The Path of Ascension

Chapter 297

Matt and the others followed Mercury into the briefing room on the moon. As they entered, Matt immediately spotted Joy sitting near the back with her feet kicked up on another chair. She was chatting with two other Guildies who wore skin-tight, orange pilot outfits, and turned and waved to them as they entered.

Matt hadnt expected her to get kidnapped or anything so dramatic while they were in friendly space, but Joy had the weakest personal power in their team, so it was up to the rest of them to make sure she was safe. With that taken care of, he inspected the rest of the room to see what they were dealing with.

It was similar to what he expected from his own briefings, there were a number of more important looking people going over various bits of information with their AI before the briefing while aides flitted in and out, but the particulars were different.

Instead of the leadership only wearing the subdued army uniforms he had seen the general troopers wearing, there were a number of caped crusaders in their hero outfits. That at least allowed Matt to identify who they were, and he was slightly surprised by the entourage they had in front of them.

All of the capes were retired heroes who had been famous in their own time before they stepped back from the battlefields for various reasons.

Matt was almost flattered they thought so highly of them, until he realized that as a Great Power without an active Ascender of their own, they were probably trying their best to not get overawed by them.

While his team wasnt the type to throw their weight around, he could see others doing exactly that if they were given a mission they didnt like.

Offering the closest seats, Mercury indicated they should sit in and wait for the briefing to start. It didnt take long, and Matt listened as the Guild generals went over the high level information about the Federation shipyard.

Most of the initial information was a repeat of the briefing that General Darrow had given them, but the Guild general who was doing the talking started to bring up far more secretive information.

Thanks to Agent Gloomwood, he indicated a woman who had the utterly nondescript look of a professional spy, We have been able to acquire more detailed information about the yard. And more importantly, about the defenses stationed there.

Spots on the massive, rotating ring highlighted themselves. In preparation for the war, the Federation has installed new defensive cannons throughout. They have a faster cycling time, a higher damage output, and are more robust than the previous models. In return for those advantages, they are expensive to make and to run, so you should target them in the initial attack.

Liz raised a finger, and the general nodded to her. Do you not want them intact?

The general blinked at Liz for a moment before shaking his head. Not particularly. Thanks to Agent Gloomwood we have the blueprints of this design, so getting our hands on a working model isn't a high priority. That said, if you can take the base without doing too much damage to them, that would be an advantage, as we wish to occupy this system for as long as possible. We dont expect to hold the system forever, but if you look at the connections between systems, the shipyard acts as a nexus node for at least a dozen of our besieged systems. While removing a shipyard and destroying the ships under repair and construction will relieve a great deal of pressure, our main goal is to dislodge a number of sieges to reestablish our battlefront in a more favorable position. I

A dusky orange skinned woman in a silver outfit interrupted him with an exasperated sigh. How long do you think you can hold the system? That is the crux of the issue. We need at least a week, but two would be best. So we need to know what you need to do that.

Matt had already flicked through the provided information and had his [AI] run a number of calculations so he actually had an answer. That depends on how much the Federation is able and willing to throw at the system. If they have five Tier 28 armies sitting one jump away, were going to struggle. But if nothing like that happens, we should be able to handle a week, even two, without issue.

The cape looked to the agent, and Matt followed her gaze.

Agent Gloomwood shook her head. I was in the area just two weeks ago, and as of then, there was only the Fifth reserve in the Tier 26 range. There are a number of lower Tier armies in the area but She shrugged after trailing off.

How many people do you need to hold the system?

Matt shrugged, but Aster answered. The seven of us should be more than enough to handle the mission as stated.

The cape opened her mouth to speak, but the general was faster. Do you not need support personnel to assist and help hold the flanks? We have a battalion of lower elites on standby to assist.

Liz laughed as she said, If we need more bodies, I can handle that. Use your people to assist with the other missions. They will just get in the way if they come with us.

