Mid Morning - Early Summer : Central Virginia

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- Corporal, Diana Hale ~

-Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck...- Curses rang through my mind as I held down WEP [1] and zipped through the sky, but little did my adrenaline-logged brain know, I had long since run out of fuel.

Ever since I saw 'it', it was as if I couldn't function properly; everything other than my instincts had practically shut down, and all my instincts told me to do was run.

'That thing' was a monster the likes of humans were never meant to face, a monster that could only be dealt with using orbital weapons, just like the Great Wyvern of Japan. -But even that ridiculous monster couldn't simply ignore nukes...-

Just a few minutes prior, I was ordered to use a Grade 3 nuclear missile with a 50-megaton explosive yield and 40-kilometer kill radius to try and land a hit on the back of the monster's head.

And just as instructed, I landed it perfectly, a detonation just a few meters off the creature's skin, but the high I felt from pulling it off and hearing the cheers of the people in the command room only made me fall harder.

The moment the monster simply dashed out of the smoke after a few seconds, completely unscathed, my mind went blank, and the voices of command simply turned to static.

Since then, all I could do was hold the throttle with a death grip and pray it didn't look in my direction like it did Eli.

However, after a few minutes that felt like an unbearable eternity, my instinct finally eased enough for me to shakily look over my shoulder. -Is it.. leaving me alone?-

Being nearly 25 kilometers in the air, and with most of the clouds cleared out by the blast, I had an incredible view of ground zero, left as a field of ash and fire; however, no matter where I looked, I couldn't see anything moving, even though a massive creature should have stood out like a sore thumb.

Starting to break into a panic, I looked straight to the ground below to see if it was following me, but the more I looked, and the less I found, the more my fear grew. -W..where is it?!-

Before I knew it, my mind was starting to erode itself, crumbling under stress and fear.

But before my mind finally collapsed under the chaos, a transparent blue panel appeared in front of my face.

*Beep*

My tense body instantaneously relaxed and heightened nerves started to ease before my mind finally began to calm. "Hooh..." In a single breath, an immense amount of weight was lifted off me. -The System is finally back online...-

With the adrenaline still pumping, my senses were heightened to an insane degree, but with my consciousness stabilizing, I could finally make sense of it.

*Beep* "No Fuel Remaining. Please find a place to land." *Beep* "No Fuel Remaining. Please find a place to land."

Finally hearing my Cardinal's emergency protocol, I let out another quick breath and looked over the ground in a much calmer manner. "Hooh... Okay..." It only took me a moment to find enough landmarks to learn where I was. -That must be Richmond...- "System, connect me to Richmond ATC." -I should have the altitude to make it there...-

"Attempting connection to Locale: Richmond Air Traffic Control." *Beep* "System Communications Artifact not functioning properly: Recalibrating. . ." There was a short moment of silence before the System made a sequence of beeps and continued. "Calibration Complete: Connection established."

*Beep* I spoke up instantly. "Richmond ATC, this is Corporal Diana Hale. I am out of fuel just south of Petersburg and need to have a runway cleared ASAP."

But I heard nothing but a loud crackling and hum. *Crackle-Vmmmm* -What the...- It was a sound I had never heard before.

"Hello, this is Corporal Diana Hale. Is anyone th-"

*Beep* The System promptly cut me off. "System Artifact at locale has been damaged. Please stand by."

There was a quick moment of silence after the System stopped speaking before the hum disappeared.

*Crackle* "Y-yes, this is Richmond ATC! Is this the military?"

Hearing his panic, I spoke with a bit of hesitancy. "This is Corporal Diana Hale. I am out of fuel just south of Petersburg and need a clear runway."

An immediate silence filled the comms.

-Shit, I don't have time for this...- "We are aware of the situation, but nearly all our jets are disabled. It will take some time for help to arrive. For now, I need a runway cleared!"

There was another pause before the young man finally spoke. "W-what vehicle are you in?"

