21:32 AT, Day Sixteen | Fort Uri Liv

  The dark battlefield is lit up with the light of explosions. Plumes of smoke rise high into the sky as wrecks smolder. The light cast by the fake-moon bathes the entire field in an eerie silver light. Soldiers clash, vessels get destroyed. People run away, terrified of our defensive rampage.

  “Fire the cannon.” I say into the comms channel, calmly.

  “Right away, milord. Coils charging now, models predict impact in ninety seconds.” Linda says, a fantastic tone in her voice.

  I hover over the battlefield, dodging some of the bullets that come my way. Some, I just let plink off my armor, just because I can.

  “All forces, retreat back into the fort!” I shout into the main comms channel.

  Immediately, all of our forces stop fighting and pull into a full retreat.

  Naturally, we lose a few soldiers as the Quartet soldiers see their opportunity. But, it would be nothing compared to what is coming next.

  “Coils discharged, payload impact in sixty-two seconds.” Linda informs me.

  I watch the contestants, they think they are safe in their mobile bunker. Several of them are now looking up at me. Perhaps trying to figure out why I am just floating here while our forces retreat.

  I smile at them, a big grin full of mischief.

  April points directly at me, seemingly saying something about me. They start to discuss something, with panicked looks on their faces.

  “Payload has reached apoapsis, impact in twenty-eight seconds.” Linda says, voice charged with a sense of glee I’ve never heard from her.

  All of our soldiers have successfully retreated into the fort, behind its thick plasma shields. They pick off any hostiles that try to get close, causing the Quartet to pull their forces back.

  I look at April and our eyes meet. I smirk, not a normal smirk, but one of those smirks that are meant to invoke pure terror into all those who see them.

  I activate my {Lightning Barrier} and a plasma-shield bubble generator (it only lasts a few seconds, but it's ridiculously strong.)

  “Payload separated, brace for impact!” Lina shouts, though the message gets a bit scrambled due to interference.

  The clouds are set ablaze.

  The fiery red glow spreads all through the sky and bathes the battlefield in a menacing red.

  Mere milliseconds later, I notice respawn barriers appear around all four contestants and their core members dotted around the battlefield.

  Moments later, the payload impacts.

  The entire battlefield explodes.

  The explosions resound around the field, flattening trees for several kilometers around. The shockwave impacts Fort Uri Liv’s shields and causes it to ripple and crack in a few places, but it holds.

  I am tossed around by the shockwave, thrown this way and that. But my shield and {Lightning Barrier} holds, allowing me to stabilize myself in the air, at great inae cost.

  The initial chaos settles.

  When some of the smoke starts to clear, all that is left is a barren wasteland.

  Where there was once a battlefield dotted with trees and surrounded by a dense forest, there is now nothing. A scorched wasteland, fires ablaze everywhere is all that remains.

  Smoke rises into the air, quickly filling the skies and blotting out what little light filters in from the fake moon.

  Below me lies a field of destroyed vessels. Contestants and core members whisked back to their castle to respawn, the system registering the impact as lethal even before it hit.

  What a smart system, it's good to know that it has our back.

  Wrecks of mechs and tanks dot the landscape.

  The massive behemoth turtles lay ruined, giant holes ripped in their shells. Smoke gushing out as fire consumes whatever internals survived the blast.

  All that can be heard is the crackle of fire as it burns, consuming everything it can on the battlefield.

  Wind vortexes form, sucking some of the fire up high into the sky in fire-nadoes. They carve paths of complete destruction through the wreckage.

  “Kooo! Are you still alive out there? Why’d you have to be so dramatic and insist on staying out there in the big firestorm? You're such a jerk.” Ray says, joy mixed with a bit of worry in her voice.

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  “I was thrown around a bit, but my shields held, no problem. Can't say the same for the Quartet’s forces.”

  “How did we do? Our sensors back here are still a bit scrambled from the firestorm.”

  “Hmm, I'm not sure how to say this, but there is nothing left.”

  “What do you mean nothing?”

  “I mean, my sensors are picking up no signs of life. The only things left on the battlefield are shattered vessels and wrecks of armor. Even the behemoths have been reduced to smoldering corpses.”

  “Huh!?” Ray says, astounded.

  “It appears that the hellstorm cannon had a bit stronger of an effect than we anticipated.”

  “A bit? We only expected it to take out their command structure. The entire battlefield is cleared, that's insane!”

  “Its not just the battlefield, everything for nearly two kilometers around is a scorched wasteland. You should've seen the fort’s shield ripple from out here, it was awesome.”

  “Klack, now I'm sad I missed it, why can't I have amazing flight ability like yours. I'm stuck with subpar hovering.” Ray says, disappointed to have missed the sight.

  “Unfortunately, the game masters are no fun, they won't let me take you on a flying date. How unfair.”

