World Keeper

Chapter 1017: First Blood

It had been half an hour since the invasion began. Immediately, Dana and Lifre both left to scout and figure out the strength of the enemies, as well as the status of the various worlds. It was a risk to let the two of them out, but they were protected by the Heavenly Gate, so even if they did die, they would simply be stuck in the Admin Room until the invasion ended. Regardless, we needed a way to discover what was going on in the other worlds.

The fact that it was taking them so long was rather worrying, causing me to clench my fists at my sides. I didn’t have any way of knowing if anything had gone wrong. Another half hour, and I’ll ask Leowynn’s incarnation if she can sense anything…

As I thought about that, I sensed a ripple in the nearby energy. I was standing just outside of Olympus to wait for the duo to return, and immediately took a defensive stance when I saw a void gate opening in front of me. Next to me, Tsubaki summoned her nine orbs, clearly ready to fight.

Through the gate, Lifre and Dana rushed in, Dana hastily closing the gate behind her. The two were breathing heavily, showing that they had just escaped from something. Dana looked like she was about to speak, but then immediately closed her mouth.

“Leowynn!” I called out, the silver-haired goddess immediately appearing. Now that Leowynn herself wasn’t occupying the body, the original owner seemed more aloof than normal. She swept a level gaze over the two of them that had returned.

“There are no lingering influences.” She said simply, before turning and walking over to a nearby tree.

Hearing that, Dana let out a soft sigh. “Good. Okay. Sorry, one of those guys does something to voices, so I had to be sure before I spoke.”

I nodded my head, letting my body relax slightly.  “Report.”

“Right!” Dana and Lifre stood up straight, serious expressions on their faces. Dana was the first to speak. “I checked the accelerated worlds, Lorek and Spica. Lorek is facing a powerful cloning monster. Everything in the world has to fight an identical version of itself, the winner having to fight yet again after a certain period, with both sides thinking that they are the original. Thankfully, it seems like the clones have lower maximum energy, so the odds are tilted in favor of the inhabitants, but that isn’t likely to last. Already, as many as ten percent of the inhabitants have fallen.”

“Spica, meanwhile, is facing a mutation apocalypse. Plants and animals are evolving to become more feral and deadly to the inhabitants. While they’ve kept things at bay so far, this apocalypse is likely to only get stronger the longer it is left alone.”

“Additionally, it seems like some of the enemy have been pacified. Roughly twenty percent of the enemies were seen roaming a green pasture-like sanctuary. For the others, they are only using one monster each to attack every world, with the rest patrolling the void. Lifre and I almost got pulled into a fight on our return trip.”

I nodded my head, looking at Lifre. “I was in charge of the worlds with the normal flow of time. Of the primary planets, Deckan is in the worst situation. More than ninety percent of its surface has been destroyed. The void monster attacking this world has made it so that any form of ‘voice’ causes a massive soundwave that destroys the nearby area. This includes the cries of animals, which trigger the cries of other animals, and so on. Because of this, it is expected that all of Deckan’s wildlife has already been destroyed.”

“Desbar is facing a total shutdown of technology and magic alike. Anything that requires any form of power will not operate, and the temperature planetside is rapidly decreasing.”

“Earth’s apocalypse is in the form of a murder game. Kill or be killed. However, the various defenses has lessened the impact enough that people can participate only in every other round, as long as they receive healing in between.”

“Kione’s apocalypse is the second worst, after Deckan. The light of the sun is causing uncontrolled mutation in any organic life it touches directly. These mutants retain their original minds, but appear to be in intense pain.”

“Sher Dien is facing a cosmic storm, but the situation is manageable as long as they remain within their bunkers. The impact was lessened enough that it won’t destroy any celestial bodies in the short term.”

“Finally… the world of the March.” Lifre hesitated. This was undoubtedly the world with the most civilized lifeforms. “The dead have begun to walk. In worlds that are protected by the hyperlane network, it is only the creatures that have died in the last twenty-four hours that rise up. Otherwise, there appears to be a duration as long as a month. These dead do not have souls, but possess various abilities that they likely had in life.”

“That’s… impressive that you discovered all of that in half an hour.” I praised, the two grinning smugly.

“We’ve been practicing, and divided the work with multiple avatars.” Dana said, Lifre nodding her head quickly. “So, what’s the plan, boss?”

I closed my eyes, thinking through the reports. Kione’s apocalypse reminded me of the Death Star strategy that I used a while back. However, it was undoubtedly more tame than that, being controlled by a void beast rather than a rampantly mutating void script. “We need to pick our battles. For now, Desbar and Deckan can be treated as low priority.”

“The most urgent among the apocalypse scenarios will be Lorek, Spica, and then Earth. After that, we need to resolve Kione, the March, and Sher Dien. Finally, Deckan and Desbar.”

