(Planet Buxar, near a Righteous Faction Military Base)
The atmosphere on Buxar was tense as planetary feeds continued looping fragnted footage and half-confird reports about the successful extraction of the Cult Dragon Aegon Veyr, comntators arguing in cautious tones while citizens watched with expressions that hovered sowhere between awe and dread.
"They actually pulled him out," one soldier muttered, resting his sword against the periter railing as he stared at the holoscreen flickering above the base courtyard.
"Yeah," the man beside him replied quietly. "And did you notice sothing else?"
The first soldier glanced sideways. "What?"
"None of the righteous elite units that were called to provide security to this event survived this war."
He pointed out, as his statent caused his colleague to pause.
The hum of engines, distant chatter and the rhythmic march of patrol in the background, all of it seed to dull for the first soldier as the implication of his colleague's words settled.
"They called up the best," the second continued, lowering his voice instinctively.
"Top-ranked strike teams. Commander Escorts. Hell, even veteran Commanders themselves. And still...."
*Gulp*
He swallowed.
"Not a single one of them returned."
He said, as the first soldier felt a chill creep up his spine.
*Shiver*
"You think they all-"
He began, as-
"Doesn't matter what I think," the second cut in. "The fact of the matter is that the Cult Army went in, took their target, and walked out.
Whatever happened at The Pit... was definitely outside the scope of righteous calculations."
The first soldier exhaled slowly, fingers tightening around his sword. "I used to be pissed I wasn't good enough to get deployed there."
A humorless smile tugged at his lips.
"Now? I'm glad."
The other nodded. "Sa. Whatever monsters were fighting down there... I don't think rank mattered."
The duo discussed, as suddenly at that mont, the sky rippled.
*FWOOOSH*
At first, it was subtle, like heat distortion without heat, before space itself folded inward, alarms screaming far too late as a Fourth Dinsional Portal tore open above the central landing zone. *BZZZZTTT*
*ALARMS BLARING*
Conversation died instantly, as Leo Skyshard erged from the rift first, followed closely behind by massive sized Destroyer and Carrier ships.
*Aura Unfold*
*Choke*
"What the hell-"
The first soldier began, but before he could even complete his sentence, Leo's crushing aura choked him, as he alongside hundreds of thousands of other soldiers present at the military base died within seconds of coming into contact with Leo's pressure, as the Cult Army rolled into Buxar unopposed.
(anwhile Leo)
Leo felt it the mont his feet touched solid ground, as the crushing montum that had carried him across dinsions finally vanished, leaving behind only exhaustion so deep it bordered on hollowness, as though sothing essential had been scooped out of his chest and never returned.
*Falter*
His aura receded almost on instinct, not because he willed it to, but because there was simply nothing left to sustain it, as the backlash from [Temporal Shift], the forced evacuation, and the prolonged combat all collapsed inward at once, hitting him in a delayed,
rciless wave.
*Stagger*
*Breath hitch*
Every step forward felt heavier than the last as Leo pushed himself through the ruined entryway of Buxar's military base, his vision dimming at the edges while his heartbeat thundered too loud in his ears, as if his body was struggling to rember how to keep itself upright without constant command.
Too many problems pressed at the edges of his mind.
Kaelith.
Soron.
Helmuth.
Moltherak.
Survival.
And each of them tried to surface all at once, clawing for attention and demanding resolution, as the weight of everything he had set in motion threatened to crush him beneath its sheer scale.
'Not now.....
Leo thought, as he forced them down.
The Cult Army was safe.
Veyr had been rescued, and hence, for now at least, he had done all
that he could do.
'From here... my capable n can handle the rest.
The thought brought a faint smile to his bloodstained lips, as his legs finally gave out a heartbeat later.
*KNEE*
*CRACK*
Leo dropped to one knee inside the fractured plaza, stone splintering
beneath the impact as his strength vanished completely, his hands failing to catch him as his body tipped forward, consciousness slipping through his grasp before he even hit the ground.
*THUD*
He did not feel the floor.
He did not feel the cold.
He simply fell, mind going dark as his body shut down entirely, trusting without hesitation that he would wake up later.
And just as he expected, the Cult moved.
Within minutes of Leo's collapse, the sky above Buxar filled with
shadows as Cult Destroyers fanned outward in precise formations, engines roaring as they tore across the atmosphere, descending on military installations with overwhelming force.
One base fell.
Then another.
Then another.
Righteous defenses buckled almost imdiately, command structures
collapsing under the speed and coordination of the assault, as Commander Anderson Silva took point from orbit, issuing orders with ruthless efficiency, while Mickey Jas led ground engagents personally, cutting through local Commanders and elite defenders before they could even understand what exactly was going on.
The Cult did not rush.
They did not panic.
They expanded thodically, carving out a secure planetary periter around Buxar, as they isolated it, fortified it, and turned the surrounding regions into a dead zone where no righteous reinforcents could gather unchecked, orbital patrols locking down approach vectors while ground forces dismantled command nodes with surgical precision.
By the ti the alarms stopped screaming and the last organized
resistance was silenced, a safe space had been established, layered with contingencies and overlapping defenses designed to endure
prolonged siege.
And at its center, Leo lay unconscious.
Protected, as the doctors worked on him restlessly for the second
ti in the sa day, knowing full well that the fate of the Cult now
hinged on how quickly their Lord could stand again.
XXXXXX
End Of Volu 9 - A New Era Of Chaos.
Hope to see you all in volu 10, titled:
The Cult's Resurgence.
XXXXXX
User Comments
0 comments from readers