The dark sphere that enveloped the space around Ulimo Citadel tried its best to snuff out all of the light inside its turbulent depths.
Though the energy needed to sustain it was incredible, half an hour had passed without any signs the anomaly was receding!
Through harvesting the lives of tens of thousands of Nyxian residents and pirates, the dark ritual that sustained this deadly phenonon would continue to kill off the trapped Larkinsons until there was no one left!
With the Golden Cat constantly sensing the fall of another Larkinson ch pilot, her brightness dimd. The Larkinson Clan continually weakened with the ongoing loss of its valiant and courageous warriors.
How could Ves ever let Goldie feel sad?
It was easier than he thought to channel Lufa's glow. Though he found it rather absurd that the Sanctuary Project hadn't even reached completion, that did not stop him from taking advantage of his latest spiritual product.
Though their compatibility was high, the glow of exuding from his body only stretched so far. Instructing Lufa to pump more power in its outward expression only modesty extended the range.
How could he magnify the range?
What could he do to make Lufa's glow expansive enough to generate an actual safe zone around the Scarlet Rose?
"Perhaps supplying more energy will work."
Normally, feeding an excess amount of his spiritual energy to his design spirits was problematic. The incompatibility between their respective spiritual attributes produced varying amounts of rejection.
Earlier, Ves already experienced so difficulties in his attempt to amplify Goldie's spiritual transmissions.
The circumstances were different this ti. Ves brought Lufa into his mind. By donning the design spirit as a mask, if only a little bit, the two had partially lded together.
This modest integration caused Ves to develop a bold theory.
Would it be possible to feed his spiritual energy to Lufa in this state?
He decided to try it out. He placed his hand on the P-stone held by Nitaa and began to draw upon the energy reserves stored inside.
Ves channeled the energy through his mind and into the spirit that had temporarily beco a part of him. Though a bit of loss and inefficiency still remained, the problem was much less impactful than before!
"It's working!" His eyes lit up!
The potential of this technique extended far beyond this crisis! Though Ves already channeled his design spirits in previous occasions, most notably with Ylvaine's spiritual fragnt and the Golden Cat, this was the first ti he employed it for a greater purpose than hoodwinking his audience.
Perhaps it might be possible for Ves to perform every ability of his design spirits!
If not for the fact that Qilanxo wasn't one of his creations, he might have tried to see if he could channel her powerful space barrier.
Just the thought of accomplishing this feat significantly increased his sense of security! It would be as if he carried a shield generator that could never be removed from his person!
He shook his head. "This is not the ti to get caught up in wild ideas."
With his conscious effort and Lufa's invaluable assistance, the glow surrounding not only grew stronger, but extended far beyond the ship!
Amazingly enough, the glow even managed to form a concave cavity from the edge of the dark sphere!
Though Ves ntally winced at the rate of energy he was extending, this wasn't the ti to hoard his reserves.
"Proceed forward! My glow will protect us! I can't keep this up forever, so don't take it slow!"
While a number of clansn were reluctant to obey, they nevertheless executed his command.
Soon enough, the ship flew forward together with its escort. The vessel continually accelerated, cautiously at first, but more confidently once everyone discovered that the darkness failed to approach further than a couple of hundreds of ters away!
Strange grey flickers collided against the edge of the void, only to disappear right away.
"Where to, patriarch?"
"Fly to the last-known coordinates of the Living Sentinels. Their distress is probably the most acute." Ves answered with a strained expression.
Goldie already conveyed to him that the bulk of the deaths ca from the Sentinels. Though so Avatars and other elite ch pilots began to fall as well, their casualty rates remained relatively low, which signified that they were able to hang on for the mont.
Ti passed until they stumbled upon the first sign of wreckage.
Ves recognized the remains of a comrcial cannoneer ch. Only parts of it remained as weak but nurous weapon impacts shattered the ch to pieces.
The cockpit had been breached as well.
"Dead. Let us move on. We will bring the remains ho after this crisis has passed."
The rescuers encountered several other clouds of wreckage before they finally encountered their first intact ch!
"Patriarch! You're here!" A relieved ch pilot called as his banged-up light skirmisher was just reaching the limits of its energy reserve. "What is this glow? Those grey ghosts aren't haunting anymore! It's a miracle!"
Ves ignored the ch pilot's gratitude. "Take the ch pilot from his ch and bring him back to the ship. His machine isn't important right now, so just leave it. We'll retrieve it later."
It was too much of a burden to bring back the chs trapped in the anomaly. As long as Ves rescued the ch pilots themselves, he could always provide them with other chs.
The Scarlet Rose flew on, encountering much more wreckage than Ves expected. It beca clear that the Living Sentinels suffered heavily as they encountered more broken than functional chs!
While Ves and his ship steadily drove back so of the darkness and offered sanctuary to those who needed it most, other parts of the dark sphere began to make room for hope as well!
Each of the expert candidates found their own way to overco the darkness around them. Filled with the need to overco their isolation and co to the aid of their comrades, their willpower shone brighter than ever!
