Dark Matter Ascension

Jace activated his go-to Skills. Void Shield (Rank 6), Void Blade (Rank 17) [Rending], Aura of Wrath (Rank 11) [Voidflame Vestment], Dark Energy Mine (Rank 1), Crusader's Bastion.

The crackling white-grey aura surrounded him as his weapon was limned with the same white-grey of void and the dripping red of [Rending] nebula. Arcing lines of Void scattered from his form as the golden shield appeared on his forearm in a heater-shield style.

The voices of the Astral Demons on the walls around him let out shouts – preparing for an attack. Siege weapons atop the walls were loaded, the rune-covered weaponry beginning to glow with dim light of varying hues as the weapons were manned. The spheres with the shielding effect carved into them were still sending out their protective radius. More Astral Demons came up to the walls from below – in various states of equipping arms and armor.

Glancing back into the city, Jace saw the rest – the civilians – fleeing. The merchants were taking off from the spaceport and fleeing the opposite direction of the incoming attack fleet. Some ripped holes in reality and vanished – Jace assumed warping to their universe, or just skipping to a distant place in the Astral Verge if that was somehow possible.

Shhiv's voice was gone, Xera's voice was gone – but Quinn's came through strongly. "Unknown hostiles coming in. Activating all of my buffs, included the Stratagem Skill and all the Evolutions." In the corner of Jace's vision, a small series of bars with timers began to tick down. Just under thirty minutes of buffs that would have a variety of effects: doubled movement speed, increased damage output, reduced incoming damage, prevention of forced movement, immunity to mental effects, damage adaptation when inflicting wounds, a one-time-use teleport, and last but most importantly, the ability to [Time Lock] into stasis to gain invulnerability at the cost of movement and action.

"Also," she stated smugly, "Tactician's Orders and Grand Tactics. Protect the city."

"Why?" Jace asked. Not that he had a particular desire to destroy it, or harm those within, despite the simmering flame inside his chest that pushed him towards those exact actions. A familiar heat he kept pushed down with Ollie's help in manipulating his brain's biochemistry.

"You show up as a Dreamer who is willing to talk. Get their trust. Get information. What better source is there?"

"Fair enough," Jace replied as he took a deep breath and dropped Void Stalker. The Astral Demons around him recoiled away and began shouting as they started to circle around him – but he ignored them. Instead, he used his Soul Tether grapple to begin moving through the sky towards the starships. Detonating the Dark Energy Mine on his chest, he freed himself from the constraints of gravity and pulled himself faster and faster – building momentum up as he rocketed forward towards the now-firing starships.

Jace watched, fascinated by the weaponry, as beams of coruscating light slammed into the barriers produced by the spheres upon the walls and scattered throughout the city. The brilliant light shattered against the barriers but caused them to recede towards the walls with each impact. And this was not just a handful of scattered shots, but a barrage. Jace's enhanced perception could see the thousands of lasers slamming into the shields and forcing them back, draining whatever powered the rune-enhanced objects.

The Astral Demons, for their part, were fighting back. Those rune-enhanced weapons fired and Jace could barely see some of the projectiles in their flight that raced forward, slammed into shields and deflection screens surrounding the ships, and in a few instances broke through them. I wonder, Jace thought as he approached, If my [Astral Annihilator] (Augmentation) on my sword will deactivate the shields.

The vessel he was fast approaching was easily the size of The Architect's buried ship. Closer up, he could see the hexagonal design with interlaced spirals. The whole hull was a sleek, blue-green color that shifted slightly depending on the angle he saw it from. Cocking back his arm, he threw the sword at a turret – and to his delight, his sword impacted the shield for a brief instant before popping. The blade slammed into the turret, dealing enough critical damage to disable it.

Jace summoned his sword back to him and flipped around so his feet were facing the vessel. He slammed into the vehicle, his powerful frame, prosthetic legs, and armored boots taking the impact as he dented the side of the vessel. Deactivating the Dark Energy Mine, he cut into the hull and dipped inside.

The interior of the vessel was the same blue-green metal. He was in a corridor that was filled with various devices; electronic components, metallic tubing that doubtless carried coolant or energy to elsewhere on the ship, and tanks filled with some unidentified fluid.

Ollie's voice resonated in his mind, Find me a console and I'll draw what information I can.

Jace ran down the hall, dragging his blade along the pipes above as crackling electricity poured out. He could see the golden glow getting ever-so-more-lustrous around his body. I must be doing something valorous, he thought. Then warning sirens went off, and the entire corridor that was dark up to a moment ago flared with a deep, red light.

"Warning. Breach detected." A mechanical voice emanated out from hidden speakers. "Unidentified Dreamer on board vessel."

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Jace kept running down the corridor, slashing open a door he came across and emerging into what looked like a mess hall. A long window led to a kitchen area, hundreds of tables and chairs were set up, and yet no one was present. He assumed because of the impending attack on this Astral Demon city. He spotted a terminal, ran over to it, and tapped his fist holding the sword to it.

Accessing, Ollie stated, filled with a sound of excitement. Let's see what- he went silent, and when his voice came back a second later, he sounded like he was mid-wrestling with someone else. They have onboard AI! I'll be at this for a bit!