Tsubaki glanced over curiously. “May I ask why you have set Deckan’s priority so low? It seems to be among the most dangerous, does it not?”

I nodded my head, before pausing and shaking it instead. “It is, but the damage to that world has already been done by now. From what Lifre said, the apocalypse that hit Deckan put all its destructive power upfront, so anyone that can survive the first wave has a high chance of surviving later.”

“On the other hand… the lowering temperature of Desbar likely means that it is treating the sun as something that is powered. So the world will begin to rapidly cool as the heat is no longer able to make it to the world. This is a slower burn apocalypse, thus one we can put off dealing with.”

“Lorek and Spica have accelerated time, so we have to be urgent with them. Especially Lorek, as they are constantly fighting their clones. By now, half a day will have passed. Spica’s situation might be less urgent, but we still need to hurry. As for Earth… with a ‘murder game’ like that, the sooner we get there, the more likely we are to be able to salvage the situation.”

Tsubaki nodded her head, manifesting a pair of daggers. “When will we move, then?” She asked, though I shook my head again.

“It’s too early for us to move personally. We don’t know the strength of the void monsters that are patrolling the void. They might be waiting for us, or perhaps they are trying to find a weakness in the barriers around each world.” I glanced off to the side. “Leowynn, your troops will be in charge of the first few waves of attack. Try to prioritize eliminating the void beasts from the worlds I mentioned, and get an idea of the combat strength of the others.”

Leowynn gave a firm nod of her head, closing her eyes. “It will be done.”

The worst part of this was the number of units that we would have to deal with. We undoubtedly had more troops than the enemy, but these were all apocalyptic beasts. I had to consider that they were specifically trained to fight in the void. Even if the monsters targeting Lorek, Spica, and Earth were destroyed, there were more than enough void beasts to replace them.

Regardless, no matter which world we were discussing at this point, it was unlikely that we would ever find a new, inhabited planet after this invasion ended. “Sir!” Lifre lifted a hand. “I’d like permission to mobilize the Last Gasp! It’s a ship I created while you were all off at your place, and it’s specifically trained to hunt void beasts!”

I thought about it for a moment, nodding my approval. Lifre smiled, closing her eyes and sending the mobilization order.

Mora’s breaths were deep and ragged, standing back to back with the copy of herself that had initially appeared. She didn’t know anymore, and frankly it didn’t matter. All around them were the dissolving bodies of people identical in appearance and aura to themselves.

“So… it looks like I’m the fake?” The clone behind Mora said with a small grunt, a large gash across her chest. It had only taken them a few minutes to identify the key weakness of the copies, that being that they had more limited energy reserves. Although they had all of the original’s techniques, they could not fight as long. This had caused the original Mora to step in and defend her first copy on multiple occasions.

After all, even though she was a copy, she was still someone helping her fight. “Looks that way.” Mora nodded her head, waiting for the next wave to appear. She infused some of her divine power into her clone through her back. “Take a moment to recover. We don’t know how long this will last.”

Her clone gave a bitter smile, her clouded eyes facing downwards. “How many of them do you think have made it this far?”

“I don’t know. Hopefully all of them. We can check their auras after this is done. Or maybe the clones will all disappear with the death of the void beast responsible.”

“Looking forward to my death already?” The clone said with a morbid smile, Mora simply chuckling.

“We’ve never feared death. The only thing we should fear is a life that’s not worth living. To prevent that, my blade will sever even the sky.” Mora said, holding her blade of starlight forward.

Her clone nodded in agreement, lifting her own blade. “Then mine will sever what lies beyond. It was nice fighting alongside another as an equal.” She said, Mora turning her head in alarm. However, she felt a surge of her divinity leaving her control, flooding towards the clone behind her.

“You… why…” She asked, clouded eyes shaking.

“Like you said. The only thing worth fearing is a life that’s not worth living.” The clone said with a smile. She took a low stance, channeling the power that she stole from Mora into her starlight blade. “You could think of my impending death, then why can’t I? So… I decided to put this time to good use. We always were a genius with the sword.”

The clone’s starlight blade turned pitch black as a new constellation seemed to overlap with it, a massive surge of energy flooding in from the surroundings. Mora could sense all of this, confusion rising over her face. This wasn’t an ability that she knew, but she could quickly decipher its intent, as it was built upon her knowledge. Had her clone been working to invent a new sword technique while they were fighting?

“Live well.” Her clone said, her face becoming increasingly pale as she abruptly lifted her stance, swiping towards the sky. “Blade of the Universe.”

The sword beam vanished into the air, and the clone collapsed, breathing heavily from the exertion. There was a scar in the air where the beam had passed, and Mora could hear a shrill scream from beyond. As the scar closed, Mora could feel her clone’s existence rapidly fading. Still, her smile never left her face, knowing that she had accomplished something good. She knew that for one moment, the clone had surpassed the original.