Category Archives: Martial Void King

[Arc 5] Chapter 143



Chapter 143

Testing

Lucas piloted the ship mentally. With him around, there was no need for inefficient things like physical interfaces. As the ship lifted out of the atmosphere, one ship of each type that he had made so far also lifted off. They had plenty of fuel for their reactors thanks to the ARDs.

After an hour, they had reached the asteroid belt. It had taken them that long to get into range of the asteroid belt so they could jump straight to it. Aslo, who had been bored out of his mind, finally sat up straight in his chair. “Are we there yet? It’s been ages.”

Lucas sighed. “Oh come on. At first you were so excited since you got to see planets floating in space. Remember that? You were all like, ‘How can something so big float?’ and ‘What does hyperspace look like?’ Then the rest of the time you complained about how boring it was.”

“Well, because it’s true. It really is boring around here.” Aslo tried defending himself.

“Ugh. If it wasn’t for the range on the new ships I would have jumped straight here.” Lucas grumbled under his breath. “Now that we are here,” Lucas said in a louder voice. “I believe it’s time to start showcasing the weapons.”

The drone scout spoke up, interrupting Lucas. “This asteroid belt is currently being used as a military base of operations. Only certain sections of the belt is not developed for  military use and can be used for target practice.”

Lucas facepalmed. “Why were we not notified of this when we departed?”

“The information was not relevant at the time.”

“Alright then, robot, where can I do this demonstration for you?” Lucas asked, obviously irritated by now. Everyone else was stifling their laughter at Lucas’ annoyance.

The robot, oblivious to his irritation, replied in its monotone voice. “Seven cruisers are currently launching from nearby asteroid installations. They will fire on several asteroids on the outskirt of the belt that can be used for the demonstration. They will also be taking scans of the demonstration as well to gather the information needed. If there are any more targets needed, the cruisers will point out more of them.”

Lucas sighed and nodded his agreement. Focusing on the scans from his ship, soon he spotted the seven cruisers. A low power laser shot out of each cruiser, highlighting seven asteroids that could be used for target practice.

Lucas immediately marked the asteroids on the viewscreen, making them appear red. “First I’m going to be showing you the capabilities of this ship, so long as no other objections are raised.” Everyone glared the robot but it just sat there, once again oblivious to human emotion.

Lucas went back to his presentation. “I am  launching a stealth missile from the ship we are currently on. Launching in three… two… one… fire.” On the screen a translucent shape appeared from over the top of the ship. It reached one of the marked asteroids in three seconds. Immediately, a large explosion blasted the entire asteroid to bits. The half the missile impacted was vaporized, while the other half was turned into pieces no bigger than a man’s fist.

The mech spoke up first. “The missile was not spotted on any of the cruisers’ sensors.”

Lucas rolled his eyes. “Of course. If it could be spotted then it wouldn’t need to be called a ‘stealth missile’ now, would it? Anyways, this ship is the only one with missiles in the entire fleet. Missiles are just too much trouble to make in large amounts, plus they are a one time use. Moving on, we will show you the ships of the real fleet. First is the destroyer. It has one massive plasma gun and multiple plasma turrets. It’s meant for long-range artillery and protecting the other, larger, ships from fighters.”

As Lucas spoke, the destroyer that had followed them sped up. The destroyer was shaped like an arrowhead with the tip of the arrow being sheared off.

It got within a mile of one of the asteroids meant for target practice. White plasma bolts lit up the asteroid, thousands of them per second, peppering it with millions of holes. Every single plasma bolt struck the asteroid, some of them curving through the air.

Once the destroyer flew a mile and a half from the asteroid, the plasma bolts became far less accurate. At three miles, the plasma bolts were now dissipating too much, no longer having a visible impact on the asteroid. The destroyer flew twenty miles away from the asteroid before turning around to face the asteroid head on.

The blunt tip pointing towards the front started glowing a menacing white. A white streak shot forward, a blur in the eyes of man. It hit the asteroid and went through it. The plasma bolt didn’t even seem affected by the obstacle and continued on for over two thousand miles before it dissipated.

“Next up is the carrier. It has similar plasma turrets to the destroyer with no special armament. It’s really just meant to refuel and repair fighters. It can also cloak itself.” As Lucas spoke, the huge sphere-shaped carrier suddenly turned into several medium sized asteroids.

“Then we have the battleships. These have multiple railguns meant for close range and long range. It also has some plasma turrets, but nothing like the destroyers do.” The battleship floated forward while a fairly good sized turret on its top side swiveled. It too was shaped like an arrowhead, but it did not have a blunt tip.

It appeared like nothing had happened before one of the asteroids seemed to explode. Fragments of rock spun everywhere. “The battleship has thirty railgun turrets with at least eight of them able to cover each of its sides. The railguns can fire up to a thousand projectiles per minute, each with the same amount of force as this one.”

“Next we have the shield fighters.” This was the only craft Lucas brought more of. He had brought a total of five of them but it made sense when you think about it. It was only in groups that such fighters could make a difference. “These fighters can link shields together, creating a shield wall that is exponentially more powerful than the shields on our battleships. For example.”

The fighters all linked together, creating an enormous white wall. Without warning the destroyer swiveled towards the fighters, launching an enormous plasma bolt at the fighters. The white wall was hit by the plasma and dimmed slightly but stayed up.

“Finally, we have the sniper fighters. These fighters are equipped with a Tachyon cannon that can fire from one end of the solar system to the other.” The fighter flew in front of the ships before turning to the asteroid. This one was in the shape of a tube and was not as agile as the other fighter had been.

A hole mysteriously appeared in the asteroid it was pointing to. The fighter swiveled back around and pointed to an asteroid one thousand miles away. Just like before, a hole appeared in the asteroid. Lucas grinned back at them. “As you can see, no matter the distance, the hit is instantaneous and fatal.”




 

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[Arc 5] Chapter 142



Chapter 142

Orders

Time: Day 15 (The day after the Invader fleet was destroyed.)

Positioning fighter group 192… fighter group 192 positioned. All fighter groups have been relocated. Analyzing… Combat efficiency is rated at 99.97%. Combat efficiency cannot be improved without instantaneous communication. Computing combat readiness of privateers… Privateers’ combat readiness is 9,528.028%. 

Error. Privateer combat readiness far exceeds that of previous projections. Analyzing error in projections… Error found. Resources of Privateers far exceeds that which was identified earlier.

Privateers have managed to construct a fleet of unknown spaceships. Analyzing structure of spaceships. Predicting threat level of fleet… Error. Spaceship cannot be analyzed. Unknown weapons and power sources have been used. Threat level unclassified. 

In order to identify threat level, weapons must be verified. Ordering privateers to demonstrate weapons of their spaceships…

…………………………………………..

Lucas had, at first, been angry about the mechs helping them move the dirt. That was, until he realized something. The amount of dirt he had asked for them to move was only the amount needed for one ARD.

Now that there were ten ARDs, the amount of dirt needed would increase by a lot. Aslo and Chu Shen were running themselves ragged keeping up with just one ARD, much less ten of them. It would be better if the mechs took over that job for them. They were far more efficient then Aslo and Chu Shen could ever be. Especially since they were robots and didn’t need to take a break.

Chu Shen was busy training, using the abundant radiation left over from the solar flare. Aslo and Chrissa were busy talking to each other. Lucas was keeping an eye on the machinery while playing solitaire mentally. The three mechs were busy walking back and forth between the ARDs and the huge pit they had dug out using their four arms.

The mech that was busy loading the ARDs with dirt paused. Dumping the unloaded dirt on the ground, it walked over to Lucas. Lucas didn’t notice the mech, absorbed as he was with his card game. That is, until it started speaking.

“Privateer. I have an issue with the spaceships you are building.” The sudden voice so close to him caused Lucas to jump up. Realizing what a fool he made of himself, Lucas immediately tried to act casual. Unfortunately, Aslo had seen him.

“What is it Lucas? Afraid of a voice?” Aslo teased him a bit.

“Oh shut up Aslo!” Lucas yelled at him. Then he turned back to the mech. “You mentioned a problem you had with the spaceships. What is the problem exactly?”

“I cannot classify the spaceships you have. The weapons are unknown. Until the weapons’ exact nature has been determined, all attempts at assimilating them into pre-existing strategies are pointless.”

Lucas grinned. “Of course they’re unknown. I brought the plans from another dimension, so it would be weird if you actually knew what they were.”

“According to the contract you previously signed, you cannot refuse a military order without having your privateer license revoked. In accordance with this agreement, I order you to demonstrate your spaceships’ capabilities.”

Lucas grinned. “Alright then.” He turned towards everyone. “Hey guys! Tin man over here wants us to demonstrate the fleet’s weaponry. How about we show it to him!”

Immediately, there was a cheer from Chu Shen and Aslo. Chrissa just nodded. “Alright! I was getting bored trying to talk with Chrissa.” Aslo smiled at Chrissa as he said this, communicating his intent wasn’t to hurt her.

Lucas made his spaceship appear in front of them. Just like before, it was a huge silver ship that looked like a teardrop. The mech turned to look towards it before looking back at Lucas. “This spaceship will also be included in the demonstration.”

Lucas nodded. “Alright then. I never really got a chance to show off its capabilities, so now is a perfect chance to show off a little bit.” He turned to his companions. “Alright gang, everyone on the spaceship!”

Aslo walked up to the ship and poked it. “How are we supposed to get into this thing anyways.”

Chu Shen grinned. “Here, all you have to is walk through it. It gives way easily, just like this.” As he said that he walked up to the ship. Confident in the nanites that made up the ship, he walked right into it. What did not happen, however, was the wall dissolving. Instead Chu Shen hit it face first and fell backwards.

As Chu Shen laid on the ground stunned, Lucas’ face was split in half by his grin. “Whoops. I may have forgotten to activate the nanite walls. Just maybe.”

Chu Shen immediately shot to his feet. “Lucas! I thought we talked about pulling pranks!”

Lucas held up his hands. “Hey! It’s not my fault you decided to be cool by walking into the ship without warning.”

Chu Shen coughed. He quickly changed the subject to avoid embarrassment. “A-anyways, we need to get moving.”

Aslo grinned. “Yeah. I remember you saying that the ships could blow up stuff! Come on, I wanna see!”

Lucas grinned and approached the ship’s side. “This is what Mr. Cool Guy over there was trying to show you.” As he spoke, his hand sunk into the ship. Walking forward, he became completely enveloped by the ship and disappeared. Chu Shen followed sulkily while Aslo and Chrissa held hands and went through.

They all found themselves standing on a metal walkway. What they also found was an unexpected guest.

“Privateers.” A robot voice came from right beside Lucas.

Lucas jumped and quickly looked around. Standing beside him was one of the drone scouts. “Ahem. Uh, what are you doing on my ship?”

Chu Shen grinned. “The bigger question is how you can jump that high.”

The adult-sized robot ignored Chu Shen’s remarks. “I am here to observe directly from your ship’s bridge. This is to verify that you have used all weapons available to you.”

Lucas rolled his eyes. “Fine. Come with me then, all of you.” They walked down the hallways for a while. Soon they reached a round room. Had a huge screen with a view of the outside. There was nothing else in the room. Suddenly the floor flowed upwards, creating five circular chairs.

Sitting down on the chair in the middle, Lucas patted the one next to him. “Everybody take a seat, robot included. Next stop is the asteroid belt so we can blow up some asteroids.”



 

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[Arc 5] Chapter 141



Chapter 141

Fleet!

It had been fourteen days since Lucas had started construction. First, he had brought out the cradle-free fabricator. Then he took out the ARD and the anti-matter generator. Next, he hooked up the power cables for the fabricator and ARD to the anti-matter generator. After that, it was time to start on the construction part.

