Chapter 488: The Heavens Shall Fall (XXIX)

Splurt!

The first guard went down before the alarm had even finished its second cycle, and I saw the moment it happened with a kind of clarity that stuck in my mind longer than I wanted.

One second, he was standing there with his weapon half-raised, and the next, there was a clean hole through his chest where his divine core had been, the compression blast having passed straight through him without resistance.

He didn’t say anything, didn’t even have time to react properly.

His body simply dropped onto the stone courtyard like something that had been cut loose, blood already spreading beneath him in a dark, widening pool.

“Move forward, now!”

We broke into a run toward the gates, and more defenders started appearing along the walls above us, first a handful, then more behind them until dozens were lining the height of the structure.

Their hands lit up with charged divine energy, the glow casting sharp light across their faces as they prepared to fire, and I could see the exact moment they understood what we were and why we were here.

“Get the barrier up, now!” Torres’s voice cut through everything, sharp and controlled.

FWOOOSH!

Three soldiers activated their arrays at the same time, and the shield formed over us just as the first wave of attacks came down.

The bolts hit hard, sending bright flashes rippling across the barrier’s surface, the light forcing my eyes to narrow as the impacts stacked one after another.

The shield held, but I could feel the strain running through it.

“Breaching team, on the gates!” Christina’s voice came through my earpiece, steady in a way that felt almost unreal compared to the chaos around us.

Four soldiers broke formation and sprinted ahead, reaching the massive doors in seconds.

They placed the charges quickly, hands moving with the confidence of people who had done this so many times that it no longer required thought.

The explosions followed, not wide or loud in the way normal blasts would be, but tight and focused, punching inward through the reinforced metal.

The edges of the breach glowed red as the material warped under the force.

The gates gave way with a deep, grinding sound, and we pushed through the opening before the defenders could reorganize.

Inside, the courtyard was already filling with Court soldiers.

There were at least fifty of them, forming up in proper lines, their movements controlled and disciplined.

They wore real divine-grade armor, not ceremonial pieces, and their weapons carried a steady hum of contained divine energy.

But that didn’t matter.

“Counter-resonance rifles, fire!” I ordered.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Six rifles discharged together, the sound sharp and unnatural, like something tearing through the air itself.

The effect spread across the enemy formation in a wave that had no visible shape, yet its impact was immediate.

Their energy destabilized.

I saw it in their reactions, in the way their expressions shifted from focus to confusion.

Barriers flickered and collapsed before they could form properly, weapons lost their charge, and techniques failed mid-activation.

For a few minutes, they were stripped down to nothing but their bodies and whatever skill they could manage without divine support.

“Push forward!” I was already moving.

We hit them before they could recover.

SPLAT!

The first soldier in front of me barely had time to react before my blade went through his throat.

I felt the resistance of flesh, then the give as it pushed through, and when I pulled it free, the blood came with it, hot and immediate.

He collapsed, hands going to his neck, trying to hold something that couldn’t be held.

I didn’t stop.

Another opponent stepped in, trying to form a weapon that kept breaking apart in her hands as the disruption interfered with her control.

Fwip!

She looked at me with panic starting to show, and I ended it quickly, one clean strike that dropped her before she could even finish forming the attack.

Around me, our soldiers moved in pairs, one disrupting, the other finishing.

They didn’t need to speak or hesitate, as months of training had turned them into something that worked without needing explanation.

A Court soldier managed to stabilize his energy enough to form a barrier, pushing back against us with a surge of force.

Torres reacted immediately, throwing a containment array in a smooth motion that sent it spinning across the ground.

The device activated just as the soldier tried to run.

He didn’t make it.

The field locked around him, his own energy turning inward, tightening the hold the more he struggled against it.

“UAGRGH… HEEEELPP!!!!!!!!!!”

“HELP!!!!!!!2

He started shouting, panic clear in his voice, and then one of our soldiers stepped in and drove a blade through his chest.

The sound stopped.

“Gamma Squad, move to the inner courtyard!” Christina’s voice came through again. “Delta Squad, secure this area. Epsilon, cover the rear.”

I took a second to look around.

The courtyard was covered in bodies already, most of them in Court armor, though a few of ours lay among them.

There wasn’t time to count, and there wasn’t time to stop.

We moved on.

The inner courtyard opened ahead of us, larger, more open, and filled with even more defenders.

At least a hundred this time, and at the center of them stood two figures who didn’t need an introduction.

Seven-star True Gods.

Their presence alone made the air feel heavier.

“Rifles won’t hold them for long!” Torres called out.

“They don’t need to!” I answered, already moving.

“Focus on the others. Leave them to me.”

I went straight for the first one.

He tried to bring out his domain, and I felt the pressure of it starting to form, space itself shifting as his authority pushed outward to reshape everything around him.

At the same time, our interference devices were activated.

The effect was immediate.

His domain faltered, instability spreading through it before it could fully form. His expression changed, confusion replacing confidence as he tried to adjust, but it was already too late.

The structure collapsed back in on itself.

The backlash hit him hard.

He staggered, his body reacting to the internal damage, and I closed the distance before he could recover.

“Bye.”

SPLAT!

