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It did not take long for the Fer King to realize that something was wrong. After the communication was cut off to the other planets, he guessed that the so-called Arcane Empire that has declared war on them must have acted.
So, another meeting was held to determine the next course of action. Because of their technology, the Fer race did not have private spaceships that can travel between planets.
They have to rely on the Launching Pads to set off their fleet. Luckily for them, one of the 7 planets that they have occupied was still intact. So, they unanimously voted to launch all the ships they currently have on an expedition to the other planets.
According to the council's prediction, all the other races that they have enslaved will most likely rebel, thus turning these colonies into chaos. Without support from other planets, this is the best opportunity for them to overthrow the Fer race.
After the decision was made, countless soldiers were called to arm, countless spaceships flew from Planet Goldinite. However, something unexpected occurred.
As soon as these fleets reached outside of the planet, they found a man dressed in black clothes, a staff in his hand, and wearing a hood floating in the vacuum of space; he seemed to be waiting for them.
The Commander of the Fer Fleet was quite surprised by this sight. Although the Fer race has mana inside their bodies, it is only located in their skin, so they have no way of actively using it.
Through intense training and combat, the Fer race can passively absorb mana in the environment to increase their Tiers. However, with each advancement, only their defense has drastically increased.
If the Priests did not theorize that mana could grant people power beyond imagination, beyond comprehension, he would have thought that this man was a God.
"My name is Gellert Grindelwald, an Arcanist from the Arcane Empire. Prepare to be annihilated."
His voice directly ignore the defense of the Commander's ship and was sent directly to the latter's mind. An act that greatly surprised him.
"Is that the Power of Mana?" muttered the commander. "If we can master this power, we will eventually become Gods."
Immediately, he ordered all the fleets to attack. Then, countless missiles, bombs, and grenades were launched at Grindelwald. The latter, however, just responded by placing a shield around him.
Once the bombardment of more than a thousand ships ended, Grindelwald was perfectly intact. However, a frown could be found on his face under the hood.
'A lot of my mana was used to block this attack; more than I anticipated.'
The reason he appeared was because of a mission: the Empire wanted to see whether Tier 5 Individuals could stand up to a fleet. This was a test of humans against machines, individual power vs collective powers.
Grindelwald raised his wand and three magic circles appeared in front of him.
Arcane Rune Spell: Rock Summoning
Arcane Rune Spell: Reinforcement
Arcane Rune Spell: Velocity Acceleration
A bunch of rocks appeared in front of him, then, these rocks were reinforced. Finally, these rocks rushed at unprecedented speed. Wherever these rocks touched the Fer spaceships, they would pass through as if they were swiss cheese.
Their shield proved to be useless. The commander ordered the team to use evasive maneuvers. This tactic worked but they still lost dozens of ships in the process.
Despite this, the Commander ordered the soldiers to not stop the attack, no matter the cost.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Countless explosions occurred around Grindelwald but his shield remained intact. He cast another spell:
Arcane Rune Spell: Sectumsempra.
Myriad transparent slashes appeared and cut dozens more ships into many pieces. And this was not the end. Grindelwald began to use elemental spells.
So, many ships were frozen into ice, along with all the soldiers inside. Some of them were destroyed by the explosion caused by the spell Fireblast.
Gravity spell was used to smash many spaceships together.
At this point in the battle, Grindelwald did not block these bombardments head-on but teleported at regular intervals to evade them.
The Fer Commander was very calm while watching his fleet slowly being decimated by one man. His eyes twinkled with intense desire.
"Launch the Nukes."
"Sir, is this approach a little unwise," said his second-in-command with a little trepidation.
"Why is that?" asked the Commander lightly.
"This person seemed to have the ability to teleport; it should be easy for him to evade."
"Order hundred of our ships to self detonate. The shockwave should be powerful enough to temporarily block the space and prevent him from teleporting.
"We can use this opportunity to launch more than a thousand nukes and kill him."
Although the commander wanted to capture the enemy alive and learn the Secrets of Mana from him, the situation does not allow it. If he loses any more ships, his status in the council will be affected and his enemies can use this event to remove him from his position.
The second-in-command flinched a little, "But sir…"
"It is the honor of these soldiers to fight and die for the preservation and future of our race; they should be ready for this."
The second-in-command hesitated for a moment before giving the order. So, more than a hundred ships rushed closed to Grindelwald before exploding.
The shockwave was powerful enough to send him flying away. And as the commander expected, Grindelwald could not apparate away. Immediately afterward, his face become contorted.
He saw countless missiles rushing in his direction. His right activated and he instantly did short divination. He instantly knew these missiles were nukes.
'Since I cannot teleport right now, I need to survive the first wave of explosions until the space becomes stable enough.'
Then, he superimposed many shields on himself, mainly Water Shields to counter the heat in the explosion.
Bang!
Intense heat overwhelmed Grindelwald, trying to turn him into ashes. Cracks appeared on his shield but it still protected him for a few seconds. And the moment the space was no longer unstable, he used another spell:
Arcane Rune Spell: Space Transfer.
All the nukes, heat, nuclear radiation were teleported to a space far away. At least a couple of dozen light-years away.
Grindelwald was breathing heavily with sweat on his forehead. A good chunk of his mana was depleted. Then, a great deal of anger overcame him.
"Protego Diabolica."
A giant blue dragon appeared behind him before rushing to the remaining fleet of the Fer race. Everywhere the dragon went, everything was burned into ashes.
In just a few minutes, the fire spread everywhere until nothing was remaining. After seeing this, Grindelwald sighed before controlling the Fiendfyre and preventing it from reaching the planets.
Finally, he began to write a report, which was the real purpose of this battle.
"Based on the data acquired, it should be possible to use large fleets to kill powerful individuals with high Tier. The goal of such a tactic is not to kill the individual, but to force them to deplete their mana and render them useless.
"It is estimated that a great number of low-level soldiers and ships will be sacrificed in the process. However, the Empire can use clones as replacements to ensure the safety of our soldiers.
"Additionally, this tactic may be only possible with Tier 7 Star Level and might be ineffective against higher Tiers."
The report did not stop there but also mention tactics that should be guarded against. For example, if he wanted, he could have placed an Invisible Spell on himself to prevent the Fer Race from targeting him.
Or, he could have used the Imperio Spell to control the soldiers and have them shoot on each other. And so many more.
(The War Arc is almost finished. Honestly, I'm not really satisfied with how it turned out. Hopefully, wars in the future will be better.)
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Title: The Cruelty of the Universe
