The Path of Ascension

Chapter 290

Matt was sitting with Aiden, working on utilizing his Intent with the help of the older Ascender, when an alert bypassed his mutes.

Reading it, he realized he was finally free from the Tier 31 who refused to let him train alone. A red alert for Team Zero. Thanks for the tips.

Aiden nodded and waved him away. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go have fun killing things while I have to sit here for another few months.

Matt rolled his eyes even as he cranked his perception and left.

Duke Waters had been saying he would be leaving in a few months from the moment he made his way back to Camp Lightfoot, despite all the healers, Melinda included, stating that he would be out for at least two years subjective. That was only three real months in the Tier 35 rift, but Aiden insisted that was too long and that he would be leaving in the next couple months subjective.

As Matt arrived at the Team Zero briefing room, he found everyone but Light there, who arrived just a moment after he did, which seemed to be the cue for General Darrow to start the briefing.

We have a priority mission. Matt felt like that was obvious, and Allie opened her mouth, probably to say as much, but Darrow continued before she could. Pator-Sul has fallen under a surprise push, and the system cant be allowed to fall so easily.

General Darrow brought up a dozen screens showing the situation. Pator-Sul is a hub world that was well defended and was expected to hold out for decades, but the Sects managed to slip a team behind the shields on their initial probing attack. That team managed to not only disable the shields long enough for the Sects to land two full divisions on the planet, but they also managed to lock themselves in one of the supply bunkers and are holding the items hostage.

Matt read through the reports and nodded along. The Empire could push through the bunker and get the spies, but that would waste a lot of healing supplies and new weapons for spies who were otherwise contained and unable to do more damage. The problem with the spies was that the Empire was diverting troops to ensure they didnt make a break for it and wreak more havoc in doing so, but the major issue was the two divisions of troops who had overrun a portion of the fortress planet. The enemy troops were now making pushes to the shield generators that protected the planet.

If that fell, the Sects would be able to bring in their orbital troops without issue, which would spell the end of the siege and the opening of another avenue deeper into the Empire.

A few of their previous missions had been similar, and Matt felt like he was going to become incredibly familiar with this kind of mission in the coming years. Despite everything, the Empire was on the defensive. Which meant that they, as an Ascender team, were constantly bouncing around, trying to put out fires and keep ahead of things.

It just wasnt always possible.

Their enemies werent dumb, and could enact plans to rapidly take down an important fortress world.

To make matters worse, Pator-Sul wasnt even a Tier 25 battlefield; it was a Tier 27 one, which meant they were going to be fighting up to their limits.

Matt took the opportunity to check in with the war situation as a whole.

The Empire was doing its best, but had been pushed in by at least one planetary jump from the border regions with the Great Powers they were still at war with. Most areas were pushed three or four planets deep, but those weren't the parts that worried him.

The areas he focused on were the areas like Pator-Sul, where important fortress worlds were being attacked en masse. Entire sectors of the Empire were being attacked. It was less a question of the planets being under attack and more a question of how strong the attack was.

Morgan stepped forward and shook her head. Her ponytail was now a bright blue instead of the red it had been before. She had felt that there were enough redheads with Dena and Liz, and so changed the color to something closer to her bloodline feathers color. Are the Great Powers trying to push through our lines?

General Darrow shook his head despite agreeing. Yes, but this is more of a probe. Any place that falls will be a great win, but they are simply feeling us out. Once they better understand our distribution of troops, we can expect the other Great Powers to send more targeted attacks in those directions. But that is all beyond our pay grade. Our job is to keep Pator-Sul from falling. Once we manage that, we will be relieving a number of Tier 25 and 26 worlds.

Darrow opened his mouth but said nothing for a long moment.

It was long enough that Allie prodded him. What is it, boss man?

General Darrow turned on his heel and flicked his finger to show a recording of a monstrous crystalline spider breaking down fortress walls and sending Empire soldiers scattering. Dao Child Maven has recovered from her last fight with you, and has been attacking a fairly large number of border worlds with little obvious strategic merit.

Aster leaned forward and spread her hands in a questioning gesture. And so why are we going to Pator-Sul instead of smacking the fuck out of her?