"A Cardinal. I need a mid-size runway or larger." As I slowly banked to the side, I used my cameras to zoom in on where the runways were and immediately saw two things the size of buildings. -Shit...-

"Th-that will be difficult! Our larger runways are occupied by airships. One from Europe just landed. It will take at least twenty minutes to clear-"

"Make it five. I'm out of fuel; I can't stay airborne that long."

"T-that will be diffi-"

*BEEP* The young man was immediately cut off by a deafening beep from the System as a blood-red panel appeared in my face.

-Huh? Red?- It was a panel color I had never seen before, but that confusion turned to shock the moment I saw the reward. -W..what?- I couldn't even believe my eyes.

However, everything has a price.

Just seeing the reward, I was excited...

But the moment I read the rest of it, that excitement vanished... -W..what kind of bullshit is this...-

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- Bentley Horne ~

A quick flight from the Western Union to Charlotte, North Carolina, on a commission to clear an overdeveloped dungeon. That's all that trip was supposed to be. -So, what the hell is this...- *muffled alarm*

Just a few minutes ago, we crossed the eastern coast of the United States, but rather than continuing south, we were forced to make an emergency landing in Richmond, Virginia. According to the staff, all communications had been completely cut off, and as per international protocol, we needed to land.

Everyone on board found it extremely odd at first, as losing contact with the ground was believed to be impossible ever since communications devices started utilizing 'System Artifacts', but not long after that, we all finally noticed the state of our own System's, and the panic started to set in.

But things didn't improve when we landed. The chaos within the city was nothing short of apocalyptic. Looking out the window, we could see locals spitting blood on the edge of the runway and countless others struggling to stand up or even walk.

Out of fear that there could have been a monster that used poison in the area, I ordered my guildmates to stay put while the staff and less cautious mercenaries went to check out the situation.

But before a single one of them could return, we were all presented with a dark crimson panel, leaving us staring into the air with wide eyes.

The first to break the silence was one of my guildmates. "Uh.. is anyone else seeing this?"

It was a regional quest with completely unfathomable rewards. -An item believed to be a myth or legend, or enough levels to instantly make a normal System Mercenary a ranker...-

The enticement was like the devil's whisper, but no matter how enticing of a reward it was, nothing could have made us ignore the objective.

"L..Leviathan class..." One of my guildmates spoke up with a shaky voice. "I thought that class was reserved for gates..."

-Y..yeah...- "S..so did I..."

It was the highest classification the System had ever been known to give, believed to be reserved for gates that were the size of small countries, and were only known to open in deep space or on other planets.

But now, we were suddenly confronted with reality.

-We can't stay here...- Immediately hopping up, I darted out of the Hall and pushed past the airship's attendants to get to the control room.

*tap-Clank-CREAAAK* Swinging open the heavy metal door, I came into the cockpit and noticed the captains staring into the air in front of them with pale faces.

They were clearly looking at System panels. -But now isn't the time to be in a daze!- *pat* "WE NEED TO GET OFF THE GROUND, NOW!"

Finally snapping out of it, they jolted back to their senses and immediately started tapping through panels before tapping the large blue artifact between them.

It was the communications to all the passengers via our Systems. "Everyone, please return to the airship!" He sounded as if he was speaking right into my ear. "If you do not return in five minutes, we will leave without you!"

The moment he closed the transmission, he moved to a transparent panel in front of him and promptly restarted the engines. *hmmMMM* The deep hum of the reactors instantly started to ramp up.

-Five minutes... We just need five minutes...-

With my heart racing, I returned to the main Hall and gathered my guildmates to form a plan in case things went south.

But after just a few minutes, we felt the airship start moving. -What?! It's too early!- Not even a quarter of the people who went outside were back yet.

Darting back to the control room, I went to see what was going on, but only found the captains with their hands off the controls. -H..huh?-

The youngest of the captains spoke up the moment I came inside. "The ATC is pulling us off the runway." He spoke as if he had lost hope. "A military jet needs to make an emergency landing... We won't be able to take off for at least twenty minutes..."

I simply froze. "Isn't there the other runway?"