First, Lucas ordered Chu Shen, Aslo, and Chrissa to gather together a bunch of rock and dirt. Pouring that into the ARD, Lucas gained the raw materials he needed to create more ARDs. Activating the fabricator, an ARD started to come to life. A day later it was complete. Hooking up this ARD to the generator, Lucas started building another fabricator identical to the one he had but much bigger.

This one was easily the size of a building. It was actually ten different fabricators synchronized together to construct one item. Each fabricator would focus on building one piece of the ship at a time, accomplishing what the original fabricator could do in a fraction of the time. It could also make multiple ships at once if the ships were small enough.

The ship types that could be built with this one were expanded, allowing it to make battleships, carriers, and destroyers.  The original fabricator could only make cruisers and fighters. destroyers were too big, unless the fabricator was able to move around the frame. Using the fabricators, Lucas started making more ARDs. After he had created a total of eight, he went back to the fabricators.

He made one Mega-Fabricator which could make dreadnoughts. Then he made a total of sixteen Large-Fabricators and ten fabricators the size of the original one. Finally, Lucas was done preparing for the building phase. By now, all of his devices took up as much space as a small town. The time taken up by making the fabricators and ARDs was ten days. The other four days had been spent calibrating the equipment.

Pulling up ship designs, Lucas started to ponder over what to build. Using the combat records from the recent attack provided by the A.I., Lucas was able to find out just how advanced the invaders were. Compared to the ships of Sparta, they were indeed extremely crude.

He took a while before deciding exactly what he was going to build. He also consulted with Chu Shen for a while as well. Within an hour of getting it done, Lucas had decided what direction he was going to take his fleet.

First off, the main force he was going to be using would not be the large capital ships but rather small fighters. They were easier to build and a lot faster, too.

Lucas had designs for advanced fighter-craft like the sniper drone. It was a small fighter that used a Tachyon cannon. Tachyons were particles that moved faster than light. Normally, they could not interact with things in the physical universe, but with some tinkering, Sparta had found a way to do so. Because it moved instantaneously, it was only limited to line of sight.

Lucas also had designs for a shield drone. It was a fighter that would be able to link up its forcefields. By synchronizing them together, the strength of them would increase over tenfold. Combining these two together would make for a lethal combination. They could pick off the entire fleet of ships from a distance while shielding themselves from return fire.

His battleships would have thick armor and powerful shields. They would also be equipped with railguns and plasma turrets. Their plasma turrets had the capability to manipulate the projectiles even after they launched them, though only in a short area. Lucas predicted the railguns would throw them for a loop.

The enemy ships had forcefields, but from Lucas’ analysis of the records, he found that they were not designed for blocking kinetic attacks. Most of their ships used lasers and plasma, both of which were energy weapons. As a result, their defensive capabilities focused mostly on energy weapons and ignored kinetic weapons such as railguns.

The carriers Lucas designed to be lightly armored. Instead of being heavily plated, they would have cloaking devices to disguise themselves as asteroids, allowing them to avoid most of the fight. The carriers would store metal and miniature fabricators, allowing them to repair the fighters as soon as they flew in.

Finally, there was the destroyers. They would have multiple plasma turrets meant for destroying fighters and missiles. Their main job would be to protect the battleships from being destroyed.

The destroyers would also have one enormous plasma gun running the entire length of the ship, allowing them to live up to their name. They would be able to use this enormous weapon for long range artillery strikes, but it would be too draining to use this and defend the battleships.

Everything he designed would run off H20 Reactors, meaning they only required water to run. However, there was was one slight issue. There was no one to pilot all of the ships. Of course, nothing he made actually had room for a pilot either. Instead, they all had room for a positronic brain, onto which Lucas would upload a primitive A.I.. The A.I. would be pre-programmed with combat maneuvers so as to allow them combat capability.

All of the ships would have QE comms, allowing for instantaneous communication without the possibility of being intercepted. With that, the drones would be able to receive instructions no matter where they were.

In order to save on space and power, Lucas only installed short range teleportation modules. It would allow the ships to jump from the fifth planet to the sixth planet in two seconds flat, allowing for some very interesting tactical options. They wouldn’t be able to chase the enemy fleet though.

Now that Lucas had the designs down, it was time for him to start building. Dedicating the Mega-Fabricator to carriers, he would be able to make two at once. Three of the Large-Fabricators were dedicated to battleships, but they could only make one at a time. Three more Large-Fabricators were assigned to destroyers and could make three at once.

The other ten Large-Fabricators started work on fighters. Each one would make 4 Sniper Drones and 2 Shield drones. The original-size fabricators, all three of them, would be busy making regular fighters. These fighters would have plasma bombs, small-caliber railguns, and lasers. They would mostly be in charge of hunting down other fighter craft.

Lucas had made it to the point where every single one of the fabricators would get done with their assignment in eight hours. With this, a formidable fleet would start to take shape. At the end of the fourteenth day, the construction of the spaceships finally started to get underway. As Lucas was filled with pride at his handiwork, two other people were starting to get mad.

Aslo slumped down on the ground, wiping the sweat from his brow as he did so. A huge pile of dirt lay behind him, next to the feet of one of the hibernating mechs and one of the ARDs. Chu Shen, who had just starting to breathe heavily, patted him on the back. “Come one Aslo, we still have more dirt to haul.”

Aslo shook his head. “Nope. Not going to do it. Honestly, why are we doing this? It’s just dirt.”

Chu Shen shook his head. “Because Lucas needs it to make spaceships to fight.”

“Then how about Lucas comes down here and moves it himself,” Aslo complained. He remembered telling Lucas that, and Lucas’ reply. “I wanted to leave. You guys want to help these aliens? Then you move the dirt. Of course, you don’t have to help, Chrissa. Just stay here so I don’t get bored, okay?”

Aslo gestured towards the dirt behind him. It was enough to fill a house with. “This is too much for us to do, and it’s just going to get worse.” He got up and groaned.  Walking up next to one of the mechs he kicked it in the leg. “Come on, you stupid tin can. Get up and help us. We’re going to fight for you, so the least you could do is move some dirt.

Suddenly, one of the mechs that had lain in rest woke up. Reaching down, it grabbed the entire pile of dirt. The voice emerged from the robot, completely understandable due to the translation program that Lucas had given it. “I will assist you, privateer, in your war efforts. Tell me where you wish to move this dirt to.”

When Aslo recovered from his shock, he let out a big smile. “Hehe. I guess Lucas is going to get the surprise of his life.”



 

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[Arc 5] Chapter 140



Chapter 140

Invasion Begins

It turns out, the Nugitraaiil were not that big on paperwork, much to the relief of Lucas and Chu Shen. There were some small things, but there were only three major points.

One. Any commands that are given by the military is to be followed. Two. They were allowed to engage the invaders, but they must first register their attack plans. Three. There was to be no attempt to fake invader kill count. If that was done, then all previous cores must be refunded and your privateer license would be revoked forever.

Everything else was just small tidbits, like how to register attack plans or that the military could do random inspections of any ship records. They weren’t really concerned with that since at the moment the only ship they had was the small one Lucas owned. It wasn’t meant for fighting.

Chu Shen approached him about that. “Lucas. We need a way to get involved in this fight. The best way to do that is with a spaceship. Can you make one quickly enough to suit our needs?”

Lucas sighed. “Yeah but what good is one spaceship going to do? I would rather make a whole fleet of drones to fight instead of one spaceship.” Lucas’ face lit up. “That’s it! So long as I make a ton more of those cradle free fabricators, I can start making tons of ships in a short amount of time. All I would need would be materials.”

He grimaced. “The materials though… The ARD (Atomic Reassembling Device) will be really helpful in that regard, but making a ton of metal would require a lot of time. Plus, it can only make one type of material at once. Hmm.”

Chu Shen shrugged. “I don’t see why you don’t just make more ARD’s then. With more you can increase production of metals by a lot.”

Lucas waved his hand dismissively. “Because I only have enough room inside my space for two more of them. The Anti-Matter generator could easily power ten more but I just don’t have the space.”

Chu Shen tapped him on the shoulder. “Uh Lucas. Why are you making them inside your space?”

Lucas rolled his eyes. “Because, we can’t have people finding out about technology. You said it yourself. If someone found out, then one of those insanely powerful people could come and kill all of us.”

Chu Shen nodded. “That is true… but look around. I don’t see that issue coming up here.”

Lucas looked at the mechs around him and then back at Chu Shen. “Oh yeah. Alright, give me ten days and I should have it done. Ten more days after that, I should be cranking out spaceships.”

……………………………

While Lucas was busy making the spaceships a reality, there was a war going on. The A.I. had activated all of its resources to hunt down the invaders. Its orbital defenses activated stealth, preventing the scouts from noticing it.

The invaders’ scout force consisted of three cruisers. The three ships went to each planet and did a thorough scan. When they reached the planet Chu Shen was on, the defense platforms activated. Over fifty of the round defense platforms shot beams of white hot plasma, at least fifteen for each ship. Compared to the one fired at Lucas’ satellite, these were over twenty times more powerful.

The cruisers’ shields flared for only a second before disappearing under the barrage of enemy fire. They didn’t even have a chance to react. The three cruisers were filled with holes, making them resemble swiss cheese. Two of them blew up as their reactors lost containment. The other ended up breaking into five pieces. Plasma beams continued firing until all the pieces of the alien ships were erased.

A week after the cruisers were destroyed, five destroyers appeared in the system. Compared to the cruisers, the destroyers had superior shields and weaponry by a large margin. They were also slower. They were obviously sent to investigate the disappearance of the cruisers.

One of the destroyers was left next to the seventh planet while the other four spread out to investigate the rest of the system. Apparently, they were worried about not getting a message this time. The defenses activated once again, blasting the two destroyers who were close to the planet to bits. At the same time, an ion cannon located on the seventh planet was able to destroy the destroyer that was located next to it.

The other two tried to flee, but they were swarmed by over one hundred fighters that were in the asteroid belt between the sixth and seventh planets. Their debris was annihilated just like before. All of this was done to try and slow down the invasion. With this, preparations could continue for as long as possible.

The A.I. in charge of the fleet knew a lot about naval strategies. The next attempt at scouting would most likely be an entire fleet. If so, it was pretty much guaranteed that at least one ship would get away. When that happened, multiple fleets would all converge on them.

Just like four hundred years ago, they would send only a couple fleets. Each defeat would mean an increase of one fleet to the fight. Eventually it would reach the point where the defenders would be overwhelmed by sheer numbers. It would be at this point that privateers would be needed. At the moment the A.I. had already commanded the only privateers to stay planetside. It did not seem as though they were capable of spaceflight at the moment anyways.

Just like the A.I. had predicted, a week later a fleet consisting of 1 carrier, 200 fighters, 10 battleships, 40 destroyers, and 20 cruisers arrived at the seventh planet. The carrier launched ten wings of fighters with five fighters to a wing for a total of fifty fighters launched.

The fighters scattered throughout the system, doing long range reconnaissance while the rest of the fleet slowly moved into the planetary system. The A.I. had small naval bases set up everywhere inside the system. Hollowed out asteroids in the asteroid belt contained either one large ship, five medium ships, or one hundred fighters.  Naval bases on the planets contained surface-to-orbit capable weapons along with large amounts of spacecraft.

The A.I. had not wasted time developing its defenses. The ships at the bases were mostly outdated though. Its research, which was conducted on the fourth planet inside the system, had allowed it to progress steadily. The seventh planet contained the oldest ships. The closer you get to the sun, the newer the ships became. The reason for this was that the ship production lines were on the first planet next to the sun.

The reason it was set up there was because it offered abundant energy and natural cloaking. The sun’s radiation was able to interfere with pretty much all scanning attempts. The production line was located deep underground though, to avoid all that radiation, and was heavily shielded. Any ships were launched when the installation was facing away from the sun to avoid damage from the sun’s intense radiation.

