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1092. A One Sided Effort
🕑 Added 2025-10-19 13:59:53 +0000 UTCSuddenly, an array of colorful swirls that were textured like brushstrokes appeared thirty meters in the air. They began spinning like sawblades, and they were shortly thrown into Act X’s ranks. The colorful sawblades shredded countless legs before disintegrating.
[Painted Creation]. It was the Corrupted Skill that dictated what she could create. It currently did not have high enough levels to summon creations to fight for her, since she was also limited by what media she could use by [Mixed Media].
Res was the long-range specialist of the Three Heads of Security. Her creations made from the elegant, definitive brustrokes of her tail dealt with the majority of Act X. Sawblades were only one creation made to deal with them. Another was a giant ball lined with fishing hooks which were meant to clump Acolytes together. Then, she used hollow needles to impale them to the ground.
First, she created them with a thin line of paint in the air. It was drawn by a finger that was dabbed into a splotch of paint on her right cheek. Afterwards, she kicked the needles with tremendous force, driving them into the bodies of Acolytes like a hammer to a nail.
It was not perfect. Missionaries had a unique body shape. The curvature of their exoskeleton caused several needles to become deflected.
But it was nothing that an [Electric Beam] couldn’t fix. [Electric Beam] was her staple power. When a number of Exarchs were rendered disabled, she turned her attention to the light of the Milinid above and fired an experimental shot.
The scent of chlorine and a lingering blue glow remained. She clicked her tongue when it subsided and relayed her findings to the others.
“Invulnerability. We can’t mess with the light. On the bright side, it doesn’t work like a Luminaire. But that also would’ve made our job here much easier!”
Indeed. A Luminaire was the light that was used by the Maestros of Flesh which granted them Invulnerability. Had it been the same here, then they would not have to hold back.
Regardless, they were managing Act X’s ranks well. Two thousand had already been incapacitated. But there was another problem.
“They’re trampling on each other. There are no efforts to save their own!” Jury complained. Her role was to simply defend the twins. For now, she created an Isolation Sphere to keep them tucked away from plain sight. Joy remained close to the twins, serving as their final line of defense.
Another few Isolation Spheres were made to trap Act X further ahead, but these were easily bypassed. They knew the exits, for it was written in the Scripts. Her actions were predetermined, but it did not dissuade her.
Because she knew that Act X was also holding back.
While Jury was still inexperienced in warfare, she had seen this tactic being used by the Impuritas during the War in Grandis. The small force was a scouting party meant to assess the capabilities of the other party.
It doesn’t make much sense when I think about it. Act X knows what they’re up against. We’re the Head. Scouting parties only work with Scarlet Logic and the Impuritas because they can respawn and relay information back. Act X relies on the Scripts to predict future events. Then, what’s the purpose of sending one at us? Frost isn’t here to throw them off course. Is it because of Acedia?
Acedia alone wasn’t large enough of a threat to scare their main force. She also doubted they cared about the strength of their enemy. Fulfilling the Scripts was paramount, even if it meant going against the Head.
She turned to Raoul who was in the middle of brandishing his black greatsword.
“You know more about Act X than we do. Why are they still holding back?”
“Act X are not experimental. They send precisely what they need, where it is needed. I’m not convinced it’s a scouting force.” Raoul answered. “It’s intentional. Keep in mind that the Script is not the only force controlling them.”
Indeed. The Milinid’s strings were likely the culprit. The only issue was how they were supposed to bypass their Invulnerability. Jury was only Tempered to the First State. Invulnerability required a significantly powerful Absolution Skill, or even a Beholder Skill given that Beholders could bypass Invulnerability through raw brunt.
To a certain extent, of course.
Thankfully, Jury had a Beholder Skill capable of this feat.
“Hardly any formation either.” Raoul continued. “They’re throwing themselves at us. Zealots. No different from the hatred that stirs the Insectids of Gnawer, or the wars south of Emvita. Don’t strain yourself trying to figure out their war plan.”
