“Voyagers, listen up!”
Jean and twenty other Voyagers stood around in a circle.
A while ago, just after Jean made the decision to storm the fortress of the Carrions and turn these powerful mechanical Chaos Descendants into lab rats, she received an order through her Watch. It was a summoning order for all the Voyagers within a certain proximity. That included Jean.
These orders were rare for the Voyagers, as their job in the Chaos Domain was just to operate on their own. Most of the missions from the Protector High Command were given to Supplicant forces. Nonetheless, these orders weren't unheard of before.
Jean knew she didn't have the right to say no. The order was very specific on that. After deploying Delta and most of her minions with the task with the Carrions, she went to the designated location. There, she met up with twenty other Voyagers who were in the same situation. Their path of killing and plundering through the Chaos Domain was cut short by that single order.
When they arrived, an AI explained the situation to them. Perhaps Protectors could bother with explaining the bigger picture to billions of their underlings, but something that was of such a small scale didn't deserve their time. That job was left to artificial intelligence.
Nevertheless, the artificial intelligences that had the privilege of serving the Protectors were top-notch in the entire Infinite Realms. In a sense, they were no different from human beings.
A three-dimensional map of the known areas of the Chaos Domain was projected into the open. The AI, with the help of a hologram projection, zoomed in on one location and pointed at something.
“One Voyager disappeared in this region. Voyager Jill.”
Really? Jean frowned. Since when did the Corps care about the loss of a single Voyager? She killed three Voyagers in front of Adam and nothing happened.
Somewhere in hell, or maybe heaven, who knows? White-Out screamed.
“One of them was my kill!”
The Assistant AI continued.
“At the same time, the scanners on the Protector vessels picked up a spike in the Momentum of Time in the same location.”
“Momentum of Time?” Like Jean, the other Voyagers had no idea what it was.
“One of the ultimate powers in the Infinite Realms. The Momentum of Time manipulates time. Lower tier users can slow down or freeze their enemies. More powerful users can look into the river of time, searching back in the past or looking into the future. It is extremely rare and extremely uncontrollable.” The AI gave a brief explanation. “A Warmonger garrison was sent to investigate. They never returned.”
“Hmmm…” The Voyagers looked at each other. Some were stronger than Jean and others were weaker, but not one of them have had the fortune/misfortune to encounter an ultimate power in the Infinite Realm.
In this sense, Jean was lucky. She has already faced two before: the Power of Death and the Power of Hibernation. She survived both.
The Voyagers hesitated, and for good reason. If this Momentum of Time was really as powerful as the AI said it was, then what could 20 Voyagers do? One wrong move and they would end up the same as the first unfortunate Voyager and the garrison of Warmongers. Gone without a trace and probably dead.
They were Voyagers. They were more like mercenaries than soldiers. Warmongers and the Iron Garrison could walk into death while screaming their battle cries at the top of their lungs, but Voyagers were not nearly that loyal.
“Why don’t the Protectors go in?” One of the Voyagers gave voice to what everyone was thinking.
The AI looked at him.
“This is an order. Disobey and die.”
The Voyager’s face twitched. He has passed five missions. His kills were in the billions. Before he was conscripted into the Chaos Domain, his latest world worshipped him as a god. But now, facing the artificial intelligence, he had no choice but to shut up.
The AI itself had no combat ability, but just a single Protector could mark his end. The Voyagers weren't given many tasks, but for the few tasks they were given, disobedience was never an option.
“Now, Voyagers, march on.”
The AI gave one last order before disappearing.
The 21 Voyagers turned and moved toward that region. As they moved, every one of them thought about how they could keep themselves alive through the mission. When they reached their destination, they all had ideas of their own.
In the middle of the designated region was a hill. Well, calling it a hill might not be the most accurate, for it was so high that none of the Voyagers could see the peak. Then again, it was void of any sort of trees or other plants.
So...a hill?
Jean’s observers quickly moved to cover the hill from above. She could sense some sort of energy movement from the others. No doubt they were doing similar things.
Yet, all of their attempts would turn out to be futile. As far as the Voyagers could see, the hill was safe. No traps. No ambushes. No hordes of Chaos Descendants that would jump on anyone that entered and rip them to pieces.
But that was what was so terrifying. Unless the first Voyager and the entire squad of Warmongers were all lost on the way here, there was something off with this place.
Suddenly, one of the Voyagers turned around to his peers. 20 red blades formed up in the air around him before suddenly slicing down on the 20 comrades.
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Most of the Voyagers handled the surprise attack with ease. Jean killed that blade with a single wave of her hand. That Voyager was also at Tier 3 and the attack he just sent out was nothing but a random strike.
Only one of the Voyagers was caught by surprise. She tumbled over as the blade clashed against her Voyager armor and made a slight yelp. The woman barely caught herself before falling over.
The Voyager that attacked smirked and walked up to the female Voyager.
“You. Go first.”
The other Voyagers sat back and observed quietly. It was simple. The woman’s show of power of less than lackluster. Therefore, it was justified that she should take up the most dangerous task in the mission. After all, among the Voyagers, weakness was a sin.
The female Voyager smirked before reaching out with lightning speed and grabbing onto the first Voyager’s neck. The first Voyager struggled, but his attempts were futile. He punched and kicked and even stabbed the female Voyager, all to no avail. Finally, the female Voyager sent him flying at the hill with a single throw.
Once again, the other 19 Voyagers did nothing to intervene. Survival of the strongest. Always.
The Voyager’s body barely landed on the ground before suddenly disappearing.
Jean frowned. She didn't sense the Voyager’s soul out in the open. Either he was still alive, or he was destroyed so cleanly that even his soul didn't make it out.