As soon as the enemy fleet went past the asteroid belt, numerous ships launched. Taking the enemy by surprise, over half of their destroyers and cruisers were immediately destroyed. The battleships were much tougher nuts. All of the battleships took off for the seventh planet as it was clear the fleet did not have a chance of surviving. All of the other ships tried to hold off the enemies to allow the battleships to escape. The fighters from the carrier proved to be particularly annoying.

They were successful.

One battleship, with over five holes in its hull, managed to limp to the seventh planet and jump.

The A.I. was not disappointed at this failure. It had no feelings after all. Instead it calmly ordered the surviving ships back to their hiding places. There, they would be repaired for the next fight.

After all, the war had only just begun.



 

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[Arc 5] Chapter 139



Chapter 139

Decisions

Chu Shen had to look at things rationally. The Nugitraaiil had already lost this fight once. It had been over four hundred years, enough time for new technologies to develop on both sides. However, with the Nugitraaiil already wiped out, it was questionable if technological research had continued.

Also, their power was limited. The real conflict would happen in space. Up there, Chu Shen and his friends wouldn’t have the ability to influence the conflict. Of course, Lucas could make them spacecraft to get involved, but they would have to train in order to learn how to use them. Without that training, it would be more like suicide then helping.

Even if that happened, it still wouldn’t matter. Their impact on the invasion would be negligible in the end. It was a different situation than before, when he fought the bugs. They used ground troops to conduct war and had no space forces. These invaders had only used space forces so far. Not to mention, this wasn’t their fight. There was absolutely no logical reason for them to risk their lives in order to fight these invaders.

Chu Shen sighed. Of course, logic was exactly that. Logic. They weren’t computers that operated solely on the outcome. They had emotions, and often times those emotions would override logic.

Chu Shen looked up suddenly. Lucas and Aslo waited impatiently for his decision. “Lucas. We’re staying.”

Lucas’ jaw dropped. “What do you mean we’re staying! We can’t stay! The chances of our survival if we do are basically none!”

Chu Shen sighed. “I know that. I can’t abandon my friends though. Aslo and Chrissa are going to be staying here even if we don’t want them to. Plus, I agree with Aslo and Chrissa. We should protect the resting place of the Nugitraaiil and not let it be used by those that killed them.”

Lucas threw up his hands. “I give up. We’re all going to die trying to protect something that an entire species was already wiped out for.”

“That’s what makes it worthwhile,” argued Aslo.

Chu Shen turned to Lucas. “Can you tell the mech that we want to help them?”

Lucas sighed and nodded. “Yeah. I can do that.” The mechs hadn’t flown off. Instead, all of them landed on the ground and seemed to go into sleep mode. They had one knee on the ground and seemed to be bowing to something. The one that had been cut in half, on the other hand, had flown off somewhere else.

He landed next to the one he had been talking to. Going over to it, he tapped it on its leg. A metallic thud could be heard when he did so. The robot stiffened before standing up smoothly. Its head swiveled completely around, probably as part of the boot up service.

Then it turned and looked right at Lucas. “What is it, civilian?” its metallic voice once again sounded out.

Lucas stared right back at the robot. “I have discussed it with my companions as promised. They have decided to not allow the invaders to desecrate the Nugitraaiil burial grounds. The last memories of a species is not to be sullied like this.”

The robot stared at him for a few seconds before replying. “There is an error in your statement. These are not the last memories of the Nugitraaiilian race. While it is true that 99.998% of the population was wiped out by war and the solar flare, 0.002% was saved. They were sent through an experimental interdimensional transportation technology, accidentally discovered in the search for FTL capability. As for their safety after entering the interdimensional event, that is unknown.”

Lucas clenched his fist. “Yes! I knew I was right! It was too much of a coincidence.” Turning back to the robot he nodded. “I am sorry for the assumption. You previously stated that the planet was uninhabited so we assumed they were wiped out by the solar flare. Moving on, how will our request to work with you to defeat the invaders be accepted?”

The robot paused. “It will not be accepted. Civilians cannot become involved in military affairs. You can be recruited as privateers if you wish. According to agreements from the previous war, privateers will be paid in Cores. 12 F’tik Rank Cores for every fighter destroyed, 6 G’tik Rank Cores for every destroyer or cruiser destroyed, 4 H’tik Rank Cores for every battleship or carrier destroyed, and 1 J’tik Rank Core for every Dreadnought destroyed.”

Lucas scratched his head. Alright, these cores sounded like money to him, but what were they exactly? “Can you tell me what these cores are in more detail?”

“Cores are the source of energy contained inside beasts. By absorbing such energy, one can advance their Tik level.”

Lucas nodded as he listened before freezing. “Is this Tik refer to the ability to manipulate energy around oneself and become stronger? One can unblock channels inside their body to absorb and control more energy. Is that what you mean by Tik?”

“Affirmative, civilian.”

“Were there some of you that could fight without the usage of spaceships? Using only their bodies?”

“Affirmative, civilian. Only two hundred L’tik fought in the war, but they managed to turn the tide many times.”

Lucas turned away slowly. “Okay. That is slightly freaky.” He sat down on the ground for a minute. “So every world we’ve visited so far has cultivation in it. Okay. I can accept that.” He realized something. “Wait. Doesn’t that make my world stunted? It’s something that’s so basic everywhere else, but we don’t even have the concept of it.”

Chu Shen, who had heard everything, came down next to Lucas. “Don’t feel bad though. Even with cultivation, we can only go so far. With technology, anyone can instantly soar to immense heights.”

Lucas nodded. “That’s true. Technology is the way of an empire. Cultivation is the way of a man. One can only go so far cultivating before they can’t take another step. Technology only requires one to make something new. It has no true limits.”

Chu Shen patted him on the back. “Atta boy. Now what got you all depressed? I heard you say every world so far has cultivation in it. We haven’t seen evidence of cultivation here though.”

Lucas pointed at the robot. “It said they would reward us with beast cores for every ship we destroyed. Basically, we can be hired as privateers or mercenaries in the war. This way we can participate.”

Chu Shen smiled. “Alright. Go ahead and tell him that we will join then.”

“Come on Lucas! Hurry up! I want to kick some invader butt instead of talking about all these weird things.” Aslo yelled at Lucas as well.

Lucas nodded. He turned to the robot. “We will agree to becoming privateers in this war.”

“Your applications to become privateers have been accepted. All rules and regulations according to the K’Lish Protocol will be followed, or your license as a privateer will be revoked.”

“Uhh. What are the rules?”

“The rules and regulations will be broadcast on Radio Frequency 52.92 in 37 seconds. Civilian, please be prepared to receive the information.”

Lucas nodded. Turning to Chu Shen he sighed. “I have to face my dreaded enemy once again.”

Chu Shen was confused. “Enemy? Who?”

“Paperwork.”

As both Chu Shen and Lucas groaned, Aslo smiled. “Alright! So where can we find this dreadful paperwork? We need to destroy him once and for all!”



 

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[Arc 5] Chapter 138



Chapter 138

Communication

Hostiles have communicated in native language. Match probability to hostiles lowers to 57.912%. As ordered by the Sh’lteek protocol, any attempts at communication, even from hostile forces, are to be accepted. Halting all hostile actions. Computing best response…

…………………………………………………

Everyone just floated in the air. The tension was palpable. At least, it was for the humans. The mechs were almost certainly immune to it. As everyone waited anxiously, one of the mechs floated forward.

“State your purpose.” The voice was obviously robotic with a metallic tinge to it. The Nugitraaiilian language was made up of hissing and screeching sounds making it incredibly grating to the human ear. Both Chu Shen and the twins cringed at the sound of the voice. Lucas, however, seemed used to it. Most likely because he grew up around aliens, so he was used to such strange voices.

Lucas decided he needed to answer them. “We came here to explore. We did not know this place was inhabited.”

“This place is not inhabited by intelligent life.” Came the robotic voice. Lucas blinked. What did it mean by not inhabited? If it wasn’t, then why would the robots be here?

“Why did you attack us?” Lucas decided to cut to the chase.

“Your match probability to the invaders from 12.3 cycles ago reached over fifty percent. According to the Sh’lteek protocol, I was ordered to regard you as hostiles.”

The voice said 12.3 cycles but Lucas’ translation program immediately translated that into human years. 412 years. That was the number Lucas received. Of course, such a number was meaningless, since the timeflow from dimension to dimension could vary.

The voice continued talking while Lucas was trying to process this. “Why did you send a Tachyon transmission? How did you arrive here? How do you know our language? Answer these queries or face immediate termination.”

Lucas turned to Chu Shen and switched his voice modulator. “Uh buddy. I just got asked some questions I’m gonna need your help on.”

Chu Shen nodded. “Go ahead. I can’t understand a word you guys are saying anyways.”

Lucas immediately explained the questions to him. Afterwards he looked at Chu Shen with an expectant face. “So? What do we do?”

Chu Shen sighed. “Tell them this. ‘We arrived here from a different dimension. The Tachyonic transmission was to determine if this was the same dimension as the one we originated from. The language was learned from a species identical to this one located in our original universe.’ Honestly, I don’t like revealing all this, but I can’t come up with a convincing lie that won’t get us killed on a moment’s notice.”

Lucas nodded understandingly. “I get it Chu Shen. No one thinks you could do better.”

Of course, there was someone that disagreed. ‘I think you could, brat.’

‘Shut up Master Ti Wu. You’re ruining  a touching moment here.’ 

‘Did you just tell me to shut up?! You brat!’ While Master Ti Wu scolded Chu Shen, Lucas conveyed the message to the mech in its language.

There was a delay as the robot seemed to process the new information. After half-a-minute, the mech finally answered. “How can this information be verified?”

Lucas smiled. “Quite easily. All I need to do is transmit to you the data from my memory banks. You may have noticed since you destroyed one of my bodies earlier, but I am not an organic. I am a cyborg, part organic and part machine. I have a positronic brain modeled after my organic brain, implanted after an accident caused severe damage to my body.”

“Transmit the data immediately.”

“How?”

“If you transmit it on Radio Frequency 52.92, Assault Mech 009 will be able to pick up the signal.”

“Transmitting now.” Lucas started transferring a video feed of what he had seen since they had arrived at this new dimension, while also providing translating software. It took only one minute to transfer the data and another three minutes for the voice to process it.

Finally, the voice spoke. “Your claims have been verified. You are now classified as non-hostile aliens. You will no longer be attacked by any of the Mechanized Armor Units or by any Orbital Installations. Due to your new classification, I am required to inform you that the alien invaders from 12.3 cycles ago have now appeared inside the planetary system. Due to this conflict, this planet will no longer be safe. Use this information wisely, because the Defense System will not assign priority to your protection. If this unit survives the war, I may have further questions for you about this identical species.”

Lucas nodded his thanks. “Thank you for your concern. I will discuss our options with my companions before making any decisions. I don’t believe we will be here for the war but if we are then we will answer any questions you may have.”

He turned to Chu Shen. “Well, it appears we are in the clear. The A.I., or whatever that thing is, has agreed to let us stay here in peace. There’s a catch though. Apparently those invaders are back.”

Aslo spoke up. “You said that they appeared over four hundred years ago. Why would they appear now?”

Lucas shrugged. “No idea. They must want this planet for something, though. Four hundred years is enough for most radiation to dissipate.”Aslo was, of course, confused by this answer. However, he did remember one thing though. “Does this mean those invaders are coming to wipe out the Nugitraaiil again?”

Lucas shook his head. “No. I asked the mech and it said this planet was uninhabited. Those invaders already finished the job. Honestly, I don’t see why we don’t just go back to your dimension. There’s a war about to start and we don’t have a piece in either side.”

Aslo shook his head. “No. This planet is the burial place of all those people. I wouldn’t have wanted the Asura Sect to use the Rising Tide Sect’s old buildings. That is exactly what those invaders want to do here. I want to stay and help them fight.”

