Chapter 318: War for Earth
There are some days in which everything goes wrong, but you are still expected to perform. This was exactly the kind of day the professor was having.
Animal Kingdom cultivators clashed against a group calling itself the bro army. Some guy had been smited. Brock was fighting Alexander Petrovic. A starship had appeared, claiming to be on their side, and three immortals were duking it out in the sky. Even higher up, in space, Jack was facing the C-Grade planetary overseer.
And the professor remained embroiled in a brutal war that would determine the fate of the entire planet.
Left. Right. Feign a charge and retreat to your left.
Her instructions were sharp and concise. No word was wasted. She had to command a hundred people at once, each directing a small team of their own, so even her extreme intelligence was overloaded. Mistakes were unavoidablemany cultivators had already died due to her wrong instructions, and she would carry their blood, but she was too experienced to let the weight sway her. She was the best person for the job. The dead would have to yield.
A contingent of speed-oriented alliance cultivators ran to the side, then rammed into the Ice Peak armys flank. They cut a gory path. A squad of strongmen stood in their path, protecting the vulnerable ice wizards, and the alliance cultivators retreated, having lost half their number but dealt double the damage.
A squadron of canine cultivatorsor was it a pack?cut off their retreat, only to be assaulted by a dozen shirtless men who shouted, FOR BIG BRO!
Flames blazed over their heads as Vivi flew by, her phoenix form drowning the enemy army in fire, chased closely by a trio of ice rays. A few enemy wizards had also taken to the air, using various Daos to fly, but Vivi faced them all. From the side, a mace-wielding feshkur charged into the Kingdom cultivators, felling them by the handful. He had come from the starshipa peak E-Grade with strength to spare.
A shockwave came from the sky, shaking the Integration Starship under their feet and threatening to sway all combatants. Two sets of immortals warred above the battle, and the occasional shockwave or attack that hit the ground were wildcards that affected the entire battle.
In the horizon, a golden man fought what looked like a giant, cyan sword. The shockwaves of that battle were the strongestthank God they were far enough away.
The professor directed her troops. Her head felt like it was about to crack. If brains could cramp, hers would have. Even in her busiest years as a professor, never had she utilized it as fully and for as long as she had now. Her every Level counted; she had poured every single point in Mental, an investment which proved worthwhile.
However, even with the professor holding the helm, even with Vivi and the bro army joining the battle, it remained an uphill one. The Ice Peak had more and stronger cultivators; they had received resources from the Animal Kingdom and put them to good use. Their E-Grades could easily overwhelm the alliances if the professor pitted them directly against each other. She had to use every trick in the book, and she did it gladly.
But her book was long, and the tricks were many. The alliance army was holding its ground while Vivi slowly whittled down the enemy forces. They could win this.
On the raised concert stage, over which Brock fought Petrovic, the scenery changed. A giant ice sphere appeared, while Brock sat down cross-legged. The professor instantly realized they were both breaking through, but since there was nothing she could do about it, she quickly turned back to her own battle.
Suddenly, the starship rumbled under them once again. The professor almost tumbled over before one of the old martial artists caught her. Waves churned in the surrounding sea, while the battle paused as everyone regained their step.
What happened? she asked Vivi, who had the highest vantage point.
I dont know! she replied. But the ocean, its
Suddenly, the churning sea erupted. Dozens of forms flew out to land on the Integration Starship. There were polar bears, penguin people, and even killer whales that used their fins to slide on the white stone. The bears shook their fur to send away the water.
The Ice Peak army cheered. Theyre here! someone shouted.
One of the flying ice wizards turned to Vivi with a proud sneer. You arent the only ones who can tame beasts, he bragged. Freeze!
An ice beam shot out of his palm, which Vivi avoided. Her heart tumbled. The monsters that had appeared were all in the E-Grade, moving with speed and power that normal animals could never hope to achieve. Even the submarines in which the alliance had arrived, which remained around the Integration Starship, had been impacted. A few had been sunk by the beasts, taking their loyal crews to the bottom of the ocean, never to rise again.