The cape pursed her lips at that, clearly not liking the comment, but she said nothing. In the end, Mercury spoke up with a smile that Matt was surprised didnt seem forced. I think I should go with you for some added support. Im pretty damn durable, so I shouldnt get in your way.

Matt wanted to decline, but knew that they would need to bring a handler along no matter what, and Mercury was a pleasant enough fellow that he had no issue with him. It didnt hurt that his reputation preceded him. Mercury was a durable speedster who lived by the motto that the fastest way between two points was a straight line, regardless of whatever was between those two points.

When none of them rejected the offer, the general and the cape who seemed to be in charge looked at each other before agreeing.

Matt thought that was the end of it, when one of the capes who hadnt spoken before chimed in.

Take Agent Gloomwood. You may find some use for her, even if you so casually dismiss the rest of us.

His words were like a building falling down with how they rumbled in the world itself, and they effortlessly declared that was the final decision for this discussion.

Matt turned his gaze to the man who had just spoken and caught his eyes, wanting to see who had that level of power and influence. The man seemed like any perfectly normal middle aged man you could find on any mortal world, with the sole exception of his gaze. He looked back at Matt with a flat expression that reminded him of Luna. There was an air of intolerance to bullshit, and his flat expression said that he expected to receive blowback.

Matt just blinked back at him. We are here to assist however we can. If you mistook Torchs comment as belittling your peoples prowess, we meant no such thing. It's just that we can fight better without the need to worry about friendlies, and so those assets are best used elsewhere.

The tension in the room seemed to rise for a moment before the man nodded, and everything went back to normal.

Mercury bounced on his toes as he looked to Joy, who hadnt left her corner of the room. Plannings done, lets go then. No time like the present.

Joys boots slapped on the ground a little louder than was strictly polite, but no one seemed to mind as she nodded. Im ready if you guys are.

Matt expected there to only be the two new occupants, but two generals and several aids came with them as well. They made it clear they would be staying in the safety of the ship, and were just there for overall command and control, which Matt supposed was reasonable.

It did make the two weeks of travel in their ship a little cramped, but it wasnt so bad that Matt was bothered.

He, Liz, Dena, Eric, and Morgan mostly hung out with Mercury, who was more than happy to chat with them about anything and everything.

Agent Gloomwood, on the other hand, had gravitated towards Aster on account of being a bond. Or, a former bond on her part. The woman explained that her bond had been a hero in training who died in Minkalla on their delve, leaving her adrift for a while until she joined the Guilds armies, where she used her spider form and Talents for the purpose of spying.

It was a tragic story, and sadly, it was far from unique. While they had escaped the clutches of the bronze and copper planet intact, so many others never did. That made him think about Ethan and Eleanor and their upcoming Minkalla journey.

It took a little math juggling between real and subjective time, but Matt knew they would be entering soon. In a few months in fact, if the cycle followed its normal pattern. He wished them the best, but knew that he couldnt protect them forever, even if he wanted to remind them they didnt need to enter the planet. Seeing Agent Gloomwood, with her other half ripped from her while inside the planet, made Matt hope the cousins could make it out safely.

Thankfully, he had something to distract him from such powerless thoughts.

Wars were good for that, if nothing else.

Having chatted with Mercury, Matt was able to plan around his skills easily enough, and had a number of opening moves based on the most likely scenarios they would face in the system.

As they approached the firefly of light that was the star system in chaotic space, Matt watched the readouts scream as they were picked up on active sensors.

Watching his AI and its countdown, Matt charged up a full powered [Breach] and held it.

The moment they entered real space, Matt oriented himself and let the spell fly.

With all the boosts from his armor, the spell was so strong, it shoved the ship a dozen feet to the side before Drifter was able to reassert control over its flight path.

Matt ignored her complaining shouts while watching his spell fly.

Not a perfect shot, but close enough to get the job done.

Looking to Mercury, he received a grin as the man's cybernetics flexed, expanding and interfacing with armor covering his still-biological parts. Liz and Aster stood to the side in their new armor, just as ready for the fight as Matt was.