  “Well darling, it's not like this trial will last forever. We will have millennia to go on many flying dates." Ray says, I can feel her smile through the comms channel.

  “Yep, don' t forget the good ol’ headrubs either. Those are super important.”

  “Of course, you're gonna be giving me a klacking load of headrubs once this trial is over, and forevermore into the future. Don't think you can escape now, it's far too late now.”

  “I look forward to being trapped in your clutches for the rest of eternity. I wouldn't have it any other way.”

  “You're a big jerk, you know that, right Ko?”

  “Maybe one day I'll convince you that I am more cool than a jerk, and you'll finally realize what a worthless NEET I am at heart.”

  “Well, of course you're cool, but you're also a jerk. Now, get back here and join me in the lovely hot spring. It seems our schedule should be free for a while at least."

  9:00 AT, Day Seventeen | Fort Uri Liv / Command Room

  You’re probably wondering what all that stuff was yesterday. I did intentionally try to build suspense, after all, even historical accounts should be entertaining, right?

  Ever since we first made contact with the Quartet, we assigned a team to design a weapon. A weapon to really make an impact, you know. A kiloweapon as they are often referred to. (Big weapon prefixes; Kilo = destroy a battlefield; Mega = city/region; Super = continent; Giga = planet; Hyper = star system)

  So naturally, our engineering corps got to work on a design. Implementing technology that we found in the hellfire cannon from Fort Ridere, but essentially upscaling it and adding it into a projectile that can be launched long distances.

  The design was finished, and Linda was assigned to lead the construction project. A big bragging point for her of course. It was quickly built, salvaging resources and technology from other stuff that we can buy/manufacture.

  In order to get its ammunition, we had to get a ridiculous amount of hellfire cannon ammo and disassemble it. It was very messy, and several warehouses exploded in the process of making one payload.

  Then we basically shoved the payload in a large coilgun and launched it to our target, the battlefield that is now a scorched wasteland.

  Naturally, we dubbed the weapon the hellstorm cannon. An apt name for such a devastating weapon. In fact, its devastation far surpassed what we had initially predicted. We destroyed far more of the local environment than we wished to.

  Oh well, testing weapons of mass destruction is bound to have some consequences. At least it happened here in the arena instead of an actual ecosystem.

  Ray is currently sitting on top of my lap while we are in an important discussion about future strategy. She has been noticeably more clingy lately. Perhaps it has something to do with all the high-risk scenarios I have been placing myself into.

  Perhaps I should be more careful in the future. I probably won't, but I might want to consider it. After all, only Ray is allowed to be the death of me. Not gonna let any cosmic horrors, trials or even reality itself take her place.

  “Darling, I think you should be paying more attention to me instead of these boring people.” Ray says, interrupting Emil as he is going over the intelligence reports.

  “Shh, darling. Don't worry, I'll give you plenty of headrubs later, but let the man speak. He has been working hard on this report.” I say quietly into Ray’s ear, giving her a few pats on the head and wrapping my arms around her, for good measure.

  “Mhm, but like, haven't we basically won? I doubt the Quartet can recover, they must've thrown everything they had into that assault.”

  “You do raise a good point, Lady Ray. Our intelligence suggests that the Quartet’s forces are reeling from their horrific loss. We managed to get a scout or two deep into their territory. They reported that the Quartet’s war reserves are basically gone, they dedicated so much of their production and manpower into those behemoths.” Emil says, agreeing with Ray.

  “Well, that's good to hear. So now it's basically cleanup as we tour around their last forts and assault their main castle?”

  “Thats about it, milord. Though we can expect them to fight with much fervor at the final castle, I don't think the remaining forts will pose much of a challenge. However, we need to keep up our logistics efforts and begin tapping more resources. The defense did drain our resources quite heavily, and we will need many more forces to occupy and hold our new territories.” Emil says.

  He really is a miracle, a genius at logistics, personnel management and long-term planning. He doesn't excel that much at military strategy, but he can get the main beats. The fieldwork and troop movements can be left to Ray, myself and Rigar and the other experienced soldiers.

  We discussed strategy for a while. It seems we have practically defeated the Quartet in this one battle. This is why challenges are so much fun. It's always great when the odds are against you and you manage to completely flip the table, then it becomes your enemy that is in deep trouble.

  I can guess that Brian and Geo are going to develop some scary weapons for their castle defense. But I'm sure we will be able to figure them out. If the worst comes to worse, we just wait a few weeks until we can fire the hellstorm cannon again and flatten their fort to rubble.

  I am certain that whatever should come next, we will conquer it. After all, with Ray and I together, we can overcome anything. Plus, we've got a lot of almost equally insane friends backing us up. So, bring it on.

  End of Chapter 105

  Next: Chapter 106 | Scorched Earth

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