Wandering Knight

Chapter 492: Fire

"Retract the void energy arrays and return the World Anchor to the heart of the city. Until we enter a range where it can truly strike the target, this weapon must not be exposed to the Utopia's gaze."

Icarus issued his command. Segment by segment, the openings along the vast metal pillar sealed shut. The void rifts coiling around it folded back into nothing. Once its power systems went dark, the World Anchor no longer bore even the faintest trace of the void. Its energy signature had all but vanished.

"..."

Silently, he watched the enormous pillar descend into the opening decks and disappear once more into Skyborne City's core. Icarus then turned toward his command chamber. The areas of the city inaccessible to ordinary residents, the true domain of the machine spirit Astartes, lay buried deep within. All internal maintenance and operations fell under its stewardship.

He had chosen Astartes to guard this crucial weapon out of extreme caution, and for good reason: he could not guarantee there were no infiltrators planted among Skyborne City's inhabitants. The Utopia's power to warp minds was far too adept at manufacturing traitors. The World Anchor had to be protected at all costs.

"The Church of Nightfall should already be advancing into the Ashen Wastes. One way or another, the Utopia must react soon. If not, I may have to question whether our readings have marked the wrong location."

Muttering to himself, Icarus remained poised to mobilize Skyborne City and the Alliance legions gathering beneath it.

His wait did not last long. A thunderous roar surged from the direction of the Ashen Wastes. Ash-laden winds dark as soot rose in surging waves, sweeping toward Skyborne City and battering its hull as they passed.

"Detecting abnormal void energy turbulence and elemental resonance. The Church of Nightfall must have engaged the Utopia. The first clash has begun."

Observers relayed their data one after another. Icarus' mind assembled the unfolding picture.

"Do not be hasty. This level of energy fluctuation is nowhere near that of a full engagement. They are still probing each other. The Utopia is only testing its defenses, if that. This is not yet our moment to strike."

Icarus remained far calmer than his subordinates. The truth he alone knew was like a block of ice that cooled and clarified his thoughts. Emotion would not be allowed to dictate his decisions. freewēbnoveℓ.com

The Utopia had only just clashed with the Church of Nightfall. Neither had fully committed to the fight. To attack now—in the classic pincer strategy, with two armies rushing inward—might appear tempting. Yet he reminded himself again of Skyborne City's singular purpose: to deliver the World Anchor to its mark.

This was decidedly not the time for Skyborne City to enter the battlefield. A short wait was needed, and Skyborne City would hardly stand idle in the meantime.

A blinding pillar of energy punched skyward, boring a vast hole through the clouds. Even from this distance, the weapon's sheer might was visible from the city's upper deck.

"Beep!"

Warning tones shrilled as monitors spiked. The energy density on the battlefield had risen by another tier. The engagement was escalating.

"Deploy five Iron Sentinels. Have them advance with the vanguard. Prepare for a two-pronged assault."

The moment had come. Icarus' order was crisp and decisive. The first wave, the vanguard, would press the frontline toward the Utopia's position. Once they secured the frontlines, Skyborne City would unleash its full power, following the main host and driving into enemy territory like a colossal spearhead.

Iron titans much like the Iron King Bogul dropped from Skyborne City's decks. They fell freely, gaining terrifying momentum from their own immense weight. Even with the arrays in their legs roaring at full output, they could not fully counteract the force of gravity. Upon impact, each colossus sent tremors across the ground, shaking earth and stone loose within hundreds of meters.

Jets flared from their backs, their massive feet churning through the soil as they lunged forward. The towering iron figures accelerated, soon racing ahead of the legion's front ranks. Five moving walls of steel drove straight toward the enemy.

As the vanguard launched, Wang Yu entered open battle. Barely twenty kilometers into the Ashen Wastes, Avia's Perfect Fractal had detected a spatial disturbance. An anomalous structure, a wall, spanned the center of the wastes.

Masked by void interference and elemental currents, it was nearly impossible to perceive through conventional means. Yet Perfect Fractal, built to analyze data beyond raw sensory information, uncovered it several kilometers away.

"This is the first object the Utopia has manifested within the Ashen Wastes in the material realm: a detector and a simple barrier." fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com

Avia relayed her conclusion. It resembled a wire fence in the sense that anything touching it would signal intruders. Breaking through was simple enough, but would require some time.

"Can you bypass it?"

Wang Yu was already channeling his life force into the Primeval Lance Kasimir.

"It's not too difficult. I can circumvent its senses entirely, but there's no need, is there?"

"Fair point. Skyborne City is trying to deliver something to the center, after all. Might as well draw a little more attention toward us."