My blade drove up through his jaw and into his head, ending it before he could even understand what had gone wrong.

The second one didn’t make the same mistake.

She didn’t try to form a domain. Instead, she shaped raw energy into a weapon and came at me with speed that spoke of long experience.

Fwish!

I barely avoided the first strike, the blade passing close enough that I felt the air move with it. It cut straight through a stone pillar behind me as if it had been nothing.

She attacked again without pause.

I blocked, but the force traveled through my arms, heavy enough to make it clear she had the advantage in raw strength.

So I didn’t meet her head-on.

I let her push me back, let her believe she was forcing me into a losing position.

She committed to a full strike, putting everything behind it.

I waited until the last moment, until there was no room left for adjustment, and then I triggered the compression device.

BAAAM!

The blast hit her mid-swing.

Her attack broke apart instantly, her defenses collapsing under the impact as she stumbled back, her guard completely open.

I moved in.

One strike took her arm.

“HAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHHHH!”

She screamed, the sound sharp and filled with anger more than fear, and before she could recover, I finished it, ending the fight before she had the chance to adapt.

…Dammit.

To think that my power is currently lower than that of an ordinary 7✯ Intermediate True God… tsk, unfortunately, it’s a risk I need to take.

Around me, the battle had turned into complete chaos.

Our forces were cutting through the defenders, pushing forward with a level of coordination that came from preparation, from knowing exactly what to do and when to do it.

The ground was slick with blood.

The air smelled of energy discharge and iron.

“Command, this is Alpha Squad,” Kiera’s voice came through suddenly. “We’ve secured the Records Department. Accessing the database now.”

“Confirmed,” Christina replied immediately.

“Beta Squad, report.”

“Still engaged,” Rax answered, his voice strained, sounds of fighting clear behind him. “Heavy resistance, and we’ve already…”

BAAANG!

The transmission cut off with an explosion loud enough to carry through the channel.

“Beta Squad, respond,” Christina said, and there was a tight edge to her voice now.

For a few seconds, there was only static.

Then Rax came back, breathing heavier.

“We’re still here. Lost four in that last hit. Reinforcements are coming from the main stronghold. We don’t have much time.”

“Hold your position,” Christina ordered.

“Extraction in twenty minutes.”

I could almost hear her thinking, adjusting everything in real time.

“Gamma Squad, move to the High Chamber,” I ordered.

We pushed forward again, deeper into the structure.

The fighting didn’t stop.

Every hallway, every turn, more defenders were trying to slow us down.

We cut through them quickly, not stopping, not giving them the chance to regroup. Some of them tried to hold positions, others tried to retreat, and a few even tried to talk when they realized they were losing.

None of it changed the outcome.

We reached the High Chamber entrance.

Four guards stood there.

Eight-star True Gods.

This was different.

“Maximum output on the rifles!” I called out.

The shots hit all four at once, and for a brief moment, I saw them stagger, their control slipping as the disruption took hold.

But it didn’t last long.

“Interference units, activate!”

The devices came online, and two of them tried to bring out their domains.

Both failed.

The backlash hit them hard enough to drop one to a knee.

The other two didn’t even try.

They came at us directly.

One of them reached a soldier before anyone could react.

I saw it happen, and there was nothing I could do in time.

SPLAT!

He tore the man apart with his hands, the motion quick and brutal, leaving nothing behind that could be saved.

BAANG!

I fired a compression blast at him.

It slowed him enough that he turned toward me.

FWOOMP!

He shot towards me, throwing a hard punch that, because of my current power, I couldn’t react to.

BAAM!

The force sent me back hard, my body slamming into the wall with enough impact to crack the stone.

Pain spread through my chest immediately, making it hard to breathe, but I pushed myself up anyway.

Stopping wasn’t exactly an option.

“Containment arrays, now!” Christina’s voice cut through again.

Several devices hit the ground, activating in quick succession.

Three of the guards were caught.

They fought it immediately, pushing back with everything they had, and I could see the strain on the arrays as they struggled to hold.

The fourth was still free.

He killed two more of our soldiers before Torres got behind him and drove a blade through his back, not stopping until he was sure the fight was over.

The others weakened as the containment fields did their work.

“…Finish it.”

Our soldiers moved in and ended it.

It wasn’t quick or clean.

By the time it was done, we had lost more people.

But the entrance was ours.

“Command to all squads,” Christina said, and there was relief under the control now.

“Primary objective secured. Alpha has full access. Beta is beginning extraction. All combat squads, hold position at the High Chamber.”

I looked around at what we had done.

Bodies covered the floor, ours and theirs mixed together.

The walls were scorched.

The air was heavy with the smell of energy and blood.

This was nothing like the planning rooms or the training simulations, but actual real life. I battled through many wars, but seeing this… it still disgusts me.

“Tsk…”

My power level is slowly recovering…

But to return to its peak stage, it will take a few more hours.

“Sigh…”

I breathed out, looking at the other soldiers who firmly stood with their heads high, even expecting surprise attacks.

At least, they can cover my back.

Sadly, I needed to seal my power to actually be able to later bring out the full power of the Fallen God race.

I didn’t expect that there would be such a sacrifice.

But well…

No use dwelling on it now.

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