Bab 73: Breakthrough
Joan Fernandez ordered every Airship in the Air fleet to stop.
"Do you hear that sound?" She asked the captain to her right.
A thunderous sound rang in their ears, though not as loud, it still made them chill. The sound grew louder in volume and intensity and they began to hear it everywhere.
"Oh no,"
Joan and the rest of the crew began to look spastically around them in the sky, searching for whatever was causing the thunderous roars.
And then they saw the small specks in the distance. There were many of them, numbering ten to twenty from north to south, west to east.
"Metal Dragons!" The crewmates began to panic. The metal dragon that decimated a quarter of their air fleets had called its brethren and was about to eliminate them once and for all!
Joan hastily readied the mages and had the gunners ready loaded every cannons in the Destroyer. She then ordered the other captian in the other airships to made a path for the Destroyer to faced against the metal dragons, the plan was let the Percy-class Destroyer to be in the front to faced against the Metal Dragons, blast them using the Destroyer's tens of cannons and magical missiles against them.
This was a dumb move. A very dumb move that not even the dumbest of tacticians would do. You already saw one enemy had destroyed 1/5 of your Air fleets just itself, not even magic barriers that protects the airship didn't defend the airships against their missiles. The Percy-class Destroyer was a massive airship that could compare other football stadium-size airships as children. Making a passage way for the Destroyer is a pretty dumb move, because on how large the airship was, it'll make it as a easy target, airships aren't that really fast ships, they are about fast approximately to 40 to 301 miles per hour, while fast, with its huge size, it can't easily dodge a very fast projectile, that was one of the biggest weakness for large Airships like the Percy-class Destroyer.
Seeing the move she put on, Joan essentially sealed their fate. But, who can blame her? They were facing an enemy that did not fight on equal terms and thus, whatever strategy they cook up would just go to waste immediately. Even she wants to faced against them using her Demigod powers, it will risk her fellow men to get killed by her magic, it was her weakness after all.
So they just went and hoped for the best.
Most of them prayed and asked the goddess for help.
But, they no longer felt the same enthusiasm or power they once got when the goddess last blessed them. Where was she? Are all gods like this? When they face defeat, they just up and go? Leave their followers behind?
It seemed so.
These thoughts are soon forgotten as few Airships besides them exploded.
The Gunship Drones have begun their assault, unleashing a wave of missiles from all directions dealing the same powerful blast over and over again. The airships besides the Percy-class Destroyer including itself was hit the hardest, the mages desperately increasing the ship's magic barrier over and over everytime the missiles damaging the barrier, they did not expect the enemy to attack from such a distance.
Their magic were of no use, the enemy bombarded them until there was no order left. Joan Fernandez flew through the storm of missiles, she fly through the routed airships, sometimes she accidentally destroyed an unrouted airship with healthy crewmates inside.
As she flew across the battlefield in the sea of clouds, slaying few metal dragons, she looks around and realize they are loosing, she was going nowhere, she thought of charging the enemy head-on and kept slaying and let the Destroyer blast them everything from their ammunition until it runs dry would suffice and this did what she did.
The Theocracy had the advantage of magic, airships, and demigods on their side, but what kept them from gaining a victory? It was simple psychology, fear. Fear was a key factor in their defeat. Not once did they ever encounter such an enemy that would decimate entire armies and murder tens of millions in a matter of weeks, even days!
Their minds were not prepped, even if they were, they were still human. There enemies? They were beings made out of metal, machines with no emotion or empathy. They entered their world and now seek to claim it as their own, they bring with them destruction and despair but leave behind a peaceful fruit that only a few may eat.
An Utopia for every living beings to live, but, why?
Only a handful will experience the utopia, a handful of lucky souls.
The God Of Death was present. He watched as millions of souls went through his being and person.
He wanted to witness how exactly the army of mortals stand against the slayers of gods. He expected nothing less, he expected lower though. His expectations were broken as soon as the Gunship Drones fired their hellfire missiles.
