World Keeper

Chapter 498: Over Drive

It was… unexpected for Clover to be caught the way that he was, as I neglected the fact that he still possessed my divinity. Still, it didn’t really do any damage, so there wasn’t a problem. If anything, it made it more convenient as I no longer had to personally make an appearance in order to register myself with their system.

Soon, Tsubaki and Dana had managed to implement the Divine Registry across all worlds that accepted geometric magic, with the exception of Fyor. All that was left was to find a way to implement the same system within Lorek and Spica. Unfortunately… the difference between those two magic types were so far apart that I did not have the faintest idea how to utilize such powerful magic, without the information globes.

I’m sure it was possible. Anything that was possible in one magic system should theoretically be possible in another. It was just a matter of specialties. Geometric magic was simply better at creating wards due to its more stable structure. Runic magic was better at combat magic due to its flexibility and the ability to store spells within ‘sigils’ to activate at a moment’s notice.

What would this stellar magic be better at, then? Those who used it boasted the highest mana sensitivity. If I had to classify stellar magic as ‘better’ in one field it was energy usage. Since the mana was trapped within the atmosphere, instead of within the body of the caster, there was no real mana usage on the caster. The only ‘drain’ that occurred was the mental strain of connecting with that mana.

Of course, this wasn’t the case for those cultivators who formed ‘mana stars’ within themselves, as they were capable of generating and utilizing their own mana. But, in general, I could classify that as a strong suit of that magic type. Perhaps, with the mana trapped like that, it would provide the perfect power source for the orbital ward all on its own.

“All fighter troops to forward hangar! We are engaging the enemy!” The voice echoed urgently throughout the ship, lights alternating between their normal glow and a bloody red. Dozens of kitsune rushed through the halls. Each one, male or female, was clad in a form-fitting rubber suit, a white helmet over their face with a green visor. If one paid close attention, they would notice specks of energy crackling along the length of their tails, ensuring that their body was totally protected.

“The Emergence has encountered the enemy. All fighter troops to forward hangar for immediate sortie.”

Soon, the first of the troops arrived at the empty hangar, running over towards the nearest empty port. On it were five thin slots, prompting the man to wave his hand, conjuring five cards. Each card slid into one of the slots. “Begin assembly!” He shouted, and began to move without even waiting for the machine to act.

As soon as he had spoken, he ran to a nearby ladder, and began climbing up. While he did so, rays of light shot out from the floor, dancing in the air. As they rose, metal formed beneath them, like they were printing a giant object from the air.

When the man reached the platform at the top of the ladder, the light had already caught up with him. Just as the capsule which formed the cockpit finished forming, its hatch already opened, he leapt from the platform to land inside of it. Once inside, he was locked within a tight, empty space for several long moments.

Then, suddenly, a light emerged on the screen in front of him. With the completion of the assembly, the light spread throughout the entire interior. The man placed his hands in the gel-like control spheres and focused. “Fox Troop One, launch!”

Outside of the mech- a red, humanoid machine with sharp edges and white highlights- a glass wall rose up from the ground. This wall fully encompassed the mech, reaching from the floor to the ceiling in barely a second. Afterwards, the ground beneath the mech split open. The vacuum of space pulled the mech from the hangar along with the air that had been within the walled-off area.

“Talk to me, command. What are we facing this time?” The soldier asked, looking around as he stabilized himself with the built-in thrusters of his machine. He could see the lasers being fired from the Emergence, and commanded his machine to adjust the view. On the screen, the light of the lasers dimmed, and he was able to make out the figures of… something flying through the air.

“Sorry, Fox Troop One, we don’t have a clear identification on them, yet.” The creatures were not large, but they were powerful. Their bodies appeared to be made of rock, if you could could them bodies in the first place. Rough spheres with numerous openings along their surface.

The soldier watched as one of the creatures, no more than six meters in diameter, caught a laser blast in one of its open ports. It did not seem to do any damage, aside from pushing it back. Afterwards, the creature began releasing multiple, smaller blasts of its own to stabilize its flight.

“Attention all troops.” The commander’s voice spoke up after witnessing this. “These enemies are unknown, but we have at least something. Everyone, switch to physical loadouts. Shields, swords, and boost thrusters.”

“Understood!” The soldier declared, retrieving one of his hands from the gel-like control sphere. He waved it to the left, and several slots opened up, revealing rectangular ports. Another wave, and he slotted four more cards into these ports.

Accepting the cards, a thin glass cover held them in place, while lines of energy lit up along the panel. “Activating loadout.” He spoke, mostly to himself as he returned his hand to the control sphere.