Even Bolt was wearing armor that Matt hadnt seen before.

Normally the crossbow wielder preferred to sit in the backline, but her current armor was built for a more close range combat style.

Ideally, shed be sticking with Aster and a few Liz clones, but she needed to be prepared for solo combat in an operation this large.

Summoning his new blade from his armors internal storage, Matt looked at its black surface. It was as dark as his black hole, and that was no coincidence.

This was going to be fun.

Getting a good look at the shipyard, he was impressed with what he saw. It was an enormous tube consisting of dozens of rotating rings, each over a hundred miles wide, with thousands of ships in docks where they were being repaired from battle damage.

His offer of surrender was ignored, but that was to be expected this early in a battle. Even an Ascender could be worn down, and they did have the defenders advantage, even if they werent in a proper fortress world.

The shipyard was already in the midst of an evacuation, having received the news they were heading here just moments ago. Any ships that were chaotic space capable were breaking away from their moorings, regardless of the damage they did to the station.

The shipyard's personnel mirrored those actions, but instead of fleeing to chaotic space, they flew to the inhabited planet.

They would allow the latter, but the former was futile.

None of them had any issue with the workers escaping while they could. They legally might be able to kill them, but no one on Team Zero was so bloodthirsty.

As Drifters ship approached, the shipyard disgorged hundreds of fighter craft to take them down.

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Matt began funneling mana towards Drifter and her ship, and the results were immediate. Their ship spit out a deluge of fire and flak cannon shots to tear through lines of the enemy fighters, while dodging most of the return fire from the lighter craft. With the energy Matt was able to remotely give her, the ship was thrumming with spells for reinforcement and power.

Matt heard cackling from the cockpit.

Jumping out from a hatch, Mercury crouched on the side of the ship before launching himself at the shipyard, pumping his legs as he flew. With each step on the silver platforms that appeared beneath his feet, he moved faster and faster until Matt was barely able to see him, his form a blur of motion.

Then, like a bolt loosed from Morgan's crossbow, the man just vanished. Matt had to redirect a fair bit more attention and mana to enhancing his processing speed before he could track Mercury as he ran straight through several of the fighters. Metal dented and deformed, then exploded as the man barreled in one end and out the back, emerging unscathed before moving on to the next.

Even with shields active, Mercury could punch through them with enough speed remaining to kill the pilot before they could respond. When he approached a battleship, however, their shields activated and Matt felt space harden around them.

Mercury slowed down for an instant as his usual method of increasing his speed was disrupted, but his legs simply pumped faster and the man returned to his previous blur. He bounced off the shield for the battleship, but proceeded to simply jet off to eliminate more of the fighters. A general spatial lock might work for some speedsters, but the best of them werent so easy to shut down.

Just as Matts [Breach] was nearing the shipyard, the new cannons that the Guild generals talked about opened up on them, and Matt rushed from the ship to meet them. Dozens of spells lanced out, promising a swift end to anyone who couldnt get out of the way.

But Matt wasnt really built for dodging.

Summoning a [Bulwark] as big as Drifters ship, he immediately set on reinforcing it with everything he had, and the shield began thickening and crystallizing as he focused on it. Just before the cannon fire met them, he flared his Intent to draw in any shots designed to fly around planar shields, and he was rewarded as a number of projectiles altered course to impact his barrier.

The projectiles smashed into his shield with a crash that would have been deafening inside an atmosphere, but he was too focused on maintaining his spell. Cracks shot through the shield and shards splintered off, but after a few moments of bombardment, his spell had held.

Now it was his turn.

Hefting the specially made sword, he poured energy into it, not just from his regeneration, but from mana crystals he had stored over the course of days. Millions of mana appeared and was consumed in moments, funneled into this siege weapon of a sword.

With the sword that had faded into a matte gray now glowing white from barely contained energy, he swept the weapon in front of him, conjuring a mile wide crescent of energy that raced towards the shields of the shipyard.

