Chapter 1,354 – Siege

The winding pathway had led the elite strike squad within five miles of the Pathfinders’ star-shaped fortress. Once a research facility, the building had become the faction’s headquarters following the opening of the realmgate and had been reinforced accordingly. Here, the Rosemore Sect’s rule-based suppression was at its weakest, and the area was flooded with the oily Hope Energy. It not only suppressed Zac and his temporary allies but also fueled the base’s defensive arrays.

Dozens of array towers were already bombarding the base, which retaliated with three attacks for every one it received. The war would have spread to the distant cities if not for the shimmering runes glittering in the air. They were the Evi’Shi shelter’s Law-based restrictions that kept the chaos contained.

Halvar’s squad and three others had emerged at the same time. There was likely meant to be a fifth squad, judging by a crater filled with bubbling lava. Only a handful managed to claw their way out of the collapsed tunnel below, all of them in miserable condition. Nevertheless, they had to join the other squads in their shared suffering.

The advance squads immediately attracted a significant portion of the attacks. It didn’t stop them from rushing toward the base. The scream of danger in Zac’s mind took on a more urgent tone, but a series of engraved stone plaques twenty meters across appeared before Zac could activate [Empyrean Aegis].

These plaques brimmed with pure energy, which they used to supercharge the Evi’Shi runes floating in the air. The incoming attacks were suffocated like a fire without oxygen, and the hardened elites could endure what remained with some effort. The pressure intensified as they drew closer, and a sudden collapse within their ranks added to the mounting burden.

Two of Halvar’s right-hand men suddenly erupted with the corrupted energy of the Lower Plane. Their auras skyrocketed, and they used this boost in power to ambush their leader. Halvar was not the only target; more than three dozen sect members turned traitor simultaneously, disrupting the critical push.

Zac’s ingrained experience made his body move before his mind could register what was happening. [Verun’s Bite] roared as it descended on a traitor’s head while Haro closed in to restrict. Zac didn’t expect to secure a kill in one blow. The traitor’s aura had surged from Late Hegemony to Pseudo-Monarchy in an instant, and he had already activated a simple but sturdy defensive skill.

It was too early to expose the Void, so Zac planned to keep the traitor occupied until others could deal with him. A series of pulses rippled through the vanguard, creating a window to accomplish more. Both the ambient Hope Energy and what empowered the traitors were completely locked down.

The traitor didn’t have time to react as he was pushed back down to Late Hegemony. [Verun’s Bite] tore into the back of his head while a dagger impaled his heart. Zac’s Evolutionary Dao was actually pushed aside by a more ruthless concoction courtesy of Halvar himself. The Early Monarch had acted even faster than Zac. He didn’t just release the pulse and stab his two followers to death; he even managed to kill three traitors with a hidden crossbow fastened to his wrist.

“You think I didn’t know?” Halvar grinned as he pulled his dagger out of his subordinate’s chest.

Similar scenes unfolded across the four advance squads, and the revolt ended as quickly as it had begun. A few traitors managed to drag an enemy or two with them to the afterlife, while others succumbed to the base’s relentless bombardment. Still, it could have been much worse.

“Quick reaction. Still, the credit goes to your subordinate,” Halvar said.

“His calculations are something else,” Zac agreed.

Ventus and Ogras hadn’t altered the memory domain’s trajectory too much, allowing the Numerologist to anticipate certain trends. The vast majority of the Rosemore Sect was marked for death due to this mission and its fallout. The others were likely traitors. The sect was already aware of a few turncoats, which lent more credibility to Ventus’ list.

The failed ambush still achieved part of its goal. Their already dwindling numbers decreased further, and the delay caused additional strain on the protective plaques. Two had collapsed after losing too many of their controllers. Even so, the advance squad successfully erected a second offensive perimeter, allowing the sect’s main army and War Arrays to draw closer.

Altogether, the sect had assembled a million-man army. Zac was convinced they’d really brought out their entire roster. The attackers ranged from Middle E-grade cultivators all the way to the Middle Monarch leading the charge. E-grade cultivators typically couldn’t make much of an impact on a C-grade battlefield. This battle was no different, but they still played a vital role. The plaques ran on Cosmic Energy, and the hundreds of thousands of E-grade cultivators could sustain them a while longer.

