Astral's Rise Part 70: Ironclad

'Here goes nothing.' His suit faded back into appearance as he smiled underneath his helmet pointing to the direction of the Everlast. "Jaimie! Code five five zero three four! Go time is now!" Astral's left gauntlet glinted as it fired a cyan beam of light.

"Shit, the signal won't reach in time!" Astral tuned to the elders. "How is the fight so far, cause we will have a troublesome couple of days ahead. Pulling out his rifle he saw a handful of the sacramentum fighter jets swarm in as Astral gunned them down. "Why did I not give Zeta any repairs?" Astral kicks a rock upwards hitting another jet in his anger.

The peons around him shied away as the elders stood still. "Sir, all of the routes except for two are blocked off to here to continue the allowance of Peon children to be safe." Astral nodded.

"Good call." Astral commented quietly, they were horribly outgunned and yet Astral still had faith they could stand a chance. Astral flexed his wrist upward as a light bubble encased their area as ballistics rained down from above as the ships came into orbit and barraged the area they were at as Astrals barrier held firm.

"They have no choice but to invade by land, and have all priorities to focus on evacuation efforts." Astral stood still as he saw dropships and charged them where they landed. As they filled out of the shuttle Astral stood there.

"Came looking for me? Come and get me." Astral waived his hand to have them come at him. They stood still as Astral fired flares to the Peons as the gates would be shut as the Tizzles continued to gather among the entrance in front of Astral.

Astral stood as they did. The stalemate of minds among them as the two sides tried to think of a way through. In a burst of motion Astral charged in the front of the Tizzle line as he sliced his sword in the line, slicing three of them as they all charged past him. Astral looked back snapping his fingers as his scythe came flying forward dicing apart the ones trying to charge through the gap Astral left.

Plasma fire from the peons came out of the gap as Astral kept throwing his scythe around while beating down Tizzle warriors with his hands. The peon elders took the front lines as they kept the gateway Astral set up secure. The tizzle's retreated for now as the bombardment on the light shield was increased.

"We did it!" one of the elders shouted as the peons cheered. Astral held a hand up motioning them back into cover. "But they are retreating? Why should we fall back too?"

A beam of concentrated plasma started to rain down on them as Astral flicked his wrist upwards. Using the mirror spell to send it directly at the hub of the Sacramentum. The heat was surrounding him and the area. "Run before the entire area cumbusts from the pressure!" Astral yelled as it wasn't heard. The peons watched in awe as one person manifested this much power.

Astral watched the hot plasma beam redirect itself back to the hub world. The entire station sparkling from the shimmering shield of it. 'Shit, it's on par with my magical spells.' Astral focused as she moved the plasma bolt into the cruiser firing it. Destroying it as it imploded from pressure as well as the area around Astral.

The heat slowed his movement as he turned to the peons who were able to deal with the extreme heat with ease. He activated the bubble spell for himself as the planet turned into one giant fireball.

Once the heat subsided after a few hours Astral started to do tests on the atmosphere. Using vials he saw what made it so special. The minerals and elements that gave life to the peons was highly flammable. Seeing as how the peons handled the heatwave it isn't the first time this happened.

"Jaimie, message received from Astral code five five zero three four!" One of the officers shouted from the bridge. "What's the maneuver?" Jaimie stood still. Digging deep into her memory she realized which code it was.

"Why that code when there is no Red Merle to use, wait." Jaimie processed it for a moment. "Fire up the warp engines, we need to get to Astral's position yesterday." She saw the trap forming. "All ground based units, platoons, tanks and close quarter fighter jets. Ready up. All fireteam leaders to the bridge!" Jaimie gave the command as the Everlast went full speed to Astral position.

Night passed on the planet as Astral's light barrier kept taking more of a beating from the Sacramentum cruisers. Astral stayed awake and vigilant as another day passed. All the Sacramentum did was bombing runs and trying to bring down Astral's barrier as he flowed all of his focus into it. On the dawn of the third day two carriers deployed hundreds of thousands of Tizzle forces to charge in.

The atmosphere had cooled back down for the Tizzle forces to walk safely among the valleys. They all stood with their rifles raised at Astral as they held their fire until given the command. Staring into his eyes they all saw how he was worn and exhausted. The barrage meant he couldn't go into the pocket dimension and rest due to the hard light barrier dropping for even a millisecond.

"All troops fire!" The decorated Tizzle spoke out as they let their fingers hit the trigger. They fired into a cyan vortex as something came from space. Astral spun his sword as fast as he physically could to stop the bolts from striking him. Looking up defeated he saw it.

"There it is, the Sacramentum hub, roughly the size of a continent and that much around. How interesting. Its shielding is great but we can beat it!" Jaimie shouted among the bridge. "Gunner's prioritize danger close." Jaimie pressed a button to signal for the ground forces to be ready. "All fighters deploy and stay close to the Everlast, we can shield you against the big attacks, you stop the little ones." She oversaw the holo table as the battlemap lit up with thousands of hostile dots. Cruisers, carriers, interceptors and battleships all coming to attack the flagship.

Astral stopped blocking as she shouted. "Absolute zero!" Pushing his left arm forward all of the Tizzle units were frozen in time and temperature as Astral glided through them, his suit slowly coming to life. "Jaimie, do Adam and Zane know where we are if they finish their campaigns early?" His voice echoed on the communication channel as the Everlast was charging through the defenses the Sacramentum had.

"Yes, hey, did you sleep at all, you seem quicker than normal?" Jaimie asked as she tightened her armor pieces.

"We can worry about that after we crack the egg." Astral's paws and wings appeared as he lifted off the planet. His arching wings glistened as Jaimie fired two solar shells at the hub. They hit the shield as it did little to nothing. Astral stood where the shells hit. He stared as the Everlast closed in behind him.

"Peirce." Astral spoke as he pulled his sword back and stabbed the shield. It bent inward. He twisted it inward as the shield became stressed from his pressure. Feeling a force trying to pull him away he recognized the pull.

The Everlast rammed into Astral breaking the shield as the shuttle got swarmed. The fighter jets swooped in and kept Astral and the Everlast safe. Astral rolled up the Everlast and waved into the bridge. Jaimie waved back as she signaled to get below and lead the charge.