The most dramatic result ca from Jannzi Larkinson! With her Shield of Samar as the center, she infused her willpower in the ch that she had developed a partnership with. Though it took so ti, her ch ultimately worked together with her to manifest so of her will in a radius around her ch!
Certain limits within her mind had loosened as she tried her best to maintain this invisible, intangible protective field by herself. She clenched her teeth and propelled her slow ch forward.
The isolating darkness that prevented her ch from approaching other chs parted silently at the passing of her ch. Before she knew it, she succeeded in crossing over to the shadowy cell of one of her subordinate Shieldbearers!
"Thank you!"
"This isn't the ti to talk. Fly close to and help drive back the ghost chs!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
Though the grey chs weren't able to fly past the barrier that Jannzi erected, they were still able to damage it with their attacks!
Fortunately, as Jannzi began to pick up more Shieldbearers and Avatars, the chs she offered protection paid back her efforts by killing the grey chs on her behalf!
As her 'army' of rescued chs grew, she failed to notice that she had entered an elevated state of mind.
Her attention wasn't entirely focused on the present anymore. She piloted her ch forward on instinct and on autopilot as she began to contemplate the growing responsibility she held towards the chs and ch pilots that sheltered in her field.
She didn't notice how much energy she expended to keep up her barrier. Her willpower could only sustain such a large protective field for so long. It was impossible for her to last this long on her own rits!
Not just the duration of her protective umbrella appeared suspect, but the scope of her field was also astounding.
Her protective field slowly covered more space. As the chs she rescued rose in number, her field never ran out of space.
Before she knew it, over a hundred functional chs cramd in her field!
The rescued ch pilots all regarded Jannzi and her Shield of Samar with amazent. Their best efforts only allowed them to fend off the grey chs. None of them were able to project a field that could forcefully push back the darkness that threatened to lock them up until the grey chs tired out their machines!
The other expert candidates weren't able to match Jannzi's efficiency. However, they found their own ways to offer relief to their fellow comrades.
"CUT!"
Commander Dise's swordsman ch chopped its weapon against the darkness, opening up a wide scar that failed to heal right away!
"Go through!" She commanded.
Her ch alongside twenty other Swordmaiden chs quickly drilled through the hole. Once the last ch passed through, whatever force prevented the cut from healing dropped, causing the darkness to repair its wound.
"CUT!"
It didn't matter as Dise cut another hole that led to another trapped ch! Through cutting any barrier in her way, she soon managed to rescue every Swordmaiden ch in the field, though it wasn't as if they needed it in the first place.
The grey ghosts failed to break one of their ranks!
Commander Dise observed her reford Swordmaidens chs with pride. However, she knew that her job wasn't done. She wasn't solely a Swordmaiden anymore. She was also a Larkinson!
"Let's cut through this void and rescue the other Larkinsons!"
"Yes, commander!"
In another part of the sphere, Commander Orfan pierced through the darkness in a similar manner. Though the holes she generated closed much faster than usual, she simply attacked repeatedly, sustaining the vulnerability long enough to let every rescued Vandal ch through!
"Co on, hurry up! Our light chs are expending too much energy now!"
Elsewhere, Joshua's Quint charged forward with great montum. With his lance pointed forward, the masterwork ch punched through shadow after shadow, blasting open wide holes that reford slowly enough for the trapped Bright Companion and Avatar chs to fly towards their nearest comrades.
Though Joshua wasn't able to gather a huge army with his rapid passing, the sheer amount of breaches he made provided many isolated chs the opportunity to reach out to their closest neighbors.
The space knights who were incapable of wiping out every ranged ghost ch and the rifleman chs who incurred too much damage from lee ghost chs eagerly gathered together. By combining their strengths and covering their weaknesses, the groupings achieved enough synergy to defeat a lot more grey chs!
Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson achieved even better results. His light skirmisher wasn't suited to fight in these conditions and his ch still possessed limited energy reserves.
The light ch specialist found his own way of breaching through the barriers that kept the Larkinson chs apart.
His light skirmisher boldly flew ahead with even greater speed than the Quint's montous charge!
The expert candidate concentrated his will to achieve the greatest speed possible. Nothing was allowed to stand in his way! No barrier or limit was allowed to hold his ch back as he accelerated his ch to greater velocities!
"My freedom is sacred! No cage shall ever lock in place!"
Many trapped chs only noticed a rapid ch passing through their cage before breaking through the shadows with its own fra!
Dozens of holes opened in an instance, and Tusa's ch was already in the process of opening up additional cavities!
No matter how these expert candidates worked to save their comrades, each of them succeeded in surpassing their previous limits.
Though none managed to achieve apotheosis at this desperate hour, their wills beca more honed than ever. Their lights expanded throughout the dark sphere, thereby illuminating so of the trapped chs and slowing down their fall.
Yet hindering the anomaly was not enough to stem this crisis! As ti went on, the dark sphere grew stronger. Each expert candidate encountered increasingly stiffer resistance.
"This can't go on!"
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