Chapter 8 Part 3 of 5 (Patreon)

The fighting had increased in ferocity in the North and South as the armies advanced.

Rekha checked, they advanced above ground and below at the same pace, maintaining a united front.

Rekha saw a floating island plummet from the sky, coming apart before it smashed into the side of a hill in a plume of dirt and rolled apart.

“They’re targeting the islands. Hey Peli, move the damn island over the admission Hall.” Weebla ordered. “Yeah I know, call in fleets to cover you.”

“Situation in the city Rekha?”

Rekha scanned the map and checked the city with spell enhanced eyes.

“Units are all over the place, the warships are fighting it out but ground fighters got wiped out and they were hit before they could get barriers up, in a bad way. They’ve got reports of Devourers all over the place.”

“Cluster fuck, got it.”

“Some units are pulling back.”

“Dammit,” Weebla muttered.

Rekha answered a transmission.

“This is Ferlin Third unit is ready to move.”

“You are to head into the City.”

“Understood.”

Units organized by role marched out of the admission hall, mixed races, warships moved with them.

“Where the hell are they going?” Weebla grabbed Sam and pointed at four fleets that had been holding around the admission hall and now heading into the academy.

“Head gave them new orders.”

“Seriously?” Weebla shook her head and hit the head of her axe against the ground.

Fleets appeared above the admission hall, most of them headed off as soon as they arrived.

“The Arena has been lost,” Cayleigh said. “The units there are falling apart.”

An explosion tore through the City, breaking the windows of the admission hall, Rekha braced against the wind looking at where a warship had detonated.

The city collapsed, revealing the dungeons below, stone turned lava revealing a hell below.

“Get the word out to stop moving for the city.” Weebla barked.

Rekha saw shadows moving through the clouds, they broke through to reveal a teleportation island surrounded by several fleets, their weapons firing into Aerial Shattered.

The air flashed as another fleet appeared, formations flaring to life as it shifted into position.

“Fucking Admiral Peli,” Rekha looked at Weebla in surprise, never having heard her swear once in her life.

Weebla, had the grin of a hunter, another part of her soul ignited as she looked from the mad fleet barge their way through the aerial shattered, laying a barrage of fire into the city along their flank, their rain of destruction closing tears on their way to the admission Hall.

As fleets appeared over the Hall, many powered their formations and charged towards the heart of the academy.

Elven, Gnomish and Human fleets shifted to assist the three ground units.

Gnomish Warships dove into the ground, that parted around them like waves to support the forces in the dungeons.

Elven mana canons spun white light across the heavens, cleaving through shattered as they came from every direction.

The realm boiled with Shattered.

“We’re engaged with Devourers currently,” General Avariose, Sam’s mother reported in Rekha’s ear.

“Devourers have engaged the Northern Unit.”

“Have formed units head out to support the North and south, get the officers in the admission hall to shake out any of the new forces that appear.”

The Teleportation Island, being flown like a warship cast a shadow over the admission hall as it moved to the open area facing the academy. The Covering fleets spread out, moving to reinforce defenses and push out to the three armies.

Another fleet rushed into the academy, the ground exploded outwards with elemental attacks, striking the ships.

Shattered poured out of the ground, or tunnelled through it towards the Admission hall.

Gnome ships dove into the ground as those above laid down attacks with a vengeance, laying open the dungeons below.

Explosions tore up the ground as the Gnome warships made their presence known.

Two warships from the fleet rushing into the academy lost their barriers and their flight capability, dropping towards the ground as the fleet piled on more speed to get out of the fighting.

“Get those ships to start teleporting their people out now,” Weebla used her sound transmission device.

The Corvette and Destroyer plowed into the ground, leaving dark lines in the ground as they smashed through buildings finally coming to a stop.

Rekha listened to General Ferlin’s sound transmission.

“General Ferlin says that the city is a mess, above and below ground, he’s going to set in a defensive and send warships to destroy any tears they can find,” She said.

The noise of battle rolled over them all, somehow familiar, Rekha’s fears, anxieties and even her own body, she could barely feel them at all now. Focused on her tasks.

“Shattered,” She pointed past the crashed warships on the academy side, they came out of the ground and across the hills.

“Dammit,” Weebla growled.

Rekha checked the different areas, ramps led down outside the admission hall into the dungeons below. Powerful spells and attacks had ripped open the ground, like peeling back the skin one could see several fights layered upon one another, the inner workings of the earth.

The surface level of the dungeons were being peeled back in attacks as fighting went from above ground into the dungeons.

It was the same on all fronts.

The first two units that formed up were making the greatest progress. Fleets of fast moving ships flew further afield, destroying tears and supporting the fight against devourers.

“Cover one another and fall back to the seventh!” Clive’s voice came through all of their sound transmission devices.

Rekha looked at Weebla who was looking at her map, murder in her eyes.

Rekha saw the chaos that was unfolding across the realm.

Weebla activated her sound transmission device, connecting to all of her leaders and Rekha’s party.

“Peli, make sure no more are coming through the totems, clear out the people up there, get altitude, once the ground forces are gone, you and the fleets take the island to the Abarrath mountains and hide it there. I’ll coordinate the Hall’s defenses and set up the undead formation. Grog, Variose, Ferlin your ground forces will pull out first, collapse your lines and withdraw, use the Golems.”

“Ma’am,” They chorused and set to their tasks. Weebla threw out formation pieces that spun infront of her, using mana manipulation to slot them together and a metal fuse spell the formation glowed with activation as she put it on the ground and threw out a dungeon core, it floated into the middle of the formation, the lines of the formation turned blood red, filling the air with the smell of iron.