Bashing Them Away!

On the following late morning, at the neighboring Division. Hundreds of kilometers away from one of this Division's Sub Division's central City.

Fwuuusssh~, whoosh. The Concealed Ornament Team descended onto the swampy floor, becoming strange at once due to the difference between this and the Endless Desert Division. The transporting ship bringing them here with extra cannons and bomb boxes left those things on the ground for the fellow student troops to grab before rushing back into the Endless Desert Division as if it was poisonous to remain there. Heian Ciemnosc and the others walked with weird expressions to the group of sub-commanders, second-in-commands, and... the commander himself!

With such a receiving welcome, Heian Ciemnosc’s eyebrows momentarily raise before relaxing. He brought his team forward to meet their temporary superiors. The commander was a fatty, slightly tall, middle-aged man with much mightier fluctuations in the Spirit Rebirth realm’s peak. He was half a step into the Second Step cultivator. He had a slightly fawning smile with a neat rectangular mustache as he stepped over and placed his left hand on Heian Ciemnosc’s right shoulder.

“Haha! Boy, you have no idea how stressed I’ve been. I can’t believe commander Lionel gave me one of his army’s greatest contributors. Welcome!” The commander spoke and laughed at once, clearly in high spirits, not giving Heian Ciemnosc any chance to introduce himself. Immediately after, the commander continued smiling as he spoke in good spirits, “I am promoting you to a sub-commander position, effective immediate-”

“By commander Lionel’s instructions, I can’t be promoted or change my status without his approval and consent.” Heian Ciemnosc said. His words halted all the good mood and vibe. The commander’s face slightly fell as he looked at Heian Ciemnosc, who appeared casual and didn’t care about such restrictions. He looked at Esteban behind the pale teenager and hurriedly said as if trying to amend a mistake, “I confer to you th-”

“That is the same for everyone in my team,” Heian Ciemnosc added. Looking up at the commander with innocent, darkest eyes and keeping silent afterwards. The commander rectified his posture, swept his hand from his mouse to his chin, and asked with an irked tone, “Does your commander not value you? Why does he place so many restrictions on you?”

“...” Heian Ciemnosc looked at the commander with adorable eyes before ultimately shrugging his shoulders, making the nearby female sub-commanders and second-in-commands want to hug him for hours. The commander felt his heart stomped on and then allowed to breathe, somewhat humiliated. “Well, let’s go.”

Step, step. Saying no more, the commander turned around and walked back to their nearby camp. Heian Ciemnosc could see 3 transporting ships stationed in it. Suddenly, the commander turned his head backwards. His back was slightly bent as he asked with a bothered face. “Why so little of you?”

“Did you ask for a parade?” Heian Ciemnosc asked right away, not letting the commander continue looking at him and his people however he wished. His attitude suddenly became cold but still indifferent and casual. It gave the commander some goosebumps. But the commander didn’t pay any more attention to it after waving his hand in dismissal. Heian Ciemnosc said no more, and they slowly walked into the camp.

When the Concealed Ornament Team entered the camp, the fellow student troops received them warmly but slightly awkwardly. The commanders and sub-commanders’ reactions made them see something amiss between the veteran neighboring Academy’s Division’s army and their upper echelons, seemingly not wanting to get closer with the newcomers as a result. After being initially greeted slightly warmly before being left alone to themselves with a cold shoulder, Heian Ciemnosc instructed his team to rest and cultivate as much as possible.

… The next day, Heian Ciemnosc wasn’t called anywhere. The place where his large tent was located welcomed the silence. But with his Spirit Sense, Heian Ciemnosc devised they were planning an attack on the central City already. He also learned this army was also divided, and their forces were winning with crushing results against the other Cities but were slow. After almost a month, they finally noticed the enemy’s anxiousness and began preparing to besiege their central City.

