Siege of Kel Rectilinea

While Phoenicia's team distracted the Cubic forces at the front gates of Kel Rectilinea's fortress, Mivangeline and her team infiltrated the base to locate the boss area. The two groups were supposed to distract the Cubic away from Ampyria's team, who were tasked to sneak into the rocketeer cobra factory and destroy it before the new cobras were released into the Syanic Earth. At the same time, they must destroy 50 sentry turrets scattered about Kel Rectilinea to activate the doors to the boss area in the heart of the fortress.

With the android guides having hologram maps of the fortress to guide the players through the mazy fortress in search of the sentry turrets, the three teams were supposed to rendezvous at a central junction before working together to destroy the last five turrets guarding the very center of the fortress.

Mivangeline's squad of police droids along with Shien, Naivern, and Chloridium jumped across the enormous blue labyrinth as they fought the cubic warriors and defenses. The floor, ceiling, and walls were made of cubed panels that shifted the terrain at random moments.

***

Shien and Mivangeline stood together in front of the cubic warriors and their sentry turret, protecting the team from the incoming fire. Naivern supported Shien and Mivangeline by jamming on her guitar to raise their stats.

Cubic Sentry Turret

Level 70

HP: [32,912/80,000]

"The warriors are hiding behind the turret," Mivangeline turned to the droids. "This is a good time to use a voltaic rocket."

As Shien and Mivangeline defended their droid squadron, a police droid kneeled on the ground with a blue launcher tube, firing an electrifying rocket at the double-barreled turret. The turret exploded with an electric shockwave, paralyzing the nearby cubic warriors.

"Yeah! Got em!" Naivern cheered as the police droids shot down the stunned soldiers.

"Hoho, I'm glad we brought those rockets along!" Chloridium shot down a Cubic warrior with an arm cannon.

The group advanced across the maze of cubes as they fought the cubic warriors. They trod carefully as the tiles of the floor moved up and down.

"Awesomeness! Looks like Phoenicia's distraction worked," Shien jumped over an extending tile. "We're almost at the rendezvous!"

"Yes," Mivangeline cut down a cubic warrior with her knives. "Everything is going as planned."

Suddenly, the tiles the group stood on dropped. As the floor panels beneath the team fell, the floor panels underneath the cubic warriors and a flakpanzer in front of them rose. Two sentry turrets emerged from the panels alongside the cubic warriors, firing at the team from above. The ground behind the group rose to the ceiling, blocking their escape.

"Not good!" Chloridium ran in front of a police droid to protect it, only to find the droid shot down into blue particles. "They have an uphill advantage!"

Naivern ran her hands onto her guitar until a sentry turret interrupted her by shooting her on the shoulder with a paralyzing blast of electricity, making her drop her guitar.

Naivern Misshia

Level 91

HP: [41,999/79,450]

🗲Calcified Proton🗲

"Naivern!" Shien held her.

Oh no, Mivangeline thought as police droids around her were disintegrated by the sentry turrets. I didn't expect this! Did I screw up?

"Commander!" Chloridium stood in front of the five remaining police droids with his arm cannons ablaze against the Cubic enemies. "I know what you're thinking, but remember what I told you? Change happens! Don't just stand there!"

"But, what do I, um," Mivangeline panicked as three more police droids were shot down.

She felt her hands shake with sweat trickling down to her daggers.

Am I this bad of a commander? Mivangeline worried with more negative thoughts jumbling through her mind. I can never lead.

"Use your Paladin's Aegis trait! It should've finished its cooldown by now!" Chloridium yelled. "Come on, commander! We have two droids left! Don't overthink it! Do something!"

Mivangeline jumped in front of the group, activating Paladin's Aegis to taunt all enemies to attack her instead of the rest of the team.

"Shien, I am fine," Naivern struggled to stand, feeling numbness over her body. "Aw man, why can't I move?"

"You got stunned with that Calcified Proton," Shien rummaged through his item storage.

Shien fed her his last eonspace brew. As the item eliminated the Calcified Proton, Naivern moved her limbs, relieved to be able to move again.