Chrissa spoke up softly. “I want to as well.”

Lucas threw up his hands. “Great. Just great!” He turned towards Chu Shen. “Tell them we need to leave. We could quite easily lose our lives here. I’d prefer it if we just left right now.”

Aslo also turned to Chu Shen. “Savior, I know that this request is unreasonable. I just want to defend the memory of all these people. I feel a connection with them. You don’t need to stay, just allow me and Chrissa to.”

Chu Shen lowered his head and began to think.



 

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[Arc 5] Chapter 137


Chapter 137

Fight!

The turrets fired at them, filling the air with bolts of red energy. They were similar to the energy bolts the drone scouts had used, but they seemed to be far more powerful when compared to them. Chu Shen hurriedly created several shields to protect his friends. Using <Stars Dance: Light Step>, Chu Shen ran up to the mech.

He ran like he was running on steps, going up towards the mech’s face. Several hundred energy bolts came at him and his friends in just ten seconds. Most of them were absorbed by his shields, giving his friends time to react before they broke.

Lucas immediately flew up into the air, using fire from his legs. Aslo and Chrissa were able to avoid everything using their proficiency as an Early Stage Martial Emperor.

Chu Shen quickly reached the mech. Swinging his hammer, he smashed it into the shoulder of the robot. A white barrier, just like the one the other robot had before, appeared. It was no match for Chu Shen’s strength.

With a loud BANG, the robot spun around from the impact of the blow. Bolts of energy flew everywhere as the robot swung around. The robot fell down onto the ground. It immediately started grasping around, attempting to pull itself back up.

They weren’t going to let it do that, though. Lucas deployed his sniper drones. They immediately started firing at the joints of its right leg. Wind surged towards the robot, keeping it pinned down on the floor. Flames billowed over the entire mech, causing its exterior to become cherry red.

While this was going on, Chu Shen got busy. Protected by his Qi, he was able to stand directly on the robot’s back while not worrying if he would be caught in the crossfire. Using his hammer, he repeatedly bashed the back of the mech’s head. This continued for half a minute.

Then, a large beam of red energy struck Chu Shen in the back. Chu Shen was flung into the robot, his body shield breaking when he did. Chu Shen screamed and glanced down at his right leg. A five inch hole was bored completely through it. Lucas, who had shot both of the mech’s legs off and was starting on the left arm, immediately became alarmed.

Looking up, he saw three more robots exactly like the one that was fighting them. “Crap. Chrissa! Grab Chu Shen! We need to get out of here!” Chrissa nodded and started chanting. Chu Shen floated upwards on a draft of wind shaped like a brick. He was flown straight to Chrissa. She grabbed him and immediately started running.

Lucas and Aslo sent multiple barrages of fireballs up at the mechs. Lucas pulled out his Beast Cannon and fired the lava projectiles straight at them. The guns mounted on their shoulders fired large red beams just like the one that had hit Chu Shen.

Four of them lanced towards Lucas, cutting off both his legs. One was directed at Aslo who barely managed to dodge it by throwing himself on the ground. There was one more gun that hadn’t fired but supposedly it was cooling down from firing at Chu Shen.

The four arms on one of the robots split open. A glob of blue plasma shot forward towards Lucas. Lucas gritted his teeth before firing a lava projectile straight at it. The both met mid-air and exploded. The plasma vaporized the rocky outside before colliding with the molten inner core. The lava and plasma met in a violent collision before exploding.

The Beast Cannon couldn’t continue firing at full power for long, though. Three more plasma balls shot towards Lucas. Lucas was able to stop two, but the third one made it through. The lava projectiles just didn’t have enough power. Right before the plasma ball hit him, Lucas teleported the Beast Cannon into his pocket dimension. His body outside was vaporized.

“LUCAS! NOOO!” Aslo immediately freaked out. He started chanting a Rank 8 Spell, Apocalyptic Shower. Before he finished it though, Lucas suddenly appeared. “Lucas?” Aslo asked incredulously. “I thought you were dead!”

Lucas shrugged his shoulders. “Well, I may be just slightly immortal. Anyways, we need to leave before you get killed.” Lucas had teleported one of his spare bodies outside, of course.

A turret appeared next to Lucas. It had an X shaped bottom and a blast shield wrapped around the barrel. Lucas activated it and identified the three robots as enemies. The robot they had first attacked wasn’t able to get off the ground so far, so Lucas designated it as a low threat enemy.

The turret swiveled towards the closest mech and unleashed multiple small globs of plasma. Lucas took off running, his jetpack appearing around his back. Flying upwards, he grabbed Aslo around his shoulders and got out of there.

Up ahead, Lucas could see Chrissa flying as well. A miniature hurricane had formed below her legs, propelling her through the air. Aslo had flames appear below his legs, allowing him to break Lucas’ grip and fly as well.

“Oh great. No one needs a friendly jetpack anymore, do they.” Lucas grumbled. He turned around and glanced back at the turret. As he did, he witnessed the turret disappearing in a flare of red light. The three mechs flew through the air after them. A fourth one also appeared, though it was missing its lower body.

Miniature missiles shot out of the mech’s arms after them. Lucas sighed. “This day is getting better and better.” His sniper drones started to pick them off, one by one. There were over fifty missiles that had been launched at them. The missiles started doing tricks to avoid his shots. They were doing barrel rolls, zig-zags, and every other aerial trick in the book to dodge his fire.

It was pointless, however. The missiles were all destroyed before reaching Lucas, though the last one was way too close for comfort. The mechs, however, were closing fast. They were a lot faster then the last ones that had come after them, and were far more heavily armed. The lasers and energy bolts attenuated too much in the atmosphere to fire at them from a distance, so they were safe for a little while. They were half a mile apart whenever the lasers started back up once again.

Lucas gritted his teeth. It looked as though he was going to have to teleport them into his pocket dimension. Most likely they were going to have to go back to Aslo and Chrissa’s realm once again.

Suddenly he heard Chu Shen say something. “Hey Lucas, do you think it’s possible to talk to the mechs?”

Lucas blinked. “What?”

“Well, I mean, isn’t this supposed to be a Nugitraaiil planet? So maybe these machines are leftovers from that war we saw. Maybe by talking to them in the Nugitraaiilian language we can get them to stop.”

Lucas nodded. “Let me try it then.”

He uploaded the Nugitraaiilian language to his voice modulators before turning around. “Halt. We do not wish to fight.”

The mechs that had been chasing them suddenly stopped. Lucas stopped as well. Did it work?




 

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[Arc 5] Chapter 136



Chapter 136

Scouts

Lucas couldn’t accept coincidence. No matter how hard he tried. “There is no way that we just happened to appear on a planet with humans on it. Or that there was an alien species that has just so happened to appear on two of the realms we have visited. Though it’s more like finding the remains of an alien species than actually finding one at all in this case.”

Chu Shen shrugged. “The multiverse is a strange thing. That’s all I can say.”

“You can’t just dismiss one of the greatest mysteries we’ve encountered by saying, ‘that’s the way it works.’ We have to try and analy-”

Right as Lucas was just starting to rant, the door behind them exploded. Shards of metal flew through the air towards the group. Body shields appeared over the twins and Chu Shen. Lucas covered his head to keep his eyes from being scratched out. Turning towards the explosion, Chu Shen groaned.

There, in the doorway, was a small, adult-size robot. It was gray with pistons visible. A blue shield could be seen shimmering just above the surface of the robot. Its right arm was a barrel, glowing slightly red. Its left arm was blade shaped and was making a humming sound. As Chu Shen was observing this robot, a red bolt of energy shot towards him. Chu Shen activated his <Cancellation Armor>.

The red bolt of energy hit Chu Shen and exploded, sending him flying back into the walls. He hit the wall, causing cracks to spread from where he hit it. At the same time, his armor faded slightly.

Lucas reacted immediately and fired a fireball from his hand. “Fireball Barrage! Go!” Aslo also sent over twenty fireballs using the Rank 3 Spell Fireball Barrage. “Wind Scythe! Go!” Chrissa sent a razor-sharp blade of wind directly at the robot.

Even though the wind blade was launched last, it reached the robot first. The wind scythe hit the robot, piercing its blue shield. A gouge appeared on the chest of the robot from where the wind blade struck. Lucas’ fireball landed next. It hit the robot and exploded, sending it flying backwards. The internals of the robot, which had been exposed by the wind blade, were now damaged slightly by the fireball.

Now it was Aslo’s turn. His fireballs were half the size of Lucas’ and the fire wasn’t as intense. However, what it lacked in individual power, it made up in numbers. The first fireball slammed into the robot, causing it to fly backwards at even greater speed straight into a wall. Nineteen more fireballs slammed into the robot, keeping it pinned against the wall.

After the last fireball slammed into the robot, everything was still. Chu Shen picked himself up from where he had landed after being slammed into the wall. The robot stood there, its arms hanging limp by its sides. Its head suddenly came up, staring right at Lucas. Its right arm came up, sending ten bolts of energy in less than a second.

The <Universe Shield> appeared in front of Lucas, blocking the attacks. The shield cracked as the bolts of energy exploded, but it didn’t break. Chu Shen disappeared before reappearing next to the robot. A hammer had appeared in his hand at some point in time. The wind whistled as Chu Shen swung the hammer brutally at the robot’s midsection.

Chu Shen. A martial artist with a void constitution. He didn’t have great attacking techniques. His defense techniques relied mostly on his unique Qi. His speed was superb. However, his one greatest talent was this. Bodily strength.

The hammer smashed into the robot, severing it in half. The hammer passed through the robot as though it was nothing, smashing into the wall behind it. The hammer put a hole through the wall, completely demolishing a good portion of it. Taking a step back, Chu Shen yanked his hammer back.

Aslo clapped. “Now I know how you became the savior.”

Lucas hit him over the head. “Knock it off with the savior thing. We’re all partners now.” He turned towards Chu Shen.

“So those mechs weren’t the only robots here. I think that was a drone scout. They were made by the Nugitraaiil to scout out buildings for the giant mechs they preferred to use so that they could confirm if there was hostiles inside. If there’s one here, that means there’s mechs that are still waiting for us.”

Chu Shen scratched his head. “How exactly do you know all this?”

Lucas shrugged. “I haven’t been just wasting my time you know. I’ve been busy gathering data from the servers as we passed by. Luckily this building was made to protect itself from orbital bombardments. Most of the data is corrupted, but some of it can be salvaged. Their ground assault methods were inside.”

Lucas peered at the robot. “Though, these things didn’t have a shield in the specs I saw. Also, the energy cannon seems to be a lot more powerful than in the blueprints. It might be a prototype that was stored here and was activated once we entered the compound.”

Chu Shen nodded. “That is a possibility. However, it would be better if we acted as though there is a mech outside. If the mech starts attacking in here then we’ll be at a disadvantage. It’s too cramped. We need to get outside.”

Lucas nodded as well. “Alright then. Let’s go. We can get back to the entrance and leave that way.”

They all followed Lucas, since he remembered how to leave. They encountered two more drone scouts on the way. Chu Shen, who was towards the front, would hit them one time with his hammer. All that would be left behind of the drone scouts were mangled parts.

After ten minutes, they had finally reached the entrance. They all took up their positions. Aslo and Chrissa chanted spells underneath their breath, preparing the mana but not casting it. On the count of three, all of them rushed out into the deserted streets.

Everything was quiet. Nothing moved, no one spoke. All of them exchanged glances before splitting up. Looking around, it truly seemed as though no mechs were around.

Aslo let out a sigh of relief. “Looks like we’re good!”

Right after Aslo said that, there was a wumph sound. Immediately after that, there was a loud bang from behind them. Turning around, there was a large mech standing between them and the command center.

It was just as tall as the previous mechs they had faced. However, this one was completely black. Small turrets with barrels poking out could be seen dotting its body. All of the turrets swiveled, locking onto all four of them. It had four arms with two large guns attached to its shoulders.