You will be remembered, Vivi promised, turning to face the enemy. Her features contorted in rage. Her body erupted with fire. Blaze with the flames of freedom! she yelled.
The professor took in the new arrivals and reacted instantly. The beasts were fast. They had crossed the distance and arrived at her armys heels within seconds, but a dense wave of cultivators was there to face them. They steeled themselves. The polar bears roared as they led the charge, then barreled into the alliance army under a chorus of screams. Their power was reduced after the original charge, but the penguin people were right behind them, slinging ice magic, and the killer whales, though slow on land, werent too far back.
This is terrible, the professor realized. These beasts alone are half as many as our E-Grades.
The scales of battle tipped.
Twenty bros came to the rescue. They were men and women of all Daos and species, assisting the alliance army against the beasts. We know beasts. Well hold them off! their leadera medium bro?shouted. Return to your battle!
Return, the professor quickly agreed, and the bloodied cultivators turned back toward the Ice Peak.
The threat of the polar animals had been neutralized for now, but those twenty bros were a significant loss. Instantly, the Animal Kingdom cultivators pushed the bros back. The two battlefields moved and merged. There were alliance cultivators fighting the Animal Kingdom, Ice Peak wizards shooting at the bros. It was total chaos, and even the professor could only handle so much. She was sliding out of rhythm.
She buckled down and persisted, uncaring about the searing pain in her skull, but her effectiveness was limited. Victory fell away from them. The enemy had too many E-Grades. No matter how the alliance and bro army arranged themselves, it was a slow loss. Moreover, the two armies together lacked the coordination that the alliance enjoyed, as the professor didnt have the time to set telepathic links in the bro army.
In the sky, the immortal battles were heating up. In the horizon, the golden monk was slinging out entire miniature suns. Close by, the cyclops and minotaur battled against the Kingdoms two lycan immortals, using sheer apocalyptic strength against what looked like moonlight.
The shockwaves from above were becoming more frequent. Blood rained occasionally. It was clear that some immortal battle would be over soon, and when that happened, things would change.
More and more cultivators were falling on the ground. The losses were staggering. With every moment the battle dragged on, more brave men and women died.
The professor had to not only win this battle, but also do it quickly. An impossible proposition.
Thankfully, she had one last card to play. A card that would only work once, but which had the potential to completely turn things around.
Disengage, she broadcasted the order. Orderly retreat towards the concert stage. Now! And inform your nearest bros, too.
The alliance heeded her call. The few hundred remaining cultivators joined into an orderly retreat, losing more of their number during it but following the professors instructions to the letter. The bros followed soon as well, showing admirable faith in a stranger.
Before long, the entire alliance army was gathered close to the raised concert stage. It was at that point that two ripples ran through everyones hearts as Brock and Alexander Petrovic simultaneously broke through to the D-Grade. The brorilla opened his eyes, holding a shiny staff in one hand and a golden book in the other, and proclaimed Alexanders death.
The professor believed in him with every fiber of her being.
Brock and Petrovic took their battle back to the sky. The alliance army clustered around the raised stage, with its many hundreds of feet in diameter, stacked up against its walls.
Normally, this would be suicide. They were grouped up like sheep to the slaughter with their backs against the wall. The professor, however, had a plan. A dangerous one, but what choice did she have?
Now! she commanded, activating a telepathic link she hadnt used before.
The Ice Peak and Animal Kingdom cultivators fell on the trapped alliance and bros like wolves against sheep. They fired every kind of magic they possessed, unleashed their strongest warriors. The E-Grades took to the front. Even the polar bears charged into the thick of the army.
Suddenly, the screams and clang of weapons were overshadowed by booms. It was like someone fired a cannonno, many cannons at once.
If the professor brought a bunch of submarines over and didnt think to equip them with weapons, she would have been the worlds biggest idiot.