The pressure on the Pathfinders multiplied when the whole army unleashed everything they had onto the protective shield. They fought with a ferocity Zac hadn’t anticipated. After all, they were risking everything to seal the Mousetrap’s only tangible path to freedom. Although it wasn’t was not necessarily rooted in loyalty to the Empire.

The main reason for the sect’s hardline stance was the credible signs that the Evi’Shi shelter’s subspace would destabilize once the realmgate fully activated. The shelter would become a sinking ship, and the Pathfinders would determine who would get on the lifeboats. The Rosemore Sect couldn’t afford that risk after millennia of accumulated grudges.

It was the right call. The Rosemore Sect’s members were the only ones free from Hope Energy. No matter how Mox’s plan unfolded, that uncomfortable concoction was part of it. Zac still had a nagging feeling, and not just because the Late D-grade Barrier held against the assault. There was something else at play, something eluding his grasp.

Zac trusted his instincts, which only made him more anxious to get on with his own mission. However, the Rosemore Sect would never break through the barrier at this rate. The War Machines in his Spatial Ring couldn’t change the outcome, and the barrier’s strength exceeded what he could pass through. Meanwhile, the sect was rapidly losing momentum under the relentless barrage from the walls.

‘Have you pinpointed the array’s weaknesses?’

‘It’s based on one of the Empire’s antiquated models; there are plenty of loopholes to exploit. However, all of them are on the other side. There isn’t much I can do in short order,’ Tavza promptly answered.

‘That’s fine. Just tell me what to break. Someone else will open a path,’ Zac said, and Tavza marked out the weak spots.

If a clueless outsider could see the problem, then the Rosemore Sect certainly could too. Warriors were dying left and right just to put strain on the shield. They wouldn’t have opted for such a desperate strategy unless they had an ace up their sleeve to crack open the turtle shell. Even if it failed, it would create an opportunity for Zac to act.

Zac’s claim was proven right within seconds. A blinding streak of swordlight crossed the shelter in an instant, stopping just above the fortress. Inside was Tustul Rosemore, the ultimate authority within the Rosemore Sect and the most powerful being in the Mousetrap.

Reaching Late Monarchy in the Mousetrap’s inadequate environment was a testament to Tustul’s extraordinary talent. This humanoid nuclear weapon was the deterrent that had kept the Rosemore Sect safe despite their enemy’s rapid growth, and the reason the Pathfinders remained holed up inside their fortress.

Not even the Pathfinder’s Chancellor, who relied on Hope Crystals, could compare, though this was partly due to a difference in focus. The Chancellor wasn’t a pure combatant like Tustul or Zac. As such, he wasn’t willing to emerge and face his nemesis head-on. Instead, he remained hidden, controlling the eight frenzied streams of chaotic destruction rising from concealed arrays.

Tustul stood unmoving like a mountain before the incoming onslaught. He raised his ancient sword, which blazed with a blinding aura of Imperial Faith. Streams of power poured into the weapon from every corner of the shelter, and a familiar willingness to sacrifice appeared on the edge. Tustul was burning Lifeforce, and large quantities of it. Zac was forced to his knees by the pressure along with the rest of the attackers, and his eyes bled from the effort of keeping his gaze fixed on the scene.

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The blade descended, severing Dao and imposing order on the chaos. The golden scar on reality overwhelmed the Evi’Shi runes as it fell. Tustul had poured everything into the strike, and it seemed capable of overturning Destiny. It held enough destructive power to kill Zac a hundred times over, yet his Danger Sense was completely unaffected. The sublime control ensured that the full weight of the Sect Leader’s wrath was focused on the barrier.

The Chancellor’s array was utterly incapable of contending with the attack. At most, it exhausted the strike by a fifth. Suddenly, a million runes appeared across the protective barrier, each sealing a twisted creature inside. A few were vaguely humanoid, but most were things that could only be dreamt up in feverish dreams.

These were the nightmare creatures Ventus had mentioned, fused with the barrier and transformed into batteries. Countless additional layers sprang up over the main barrier. The golden line cut through them all, but each victory came at the cost of momentum. Only half of the force remained when the sword struck the barrier. That was enough to push the shield to its breaking point.