Lucas facepalmed. “Why’d you have to say that, Aslo?”



 

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[Arc 5] Chapter 135



Chapter 135

Destruction

Hostiles have accessed files of Planetary Defense Command Center. Such actions are determined to be extremely hostile with a 83.333% similarity to the actions of an invader’s scout. Match probability rises to 79.674%.  Threat level is now irrelevant. Assigning Assault Unit #12 to erase hostiles. Preparing Assault Unit #12. Time until dispatch is 1 minute, 57 seconds, 32 microseconds.

……………………………

Chu Shen nodded. “A solar flare, of course! That would explain the interference the holo-display showed around it. The intense electromagnetic energy would have disrupted any long-range scanners.”

Aslo was confused on the other hand. “Uh, what is a solar flare exactly?”

Lucas, who was busy studying some records he had found, answered unconsciously. “It’s when a sun sends massive surges of radiation outwards, but this solar flare is way outside normal specs. As a matter of fact, I would say it might even be engineered. We have devices that can disrupt a sun’s magnetic field, creating a solar flare in the area we want.”

The hologram changed suddenly. There were now slightly more blue ships, but there was a hole in their formation that was blocking an army of red ships. Lucas pointed at the hologram, explaining some of his concerns to Chu Shen while Aslo and Chrissa looked on in confusion.

“If you look at this right here, you can see where those alien invaders managed to get ten ships past the blockade. They sent half of them towards this planet, which were destroyed before even coming close, and the others were sent towards the sun. They flew right into the sun, essentially committing suicide. I believe they managed to deliver a weapon that caused the solar flare. This was two days before the solar flare actually happened.”

He closed his eyes for a second before sighing. “I calculated the trajectory of the planet relative to the solar flare. It should have been a direct hit. The ionosphere of the planet wouldn’t have been able to handle such immense amounts of radiation. The radiation would have been able to leak through to the planet’s surface, killing every single living thing on the planet.

“It does appear as though the Nugitraaiil did anticipate something like this happening. They had isolated bunkers set up for every major city, which is probably why we didn’t see any dead bodies in the street. They would have been able to withstand direct hits from nuclear bombs, and they had forcefields set up. Unfortunately, the solar flare would have caused radiation far beyond the bunkers’ ability to withstand. They would have died soon after the solar flare hit, a day at the most.

“I don’t know how long ago the solar flare happened, but it should have been at least five hundred years ago. Otherwise, the radiation wouldn’t have diminished this much.”

Aslo and Chrissa were both completely lost at this moment. Radiation, bunkers, nuclear bombs… All of this was far beyond their understanding. “Sooo. Does this mean everyone is dead?” Aslo finally asked.

Chu Shen nodded. “Yes it does.”

Chrissa gasped before covering her mouth. She turned away, a small tear trickling down her cheek. Aslo shook his head silently, his face grim. They had just managed to gain revenge for their sect, which had almost been wiped out. The Nugitraaiil had truly been wiped out, down to the last man. No wonder the twins empathized with these aliens so deeply.

Chu Shen sighed at the twins’ emotional outburst before continuing to converse with Lucas about the specifics of the records. “So do we have any records about after the solar flare?”

Lucas shook his head. “No. Well actually, that isn’t accurate. There is a report here about the forcefield that kept the Tactical Room isolated from the outside, which is the only reason why there are still computer records. If there hadn’t been a forcefield, then the electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, would have wiped the systems data and we wouldn’t have found anything.

“The initial electromagnetic force disrupted the power supply for the forcefield. It was able to use batteries to keep it up for another day before running out of energy. However, the Tactical Center lost contact with all facilities outside, effectively cutting them off. That’s what I meant when I say we don’t have any records after the solar flare. We know what happened inside this room but not what happened outside. The officers in the tactical room committed suicide by leaving the forcefield early, which is why there aren’t any dead bodies inside.”

Chu Shen and Lucas looked at each other. What would they do with this information?

………………………………………………

Assault Unit #12 was not dispatched. Error in teleportation system has arisen. Diagnostics running… Diagnostics complete. Quantum wave interference detected. Quantum wave interference often caused by hyperspace jump. Running tracer scan… Tracer scan complete. Quantum wave interference is coming from Gust’op, the seventh planet of the planetary system. Activating telescope array… Telescope array has discovered ships that resemble alien invaders from 12.3 cycles ago.

Sh’lteek protocol activated. Moving to wartime footing. Activating all fighter groups. Activating all Mechanized Armor groups. Activating Planetary Defense Platforms. Manufacturing and mining plants have been activated at 100% capacity.

Assault Unit #12 is ordered to activate normal drives. ETA to Planetary Defense Command Center is 3 minutes, 39 seconds, 1,200 microseconds.

………………………………….

Chu Shen, Lucas, Aslo, and Chrissa decided to go around the rest of the Planetary Defense Command Center looking for further information. As they walked next to each other, Lucas brought up some of his concerns to Chu Shen.

He had on a concerned expression as he talked to Chu Shen. “This just isn’t adding up. The Nugitraaiil are a species that live in my galaxy. They’ve always been very secretive about their past but we’ve had contact with them for three hundred years. Yet here, in an alternate dimension, we find traces of their existence. The same genetic make-up and the same language, all of which couldn’t be faked. This just brings up so many questions.”

Chu Shen shrugged. “Maybe they discovered a way to travel to different dimensions?”

Lucas shook his head. “No, it can’t be that. If they discovered something like that then they would need the ability to manipulate black holes. My dad, Xentus Viri, was just starting to experiment with them whenever we left.”

Chu Shen threw up his hands. “I don’t know then. I have no clue as to how they were able to appear in a completely different dimension. On the other hand, we’ve already been to two other dimensions where there are humans that speak the same language as me. Maybe it’s like that, and the Nugitraaiil just coincidentally appeared in both dimensions.”

……………………………….

Assault Unit 12 has located the hostiles. Hostiles are currently inside the Planetary Defense Command Center. Dispatching Drone Scouts #1, #2, and #3. Mission goal, termination of hostiles.



 

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[Arc 5] Chapter 134



Chapter 134

Mystery

Lucas sighed. “Nope. No signal back. It seems as though I still have to travel with you.”

Chu Shen hit him in the side. “You’re not getting away from me that easy. We’re sticking together until we can both get home.”

Lucas gave him a sad grin. “Well, it sure does look that way.”

Chu Shen glanced around for something to distract Lucas with. He remembered that building from earlier and immediately zoomed in on it. “Hey Lucas, think we can go explore that command center with Aslo and Chrissa? They’ll get bored if they stay in there much longer.”

Lucas suddenly remembered Aslo and Chrissa were still inside his pocket dimension. “Oh yeah. I should probably let them out.”

Aslo and Chrissa suddenly appeared in front of them. As soon as Aslo appeared he jumped towards Lucas and hit him in the arm. “What is up with everybody hitting me today!” Lucas rubbed his arm and glared at everyone.

“Hey!” Aslo got right up in Lucas’ face. “Just because you’re one of the saviors doesn’t mean I can’t hit you. We came along to repay you, not to get transported around like some sword inside your Spatial Bag or whatever you have! Come on! How can we help you if we can’t even face some danger with you!”

Chu Shen sighed. “Aslo, while it’s true that you could have helped out, all you would have been able to do was flee with us. Unlike you though, Lucas can fly without massive energy drain. Because of that, he stayed behind, as did I, because I could help him block things from a distance.”

“But still, we could have-”

“Enough!” Chu Shen finally had enough. “We called you out because we thought you were bored, not to have an argument. Anyways, we were going to go inside that building over there to see if we could figure out why this town was abandoned.”

Aslo finally looked around him. “WHAT! That building…… It’s as tall as a mountain! So is that one! Sis! Look at all these huge buildings! Chu Shen, what kind of magical place is this?”

Chu Shen smiled. “It’s not magical Aslo. It’s the city.”

Chrissa approached Lucas and spoke shyly to him. “So, why would this building answer why the town was abandoned?”

“Well because it’s the command center for the planet’s military.” He explained casually.

She nodded before whispering. “So this town’s name is ‘planet’?”

“Hmm? Oh, no it’s not. The term planet is used for celestial bodies that orbit the sun. We are currently on a planet right now.”

Chrissa glanced at the ground and then pointed up at the sun.

Lucas facepalmed. “I’ll explain this later. Chu Shen! Are we going inside?”

Chu Shen nodded. “Yeah, let’s go in now.”

Soon after Chu Shen and the gang went towards the Planetary Defense Command Center. It took them multiple tries to enter. Chu Shen had to smash a hole through the door for them to gain access to the building. Upon entering the smell of death and decay was heavy.

Glancing around Chu Shen saw bodies strewn across the halls as though they had died mid-stride. Mildewed clothes and bones could be seen. Only small bits of flesh hadn’t decayed yet on the bodies. There was some things that were really puzzling though. There were scales littered around the bodies. The bones also didn’t match those of a human. The fingers were longer than a human’s and the mouth was filled with needle-like teeth.

Lucas ignored the dead bodies and went over to one of the walls. A compound map was there. “Follow me, the tactical room is this way.” Everyone followed Lucas, though Chrissa walked far away from any of the bodies. They walked through several rooms and hallways, all with a body or two at least, before arriving at a large room. Inside the room was a large mushroom shaped stand.

Lucas immediately discovered it was a holo-projector. Going over to it, Lucas pressed the button labeled power. Nothing happened. He flipped open a panel on his arm and a cable emerged from it. He cut open several cables leading to the holo-display before discovering the one that carried power to it. He spliced the power cable with the one from his arm before supplying it with power.

Suddenly the entire room was lit up with a blue 3D display. There was the image of a solar system with ten planets floating in front of them with the sun of the system above the holo-projector. There were ships surrounding the fifth planet from the sun. There was only four or five of them and they seemed to be headed away from the planet.

Out by the ninth planet was a massive cloud of spaceships. Some were bright blue and others a blood red color. The red ships far outnumbered the blue. There were also blue, human shaped icons scattered amongst them.

The most eye catching thing though was a large white ribbon that was right next to the fifth planet. The holographic image of it was pixelated and distorted, as though something had been interfering with the image.

Aslo and Chrissa both jumped upon seeing this hologram appear out of nowhere. “What is this Chu Shen?!” He asked pointing at it.

Chu Shen sighed. This was starting to get really tiring. It seemed as though they would have to receive a lesson in technology from him and Lucas ASAP. “This is a hologram. Essentially it creates an image.” He couldn’t say 3D since they had no idea what 3D represented.

Aslo nodded. “So like a soul projection then? It’s a Rank 4 Light Spell. So, are you a light mage then?”

Chu Shen shook his head. “No. There are machines that can replicate the effects of certain spells. There are a couple branches of creating magic tools and technology is one of them. The Technology Branch of magic tools creates machines that anyone at any level can use. This mushroom thing is a machine that can replicate the soul projection spell.”

“Wow! That’s pretty cool!” Aslo immediately focused on the mushroom object. While he did that, Chu Shen approached Lucas.

“Is there anyway to find out what this image means?” He asked Lucas.

Lucas nodded. “Right now I’m hacking the database for the holo-projector. According to the records I have access to now, they were invaded. About a year before the records ended unknown ships started attacking them. They didn’t have Hyperspace Engines so their FTL (Faster-Than-Light) capabilities were severely hampered, though they did have Tachyon comm systems. The enemy would warp in at the edge of their solar system in droves and attack them. No messages were ever exchanged and their ships were unmanned.”

Lucas suddenly gasped. His head immediately turned towards the fifth planet. He pointed at the mysterious ribbon. “I know what that is.”

“It’s a solar flare.”



