Soon enough we had co up to the edge of the main silvery do that rose like a great impenetrable crystal ball into the sky high above us. The only entrances to the do were located around the eight travel lanes/tubes extending out to the other dod cities, and naturally there was a thundering lack of anything happening at those places we could use to slip in past them.
“A combination of a nigh-imperable crystalline shield, a powerful force field, and an aetheric resonator with an… inversed tachyon signature?” Da Adama judged shrewdly, inspecting the do close up without actually touching it.
“Yes. It’s consuming ti and using the feedback to maintain the Severance, turning a cost into a benefit. Quite clever. Doing this on a scientific level is extrely impressive, but since it is likely the culmination of everything their society was working towards, understandable. I hope we aren’t facing weapons technology of the sa level, or we’re looking at quantum disruptors and temporal singularities coming at us en masse, not just energy weapons and more bots.” I looked up at the expanse of the thing. “They are slowing down personal ti trying to make more ti for themselves. If this wasn’t a dying demiplane they’d be ripping holes in reality and well, you probably have a better idea than I do what would co spilling in.”
Mithar’s Avatar looked up once, her blue eyes as hard as diamonds. “You have to appreciate their resolve,” was all she said after a mont, turning to Iatro.
Our tall and bronze-skinned Healer just shook his head. “They have given rcy to nothing, and everything else pays their price for them. We do not spare them.”
Da Adama just nodded once. “We collapse whatever device and power source they are using for this before we leave. It is literally their ti to die, and we are Creation’s tool to do so.”
There were only quiet words of agreent from everyone.
Mass Vampire’s Veil joined our Buffs, which would play havoc with any cara or optical tech or any purely technological robots or war machines. A Password spell cycled us through the outer lock, the temporal twisting here strong enough to impede all dinsional movent to bypass it. As it cycled and clicked open, doubtless alarms were already spreading inside that it had been opened without a signal, and security teams were coming to check on things…
----
There was a lot of shooting of energy weapons. Energy was important, as energy could be harvested easily. Ammunition was actually harder to make, and took up more resources. So, a rather substantial lack of kinetic weapons and physical assault devices, although they did have explosives.
That was important, because their personal shields were rated half-effective against material impacts versus energy assaults.
They had tactile sh uniforms that were at least as effective as full plate armor, at a fraction of the weight, albeit requiring a power supply, and were also good at soaking energy attacks.
Adamantine Weapons accentuated with magic that treated nanofibers with a clear lack of respect, not so much.
Helos and I spent most of our ti popping force fields and diverting explosive missiles and grenades back the way they’d co with Telekinesis. Actually, there was a lot of Telekinesis being thrown around, as Helix Shields blocked heavy laser and flechette guns frantically trotted out to stop us, screaming hyperevolved mutates were shoved howling into one another to disrupt their formations, weapons were ripped out of hands or diverted to shoot into one another, and by and large our lee specialists tore into them with complete impunity.
It wasn’t that the defenders weren’t halfway decent at lee combat, but their choice of weapons were shock gauntlets and plasma swords, and we already had the right energy resistances up.
The Force was with us!
Fire, lightning, sonic, cold, and acid attacks, in descending order. There were monofilant nets that Telekinesis turned back on them, shredding them as they were wrapped up in them. It turned out the monofilants couldn’t sever magically-enhanced materials, which didn’t bode well for them, and our Rings were quick to impose Hexar Shields in the way of such things.
Tangler grenades of compressed superadhesives, gas attacks, needler guns brought out in desperation, so overconfident sorts coming out to mix it up with vibroblades and blast gauntlets. They were using everything they could to stop us from advancing, especially after we just kept wading through the laser fire and plasma blasts trying to stop us, and even the heavy particle bears did a whole lot of absolutely nothing.
The inhabitants were vaguely humanoid in form, but their skins were more like coarse, bumpy leather of an even dark gray, their heads over-sized and vaguely reptilian with cranial ridges that seed to be one of their more prominent identifying characteristics. Their eyes were all pupil and instantly adaptive to changing illumination conditions, and they had slits where ears would be on humans. Crystalline lines of embedded cybernetic circuits jutted out here and there on them, particularly on their heads, and they had so specialized cybernetics, although few of them seed to be able to go the full cyberization route. I guessed that enhanced immune systems rejected deep cybernetic fusions and they couldn’t beco true cyborgs, or more of them would have been brain-manning robo-shells, or biorganic constructs.
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Or maybe it was just pure ego. It didn’t really matter, in the end. I wasn’t taking samples of them.
An Assay called them Oards, and indicated they were an end-line genetic mutation from basically human stock. They had absolutely no magical talent, for so reason no psionic talent to speak of, and were basically locked into the science paradigm for evolution. They had, however, co to the end of their genetic potential, and could not go further without mutating into sothing that was not Oards at all, and likely not even mortal.
