7:00 AT, Day Forty-Two | Fort Blasphemy / Hot Spring

  “Darling, this is perfect!” Ray says, staring out the window at the snowy landscape. It seems to really accentuate her blue eyes, and makes her look even cuter than normal.

  “Yeah. Hot springs in a snowy wonderland. Who would've thought.”

  Ray pulls me and I end up leaning against her. Always the demanding girlfriend. Good thing I am happy to oblige. “We definitely need some scenic hot springs back on City Stelarum. Ooo, maybe we could do it in AR or something. Then we could have it for all sorts of biomes! Even various places all around the empire.”

  I gratefully receive headpats, which are super gentle and nice. This really is life. If only we could stay like this for the rest of time. “Mm, that sounds wonderful. But, I have a better idea.”

  She turns to look me in the eyes. “And what might that be, darling?” I sense a hint of evilness in her voice.

  My gray eyes lock with her blue ones. Some would probably say the space between us exploded with energy or something absurd. But it just made me feel super happy. “More headrubs.” I lean up and give her a nice, long kiss. Then, she pulls me back in for another.

  “Mhm, that is something I can get behind.” She says, then pulls me down into her lap and slowly runs her fingers through my hair. It is wonderful. Some might say it is the best sensation in the entire universe. But I say it is the best sensation in all universes.

  Many, many, many headrubs and headpats later

  “Alright Ko, let's go show these snowflakes what true strength looks like!” Ray is looking super cute and awesome in her armor today. It seems like she is glowing more than usual. Must be the magical power of hot springs. Her skin is definitely smoother than usual.

  “Of course, darling. Those cowards don't stand a chance against us. We are the Moonlight Duo, after all.”

  After a few more headpats for good measure, we set off. We launch from the balcony and stare downwards at our gathered force. Nearly six thousand soldiers plus support troops. All ready to go knock real nicely on Fort Pride’s doors and ask to be let in. With the utmost politeness of course. We have many, many explosives.

  We set down just beside Emil and Rigar who are arguing over something. “Emil, how are things coming along?” I ask.

  “Very well, Milords. All of the troops are just about ready to set off. We have prepared a lot of extra healthpacks in anticipation of poison weaponry. All of our troops have also been outfitted with that special device you recommended based on our intel.”

  Ray loops her arm around mine and leans on my shoulder a bit. “Isnt my darling Ko just the best? He is super smart and stuff.”

  “General Kovon is definitely a wonderful strategist.” I nearly collapse under the weight of such a compliment coming from Rigar. For such a battle hardened veteran to say I am a great strategist…

  “Milady, you are also a wonderful leader! The army simply wouldn't function as smoothly without you.”

  We quickly rehash the plans and then set out. We won't be doing this one stealthy. With so many soldiers we must rely on sheer force instead. However if there is one thing that we are good at, it is explosions. Big explosions.

  We arrive at the clearing housing Fort Pride, and we stand stunned.

  “Ko, where is the fort?” Ray asks while looking ahead.

  “Well, if I had to guess, it is in that thing.”

  “Oh klack.” Ray is absolutely right. This is definitely an ‘oh klack’ moment.

  Surrounding the fort is a massive storm of snow and ice. It is blanketing the entire area, simultaneously cloaking the entire fort and making a strong defensive barrier. Also, the temperature drops rapidly as you approach it.

  I step forward a bit. “It seems we have found the source of all this snow. They must've retrofitted the hellfire cannon’s power source into a snow machine. Quite creative.”

  “Hey Ko, how are we gonna get through that thing? We would get shredded if we tried to just stroll inside.” Ray makes a very good point.

  I turn to ask Emil a very important question. “Hey Emil, we've got those things prepared, right?”

  He smiles back at me. Though maybe it is more of a knowing grin. “That we do, Milord. Though I have a feeling Milady isn't going to like the plan you have.”

  Ray turns to me, a worried look on her face. She is super cute when she is worried, though I would much rather she be smiling. “Ko, just what the klack are you going to do this time?”

  “Oh do not worry dear Ray. I am simply going to go through the storm. Hey Rigar, what are the odds they can keep a shield up as well as the storm?”

  “I highly doubt they have the resources for both, at best it is a partial shield.” Rigar confirms.

  “Well then, that is just great. Emil, ima need those things right about now.”

  “As you wish, Milord.”

  Several moments of intense tinkering and preparing later

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  “Alright darling, would you do the honors of pressing the big red button?” I shout to Ray, who is standing below me. Where am I, you might ask? Well, I am currently in the barrel of an artillery cannon.

  “Darling, you owe me a lot of headpats later.” Ray shouts. Then presses the big red button. Now that I think of it, this is the second time she has pressed a big red button this week. I think she deserves a few extra headpats. Though I fear my headpat debt has already grown too great for me to overcome.

  The cannon charges up and then launches me, traveling at nearly 500m/s. I shatter the sound barrier and practically teleport right to the storm. But just before I enter, I activate my {Dragon Lord’s Scales}. My body hardenes, becoming basically invincible as I am dragged into the storm.

