Defiance of the Fall

“Why did I enlist those years ago?” Ton lamented for the fifth time today.

Fandar smiled helplessly as he glanced at his pilot. “We come from dirt. We’d be here one way or another. Better inside one of these nice little skippers than among the conscripts on the war plateaus or frontier planets.”

Ton rolled her eyes. “Maybe I could have married up. I hear traders and skilled craftsmen can avoid the draft to some degree.”

“Why in the stars would a wealthy merchant go for you?” Fandar guffawed, dodging the wrench thrown his way. “And where would you even meet one in Green Streak? The closest we saw to a titan of industry was Big Bucket in the scrap yard.”

“Never seen a man that fat. I wonder if he ate all the spare parts he couldn’t sell,” Ton giggled before her face became downcast again. “This is going to be bad, isn’t it?”

The question made the others in the cockpit look over, their hollow eyes proof of weeks of sleepless nights. They were hoping for something, anything, that could relieve the tension that had been building aboard the Perky Princess. Fandar wanted to give it to them, but he wasn’t in any better state himself. If not for his Cosmic Core, he would have keeled over already.

Fandar hesitated before nodding slightly.

“It’s going to be bad. But I’ll do everything in my power to see us through to the other side. After all, every one of you owes me money.”

Small chuckles echoed through the cockpit. “We’ll do our best too.”

“Like you said, it could be worse,” Enok offered. “We’re stationed close to the Everfast Star. Among the Starlords, Lord Everfast is among the stronger.”

“That’s right,” Ton nodded. “I hear he’s a grand-uncle of the current Emperor of the Dravorak Empire, or something like that. He definitely has some good stuff prepared in case they hit this side hard. The sixteenth star grouping will face the real pressure.”

“If you ask me, the sixteenth is a trap. Why else would it be manned by rogue and wandering Monarchs? The weakness is too glaring,” Enok countered. “I bet one of the heavyweights is waiting there to take out a couple of Monarchs after they overextend.”

“I hear the Lords have had many problems calling over the hidden masters,” Mina said. “Maybe they simply don’t have enough strong Monarchs to create a strong line.”

“There’s no point speculating,” Fandar interjected. “The plans of the Lords are beyond us. We only need to use this little beauty to take out anything at our level and sweep away Lord Everfast’s obstructions. In that regard, we’re in a pretty good situation. Remember, the Kan’Tanu have passed through the whole Million Gates Territory to get here. Their flagships are probably fine, but the swarm of smaller vessels should be facing all kinds of problems already.”

“There’s no way those lunatics are willing to stop and repair the ships of their grunts,” Enok agreed.

Of course, there was the thing none said out loud. The danger didn’t come from the D-grade Cosmic Vessels they were ordered to take out. It came from whatever the Kan’Tanu had prepared to break through the defensive line. Whatever could destroy the powerful Spatial Seals that had turned the exit of the Million Gates Territory into a thin corridor could take out their little vessel as an afterthought.

Hours passed of their vigil. They couldn’t sleep on duty, so they passed the time alternating between meditation and idle conversation. The topics had been rehashed endless times over the past decades, but the familiarity was a comfort.

Suddenly, the silence of the endless expanse broke as a storm of messages flooded Fandar’s mind.

Enok was only a breath slower, his face pallid as he saw the readings of their scanners. “Spatial activity! Terrifying numbers!”

“They’re here,” Fandar growled.

“Shouldn’t they be days away, dealing with our traps? Where’s the early warning? What the hell are our scouts doing?!” Ton swore.

The crew was shocked, but their training had already kicked in. A series of procedures readied the ship for combat. It was like a beast come out of hibernation, and its ferocity was matched by the elite soldiers on board. The whole defensive line was coming alive, and space itself groaned from the gathering force.

“All hands on deck!” Fandar said, his voice spreading through every inch of the vessel.

At the same time, flickers of light spread across the horizon—small motes of sanguine radiance growing into cracks to another dimension. On the other side, an endless armada was waiting. A direct shift had been blocked by the powerful jammers of their War Fortresses, but the Kan’Tanu was rapidly forcing a path.

“Fire!” Fandar roared. “Take them out while they break through!”

