Chapter 135: The Expedition Fleet
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 135: The Expedition Fleet
The moment the Sword of Expedition burst through the clouds, Atoris blinked—a rare sign of surprise.
That mountainous Titan flagship was supposed to be stationed in a military port deep within the Empire’s heartland.
What was it doing here?
In truth, Atoris knew very little about the so-called Expedition Plan.
Ever since Orion had succeeded her as Emperor, she had paid little attention to the Empire’s internal political affairs.
Out of trust for Orion, Atoris rarely interfered with his governance, mostly allowing him to make his own decisions. After all, managing the affairs of the Wheel of Fate branch already consumed the vast majority of her time and energy.
As for the meeting organized by Brandon, Atoris had declined to attend for the same reason.
Consequently, she was unaware of the arrangements made by Brandon and the others. Only Master Roland, who served as the liaison, and Orion, who had been briefed by him, were coordinating this operation.
Atoris happened to be completely out of the loop.
Normally, this wouldn't have mattered. According to the established plan, she should have been stationed in Carlos Lilanka, handling the branch's daily affairs. She shouldn't have had the energy to intervene in the conflict here at Heavenly Mountain.
But now, due to certain unexpected factors, Atoris found herself standing right in the middle of it.
And at this moment, the Imperial flagship she knew so well was slowly training its glowing blue cannons toward their position.
The surrounding air seemed to freeze instantly; even the wind slowed to a crawl.
If one were to ask: what is the simplest way to destroy a ritual?
The answer, of course, is to destroy the vessel carrying it.
As the vessel for the high-ranking angel summoning ritual, Heavenly Mountain had naturally become the target of the Sword of Expedition.
A second later, the hull of the Sword of Expedition began to light up section by section. The warship's alchemy core and thousands of auxiliary magic circles entered full-power operation.
Its main cannon was aimed directly at the Core Cathedral atop the peak of Heavenly Mountain.
Exactly where they were standing.
If this shot landed, the entire mountain peak would likely be shaved clean off.
"Wait, wait, wait! This isn't right! We—we're still here!!!"
Cecilia’s face turned deathly pale under the reflection of the blue light.
As the greatest alchemical creation of this era, no one could say for sure just how much of the collective wisdom of the Royal Alchemist Association was condensed within the Sword of Expedition.
And now, that cannon was pointed ruthlessly at them.
One blast from that thing wouldn't just take out the peak; it would probably shave three layers off the mountain's very foundation.
Atoris ignored Cecilia’s panic. She simply looked up at the massive, charging vessel, her azure eyes calm to the point of indifference.
"When the Sword of Expedition was first built, I attended the test firing in person and witnessed its maximum output..." Atoris paused. "Due to the technical bottlenecks in alchemy at the time, its main cannon's output was only capable of effectively killing units below the demigod level. As for those above..."
She turned her head slightly to look at Cecilia. "I estimate it would, at most, graze the skin."
"Huh?" Cecilia turned her neck stiffly, her voice trembling. "Um... Lady Sword Princess. Is there a possibility that... I'm not a demigod yet?"
"I know," Atoris replied nonchalantly.
In the next instant, a pure golden barrier erupted from her palm, enveloping the two of them perfectly.
[Shield of the Empire Lv.1]
This was the only defensive skill Atoris had learned—and the only one she was willing to learn—since stepping into the realm of a demigod.
It condensed the collective longing of the Aodu Empire's people for their land, their prayers for peace, and their trust in their protector...
It gathered all the will she could carry into a pure, inviolable energy bulwark. Its strength and range depended on how much of that collective will she could mobilize at that moment.
Furthermore, this skill possessed a crucial mechanism: friendly-fire recognition.
Woom—
The world fell into instantaneous silence.
Then, a second later.
BOOM—!!!
The world turned into a void of blinding white.
Cecilia curled up inside the golden shield, eyes squeezed shut. Though there was no actual danger, she could still feel the rush of destruction washing over the surface of the shield just inches away.
After an unknown amount of time, the white light that had swallowed everything finally began to recede.
