Defiance of the Fall

"Are you certain, Warmaster?" Rhubat asked.

"I trust my instincts."

"Do you require assistance?"

"No," Zac smiled. "Just don't shoot me with your cannons after opening the path."

"The death of a World Lord triggers a global prompt," Joanna reminded. "It always weakens their resolve. Triggering it within a minute might break the army entirely. Many will run to the hills or hide deep in the forests while we sack the planet, rather than throwing their life away for a fallen leader."

"I'll try to get it done quickly," Zac agreed.

"Then let's get the show started," Joanna said while Rhubat sent out a series of commands.

There were still a few minutes remaining on the grace period, but they didn't want to give the World Lord a chance to return home after assessing the situation. As one, the spherical War Machines atop their podiums unleashed a pulse of fire that rippled toward the surrounding army. The [Godslayer Cannons] erupted soon after, their deadly payload entering using the inferno as a cover.

The soldiers of Kerkos VI weren't slow on the uptake. Their defensive barrier was already active, and there was almost no delay when they returned fire. Twelve high-intensity beams tore through the curtain of flames with speed far surpassing their cannons, hitting the Calamity Company's defensive barrier from every direction. The barrier buckled, and Zac's eyes widened upon seeing that it almost collapsed.

Thankfully, the combined effort of thousands of Array Masters and a secondary array let them endure the attack. The lasers lingered for a few seconds before winking out, but their blinding power had undoubtedly seared itself on more than a few retinas. It wasn't easy to condense so much energy into a beam no wider than a head, but it was much more effective at dealing with powerful enemies and protective arrays.

The source was the tall D-grade Array Towers in the distance, and Zac could tell they were of even higher quality than his own War Machines. The World Lord must have leveraged the accumulated riches of his attuned planet to procure these things as a hidden ace. No wonder they'd chosen this kind of strategy—most factions would have had their barriers shredded by that kind of attack.

As expected, a conventional salvo similar to the Calamity Company's cannons followed in the wake of the lasers, their attacks reaching the barrier in front of Zac just as the Ishiate-made bombs crashed into the metallic cage in the distance. Utter mayhem followed, and it looked like thousands of suns had ignited around them. Zac felt the heat and pressure from within the rippling barrier, and his soldiers atop his wall-walk were forced to hunker down behind the crenelation.

The Kan'Tanu were throwing everything but the kitchen sink at them, desperate to force their way through the harried barrier. Metallic spikes hundreds of meters long shot toward them, and some Cursed Tangles had even managed to survive the flaming inferno. It glommed onto the wall, siphoning the energy that kept it running. Warriors and purifiers were already on the move, creating an apocalyptic scene beneath the wall with skills and state-provided talismans.

Meanwhile, the engineers were fighting fire with fire, and a second bomb had already been pushed into the red-hot barrels of the [Godslayer Cannons]. The battle had only progressed for a few seconds, yet the unleashed firepower was far beyond what they'd seen on the Neutral Battlefronts. The three-mile-wide no man's land had turned into something more volatile and unpredictable than the Calamity, and Zac began doubting his plan of forcing his way through.

No, wasn't it for this exact kind of scenario he'd upgraded [Abyssal Drive]?

Zac waited, observing the heated exchange with rapt attention. Thankfully, the terrifying beams couldn't fire again in short order, much like his stellar flamethrowers. And while those towers trumped the Calamity Company's peak offensive strength, Zac's other War Machines were clearly much stronger than the Kan'Tanu's. The [Godslayer Cannons]'s bombs were slamming into the steel cage repeatedly, the explosions holding all kinds of Daos.

The Ishiate had invented over twenty different explosives for their favorite weapon of mass destruction, and they were trying to figure out which worked best against the incredibly stable barrier of the Kan'Tanu. The more attacks it endured, the more it seemed like a proper Town Defense array that drew upon the strength of the world itself.

"Prototype 4!" Ciru roared in the distance, and the engineers swarmed over the steaming cannons to make adjustments.

Hundreds of stoneturtles even ensconced the War Machines in something that looked like blobs of mercury. Judging by the billowing clouds of steam they released, it was a way to expel the accumulated heat and energies within. It only took a few seconds to make the necessary adjustments, and fifty cannons fired simultaneously.

Zac sensed the energy within, realizing it was similar to the [Void Bombs] he'd occasionally relied on during the integration. Zac knew how expensive spatial materials were, which meant his lead engineer was determined to open up a path for him. Zac readied himself as Miasma entered his movement skill.

Then, the bombs struck the barrier. Their explosions contributed nothing to the cacophony of the battlefield, but their visual display overwhelmed everything else. Fifty cracks in space formed a vertical line on the Kan'Tanu's grey barrier. The scene only lasted a moment before space buckled, and a spatial tear hundreds of meters across dragged a huge chunk of the Kan'Tanu's wall and thousands of their men into the Void.