"Use that launcher!" Mivangeline pointed at a launcher on the ground as spun her knives around to block all the enemies' firepower.

A police droid rolled towards it.

"Hit the flakpanzer!" Mivangeline ordered.

The droid grabbed the launcher and knelt on the ground to blast a voltaic rocket at the flakpanzer between the sentry turrets. As the flakpanzer disintegrated, the two turrets were paralyzed by the erupting shockwave.

Soon, the group felt the maze rumble like an earthquake. The cubic soldiers panicked as an explosion cracked their elevated floor, making them roll through the hole behind them.

"Looks like Ampyria's team took out the cobra factory below just in time," Chloridium sighed with relief.

The two sentry turrets recovered from their paralysis, turning their guns behind them to only be greeted with a swarm of exploding dice.

"Good to see you all!" Ampyria flew to Mivangeline's group as the two floors went back to their original levels. "The cobra factory has been destroyed. The block boys were no match for my incomparable beauty!"

"I say, the crafty squared men will no longer make more of those nasty reptilians!" Enshiron jumped out of the hole, exchanging high fives with Shien and Naivern. "We even had the privilege to crush ten of those pesky square turrets!"

"Come and get some!" Elysia leaped out, pummeling down a cubic warrior with her brass knuckles.

Ampyria's police droids flew out of the hole with their red and blue wings.

"Good job," Chloridium acknowledged before activating a hologram of a map. "We're making good progress. Two of our three teams are here so far."

"I wonder how Phoenicia's team is holding up," Elysia cracked her neck.

The gang heard a roar from the other side of the maze of blocks. A rocketeer cobra flailed about with Ritom slashing its back with his large pyrotechnic blade. As Phoenicia punched the snake's eyes off, Ruddigus fired at it with his minigun. Esarin used his big rocket launcher to launch a sonic rocket at the cobra to finish it off.

"Hoo wee!" Ruddigus placed his steaming hot minigun on his back. "Now that's what I call, the heart of the cards! Fist bump, guys!"

"With the utmost pleasure!" Phoenicia's pupils turned back from red to green. "Quite a satisfying victory for all of us."

Ruddigus exchanged fist bumps with his team, except for Ritom.

"Hey! What about me?" Ritom shouted as they walked to the others.

"Oh, you?" Ruddigus shook his head. "You're still one cheating dope."

"Says the big kid who fires exploding YuGiOh cards from his minigun."

"Got a problem with that?"

"Meh! You big o snake!" Esarin's launcher transformed back into his cane. "This is what you get for trying to eat a poor old little man like mwah!"

He stood on top of the cobra's head, slapping it with his cane as the cubic enemy disintegrated into blue hexagons.

"My old-timer! Come on, take it easy," Ruddigus carried Esarin away.

"Glad to see you all," Mivangeline forced a smile.

Mivangeline looked back at her team. She couldn't believe that all of her police droids except for two were wiped out.

I could have protected them, She thought. But I didn't know what to do. What if they were real players?

"Commander, we have successfully defeated the 20 sentry turrets that guarded the front gates!" Phoenicia smiled at Mivangeline.

"Oh... that's uh, that's great news," Mivangeline stuttered.

"You with 20, my team with 15, and Ampyria with ten," Chloridium calculated. "Perfect! We got 45 of 50. Now we just need to destroy the last five turrets at the heart of Kel Rectilinea to access the boss room."

"Excellent!" Phoenicia said.

As the group walked through the path to the center of the fortress, Mivangeline walked ahead of the group in silence.

"Mivangeline," Chloridium walked with her to the front, tossing her an Eonspace Brew. "I have a feeling you are doubting yourself."

"Um, well," Mivangeline mumbled. "I, I don't know if I can do this. Why did you make me lead?"

"You can do it, Mivangeline. Come on, you are the commander. You need to experience leading others yourself. You can't get better if I lead for you, right?"

"But our team was almost wiped out because of me."

"Well," Chloridium sighed. "Yeah, I mean… you need to adapt. Remember that the droids won't regenerate in a month when they die. With little players willing to help, the police droids are all we have against the bosses that are designed to fight hundreds of players at a time. We need to use our droids wisely."