  Immediately, I am grabbed up by the storm despite my speed. I get thrown every which way. I can feel ice crystals hit me with immense amounts of force. But my scales hold strong. I push all of my flight power towards the center, towards the fort that lies behind the veil of ice and snow.

  I grind and push against the endless wall of snow, it feels like I struggle for hours and hours. But the timer on my skill says that it has only been seconds. But still, I only have so long, and despite all my efforts, I am still whisked around.

  The timer ticks down. 5, 4, 3…

  But with one second remaining, I finally make it through to the other side.

  When I emerge from the storm, I am immediately immersed in a veritable sea of bullets. I quickly activate {Lightning Barrier} and engage in phase two of the plan.

  I spot the snow machine, sitting right on top of the core.

  I fly straight for it and activate the cylinder that rests on my back. A homemade fusion bomb. Apparently it was a bloody miracle that our engineers put it together. We had to scrape trace amounts of materials from various reactors.

  With an absolute miracle of aerial ability, I simultaneously dodge the overwhelming amount of anti-air and standard munitions flying my way. I successfully make contact with the snow machine and plant the fusion bomb.

  Then, I get the klack out of there.

  I dive behind the outer wall of the fort, mere moments before the entire world turns upside down with a blinding flash of light. The shockwave follows soon after, blowing the snowstorm away and revealing the outside world to me once again.

  I see Ray off in the distance, waving to me. I quickly stand up, my legs a bit shaky. Then I run and wrap her up in a big hug. “See darling, I am fine. I just delivered them a little present on their doorstep.”

  She gives me a nice and good flick to the forehead. A classic at this point. “Jerk. You should've let me do it instead.”

  “You know I would never. Plus, I am way more used to flying. That snowstorm was rough. I almost didn't make it through…” I earn a slap to the forehead. Perhaps I shouldn't speak about almost dying. Though, it was a pretty nice slap.

  “Idiot. Now, how about we go get ourselves a new fort, hmm darling?” Ray pulls back a bit and gives me one of her smiles. I would do quite literally anything for this girl. For even just a single smile, I would conquer the entire universe and give it to her.

  “Sure thing, darling.” I give her a quick kiss before we set off again.

  Our entire force begins marching towards the fort. It takes a moment, but eventually the defenders recover and man the walls again. But we are ready. After all, we have a lot of explosives.

  The top of the fort is still smoking from the fusion bomb. Unfortunately, it was too small to harm much beyond the snow machine. We simply didn't have enough material to make it any larger.

  We march up towards the front gates. But for some reason, none of the defenders fire back at us. They simply stand on the battlements and watch us, occasionally dodging our attacks against them.

  Once we are within about 200 meters of the gates, trumpets start sounding from somewhere inside the fort. All of the defenders immediately start kneeling, as if by some command.

  “Hey Ko. I am no genius, but this does not seem good.” Ray says worriedly.

  “I would concur, this does not seem like a good series of events whatsoever.”

  In a very dramatic fashion, the front gate of the fort opens up very slowly and with a loud creaking sound that can be heard even by us.

  Once they are fully open, the air goes very still. It is as if everything, including us, is frozen, anticipating what is about to appear in that door.

  We don't wait long, as a boy walks through the door. I say boy, but that is a wholly insufficient term. It is so very clearly not a boy. But it looks like one. A tiny boy, about 130cm tall. He has long yellow hair and eyes that are pitch black. His skin is an unnatural white color.

  For armor he wears a suit of pure white power armor. It is sleek, yet conveys a great sense of power. I can see a shimmering of plasma shields shimmer off it.

  However, by far the most concerning part is the inae.

  It is practically rolling off the boy in waves. I can feel it in the air, thickly. Not an aura, nor raw or shifter inae. It is almost as though it is just projecting his very presence. A very ominous presence. I feel a single jolt of fear go through me.

  The boy takes a few steps forward, and his eyes lock with mine.

  He smiles. A very evil smile.

  “Well, well, well. It appears that we will meet again, Specimen Kovon Ducker. Oh, and is that a Rayleigh Inan I see? I foresee a great deal of fun shall be had. After all, it is I, the MinorNode-734, also known as Sancter Regulus. It has been quite a while since I have played with such wonderful specimens. I only wish it was under freer conditions.

  Oh well. I will be able to dissect you all the same anyways.”

  Fear takes me over. Regulus, the one that both kidnapped Ray back on City Stelarum and then proceeded to thoroughly defeat me with barely any effort.

  And he is here? In what appears to be his true form no less.

  I can only hope that he is not as powerful in the arena as outside. Because if he is… we are in for one mighty challenge.

  But, I like challenges. Plus, I have Ray by my side, which I didn't last time. Not to mention how much stronger we have become since then.

  So, bring it on.

  End of Chapter 135

  Next: Chapter 136 | Shattered Pride

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