The cultist desperately fired back, suppressing the dimensional wound with raw firepower. The whole region heaved, yet Zac knew this was his chance. Finally, the chaotic energies and blinding lights subsided to the point he could vaguely see the opposing side.

The spatial tear had been forcibly crushed, but that section of the wall was gone entirely. Kan'Tanu Array Masters rushed to plug the gap with a new barrier but met resistance when trying to form across the unstable patch of space. It was covered in cracks and fissures from the get-go, a remnant of the spatial scar.

The Array Masters were already mending the damage, but a small breach was all Zac needed. The world turned dark, and hundreds of thousands of attacks froze in place like he'd stepped out of time. Zac pierced through the incinerated Cursed Ground, narrowly avoiding surviving tangles, errant attacks, and regions holding deadly energy accumulations.

The dimensional film was incredibly fragile after the previous chaos, and Zac could tell it was teetering on the brink of collapse again. But the darkness of the Abyss temporarily provided Zac passage through the aftershocks. Not safe passage, certainly, but stable enough that his upgraded movement skill wasn't forcibly deactivated. Zac shot through one of the barrier gaps like a streak of darkness, moving with such speed that the few on the frontlines who noticed him had no chance to intercept.

Suddenly, he was flying right above the heads of the bulk of the cultist army, and he saw how the endless numbers of E-grade cultivators realize what was happening. It felt like a million eyes were suddenly on him, and the warriors lit up within the Abyss as they began rotating Cosmic Energy. Zac activated the blinding feature of his skill for a moment, ignoring the significant drain of impacting so many cultivators.

He found a group of warriors that looked like a subsidiary command unit and deactivated [Abyssal Drive] right in the thick of it. A gleaming edge shimmering with death tore through the captains, the force of Zac's swing and Daos so overwhelming they generated devastating wind blades that killed even more. Zac barely had time to emerge from the puff of darkness before another wave of gloom exploded from his body.

The cultists weren't fools, and the backlines were already spreading out after witnessing the Calamity Company's firepower. This way, they'd avoid whole clumps of warriors being taken out before they could do anything. Unfortunately for them, scale was the main goal when Zac upgraded his corrosive Domain Skill.

The ominous clouds covered a mile in every direction with terrifying speed, like an ancient plague descended on the unorthodox sinners. It swallowed a huge swathe of the Kan'Tanu army before they even had a chance to figure out where their target disappeared to. A storm of Kill Energy flooded his body when the weaker warriors were almost instantly killed by the corrosion.

Even if E-grade cultivators barely provided any Kill Energy, the sheer quantity of deaths let Zac steadily reinforce his Cosmic Core with freakish speed. If he could keep up this rate of carnage, he'd probably reach the limits of Early D-grade within a few months. Something like this was only possible for overwhelmingly powerful Hegemons, though. Even Middle Hegemons would normally be risking their lives when placing themselves in the middle of millions of enemies, and those who could rarely be bothered.

Risking your life for months on end to save a couple of decades of meditation wasn't worth it for most Hegemons, and there was the issue of fell Karma and resentment to consider. Wanton slaughter of people in the lower grades was like overindulging on leveling pills. But instead of Pill Toxins, you were left with Heart Demons and resentment hiding within your body, which was even harder to eliminate.

Large-scale massacres of significantly weaker cultivators also turned the System against you, like with the Great Redeemer. Thankfully, the war greatly reduced the effect of these downsides. After all, the System couldn't punish you for participating in a conflict it arranged. It was fine for now, but Zac would have to be careful about targeting E-grade cultivators by the time he reached Middle Hegemony.

The continuous influx of Kill Energy was a welcome bonus, but Zac didn't forget his main goal. His body melded with the shroud around him as he reactivated his movement skill. Zac still couldn't activate other skills while running [Abyssal Drive], but most active skills wouldn't deactivate after he entered his spectral state. [Deathmark] was no different, and it even provided cover as Zac resumed his mad dash toward his target.

Order had completely crumbled within his deadly domain. Zac saw hundreds of Kan'Tanu dying from friendly fire when their companions desperately released their skills to force back the corrosive mist. But it was like the haze was attracted to its targets, especially those who fought back the hardest. The veterans caught within the attack fared better, grouping up to create safe pockets void of corrosion.

Unfortunately for them, that meant they became the unwitting targets for the true terror of [Deathmark].

They emerged from the shadows without making a sound, and even some of the veterans didn't notice anything amiss before it was too late. The commotion of the still-ongoing exchange of firepower behind him was deafening, so Zac sensed rather than heard a thousand soft rustles from his surroundings. The next second, a new surge of Kill Energy entered Zac's body. And it only kept going.

The Specters looked very similar to before; part-skeleton, part-ghost, wielding brutal axes wrought from the dense shrouds from which they came. The only noticeable difference was that they each contained more than ten times the energy, making them stronger and sturdier than their E-grade counterparts. Their auras were also far more attuned to the mist, making them even harder to notice.