"I am… I am sorry."

The two were silent for a moment while Ruddigus showed the rest of the group his YuGiOh minigun.

"You see?" Ruddigus showed them some of his cards loaded into his weapon. "This good baby can blast real effects based on the actual cards of the TCG!"

"Oh my gosh," Ritom said to himself. "He's a YuGiOh nerd."

Mivangeline and Chloridium walked together while Ruddigus entertained the others. Chloridium used to yell at Mivangeline when she failed to lead her police droids well at her training sessions in the Saberdome Arena. He scratched his spiky blue hair, thinking of a way to encourage her.

"Look, I didn't mean to yell at you earlier," Chloridium finally said. "But I am just trying to help you. I know your issue. You're a great strategist, but you have trouble improvising when things change."

Mivangeline said nothing but nodded as she drank her Eonspace Brew.

"When a plan goes wrong, you find a way to bring everyone back and do a new plan!" Her android guide said. "But don't just stand still panicking and let everyone else die. We have been over this for a while. I am tough on you because I care about you, and I want to see you succeed."

"Mmm," Mivangeline sighed. "I… I hope I don't make that mistake again."

"Welp, I will be by your side. Don't forget, I am your android guide. If it happens, I will be there to guide you."

"O… okay," Mivangeline felt Chloridium rub his arm on her back. "Thanks."

"Of course. Now come on," Chloridium activated his arm cannons. "Let's go."

"Don't worry, Mivangeline!" Shien popped up in front of Mivangeline.

"Eep!" She flinched.

"We will help you! You just need to stay positive and believe you can do it!" Shien smiled before jumping away to tackle Phoenicia.

"Huh? Um, okay?"

"Well, he technically isn't wrong," Chloridium chuckled, patting Mivangeline's shoulder. "Let's fight with some optimism! Knowing you, you need it!"

"Sure..."

***

The group ran through the transforming hallway, fighting the last Cubic forces of warriors, scrounger drones, gunspeeders, and flakpanzers. For several minutes, they jumped about the spinning floor and tilting walls, destroying popup boxes that released scrounger drones. Soon, they reached the fortress' heart with the last five sentry turrets in front of a dead end.

With a similar strategy, Mivangeline had herself, Shien, Ritom, Phoenicia, and Elysia to protect the team with Naivern's power boost. Meanwhile, the others behind them fired at the turrets with their combined strength. The floor panels then released rectangular pillars towards the group, forcing them to dodge obstacles while being shot at by the sentry turrets.

"Commander," Chloridium nudged Mivangeline off her frozen confusion. "Remember? Just make a new plan."

"Okay," Mivangeline nodded as she jumped away from a moving pillar.

Mivangeline took a moment to rethink a new method to take out the last turrets while the floor continued to spawn pillars at the group. She noticed that the five turrets were lined up in a row close to each other. Just one of their voltaic rockets was enough to stun all five at a time. Not only that, Mivangeline's Paladin's Aegis just finished its cooldown time.

"Ampyria!" Mivangeline jumped in front of the turrets, immediately activating her trait. "The droids need to use their wings to dodge the pillars. We need those rockets to keep damaging and stunning them! I will occupy their attention to me!"

"On it!" Ampyria signaled the police droids to activate their wings.

Ampyria and the droids flew about the barrage of spawning pillars while Mivangeline forced all the turrets to attack her. When they were close enough, they took out their launchers, bombarding the turrets with their electrifying rockets. The five turrets were engulfed in the smog of lightning, unable to move.

"This is our chance!" Mivangeline said.

The group then charged at the turrets with all of their firepower, finishing them off. As the five turrets disappeared into blue hexagons, a large pair of rectangular doors that glowed green with square-shaped patterns emerged on the dead end. Everyone sighed with relief. They were able to beat all the 50 turrets required to gain access to the boss room.

Mission for Entry

Destroy 50 Cubic Sentry Turrets

Progress: [50/50]

*Completed*

"This, this is it," Mivangeline looked at everyone.