Torpedoes flew over white stone, powered by tails of burning gas. Modern weaponry was frowned upon in the System world and wasnt used often, mostly because it wasn't worth the hassle. The stronger weapons of Earthlike missiles, tanks, or nuclear bombshad been neutralized by the System itself. Of the remainder, a low-power submarine torpedo was only as strong as an E-Grades full-power attack, and could be stopped by one of them. Its effect should be minimal.
However, by forming into a tight circle around the concert stage, the alliance army had engineered the right circumstances. They had lured the Ice Peaks strongest cultivatorsthe E-Gradesforward. The remainder had formed a larger circle around the alliance forces, leaving them exposed to attacks from the outside.
This was the perfect time to use the torpedoes. The Ice Peaks E-Grades were clustered on the inside of the ring, leaving the peak F-Grades exposed. Even if they ran back immediately, most wouldnt be able to disengage in time. Moreover, the alliance army was protected by the bodies of their very enemies.
The submarines had surrounded the Integration Starship. The torpedoes flew in from every direction. Every cultivators eyes widened in horror.
The world became heat and blinding light. Roaring shockwaves dove into the ears of everyone present. Over thirty torpedoes had exploded at once, some countered by the full-power attacks of the E-Grades whod managed to block in time.
Charge! the professor ordered. The alliance army attacked before they could even see properly. The entire battlefield fell into a drunken melee, but it quickly became clear that the alliance was now winning.
As the dust cleared, hundreds of Ice Peak F-Grades lay dead on the outer side of the battlefield, blasted by the torpedoes. It was a gory sight. However, in the professors eyes, it was heavenly. Those peak F-Grades were weaker than E-Grades individually, but they played a massive part in the battle as a whole. They were the fodder of the army, the rank and file. With them gone and the alliances respective soldiers remaining, the numbers advantage became overwhelming.
As if that wasnt enough, the penguin people and killer whales that had been lagging behind had also been blasted to pieces by the torpedoes, many of them bleeding out on the white stone floor. Their defensive powers were apparently limited.
Both armies were exhausted and had lost almost half their warriors. This was an extremely bloody battle. Yet, though the alliances victory now seemed like a matter of time, neither side gave up. Both kept on fighting.
The professor looked up, where the immortals were doing battle. Brock and Alexander Petrovic were clashing repeatedly. Her heart seized in her chest. The brorilla was losing. As for the other battles, they didnt seem as close to being over yet, and the result was hard to predict.
If Petrovic won, it wouldnt matter what the professor did. Their army would be obliterated. Nobody could stop a D-Grade.
The enemy forces must have come to the same conclusion. Seeing that they were dying for no reason, voices of surrender echoed through their lines. Weapons clanged against the floor. Finally, the leaders gave up as well. A peak E-Grade woman approached Vivi in the sky and loudly declared, The Ice Peak surrenders! The Ice Peak surrenders!
The battle calmed down. The Animal Kingdom cultivators, seeing their allies surrender and confident that nobody would dare harm them anyway, also stopped fighting. The bro army followed suit, looking at their leadera man holding a drum, of all peoplefor guidance. He gave a thumbs-up. What that meant, the professor had no idea, but the bros took it as a sign that they should apprehend and not kill the enemies.
She had to agree. They couldnt just execute everyone. They werent animals. The alliance army finished off the berserk polar beasts and began to gather the surviving Ice Peak members, but they were half-hearted in their effort. Everyone was. Their eyes were in the sky, where Alexander Petrovic was apparently dominating Brock.
The brorilla crashed hard into the concert stage, sending fragments of white stone flying everywhere. A colossal ice spike formed in the air. The professors heart reached the pit of her stomach.
No she muttered, now observing through her own eyes.
It is over, Petrovic said, letting the ice spike fall and seal Brocks fate alongside the alliances.
Suddenly, bright light erupted on the stage. The professor couldnt see it from where she stood on the ground, but she heard clear, booming laughter. She heard gasps from the bros around her. The large ice spike shattered into a million pieces, and Brock took to the sky again, shining with the light ofbrotherhood? She wasnt clear on that, but whatever the case, he seemed confident.