Now, as the enemy had outspread their numbers across nearby Cities to defend their central City and not let the enemy approach, this Academy’s Division’s army rushed here with 3 transporting ships and 80,000 troops. From their words and discussions, Heian Ciemnosc understood they had deployed their entire soldier units all around this Sub Division and had left only about 100,000 garrisoned units behind. From those 100k, 80k were taken away and were this camp’s force.

Although Heian Ciemnosc shook his head, he understood an advantage such as this and, with such early achievements, wasn’t a bad thing to chase after. Shortly after, on the first day’s night, Heian Ciemnosc was finally called into their main tent with a few second-in-commands and half the sub-commanders. The commander welcomed Heian Ciemnosc with an uncaring attitude and showed him the map with his fingers before going out to take another drink.

Heian Ciemnosc was left in the tent with those others who looked at him with smiles, half-smiles, and funny eyes. He ignored them, moving to look at the thin tablet atop a table. He looked at the map and the information gathered by scouts, slowly digesting each piece of information without a care for the hidden words behind the others’ eyes and mocking smiles or expressions.

Step, step. When the commander finally stepped back in, he brought a full drink with a cup as long as his forearm and as his forearm as a strong horse’s thigh. Besides that, he also reeked of women. Heian Ciemnosc wasn’t uncomfortable about those in an army banging, but to be like this and suddenly smell this way in a meeting. Err…

“...” Heian Ciemnosc frowned and continued to study the map without saying the words he was already prepared to say. As he did, the commander went to a few of his subordinates and asked the others things, such as if he was over or if Heian Ciemnosc had been like that since the commander himself left. Heian Ciemnosc also ignored that before standing with his back straight and cracking his neck. He looked at the commander, who turned around after a sub-commander notified him with a distracted face and spoke.

“Since the enemy easily showed 100,000 cultivators in their most protected City, why are we spreading our forces? And the transporting ships still have enough ammunition to spend for 3 days long. So why won’t they be used for battle? This part of the enemy’s City is the weakest. While this one looks fragile. But it has too many cannons placed below and atop the walls.” Heian Ciemnosc looked up at the commander after pointing all over the map, “Spreading your forces is slowly thinning our chances to even enter the City.”

“The transporting ships are for bombarding only!” The commander snapped, startling the sub-commanders and second-in-commands alike. He continued, “Our piloting teams do their best to maneuver, but what if they have a mini-turret? Or a bazooka?!”

“If so,” Heian Ciemnosc slightly lowered his eyelids and looked down before pointing at several places in a slow fashion. “You’ll send your troops to neutralize it right away, even spend the attention of some Spirit Rebirth realm troops to do so. It’s worth it, and they can be easily captured. As for the transporting ships, can’t they rely on the array formations to fly with heads over heels and destroy the enemy cannon teams?”

“Th-they can’t do that, our piloting teams aren’t… ‘that’ good, truth be told.” The commander answered slightly awkwardly. Heian Ciemnosc raised his eyebrows, and before he knew it, the commander snapped again and behaved like a fatty old man going senile and a dog trying to bite anything it saw. For half a night, Heian Ciemnosc spent his time acting reasonably and trying to calm the commander’s mind.

In the end, after 3 days, Heian Ciemnosc changed the commander’s mindset and convinced him to go for a different approach, strategy, and tactics altogether. When the commander finally came to his senses and announced the battle would begin tomorrow, 4th day since the Concealed Ornament Team’s arrival, the commander’s army became excited, looking forward to it with their eyes burning their sub-commanders.

Although soldier units couldn’t be told these plans beforehand and only before setting off to battle, with a few exceptions such as their ‘special forces’ -, or so. The sub-commanders were already aware of it and had quite surprised faces. Since their war commenced against this Division’s enemy forces, the whole army has felt their victories somewhat murky. Though they won, and losses were inevitable, they felt like quite a few fundamental steps were skipped.

Naturally, they weren’t aware of what those things were, even less since they were not veterans nor had enough people who lived in the 10 year war like Heian Ciemnosc’s army has. Along with their superiors being some sort of amateurs, this Academy’s Division’s army was walking through even more humid and wet swamps.