"Yeah! I can't wait to give that boss a taste of my Blue-Eyes deck!" Ruddigus placed his minigun on his back.

"You're so weird," Ritom rolled his eyes.

"What was that, you cheater? Want me to blast Mirror Force in your face?"

"Dude, I completely forgot what that card does," Ritom groaned.

"You little sucker is darn lucky that my son told me to not blast a rocket in your swindling face!" Esarin swatted his cane at Ritom. "Don't think I have forgotten! A wise old elephant like me never forgets!"

"At least I paid you back, ya little grumpy!" Ritom rolled his eyes.

"This may be our only chance to take a breather," Phoenicia interrupted the commotion. "I suggest that we take this opportunity to heal ourselves before the upcoming boss battle."

As the group sat down to rest, Mivangeline and Chloridium briefed them about the boss. Chloridium showed them a hologram of the Cubic boss, Macrocube Dosigma, an enormous cubic warrior with horns and a segmented body shaped like squares and rectangles. After he warned them about its powers, Mivangeline came up with a strategy and discussed it with the group.

***

"Remember, Naivern," Mivangeline told Naivern. "You're very important in this plan. We cannot lose you."

"Ey, no worries!" Naivern grinned. "Nothing outmatches my forte!"

"Don't worry, commander!" Shien saluted to Mivangeline We will do our best to protect our loud girl!"

Shien gave her a bright smile. Mivangeline blushed in embarrassment, looking away at the squared floor.

"So, commander," Chloridium turned to Mivangeline. "We got a solid strategy now along with enough rest. Is there anything you would like to say before we fight the boss of the Cubic Regime?"

"Eh?" Mivangeline stuttered. "Me? Uh, why me?"

"Hoho, you're the commander, Mivangeline. Why don't you give our friends here some words of encouragement!"

"Um… I... "

Mivangeline turned to the group with her cheeks bright red. She could feel the weight of everyone's eyes looking at her. Alongside the police droids stood Ampyria, Ruddigus, Esarin, Naivern, Ritom, Enshiron, Phoenicia, Elysia, and a bouncing Shien. Enshiron grinned, placing his hands on Shien's shoulders to stop him from bouncing up and down.

"Uh..." Mivangeline felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment.

"You can do it," Chloridium gave her a thumbs up.

"Okay? Um… thank, thank you all for your help. We worked together well in, uh, our siege of Kel Rectilinea," Mivangeline sheepishly placed her hands together. "I know it's, well, tough that we are trapped here. But, I know that together… we will, we will stop the three factions and um… I promise we are going home."

"Yay!" Shien jumped. "We're going home!"

Shien excitedly flailed his arms about, accidentally hitting Enshiron.

"Oh my gosh!" Shien picked Enshiron up. "So sorry! Speak to me, Enshiron!"

"Oof, I say," Enshiron shook his head. "My quaint boy, you have the audacity to hit your very own Vulpi companion? My goodness! I am quite offended."

"Sorry, buddy."

"I will forgive you, Shien, if you allow me to give you a noogie ten times a day!"

"No way! To ridicule me?"

Enshiron replied by scrubbing Shien's little head with his fist. Mivangeline and the group smiled, sharing laughs as they watched Shien whine in distress. The group then turned to the rectangular doors. Mivangeline placed her hand on the handles.

"Are you all ready?" Mivangeline asked.

The group nodded as the commander opened the doors. They walked into the boss room together. Everyone shuddered as the rectangular doors slammed shut and disappeared. The gang found themselves in another large room made of square-shaped panels. However, the room seemed to be more than twenty times larger than the span of the labyrinth hallways they ran through.

Mivangeline made a nod to the team, swiping a tab to grab her daggers. The rest of the group swiped their tabs for their weapons in the blue room that glowed with squared patterns. The air of the boss room turned magenta red. Everyone could feel the air vibrate with a swagger rock music theme onto the hairs of their skin as a huge red tab appeared in front of them.

⚠️!Warning!⚠️

💀Deadly Virus Detected!💀