They had solid Ruby souls, willing to kill universes in order to live, certain they were the apex creatures of Creation, and all others were only fit to serve or die before them.
They were not stupid, but we were hitting them fast and hard, using energies they had no personal experience with, speed and physical ferocity a whole level higher than they were used to, and doing so without visible use of advanced technology they could understand and neutralize.
They had both tracked and legged robots they unleashed on us, as well as nanite swarms and so flying drones, none of which perford well against electrical AoE attacks or Chained Shards reaping through hordes of them.
The Markspace telepathy was fast and furious, all eyes scanning all the ti for threats, four experienced Warlords sharing tactics and choosing options at accelerated speed. If a couple hovertanks coming into view had to be instantly Disintegrated before they could prove a viable threat, well, we could do that, too.
Actually, we could Chain them and cut a whole squadron of them right in half, which was not much appreciated by the enemy, especially combined with the way Helos and I could automatically blow apart the very force fields they were relying on the most to stop us.
Find the Path told us where to go, much to their dismay. I had Wizard Eyes out scouting the path, Invisible and moving even faster than their drones, charting our course, noting their ambush points, while they struggled with their drones and robots being unable to see us. Telekinesis from a whole bunch of Oathrings was really ssing with their ability to stay in formation, and their inability to follow us with surveillance technology was naturally giving them conniptions.
There were also a lot fewer of them for a city of this size than could fit here. Like, a tenth the optimal numbers or less. Even allowing for trying to conserve their numbers, it was plain they were dying out for one reason or another.
Well, they were going to go out with a bang instead of a whimper!
----
Da Adama cut, the Disintegration spell went off, and the thick duralloy door vaporized in a swathe of green light and molecular release. Fine powder fell to the ground in front of us, and she strode into the engineering core of the city.
The power supply in front of us seethed with enough energy to crack a planet in half or more, constantly being depleted as it was transford into the anti-tachyon clash that was maintaining the Severance and also slowing down ti within the do proper.
“Are they burning a wormhole?” Sif asked archly, glancing at it as we all entered the massive chamber. There were oards around, and they started to snipe at us with laser pistols… which the Hexar Shields both blocked and reflected.
Jian waved a hand, and one of the creatures below us was jerked off his feet and into the containnt field around the power core there. He started to scream, and there was a pop and sizzle of energizing matter as he went straight to plasma and was sucked inside the field.
“Useful,” Haki judged dryly, and then a dozen hands waved together as Rings glead.
Oards scread, and then they popped and sizzled, and there was no more annoying laser fire coming from below.
“Delayed Aurora Fall?” Helos proposed, looking around at all the very complex machinery begging to be destroyed by massive eruptions of magical lightning.
“Simpler. Delayed Argent Rupture.” I just pointed at the fields of force containing the power core. Bursting it would release the wormhole within, and destroy the technology that would re-initialize the field at the sa ti. Once power was interrupted, the Severance would end, and millions of years of ti would co crashing down almost instantly.
“How far is the Portal out?” Da Adama asked reasonably.
“A hundred yards in that direction,” Lunia pointed at a large door leading out of the area.
“Must be at the spatial heart of the place. Convenient,” Thor sniffed, his Armor showing so scratches and scuffings from power mauls, blast gauntlets going off, and vibroblades skidding off it, mussing the polish and the paint. Mjolnir had been plenty happy to show them magic’s version of similar effects in return, with Greater Mighty Wallop’s effect being particularly effective at pounding them down in one hit. He’d knocked the turret off one of the tanks with one hit from his Hamr, and could crush whole rows of defenders with their little force shields.
“Clear the way to the Portal, and blow the room behind us,” Da Adama agreed, pointing.
High-level characters moved with unity of purpose and a speed that had repeatedly shocked the oards, going across disciplines to borrow things like Lightfoot and Heavyfoot with complete disregard for any Immortal Rules against learning such things, aning we all moved with a grace and speed to rival adept Mystics.
Helos and I moved for the control banks of the force fields, while the rest surged towards the way out, promptly being t with a fusillade of energy fire and explosions that a Wall of Force from Da Adama stopped in its tracks. The defending oards were swept aside and a wave of Repulsion blew them off their feet even as Telekinesis began to deprive them of weapons… and Sif, Molniya, and Thor charged at easily thrice the speed of a sprinting human to reach the scattered oards rather faster than they could get back up and recover. Spear, Sword, and Hamr spun, leaving glowing trails of radiant light from Holy behind as they rampaged through the oard lines.
Arbor and Jian provided ranged punch, Haki and Da Adama provided back-up to the lee warriors, while Iatro, Lunia, Chardon, and Catleya used Telekinesis to constant effect, mostly to prevent use of grenades, trip oards, and misdirect heavy weapons, while they were also ready to use spells on the instant. Catleya was naturally Singing, her voice in triple stereo at the mont, turning this fight into a heavy tal fight song mont as the oards were being stomped.
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