 

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[Arc 5] Chapter 133



Chapter 133

Abandoned

After the abrupt takeoff, Chu Shen adapted to Lucas’ flight. It wasn’t his first rodeo after all. As they flew towards the city, Lucas expressed some concerns. “Those mechs back there aren’t natural. It’s obvious they were made by somebody, along with the weapon that destroyed my satellite. I’m afraid whoever lives in this city may have more powerful weapons. That could be why the mechs retreated; since we’re going right to them, why should they continue after us?”

Chu Shen shrugged, a gesture Lucas could feel from his grip on Chu Shen. “I’m not sure, but I can say this. I would rather try to negotiate with the person controlling the weapon then to fight the weapon. Maybe we can strike a deal with them.”

Lucas rolled his eyes. “Like that’ll ever happen. It never works out like that in the movies.”

Chu Shen hit Lucas in the leg. “Good thing this isn’t a movie.”

Lucas waved his arm around a bit, causing Chu Shen to shake back and forth. “You wanna fall from here, huh? Cause from where I’m flying, it looks like you really want to.”

“STOP IT LUCAS!” Chu Shen smacked Lucas’ hand away, falling below him. Immediately Lucas panicked and dived after him.

“Crap crap CRAP! Chu Shen you crazy sonovagun!” Lucas was just about to catch up to Chu Shen when a round circle of energy appeared below Chu Shen’s feet. Chu Shen pushed off that circle of white light and shot upwards, passing Lucas.

Using his tremendous strength, Chu Shen traveled quite fast. Another circle of white energy appeared beneath his feet which he used to propel himself upwards and forwards. His speed actually matched Lucas’ cruising speed on the jetpack!

Lucas, stunned as he was from this surprise, immediately turned around. “CHU SHEN!!!” He yelled as he opened the throttle on his jetpack. Immediately he shot after Chu Shen. Right as he caught up, Chu Shen jumped upwards while doing a flip, causing his head to become oriented towards Lucas. Kicking off another circle of light, Chu Shen shot towards Lucas and grabbed his neck.

Lucas wobbled from the impact and additional weight before stabilizing his flight. “Chu Shen! Are you crazy?! You could’ve died!” He yelled at Chu Shen.

Chu Shen shrugged. “I just got tired of you always shaking me. Come on, doesn’t it get old? Normally I could put up with it, but this isn’t the time to goof off. We’re in a situation where we don’t know who we are facing or their strength. Get it together, we need to be serious.”

Lucas was stunned at this. “Why didn’t you just say that instead of making me drop you? Also, how did you stop falling?”

Chu Shen sighed. “With your joking temperament, you wouldn’t have taken me seriously unless I did something shocking. As for me stopping my falling, it was naturally due to <Stars Dance: Light Step>. Remember that with it I can make my Qi solid and create a stepping stone in mid-air.”

“I don’t ever remember you having that ability.”

“Really? I thought I told you. I learned it while training back at the second magic beast hunting zone.”

“Nope. You never told me about what you did while training.”

“Huh. I guess I’ll have to show you everything eventually.”

Lucas suddenly saw the city they had been flying towards. “Hey Chu Shen, I can see the city.”

Chu Shen immediately became excited. “Quick, tell me what kind of people are in the city, what kind of activity is there?”

“What do you mean tell you about the city? I can just see a black smudge over the horizon! It’ll take at least another ten minutes before I can see details.”

Chu Shen sighed. “All right then. Tell me when you can then.” After some impatient humming and tapping on Lucas’ head, Lucas could finally see the city. What he saw though confused him.

 “That’s odd.”

Chu Shen hit him on head. “What’s odd?”

Lucas rubbed the back of his head. “Ouch. Not so hard next time. Anyways, remember those buildings we saw when we first came here?”

Chu Shen nodded. “Yeah. They were white and had scorch marks all over them.”

“Well these skyscrapers are the same. White with scorch marks. There are some holes in the buildings as well, and some look like they’ve started melting.”

“Hmm. That is odd. We’ll need to look at them more closely when we get there.”

Soon, Lucas and Chu Shen arrived at the bustling, unknown city. Well, it wasn’t a bustling city. It was a ghost town. Not a single animal or person could be seen. Melted vehicles of some sort littered the streets. The shells of the vehicles were twisted and warped, looking like boxes out of a Picasso painting.

Lucas and Chu Shen picked their way through the area, studying the wreckage that was strewn about the ghost town. “The Qi concentration is very intense here. It might be one of those realms that is very dense in Qi, like the ones Master Ti Wu told me about.” Chu Shen remarked.

Lucas shrugged. “I have no idea about that, but my Geiger Counter is going nuts. This much radiation is like being ten miles from a thermonuclear bomb. No regular human could survive this and my positronic brain is only safe because of the radiation shielding I put inside my body.”

Chu Shen saw a large, dome-shaped building with a large sign in front of him. The sign was made of unrecognized characters. The characters were harsh, angular lines and he only recognized it as a sign because of the placement. He pointed towards the sign. “Hey Lucas, can you read that sign?”Lucas turned back towards Chu Shen. Glancing back at where Chu Shen was pointing at, he cocked his head sideways. “Maybe, let me run my translation program real quick… Yep. It’s weird though. The characters are actually Nugitraaiilian.” Chu Shen looked at him blankly. “Remember those lizard aliens you faced in the RoboGames back on my planet?”

“Oh yeah. They were kind of annoying, going on about having to learn from the person that beat them because of their ‘honor’. Still, it’s really weird that their language popped up here of all places.”

Lucas became excited as a possibility. “Wait, could this mean I’m back in my universe?”

Chu Shen shrugged. “No idea. I doubt it, but I don’t control where we go, so who knows? Anyways, what did the sign say?”

“The sign said ‘Planetary Defense Command Center.’ Let me activate the Tachyon comm relay so that we can try and contact Sparta.”

…………………………………………….

Hostiles have activated Tachyonic transmission. Transmission interception in progress… Interception complete. Transmission reads, ‘Are you there Father? It’s me, Lucas.’ Cannot translate message. Running decryption program. Decryption program failed. Probability of message containing encrypted message is 97%. Error. Cannot decrypt but message must be encrypted. Error. Error. Error. Error. Erro-.

Error avoidance program activated. Bypassing logic circuits. Encrypted message is confirmed as reality. Encrypted message has encryption surpassing decryption program. Action determined as hostile. Match probability raises to 59.922%. Until match probability raises to 60%, observation to classify threat level is permitted.



 

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[Arc 5] Chapter 132



Chapter 132

Confusion

It turns out that the giant robot didn’t have a backpack on. Instead, it had on a missile launcher, which it was currently using to launch missiles at them. All the while, white beams of energy from the other, smaller ones shot towards them.

Lucas had put Aslo and Chrissa inside his pocket dimension while he strapped on his jetpack. He flew through air while trying to dodge missiles that were constantly exploding around him. Chu Shen was able to keep pace with the jetpack by using <Comet Travels Through: Dust Trail>. Just like the technique said, he left a trail of dust from the rock he crushed to powder with his feet and threw into the air with every step.

He may have been in danger of getting weary, except for one thing. The smaller robots were targeting him with their energy beams. Using his <Cancellation Armor>, Chu Shen was able absorb the energy beams and keep himself at full capacity. At the moment, it looked like a stalemate.

………………………………………………………………

Deep, deep underground, less than five hundred feet from the mantle of the planet, sat a bunker. Inside this bunker was a series of large memory banks, comprising the brain of the A.I. that dwelled there. Currently, the A.I. was monitoring a very concerning situation.

Interdimensional energy detected. Calculating. Probability of the masters’ return is 13.333%. Probability of invaders is 62.651%. Probability of unknown occurrence is 24.016%. Dispatching Scout Mech 004…………

 

Interdimensional energy detected. Scout Mech 004 report received. No life forms detected. No mechanical constructs detected. Probability of cloaked enemies, 11.923%. Probability of an enemy testing interdimensional teleportation method is 86.056%. Probability of natural phenomenon is 2.021%. Preparing scouting party…………….

 

Interdimensional energy detected. Dispatching Scout Mech 004. Enemy contact. Four bipedal organics detected. Analyzing creatures. 62.12% match to invaders. According to Sh’lteek protocol, treat any invaders with 50% match or greater as threat. Assigning organism as hostile. Assigning Scout Mech 004 as test subject…….

 

Test subject has been neutralized. Match probability drops to 52.322%. Weapons of invaders match that of masters but also that of the T’keel. Can defend against minimum power energy beam. Invaders can also break Gret’ak material.

Further data required for analysis. Activating orbital observation satellite array. Dispatching Scout Mech 002, Scout Mech 003, Scout Mech 005, Scout Mech 006, Scout Mech 007, Light Support Mech 001.

 

Unknown teleportation method activated. Two hostiles disappeared. One hostile has flight capabilities. One hostile has movement capabilities on par with low class master. Forty mechanical hostiles are covering for the two fleeing hostiles. Match probability drops to 51.999%. Further data required for analysis. 

 

Further observation is needed. Determine hostiles objective in order to classify threat level. Recalling Scout Mech 002, Scout Mech 003, Scout Mech 005, Scout Mech 006, Scout Mech 007, Light Support Mech 001. Focusing orbital observation satellite array on hostiles.

………………………………………………..

 Chu Shen and Lucas had been fleeing from the robots for about ten minutes. The larger one had run out of missiles. Instead, it started launching plasma balls at Lucas from the barrel it had in its hand. The plasma balls would explode on impact with anything else. Chu Shen had discovered that tidbit when he used <Universal Shield> to protect Lucas when he was about to be hit.

“HEY LUCAS! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT THESE KILLER ROBOTS!” Chu Shen yelled at Lucas so he could hear him over the sounds of combat.

Lucas swooped over Chu Shen while doing a barrel roll to avoid several plasma balls. “I’M NOT SURE! MOST OF MY WEAPONS ARE GEARED TOWARDS PEOPLE, NOT ROBOTS. OTHERWISE I WOULD HAVE USED AN EMP OR ION CANNON.”

Suddenly, all of the robots stopped firing. Chu Shen and Lucas glanced over their shoulders. The robots were now standing completely still. There was a flash of blue light. The robots were gone.

Lucas slowly landed beside Chu Shen. “What just happened?” Lucas sounded confused.

Chu Shen shrugged helplessly. “I’m not sure. Several giant robots attacked us for no reason and then left.”

“Soooo……What do we do now?”

“First we need to find a place to stay. We also need to be able to lose those robots if they appear again. Lucas, can you fly up high and get a good look around?”

Lucas smiled. “I can do better than that. Here, let me launch my satellite first. We can find a suitable place with that.”

The satellite appeared before Chu Shen and Lucas. Immediately, it started flying upwards. Lucas grinned. “Soon, I should get some images.” As he said that, he stored all of his sniper drones back inside his subspace pocket.

…………………………………………………..

Hostiles have launched an orbital reconnaissance vehicle. Action determined as possibly dangerous. Match probability raises to 54.821%. Must eliminate orbital reconnaissance vehicle. Activating orbital weapon platform.

…………………………………………………..

At approximately 420 miles (32 km) above the planet, there was a 1 mile (1.6 km) diameter sphere. A bay door slid open on the side of the sphere that faced the planet, and a long barrel emerged from the open hatch. The sphere rotated slightly before firing its weapon. A beam of white hot plasma shot out of the barrel down towards the planet’s surface.

The barrel receded back into the sphere. Once it was back inside the sphere, the bay door slid back into place. The sphere was once again silent, floating through the void of space.

………………………………………………….

Lucas had deployed his holo-drone so Chu Shen could see what the satellite was seeing. “Look at this, Chu Shen. It’s a city! Not a sprawling town but a city, with skyscrapers and everything! Wow, this planet is pretty amazing. It’s similar to my own realm, actually. Anyway, we need to decide where to go.”

Chu Shen nodded. “A city would be the best place. We might be able to find someone that can explain the random robot attacks to us. Plus, the city will provide lots of places to avoid the robots if they attack us again.”