The professor watched as Brock came out superior in the next few exchanges and Alexander sealed himself in a large ice sphere. She witnessed Brock pulling his hands back, summoning a colossal amount of power between his palms, then shouting Bro Beam! and unleashing it.
It was the stupidest name she had ever heard. Yet, it worked. Alexanders sphere shattered, he screamed, and his body tumbled to the concert stage. It was just raised enough that she could see the brorilla grab Alexander by the shoulders, then bite into his throat and tear it apart.
She grimaced. It was just one more scene of carnage in a war, but the fact that it had been performed after the battle was upsetting. Regardless, any doubts she harbored vanished immediately as she was overtaken by a stunning realization: Brock had won. Alexander Petrovic was dead.
The entire alliance army roared in triumph. The bro army roared even louder. The Ice Peak forces paled further, then were quickly tied up. Some alliance cultivators abused the surrendered enemies a little too much, but the professor turned a blind eye.
She looked towards the sky, where the immortals were still fighting.
***
Shol stood in the sky of Earth-387, the same planet he had once visited as a spirit body. He was panting and injured. Several shallow gashes were open on his body, and his golden Dao of Explosion burned brightly. Six golden arms spread from his back, each holding a miniature sun, while light escaped his eyes and mouth.
Lets end this, Li Qian! he roared. You and I!
Very well! His opponent also stood in mid-air, burned in many places but covered in a cyan armor of tiny swords. In the name of the Exploding Sun, die, Shol! Supernova Slash!
Li Qian raised his sword, then brought it down deliberately slowly. Space itself was torn apart. Then, an explosion resounded, filling the world. Everything turned white. Even the distant armies averted their gazes. Only Shol kept looking, his eyes seared, his body burning.
He did not shoot out his suns.
He and Li Qian had dueled many times, but always in sparring. They had never actually tried to kill each other before Hell. Therefore, every time Li Qian used his ultimate skill, Supernova Slash, it had always been a watered down version without real spirit in it.
But Shol hadnt known that.
Only when they dueled on Hell did he face the real Supernova Slash; an attack in which Li Qian had not held back at all, and which had almost taken Shols life. It was right there, immolated in the middle of that tremendous explosion, that hed attained a final bit of insight. A piece of the puzzle so small it shouldnt matterbut enough to tip him over the edge.
He hadnt revealed this to anyone, waiting for this exact moment.
Shols face split into a grin. He had no hair, but even his eyebrows were seared away by the heat. He didnt care. You are not the successor of the Exploding Sun, Li Qian, he declared in a booming voice that made its way even through the explosion. I am.
Letting all his suns wink out, he pushed out a single palm, carrying in it a tiny, blue spark. The spark traveled slowly, like an old person about to die. Finally, it did; and its end came in such a powerful explosion that the world shook again, the air groaned, the Dao itself recoiled in fear.
Supernova! Shol roared.
Two nuclear explosions collided in the air. Two mushrooms hugged each other. In the distant Integration Starship, an entire horizon away, the fools who hadnt looked away screamed. The professor hurriedly assessed the situation. Run to the far side! she ordered. Every mile counts!
The explosions crashed against each other and eventually dispersed. Air itself was burnt away. A vacuum was left, which the surrounding air quickly filled. The water below was boiled, and thousands of fish floated on its surface, dead. All clouds had dispersed.
Shol stood scorched and proud. His golden form was gone, but he hadnt fallen.
Li Qianhad. A man in charred black robes fell from the sky. Next to him, a cyan sword was falling alone, tumbling through the tumultuous air currents. They splashed into the sea and sank.
And Shol, giving the ocean surface a final glance, turned to slowly fly away. His entire body was in pain, his Dao reserves had almost ran dry, but he didnt care.
Goodbye, asshole, he muttered. And good damn riddance!
With him back in the fray, the remaining D-Grade battle was as good as over. The only one remainingwas Jack Rust.
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