A ruthless sheen appeared in Mina’s eyes, and her usual circumspect aura was replaced by a murderous air. Ominous hums and vibrations spread through the Perky Princess, promising death and destruction. The Atwood Ships were really worthy of their renown. It barely took any time for a thick pillar of opalescent light to shoot forward, crashing into the nose of a ship just as it peeked through the gate.

A powerful barrier blocked the beam, but the gateway fluctuated erratically from the powerful energy of the sustained beam. Suddenly, the gate collapsed, cleanly cutting the Kan’Tanu Vessel in two.

Similar scenes were taking place all across the horizon, but Fandar felt a sense of defeat upon seeing more and more ships emerge unscathed. Ultimately, it was a long shot dealing with their enemies like this, especially when they suddenly appeared out of nowhere. There was no escaping the bloody battle that would come.

Suddenly, two radiant half-moons were unleashed by the Everfast Star, each innumerable times stronger than their own energy attack. They left a trail of spatial chaos in their wake, and the Kan’Tanu vessels unlucky enough to be in their way were reduced to ash. The attacks disappeared, having pierced through the dimensional curtain to target the real threats beyond.

Fandar’s heart hammered, but he kept giving out orders while analyzing the mountains of reports and data transmitted between the Everfast Star and the armada. A shockwave blasted a hole in space, creating a gateway the size of a planet. Fandar spotted three gargantuan vessels on the other side, one of them left with a noticeable scar.

However, his vision was blocked by two hulking entities before he could discern if the Kan’Tanu mothership was really damaged.

“What the hell is that?!”

Two impossibly large forms stepped out of the gateway, their size making the D-grade vessels surrounding them look like flies. They weren’t constructs but humanoids, decked in nothing but a fur loincloth and sinister-looking stone helmets. Their roars shook space, and Fandar swore upon seeing something in their hands.

“Incoming!” Fandar urged as the giants hurled their payload.

The things had looked like small pebbles in their hands, but they were actually large stars wrought from black metal. They were over a hundred meters across, their spikes emitting chilling force. The things had to weigh as much as a mountain, yet they tore through space with incredible speed. Ton cursed her heart out as she pushed their ship to dodge. A projectile whizzed past them with almost blinding speed.

One of its spikes dragged against their shield, but the fully charged barrier narrowly held against the grazing attack. Fandar breathed in relief, but he knew things would just get worse from here on out.

“Titans!” Ton whispered with horror. “The Kan’Tanu have Titans?!”

“That’s impossible,” Mina whispered. “I read at the Academy that the true Titans were exterminated eons ago. They went against the new order, and the System rallied the masters of the Multiverse against them. A mighty being approaching the levels of the Apostates purged their whole race from the river of destiny. Besides, these things aren’t nearly big enough. They seem to be humanoid beasts.”

“Not big enough?” Ton swore, her face slick with sweat after narrowly avoiding death. “Those bastards are almost as big as the Everfast Star.”

Fandar only grunted, more occupied with reading the reports than explaining the difference. The two giants were massive, but they were only specks of dust when compared to the true Titans. Only the mythical Starbeast in the Multiverse Heartlands could compare with those things.

Besides, that was not the only thing off with the things.

“Something is wrong,” Enok muttered, his warning echoing Fandar’s thoughts. “Their readings… They’re Corpses?!”

“Almost. They’re containers. Containers for madness,” Fandar spat. “Change targets. Suppressive fire!”

Thousands of attacks tore toward the giants while the subsidiary towers of the Everfast Star suppressed the still-emerging Kan’Tanu fleet. Unfortunately, the dark-grey skin of the oversized creatures was stronger than any spiritual metal. Only the attacks of the Everfast Star managed to pierce their hides, but Fandar almost wished they hadn’t when a wriggling mess within was exposed. It was countless insectoids, each the size of a small Cosmic Vessel.

Their carapaces were covered in the familiar tendrils of the Kan’Tanu Heart Curses, pulsating with sinister power. Being exposed to the environment of outer space made the abominations stir, and they swarmed out of the wounds. A few creatures waking up triggered a chain reaction, and gory explosions erupted all over the giant’s bodies as a whole swarm emerged.

Soon, Fandar had no time to worry about giants and whether they had any more spikes to throw out. The parasites formed a devastatingly durable vanguard that shot toward the defensive line with speed only space-born creatures could display. The Kan’Tanu vessels followed in their wake, madly firing. They were writhing tsunami drawing closer by the second. Their armada was firing at will, and thousands of insects were turned into gory pulps of writhing curses, but the giants were seemingly bottomless repositories of parasites.