Lucas nodded in agreement. “Alright then. We’re here, and the nearest town is here. We would need to go this direction in order to rea- Hey!” Suddenly, the satellite view of the ground disappeared.

“Uh oh. I lost contact with the satellite. I have no idea what went wrong though.” Lucas was befuddled at this turn of events.

Chu Shen hit him in the arm. When Lucas looked at him, he pointed behind him. “Lucas, I think I found out what it was that destroyed your satellite.”

Lucas turned to look where Chu Shen was pointing. “I don’t see why you assume it was destroyed. What could possibly give you that ideaaaaa………… Never mind. I see it.”

A white beam of plasma could be seen streaking through the atmosphere a mile away from them. Chu Shen watched as the plasma hit the ground and chewed right through it, as if nothing was there.

Chu Shen watched it for a while before sighing. “Alright then, Lucas. We need to get a move on.”

Lucas grinned. He grabbed onto the unsuspecting Chu Shen’s arm before suddenly taking off.

“NOOOOTTTTT AAAAGGGGAAAAIIIIIINNNN LLLUUUUCCCCAAASSSS!!!!” Chu Shen screamed as he was dragged behind Lucas.

“NO WORRIES CHU SHEN! I JUST THOUGHT WE NEEDED TO GET THERE QUICKLY! HAHAHAHA!”

……………………………………………

The hostiles did not have a major reaction to the destruction of their orbital reconnaissance vehicle. The hostiles are currently moving towards Gu’lt. Continuing observation of the hostiles.



 

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[Arc 5]Chapter 131



Arc 5 [Desolate World]

 

Chapter 131

Run!

Chu Shen and Lucas appeared in the middle of that blue grass field once again. Chrissa and Aslo also appeared after Lucas let them out of his pocket dimension. They immediately started looking around.

Aslo looked shocked as he glanced around. “How far did you teleport us? I had no idea grass could be blue. Also, that space you kept us in. There were so many metal things in there. What were they?”

Lucas felt a headache coming. “Uh, well.. you see….. Chu Shen!?”

Chu Shen shook his head. “Nope. This one’s all yours, buddy. I got to explain it to you last time.”

Lucas sighed. “Okay. Well, first let me start off with this fact. We are on another world. We have these bracelets, the Chains of Transportation, that let us travel to other worlds. We were both kind of sucked into this on accident and are hitching rides until we reach our original world.”

Chrissa’s eyes were as big as saucers while Aslo just sat there. Finally, he shook his head. “Okay then. So, what are we doing here?”

Lucas shrugged. “We don’t have a goal. We are forced to disappear to another world with no idea when it will happen. As far as we can tell, there is no pattern. We just randomly disappear.”

Aslo seemed to be struggling to come to grips with this new information. “Then what abo-”

A blue flash of light blinded them. Once their eyes adjusted, all of them looked at the area where the light had come from. Standing there was a 33 ft. (10 m) tall, metal scale covered, human-like creature.

As everyone looked at it in confusion, it pointed its arm at them. Suddenly feeling a sense of danger, Chu Shen summoned the <Universe Shield> and placed it between them and the creature. Not even a second later a beam of white energy shot towards them from the creature’s palm.

“WHY DO WE ALWAYS GET ATTACKED LIKE THIS!!!!” Lucas yelled to Chu Shen. The sound of crackling was so loud that one had to yell in order to be heard over it.

“IS THIS A COMMON OCCURRENCE THEN?!” Aslo yelled back.

“SHUT UP AND FOCUS! I CAN’T HOLD ON LONG!” Chu Shen yelled at both of them. Immediately Lucas and Aslo’s eyes turned towards Chu Shen’s energy shield. The circular shield was cracked and starting to fade away. It was absorbing the energy from the white beam to repair itself, but not fast enough to offset the damage the beam was doing to it.

Lucas and Aslo immediately became serious, ceasing their chatter. Lucas pulled out his Beast Cannon. “I NEVER GOT A CHANCE TO TEST THIS THING. BETTER NOW THAN NEVER!”

The Beast Cannon. It was a long box 4 feet in length with a barrel sticking out of one end. In the middle was a U shaped gap that would fit over Lucas’ shoulder. He aimed the barrel at the creature. Smiling, he fired the Beast Cannon.

A stream of orange and red lava flew towards the creature at three quarters the speed of sound. The outside was solid rock, cooled by the wind. The inside was molten rock, superheated from Qi. These two features combined formed a very formidable weapon.

The creature glanced at the lava projectile. Without any outwards motion, a white barrier appeared in front of it. The projectile smashed into the barrier, causing it to flash brightly and then weaken. The molten projectile bounced off the shield and flew backwards over their heads. Lava smeared onto the barrier and dribbled down it, cooling rapidly.

Lucas gritted his teeth. “Oh yeah!? That was only at five percent. Take this! Full power blast!”

The lava projectile shot out once more. It was now white hot and made a sonic boom as it flew towards the creature. This time, the white barrier wasn’t able to stop the projectile. It smashed through and hit the creature.

The creature flew backwards through the air and hit the side of a building, cracking it. The creature lay slumped against the side of the building, completely still. Lucas was just about to cheer when the creature shifted. It grabbed the black hunk of rock from where it was jammed into its abdomen.

With a quick jerk, the rock became dislodged. The creature threw the rock behind it. Its stomach now had cracks in its metal scales. The lava left scorch marks on some of its scales as it trailed down its body. Everyone’s faces immediately became serious.

A soft girl’s voice suddenly sounded behind Chu Shen, causing him to turn around. It was Chrissa! “Wind focus and shape. Take form before me. Create what I want through this fragile will of mine. Go forth, Wind Scythe Hurricane!”

The Rank 7 spell formed around the creature, creating a hurricane around it. Hundreds of blades of wind struck the creature all over its body in a matter of seconds. Sparks flew from the mana-infused wind, striking the metal scales of the creature. The white barrier appeared around the creature again, but it was quickly shattered by the onslaught of wind scythes.

Aslo decided he wasn’t just going to watch though. “I’ll help you sis! Flames of the world, converge in front of me. Burn those who I want to destroy, and protect those I wish to protect. Flames take form, Fiery Sun!” A huge ball of flame appeared around the creature, consuming it. The hurricane around it caused the ball of flame to become even bigger. The magic spells synergized together very well, creating a Rank 8 spell from the two Rank 7 spells.

Chu Shen grimaced while watching them. There was no way he could join in. His Qi would just absorb their spells. Honestly, he was better for melee attacks and defensive maneuvers. He would get in the way of everyone else if he tried attacking now.

Lucas also didn’t stand idly by. “You can take one full power blow, but how about ten?!” He hoisted his Beast Cannon up and aimed at the center of the fireball. Immediately, several lava projectiles slammed into the creature. It hadn’t been doing nothing and had started to try and close the distance between them.

With the lava projectiles slamming into it, the creature was forced back into the building, causing it to crack even more. Surprisingly, the building was still standing. The twins’ spells, which had been active for a minute already, were starting to falter. They had enough mana to sustain the spells, but the concentration required was another matter.

Multiple sniper drones appeared around Lucas, though several of them appeared far bigger than the others. Chu Shen quickly covered his ears and none too soon. The air shook from over forty sonic booms occurring at once. Aslo and Chrissa winced at the unexpected sound. Their spells became disrupted as they were distracted.

Lucas glanced over apologetically before turning back towards the creature. Right now they could finally see it clearly since it wasn’t covered in fire or dust now. Lucas and Chu Shen gasped when they saw it while the twins seemed confused.

The creature was severed in half, the upper body pinned against the wall by several rock shards. The lower half lay on the ground motionless. That wasn’t what was making them so shocked, however. It was the wires that were spilling out of the creature’s abdomen. Or rather, the robot’s abdomen.

Lucas grimaced slightly. “Sorry to destroy such a fine piece of equipment like this, but…” Another volley of projectiles launched from the sniper drones, causing the twins to flinch once again. The robot’s head shattered into fragments of metal and unidentified materials.

Lucas turned to Chu Shen. “So, what did you think of that?”

Several flashes of blue light suddenly went off. Turning around, Lucas saw five more robots that were identical to the first appear out of nowhere. Another robot standing at 49 ft. (15 m) tall appeared as well. It was identical to the others except for its right arm, which was a barrel instead of a hand. It also had what appeared to be a backpack on.

Aslo seemed shaken. “So what do we do now!?”

Chu Shen grabbed his and Chrissa’s hands. “Well, we do what one always does in the face of imminent death.”

“RUN!!!!”



 

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[Arc 4] Chapter 130



Chapter 130

New Realms, Old Friends

 

Chu Shen and Lucas waited for a while inside the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion. After a little while, they suddenly disappeared before reappearing in a large open space.

Lucas sat down and sighed. “Ugh. Having to be on guard all the time just in case we have to move….SO FRUSTRATING!”

Chu Shen sighed as well. “I know, but at least we get to meet some new people every time. Like the twins. I liked Aslo a lot.”

Lucas nodded. “Yeah, Aslo wasn’t too bad. His sister wasn’t that bad to look at either.” He leaned back. “I guess we have met some good people. Except that leg destroying dude. He did make up for it I suppose, but it still sucked.”

Chu Shen sighed. “Come on, just let it go, alright?”

Lucas shook his head. “Nope.”

“Fine. We should at least take a look around, right?” Chu Shen got up and did exactly that. He saw blue grass growing wildly all around him. Buildings made of a white material could be seen. Scorch marks covered the buildings though, and most of them had sections falling in.

Lucas shook his head. “I really don’t like this. I know those kids should be alright, they have far more power than those other sects do. I just can’t stop worrying about them though. How about this, I still have the Chains of Transportation  with a charm connected to the first hunting area we were at. Why don’t I go there and check up on them before coming back?”

Chu Shen smiled. “Great idea. I also have a charm there as well. Why don’t we both go back?”

Lucas nodded. “Sure.”

With a thought, a metal chain appeared around their arms. Reaching down, they touched the ground with the chain. As they did, they both channeled energy into the chain. A small charm appeared around it, with the Chinese symbol for 3 (三) on it.  The first charm led to the Black Night Sect. The second led to the first magic beast hunting zone. The third now led to this open field.

Chu Shen looked at Lucas. “So, are you ready to go back?”

Lucas smiled. “Of course.”

They channeled energy into the “2 ( 二)” charm and disappeared.

What they didn’t know about was the large metal behemoth that appeared five minutes later. It looked like a huge man covered in metal scales. A harsh hissing sound impossible to replicate with the human voice came from the metal creature. It paused for a second before hissing something else.

In a flash of blue light, the creature disappeared from the area.

………………………………………………………………

Chu Shen and Lucas reappeared in the first magic beast hunting zone. Lucas suddenly smacked his head. “You know, I forgot to get the coordinates to teleport us there.”

Chu Shen sighed. “Well, it would also be suspicious if we just appeared out of nowhere.”

Lucas smiled. “Luckily, I still have my spaceship. It has stealth systems on it as well, the true kind. It can jump into hyperspace and it’s cut off completely from this world.”

Chu Shen gestured forward. “Be my guest.”

Immediately, a large teardrop shaped craft appeared in front of Lucas and Chu Shen. It had no outer hatches or viewports and was 928 ft (300 meters) long, with the wide end measuring 246 ft (75 meters). It appeared to be completely solid. Chu Shen looked at it in confusion. “Just how are we supposed to get into this thing?”

Lucas grinned at him. “You walk through the wall of the ship of course. This thing is made of nanites coated in Durasteel X, the strongest material we had in my universe. The weapons it has are limited, only a couple stealth missiles which I made on the side. The power is broadcast from the anti-matter generator I have. Most of the space on it is for the hyperspace system and gravity drive. The rest is used for cabins, missile storage, the weapon vault, food, and a simulation room.”

