World Keeper

Chapter 649: Darkest Light

The Lord Sovereign of the grand fleet sat upon his throne, his body overlooking the vast expanse of space as it flew by in a blur. At this moment, his senses were directly tied to the planet-sized ship he was riding. He served as both commander and pilot, using his own processing power as the core of the vessel.

“It seems like there is a spatial disturbance ahead…” The blue wisp within his mind spoke, seeming to shake in reluctance. “If we barge in using FTL speed, it would cause our fleet to be destroyed.”

“A space-faring civilization existing in a region of chaotic space?” The red wisp let out a sarcastic laugh. “They would have already destroyed themselves! This is just a tactic to stall us.”

“Perhaps.” The blue wisp agreed. “However, regardless, we cannot risk the entire fleet for that. The fact remains that we are currently unable to enter that region of space too quickly. Besides, if they are aware of our arrival, it is likely that they have further countermeasures prepared.”

“Let them prepare all they want. Even if the gods descend upon this world, there will be no salvation.” The red wisp spoke in an arrogant tone. “As long as there is enough left of their defenses for the scavengers, we can operate at full power.”

After saying that, it turned, seeming to regard the passing stars that existed outside of its mental domain. “So what if they wish to delay us by a few hours? They are only buying themselves a small amount of time.”

The giant golem then opened his mouth, his dual-toned voice broadcasting to every ship in the fleet. “All units, synchronize control systems and enter sub-light at the designated coordinates.”

Soon, the fleet suddenly halted its interstellar momentum, appearing nearby a large blue planet with a constantly raging storm that covered its surface. The fleet’s sub-light engines kicked in, and they were soon cruising through this star system.

“If they think that such a simple trick is going to save them, then they are fools.” The red wisp spoke up within the giant golem’s mind, before the golem’s eyes lit up in shock.

Due to the control systems for the various ships being synchronized, it was briefly able to sense the status of the rest of the fleet. Thus, his head turned, looking at a black shadow within the sky. This shadow soon began to glow red, before erupting and releasing a massive explosion.

A fourth-tier spell wrapped around the golem leader, protecting him from the impact of the blast. Still, the ship he was on had been struck by the shockwave, with millions of golems being crushed and numerous systems being damaged. Worse yet, numerous ships clustered around the larger vessel had been obliterated in the blast.

“All units, spread out!” The sovereign announced without a moment’s pause. He had sensed a small spatial disturbance within the core of the destroyed ship. Immediately afterwards, the mana drive that had been powering it was converted into pure thermal energy. Without a proper containment field for such energy, the result was obvious.

The ships had only just begun to follow his command when a golden beam silently passed along their vision. It happened so fast that even the sovereign of the golems had not been able to respond in time. Although the first attack was identifiable, and thus they were capable of preventing future incidents, this second attack used an energy that only vaguely resembled the ‘divinity’ archived in their database.

“So the gods really have descended…” The blue wisp spoke solemnly, shaking in dissatisfaction. “It would appear that we have miscalculated. I suggest entering strategic warfare mode.”

Although reluctant, the red wisp agreed. At that point, the two of them came together, linking their consciousnesses. The golem’s eyes lit up in alternating hues of red and blue, a powerful mana beginning to radiate from its body. As it spoke, its dual-toned voice seemed to merge as well, becoming one.

“Linking to the galactic fleet. All power supplies online. Rerouting energy.” Gradually, blue shields began to form around the ships of the fleet, fourth-tier barriers formed by the sovereign’s calculations. Although it could not predict when the next attack would arrive, it would be able to prepare the most suitable defense when the time came.

Like this, the ships pressed onwards, constantly awaiting the next attack. With the power of the stellar forge backing him, there was no need for the giant golem to worry about depleting his energy reserves.

Within five minutes, he was able to detect the target planet, and saw that there were very few ships in orbit around their target. For a moment, he even wondered if perhaps this was merely a secondary world belonging to the civilization, before disregarding that thought. Even if this was not their homeworld, they would achieve their goal by analyzing the local technology.

Furthermore, this had now become a proper test of their effectiveness when facing a divine adversary. Going by the previous attacks, there were at least two gods within this world capable of fighting them. Although there could have been more, that was not yet proven. Therefore, the primary goal of analyzing the technology had been changed to complete extermination.

“All super-class battleships, prepare the Sun’s Radiance. Attacks shall be conducted in sequence, targeting uploaded coordinates.” As he sent that command, a giant pit opened up on each of the planet-sized ships, a circular hole that seemed to reach deep into their core. “Once all ships have fired, deploy the swarm.”

As if to lead the attack, the ship that the golem sovereign was on fired first. Runes of light began to glow around the circumference of the pit, before blinding light poured out in a dense stream. This was the main weapon of the giant ships, each one capable of tearing through a planet with ease. Yet even so, they had prepared so many in the event that a god were capable of blocking such attacks.