Through these control spheres, he was capable of experiencing the ‘senses’ of his mech if he focused. He could feel the extra weight on his back and legs from the materializing thrusters, the thin sword in his right hand, and the large shield in his left. If he tried, he could take the link deeper, but that was a fighting style he had yet to master.

“Now, the enemy appears capable of absorbing and redirecting energy blasts, both offensively and for propulsion. Due to their attack pattern, it’s likely that their primary focus is to ram into objects at high speeds. Do not try to meet their charge head-on!”

Unfortunately, there was not just one enemy to worry about. At first, the soldier had only noticed the one, but then they came into view… a shifting ‘cloud’ of stone and light. There had to be dozens of them, if not hundreds.

“Requesting authorization to use Over Drive.” The soldier spoke up, his thrusters flaring as he charged towards the monsters. Already, he could register the other mechs appearing in the space behind him, and knew that he was not alone in this charge.

“Negative, Trooper One.” However, his request to use this powerful device was turned down. Over Drive, when activated, would boost his machine’s abilities far beyond its normal limits. In exchange, it caused heavy damage to the inner workings of the mech from the strain, so it was saved as a last resort.

“Understood.” The soldier grit his teeth at the refusal, accelerating while holding his shield in front of him. The first of the ‘meteor monsters’ was almost upon him, so he quickly shifted his momentum to the left to sidestep it. Its ‘ports’ along its body lit up to immediately correct its course, but this caused it to remain stationary for just a moment.

That moment was all he needed to bring his sword down and slice the rock in twain. His sword seemed to vibrate as he slashed with it, cleanly severing the rock and revealing what hid within. He could see a grotesque blob of flesh, tethered to the rock by thick strands while pulsating pores covered its surface, matching the holes on the rocky exterior.

“Times like this, I wish we had a pilot class.” He muttered to himself, spinning slightly to kick the twin pieces of the rock monster away. Moments later, one of the pieces detonated, erupting in a small burst of light.

“Well, at least we know they’re organic. On the inside.” A voice spoke into his radio, one of the other pilots joining his charge. He gave a nod towards her words, knowing that she wasn’t wrong. Every little bit of information that they acquired would help them in the battle ahead.

At least, that was the immediate thought, before the monsters suddenly took on a rather strange formation. From an aimlessly scattered cloud, their presence began to narrow, lining up behind one another. Their bodies gave off only faint glows while they corrected their courses, but something seemed wrong.

That was when the commander’s voice rang out in alarm. “Troops One through Ten, activate Over Drive now!” Clearly, they had noticed something back on the Emergence that the troops had yet to see.

Either way, they had their orders. “Understood!” The soldier shouted, charging ahead with nine other mechs. “Activating Over Drive.” He still never understood why they insisted on the name being two words, as opposed to simply calling it an overdrive. However, its effect was remarkable.

Once he gave the command, the red surface of his mech began to shine like a star. Behind the mech, where previously only the trails of the thrusters could be seen, a shimmering tail spread out. And then another, and another, nine tails in total forming behind the mech. On the screen in front of himself, the soldier could see the climbing power levels of his mech.

Standard operating power was only listed at ‘five hundred’, but that number soared with the activation of the Over Drive. In fact, for every full thousand power the mech achieved, it was capable of sprouting a single tail. This tail served as both the exhaust for this substantial energy, and as a way to utilize it in combat.

“Over Drive has reached full power, commander!” The soldier declared, before his nine tails slapped at the empty space, propelling him forward violently. Within seconds, he had traversed thousands of kilometers to meet the enemy.

One of the tails came up and whipped around his sword, causing its blade to gain a bright, white glow. He slashed through the first of the monsters with ease, a beam of energy spreading out to cut the second. Just a moment later, the rest of the empowered mechs arrived, each striking out at one or two monsters.

It was then that he realized what they were up to, noticing that several monsters were suspiciously far back from the rest of the pack. They had been feeding their energy forward, launching themselves back in the process so that they could combine everything in the front. When he noticed this, his tails immediately whipped the remains of the two frontmost monsters off into the distance.

He counted the seconds as they flew, hoping that he had launched them far enough. There was no way of knowing which ‘piece’ of each creature held their energy core, but he had already watched one explode upon death. And sure enough, this was no different, aside from the scale of the blast itself.

None of the other soldiers were the ignorant types, or else they wouldn’t have lasted this long. They had seen him kick away the first monster, and the explosion that had followed, so each of them had similarly thrown away their kills. One after another, brilliant flashes of light shook the space around them each detonation larger than the last.

A relieved sigh spoke up into their radio, their commander giving the next order. “All troops, deactivate Over Drive. The energy levels of the rest of these monsters are nearly depleted, so just mop them up and return home.”

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