Atticus’s Odyssey: Reincarnated Into A Playground

Jenera gave Oberon a nod but said nothing. Instead, she turned toward the operators, her voice cutting through the noise.

"It's almost time. Get ready."

"Yes, Paragon!" they chorused, immediately beginning to relay the command across every division.

Across the domain, near the aegis shield, numerous groups received the word. Their expressions instantly shifted, turning grim and alert.

All at once, several warships began moving, closing in tighter around the aegis shield. Their crews stared outward, eyes narrowing toward the horizon, toward the gathering Zorvan forces.

In one of those warships, controlling it, was Colonel Zenon.

It would be shocking, a paragon, a being capable of unleashing unimaginable destruction, piloting a warship? It sounded absurd. But this was their reality.

The Shield Eater.

That was the name they had given the weapon the Zorvans had created to pierce through the aegis shield. So far, only one had been documented, but that alone had been enough to terrorize and annihilate multiple races.

But using the data from those battles, the Evolari had managed to formulate countermeasures.

One key thing they'd discovered, the weapon had a cooldown.

Once every 27 hours.

That simple detail had rekindled hope in a battle that had once seemed utterly hopeless. At least with this, they had a chance.

But the wary expressions on the paragons' faces told another story.

Yes, the cooldown existed. And yes, they had discovered that the Shield Eater's beam would disperse if it collided with anything before hitting the aegis shield.

But that only meant one thing:

Every 27 hours, they would be forced to face death all over again.

One mistake. One lapse, and everything would be over.

That was why they had come up with this counter.

In the brief window of time they'd been given, and with the help of the dwarves, they had built multiple warships, crafter specifically for the paragons themselves.

They weren't large. But they didn't need to be. They were fast, faster than anything else in their fleet. They were tuned to the paragons' energy signatures, and were responsive to thought.

There was no one faster than the paragons. And because of this, they were the only ones trusted with the task of stopping the Aegis Shield Eater from destroying the shield.

This was their final measure.

Their best, and only, chance.

Zenon, along with every other paragon, and the entirety of the army, fell into a heavy silence as the final seconds ticked down. All eyes watched the clock. Each breath, tight. Every second, slower than the last.

Then…

Zero.

"They're moving," Oberon's voice shattered the silence.

Jenera's eyes instantly shot to one of the main screens, confirming his words. The Zorvan fleet was in motion.

Her eyes turned cold. "Have Five and Six shadow them."

"Yes, Paragon!" an operator responded, relaying the order without hesitation.

Oberon stepped closer, his gaze locked onto the largest screen showing the Zorvan advance. "What are they doing…" he muttered.

Jenera narrowed her eyes and her voice dropped slightly. "They're… clustering together?"

She tried to make sense of it.

'What are they planning now?'

Ever since the alliance discovered the weakness of the Shield Eater, the Zorvans had been testing different methods to bypass their measures, to destroy the shield once and for all.

But this…

'This is new.'

All throughout the control room, breaths were held as the Zorvan warships tightened their formation around the Shield Eater.

Jenera's pupils contracted as she processed what was happening.

The already massive Zorvan ships were now clustering so tightly, so deliberately, that they formed the shape of a colossal ship, one so vast it almost eclipsed the horizon.

'The Shield Eater is inside… but we don't know where.'

Her heart skipped a bit as the formation moved.

The fleet advanced in perfect synchrony, every ship moving like a single entity.

'They're trying to get it close enough!'

The realization hit Jenera like a sledgehammer.

"Fire everything we have!" she shouted. "Break that formation! Don't let them get close!"

If the Shield Eater was hidden within, and they couldn't locate it in time, the beam could be fired at any angle, and they wouldn't be able to stop it.

The operators sprang into action, sending out orders at lightning speed.

From every quadrant of the domain, warships shifted toward the south, converging on the colossal Zorvan construct.

In the next instant, multiple holes opened in the aegis shield, allowing defense turrets and cannons to activate.

Beams of condensed energy surged out with terrifying speed, cutting through the air as they aimed directly at the Zorvan fleet.

But the Zorvans responded instantly. Their hulls lit up with light, and beams of their own tore into the sky, meeting the alliance's assault head on.

The southern sky exploded into a field of scarlet as energy collided with energy, the shockwaves reverberating across the domain.

Jenera's gaze sharpened. "Don't stop firing! Activate the Tyrra Cannon!"

In the next instant, a massive warship burst into view above the clouds. Its surface was lined with ridged plating and curved emitters. The front of the ship housed an enormous barrel-like core glowing with unstable light.

It began to charge.

The light at its core grew brighter… brighter…

Then… BOOM!

A colossal beam of violet-red energy erupted from the cannon, slicing through the air like a blade. The sound tore through the domain like a thunderclap as the beam pierced through the battlefield haze… and struck.

As the smoke began to clear, Jenera and Oberon's eyes locked onto the aftermath.

It was a… hole.

A massive, gaping rupture in the Zorvan fleet formation. Their warships scattered around, many of them already crumbling in midair, debris raining down.

The control room erupted as operators and soldiers pumped their fists, their cheers bursting out.

"The Shield Eater was in the center!" someone shouted. "We got it! We must have destroyed it!"

Their hope surged and energies lifted.

However, Jenera's expression didn't change.

'It can't be that easy.'

Her eyes never left the screens. Her heart didn't settle. Something was wrong.

'Did I miss something?'

She glanced to her side. Oberon stood rigid, and his silence was nothing but a confirmation of her own unease.

Her eyes darted from screen to screen, until they stopped on a single screen showing the northern section of the domain, the exact opposite direction from the Zorvan assault.

As her eyes landed on the scene, her blood ran cold.

'A diversion…' he gaze trembled.

The real Shield Eater wasn't in the south.

It was in the north.