Chapter 895: Conflict
<span style="font-weight:400">The ship carrying Kruz and the others was really quite impressive to behold. That said, it was somewhat easy to get an idea of their civilization level going by the design that they had used. Once it started moving, it was able to erect a field around itself that propelled it to one thousand times the speed of light. After that, it ceased elerating, simply coasting at that speed while moving in my direction.
<span style="font-weight:400">One thousand times light speed sounded impressive, but in reality it was incredibly slow for an interster vehicle. The nearest star to Earth was roughly five light years away, which would take them over forty hours to reach that destination in a straight line. More importantly, I <i><span style="font-weight:400">wasn’t</i><span style="font-weight:400"> on the nearest star to Earth. Rather, I was on a star roughly two hundred light years away, to ensure that there was no chance of the fallout reaching any of my inhabited worlds.
<span style="font-weight:400">If I wanted to wait for them to arrive at this location, I would need to wait over two months. That was… entirely uneptable. I could likely master the concept of divine circuits in that time if I wanted, but I would rather wait until I was back in the Admin Room to practice that, so that I would be able to ensure a safe training environment.
<span style="font-weight:400">So, I waited, but not for <i><span style="font-weight:400">two months.</i><span style="font-weight:400"> Instead, I allowed the projected illusion to pass while maintaining my vignce. After roughly an hour, they had managed to urately determine which star they were flying towards, and estimated how long it would take them to reach it.
<span style="font-weight:400">At this point, I expected one of them toe forward and open a portal to shorten the distance. Instead, they announced the travel duration to their entire crew, and told them to settle in for a long journey…
<span style="font-weight:400">“Seriously?” I looked over at Mara in confusion. “Do you not have a Travel deity in your group?”
<span style="font-weight:400">Mara dipped her head slightly at that, before shaking it. “T-There used to be one. However, he was killed by a ss Seven monster while out exploring. He always liked to go off on his own, and said it was no fun to travel with a group.”
<span style="font-weight:400">I brought a hand up to massage my forehead. “And you don’t have any ships faster than this?” At the current speed of the enemy vessel, we could make a dozen round trips in one of my world’s basic ships before they managed to reach this ce.
<span style="font-weight:400">“We don’t really travel to the stars much in our world.” Mara exined gently. “Instead, there are parallel nes that can be established if too many people upy a single area. Our space travel is mostly to neighboring stars for special resources.”
<span style="font-weight:400">I couldn’t help but let out a long sigh at that. “Ashley, how much damage could you cause to the gods if you made their reactor go critical?” Naturally, destroying their ship would kill all of the normal mortals, but the vacuum of space had little danger to a god.
<span style="font-weight:400">Ashley blinked, thinking it over before shaking her head. “One of the shields around their ship prevents divine power from entering from the outside. As long as that shield is up, I won’t be able to influence their ship with my divinity. Not without expending a massive amount of energy.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Mara seemed to perk up at that, though I could tell from her surface thoughts that she was simply happy that she found something to be proud of with her world’s technology. The fact that I could even read her surface thoughts meant that she had fully epted being brought into my world. “Kel?”
<span style="font-weight:400">The ursa girl looked over, blinking before she grinned. “I just have to smash the shield, right?” She asked, to which I nodded my head. “Is it fine if I smash the ship along with it?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“If you can take out both with a single strike, that would be even better.” At the very least, it would stop Ashley from needing to use any of her own energy.
<span style="font-weight:400">Keliope nodded her head eagerly, taking a deep breath. “Alright, can you show me the exterior of their ship? I need a real time update if I want my strike to connect.”
<span style="font-weight:400">I arched my brow, creating a second illusion that showed their ship flying through space, the stars visibly moving in the background. Keliope lowered her stance, holding one hand forward with her fingers curled, circting her ki. I recognized the stance, my eyes going wide. This was a move that I myself had practiced.
<span style="font-weight:400">Keliope’s eyes began to glow. “Aurivy, mind helping me with the aim assist? This is going to be a tough one.” As she asked that, the three domains of Strength, Defense, and Fortitude began to circle around her hands.
<span style="font-weight:400">Aurivy quickly nodded her head, creating a portal in front of Keliope. Unlike her usual misty portals, this one appeared incredibly solid, a ring of gold waiting for Keliope’s strike. Keliope gave a small grin, taking half a step forward as her hand thrust into the ring.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Eleventh Hand, God Shattering!” She called out, her ki pouring through her arm and into her hand. This was one of the final attacks of the Twelve Shattering Hands, backed by the power of her trinity.
<span style="font-weight:400">The portal that Aurivy created shook, cracks forming along it as she focused on transmitting the attack across space. In the illusion I had created of the ship’s exterior, I could see a tiny golden dot just above the outeryer of the shield. A momentter, the shield shattered, the entire ship caving inward before exploding.
<span style="font-weight:400">The attack had happened too fast for them to properly protect their guild members, so I scanned through and did a quick head count. “The mortals are all dead. As for the gods… it looks like fifteen of them died.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Only fifteen!?” Keliope asked with wide eyes. “I knew I should have gone for the final strike… I just didn’t think Aurivy’s portal could handle it.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Either way, let’s get going.” I said, slowly rising to my feet. “Mara… stay here.” I told her in a gentle tone as everyone gathered their armaments. I didn’t want her to have to fight her old friends.