He shook his head immediately. "That airship's systems are down. There was apparently a mana wave that destroyed most of their devices, including the reactors, and made them unable to disengage the emergency break.. even during landing..."

-You're fucking kidding...- *WHAM* Slamming my fist into the thick metal door, I hung my head and let the thoughts and ideas flow like a river. -Come on... I have to think of something!-

But, little did we know time was never on our side.

*BEEP*

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- Evren ~

*tap-tap-tap-tap-tap* *Ding!* "Hm?" Hearing the system ping, I glanced over at the panel.

-Ah.. it was still updating?- Reading that it removed more restrictions, I clenched my fist to see if anything changed, but there wasn't anything of note. -Hm... Maybe it was related to my mana...- While I didn't feel any difference in my mana either, I didn't exactly know what to look out for. -But.. it's probably fine...-

Looking back up at the horizon, I shifted my focus back to running but quickly noticed that the surrounding trees and foliage had started to thin out along the tracks before completely stopping on the horizon.

The only thing it could have been was a clearing. -Is that the edge of the city? I should be getting pretty close...-

Speeding up considerably, the opening in the trees started to widen, and the short green grass on the ground started coming into view.

But while it was out of place, after a few more seconds, the top of a colossal grey structure with all sorts of things mounted on it started to crest the horizon. -That must be it!-

Speeding up even more, the structure quickly began to stretch higher and higher over the horizon, revealing more and more weapon installments coating its exterior.

But as the faint sound of alarms started filling the air, the bottom of the structure finally came into view, leaving me to look upon it in awe. -Woaah...-

It was a wall stretching almost 250 meters into the air and absolutely layered in weaponry with only a single small metal area around where the rails met the wall. -That must be the gate...-

Finally entering the clearing of short grass, I could finally see that the colossal wall was circular, but the area it encompassed was so massive that a majority of it was still hidden behind the horizons to my left and right.

Even with my insanely warped sense of scale from fighting monsters multiple kilometers tall, it was nothing short of awe-inspiring. -Wow... Humanity really did adapt...-

However, humanity wasn't only known for its adaptability.

My expression of awe vanished instantaneously. -Huh?-

*ZIP-CRRRRACK-BAANG* Barely managing to react in time, I narrowly dodged what looked like a dart from one of the weapon installments right above the gate. -Holy shit, what was that?!-

Instantly focusing on where it came from, I found what could only be described as four complex metal beams sticking out of the wall aiming right at me. -What is that thing?-

But before even a second passed, it began to glow again, forcing me to brace myself before instantly reacting to another dart.

*ZIP-CRRRRACK-BAANG* Another huge plume of concrete was blown into the air behind me the moment I ducked under it, but with that, I had the weapon dialed in.

With a bit of bloodlust beginning to flow, I focused on the glowing gun with dilated pupils before finally...

*ZIP-PAT* Instantly snatching it out of the air, the dart started to glow red hot, but before it could start melting, I planted my foot on the ground and returned it to whence it came.

*ZIP-CRRRACK* As the shockwave met my ears, the dart blasted straight through the metal exterior of the installment, violently caving in and splintering the metal before continuing deeper into the wall

But by the time the shockwave of the impact or its wave of heat would have reached me, I was in the air. *FWOOOSH* With a single massive leap, I darted straight to the top of the wall, clipping and destroying the edge of it to slow down before finally coming to a stop.

However, although the wall was dozens of meters thick, preventing me from seeing the ground all the way to the horizon, it didn't matter. -W..woah...-

Stretching far above the inside edge of the wall was a cannon resembling what I destroyed, but with only two rails and upscaled to the point that each rail was nearly a kilometer long, and with large text on the side of it.

It read, "FX-8620 Tomahawk -|- Eversor Company Orbital Railgun"

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Alright, this is currently the most up to date chapter available to free readers, but more are coming! Currently, the patreon is only 2 (soon to be 3) chapters ahead of free readers, and with weekly releases, you can expect the next public chapter to be posted in about 2 and a half weeks!

The Patreon is and will be 5 weeks ahead, and if you wish to support me, I would be eternally grateful <3

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