The spell quickly overtook [Breach], and slammed into the shields of the shipyard, causing them to turn opaque for a moment and reveal the hexagonal design of the encircling shield. Before the formations could compensate, his [Breach] slammed into the same section of the shield, and cracked the mile-wide barrier like an egg.

The shield quickly recovered, but that brief moment was all they needed, and they had already slipped in.

The moment they were inside the defenses, they came under a hail of spells. Matt simply cast a crystalized [Bulwark], blocking most of the attacks before they did any damage, and waited for the initial volley of attacks to fade. Aster and Bolt quickly came out of the ship and began forming a hardpoint of ice in the middle of the shipyard, creating walls and other defenses that could act as a point to retreat to if any of them were injured, as well as providing a safe point for Bolt to shoot from.

As they waited, Matt inspected the defenders and quickly identified the three different groups. The first were clad in heavy armor that looked like it had never seen battle. Matt pegged them as the shipyard's defensive complement.

The second group couldnt be more different than the first if they tried, as they seemed like they would drop their weapons if Matt looked at them too hard. What little armor they did have was a motley assortment of items, all of which had obvious signs of poor maintenance. He pegged them as conscripts from the docked ships, or possibly shipyard support personnel. Either way, they were just there to make up the numbers.

The third group was the one Matt paid the most attention to.

Their armor was similar to the first groups, but where the shipyard defenders armor were clean and polished, these soldiers' armor was worn and had obvious battle scars despite being well maintained. These were veterans of a hundred battles, and Matt knew they would be their hardest opponents.

Pointing his left hand, he cast a burst of [Mana Beam] and swept it through the ranks of the defenders.

The shipyard's personnel shields blocked most of the damage, but a few of the projectors failed, killing those that were hiding behind them, and causing some of the conscripts to flee.

Matt smiled at that until he saw those that he identified as the shipyard personnel firing at the fastest of the fleeing defectors. He had heard of the Sects never surrendering, but he hadnt expected to see the Federation firing on their own people like that.

He wanted to say it was callous, but when the next projector broke under [Mana Beam], not even a single conscript fled. It may have been callous, but it was effective.

The third projector held for long moments as Matt fired on it, with two women behind it doing something to reinforce the shield enough to withstand his attack. With Asters miniature fortress seemingly stable enough to stand on its own, Matt dropped his spells and drew his sword again as he charged into the fray. That was the cue to move into melee, and Stick and Stone followed on his heels, even as they blocked shots from the defenders.

They had a gift to deliver.

As Matt closed in with the first group of conscripts, he shattered the shield with a slash of his once more black blade. The sword cut through the shield with almost no resistance, allowing him to slip inside and start a slaughter.

Blood floated in space and tried to cling to his armor, but instead of dispersing, it started to converge.

Matt felt a little bad about using the obviously weaker conscripts as nothing more than blood bags for Liz to create clones off of, but he knew there was little choice. If their own side wouldnt allow them to run away, there was nothing he could do to spare them until the regulars and veterans were dead. It just felt wrong to kill those so much weaker than him.

But he did it.

Matt might not like it, but this was the reality of war.

Kill or be killed.

Darting forward, his armor propelled him through the first defender in an explosion of blood and metal as their shield crumpled. Power flooded through Matts limbs, and in moments another group of conscripts died.

The rest of the blood Liz had given him was also deposited just as the first group of Lizzes had fully formed and armored up.

Her armor was reminiscent of scalemail, composed of overlapping silver and crimson feathers covering her entire bodies. Her helmets were similar, but far more rigid as the feathers comprising it actually fused together. In her right hands, feathers and blood mixed together and formed themselves into a spear with a wickedly sharp feather-blade at the tip..

Liz hadnt lied when she said they didnt need an army. With their new upgrades, her clones were even more potent, though the reserved costs of all the spells reduced how many clones she could maintain at a time.

