Carts loaded with missiles in storage crates moved to the missile boats, loading them with missiles.
The overhead catwalks made a box that was five bays across and nine deep, each holding a missile boat that was held in a cradle of soul gem constructs. Most of them were still under production; a few of them had powered up their own fusion reactors and secondary Mana wells that increased the speed at which their soul gem constructs interior completed their build-out.
Automated carts and repair bots could be seen floating around the missile boats, as well as moving in and out to add in the various other materials needed to create the armor and superstructure of the missile boats. The soul gem constructs were great for internal components but relied on beefy structural members, beams and braces for strength and protection. Heavy armor panels as well as Mana barrier projectors were their defenses against enemy attacks.
If those shields and barriers went down, then he didn’t want his ships to get smashed apart in just a few volleys.
Dave quickly stepped into the air. His body moved over the catwalks at a high speed. He moved past all of the growing warships and moved to where the fusion reactors that were powering the entire base as well as the different offices that looked over the moonbase were located.
Plans and screens rotated around him he moved from one to another, adjusting Koi on his shoulder as he opened up these various screens. He looked at the different launchers that had been buried throughout the moon’s surface.
They were covered in stealth runes so that Dave couldn't even find them with his touch of the land spell, even if he was within fifteen feet of them.
He checked the stocks of weaponry and looked over the growing towers that were supplying the warships with the breathable atmosphere that was stored in their tanks.
Dave had wanted to go to the stars to be a discover, but now he was creating weapons of war that he would use to conquer it. Many people might be thrown off by this change but Dave understood it. He only had to look down to Koi to see why he was doing this.
“Looks like you need your bed,” Dave said in a whisper, looking at Koi, who was oblivious of the world around her.
He disappeared from the offices and appeared in front of the portal building he passed through the security automatons returning to Emerilia.
***
Josh looked at the people around the table. They were all within a Mirror of Communication conference room. As the event and the portals opening had gone on, they had all taken more measures so that if there was ever an attack on the Terra Alliance heads couldn’t be eliminated in a single attack.
As time had gone on, the Alliance had actually grown. The benefits of being in the Alliance outweighed not being in it by far.
The fact that the elves of Markolm weren’t there wasn’t missed by anyone. They had returned to their island and shut up their borders to all but the believers of the Lady of Light.
It was a problem but there was nothing that the Alliance could do. And they weren’t in the business of telling people what they could and couldn’t believe in.
“We have alt player accounts that are running around outside of cities and towns, allowing us to get a better idea of what is going on. Right now, it looks like the creatures and people from the Event are attacking not only the cities and the towns, they are also attacking one another.
This means that their numbers have been greatly reduced. But it also means that the ones that survive are going to be much more powerful than they were originally,” Lucy said.
“This is why we need to send forces to destroy these people and creatures and then we can go back to pushing back the people at the portals,” an Amazonian-looking woman from Strabon Kingdom said.
“If we start splitting our forces now, then we’re just going to invite defeat,” a noble-looking man from Egas Nation said.
“Well, it’s better than holing up and doing nothing!” the woman shot back.
“This is not the time for us to be fighting among one another,” Josh said, his voice bringing the room back under control. “We’re in a stalemate right now. We’re holding off the forces of the portals, but they’re still coming through and reinforcing the castles that they do hold. Even the locations where we hold all of the castles, we can’t relax our guard lest they break through and then get in behind us and start wreaking havoc. Or they can lead massive assaults that take all of our castles to react to. With the loss of Markolm’s support, we have lost a large number of fighting-able people. We have made new friends and we have also regained the forces that we had based in Markolm. Right now, is not the time to throw away our people. We need to grow in strength and ready ourselves for the next part of our offense.”
The room quietened down in the face of Josh’s words.
“We have Band-Aids, we have summoning halls, and we have the schools within the Mirrors of Communication. Our people were off-balance with this first attack. We need to focus our efforts to get them ready for what is to come. This war has only just started. For us to win, we need to get stronger. This is an anvil that we can forge ourselves through or be broken by,” the dwarven master smith Quino, who was on the Terra Alliance council, said.
Everyone listened; the Dwarven Master Smiths were known for being wise as they were decisive.
“What is our plan going forward?” Alkao looked to Josh.
The heads of the Terra Alliance all looked to Josh. Alkao was a respected leader. At first, they hadn’t thought that he was all that much, but after the reports of what his forces were capable of and what he had created in Devil’s Crater, all of their doubt had been wiped away.
Josh and Lucy smiled at each other before they turned back to everyone.
“This,” Josh said. A hologram of a floating citadel appeared in front of everyone.
***
The Dark Lord looked over the different seer pools that allowed him to look upon Emerilia. He opened and closed his hand, feeling the power at his command.
In his hall, multiple Alturarans stood around, like immobile statues. The Dark Lord paid them no attention as he watched the various forces he had brought under his control. With the Event, he had been able to increase his number of followers greatly the power in his divine wells swelling with each day.
