.

The LAW watched in horror as the story he was told about this time turned out to be a big fat lie. He looked between the blue-green planet, the battle, the dragon, the stupid legacy that got him into this fucking mess, and then back to the blue-green planet.

This battle was known by all of the LAW level individuals, it was where the TIME ACCORDS were formed.

“I didn’t think an elder race member could be killed so easily.” The LAW said again without thinking.

“Well to be fair, some Celestials are just as old as some of the oldest dragons. Not me but some.” He said with a slight whine in his voice.

‘I am here because our planet was keeping a secret, and my Glimpse bonus effect sent me all the way into the past to show me this secret.’ Clyde thought, ‘This game is in-depth man. Not for nothing, I can’t wait to tell Soto this shit.’ He thought excitedly.

“Ala Now!” The now completely changed main Celestial yelled at the blue-green planet. The blue gas giant threw up a shield around the blue-green planet and her child.

The moon was covered in lush green forest, and as the shield settled over them, large concentric circles of Runic light started forming in front of both Celestial bodies.

Just as the first circle, or ring of light finished, a second started to form in front of the first, and then a third after that, until there were nine rings in front of both the planet and her moon.

The LAW’s eyes open wide. “They are showing their cultivation rings?” He said as the tenth and final circle started to form in front of both.

“Yeah, once you get to the HEAVENLY realm of cultivation hiding your rings becomes possible. Some techniques are too powerful to conceal though, but as you get higher in your realms of power, the easier it becomes to conceal your rings.” The dragon answered.

“As with anything in the GREAT GAME which the elder races have been playing forever. The flashier something was the more powerful it is, and cultivation rank circles of runic light were as flashy as it gets in the GREAT GAME.”

As if the game wanted to prove a point. All eighteen-and-two-half circles start flashing in all colors of the rainbow. The tenth circle formed much slower than the other nine combined.

“So the more you show the more destructive the power will be?” Colonel asked, “Also if you died here, how are you here...here?”

“Well, the last part is an easy answer. That was one of my mortal bodies. All elder races except the Celestials, and Dark elves ironically, have immortal bodies in the Source Universe I guess that's why they hate each other so much they can actually die, die.” He said watching the same attacks that killed him be absorbed by the Dark Elf flashy light shields. “He won’t be able to defend against divine tier attacks from two Celestials who are both showing their cultivation circles. At their tier, showing their circles will increase the power of their techniques by a hundredfold, on an already divine level power.” The dragon explained watching everything unfold.

“So he is in a lot of trouble?” Colonel observed as the LAW got his composure together.

“Yes and no. Dark Elves pride themselves on their defense. They live up to that pride in every conflict. You will pay dearly against them when they are defending.” The Dragon said a little envious. “Besides, on this day, seven beings found out how fast a Titan could revive her mortal body.”

An arrow the size of Jupiter obliterated the shield gas giant from seemingly out of nowhere. The projectile was moving so fast and was so big that it caused all of the liquid in the planet's core to rush out after the vacuum left by the massive speeding arrow.

The light on the surface of the planet dimmed and the rest of the planet crumpled into dust leaving behind a massive Pure gold loot globe.

The shields shattered around the blue-green planet and moon, just as their last cultivation circle finished. The moon finished just a bare second after the planet. Power started to build on the duo, and shot through the rings stopping at each. The first ring fill with power, and began to rotate clockwise, the next ring filled faster than the first and rotated counter-clockwise, the sequence continued that way until the ninth ring filled almost instantly.

“Got to go. Wait around before you leave if you don’t mind.” The dragon disappeared again.

“How many of you must die before you surrender?” The Dragon asked, as he reappeared and crushed the moon that the red planet had used to kill the Titan's first body, while simultaneously turning his head towards the moon of the blue-green planet. A jet of black and gold fire spewed from his mouth hitting the moon and crushing its technique instantly.

The Moon screamed as its rings burned, and the forest on her surface was burned away in dragon fire leaving a massive crater at the impact site.

The whole action caused Ala, the blue-green planet to instantly transform to block the follow-up attack the dragon was planning.

The black gold flame washes over Ala’s Nguni shield as her medieval armor forms like liquid metal swimming out of her while she transforms.

The full-face helmet had flaming feathers the color of the aurora borealis on top of it like a native American headdress melting into place from the north pole.

Her double-sided katana glowed brightly in space. “Olorun, Chronos!” She yelled.

“NOW!”

An arrow stopped instantly at Ala’s head, and another inches from the red planet as it tried to put distance between it and the dragon.

The Dragon wasn’t unaffected by the WORD OF POWER to his great surprise.

“BREAK!”

A shattering sound happened, and all of the adjacent universes without magic were now filled with power. Old universes die, and new ones were born in an instant.

Two elder races using WORDS OF POWER at each other outside of the SOURCE always caused this much power to be released.

To Colonel’s surprise, the fleet around Ala was mostly still intact after the collision.

“Just as the fight was going to get good the LAW decided to do the responsible thing.” The Narrator said right as the LAW stepped in front of Colonel’s view of the interplanetary battle.

“Listen to me Legacy, I think you have an idea how this ends.” The LAW said.

“He has no idea actually.” The Narrator said.

“We have to get back home, now. Look over your older notifications, because when this is done you won’t have any time to orient yourself, and you have someone important to you to save.” The LAW looked at Colonel seriously.

Colonel nodded, and with a final sad glance in the direction of the EPIC battle, He brought up his prompts.