?863 Chaos
Time seemed to slow down, as everyone had their eyes fixed on the gray-robed figure. Nothing of his actual body could be seen, but the shape of his hood indicated a humanoid or Elven appearance.
He spoke not with his voice, but by emitting a strange, psychic energy that stung whoever it hit, while at the same time transmitting his thoughts. It was for that reason that everyone in the vicinity heard everything he said.
The most peculiar thing about him, despite the fact that he was obviously incredibly powerful, was that he radiated no cultivation at all. It was as if he was a mere mortal. But though he had no cultivation, seemingly, his body did emit a kind of energy that Z was familiar with. It was divine energy, used by both angels and deities!
The figure, who had appeared in front of Feyore, seemed to use some kind of ability to freeze her entire being. Not only did she stop speaking mid-speech, her body stopped emitting magical energy, as if it was frozen in time.
"An atypical Mazru. How curious. Are you from a famous or noble clan? The stability of your power seems to suggest your changes are not a random mutation, or at least not a harmful mutation. Is that what allowed you to keep space from tearing? What a curious ability."
The figure stepped onto her snout and walked forward slowly, as if on a stroll.
The other Marzu did not respond kindly to such actions, nor did Z wait to let the figure complete whatever it was doing.
Countless magical spells were launched, even as the mech raced towards Feyore, its spear ready to strike. None of its usual, stronger attacks had enough precision to attack the figure without also harming Feyore, so he had to opt for close range combat.
But the figure seemed dismissive of all the attacks, as if it were a Deity, ignoring ants on the ground. When he reached the Marzu's forehead he placed a hand upon it, as if investigating something.
"Yes, your soul will be a great catalyst for the ceremony. But we do not have enough souls yet. We must continue to collect more!"
The world seemed to twist, hitting the Marzu and the battalion with an overwhelming sense of nausea and a pain in guts as if their innards were being dragged out. The sensation lasted a mere moment before they found themselves in a completely new location, surrounded by a massive demon army! An unfinished monument could also be seen nearby, with construction work still underway.
The army was just as surprised to see them as they were to see the demons, yet the surprise did not last long. Without caring for how or why they had appeared there, the demons attacked. The mech and the Marzu immediately retaliated, but they could not stop a certain sense of dread from enveloping them.
Both the figure and Feyore had not reappeared with them.
"He is using us to harvest more souls! Feyore said he needs them for a ritual!" said one of the Marzu.
"But it's not like we have a choice. If we don't kill them, they will kill us!"
"We just have to hold out! Once our reinforcements come, we can fight back!" Z yelled out loudly.
He understood better than them all. Too many forces had gotten mixed up. It seemed that besides the enemy who was targeting them, a third party was taking advantage of the situation to follow through with their own plans. The circumstances on this planet were becoming extremely chaotic. Only outside intervention could shake things up now.
As the mech fought off the countless demons, his actions no longer protected from tearing space, he had to be extremely careful in how he actually fought. Moreover, faced with this unknown foe who could teleport them as he wished, Z would have to conserve as much energy as possible. Who knew if they would be teleported to another battlefield as soon as they concluded the fight in this one.
*****
Battlefront 00974, Alliance Headquarters
"This doesn't make any sense?" said an elf as he looked at conflicting reports. On one hand, all the reports from the sector near BGY-987 seemed within expectation. The battle reports and progress updates did not show any deviation from what was expected based on the ongoing situation.
On the other hand, after a more thorough scrutiny of the situation, they realized that it was practically impossible to contact specific personnel in those locations. For example, other than those responsible for regular communications, if someone wanted to talk to a specific soldier who was deployed there, some issue would come up as to why they could not be contacted at the moment. They might even be declared M.I.A o K.I.A!
Such a thing was also normal, but only within reason. If no onefrom within that entire sector could be contacted, then there was clearly an issue, and it did not take a genius to figure out what that issue was.
Either their communication department was compromised, or their intelligence department. It may very well even be both of them!
Realizing the seriousness of the situation, the elf grabbed all the reports and quickly made his way to the senior most officials of the entire alliance. They were supposed to be an elf and a dwarf, but as was seen throughout the alliance, the dwarves rarely held down office positions. Almost all of them were deployed, rather than being bunkered down in headquarters.
"Sir, there is an issue, just as you suspected," the reporting elf said, handing over his reports. The senior in-charge, as a Celestial Immortal, read through the documents in a mere moment.
"Issue new orders. I want to know what the situation on BGY-987 is immediately!"
Both the elves could feel a headache coming on. On one hand, a discrepancy on a war front with the Fuegan would be investigated by the Henali. On the other hand, whoever sent them that threatening letter was clearly upset with what was happening on that planet. That meant that the situation was already out of hand.
After careful consideration, the Celestial Elf decided to go get his own battle armor. Perhaps it was time he joined his dwarven compatriot on the front line and earned some merits before someone came to penalize him.