The golem watched, his eyes calm as he saw the ray of light pierce through the planet without resistance. He seemed to wonder if perhaps their two gods were truly incapable of mounting a defense, before the light of his eyes shook in surprise. In the brief instant between when his attack ended and the next began, he was able to see the target planet. Its land had not been scorched, nor had its air been lit aflame. It sat there, as if nothing had happened. Even the few ships remaining in orbit had seemingly taken no damage.

When the second beam flashed and faded, the planet was still unphased. Immediately, the sovereign connected with the various sensors of the vessel he was on. The information he received did not seem to make any sense.

According to what the scans were telling him, there was no planet there. It would be reasonable to assume that it could potentially be an illusion meant to distract them, but… the scanners were able to detect the moon, instead. The fact that the moon existed, but not the planet itself, caused great surprise within the golem.

He updated the target for the series of attacks, changing it to the moon itself. If this planet was truly an illusion, then the projector for the illusion would be concealed within the moon. By destroying it, the truth would be revealed. Perhaps the moon itself was even the true body of the planet, with the illusion being a simple decoy.

Down on the planet, Tsubaki and the others watched as a brilliant light descended on them. Thessa closed her eyes as if to resign herself to her fate, sure that destruction would be upon her. Yet, even though her shut eyes were unable to block out the intensity of the light, there was no pain, no damage that could be registered.

When her eyes opened, everyone was standing around them, still staring towards the sky. Next to her, Tsubaki clenched her fist, giving a small nod. “Sure enough, it’s like they said.” She sighed at the realization that they were now relying on her to finish the job.

Chel turned, looking at Tsubaki critically, even as the second beam rained upon them. “You only have one shot. If you fail to take out all of the planet-sized ships in a single attack, we will not have time to engage the void barrier before their attacks resume. How much time do you need to ensure that all of the targets are destroyed?”

Tsubaki thought about the question seriously, looking down at her hands. “Fifteen minutes. That should be long enough to prepare.”

In truth, almost any god could explode with their full power in a single instant. In doing so, they would be able to launch a single, massive attack that drained them entirely. But, in order to release an attack that combined their full power with a delicate skill to control it, they needed time to prepare.

If Tsubaki were to launch her full power right from the start, she would only be able to take out two or three of the ships, similar to how Phisher and Thessa had performed. Instead, she was being forced to take out far more than any of them. Their performance had merely been intended to lighten the burden that she would have to face.

Chelsea nodded her head, acknowledging Tsubaki’s answer. Before she could say anything, Thessa shouted out. “The moon…!”

Chel turned, her eyes looking at the sky. A new beam of light had struck from the ships, but this one had targeted the moon itself as opposed to the planet. Due to the distance between Deckan and its moon, it was impossible for the void barrier to reach it as well. Even Tsubaki’s reality marbles would not have provided a sufficient source of energy for that.

“It’s fine, we were always prepared to surrender the moon.” Chel admitted with a sad sigh. Admittedly, they had been hoping to avoid such a case, because the world’s ecosystem relied on the moon to flourish. In the best case scenario, they would only need to rely on the world spirit to nudge the moon back into its proper orbit.

As she said that, cracks seemed to form on the moon, its surface breaking apart. Deckan was no longer influencing the moon with its gravitational pull, so none of these fragments were drawn directly towards them. However, that would begin to change once the void barrier was cancelled.

“Tsubaki, get ready. We’re moving according to plan.” Chel told the kitsune goddess, closing her eyes and focusing. James, make sure that mister Sorin is on standby. Once this is over, we’ll need him to repair the moon for us.

Tsubaki hesitated briefly, before nodding her head. She began channeling her power, focusing on the shape that she wished for it to take. In her mind, she was reviewing the various lessons that she had spent a month learning. The information about virtual photons and their influence on the world flashed in her mind.

It was for more than ten minutes that she reviewed this information, before lifting her hands to the sky. Register skill. She thought to herself, before speaking. “Stars that shine in the infinite void between spaces, light which binds the world.” When Chel heard her beginning her chant to focus her power, she sent the signal to disable the barrier.

“Flickering lights of creation, illusory shackles of space. Become the stars of destruction, that which erases all in its path. Star of oblivion.” A black spot rose from the center of Tsubaki’s finger, at which point the air around it began to tremble.

This black spot then rose into the air, shooting off faster than the eye could see. In an instant, it had punctured through the planet’s atmosphere, reaching the first target. When it collided with the target, and passed directly through it, it seemed to have grown.

The black ‘spot’, which had originally been no more than a centimeter in diameter, had grown to well over three inches as it flew towards the next ship. In the meantime, the ship it had struck first began undergoing an unusual change.

Color seemed to drain from the world around the golems. The ground became brittle beneath their feets, before shattering into dust. Golems shouted in panic as they fell through the outer shell of their ships, even as their own bodies gradually began to lose their luster.

From one ship to the next, the black spot grew larger and larger, striking without mercy. Tsubaki’s face went pale as she struggled to maintain control, having to go so far as to borrow power from the Keeper to maintain her divinity. However, Chel had a calm smile on her face. As far as the young girl was concerned, the successful launch of this attack meant that they had already won and ensured their survival.

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