blacksmithoftheapocalypse
patreon
1132. A Setting the Stage
🕑 Added 2024-07-21 15:53:07 +0000 UTCCould he really do this? No, he had to! He didn’t believe the lies. The Scene would have never betrayed them. Minas Mar destroyed Y-City for their own gain! The peaceful atmosphere on the surface couldn’t deceive him.
All these people herded into their “Tree Stations”, and used like cattle or slaves to farm gold for them. Secretly, Minas Mar had seized control over Urth. With Delta faltering, they were aiming for World Domination. It was clear as day to him.
They had to be stopped. HE would stop them. It wasn’t hard to play along with their charade. A smile here, a handshake there. Playing along with disgustingly sweet and happy conversations until he finally was in the position he was now.
His fingers flitted across the control console of the shield generator. This was the eye of just one of the many barrier formations that protected Little Gamma and the Pythian Village. His own efforts would bring them to fall, but he was just a small cog.
There were many like him. The moment the signal was given, he had come here to power down the generators and welcome their liberators from the Voracious Cloud Continent. With their help, they would-! A piercing pain in his chest had him cramping up, punching a bunch of gibberish into the console. Had he…been found out? A violent cough splattered his blood across the generator. So this was how he would die.
“Perpetrator apprehended successfully. Proceeding to shut down generator for recalibration,” an emotionless voice as. As he was violently thrown to the side, he saw it was one of the golems of Minas Mar, still carrying the bloodied sword it used to stab him.
Why? Why would they kill him only to continue what he was already doing?
…
Umi watched the situation in shock. Leana, the princess from Chrona, had warned her that there might be some disturbances during the later stages of the games, but the anchor thought the demon would be the worst of it all.
She never expected an army, led by a legend to attack the Pythian Village! She would not have agreed to work here if she had known beforehand. The weird thing was, that she would have thought that she would be in more of a panic at this point.
However,…
“Please stay in your seats, we have everything under control,” the Oathguards kept repeating as they walked around the audience stands, calming down people. There had been a few moles that tried to cause a ruckus, but they had been apprehended without being able to cause any harm.
The village had a shield and the Arena was armored like a tortoise too, instilling confidence into her. maybe not even an immortal could get through them. Most of all, at no point did the Tower Master seem flustered. He even went ahead and started accusing the enemy of crimes, which made her shudder and angry.
They were facing an army with a legendary warrior at their helm, but Minas Mar didn’t seem fazed by this. Maybe this was why she was able to remain calm. It wasn’t just her, even the audience seemed more confused than in a panic.
Well, most of them wouldn’t be able to recognize a legend either. Still, they treated the scenes on the screen more like a final show, than an actual danger. The bird eye view of the attack was breathtaking and now the big hero, Python, had finally appeared, too.
Standing on the arena, she inched closer to the Tower Master. She wanted to ask. There had to be a plan. He was too calm to lack a plan. They had even prepared a list of crimes.
“What exactly is the plan he-?” she whispered to him but halted when her heart jumped.
The thick shield that covered the Pythian Village and which had easily blocked the legend's attack had suddenly vanished. It was clear to see on the screens around the stadium and in the sky above them Their greatest defense was gone!
In a slight panic, she turned to the Tower Master, however, he didn't seem perturbed at all.
…
“Finally!” Dumm Ting rejoiced as the great barge, the fleet, and the swarm of cultivators moved into the airspace above The Pythian Village. They were like a swarm of locusts, descending on a field to ravage and devour the crop.
However, the crop Dumm Ting was after, the weak and the easy prey, were already gone. Not there there were many in the Pythian Village, to begin with. But the only people left on the streets were cultivators, adventurers, and guards, still fighting.
They came to loot and pillage, but there wasn't much to loot and pillage at this stage. While many of the individual cultivators and weaker disciples of the sects descended to join the street battles, the attention of the fleet was on the reason for the village's existence.
“Attack the stadium!” elders and squad leaders commanded their men. Yes. The biggest and juiciest fruit left in the Pythian Village was the stadium, luring the locust like a plumb, ripe fruit, despite its hard shell.
Dumm Ting followed without doubts. They were thousands, and they were let by elders in Spirit Severing Realm and above. How long could it take to cut into the hard shell and feast on the nectar of violence? Although many used the excuse of righteousness, but he didn't. He was honest with himself. He loved the feeling of ripping apart weaklings with his bare hands!
...
Now the people in the stadium did start getting nervous, seeing the swarm of cultivators in the sky above. not all of them were powerful players or cultivators. Many were nobles or wealthy merchants from System Worlds who enjoyed a good show, or Urthans who didn't want to miss the event.
They weren't able to protect themselves. The previous disturbance was dealt with quickly, so they did not fear the attackers much. But seeing the sky darken with flying shuttles and people standing on swords, Umi had to admit that it was moderately frightening even to her.
The arena was now filled with the dampened noise of attacks. The whole fleet bombarded the barrier. Barrages of bright energy attack crashed into the shield above, creating a terrifying firework. The situation on the screens was not much better.
Going against her expectations, Python was actually fighting the Immortal, but it was clear that the snake was at a disadvantage. After swallowing Yoma Ma, it was almost like the serpent choked and was forced to spit him back out, with only a few rips in his robes.
It was followed by a very uneven exchange of long-range attacks, as Yoma Ma stood in the air and kept firing freezing blade energy at the snake, while Python countered with boulder breath, spitting huge amounts of rocks, that met his attack in midair.
However, similar to the barrier above the arena slowly weakening under the attack of the swarm, Python accumulated gashes and wounds. She was not a being made of flesh, so no blood flowed, but she looked worse and worse for the wear. Even the Tower Master glared at the screen. Was he finally worried?
The only places looking promising were the street battles, where members of the Oathguard and Guilds engaged the swarm and were holding their own pretty well, for now.
Suddenly, the Tower Master raised his hand to his commlink.
“Alright, if everything is ready, close the barrier,” he said calmly, racing a storm in Umi's mind.
...
“Ha! This worm is weaker than I expected,” Yoma Ma laughed out loud. He was barely using 40% of his power, easily playing with the “great guardian beast”. But he decided that it was getting time to end this.
He would slay the beast in his next move and join the Elders to break the barrier on the stadium. Then he would take that impertinent worm they called the Tower Master and parade his dismembered corpse in the streets of their city.
He would make an example out of Minas Mar and teach these disgusting animals what it meant to pick a fight with the Silk River Sect! Circulating his spiritual energy, he got ready to use a technique to finish off the pile of rubbish they called their guardian beast when his concentration was disrupted.
The shield was suddenly up again! He was separated from his subordinates!