His Dark Champions controlled them, sending them out to raid different cities or kill forces that were under the command of the other members of the Pantheon.
This was all in order to increase his forces’ strength.
He turned his head and looked at a seer pool that rested over top of Markolm. His aura started to roll around his body as he looked upon Light’s nation. I will tear her out from that nation and kill her in front of all those angels and believers.
Someone who might look upon the Dark Lord would feel a deep chill run through their spine.
The Dark Lord didn’t care about what was happening to the rest of Emerilia. He loved this kind of chaos that allowed his forces to move freely. The people of Emerilia didn’t even rate as interesting in his eyes, other than possible experience that his people could use to increase their strength.
He was focused on the battle between him and the Lady of Light.
Those angels will be a problem, especially if she makes them all her champions. It seems that I should ask the Earth Lord to make an alliance. Then when the battle enters its final moments, I can call upon my true forces and power to destroy them both.
His bone-like fingers formed into a fist, a satisfied smile on his face. “As I bring my true forces to bear, then the Lady of Fire will know of true despair as I kill off her college and guild. Then I can defeat the Earth Lord and the Lady of Light. Then there will just be Fire herself and Water to deal with.” The Dark Lord didn’t even put Air into consideration as he let out a laugh that would make one shiver in fear.
The Dark Lord didn’t even hold the Lady of Air in his eyes; she was an unimportant figure to him—a woman who dealt with secrets and worked behind the scenes. T
he only power that he respected was fighting ability.
The Dark Lord looked over to the side of his hall; resting there were four different pools of what looked like tar. People who had seen the outside of the Six Affinities Temple would recognize the Dark Mana concentrated liquid. These were divine wells brimming with Dark Mana. Ten more holes lay around these four, waiting for more divine wells to fill them.
His carefully laid plan was ready. Now he just had to wait for the pieces to come together. He would wait, letting the Lady of Light gain her confidence before attacking her. He, would let her get wrapped up in the fighting before he unleashed his trump cards.
***
The Lady of Light looked over her own hall.
Her divine well was overflowing. A flash of golden light appeared in the air as a new well slid into the ground; the pool doubled in size.
The Lady of Light couldn’t help but smile. When a member of the Pantheon gained energy from their people’s devotions, once it reached the limit, another divine well would be called down to Emerilia.
The Dark Lord hadn’t waited for his followers to devote their Mana to him but had instead forcefully supplemented energy and Mana wells, with Boran-al creating more Mana wells from the original.
Light smiled as her first divine well dimmed slightly, reducing to half of its capacity and sharing it with the second divine well.
“My lady, your ascension comes closer with every day.” Khanundra bowed to the Lady of Light.
“Thank you, Khanundra. With every day that we grow in power, we are able to better fight off the scourge that threatens our followers and Emerilia,” Light said with a caring smile. Her eyes flickered to Daeundra.
And those who don’t follow will be cleared from Emerilia.
The people in the hall looked to the Lady of Light with reverence in their eyes, thinking that all of her actions were done for their benefit.
Cattle, to think that I wish to support them. As soon as their use runs out and I gain my higher position, I can truly control them and shed this veil.
“I only hope that your brothers and sisters are freed from their prison as soon as possible. I miss my sons and daughters deeply.” Light let out a shaky breath as she pressed a hand to her chest, her eyes misty. “Soon we will be reunited. I cannot express the joy I feel,” Light said, tears of pain and joy in her face as she looked to Khanundra and the people within her hall, moved by the emotions showed by the Lady of Light.
***
The Earth Lord sat on his throne as a green light appeared in front of him. A Dwarf Champion appeared, on his knee.
“Lord of Earth, I come bearing a message from the Dark Lord.” The dwarf pulled out a scroll from his bag of holding and raised it above his head.
The Earth Lord moved his eyes, glowing in interest. A root reached up from the ground, grasping the scroll that was covered in moving shadows that looked like people screaming in agony.
The Earth Lord checked the scroll for any traps before the roots unfurled the scroll and brought it to him.
The Earth Lord read the words within, actually lifting his large head off his hand, showing interest in the scroll held in midair.
“Good.” The Earth Lord’s mouth of rock and dirt spread open in a cold smile. “Look to increase our strength by either recruiting more of these creatures and people of power, or by destroying them.” The Earth Lord looked to the Earth Champion.
“I will pass on your orders, my lord,” the Earth Champion said.
The Earth Lord nodded. The green lines of the spell formation lit up before the Earth Champion disappeared from his sight.
Chapter 12: Stalemate
The action at the portals had calmed down, there was the occasional skirmish but it wasn’t too big anymore. The real action was happening in the Emerilia wilderness, with the various creatures and people that had been released with the event of Myths and Legends.
There was fighting going on every day. The alt scouts run by players were reporting that it wasn’t just the different things from the events but it looked as though there were champions of Earth, Dark, and Light moving about and killing creatures and people or accepting them into their ranks.
