chapter 4: Battle (1)

The hesitation lasted only a nanosecond. If figures with such high energy signatures were protecting the planet, then it meant that the planet housed something extremely valuable, and the silver figure would have it. Its Crimson eyes grew brighter as more silver tentacles erupted from its back.

The vessel shook its adaptive nanite armor system, adjusting its structure to transform the basic rectangular form into an aggressive warship. The hull's plasma-forged support beams became locked while six retractable plasma lances emerged from the sides with their cores radiating controlled stellar energy. Both the dual nova cannons on the upper hull activated their magnetic coils, which prepared to fire hyper-accelerated tungsten spikes through railgun batteries that were simultaneously deploying photon lance arrays for shield penetration. The launch tubes released nanite swarm pods, which created a self-replicating swarm of hunter-killer drones that carried plasma cutters and disintegrator beams while the quantum torpedo bays deployed warheads containing chrono-disruptor charges. A surge of antimatter annihilation power fed the ship as its shield system activated a cascade matrix composed of quantum barriers combined with reactive plasma fields for protection. The ship projected holographic decoys through its phase shift modules while its auto-repair nanocloud maintained continuous real-time damage control. Through the activation of singularity projectors and online teleportation drives, the ship assumed the appearance of a war deity, which operated as a fully equipped leviathan prepared to deploy complete annihilation.

The silver figure's tentacles spread out through the system's interface. The ship was just an escort, but it would make it bend to his will. It tried recalling war information through its link with the omnisisah, but in that endeavor it failed. The link was still present, connecting it with its greater whole, but no communication could be established. The figure shelved this problem for later; it would find a way to reconnect itself to the greater whole.

The two figures stood in front of the planet, their faces marred with worry.

"What do you think that is?" The male figure asked.

"A monster from the stars, I'm guessing. No matter what it is, we need to protect Valtheer from it. It seems to want to enter, but the heaven's dome is preventing it." The female said in response.

"I sense no mana from it, but my instincts scream danger, Eliora. Should we call the others?" The male figure said, summoning a giant black halberd to his side.

"No, they wouldn't survive in this vacuum vitalis, separated from the world. Let them act as the second line of defense if this thing gets past us." She said, plucking a flower from her basket.

The silver figure eyes eyes turned a deeper shade of red, taking into account the weapon the male figure had just summoned, supspace it thought? Its plans shifting to take into account that variable. The silver figure began scanning its database, absorbing all tactics for battle. It wasn't built for battle, unlike its bruiser siblings. It was more attuned to growth and expansion, but that didn't mean it was defenseless.

Two plasma lances discharged in unison, spearing through the vacuum, their targets locked, helped by the fact that they were stationary. Vitalis, the male figure, reacted instantly, grabbing onto the halberd and swinging it in a crescent arc. A torrent of energy erupted from it, rushing forward with momentum, intercepting the lances. An explosion of epic proportions erupted from the collision's waves of energy drifting out. The female figure Eliora threw a flower, it split, turning into a shield. That covered the two figures, protecting them from the blast

But the barrage didn't end there; a concentrated beam of scalding energy from the nova beams came upon the shield constructed by Eliora, splintering it into pieces. Vitalis came in front of the beam using his body to tank it and protect Eliora. A large explosion took place, separating the two figures. Vitalis coughed up a mouthful of black blood. 

VITALIS!" Eliora screamed. She hurriedly began making her way back towards him, but the silver figure wasn't going to allow that.

The ship's upper hull opened up, displaying a rack of photon missiles. On command, they were released, hundreds of projectiles rushing towards Vatalis. He was injured; it made sense to remove him first. 

Vatalis groaned, and he raised his halberd above him.

"DESTRUCTION VORTEX," He roared as he twirled the halberd

Waves of purple energy wafted from him as they surged into the space surrounding him. All the photon missiles imploded, forming a cacophony of destruction. But it wasn't over, the waves travelled colliding with the ship, though most of their energy was already drained. The waves slammed onto the ship, the impact absorbed by the ship's shield,causing negligible damage.

Eliora made it back to Vitalis' side, and she checked his injuries, seeing a large crack on the chest region of his armour. She plucked another flower, throwing it up. It burst into light particles, slowly falling onto the two, healing them.

"Our power is greatly weakened here," Vitalis said, turning to Eliora.

Eliora, though, didn't stop there; she grabbed a handful of flowers, her petal irises rapidly spinning as she threw them in the direction of the ship. 

"BLOOM," She shouted

The flowers bloomed, turning into large tree roots that surged forward, aiming to pierce the ship.

The drone swarm responded, rushing forward to meet the roots rapidly approaching. Their plasma cutters glinted against the backdrop of space and, with ruthless efficiency, shredded the foliage. Eliora's gaze widened. She reached her hand into a basket, aiming to grab onto more flowers, but the ship didn't give them time to prepare.

Quantum torpedoes launched rapidly approached. Sensing the danger, Vitalis grabbed onto Eliora's waist, warping them away. Narrowly dodging the explosion of the torpedoes. They stared in shock at the damage caused. If that had hit them, they would have been in great danger.

But they had no time to waste, as another barrage of photon missiles was already upon them. They began flying through space, dodging the swarm of drones and missiles and the endless laser fire on their tails. They were truly pressed. The silver figure pressed a holographic screen as a compartment on the hull opened up.

A sonic cannon.

It prepped it up, following the two figures as they launched attacks at the swarm, reducing their numbers. 

It fired, and the unaware Eliro was caught by surprise by the sonic attack, ramming into her. She halted, clutching her ears as golden blood dripped through every orifice in her body, and she keeled over spewing large amounts of blood.

"ELIORA," Vitalis shouted, but he couldn't save her.

Thousands of photon missiles, drones, and laser fire concentrated on her. Resulting in the biggest explosion yet.