Soon, the Kan’Tanu were everywhere, and the whole Everfast Armada was caught in a chaotic melee. Silent explosions lit up the darkness as vessels on both sides met fiery ends. The Perky Princess shuddered from the shockwaves, but nothing had managed to break through yet.

Fandar gave the occasional order but trusted his crew to handle themselves. His mind entered the ship, spreading into the dozens of drones it could control. They emerged from the four hatches on the ship’s belly, forming a defensive perimeter around them. One of the four-winged insects was streaking right toward them with suicidal fervor, though focused attack of their energy cannon and the smaller drones turned its head into a gory mess.

A bloody tongue of sin pierced the broken skull and lashed at their ship with incredible force. The gargantuan Heart Curse had emerged, clearly not sharing the fleeting lifespan of its smaller brethren. The thorn stretched for over a mile, and the readings indicated its force was well within Middle D-grade—more than what Fandar dared to take on with their shield.

“Dodge!” Fandar growled, but Ton was already pushing the ship’s engines beyond their safe limits to veer out of the way.

Fandar felt his insides shift, but they narrowly avoided the sanguine spear. Yet the curse actually followed in pursuit, somehow dragging the huge corpse along. A Kan’Tanu Cosmic Vessel moved to intercept, forming a deadly pincer. The whole ship shook from the onslaught, but the shielding held long enough for the drones to catch up. Flickering light drowned the enemy until one of the drones found the weakness.

Mina had been waiting for an opportunity, and a dense pillar of destruction bore right through the ship. A huge explosion illuminated the surroundings, and their scanners were momentarily overloaded as the Perky Princess pierced through. The trailing Heart Curse was pushed away by the shockwave, and it gave up its pursuit. However, it was still alive, roving back and forth, seemingly searching for slower targets.

Two enemies down, but new enemies had already replaced the ones they fought. They were everywhere, and one desperate struggle replaced the other. The insects were thankfully not too dangerous. They were fast, but they couldn’t withstand the weaponry of the Everfast Armada. However, they completely disregarded their safety as they targeted any ship that came close, and new ones replaced the ones that were killed. In just twenty minutes, the whole field was littered with the things.

“Why isn’t the Lord doing anything?!” Ton spat through grit teeth, though they all knew the answer.

For one, the battlefront had become extremely chaotic, making it difficult to target the enemies with conventional means. More importantly, the three motherships had yet to emerge from the huge gateway, still hiding behind the two giants. The Starlord was undoubtedly wary of showing his hand before knowing who hid within those three leviathans and what other means the Kan’Tanu had prepared. He hoped their ships could break through the predicament and force the enemy out of hiding.

However, the onslaught was too intense. One Alliance vessel after another crumbled under the assault, forcing the Lord Everfast to make his move. Hundreds of jade swords poured out of the War Fortress, and thousands more emerged from hidden pockets throughout the battlefront. The vast sword array lit up, shrouding thousands of miles in an emerald haze. All through the battlefield, ships and creatures were cut apart. Not even the carcasses were spared, with thousands minced and pushed away.

Fandar could tell the invisible blades released by the swords were gathering to an attack of utmost power and destruction. Everything that came close was shredded as the attack tore toward the giants. But just as they were about to be consumed by the blade domain, a snicker echoed through the battlefront.

The hoarse voice felt like the laugh of an evil god, peering at them from the depths of hell. Meanwhile, the head of a huge bird covered in parasites appeared before the giants, blocking the incoming attack. Fandar was overwhelmed by despair upon seeing the attack fail. How could they fight against this? Why should he let his crew suffer? Why not just—

A searing heat made Fandar yelp with pain, and the sizzling sound of burning flesh and the acrid smell of the Clarity Seals woke him up. Fandar took a shuddering breath, and his crew was no better off. Their eyes were bloodshot, and their hands were shaking from having almost lost their minds just now. The fact that a simple laugh had created such havoc could only mean one thing.

A Kan’Tanu Monarch had made their move.

Fandar had heard the rumors of the terrifying lords of the Kan’Tanu. Almost all were former Reincarnators, having reached the top by slaughtering their brothers and sisters. Their inner worlds were completely filled with monstrous Heart Curses whose power was beyond one’s comprehension. When you fought against one Kan’Tanu Monarch, you fought against two.