The roar of the Sword of Expedition's main cannon ceased, and the peak of Heavenly Mountain, which had once pierced the clouds—
Was gone.
Only a vast, flat plateau remained.
Heavenly Mountain was, at best, an enormous geological structure; fundamentally, it was no different from any other mountain range. Without the protection of the Supreme Court, it could not withstand a direct bombardment from the Sword of Expedition.
Cecilia opened her eyes blankly. "Is... is it over...?"
Before she could finish, a sudden, intense feeling of weightlessness hit her.
"Wait, this is—"
They were high in the air.
The Sword of Expedition had blasted away the entire mountain peak, vaporizing the very ground they had been standing on. With the shield deactivated, she and Atoris were now in a free fall from hundreds of meters up.
"Waaaaahhhhh—!!!"
Cecilia flailed wildly in mid-air, while Atoris remained as composed as ever, her skirt not even fluttering as she fell.
Thud!
Upon landing, Atoris stood firm, her clothes pristine and free of dust. She reached out and pulled Cecilia, who was half-buried in a pile of rubble, back to her feet.
"Cough... cough cough..." Cecilia spat out a mouthful of dust and offered an embarrassed smile. "Lady Sword Princess, thank you... I think I'm still alive...?"
"If you're fine, stand up on your own."
"Oh! Right!"
Cecilia immediately stood up straight. As a legendary assassin of the Wheel of Fate, even if she hadn't reached the demigod level, her physical constitution far surpassed that of an ordinary person. Falling from several hundred meters only resulted in a bit of blood trickling from her forehead.
She wiped the blood away from her left eye and looked around.
The once-lofty Heavenly Mountain had been transformed into a high plateau.
Cecilia let out a long sigh of relief. "The high-ranking angels... they won't descend now, right?"
"At least not today," Atoris said, her tone still flat. "But the foundation of the ritual hasn't been completely destroyed."
Although the peak had been shaved off and the core area of the ritual lost, the majority of the mountain's mass remained, and the basic rituals within were still functioning.
A moment later, the ground began to churn.
Countless remains were spat out from the shattered layers of soil by some unseen force. They had clearly been dead for a long time, with fragments of church vestments still clinging to them.
Platinum-colored tumors burst forth from within these corpses.
A million corpses.
A million aberrant angels.
These angels, which had descended rapidly by possessing corpses, were far weaker than the previous ones—generally only level 50 to 70—and the time required for their full manifestation was much slower...
But they had numbers.
Against a million aberrant angels, even Atoris would find it difficult to cope.
Cecilia felt her throat tighten. "No way... there are still this many?!"
Seeing this, Atoris silently gripped the hilt of her sword.
Just as she was considering her next move, the sky suddenly darkened.
Looking up, the Sword of Expedition was still hovering high above. But behind it, the clouds were being torn asunder by a multitude of warships.
A second, a third, a fourth...
One warship after another broke through the clouds, deploying into a grim V-shaped formation behind the Sword of Expedition.
The Expedition Fleet.
In the next instant, the landing bays in the bellies of the fleet opened simultaneously. Countless alchemy machines fell from the sky like a torrential rain, the shockwaves of their impact instantly obliterating a portion of the aberrant angels.
Once they stabilized, the alchemical circuits on the steel behemoths lit up one by one. They then formed ranks and began a coordinated charge.
With the fire support from the fleet above, the aberrant angels were harvested by the mechanical legion like weeds.
Cecilia stood frozen in place, her voice sounding distant. "Is this... the Empire's... plan...?"
She looked toward Atoris, but the other woman shook her head slightly.
"To be precise, I wasn't informed either. This is likely a plan devised independently by Roland and Orion." She paused, her gaze sweeping over the Imperial fleet that blotted out the sun. "To dare redeploy the Expedition Fleet to attack Heavenly Mountain, they must have secured the support of the Northern Territory as their backing."
Atoris thought for a moment and pieced together the likely sequence of events.
The charge of the mechanical legion was unstoppable, but as Atoris watched it all, her brow furrowed.
"It's going too smoothly."