Most spectral warriors had killed their targets with their attack, with a few being rebuffed after leaving a corrosive mark. With their first targets down, they emotionlessly continued toward their next victim, showing surprising battle instinct. When possible, they retreated into the corrosive mist to deliver surprise strikes. Only when faced with groups of warriors did they fiercely fight back, completely uncaring about their safety. If anything, they welcomed outcomes of mutual destruction.

Less than 100 of his temporary subordinates were destroyed by the E-grade cultists before they could accomplish their goal. Zac was eager to see their performance after reforming, but he had already reached the edge of the corrosive haze. Zac felt the connection with his skill cut off as he shot out from the churning cloud with the speed of a bullet, at which point he'd crossed most of the army.

That didn't mean the skill dissipated. Zac had infused a good chunk of his Miasma into the cloud, and it would keep running until its energy was expended. The nightmare for those caught within had only begun, especially considering that every soldier who managed to escape meant more wraiths and corrosion for those who remained.

The World Lord had realized he'd been exposed, unsurprising considering Zac was making a beeline toward him. Thankfully, the display of [Deathmark] wasn't enough to make him back away. Instead, one hundred exquisitely equipped warriors had appeared out of nowhere, forming an empowering War Array as they prepared for battle.

Their auras harmonized, and the World Lord pointed a deep-purple sword toward Zac. At this point, Zac realized his target was a Middle Hegemon, and not one at the beginning of the stage. Zac should have expected as much, considering Kerkos VI was an Attuned Early D-grade world. Yet Zac wasn't worried—he welcomed the challenge.

Powerful Middle Hegemons had been his limit before evolving, with Late-stage Hegemons or Beast Kings being simply too powerful. After all, anyone who'd reached that far into Hegemony had very solid foundations compared to the Early stage D-grade cultivators who'd barely squeezed into the grade.

A powerful magnetic storm formed a barrier between himself and Zac and the World Lord, its size even eclipsing Zac's [Deathmark]. The domain swallowed thousands of Kan'Tanu reservists, but the World Lord didn't seem to care. Space filled with an endless number of miniature metallic shards, each releasing sharp pulses into their surroundings.

The effect formed a domain that not even [Abyssal Drive] could nullify, and Zac felt painful pricks all across his body as he pushed inside. Even his speed was drastically reduced, and the dense Dao of Metal surrounding him made it seem as though he was digging through a solid sheet of steel. It felt like the whole planet was trying to seal his movements with an incredible magnetic pull. Zac had hoped to force his way through the domain, but the delay made him return to his normal form.

A scream of danger greeted his return to the corporeal. Zac felt like he was staring down the barrel of a gun. By this point, he knew to trust his gut and activated multiple skills at once. His stature doubled as a dark chain wound around his exposed left arm in a mimicry of the upgraded [Love's Bond]. Meanwhile, Alea's backplate was covered by the judge's mantle from [Arbiter of the Abyss].

Four small skeletons also appeared behind his back, along with the protective rune beneath his feet. Zac followed his instincts and had [Profane Exponent]'s new mage skeleton empower its companion with redirecting powers, prompting a dark swirl above Zac's head.

Only then did Zac feel somewhat safe as he forged ahead. He didn't have to wait long to encounter the source of his unease. A streak of sinister red shot right at him, but not from the direction of his target. It rather came from the side, and it contained a familiar monstrous force as it tore right toward him.

Zac had witnessed the strength of the D-grade Array Towers firsthand and knew he wasn't sturdy enough to take such a condensed attack head-on. But there was no reason to. Repulsion and redirection worked together from his two defensive skills, and the beam reluctantly had its trajectory altered. Zac had wanted to turn it right toward the World Lord, but he only managed to nudge it in the general direction of another Array Tower.

A streak of searing red passed right in front of him, but Zac didn't even have the chance to breathe out in relief when a huge sword pushed through the storm.

Zac was just an ant when faced with the blade, but he saw no reason to back down from a physical attack, even if the magnetic field empowered it. Dark swirls appeared on [Death's Duality] as Zac defied the gravitational pull and flew into the sky, the muscles in his arm bunching up as he unleashed a barbarous swing at the incoming blade.

The collision of blades was like a nuclear warhead going off, releasing erratic torrents of opposing Daos. Zac was punched back on the ground, his landing creating a huge crater even in the incredibly dense metallic soil. Bones creaked, but Zac knew he'd come out the victor of that exchange. Zac hadn't been able to absorb the rebound, but he remained mostly unscathed.

In contrast, huge cracks covered the sword, while the metallic domain had destabilized. The magnetic pull on him had drastically lessened, and he spotted his target only a few hundred meters away. The source of the attack was a six-armed metallic giant conjured by the World Lord and his elite guard, but one of its arms had shattered after the exchange. It still released a fierce aura, and the weapons in its remaining hands were ready for war.

But so was Zac.