“I’ve been waiting for you, wretched thing,” a booming voice emerged from the depths of the star. “Why hide behind these fell constructs?”

The voice was like a bell dispersing the lingering effect of the laugh. The emerald haze had seemingly come alive, forming a protective curtain around the surviving vessels.

“Why so impatient? The stage has barely been set, and you wish to skip to the main course?” the hoarse voice from before answered from the other side of the enormous gateway.

“Last time, you left your arm behind. There are no spatial gates for you to flee into this time,” the commanding voice from within the War Fortress said.

“Fate is everchanging. Let’s see if I can take something from you this time.”

This time, the crew didn’t lose their mental faculties from the sinister voice, but Fandar still felt a sense of defeat. It wasn’t that he believed in the words of the hidden enemy more than the Everfast Monarch. But Fandar knew that their fate was out of their hands now that the top combatants had stepped onto the field.

If the Everfast Monarch won, they’d soon exterminate the enemies. If he lost, then none of them would be spared when the Kan’Tanu Monarch was no longer restrained. Their only hope in that situation was escape, praying that the enemy wouldn’t lock space quickly enough.

“Why would I give you the opportunity?” Everfast said before his booming voice shook the cosmos. “MERGE!”

The crew groaned from pain and disorientation as a powerful spatial pulse passed right through the Atwood Ship.

“Brace yourselves!” Fandar grunted, shaking his head to clear his vision. “Something is changing!”

Yet, there was nothing that they could do but ride out the storm of whatever their Starlord had planned. Space bent, causing unbelievable pain across Fandar’s body. Then, it thankfully went away as reality snapped into place. Or realities. Fandar’s eyes were wide with shock from the sudden surge of information entering his mind.

Who were all these people?

Less than 300 vessels had remained after the furious struggle against the cursed insects, yet there were suddenly 800 nodes in the network. They had appeared out of nowhere, already unleashing hell on the other side. Fandar gasped upon realizing what had just happened. It was a dimensional convergence.

It was unbelievable that the Starlord had managed to hide such a powerful force in a neighboring dimension without anyone noticing, but there was ample proof all around them. Fandar realized the Sword Array had paved the way, creating safe pockets to merge into. However, many swords had failed, which led to dozens of vessels superimposing on debris or insect carapaces.

The shielding of the newcomers had mostly kept them safe, but a few weren’t so lucky. Their shields hadn’t managed to rebuff the materia, leading to a forced fusion of two dimensions. One ship had completely merged with an insect carapace. There was no way the crew had survived the spatial chaos generated by such an accident.

Thankfully, the losses were nothing compared to the devastation on the Kan’Tanu’s side. A whole asteroid belt had suddenly superimposed on their positions. It had to be planned, and there was clearly something special about those boulders. Otherwise, how could over a hundred vessels fail to rebuff the spatial convergence?

A band of earthshaking explosions spread through their armada, the shockwaves creating a second round of destruction as the remaining asteroids exploded. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers were deposited into space, most of them unmoving. Even the leviathan motherships had been dragged out of hiding, and two had suffered damage.

Shockingly, the ships and asteroid belt weren’t even the true ace up the Dravorak Imperial’s sleeve. In the center of the second fleet was a huge construct already humming with deadly force.

“A second mouse,” the hoarse voice snickered, seemingly completely unfazed that they had just lost half their fleet. “I SEE YOU!”

Thousands of insect carapaces exploded, and the crew swore upon seeing a hundred-meter-wide blood-eye appear just a few miles away from their position. It exuded a deep hum that left Fandar with a splitting headache, and his fear mounted as the eye focused on their ship.

“What the what in the nine hells is that?!” Fandar croaked. “Ton, get us out of—hey!”

Blood poured out of Tyla’s seven orifices, her whole body twitching terrifyingly. Mina was already dead, and Enko lay unmoving on the ground. Pain and despair filled Fandar’s heart as his childhood friend took her last breath.

“I’m sorry.”

Fandar desperately held on, containing his crumbling soul and Cosmic Core with sheer will as he set the course for the Perky Princess’s final journey. The engine was rapidly overloading, and deadly currents tore through the ship’s hallways. He prayed it was enough.

He was born from dirt, but he would become the sand that blinded the enemy.