As Leo glanced around the rooftop, taking in the militarized pound spread out beneath him, he couldn’t help but wonder where exactly it was that Charles was holding him, when suddenly, a thunderous explosion in the sky above jolted him from his thoughts.
*BOOM*
A craft erupted about ten or so kilometers directly above his head, its metal hull bursting like a firework as flaming shards spun out in every direction, scattering debris across the upper atmosphere like a meteor shower made of dying machinery.
Looking at the splintered remains descending in slow, spiraling arcs through the mana-dense air, Leo couldn’t help but narrow his eyes and wonder just what exactly was going on here, as so far he had no idea about the Cult’s border war with the righteous faction.
"Leo Skyshard?" a voice interrupted him at that point, as standing to his left was a well-built man clad in sleek black armor with an emerald trim running down the sides, a pair of heavy bat boots laced tight around his shins and a thick band of ms-gear wrapping around his jaw.
"mander Charles told me to watch the roof just in case you escaped," the man said, nodding as if this oute was somehow expected. "Said if you made it out, I should bring you straight to him."
Leo turned toward the stranger, his brow slightly furrowed as his eyes swept across the man’s stance and scarred jawline, noting the precision of his gear and the clipped cadence of his voice, before offering a curt nod.
"Name’s Lieutenant Bart," the man added, tapping the emblem on his chestplate with two fingers. "You ing?"
Dumpy peeked from behind Leo’s shoulder, his slimy eyes narrowed and nostrils twitching.
"I refuse," the frog declared flatly. "I do not trust anyone who keeps belts around their waist like that. Belts mean lashings. And I am still emotionally recovering from extreme trauma."
Leo exhaled slowly, flicking the little frog on the nose before shrugging him higher onto his shoulder.
"He’s ing too," Leo muttered, beginning to walk, as Bart merely smirked and turned on his heel.
They walked along a narrow catwalk that connected the mand tower to the barracks below, but Leo’s eyes kept drifting upward, drawn again and again to the flashes of light flickering across the upper sky.
Another explosion rocked the heavens as a second enemy vessel was reduced to ash in a burning spiral, its remains bouncing harmlessly off the shimmering dome of light that hovered high above the planet’s atmosphere like a second sky.
"What is that?" Leo asked, tilting his chin as the light shimmered once more in a rainbow hue. "That glowing layer across the sky... is that some kind of barrier?"
Bart glanced over his shoulder with a slightly incredulous look, as though the question itself had caught him off guard.
"You serious? That’s the planetary mana barrier," he said, pointing upward. "One of the Cult’s finest defense technologies. Ninety-nine percent of enemy ships can’t even get past that thing without blowing themselves up first."
Leo stared in silence for a moment longer, eyes following the faint web-like patterns rippling through the barrier as another enemy ship slammed into it and was instantly vaporized in a brilliant white flash.
"If they can’t get past it, then why are they flying straight into it? And what exactly is going on here?" Leo asked, as the Lieutenant shot him another incredulous look, as though struggling to believe anyone could be so out of touch.
Yet, upon noticing the genuine confusion on Leo’s face and the seriousness in his tone, he slowly exhaled and began to explain.
"This is Juxta, one of the Cult’s three border planets that make our boundary with the righteous faction.
Beyond this planet, all the space outside is controlled by the enemy, and behind us it’s all Cult area ...." Bart began, as Leo nodded in understanding.
"We had relative peace here for the past few decades, however, ever since The Cult hit the Sky-God Arena, the border tensions have heated up yet again.
We have far superior technology when pared to the righteous faction, however, they have far more resources to burn.
So everyday, they force us to keep the protective mana shield running around the planet at all times, forcing us to deplete our strategic mana stone reserves, while they burn through their stock of low grade ships by having them collide against our shield." The Lieutenant explained, as he pointed towards yet another craft that touched the barrier and turned to dust.
"That ship that just blew up, it’s junk anyways. Even if we let it e through, it probably can’t even take down 2 buildings before being shot down.
They’re all at least 40-50 years old and on the verge of being demissioned, but the assholes over at the righteous faction send them here instead, so that we can’t get a good night’s rest.
As of now, we only have about 12 days worth of mana stones left to keep the shield running, but if the Cult keeps restocking us, we can hold out for much longer." The Lieutenant said, as it was only then that the realization truly began to sink in for Leo.
This wasn’t some VR simulation or glorified guild war waged over medieval castles and petty territory, this was a real battlefield!
There were no respawns here, no overpowered buffs or game devs balancing the match from behind a screen.
Here, wars were fought with research, with mand centers, with trained divisions and well-fed supply lines, with steel-plated air cannons and multi-tiered defense infrastructure designed to withstand orbital sieges.
And though he’d seen many wars unfold in the game world... none had ever looked like this.
This war wasn’t chaotic. It was organized. It wasn’t about glory. It was survival.
And for the first time since his turn to the Cult, Leo began to understand exactly what kind of world he’d walked into.
A world where you were the underdog fighting for survival against the bully who had heaps of cash to burn through for minimal results.
"Well, I must say, that shield is definitely some cool stuff," Leo said as he admired the efficiency of that barrier and silently plemented its maker.
If nothing else, the Cult surely did have some talented blacksmiths working for them who were capable of producing critical technologies like these, and that was something praiseworthy in Leo’s eyes.
*Step*
*Step*
The Lieutenant led Leo across the upper deck and up a short flight of metal stairs that opened out into a viewing platform facing the distant skyline, where Charles stood alone with both hands tucked casually into his pockets, his gaze fixed on the barrier high above.
"I brought them here, as requested," Bart said, his tone clipped and respectful.
Charles didn’t speak at first, merely turning to glance at the bruised and battered duo before lowering his eyes to the sleek pocket watch hanging out of his coat.
"Had you boys broken out two hours earlier," he said, his lips curling ever so slightly, "you wouldn’t have had to be whipped like that, you know?"
He paused, then threw his head back and laughed once more, his voice carrying across the rooftop like distant thunder, as Leo’s left eye fluttered in anger.
’Is this fool who the Cult assigned to teach me?’ Leo wondered, as he clenched his fists and let out a deep sigh to not let his anger get the best of him.
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