Matt leaned forward to show he was in agreement, which was a move mirrored by all of Team Zero.

General Darrow sighed and raised up his hand to forestall arguments. I already requested that mission, but Chess rightly pointed out that it's clearly a trap.

Allie flipped her dagger before she caught it and threw it into the far wall. What kind of logic is that? Triggering traps and killing everyone involved is what Ascenders do!

General Darrow shot a passing glance at Zack.

Allie, the other Ascender said pointedly, and his partner wilted.

Thank you, Ascender Light, Darrow nodded. Now, this is not a typical trap. While undoubtedly our enemies do have something particular in mind for once we do face Maven, Chess believes that the true intention is to bait us out and force our hand while the Sects finish overrunning Pator-Sul. Once we have relieved Pator-Sul instead of a direct confrontation we will be taking a step beyond that, infiltrating past enemy lines and striking here, Helios Delta. Its an Empire border world turned Republic supply depot, and we intend to take it out and loot it for all its worth, cutting off support for this wing of the assault.

Matt nodded as he followed the highlighted attacks and agreed with the plan. If he saw the other Ascender team slowly moving towards them, he would assume they were planning on a confrontation.

Battles between elites happened like that a lot of the time. At least, when there wasnt an ambush waiting, like what happened to Duke Waters.

As that thought came to him, he raised a finger and asked, Is this push happening because Duke Waters was hit and injured?

General Darrow nodded. We believe so, and that is why we dont want to risk a second ambush with the rest of our Ascenders. Hitting the supply depot is a better move, and if we can pull the elites away from anything they were able to prepare, all the better.

They went over a few more bits of information before they piled into Drifter's ship, and Shadow teleported them across space.

Team Zero went from inside a rift in the heart of the Empire to months away, by even the fastest ship, in a moment.

They went to war.

Shadow didnt have a waypoint at Pator-Sul, which meant they teleported as close as possible and would be flying the rest of the way on their own. It was a good thing Drifter was their pilot, because she broke every rule of flying through chaotic space and got them to Pator-Sul in just a week.

Matt was ready for a fight the moment they arrived in Pator-Suls real space, but things werent so easy. The Sects ships they expected to be surrounding the planet were instead floating just miles above the fortress planet's surface.

They had arrived too late.

General Darrow sighed at the sight even as he stood up. Nothing is ever easy. That said, our job hasnt changed. We are to push the Sects out and reinstate the defenders and Empire rule on this system.

His third eye flicked around seemingly at random for a few seconds before he nodded. Drifter; full speed. I dont want the Sects to reactivate the planet's shielding. The Empire defenders should have destroyed it as is

Even as he said that, the planet they were watching on the screen flickered as a light blue barrier appeared.

Shadow laughed and punched Darrow on the shoulder. Ha, you fucking jinxed it.

General Darrow ignored her and instead looked to Origami and Matt. I want a plan to crack the shield before we arrive

Drifter heard the implied question and shouted from her pilot's seat, One hour if I dont slow down for an intercept and just drop you guys off.

Hearing that, Darrow nodded. If possible, I dont want the infrastructure of the planet damaged. Ideally, we can hand this planet back to the captured defenders so they can continue to defend the planet.

Light stepped forward slightly, and despite his dry voice, his words held concern. Will the Sects allow us to do so? They are Tier 27, and certainly not about to surrender.

Bolt's blue hair nodded in agreement, but General Darrow shrugged. If that is the case, we are to destroy the planet so thoroughly that the Sects are forced to replace it if they wish to hold the system, or back off, allowing the Empire to retake the system. But that is a last resort. Quill, Origami, I want a preliminary plan in fifteen minutes.

Matt moved off to the side and asked Aila, Do you know anything about the fortress worlds defensive structures? I dont know anything about them and there isnt anything stored on the ships LocalNet.

Aila nodded. I know of them and even have their blueprints stored. She put her words to action and sent him the information.

Matt quickly scanned it and let out a long slow breath.

He wasnt sure he could take the shields down without frying the infrastructure completely.

