Chapter 297 - We (Patreon)

Chapter 297

We

We watched the battle unfold from the throne, and We were not impressed.

No. That was not entirely true. We were impressed by some of it. The woman in white, for example. She had walked through the gateway alone and dismantled the courtyard garrison without breaking stride. That had been unexpected. We had not expected a rescue. An oversight. Of course an Exalted had allies. But even if We had foreseen, such strength would not have been anticipated. The woman hadn’t fought the defenders. She had ignored them, and then destroyed them as an afterthought.

We wanted to know more about her. We disagreed on what that meant, but the curiosity was unanimous. As was the desire to grow more powerful.

Empress Clarissa Veshara the Third sat still upon her throne of the conquered and studied the magical displays that hung in the air before her. 

Seven of them, each one a window into a different section of the battlefield, their surfaces rippling with light and motion. 

The throne room of the Eternal Star stretched around her in all its deliberate grandeur. White marble pillars. Crimson carpet. Gold inlay catching the light of enchantments that had burned without interruption for three centuries.

Thirty highborn elites lined the walls, fifteen to a side, standing between the pillars in their black robes with golden trim. Staves floated before them. Spellbooks hung open, pages still. They were her reserve. The last line of defense for the throne room itself, though the notion that defense would be required up here was almost amusing.

Almost. We did not rule out anything where the Invader was concerned. Artensah’s reports had been thorough, if ultimately insufficient.

Two of the remaining Exalted stood at the base of the marble stairs, their backs to her, their attention fixed on the displays. They said nothing. They knew better than to speak before she did.

The displays shifted as the battle evolved.

One showed Artensah in the air above the fortress, staff extended, trading lightning with the Invader. The Machine God, as the System had apparently named him. A young man with a metal arm who controlled lightning and metal and flew without magic. Simple powers, Artensah had said. Wielded with great skill and no hesitation.

We could see that. The young man moved through the air with a fluidity that suggested he had fought for his life long before coming here. He wove between spells, redirected Artensah’s own attacks, and fought with the excitement of someone who had already accepted the possibility of death.

Interesting. But not what held Our attention.

Oskoreth had departed with Artensah to intercept the warships the Invader had stolen. He should have joined Artensah against the Invader after redirecting one of the ships into space, but instead he was locked in combat with another deadly superhuman. A woman of ice. Fast and relentless and full of raw power.

We were not concerned. Oskoreth would handle her eventually. But the delay was inconvenient.

Another display showed the dragon. A red beast, its scales catching the light as it swept low across the mountainside. Another of Earth 1’s Exalted rode its back, chains erupting from barriers that materialized and vanished around him. The dragon’s talons closed around a cluster of soldiers, snatching them from the ground. Then it tossed them into the air before swallowing them without slowing.

A waste of good soldiers. But the creature’s form was magnificent. We appreciated beauty, even in Our enemies.

A third display showed something We found genuinely perplexing. A man in heavy plate armor stood at the edge of the fortress, arms folded across his chest. He was enormous. He did nothing. Spells struck the air around him and stopped, as though hitting a wall that was not there. Then they reversed, flying back along their original trajectories with perfect precision.

Dozens of Our soldiers died to their own attacks before the rest stopped firing.

The man continued to stand there. Arms folded. Eyes closed.

We did not like that at all.

A fourth display showed the interior of the fortress. The corridors had been largely cleared. One view tracked a massive grey beast charging through a hallway, its horn lowered, plowing through a squad of defenders who had attempted to hold a junction. Bodies scattered against the walls. The beast did not slow.

Another interior view showed the courtyard. The gateway stood open, its aperture revealing the room beyond. An enclosure of some kind, filled with armed figures and metal barricades. They had fortified the other side. 

The gateway on their side was no longer where it had been. Someone had claimed it and fortified it. A pity. It was no longer of use for the Grand Exodus.

We considered the displays in silence. The internal debate was brief.

They had come prepared. They had come in force. And the woman in white had not yet engaged anything worthy of her attention. She stood on the roof of the fortress. Staring into the sky.

At Us.

She knows We are here. She hesitates. Her purpose is clear. A threat. She will not fight unless We fight. And a promise. She will fight if We fight.

That last thought was pleasant. We held it. Turned it over. Examined it.

Yes.

We wanted to fight her.

The Empress stood.

Everyone in the room straightened. The two Exalted turned to face her.

“I have decided. We desire to fight the Woman in White.”

Her Exalted shared a look.

Velisahn knelt. “Is that wise, Your Radiance?”

“She is powerful. I have not felt such strength upon this world in two lifetimes. There is no doubt she is a ruler in her own right.” She held out her arms, tilted her head back, and closed her eyes. “Adorn me for battle.”

***

The whispers wouldn’t stop.

“The Stars are the masters of space, Machine God.”

Alexander feigned left, driving toward Artensah with Metallokinesis. 

The Exalted vanished, teleporting out of reach.

Alexander didn’t follow. Instead he put on a burst of speed, angling toward where Augustus’s portal hung in the air, its edges rippling.

Artensah shouted. A single syllable, spoken with absolute authority. Then a white beam lanced past Alexander. It struck the portal’s surface dead center.

Cracks spread across the inky black surface. They raced outward from the point of impact, fracturing as they grew. The portal held for half a second. Then it shattered, fragments of spatial magic dissolving into the air.

Alexander pulled up hard, staring at the empty space where the escape route had been.

Artensah’s whisper slid back into his mind, colder than before.