Chu Shen waved his hand. “I don’t need a step by step breakdown right now, all I need is to check up on those kids.”

Lucas sighed. “Fine. Have it your way.” Lucas approached the ship and touched his hand to the outer hull. The ship’s hull seemed to sink around his hand, enveloping it in liquid metal. Lucas continued walking forward until his entire body seemed to become one with the ship before disappearing inside.

Chu Shen shrugged and then walked inside himself. It was like being enveloped in metal putty. It gave at his touch. Eventually he found himself standing on a metal walkway inside the ship. Lucas faced him with a smile. “Let’s go then.”

The black ship’s surface rippled before it suddenly seemed to disappear. This was its cloaking mechanism. Its gravity drives activated as it flew at subsonic speeds towards White Lotus City. They didn’t want to attract any trouble with sonic booms, so they avoided going faster than the speed of sound. Two hours later, they had arrived. Chu Shen and Lucas landed outside the city before walking inside after storing the ship inside Lucas’ pocket dimension.

Once inside, they saw people putting up signs. The signs said, ‘Void Sect Registration Now Open. Only Accepting Those with Rank 3 Mage Talent or Lower.’

Chu Shen was surprised by that. They had been gone for less than three hours and they already had everything sorted out? Lucas and Chu Shen exchanged confused glances. Chu Shen approached one of the men putting up the sign. “Uh, excuse me sir. Where is the Void Sect at?”

The man saw Chu Shen and smiled. “It’s not a surprise that you don’t know about them. They only appeared two days ago. They wiped out the Asura Sect and ran the Ice Dragon and Golden Palm Sects off as well. They’re down the road at the center of town. You can’t miss it.”

Chu Shen thanked the man and then they quickly ran towards the Void Sect. While they did, Lucas and Chu Shen started to debate as to why two days had already gone by when it had only been three hours for them. Master Ti Wu put an end to it though.

‘Enough bickering, you brat. Each realm has a different passage of time compared to the others. You can’t expect them all to have the same passage of time. One minute in one could be a million years in another. It’s all relative to the one you want to compare it to.’

Eventually, they reached the new Void Sect. Going up to the sect, they encountered some of the students. Recognizing their saviors, they were brought to Griffith immediately. There, Chu Shen and Lucas were brought up to speed on all the things that had happened in the two days they were gone. Chu Shen and Lucas were surprised at how smoothly everything went.

After the takeover, all of the townsfolk showed a surprising amount of acceptance. They had suffered under the brutality of the Asura Sect for a while now, and they were all too happy to see them disappear. The fights that had occurred didn’t damage most of the infrastructure of the sects as well so taking over their facilities went nicely.

Chu Shen and Lucas were both relieved by the fact that none of the kids were hurt badly. Except Thomas. They both felt some guilt towards that, since they were sure they could have saved him if they had been there. Griffith gave them some alone time after that.

After about ten minutes, Lucas turned back to Chu Shen. “I don’t think they need us anymore. They’re already established pretty well here. We don’t need anything else from this realm and it would be kind of weird staying in the sect we established.”

Chu Shen nodded as well. “I would say it’s time to go back to that new realm we saw.”

Just as they were deciding to leave, the door flung open. There in the doorway stood a kid who was not a kid. Fifteen year old Aslo had a face that could be called an adult’s. His eyes were fierce, his cheeks scarred. The only thing that took away from his adult features was the baby fat still visible on his face.

He stared at Chu Shen and Lucas. Suddenly, he fell to his knees and bowed to them. “Thank you, thank you. Thanks to you, I have avenged my mother’s death.”

Chu Shen reached down and grabbed his shoulder, pulling Aslo up from the ground. “Please Aslo, don’t do this. We did it because you are a friend. You don’t have to act like this.”

Aslo shook his head. “No, I have to. You are the one that granted me the chance to put my mom’s spirit at peace.”

Lucas slapped him on the back. “Anything for a friend. Anyways Aslo, I’m glad you stopped by. Nice to see you before we leave.”

Aslo immediately focused on Lucas. “Please take us with you!”

Lucas looked confused. “Us?” As he spoke Chrissa stepped through the open doorway.

Aslo nodded. “Yeah. We talked it over and decided that in order to repay you we would like to go with you to wherever it is you decide to go.”

Lucas turned to Chu Shen. “Please, oh pretty please! We need more than just stinking boys. A girl or two would be nice.”

Chu Shen looked at Aslo seriously. “Where we plan on going is far beyond your imagination. It will be extremely far away from here and you will only be able to visit here every once in awhile.”

Aslo and Chrissa both nodded, not a hint of hesitation showing. Chu Shen sighed. “Fine. It was a choice made of your own free will so I have no objection.”

Lucas immediately took out two sets of Chains of Transportation before giving them to Aslo and Chrissa. He gave them a brief explanation before having them wear it. Afterwards they departed the city. In order to not surprise Aslo and Chrissa Lucas avoided using the spaceship and teleported them all to the first magic beast hunting zone.

Now that he had the coordinates, teleporting them between such distances was negligible. Teleportation was a rare power and considered a Rank 4 Space Magic. However, it wasn’t too uncommon so it wasn’t as surprising as a giant spaceship flying them there.

He guided them on how to make the charms before sending them into his pocket dimension. Inside there, Aslo and Chrissa would go with him when they teleported back to their next realm.

Lucas, Chu Shen, Aslo, and Chrissa disappeared from their world in less than a second.

 

[End Arc 4: Magician’s World]



 

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[Arc 4] Chapter 129



Chapter 129

Conflict Closing

It was a very sad day for the Asura Sect. Indeed, the Void Sect had surrounded them. How unfortunate that they were now so arrogant since they had become one of the power houses of White Lotus City. They refused to believe that it was the Void Sect. They laughed and mocked the kids for trying to act tough.

All of them gathered together to slaughter the insignificant brats that dared to hold them hostage. Their bloodthirsty nature showed as they used their most ruthless attacks on the kids, not showing even a hint of mercy towards their young age. They used their own students as cannon fodder in their fights.

How sad, how truly unfortunate for them. For showing such ruthless nature took the students of the Void Sect back to the days of slaughter. To the day when their families, teachers, and friends were killed by these fiends. Not even ten minutes after they attacked, they were destroyed.

The Asura Sect….. was no more.

As for the Ice Dragon Sect, they were more hesitant and believing than the Asura Sect. Upon hearing their demands, as well as their claims that they were Rank 6 and Rank 7 mages, they were loath to believe it. But what if it was true? As a test, their Rank 6 mage asked for a duel. Immediately, over ten Rank 6 spells flew at him from different places. After seeing that, the Ice Dragon Sect gave up.

While all this was going on, Sarah was still facing down the Golden Palm Sect.

………………………………………………………………………………

Talgin was stunned by this sudden occurrence. The powerhouse of his sect was trapped inside the <Shadow Coffin> technique. A Rank 6 magic that would cause anyone to panic. What was worse was the fact that it appeared to be a little girl that had cast it. This completely overturned his sense of power. Yes, a little girl could theoretically become a Rank 6 mage. However, who would ever suspect that someone so young could be so powerful?

Usually, students were advised to stay at Rank 2 or Rank 3 in order to gain experience. It was similar to what Chu Shen was doing, actually. So when this little girl was suddenly revealed to actually be a Rank 6 mage….. it threw Talgin for a loop.

“W-w-what!?” He stuttered, pointing at Sarah.

She sighed. “Obviously if you don’t order a surrender, I will have to kill this man. Next I will have to kill you. After that, if no one surrenders,  we will have to start killing people at random.”

Talgin immediately paled. There was more than ten other kids the same age as this little girl outside the Golden Palm Sect. If what they said was true, then they were just as powerful as her, with some being possibly even more powerful. He couldn’t risk his students’ lives.

He immediately shook his head. “Please, let Baldwin go. We surrender. Us adults will stay here. Just please let the students go, they have nothing to do with this.”

Sarah’s face softened at that, but she still shook her head. “Unfortunately, we can’t. However, I can swear on my life that these kids will not be harmed or imprisoned. They will be set free in a little while.”

Talgin sighed in relief. “I thank you for that.”

Afterwards Sarah had everyone of the Golden Palm Sect go towards the center of the town. There, the Ice Dragon Sect was waiting for them. After two minutes, the kids that were sent to the Asura Sect came back. Their clothes were covered in splotches of blood. Their faces were worn, shocked, and filled with anger and sadness.

Not a single person from the Asura Sect followed behind them. Confused, Griffith approached them to ask what had happened. They spoke about things that would haunt them forever. They spoke about the Asura Sect.

The Asura Sect.

A sect filled with assassins. They had mercilessly trained their kids in the ways of battle since they were four years old. It was unfortunate. The Asura Sect sent out everyone they had from their sect. From their show of force, the Asura Sect knew that their enemies did indeed have some powerhouses.

They sent out the kids as cannon fodder, using their young lives without hesitation to identify the supposedly few strong mages that were threatening them. These kids were only Rank 3 or Rank 4 assassins. That didn’t stop them from attacking with all their might. The defending Void Sect members tried to stop them through less destructive means.

Unfortunately, when you have enough wolves, even a lion can fall. The Asura Sect focused on a single kid with over forty of their cannon fodder. His name was Thomas. He was able to block ten, twenty, even twenty three at one time, but there were too many. Others tried coming to his rescue, but just as his mana shield broke, a Rank 5 assassin appeared out of the shadows and sliced his head directly in half.

It was the first loss the kids had suffered since that horrible night.

It brought forth a rage in them that was unbelievable. Suddenly, spells started spewing forth, lighting up the night. Warrior techniques lashed out when they didn’t have enough time to chant.

It was a slaughter. Not a single person lived through it.

Most of these kids became terrified of themselves. The reason they came was to exact revenge. It was to destroy those that wanted to kill them. They expected fighting. However, looking at the aftermath, seeing the dead bodies that littered the ground; it just didn’t seem like it was worth it. Sadness over the slaughter that had happened, anger at the fact they were forced to kill kids, shock at doing such horrible things, all was visible on their faces.

As the other kids listened to their experience, they rushed over to the Asura Sect to see for themselves. The ground was ripped to shreds. Fire still burned. Icicles could be seen sticking out of still warm flesh. Griffith was saddened immensely at the sight.

If he had known that such a thing would happen, he would have never tried to do this. The teachers would have come by themselves and wiped out the Asura Sect. It would have at least spared these kids the horror of war for a little longer.

After that, they returned to the square. Some of the teachers had remained behind to watch over their prisoners. Upon returning, Griffith gathered up the students. When he asked them what they wanted to do, a unanimous decision was made.

Griffith stood in front of the group of captives. Clearing his throat, he started to speak with them. “Ahem. Tonight, the former Rising Tide Sect took revenge on the three sects that tried to destroy us. Luckily, both of your sects had the sense to surrender. Unfortunately, the Asura Sect did not. They fought to the end, and we do not believe there is a single surviving member inside White Lotus City.”

“It is something that we all regret doing. If we could, we would prefer to not have to do such a thing again. That is why we have decided to let you all go. None of you will be killed or imprisoned. You are all free. However, we would like to never hear of the Ice Dragon or Golden Palm sects ever again. If we do, then there will be consequences.”

Among the people imprisoned there in the circle, there were some that had killed someone close to the Void Sect disciples. However, after seeing such bloodshed with the Asura Sect, the kids didn’t have the stomach to simply slaughter them.

Everyone started to leave, with the teachers of the now disbanded sects rounding up their students. Some of the students left for their homes inside White Lotus City. To them, it was more important to stay with their families than to follow their sect to places unknown.

The powerhouses of the disbanded sects and the sect leaders left separately. The teachers of the Void Sect assassinated them when they did. It was better to not leave anyone that could be a threat to the Void Sect. Of course, they did not tell their students about this.

Eventually, White Lotus City was left in peace.



 

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