A five hundred million mana [Breach] would punch through the shield without a doubt, but the fortress planet's shields were built to handle orbital bombardments from dozens of ships for months. If they fell because one spell pierced their barrier, they would be shitty shields. At best, Matt could open a small gap in the barrier, which Shadow could use to teleport them inside the barrier, but that would leave them dangerously open to retaliation shots. The shields acted as anti-teleport wards, and they were damn good at what they did.

Shadow could still teleport under that level of suppression, but it would be a dozen times harder and would mean that she couldnt teleport the entirety of Team Zero, so they would need to fight through the enemy's attacks as they tried to close the defenses.

On the other hand, if Matt just kept right outside the shield and slammed the planet with a few thousand [Breach]s, he could probably break the shield formation projectors, and once they were down, the defending Sects members would be without the shield's protections.

That would force them either into their ships, to sortie out of the fortifications, or hunker down and try to weather a bombardment.

The second option was most likely, as an invading force who wasnt able to completely control the defenses but anything was possible.

The problem was that the option was slow, and would cause the very damage Darrow wanted to avoid.

Matt thought it over and asked, What about shoving another shield into the planets and letting them merge? That could give us a gap. We know the shield frequencies, so it should be relatively easy.

Aila shook her head. Not possible. The fortress planets are expected to fall to enemies and use a frequency modulator which changes the frequency of the shields all the time.

Matt hadnt known that but nodded.

Aila flipped through a few pieces of paper before offering her own suggestion. What about a mana drainer? Normally, Id never suggest it because of how expensive they are to run, but you could power one, Im sure. Will that burn enough mana to force them to drop the shields?

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Matt shook his head, and they went back and forth with a few more suggestions, but ultimately, they werent able to produce the miracle General Darrow seemed to be expecting.

Matt shrugged and looked over to where General Darrow was talking with the others about strategy.

Sir, what are our priorities? Speed or taking the place intact?

General Darrow's third eye flicked to Matt before he said, What is the issue?

Matt explained that they could make a small breach in the shielding easily enough, but that would just trap them in the formation with all the wards active and fighting them. If they wanted to prevent that, they would need to break through the shields the long and slow way.

General Darrow pursed his lips before shaking his head. We go in through a breach then. It's less than ideal, but speed is a greater priority here. He paused before nodding once more. I want as much damage as possible done to them. Try and create a localized area of the planet where the wards are down. You should be able to do that with [Breach] and [Barrage] correct?

Matt ran a few simulations and nodded. I should be able to do that, sir.

Their hour of prep time seemed to vanish in seconds, but Matt and Aila managed to work out a rough idea they believed would work. The rest of the crew werent idle, bustling around and determining which potions and other supplemental gear would be most useful in the upcoming battle. Considering they were about to enter a Tier 27 battlefield, they couldnt afford to leave any advantages on the table.

Like Drifter had said earlier, she didnt turn their ship and use the engines to slow them down, which would have increased the time it took for them to reach the outermost planet in the Pator-Sul system, but instead continued to accelerate them forward. That meant they were going to be jumping out and relying on their Domains to slow them down enough to engage with the planet. If they all worked together, they could have managed the same thing with Drifter's ship, but they risked tearing it apart, and they didnt really need the ship for what came next.

The nine of them stood at the back of Drifters ship and stepped off the ramp while gripping the Tier 15 space around them with their various Domains.

The moment they were at a controllable speed, Matt cast [Bulwark] and took up a forward position. It was unlikely the invaders had taken over the weapon systems so quickly, but it was possible.

That was only where a small portion of his mana went.

Instead, most of it went to charging a [Breach] cast with [Barrage].

Matt and Origami had been frantically busy as they worked on the best method of taking out the infrastructure that was buried deep in the planet, but they believed they had succeeded.

Instead of Matt creating the breach in the barrier, they were going to rely on Light. He had agreed to the plan without any prodding despite being a little leary at interacting with that much mana, especially after his and Matts taking each other out in their initial duel.

Thankfully, Origami would be doing most of the work with a scorpion-like contraption she had quickly whipped up, so the risk was minimal.

Matt watched as Origami tossed her shield breaker, which settled on the opaque shield before it drove its pincers and stingers down in a rush.