Raoul’s words were comforting. He had led the Solemn Paw at its prime when it was ranked amongst the most dangerous Syndicates by the Golden Index, next to White Midnight, the Dark Corpus, the Torchlight Dancers, Delilah, and Become One. World Ablaze, a newly formed Syndicate born from the ashes of the fires of the Nex Megalopolis was another the Solemn Paw could be compared to.
As such, it was no exaggeration to say that he was well versed in large-scale operations. He knew every war tactic, for he had lived to see them all on the battlefield with his own eyes. He knew what retreat looked like, the size of a main force, and the scent of a scouting party…
… and the unsettling feeling in his bowels that everything was going according to plan.
It was not accidental.
If anything, Raoul considered the possibility that they had arrived earlier than anticipated. When he revealed this, Jury’s ears flapped as she remembered the words of the Director.
“He said they were waiting for us. But they were still arriving mid-march. Nav! Can the Director speak with you!?”
Nav
< With how disconnected the Director is, they cannot accurately tell where Act X’s units are. He only knew that they were prepared >
< It is possible that Frost accelerated your departure >
< She is the unpredictable variable, after all >
The Director
< Jury, my good friend! The Milinid is but a piece of the whole! Do not be afraid to destroy it! It is the eye that observes rather than the mastermind! Removing should destabilize them! >
*
||Retrocausality – Angelic Smite||.
The Milinid’s light was far enough for Jury to focus it down with a single strike. Since it only possessed 12.5 million HP, Angelic Smite’s 16 million damage could effectively wipe it out. She had no doubt that this weapon could bypass its invulnerability.
She overserved the battlefield. Act X only approached from the north, making them easily manageable. By now 3,000 had crumpled over. Painted buckets rounded them up like manure and dumped them onto the platforms high above. They were gated off with a painted fence that only grew higher the more Acolytes were dumped into the pile.
Her tail drummed against the earth, sending shockwaves rippling across the Grand Stage. Marble cracked into perfectly shaped bricks, and they vibrated as the Gravity Cores embedded into her apparel increased her weight.
She sank ankle deep into the cracked marble and swept the air with her tail. At once, the very air shuddered. A deep, penetrating vibration reached her bones as a pale tear in space formed hundreds of meters above them.
It was easily hundreds of meters large, and from it, emerged the barrel of supersized cannon. The low-pitched rumble was like the sound of a rolling thunderstorm. It grew a bright, white light formed just at entrance of the barrel.
She had a thirty second delay before it could be fired. But she was not concerned, because there was nothing that could stop her. She kept watching over the others as she maintained her concentration.
A flaw of ||Retrocausality – Angelic Smite|| was that it put her in a state of temporary stasis, meaning using any Skill would interrupt the 30 second countdown.
The twins and Raoul are kept safe inside of an Isolation Sphere. The others are doing fine. 2,000 left. Then we can start preparing for the next wave until Frost finishes. Is Frost close?
Nav
< There is a surprising amount of ground for Frost to cover. But she is almost there >
Status on Cer? Ber? Our Moons?
Nav
< Cer will use your beam to pinpoint your location. Ber and your Moons are not far now >
A wave of relief filled Jury. The battle had been executed flawlessly. Act X’s forces were barely a challenge even when they were holding back, and she could not be more thankful.
We only have to wait for Frost. Good. We’re so close. We’re…
Her ears sharply rose against the side of her head. Her instincts flared as the air suddenly became ice-cold. Her animal instincts rarely found themselves overriding her rational self. The only times this occurred was when she was in a state of extreme affection (love), or in a life-or-death situation (fear).
It could not be the former, since Frost was not here.
Something had caused her fight or flight response to flare, and this short lapse caused her weapon to reset its countdown. The light of the cannon became dim as her eyes swept across the Grand Stage.
Finally, the Grand Narrator, who had mysteriously become silent since the start of the war, recited as every remaining head of Act X lowered in Jury’s direction. The screams subsided in an instant, plunging the Grand Stage into utter silence.
“The arrival of the mother who weaves the strings born from the Living Loom. O’ weaver of our Scripts and sacred garbs, O’ venerated weaver, you who measures the lifespan of life itself and the fate of those allotted along the strings.”