Wang Yu nodded and informed the dragons about the plan. Understanding his intent, every dragon capable of unleashing breath began gathering destructive power in their chests.

And then, simultaneously, they released their charged breaths. The Utopia wanted to detect intruders; Wang Yu intended to give it a show that would be impossible to overlook.

Hundreds of dragonbreaths converged at a single point. Raw energies twisted and collided, elements of opposing nature clashing violently, rousing deeper layers of power. Compressed by the overwhelming pressure of so many converging torrents, the amassed force struck the wall and erupted in a single, earth-shaking detonation.

The wall was formidable indeed. When struck, its lattice diffused the force outward from the point of impact, spreading it across the whole structure to prevent a breach.

Yet even such craftsmanship could not hope to stem the breath of more than a hundred dragons. The first instant of contact shaved away only a sliver of that titanic power; in the next, the point of impact burst apart, shattering the veil and revealing what the wall had concealed.

"Many targets ahead. Engage at will. The one in the center is mine."

The fracture raced outward, ripping open a vast breach through which Wang Yu and the assembled flight of dragons could pass unimpeded. The violent collision of energies naturally drew the Utopia's attention.

Beyond the ruined barrier, spire after spire shimmered into being, rising out of the void. There were dozens of them, already surpassing the number that had appeared in the previous invasion. At their center stood an especially colossal structure. Calling it a spire would be misleading. Its true form was that of a titanic serpent coiled upon itself, its immense body twisted upright into the shape of a tower. As it phased into the material world, the serpent's coils began to writhe.

Above its massive head hovered a magician, threads of elemental force burrowing into the creature like nerves; through them, the spellcaster—surely a legend, and an experienced one at that—manipulated the serpent's entire body.

"I'll handle that one. Send me in."

He addressed Aurelian, whom he was riding. The other dragons, already heeding Wang Yu's instructions, surged off in formation, diving upon the surrounding spires that had begun unleashing high-tier spells. They fought using techniques familiar to them. Wang Yu, too, prepared to do his part.

"Very well."

In a flash of argent power, space split like silk beneath a blade. Wang Yu reappeared directly above the great serpent. The silver dragon's gift allowed him to disregard the turbulence of space and the interference of the void with ease.

He raised his arm and struck downward. The force of the Chariot wrapped his fist; a compressed mass of air detonated beneath him, launching him earthward with lightning speed toward the magician who was coaxing the serpent into a battle stance.

The auxiliary seventh-tier Sensory Insight flared within the caster's mind. Elemental nerve-signals flooded his neurons as a presence far too fast for any mundane senses streaked down toward him from above.

He instantly cast the seventh-tier Aether Bubble. Space swelled like a soap film blown from within, forming a bulb that peeled free and drifted upward. Anything caught in it would have its momentum nullified and, upon the bubble's collapse, be shunted aside in a short, controllable displacement.

It wasn't as brutish as certain types of spatial distortion, but it was stable and reliable. Even a legendary knight capable of cleaving through spells might resist the teleportation, but would at the very least have his advance slowed.

The magician had already prepared his next move. Overcharged lightning coursed down the serpent's titanic frame, gathering into a single, focused bolt. The serpent's nervous system and the caster's will were one; the lightning it unleashed rivaled an eighth-tier spell in power.

But what followed was not the crystalline pop of a bubble bursting, nor the strange resonance of a forced displacement. Something exploded, and violently at that. Before the magician could even register what had gone wrong, Wang Yu dropped down onto him like a falling star and crushed him to dust.

The truth was simple: Wang Yu had ignored the Aether Bubble outright, smashed head-first into the thunderbolt, blew it apart through sheer momentum alone, and then descended directly onto the caster.

The enormous serpent lurched downward under the force of his stomp, its entire body shuddering. A crater opened across its head, cracks spiderwebbing through its unnaturally resilient flesh.

Wang Yu pressed his hand against the serpent's skull, muscles knotting as brute force tore through its shell. The power of the Chariot plunged deep, seeking, probing, until his fingers closed around the creature's core, a mass of surging energy. He wrenched it free, energy roaring like a storm trapped in his grasp.

"Good. There's plenty of power. Let's give them a shot to remember."

He spoke to the young woman who was halfway out of the void beside him. Avia had just released the space-locking spell that clung to him, a specialized conjuration permitting him to ignore spatial disruptions. She now traced lines of magic in the air. Runes bloomed around her like threads of light.

"Ready. It's always smoother casting this way."

She offered him one hand. With the other, she raised her thumb toward the distant horizon—not in praise of the Utopians, but to take aim.

Wang Yu clasped her hand. The stolen power of the serpent surged through him, funneled by the Chariot's might straight into Avia.

Their energy source was ready. "Fire."