The moment the construct touched the shield and pulled a little of the shields mana into itself, Light was already changing that mana into air mana, which simply vented off into the emptiness of space.

Shadow used that brief moment to jump them into the shield.

Unlike her usual teleports which were so smooth that if you didnt pay attention you might not even notice them, this one was rough and felt like they slammed into a wall. Shadow had warned them it would be rough so Matt was ready for the impact and managed to keep hold of the spells he was controlling through it all.

The moment they were inside the shields, Matt let the three [Breach]s fly.

The first one punched right through a shielded ship that was in the way as it slammed into the massive pillar that projected the shield above the planet. It kept going, and Matt felt Light tweak its trajectory the smallest bit to ensure it would hit one of the mana battery banks.

The second shot was a perfect hit that skimmed along the surface of the planet like a stone skipped across a lake.

The third hit its target but detonated on some kind of shield the Sects had erected around the projector. It didnt stop his spell, but instead caused the siege spell to detonate right next to the defending Sects fighters, wiping everything out.

Matt felt the restrictions that tried to slow him down weaken, and they teleported a few thousand feet to the side the moment they were able to.

It was part of their initial plan, and a good call, as the ships and Sects defenders opened up fire on their old location.

Most of the shots flew through the shield and away from the planet, but a few curved and slammed into the [Bulwak] Matt had put most of his now freed mana regeneration into.

He grunted as he felt the damage that was imparted to his shields, but they held without him having to utilize his Tier 25 Talent.

It felt like a decade, but General Darrow gave the command and let them loose. Go! Go! Go!

They knew their jobs and Matt dropped his [Bulwark], knowing that Origami was already deploying one of her mobile fortresses, which would defend their mages.

Instead, he dove in to create some blood for Liz, letting the anti-flight wards accelerate him to the ground. That would allow them to move onto part two of their battle plan which was to take out the Sect leadership as quickly as possible.

He landed on a fortification in a rain of spells as the Sects members tried to take him out, but most of their spells were blocked by [Cracked Phantom Armor], his physical armor, and the array of buff potions and spells he had active. Only two managed to bypass those defenses, but [Regeneration] closed those wounds as quickly as they formed.

Extending his blade, Matt twisted and slashed out with an oversized [Mana Slash].

His initial attack bisected the closest Sect fighter, but those behind her managed to dodge the blow, so Matt was forced to follow up with a second and third [Mana Slash]. One man slipped in close, trying to drive a dagger into Matts spine, but he flared [Telekinesis] and sent the man flying in an explosion of blood.

While he did that, the Sect fighters in front of him had gathered themselves enough to launch a coordinated barrage of attacks he blocked with [Bulwark].

Matt didnt wait for their bombardment of spells to end, and instead rushed forward with his sword leading the charge while flexing his Black Hole Intent, which made him hard to sense.

It worked, at least if the expression of surprise on the Sect man who his blade gutted was anything to go by. Matt was moving past him as he continued his charge, even before the man hit the ground, but he followed up with a small but incredibly dangerous [Gravitic Bolt] that popped the man's head and ended his life before he could detonate his core.

His blade took a Sect woman's head off despite her robes flaring and trying to defend her. Despite failing to stop the initial attack the enchantments did block the follow-up [Gravitic Bolt] he tried to finish her off with, forcing him to slow his charge enough to spin and slice her head in half.

A half-million mana channeled through a weapon made for Harper wasnt so easily stopped by a Tier 27 enchantment.

That move slowed him down long enough for the rest of the team to relocate him. Their attacks combined with the reinforcements who had joined them started to wear down [Bulwark].

Feeling that Matt let the spell fall and instead reached for the air around them. [Air Manipulation] stole the air out of everyone's lungs, but Matt didnt keep it for long. He slammed the collected air down with force, crushing the rest of the defenders on this portion of the wall to paste.

Tier 27 fighters were harder to kill, but not impossible by any means.

A Liz fell to his location and merged with one gorey mess before two rose up. Both clones repeated that action, but Matt wasnt able to enjoy the show.