Jace heard booted feet and whipped around to face the oncoming threat. Doors opened up at the far end of the mess hall and a series of squat, boulder-like creatures that wore armor and carried rifles of a smooth, sleek design just like the ship came rolling out. They stopped their roll, unfolded their bodies, and Jace could see they were effectively like rocks with arms, legs, and a small, stubby head.

"Surrender or we will open fire!" The voice that came from the one in the lead was gravelly and deep – deeper than Ollie's voice.

"Why attack the city?" Jace replied as he willed his shield to become tower sized and placed it between him and them.

"Does one need a reason to kill Astral Demons?" The voice asked, confused. "You sympathize?"

Jace felt torn. On one hand, his [Crusader] Class was pushing him towards slaughtering the Astral Demons in that city and freeing all the Souls trapped within. The other side, the Psykinetic source of Valiance, was pushing him towards being heroic – and in this instance, that was protecting a city full of innocents.

But even deeper than that, Jace felt regret and remorse. He had killed innocents that he thought were guilty by association back on Earth. A sin he would carry his whole life, until he gave them means to return to their home universe upon completion of his task. But this? This situation was just like that.

I'm not going to stand idly by while these innocents suffer, he thought. A particular image in his mind – the demon children he saw playing – filled him with vindication. The golden aura blazed to life around his body and the Hero's Arena Talent activated all on its own – a golden sphere of energy blazing to life around him as radiant sparks filled the space. The entire environment began to heat up, and the metal surrounding him began to soften and even boil in some places.

"Open fire!" The figures before him began shooting – and Jace simply held up his shield. The lasers impacted and scattered off of it. He sprinted forward, bringing his weapon to bear using the flat of the weapon, and slammed it into the side of the rock-person commander at the front. His weapon crunched into the body and sent it flying into the wall with a deep impact – and yet the damage seemed completely negligible as the figure stood up immediately and kept firing.

Jace weathered the storm of lasers, hiding behind his shield. He could see it chipping and cracking, but the Hero's Arena combined with his Aura of Wrath [Voidflame Vestment] whipping about was devastating the armor and rocky exterior of this species. A few at the back retreated, firing further shots. But the rest seemed to hold firm.

"Jace," Quinn stated rapidly. "The other vessels are going for the city. You need to wrap things up there."

"Ollie? Schematics?" Jace asked as he saw the shield still chipping away.

Got the other AI dealt with, Ollie replied with pride in his voice. And I am on the same page as you. Here is the optimal shot.

Jace's HUD was overlaid with a display that showed the ship interior. Raising his sword around the edge of his shield, he focused on the point ahead of him in his vision. Void Beam (Rank 3) [Piercing].

The beam shot forward – through metal, electronics, open space within the vessel – everything. It pierced through the bridge controls, and thanks to the line Ollie gave him and the design of the vessel, he was able to destroy a large chunk of the engine compartment. The entire vehicle began falling – quickly – and the rock people began bouncing around the chamber.

Jace pointed up and repeated his Void Beam (Rank 1), shooting a hole into the ceiling and through to the black skies above. Using his grapple line, he pulled himself up and into the open air. The ship continued to head downward and would doubtless crash into the ground with a terrific explosion.

The rest of the battle was not faring well for the Astral Demons. The walls were blown apart in places, with some of the runic barriers having been moved to support and keep the long-range rune-enhanced weapons defended. It was a completely one-sided battle, and Jace felt at a loss as to how he could help. Taking down one ship at a time would take too long as there were still eleven remaining in this battle group – all the same size.

I need a way to get them all to focus on me, he thought.

I have an idea, Ollie replied. I got some information from the computers. Trax is the species name, from Universe 76890. They are attacking the city because they want the location – apparently, their scans indicate something buried underneath. An ancient complex even by Astral Verge reckoning.

"The idea?" Jace asked, feeling a bit exasperated as he hung in air, watching the ships continue their laser barrage.

Use your armor to get their attention. And then your broken Skill combination!

"It only works on Astral Demons though," Jace replied.

It is worth a try. Big, shining light right in the middle of their battle group? I would shoot at that!

Jace nodded and looked down at his armor, "How do I activate it?" he asked. But no sooner than the words left his lips did the armor begin to glow with a brilliant, gold-white, shimmering radiance. Okay, well that's that. Void Shield (Rank 6) [Reflecting], Hope's Edge.

The various vehicles did orient weapons to him and unleashed hell. But Jace just let them impact – dissipating against the Void Shield – and watched as the reflected damage blew up dozens of laser emplacements. Which prompted more to turn on him, which resulted in more armaments being destroyed.

In the ten seconds that Hope's Edge was active, Ollie stated he had been responsible for Destroying five-hundred-twelve turrets. A good start!

The ships did not cease their advance, and a few were getting above the walls. He saw the Astral Demons loading up their ammunition, but the shots did not go off quickly enough. Spherical holes appeared under the ships. Pale, blue beams of light flared, and some artificial gravity well snapped down. Thousands of the rock-men descended and began fighting with small-arms fire; the Astral Demon defenders doing their best to hold back the tide.

Jace saw one silver lining to the situation. The ships are all a lot closer.