“There is no escape for you and your friends. You have brought them here to die.”

Alexander ignored him. It wasn’t easy. Artensah’s voice slipped between his thoughts like water through cracks, intimate and persistent, designed to disrupt concentration at the worst possible moments.

“What just happened?” Talia asked over the comms.

“No idea,” Augustus replied. “Something canceled out the portal.”

Alexander evaded a green bolt of fire. “There are two Divines up here with spatial magic. I don’t think we can just disengage.”

“Understood,” Talia said. “Hold. Working on a solution.”

Not far from where the two of them fought, Annie and most of his drones were locked in combat with the remaining highborn wizards. Between them, they’d managed to reduce the black-robed wizards by half, but those that remained were the best of the lot.

Above Annie and Alexander, Julia was repeatedly blitzing the other golden-robed wizard, smashing through constant conjurations of rock and stone. Each time she landed a hit, the Exalted became smoke, reforming a short distance away.

They were all struggling with the same problem. The wizards had superior short-range mobility, even though their flight was inferior.

Artensah’s staff tilted, and a black beam lanced from its tip.

Alexander twisted around it, close enough to feel the air rot where the energy passed, then corkscrewed toward the Exalted, Metallokinesis driving him forward.

Just before he could close the distance, Artensah vanished.

That was three times. Droney had been tracking the intervals, simulating potential outcomes. It was faster than Keda’s teleportation. Farther, too, each jump covering anywhere up to forty-something meters. 

And smarter, because Artensah randomized his destination.

But there was still a delay between jumps. A fraction of a second where the Exalted had to reorient, find his target, and begin casting again. Droney was narrowing the window with each data point.

Artensah reappeared to Alexander’s right, staff already raised.

Alexander spun in the air and threw out his cybernetic hand. A bolt of lightning streaked toward the Exalted.

Artensah’s lip curled. His hand swept through the air, and the familiar redirection field materialized, already causing the lightning to arc.

Alexander flexed his fingers.

The bolt expanded. What had been a single lance of electricity bloomed into a crackling sphere, fragments of lightning racing outward in every direction. Parts of it struck Artensah’s shield and scattered harmlessly, disrupting the protective spell. But others found the gap. The opening in the barrier that allowed the wizard to catch and redirect his attacks.

Current carved across the side of Artensah’s neck. Across his jaw. Across his cheek. The Exalted flinched, the first involuntary reaction Alexander had seen from the man, and teleported.

Alexander was already moving. The instant Artensah reappeared, this time above and to the left, Alexander launched himself toward the new position. At the same time, he swept his hand and two blade-drones hurtled from the swarm, angling toward Artensah from opposite sides.

The Exalted recovered fast. His staff flicked sideways and batted the first drone out of the air with a crack of magical force against Animachina-reinforced metal. The drone tumbled, damaged but not destroyed.

In the same motion, Artensah drew a wand from his belt with his free hand and snapped a bolt of fire into the second drone’s path.

The drone carved right through it.

Artensah’s eyes widened.

Before the Exalted could recast his shield or teleport again, Alexander reached through Technopathy and overrode the drone’s safety limiters.

The drone detonated.

Fire and metal shrapnel erupted at close range. The blast caught Artensah across his upper body, fragments peppering his robes and exposed skin. He threw up a barrier an instant too late, the shield catching the trailing edge of the explosion but not the initial burst.

When the smoke cleared, Artensah hung in the air with burns across his hands and forearms. Blood ran from a cut above his left eye where a piece of the drone’s housing had lodged itself. His robes were scorched and torn at the shoulder.

He was bleeding. The first blood Alexander had drawn from the Exalted.

The whispers resumed, colder now. “Clever tricks, Machine God. But tricks are all they are.”

Alexander grinned. He drew a few more drones to the fight, making them circle Artensah in a wide, threatening orbit, each one a potential bomb that the Exalted now had to respect.

He probably wouldn’t detonate another one. The drones were far too valuable to be wasted on minor explosions.

But Artensah didn’t know that.

Alexander tensed, ready to launch into the next barrage when the sky darkened.

A Will descended across the battlefield. Vast and absolute, it pressed down on everything beneath it. The air itself seemed to thicken.

Alexander’s Domain contracted involuntarily, its edges compressing inward as the pressure bore down on him.

His breath caught. It was worse than when he’d faced Radiant. And he could tell the Will wasn’t even targeting him specifically. Instead, it was as though it held everything in the palm of its hand. The people. The fortress. The mountain. The sky.

All the fighting came to a halt. Highborn wizards faltered mid-cast. Annie’s wings missed a beat. Even his own drones wobbled in their trajectories.

Artensah’s eyes went wide. He turned and looked up into the sky.

“Empress…”

Alexander followed his gaze. High above, the palace’s underside had split open. A figure descended through the gap, small against the enormity of the structure, but falling with grace.

She radiated like a star. Golden threads poured from her in every direction, so dense they were visible even at this distance, forming a cascade of light that swept across the sky.

Then a sonic boom cracked.

Alexander’s eyes snapped downward. A blur of white tore upward from the fortress roof, accelerating so fast the air vaporized in a shockwave behind her. Caroline Delvane, arms at her sides, chin raised, rocketing toward the descending star.

With Electrokinesis pouring into his Core and enhancing all of his senses, he could see it. The almost feral grin on her face in the fraction of a moment it took for her to rise higher than where he and Artensah hovered.

Then the sky split apart.