Along the wall that he had just cleared, what seemed like a squad made up of higher-ups arrived. Matt would call them officers, but that wasnt how the Sects organized their military, and he didnt care to look up how this specific sect referred to their team commanders. They were smart though. Instead of targeting him, they tried to fire on the still-forming Lizzes.

As if Matt would allow them to attack his wife right in front of him.

He rushed forward with a freshly cast [Bulwark] leading the charge, providing cover for the multiplying Lizzes.

That concentrated the fire enough for even Matt to be slowed down which would lead to him being bogged down if he allowed the situation to continue. [Archmages Presence] flared to life and Matt felt his power skyrocket.

The armor, first made for North Star of the Cosmos, had been made with this exact spell in mind, and while it had been designed more to enhance bursts of usage, [Cracked Reinforce Stone] made it more than robust enough to handle Endless power just as well. With the spell in turn empowering the enchantment, it resulted in a very nice feedback loop strengthening everything Matt did.

It was enough to let him cross the distance in a blink, taking the arm off the lead Sect fighter as the man, more than two full tiers above him, was too slow to retreat.

There were five officers with gold trim around their robes edges, and each of them moved in a different direction the moment Matt arrived amongst them.

Two of them fired what he identified as highly modified [Mana Bolt]s, and though Matts spiritual sense said they were far more dangerous than they looked, he didnt dodge. The third woman had a saber, and was attacking where he would have to dodge to if he wanted to continue forward while avoiding the bolts. The fourth officer cast a spell that caused the shadows to rise up and grab Matts legs the moment he moved, while the final Sect officers threw a bolt of lightning at him.

It was a good combination he was sure would work on most people, but Matt wasnt most people.

He grunted as the two [Mana Bolts] punched right through his armor and tried to wreak havoc in his body, but Matt crushed their effects under an onslaught of [Barbarians Hide], putting himself back together with [Regeneration]. The lighting bolt was blocked by [Cracked Phantom Armor] without issue while Matt reached down to grab the shadow chains.

Instead of dispelling them, he flooded them with mana and only started moving when he heard the man who had cast them scream as his spell was used as a conduit, straight into his mana core.

He wasnt dead, but he was nearly crippled and unable to cast anything for a good long while.

Matt reached up and grabbed the descending saber of the woman and squeezed.

The blade didnt break like he expected. Instead it bent like putty. For a moment, Matt thought that was from his strength, but the blade had its own tricks and tried to crawl down his arm,digging at [Cracked Phantom Armor] like a worm trying to bore into him.

It didnt work; [Cracked Phantom Armor] was far too good at defending from such attacks. Matt ignored the blades advances in favor of driving his left hand into the woman's crossed arms, sending her flying back into the crenelated wall.

He sent out a flurry of [Gravitic Bolt], peppering the two mages. One of them had a [Phantom Armor] flare, which protected them from a bolt that would have taken their head off, and the second managed to dodge the bolts sent at them.

Matts spiritual perception was drawn above him for a moment as he saw the mages from Team Zero, slowly falling in the fortress Origami had created, bombarding the area Liz was fighting in. The active wards prevented him from finding out why, so he had no choice but to refocus on the fight that was in front of him, cutting off the hand of one of the mages.

As he did so, Matt felt a larger blast of lightning land squarely on his back. Absorbing it into [Cracked Phantom Armor] gave him a burst of speed, and he didnt let it pass. Using the small opening that the change in speed created, Matt lashed out three times in quick succession with his sword, sending out just as many [Mana Slash]s.

One of the [Mana Bolt] casters was a moment too slow and lost their legs, but his other two spells were dodged. The Sect officers had quickly realized that despite their Tier advantage, they werent able to confidently block any of his blows, and prioritized dodging.

Stepping to the side, he cast [Sword Twin], merging all four copies into a single blade and let that solitary blade block the saber woman who tried to ambush him from behind.

He was going to dart at the delegged mage who was preparing another spell, but felt a flare of danger from behind him, where the lightning mage was recovering. He also felt the shadows start to crawl up his legs once more, trying to lock him down.

