Alma 103 Not A Hero

Inside of the enormous storm around the Reef, all manner of hell had been raised. The entire landscape had changed; what had once been a frigid, rocky coast had turned into something else — an unrecognizable hellscape.

The blackened skies above crackled and wildly churned in pain as they spewed noxious fumes. Immense, terrifying cyclones formed out of the poisonous smog dotted the land, bringing with them the plague, chaos, and death.

In return, a new form of life had arisen from the deceased land.

Alien eyes formed of pulsating flesh had grown out of the dead earth and covered the land. Giant, lumbering shadows — some taller than mountains — made out of unknown energy crawled around the hellscape in search of prey. Even the mindless Infested larvae dared not to cross their path out of instinctive fear…

But the most predominant was the scar — an enormous abyss — that stretched across the land like a rotting laceration on the land. It was impossible to see what lay within it, but the Anima fluctuations that came from it gave one a distinct sense of impending dread.

And the Reef? Covered in a shroud of darkness, protected by an endless amount of Infested on all sides. The Infested — the poor souls — had now been tasked with protecting the place they'd once called home. Although enslaved, they were fully aware of what was to come and despaired…

But the time had come.

As soon as the fleets trespassed into the storm, it had begun. The entire hellscape came to life and started to assault them. Piercing rays of light struck the fleets, making short work of their heavily reinforced armor.

It was akin to watching ice melt under the heat of a raging flame — the pulsating eyes on the ground would have melted holes straight into the fleets had it not been for the timely barrage from the rear fleets.

Hundreds of cannons fired nonstop and peppered the land indiscriminately with three-meter wide superheated shells of iron fired at nearly a hundred and fifty kilometers per hour. The result was awe-inspiring to behold.

Oh god.

Reed gasped silently as he looked upon the destruction down below.

Bright, blinding flashes of light consumed the earth, vaporizing everything in their path. A field of mushroom clouds rose from the ashes of the scorched land and blossomed toward the black skies above. Deafening, rumbling shockwaves furiously spread out and flattened everything for kilometers on end without mercy.

They'd spare nothing for the Infested. The land was already dead in the first place, so it was pointless trying to minimize the damage on it. For all intents and purposes, it'd become a domain similar to that of the Shadowlands. That considered, the fleet-masters ordered that all cannons be fired at full power.

Stone, dirt, and ash flew into the skies above, forming a temporary shroud that the fleets put to use. The Northern fleet, at the head of the unified fleet, pushed forward toward the Reef at full speed.

Lu'um stared at the rising mushroom clouds and said, "That was a decent barrage, but it'll only delay the inevitable. Those abyssal eyes will return before long — we need to pull them out by the roots if we want to properly get rid of them…"

The Abyssal Eyes were part of a living root system that existed deep underground and could not be removed simply by destroying them at the surface. They were much like weeds — hard to kill and persistent — only by digging out the earth could they be removed at their source.

They were a nightmare to deal with on planets that had been infected by the Infestation for an extended period of time. The more time they were given, the deeper the roots would grow — often time becoming irremovable save for extreme measures such as planet cracking and stellar drilling.

Reed glanced at Haydn, who had been tasked to lead the North's forces in the operation, and said, "That's not our problem, though. Let's head over to the maintenance port and get ready. At this rate, it won't be long before they send everyone down."

He trusted that Haydn and Velvund would take care of things out on the battlefield, even if he didn't know who was leading the Eastern and Southern fleets. Reed was committed to helping them out in whatever way he could but he had his own objective.

The Reef was his target. He'd come to save Astrid — only after accomplishing that would he divert his efforts toward the battlefield.

Was it selfish of him to focus on saving a single person instead of prioritizing the greater good in protecting the world?

Reed sympathized and understood that he was probably needed more here. If he and Lu'um helped the fleet, they'd probably save many a life in the process. He wished that he could help them out, but he had made a promise.

He would save Astrid, even if it unintentionally cost him the lives of good people that he could have saved…

Once they had cleared enough of the Infested below, the ground squads were sent down to clear up what remained, if anything. They'd follow the fleets from behind and eliminate whatever their barrages had not destroyed and their line forward.

The front part of the fleet, headed by the supercruisers, would take the brunt of the damage and defend the rear fleet.

The rear part of the fleet, mainly comprised of frigates and cruisers, would be tasked with the saturation bombardments, clearing out as much of the Infested as possible.

The ground forces below, comprised of the Chosen squads, would clear everything that survived behind the fleets, so as to ensure that they would not have to worry about their backs and focus on pushing forward.

Reed and Lu'um had been assigned to a squad themselves, but they would never show up. Instead, they had secretly moved into one of the maintenance passageways on the ship. They'd silently leave through one of the many access ports that mechanics used when they needed to enter special areas of the ship.

In order to not alert anyone, they'd left right after the next bombing run before the ground squads' deployment. The idea they'd come up with was to use the residual fallout from the bombardment as cover, same as the fleets themselves.

They silently disappeared into the storm and flew away from them as fast as they could. In a way, they'd planned to use the fleets as a distraction. It hurt Reed to think of them that way, but it was the truth.

Compared to the two of them, the Infestation was much more invested in destroying the fleets. They'd been given the perfect opportunity to head to the Reef almost unhindered save for a few nuisances. Abyssal eyes proved quite the nuisance to the pair as they flew and slowed down their speed considerably.

They'd been forced to travel low by the ground, which was what the Infestation wanted. That way, they'd have to deal with the hordes of Infested that littered the ground. A ground war against the Infested horde was inadvisable, even for Reed and Lu'um.

Millions of Infested proved a considerable threat but they'd already been in a similar situation before. Reed and Lu'um gathered Anima and summoned a flood of raging flame and light — just enough to clear a path to the Reef, but enough to attract too much attention.

The last thing they wanted was for the Infested Pupa to notice them. They weren't sure what it'd do if it discovered them and did not want to find out. Reed was sure that if it found out, the fighting would probably escalate and possibly cost them Astrid's life, at worst.

By the time the pair had reached the outskirts of the Reef, the fight afar had progressed even further than before. Reed saw that the fleet had seemingly been slowed down. The closer it got the Reef, the heavier the concentration of abyssal eyes were, among other Infested. Simply put, they'd reached an area of particularly heavy Infested activity.

And it's only going to get worse the further they make it to the Reef…

Reed grimaced. It was going to be a tough, prolonged fight now. He didn't know how long the fleet would hold but he knew that it wouldn't be long before the first warship went down.

Lu'um grabbed one of Reed's hands and pulled him forward.

He understood and said, "I just want to get one last look at them, okay?"

"I understand, Ka'an, but we don't have time. We need to go, now."

Reed sighed and finally turned away from the raging battlefield. He'd made his decision and now he would have to live with it.

I've abandoned the many in pursuit of the one. Forgive me, Gramps.

The Reef, covered in a veil of darkness, suddenly shone as soon as the pair approached it, as if had been waiting for them. A beam of light broke through the sealing veil that'd been put on the Reef and struck the pair, dragging them inside.

They'd left the battlefield... and the fleet to its fate. There was no going back now.

Chapter end