This Division’s temperatures and terrain didn’t allow the army to set dusty clouds at the ground level. But they could still fight as well as in any other place. It wouldn’t be the same only if they were citizens. But citizens are mainly left in defensive measures and with vehicles or powerful arsenals in their hands.

During the days, Heian Ciemnosc spent his time changing the commander’s mindset. But at night, he vented and tortured poor little Sakura, whose body was already addicted to being embraced and endlessly pounded by him, his claws, his scaringly long and slightly thick fellow, and sleeping in his embrace. Sometimes she could swear he continued to rape her after she fell asleep without much energy left in her body. Heian Ciemnosc didn’t go too far. There was still a battle ahead, and she was improving her cultivation with him during coitus, so it wasn’t a problem.

… Thus, the 4th day since their arrival came, and the transporting ships were set to fly. After preparations were made and the soldier units knew of the plans, their eyes shone, and their spirits lifted. They felt as if the key to feeling like the Academy’s troops they are were finally given to them. Now, they needed to use it and open their way through victory to feel themselves becoming what their Wrath Nihility Academy needed the most!

The sub-commanders felt nervous. They were changing plans from what they were used to, but that was understandable. The second-in-commands also felt slightly anxious. They didn’t want to fail, but if they continued to do the same since the beginning… it was the same as asking for death. Meanwhile, the commander was super anxious and nervous! Nobody could tell if they would win like this. Only Heian Ciemnosc seemed confident, but they were already used to their own methods.

Still, if the commander won this battle like this and their losses were much lesser, he would feel prouder when he informed the Academy of his magnificent achievements. Thinking about only the good things, the commander thus led the transporting ships and followed the plan to the letter. Though he was unpleasant and not worthy of befriending. His intellect and capabilities were what still made him a commander.

It wasn’t the same situation as Lionel, who was clearly way below what this war entitled commanders to do and forced to achieve.

As for Heian Ciemnosc, he and his Concealed Ornament Team were leisurely spending their time cultivating and not going out much. They were concerned only about the ongoing battles back in the Endless Desert Division and not having much to do with the imminent ‘final battle’ situation. Whenever there was news about their army’s reconquest progress, they would take a look at their medallion and become more angsty to return and bring hell to their enemies.

Like this, the days passed, and on the fourth day, the battle commenced.

When the transporting ships showed in the distance. The enemy’s central City became alerted but not panicky. They seemed anxious but calm altogether. As the enemy walked on the City walls, the transporting ships didn’t open fire nor let their troops set foot on the ground. Instead, the vessels went into a circling formation and went just a few levels before top-notch speed. As they circled nonstop around the City, 2 thousand meters above it, they suddenly rotated and showed their bellies to the enemy!

Before they could understand what, why, and how, bomb boxes came out from several small hatches, letting them fall in the middle of the City’s aerial space. With the terrible momentum, the vessels caused a pure energy tornado. It wasn’t a disaster, nor an actual tornado. It was mainly due to the small engines flaring and going off repeatedly. This caused a little constricted space to appear in between. As a result, the bomb boxes remained stagnant in the air, going up and down.

There was some fire from mini-turrets coming from below, shooting at those bombs and trying to set them off before they could harm the City directly. However, the bullets and firepower were nothing compared to a top-notch machine guns’. Furthermore, the boxes at the bottom of the bunch were metallic, huge boxes that the weakened bullets couldn’t do anything again.

Then, just as the enemy wondered what was next, the transporting ships started rotating back to normal with their bellies facing the ground. However, unbeknownst to the enemy, the bomb boxes on top slowly spun as well. Their square structure struggled a little before finding a way, and soon, all bomb boxes on top were ‘facing’ the ground. And it was ‘facing’ because they had a little improvised thruster on their rear, which was currently facing the sky.

Puf puf- vwuuuum. Puf puf- vwuuuum. Puf puf- vwuuuum.