The Gunship Drones then closed the distance and began to fire their guns at anyone who is at the decks of the ships. Each bullet killed one to four soldiers in an instant while wounding several others more in the aftermath of it all. While they able to take down only a small numbers of Gunships, it is still no use of gaining victory.
Defeat is inevitable.
No matter how many you took down, they will always another one come and decimate you.
Behold, death.
Behold, despair.
And behold.
Artemis back on base looking through the live feed of a recon drone to witness the destruction. He watched as his Gunship Drones made quick work of the enemy airships. They were scattering like panicking ducks once you shot one of them with a shotgun.
"Good work," Artemis said, "The Gunship Drones seem to be enjoying themselves, have they run out of missiles already?"
"It seems so, one of the Gunship Drones reported that they have expended their missile ammunitions a couple of minutes ago before we arrived," Johnathan confirmed.
"I see, so we need to expand their capacity then,"
"Quite,"
Artemis continued to watch the live feed and noticed a peculiar shape among the airships, the big one actually.
"Is the ship's cannons look like tridents?" Artemis asked his elite drone.
"It seems so," Michael also confirmed.
"Michael, Johnathan, I ask you, what are your thoughts concerning this war?" Artemis suddenly questioned the Androids. He had nothing to gain from the question except for one thing, determining just how much the Elite Androids have evolved in terms of.. well... human nature.
Androids are supposed to be mindless creatures with an intellect far surpassing a human, or near it. They had no emotion, no freewill except what is programmed within them from the start. This was one of the most common questions about life, how does complex life even begin? where did these emotions come from?
Were they an evolutionary by-product? why would they need it? Why would humans need it? These questions, though having a solid foundation and credit, would be best ignored by those with intellect. There was no use in trying to find an answer to the universe's hardest question, or maybe, the question was not supposed to be answered? a rhetorical kind.
As the Android answered his question, the more it revealed how far it was in becoming something indeed human. A complex mechanical life form.
Artemis stared blankly at both Androids.
And a burning question came into his mind.
Should I start referring to these two as 'he'? but they have no gender...
As Artemis thought deeper into this, he thought it best to ignore it for now. Well, these Androids weren't going to start having an identity crisis, would they? Well, he hoped.
On the sea of clouds, the fleets of airships continued to be ravaged. Bullets after bullets rained down upon them with no end in sight. The ground beneath the clouds into the plains were thousands upon thousands of wreckage of Airships, fire everywhere, bodies on every area on sight, the blood of the fallen began to absorb pools of blood deep under its surface, at this rate the underground water reservoirs may be tainted red by the blood of the fallen.
An hour of senseless destruction passed. The sky has finally clear, the winds blew from the north. There was nothing left, wood, weapons, body parts, and everything we see lied on the ground. Some still had hands gripping, well, some were hands while others were just charred remains of what was a hand.
The bodies were by the hundred thousand, they were all scattered across the grassy plains and the clouds on the sky began to clear and were shone upon by the morning star. Insects began to fly around the remains as quickly as the dust settled. There was really nothing left.
There were severed limbs scattered about, a few bodies were trembling and shaking. Though they were dead, their nervous system still functioned somewhat and sent signals through what remained of the nerves. Griffins were not spared from the bloodshed, nay, they lied on the ground as well, some even had their riders still clinging on their backs.
The Theocracy's last army has been defeated. There was no recovering from this.
The Gunship Drones were circling the scene, taking out those unlucky enough to survive. Yes, to live after this was a nightmare. You were only giving yourself more time to suffer. More pain and no gain.
The transport ship landed near the southern edge of the massacre. The hatches opened and hundreds of Androids came out. They marched in formation. They marched through the bodies as Androids back on base ordering the Androids to shoot those who were still alive.
[Give them mercy]
He said.
And yes, to end their life after such a traumatic experience was merciful indeed. To end their life after suffering as much as they did was mercy, that he believed and that belief shaped how he treated the survivors. They must embrace their demise, there was no coming back from this. Not even magic could save them from something as devastating as this.