They werent perfect, but Liz was able to work around the constraint well enough, and they were hoping those limitations would be fixed in the future.

With the Lizzes about to start a massacre, Matt threw himself into the waiting arms of the closest veterans he saw.

They stood their ground like the conscripts had, but instead of falling apart under a single blow, they parted around Matts initial charge and then surrounded him, letting blades and spells fall on him from every direction.

It was a good plan. Surround and overwhelm was a tactic that worked on most people, but that was the crux of the issue. Matt wasnt most people.

Spinning, he slashed out with his black blade, cutting spells apart and responding with his own. Lightning and fire flashed as he cleaved through soldier after soldier, leaving a bloody wake as he advanced.

His new armor, when combined with [Cracked Phantom Armor], was more than enough to protect him from the few attacks that managed to land. Each step was magnified, every blow struck like a hammer, and the people he was fighting had no response, no way they could save themselves from his onslaught.

When he was designing his new blade, he had considered his strengths, how best to amplify them, and how to make a sword that was truly his. What he ended up with was somewhat similar to his prior sword, which he had always thought meshed well with a flexible skillset.

In the first form, his blade was black as obsidian, and twice as sharp. A mage-killers blade, it largely focused on spell disruption and durability, capable of slicing through spells and enchantments with startling ease. The ability to entirely disrupt lesser enchantments let it cut through reinforced shields and armor like they were made of paper, at least when combined with his own physical strength, and hosts of spells failed outright when he slashed through them. It was physically durable to match his own strength when boosted with his armor, meaning he could cut through Tier 27 shields without risking the blade snapping.

With a thought, he could swap the sword to its matte gray form, which focused entirely on being a spellcasting focus. While it served as a general amplification for all his external spells, an impressive feat of enchanting to begin with, it could additionally overcharge many of his spells to an enormous degree, though with an equally enormous cost. Internal mana capacitors stored in folded space could hold huge amounts of power for a few brief moments before unleashing that power into a devastating strike, as he had done moments ago.

It was a powerful ability, but not without its costs. Using the sword to cast an artillery spell like that had dangerously stressed parts of the enchantment, and it would take time, mana, and effort to get it back to pristine condition. Additionally, the blade was more fragile in this form, which he could compensate for in various ways, but was something to keep in mind. If he was careless, he could severely damage his new blade from either overloading the enchantments or blocking a strong hit.

Even with that limitation, the blade was better than the secondhand gear he had been using. Harper's blade had been great, but it was ultimately a blade made for use with a single spell and for a completely different fighting style and physical build. So while he could use it, even use it well, there was always a disconnect. Unlike with this blade that was made to be one with him.

The final idea of the blade was integrating his Domain into the blade to amplify its powers even further, but they first needed to work out the bugs in its base form.

As his blade turned gray, he saw the dawning horror on the veterans faces as they expected to be annihilated with another artillery spell, but they greatly underestimated the amount of mana and effort that took.

Instead, he cast two quick [Mana Slash]es and finished the survivors off himself in melee range.

Matt didnt even have to bother with blocking, as his armor combined with [Cracked Phantom Armor] so smoothly, and they amplified each other's power so well, he could entirely ignore many attacks from most normal soldiers.

Above him, Aster cast dozens of spells which slammed down across the battlefield and wiped out squads left and right, while Bolts constructs let loose torrents of attacks as the woman herself carefully chose her targets and eliminated anyone who was trying to rally the defenders.

A squad of Lizzes ran past him and plunged into the few remaining pockets of resistance that were able to weather the storm Aster and Bolt were raining down.

Flinging himself forward, Matt landed next to Stick and Stone and joined them in battering down a defensive station that a number of defenders were using as cover. They had already destroyed the positions cannons, but the defenders knew that if the duo got inside the bunker, they were dead. So they fought with fervor given by that knowledge, not allowing them even the smallest opening to exploit.

Matt ignored the door, flared his armor, and punched through the wall.

