Book 9, Chapter 45

For The First And The Last

A black cloud slowly formed on the horizon, zooming over to cover the sky as it floated steadily towards Faelor’s defences. Richard’s estimate of the number of reapers quickly entered the realm of five figures, and that number continued to grow. Despite his determination, he found himself glancing at Nasia who was beside him.

“Afraid?” a rare, gentle smile formed on Nasia’s mask.

“A little, yeah,” he admitted readily.

“So silly. What’s so scary about this? Even if everyone here died in battle, you would still turn all of these machines into scrap metal eventually.”

Richard smiled himself, albeit bitterly instead of with mockery, “I know, but I was hoping… Forget it, I understand.”

No one could live forever, and nothing in this world was perfectly predictable. He understood that he would have to bear the consequences of his decision to stay and fight, even if it meant a hollow victory. In that regard, Nasia was absolutely right. Even if all of his subordinates died, he had to win this for the first and the last person who perished in battle. 

He looked at his soldiers, many of whom now had fear on their faces. Even the most seasoned of veterans knew that the incoming enemies were death incarnate, and even the rune knights and saints grew fearful.

Richard blinked to the front lines, drawing his three divine swords and stabbing them into the ground. Turning around to face his soldiers, he formed an orb of light atop his head for the first time in years, “To every warrior who acknowledges me as your king, I promise you this: I will be at the forefront of this battle! Crush these machines into scrap!”

This was a rather short speech, but it was more rousing than anything else he could have done. Even as the endless wave of reapers marched towards them, the soldiers broke out into a raucous warcry. Many grizzled veterans were staring at the orb above his head, eyes bloodshot as they related tales of years past.

Richard’s own gaze fell upon the incoming cloud of warships, which had some new types mixed in. There was now a transport ship that was thirty metres wide and close to a hundred metres long, flying rather close to the ground but in very large numbers. There was also a massive warship that was over half a kilometre long, charging up massive beam cannons that would certainly be a threat to even him. As the transporters stopped a few kilometres away and dropped a ramp for their drones to flood out from, the flesh warriors and spider warriors were joined by what looked like mechanical elephants whose upper bodies were made of flesh with dozens of different weapons attached.

The numbers in Richard’s sight jumped around violently, eventually compelling him to return to his normal vision. However, his mind had already finished calculations by that time; the reaper army was now over a hundred thousand in number!

The flesh warriors slowly spread out and inched closer to the Crimson Army, their gun muzzles threatening a fatal volley of beam attacks. The warships in the sky floated forward as well, initially at the same pace as the land units but speeding up when they were about 800 metres away. A blinding glare filled the battlefield as the beam attacks crashed towards the Archeron front lines.

Long since prepared for this, Richard immediately knelt on the floor and grabbed a specially-crafted shield to cover himself. The heavy infantry erected similar reflective tower shields all around, with the other soldiers withdrawing into the defensive structures and preparing to counter. These shields could scatter a bulk of the energy from the reaper attacks; even if the remaining energy was enough to burn holes through the metal, there wouldn’t be enough to get past armour. Only the hundred or so of the large warships managed to pierce through, affecting the soldiers hidden behind.

By the time the first wave of attacks drew to a close, the reaper troops had managed to get even closer. Clusters of warships circled above Richard’s first defences, destroying several shields using pure numbers alone. The number of casualties quickly grew.

A cold blaze burnt in Richard’s eyes as he disappeared from his original spot, the swords gone with him. A moment later, a squadron of warships that flew too low were caught in a red glow and burst into flames. With over a dozen blowing up in a single attacks, his figure blurred and disappeared before the response could strike.

The huge warship that was far behind the frontlines suddenly shook, a thick beam of light crossing a full kilometre before striking a cluster of ships in the air. Richard suddenly materialised with a grave expression on his face, stretching both hands out to form multiple barriers of sparking light.

However, the power behind the flagship’s cannon was just too great. The barriers quickly exploded, allowing the remaining energy in the beam to crash right into him. Richard flipped backwards and disappeared once more, but the flagship turned around and pointed at an empty area where he appeared a moment later.

Quickly realising that the flagship could track him for some reason, Richard decided to use speed instead of stealth. His figure flickered constantly, disappearing from every location before the enemy could lock onto him. He quickly appeared right on top of the ship and plunged down towards it, but dozens of cannon bays suddenly opened up and shot out beams of light that cast a deadly net in his path!

A glint of determination flickered in Richard’s eyes as he growled, scrunching up to minimise the impact as he flew straight through the wall of death to land on the enormous warship’s deck. He thrust his sword straight into the metal, tearing it apart with an explosion that allowed him to jump in.

The interior of the enormous warship looked like a maze. A dozen beams attacked Richard the moment he landed within, some from cannons and others from flesh warriors, but Richard growled and used the Ring of Fate to wipe out everything within thirty metres. A huge hole was formed in the interior, but without any knowledge as to where a core for such a thing could lie he simply chose a random direction and charged through. Dodging, deflecting, and withstanding the energy beams repeatedly, he aggressively destroyed anything that came close to attacking him.

Some of the soldiers who had engaged in battle looked up as the frighteningly large warship in the distance started to shake, flames constantly shooting out from its body. In only minutes it was falling to the ground, and before it hit the entire thing was carved in two by a flaming sword as Richard flew out from the remains. Those who had even a momentary respite erupted in cheers; this didn’t mean victory, but Richard’s quick defeat of the enemy’s flagship gave them some hope.

Flames were already raging everywhere, the land drones of the reapers having engaged the Archeron warriors. Groups of a hundred rune knights were constantly launching their javelins at the war machines in the sky, with those one the outer edge slaying the ground units to give them space. A few hundred night elven archers were shooting magical arrows into the sky from behind, each one capable of dropping the smallest of the war machines to the ground. Protecting these archers were nearly a thousand druids.

A war elephant charged into the battle lines, dozens of light beams starting to fire from the weapons all over it. However, more than a hundred elven assassins appeared nearby like ghosts, taking out their thunder cannons and destroying the flesh and most metal in a thunderous assault. Once the assassins dispersed, the war elephant’s upper body was completely gone, with its metallic lower half creaking around in futility as a dozen winter soldiers crushed the metal with two-handed warhammers.