The female Voyager tapped her chin for a moment before suddenly walking forward and stepping onto the hill. The next second, she was gone too.
The other 19 Voyagers exchanged glances. They were faced with a dilemma. Move forward, and accept an unknown fate. Step back, and be hunted until forever by the Protector Corps. Knowing the Protectors, forever wouldn’t be too long.
But Jean realized something. Suddenly, under the surprised glances of the other Voyagers, she moved forward, stepped onto the hill, and disappeared as well.
She saw something from the female Voyager before she took the steps forward. It was a look of realization, followed by a look of confidence. That Voyager knew what was happening, and she walked in nonetheless. Whatever was happening in front, it wasn’t an instant death.
And as long as it wasn’t instant death, Jean trusted in her abilities to handle herself.
Plus, what choice did she have? Ever since the beginning, she could only go forward. The others knew it as well. It was just that their fear made it difficult for them to accept that cruel reality.
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Jean’s eyes snapped open.
“Charge! Spears in front, archers in the back!”
“Shields! Shields!”
“Hold the ground!”
All around her, men in red and blue armors were clashing against each other. Swords crashed into swords, drawing a wave of sparks. Jean could see something shining on all the swords and armors.
Runes.
She looked down on her body. Her black Voyager armor was on her body. She was holding onto her Voyager Blade, but...what?
She turned back to a figure fighting beside her. Another Voyager.
“Where are we?”
That Voyager didn't respond at first. Only when Jean repeated the question twice did he give an answer.
“Have you gone mad? This is the border of the Empire of the Sun! We need to push these local bastards back! We can’t get overwhelmed!”
“What?” Jean looked around again. Suddenly, the surrounding seemed familiar. This must be during one of the engagements between the Empire of the Sun and the Empire of the Moon...judging from how most of the Moon soldiers were mounted, it was probably the time when the Voyagers joined the Moon cavalries and stormed the Sun forces. The Sun Border Army, under the command of Adam, retaliated.
Adam...how ironic.
A short distance away, a large figure in black armor wielding a double-handed axe suddenly collapsed with countless crossbow bolts across his body. Ares. A powerful Voyager who fell victim to archers of the Empire of the Sun because of Violet’s tricks.
But...that didn't explain anything! The World of the Runes was completely demolished by Protector Captain Gregor! Everyone here except for a handful of Voyagers was dead! The Moon soldiers being fired at? Dead! The Sun soldiers doing the shooting? Also dead!
A soldier in red armor screamed and charged forward. Jean held her hand out and subconsciously wanted to suck out his soul. She was surprised to realize she couldn’t.
It was as if the Power of Death was gone.
“What?”
The Sun soldier pushed forward, and Jean didn't hesitate to fight back and slice off half of his head in one move. Perhaps she hasn't touched a blade in a while, but there were things one simply couldn’t forget. Killing? One of them.
The Sun forces kept on piling forward, and Jean had no choice but to keep fighting. She suspected this might be some sort of hallucination, but when she was hit once on purpose, the wound felt very real. She didn't want to take the chances and die on purpose to see if that was the way out. What if she was wrong?
As she kept on moving, kept on fighting, Jean realized she was getting weaker and weaker and her breath became more and more labored, but she characterized it as simply the strain in battle.
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In an open field, hundreds of figures stood there, motionless. Their eyes were open, but they stared vaguely into the front.
Their armors showed their different allegiances. Dozens of Voyagers were scattered among hundreds of Warmongers of the North.
From time to time, one Voyager or Warmonger would collapse on the ground. Most of the time, the victims were Warmongers, but from time to time, a Voyager might fall too.
If anyone took off their helmets, they would see all the victims were no more than a layer of skin wrapped around skeletons. The hair of the Warmongers or Voyagers were all gray. Their skin, full of wrinkles. It was as if they all died of old age in just moments.
Whenever a Voyager or Warmonger was transformed into a corpse, several tentacles would reach out from the ground and drag the corpses into the floor.
Footsteps appeared in the open field. A man slowly approached. He wore a long white cloak that dragged down on the floor. He walked from figure to figure, closely examining them as they slowly lost their youth and their time.
“People are always so focused on money and fame and power...” He whispered. “but time. Time. Time is the most precious thing of all.”
The entire ground suddenly started shaking, as if agreeing with the statement.
Suddenly, the man stopped in front of one Voyager. The elevated breastplate told him this Voyager was a female, but that was not why he stopped.
“Ohhh...what do we have here?”
Suddenly, the Voyager’s eyes opened. She leaped forward and charged straight into the man. The contact sent the man flying across the sky. When he landed, he was a full mile away.
Several tentacles struck out from the ground, aiming right for the Voyager, but the Voyager ignored all of them. All the tentacles self-ignited before they could even get close to the Voyager. They twisted and turned as they melted down into thin air.
With the wave of a hand, the Voyager pierced space and jumped in right on top of the man. She was the same woman who tossed the male Voyager onto the hill, and the same Voyager who stepped onto the hilltop with a look of confidence.
“In the name of the Protector Corps, you are under arrest. Lay down all defenses or you will be destroyed.”
The man coughed as he slowly looked up. A smirk on his face.
“Protector Corps? You are a Voyager. Who gave you the right to invoke the name of your overlords?”
The Voyager tilted her head. Suddenly, a wave of flickering washed over her body. The next moment, her Voyager black armor was transformed into the pale, white suit of a Protector. Dark hair poured down on her back as she removed her helmet.
“Let me introduce myself again. Protector Joan. 7th Protector Legion. Protector Corps.”