Acting on instinct, as he had a good feeling of what the man was doing, he cast [Cracked Air Slide]. Having been upgraded twice, the spell let out a burst of air which ripped him free of the shadow bindings, and Matt skated around the oversized bolt of lighting that punched right through the wall and dug its way into the dirt.

The man had cast with essence fueling his spell instead of mana.

Matt shook his head even as he continued his movement to make a circle to cleave the man's head in two.

Few were willing to sacrifice their painstaking efforts to cast a spell with their accumulated essence, even if they knew they were going to die. But it seemed that this particular man was made of sterner stuff.

Twisting, he grabbed the [Sword Twin] out of the air, merged it with his blade, and used the increased effect of the weapon to send out overlapping [Mana Slash]es, which ended the saber woman's life and finally stopped the metal of her sword from attacking his left arm. He took a blow to the chest for his troubles, but [Regeneration] was able to knit his torn flesh back together without too much issue.

Despite knowing it was useless, he offered the two surviving mages an offer of surrender, but when they responded with spells, he ended their lives before they could detonate their cores.

With this section of the wall cleared, Matt looked over to where the Sect commanders commandeered fortress stood. A glance to his left showed close to fifty Lizzes killing their way through a mass of Sect troops who had encircled a crater the mages had created. To his right he saw Bulwark, Stick, and Stone surrounding a trio of Torments summons who were cutting their way forward slowly but surely.

On the other side from himself was Shadow, who despite having her teleportation limited, was cutting her way through the enemies to the leader's section almost as fast as he was.

Seeing he was the first one to break free of the defenders, Matt flared [Archmages Presence] and slammed into the shield formation they had set up.

Reaching back, he drove his spiked fist into the blue shield. With each blow the shield turned more and more opaque.

On the seventh blow, the shield failed, and he rushed inside.

He took a blade to the head, but [Cracked Phantom Armor] deflected the strike and Matt grabbed the woman's head with a lightning-wreathed hand, ignoring her look of shock as her ambush didnt work. And the look of shock that came with nearly a million mana of lightning coursing through her body.

One squeeze later, a rush of essence confirmed her death, and Matt dove into the command center where a dozen gold-clad officers stood ready for him.

He threw himself into their waiting blades and disarmed the closest man, taking a gush of purple flame to his side that chewed through [Cracked Phantom Armor] like acid.

A quick pulse of [Mana Beam] ended that fight, but he was hit with a counterspell and [Forbid Spell] combo that fizzled the beam and put it on cooldown before he could eliminate the rest of the commanders with it.

Matt didnt mind doing things the hard way.

A burly woman tried to tackle him to the ground, but Matt twisted and drove a spiked gauntlet into her brain before tossing her into one of her friends.

He dodged a spear that felt dangerous, but took a [Earth Spike] to his own blade which knocked it out of his hand.

Disarmed, he must have seemed like an easy target, because two blade-wielding men rushed in and tried to take him down, regardless of the wounds he would inflict on them in return.

Matt used his left hand and arm to deflect the first strike and drove a fist into the second mans chest.

A third and fourth Sect officer jumped at him, wanting to take him down with pure numbers.

Flames roared as he cast [Dragonflame], and the fire chewed through those closest to him.

The same person tried to hit him with another [Forbid Spell], but Matt was ready for it and had dropped [Dragonflame] for an instant before reactivating it.

Turning his flames on the mages who had been peppering him with attacks from range, Matt stomped down to take out the single surviving woman who was trying to grip his leg.

The mages shield protected them for long enough that Matt thought the fight was going to turn into a slog, but Shadow kicked open the far door and started cutting her way through the mages' less protected flank.

Knowing his teammate could handle it, Matt simply flared [Dragonflame].

A dozen flares of essence tried to rush into him in as many seconds, which signified the death of the remaining Sect leaders.

Turning his spiritual sense to the fighting that was still going on outside, Matt saw how the mages were concentrating their spells to the east of where Matt and Shadow were. It was probably a mid level commander who was trying to direct the battlefield now that the leadership had been wiped out.

Matt nodded to Shadow who flickered away.

Matt called his sword back to hand and began charging it with lightning.

The fight wasnt over yet.