The enemy’s attention was garnered by the transporting ships. But instead of going around to drop their troops down… they immediately retreated! Their rear against the enemy City, those smallish engines turned on fully before setting off, causing the barrier to gleam and undulate a little but nothing more. The transporting ships zoomed in the distance as if trying to run from something.

Pufffffffffff… puuuufffffff… puuuuuuufffffffffff…

However, before the enemy could frown or start mocking the enemy, they heard another similar sound. It wasn’t just ‘a’ sound. There were many going off at once. And though they were also much smaller comparing their volume, there seemed to be a lot. Suddenly, an enemy noticed something and pointed at the sky, their eyes growing fearful. “Look! Isn’t that… that… Oh… lord… we are all going to die… Noooooooo!!”

“!!” - “?!” - “!!!” The rest didn’t have to guess much. They looked at the sky and watched as the bunch of bomb boxes became larger, reflecting in their retinas. Their hearts only felt twinges and pulling as if trying to tell them something, but they only kept looking up. There weren’t many civilians outside their residences. Most were hidden in them or in shelters. But, right now, the pressure from the events outside was reaching them, making them feel sleepy and as if about to choke on air, it tightening around their esophagus.

Then, it came down and crashed against the formidable enemy’s barrier.

Boom boom boom boom bomm… boooommmm… booooooom… BOOOOOOOOMMM… …

Instantly, several dozen flashes happened, one after the other and the latter one suppressing the former, canceling its illumination and superimposing on it. The ‘too curious’ civilians outside safety were instantly forced to crash backwards against the ground, falling from the pressure as the barrier didn’t even resist half the explosions before giving way and letting the rest fall a little lower before self-exploding. The bomb boxes didn’t continue to fall, but their chain reaction explosive wave… was tremendous.

CRAAAAAAAACCK- THUDD. PUUUUUMMM, PAAAAAAAAMM… RCRKCRKKKRRAA~~...

Buildings immediately fell, and what smallish debris was left once wave after wave of explosion passed through landed on the streets and other structures, toppling them like dominos as the ground shook. The earth in and around the City quaked nonstop. Those experiencing this awake felt like their world was ending, but ultimately looked up and saw whatever was in front of them. There was, undoubtedly, a world going crazy. But it wasn’t just ‘their’ world… it was everything…

Those civilians who weren’t forced backwards on the ground and died with their brains sputtering everywhere before becoming charred were either blinded as they continued to look up, either paralyzed or in awe. The latter ended with half their heads melted, starting from their faces. Then, others were ultimately turned into a shadow, left behind on the streets, sidewalks, stairs, or buildings. Not even organic matter remained, only the presence of an already-gone living being.

On the other hand, cultivators had it worse, especially those lot atop their City walls. Those on the City walls faced direct slaughter, their everything burning for a few seconds before whatever was left of their spine and feet fell limply on the ground and bounced as the earth quaked and the wall shook. Those below weren’t that better off. Only Crabstynian realm cultivators could resist the flames, but only those in the later stages survived through it. Only to be killed off when the remains of an explosive wave accidentally flew towards them and gave the killing blow.

The tallest buildings were immediately reduced to a fourth of their original size. The rest of their structure collided to the sides and stumbled other nearby buildings, generating that domino effect that buried thousands of cultivators. By the time only 1-story-sized structures remained and were beginning to crack, about to submit and become debris, the explosions stopped, and no more waves went off around the City.

Futomp, futomp, futomp- whoooooooooshhh…

Before the enemy could start recomposing and stand up again, they heard the gentle sounds of 3 objects suddenly stopping after going at an impressive speed. Those who were already standing around, looking everywhere to see if there was anyone alive and confirm they were not in hell, they only had one thought. ‘Oh no…’

In the sky, 3 transporting ships were just slowly flying upwards from the ground. And if anyone from atop the City walls was still alive, they would see… tens of thousands of Wrath Nihility Academy’s troops moving into the City. The vessels were just 3 kilometers away, in zones where they could let their cultivators land without becoming slightly stuck with the environment. But that was enough to instill defeat into the enemy’s hearts.

However… it had just begun.

…