Spells slammed into him from behind as other positions fired on him, trying to save their comrades, but he didnt let that stop him.

With his arm shoved through the wall, he filled the room with [Dragonflame], which would soon burn out any resistance. Someone who had been close to the wall tried to cut out at his arm before he could kill everyone, but he used his new Natural Treasure to extend his hand towards the persons throat, quickly crushing their neck before continuing on with his incineration.

Beside him, dozens of Lizzes ran rampant while Aster and Bolt fired from above, Stick and Stone fought their way through a group of veterans all while Mercury punched his way through the fleeing ships.

They might have ignored his first offer of surrender, but he thought they would accept his second.

He gave the defenders a way out by broadcasting another offer of surrender, but his message was instantly rejected.

Tracing the rejection, Matt looked up to the central pillar that was holding the space station together.

The leadership not on the battlefield had rejected the offer, which didnt really surprise Matt, but what baffled him more was those who looked like they were willing to drop their weapons instead throwing themselves into battle with even more zeal, rather than falling into despair.

Well, there was an easy solution for that.

Tracing the message and locating where he expected the Federation leadership to be, Matt checked that the nearby area was clear before he started charging his spells. [Cracked Reinforce Stone], or as he had dubbed it since he absorbed and upgraded it, [Reinforce Mana] combined with [Hypersonic Edge] and empowered [Arcane Powershot] to new heights, even as he strained his mana control to keep the spells from backfiring on him.

Matt very much was not an archer, but it wasnt terribly difficult to hit a large, static target that would hopefully detonate from a glancing hit.

As he released, the spell flew out to obliterate the central pillar like it was made of glass. The shipyard's central pillars werent meant to handle battlefield conditions, and hiding in one was a sign of desperation and bad judgment.

Turning back to the defenders, Matt felt the change in the battle.

Matt once more sent out an offer for surrender, but he added one final caveat.

There would be no fourth offer.

***

General Casos blinked as she watched the Ascenders.

She had fought in a dozen wars through her career, but there was something visceral in seeing the sheer brutality of such forces of nature cutting their way through an army single handedly.

Mercury was good. Very good. But she had seen One Step Behind in his heyday and so knew what a true Hero was like in battle.

It was like that.

Cutting into a defended position and being so strong you forced the defenders to surrender before more than five percent of them were dead.

It was a declaration.

Resistance was futile and only led to death.

Looking to her aides, she made sure they were gathering as much information as possible. They were, and they looked sick.

Through a private link entirely created by her Talent, she asked, What are your projections? Do they align with the earlier reports?

Jas almost shook her head, but caught herself before she made such an obvious tell. The Empire knew they would be watching and analyzing the newest Ascenders, but they were still allies, and it was best to keep the pretense of civility.

One needed to know their allies better than their enemies, and General Casos knew that part of this mission was the Empire showing they were still a valuable ally, despite them dragging the Guilds into a war.

No. The projections about Ascender Scoop were the closest, with only a fifteen percent deviation, but Ascender Torch doesn't seem to lose as much power with her clones as we suspected. We dont know if it's a new item, or a development of her Talent or Domain, but her clones can go from weak to strong in a moment. And Ascender Qui Jas swallowed before continuing. Hes visibly absorbing mana stones, not enough to really explain how much hes doing, but beyond that, we cant understand how he throws that much mana around without destabilizing his spirit or having his spells fall out of control. It doesnt match any of our frameworks.

General Casos mentally shook her head. They are Ascenders. The impossible is their normal. Just keep recording the anomalies.

She kept a stoic front for her subordinates, but internally, she wondered just how the higher ups would receive this report.

How would seven Tier 25s defend against the coming armies?

Could they?

If they could, how long could they hold on?

General Casos just hoped it would be long enough, as if it was, the frontlines could be pushed back to a more sustainable position. This war had already shown itself to be more brutal than most, and even she could tell that it hadnt even reached the midpoint yet.

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