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=Hakku Plains=
Two Android Soldiers were walking through the plains as they torched hundreds of both bodies and airship parts.
As they were walking their way through the aftermath of what used to be the great fleets of airships of the Theocracy, they immediately raised their flamethrowets when a woodrn plank slides and drops on the floor by a blue sphere barrier. The Androids headed closer towards the magic barrier closely, when get a clear view through the barrier, they could see a black knight inside.
[Analysing.....
Name: Joan Fernandez Age: 216 Rank: S+ Title: -Leader of the Red Scriptures -Most Powerful General of the Sendate Theocracy
Threat level: Black(Very High)
Other Info: █████ ███ ████████ █ ████ ███ ████ ████████████ ████ █ ██████ ███ █████ █████████.....]
"This is S-45395, We got something here, black knight appearance, threat level black, Transcenion level Demigod on our location,"
[Copy, whats your location?]
"27.2046° N, 77.4977° E, somewhere in the center of Hakku plai—..." Before the Android could continue, the second Android Soldier shouted.
Target has begun to move, weapons ready," Throwing the flamethrower then putting out their Battle Rifle, they aim at the Black Knight inside the magic barrier.
The Black Knight turned its head to the Androids direction as they loaded and ready to fire, the black knight's eyes through the helmet visors started to glow blue. Joan through the helmet opened her mouth to let out a cry of anger and hate that came out as a hoarse screech from her melted vocals.
"AHHHHH!!!!!"
"Target began to become hostile, weapons free," With the Android's word, the two Android Soldiers began to fire their guns.
Anyone would expect the bullets would bounce off of Joan's barrier who has an ability to be completely immune to attacks that don't have any magic power.
However…
What unexpectedly happened is that the bullets just easily tore through the High tier magic barrier. The magic barrier was enhanced by magic to completely immune to unmagical attacks and any non magical weapons, however, the Machine's weapons also contains Argent Energy, while its true nature is not fully known and not magical in nature, it has slight similar properties of it, or they just don't give a shit at all.
In truth, they just completely ignore and bypass any magical defenses or unmagical immunity without problem, Argent Energy is still one of the most complicated things Artemis has at his disposal.
Joan, however already knew that, she faced them before doing their Offensive and learned that any high tier magic defenses or immunity she or her men uses are completely no use against their weapons, the magic barrier she casted wasn't her real intentions to keep her alive, no, it gives her more time to heal herself and recovered her mana for just a small fraction of a second.
As the bullets went closer to Joan, ready to penetrate through her armor and tear her flesh out, out of nowhere a blue pillar of light descended from the heavens and strike at Joan's body, the Primelium bullets were phased through her afterimages, Joan now learn the only way to defend against their deadly weapons was to dodge them. With her speed, she could easily fend off against these bullets.
The Androids continued to shoot at the dark Knight, but they now knew their efforts were useless, so they put out their energy swords and lunged towards the Knight.
However, it was all useless as the pillar of blue light created a powerful shockwave on its own pushing the two Androids a few meters back, they easily recovered from the force.
Then suddenly a shadow in front of them ascended as it brightens the whole darkness of the night. The two Androids look up and see the now reborn Joan Fernandez.
[IMAGES]
Unlike before, her mana is now sstronger than before, her strength, speed, and senses are now far beyond her current rank.
The pillar of blue light then fades off, its not a spell nor any magic Joan casted, it was a break through.
A break through towards another level.
For the first time in 100 years, Joan Fernandez, has now finally break through towards Sainthood level(Lv.126).
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
Artemis099
Artemis099 AAAAALLLLL RIGHT! Ready for the epic battle, readers! IT. IS. TIME. FOR THE UPCOMING FINAL BATTLE OF THE CRUSADE! This battle will finally show the fate between the Machine Empire and the Senadate Theocracy, hope you'll like the battle, I don't know if its good.
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