It was making the people in the higher up positions nervous but most of the people of Emerilia were working to increase their own combat power and thus their ability to survive.
The third section of Terra had already been spun up and was connected. The Blood Kin were even better than Malsour had hoped. Fueled by blood essence crystals as well as some potions that Jung Lee had concocted to enhance their natural abilities, they were quickly finishing off the fourth section of Terra while also working on the seventh and eighth citadels around Goblin Mountain.
Since learning about the plan with the citadels, all of the different nations had been pouring their resources into the Terra Alliance in order to get them operational.
More and more Dark mages as well as Earth mages were helping out to get them operational. Command crews had been drafted up. Dwarves worked on adding cannons to the citadels for the best effect. Mages and ranged attackers as well as melee units that would use them to go into battle amassed on the citadels.
Dave and Deia were within the Densaou Ring of Fire. Deia sat on Dave’s lap, holding Koi. Mal was cooking in the kitchen and Fire watched over the crawling Desmond and talked to them both.
“Okay, so we’ve got these melee units on the citadels but how are they going to get into battle? Land the damn thing?” Fire asked.
“Well, while we could do that, I’ve been working on flight drives for the citadel and my other projects. Steve was playing around one day—he was actually sitting on one of the flight drives and said, ‘I’m a peacock, Dave—you’ve got to let me fly!’ While it was ridiculous and doesn’t make sense because peacocks don’t fly, it gave me an idea—why don’t I just create flight drives that people could wear? They jump off the citadel and then they can use the flight drives to reach their target,” Dave said.
“So, we’re going to have dwarves jumping from the sky now?” Deia asked.
“Pretty much.” Dave grinned.
“Well, that’s a terrifying thought,” Mal said from the kitchen.
“Well, other than your dive bombing dwarves, I think that the recruiting for your different bases is going pretty well. With the surety of security, a lot of people are excited to help out with getting all of the projects Pandora’s Box are working on. I don’t think that they have the faintest idea of what they’re going to be getting themselves involved in.” Fire smiled.
“It’s certainly going to be eye-opening for a number of them,” Dave agreed. His arm tightened around Deia.
“So when are the two of you getting married?” Mal asked.
“When are you two getting married?” Deia fired back.
“Someday,” Fire said.
Mal caught Dave’s eyes, shaking his head and sighing before he returned to his kitchen duties.
Dave drank his Scotch and kept quiet.
***
Suzy and Induca strolled through Per’ush without any apparent care in the world. Lu Lu flew through the air above them, letting out happy noises as she flew freely. She had now grown to the size of a small car when she wanted to. When she decided to go back down to rest on Suzy’s shoulders, she would shrink to the size of a housecoat once again.
Induca and Suzy talked idly as they walked through the gardens of Per’ush, their fingers intertwined. They had been fighting for three weeks nearly constantly, finally they had taken a break in the fighting to be with one another and play with Lu Lu. However after only a few days, they were going back to the battlefields of Emerilia.
Steve had left for a period of time and was working on his armor while Lox, Gurren, Anna, and Jung Lee moved from fight to fight, all of them working to improve their abilities. In the last couple of weeks, their strength had increased greatly. It wasn’t always a factor of their levels or their skills and classes improving but their
knowledge of how to fight.
The more they fought and lived on the razor’s edge of life and death, the more understanding into their own abilities and how to use them to their maximum effect came up.
Lox and Gurren had been powerful when the event had started, but now they were on par with Steve’s abilities, maybe even stronger.
Anna was constantly improving on her understanding of wind; with her speed and her devastating attacks, she blew through enemy formations, killing all of those that faced her.
Jung Lee had become more composed; his and Jekoni’s cooperation grew more and more as he could use his Free Affinity spirits more easily and to greater devastating effect.
The normally relaxed atmosphere of the park had been dulled slightly. It was hard to stay relaxed when all around Emerilia war had erupted.
Suzy and Induca sat at a bench overlooking a small lake that streamed through the gardens and ran underneath small bridges.
Lu Lu dove and spun in the air, diving into the water and shooting back up, happily playing around.
There were a number of other summoned creatures around the park. With the summoning halls, more and more people were getting soul bound creatures to increase their combat and defensive power.
Induca and Suzy watched Lu Lu’s antics.
“Looks like there’s no going back now.” Suzy looked at the lake.
“What do you mean?” Induca asked.
“Everything is in motion. The portals, the event, the Pantheon—all of it is moving now. Emerilia has already changed. There are few safe havens left and those that are left are filled to the brim. Even Per’ush has filled all of their residences and they’re starting to put people up in their parks. It won’t be long until this is filled with tents and refugees.” Suzy gestured at the park.
“I know, but we can get past this.” Induca rubbed Suzy’s fingers with her thumb.
“I know, but it’s going to get to a stage where we can’t do anything but go all out. When it comes to that, everything is going to change,” Suzy said, unable to keep the fear out of her voice.
Emerilia Series Box Set 4 Page 59