<span style="font-weight:400">Mara’s eyes went wide as Aurivy’s mist wrapped around us. A momentter, we were standing in the depths of space, our eyes trained on the exploding ship ahead. Roughly ny shes of light exited the explosion, each belonging to one of the guild’s gods.
<i><span style="font-weight:400">I mark the adventure begun, let our heroes ovee adversity.</i><span style="font-weight:400"> Lifre’s voice echoed out in the space around us, her divinity flowing through us.
<span style="font-weight:400">Udona sped her hands together, a gentle light wrapping around our bodies. <i><span style="font-weight:400">Let the glory of life ovee the harsh rule of death.</i><span style="font-weight:400"> With her blessing, Jordan wouldn’t be able to simply kill us unless he could ovee Udona’s power.
<span style="font-weight:400">Dana gave a small grin, flicking her wrist. Her whip extended with a crack that seemed audible even in the void of space. All around us, the stars seemed to go out one by one, a true darkness consuming the battlefield until even the ship that they emerged from vanished.
<span style="font-weight:400">Thest to handle their preparations were the Terra twins, who brought themselves together to form the Origin of Fate. This would be her first debut in a Keeper battle, so I was quite looking forward to the results.
<span style="font-weight:400">Once our enemies saw who they were facing, they immediately unsealed their own divinity. It was clear to all that this would be the final battle of their raid.
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<i><span style="font-weight:400">Already? This is too soon!</i><span style="font-weight:400"> Kruz grit his teeth, looking around at the other gods. They hadn’t been able to escape the ship without damage, but they still outnumbered the Keeper’s forces five to one.
<span style="font-weight:400">At the earliest, Kruz expected that they would be fighting the Keeper after traveling one quarter of the journey. That seemed to be the best estimate that they coulde up with. However, barely an hour and a half after leaving Earth, not long after determining their destination, they were already being attacked?
<i><span style="font-weight:400">They’ve been watching us from the start…</i><span style="font-weight:400"> Kruz couldn’t imagine how they had managed to observe them for so long without Lana noticing, but it was obvious from the swift attack that they had been prepared. The only thing he coulde up with was that they truly had gotten information from Mara’s death.
<i><span style="font-weight:400">Everyone, full power!</i><span style="font-weight:400"> Kruz called out, immediately unsealing his domains. Lana and the others all did the same, and Kruz was d to see that Jordan hadn’t died. <i><span style="font-weight:400">Even without Mara, as long as we have this lineup, it should be fine</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">Kruz heard a faint crack in the space around him, the world plunged into total darkness. All that existed within this empty void were his own forces and those of the enemy. Kruz flew back to the rear of his troops, spreading his arms out as he activated his divine buffs. The ckndscape shifted, solid ground appearing beneath his feet as it fought back against the darkness.
<span style="font-weight:400">Unlike the gods of this world, who used chants to focus their divinity, those with divine circuits merely needed to activate the saved power. If the power they wished for was not saved, they would have to follow the lines of their divinity to create it, which was typically a simple task if practiced properly.
<span style="font-weight:400">On the enemy team, there was a ck-haired girl holding a whip, whose eyes went wide in surprise when part of her darkness was overtaken. Clearly, this darkness was one of her own abilities, though Kruz merely smirked at that. <i><span style="font-weight:400">Jordan, you go--</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">Before he could finish hismand, he saw that Jordan was already being engaged by one of the enemies, a woman with nine fox tails. Each tail had a jewel floating over it, shooting out multiple beams of different colored light. <i><span style="font-weight:400">Nine domains…? No, that must just be a special artifact.</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">Kruz was aware of the types of artifacts which could be acquired from Fragments of Acidia, as that was a game popr in his own world as well. While they hadn’t been able to reproduce the game’s technology, getting their artifact production methods weren’t as difficult.
<span style="font-weight:400">Thinking that, Kruz reached into his inventory, retrieving an ornately decorated longsword. This was the weapon that he received from that very game, reproduced in the real world. He nned to use this sword to sweep away the enemy forces.
<span style="font-weight:400">He held his weapon, the Sword of Law, high into the air, focusing his divinity into it. As his divinity poured into the sword, characters began to appear along the de. ‘New Law: Strength in Numbers’.
<span style="font-weight:400">However, before he could swing his sword, he felt a gazending on him from the distance. Of the enemy units, there was only one being that was not currently engaged in battle. She had long ck hair and feline features. Her eyes seemed to be bottomless abysses. The moment her gaze locked with Kruz’s, Kruz felt as if he couldn’t swing his sword. As if the moment he did, everyone there would die.
<span style="font-weight:400">His hands trembled, and he sent out a mentalmand. <i><span style="font-weight:400">Anyone! Go get that girl in the back!</i><span style="font-weight:400"> He shouted mentally, though they didn’t seem to hear him. His forces were all wrapped up in their ownbat, multiple gods teaming up against a single enemy.
<span style="font-weight:400">Seeing this, Kruz felt confused, but also realized that the Sword of Law might not be needed to win this battle. With the exception of the Keeper and the girl holding the whip, the other gods all appeared to be getting pushed back by his forces. It was hard to say who was truly winning, but the greater variety in domains looked like it was pressuring the enemy.