Ekological Chimera
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Chapter 34 - Explosive Retaliation
🕑 Added 2024-10-20 11:54:39 +0000 UTCSitting cross-legged on top of her tower, the Custodian had to admit that she had perhaps underestimated the Terrans a tad. The aliens had proved decisive in their response, resulting in a steady stream of projectiles hammering the sky above the First Temple, each strike strong enough to level the building and the hill it stood on.
It was unfortunate that the prisoners held here did not deter them, but such was life.
Concentrating, Serana eyed one of the metal starships, while gathering power and glancing at the rather conspicuous boulder next to her. The rock was quite a bit larger than her, only barely fitting on the tower’s floor.
She had carried it here with her power after doing some rather promising tests with smaller rocks. It was a good thing that the tower’s roof had yet to be repaired, otherwise, the roof would be in the way.
A few seconds later, the boulder shot towards the sky at a great speed. The shield above the Temple flickered momentarily to let it pass, while Serana watched with interest.
In the blink of her eyes, the boulder had hit one of the smaller ships and cracked it in half.
The Custodian smiled. It had taken her some time to work it out, but even though she had to reinforce the projectile, it was still cheaper than attacks composed purely of Eternity’s power and for only slightly worse results. Who would have thought a bit of rock could do so much damage when accelerated sufficiently?
The bombardment immediately intensified in response, causing her smile to falter. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one keeping her cards close to her chest.
She could keep the shield up without much trouble, but it did require a significant portion of her capacity and concentration. Sleep wasn’t a big issue for now, since she didn’t need it, but going for long periods without was more than a little annoying.
How much of an issue this would be depended on how long they’d manage to keep the attack up. Hopefully, the Terrans merely thought they’d have to do this until a normal human would have collapsed from exhaustion and didn’t have the ammunition for much more. It was not ideal, but a day or two like this wasn’t a problem.
Should it go on longer, the scale of the issue would depend on the chosen knights. Unless all of them worked at their maximum at the same time, they wouldn’t be able to draw enough power to bother her, but in her current state, she couldn’t spare the concentration to help them out either.
In other words, they’ll have to contend with the Republic on their own.
The thought didn’t fill her with confidence.
That was more than a little unfortunate, but as Edward and his compatriot demonstrated, the knights just weren’t as strong as they needed to be. It’d be one thing if she had a thousand of them but with only thirty?
Serana hummed in thought. By all accounts, the Terrans did not have good numbers either. Thousands at best. Thanks to her interrogations, she had some idea how many could be housed on their ships, which meant that they had thousands up there at best as well. A good chunk of them likely died in her attack. Somewhere between ten and twenty thousand soldiers should still live.
A laughable number for a kingdom. Even the weakest ones were capable of fielding more men. Yet, likely undefeatable without her direct involvement. Oh, she had ensured that her people could at least fight, but her thirty chosen weren’t enough on their own. She’d be surprised if they could kill even half of the Terrans in a pitched battle and that was with a few hundred thousand soldiers behind them and the Terrans not learning from their mistakes.
The Custodian doubted they’d just stand in an open field without any protection against cavalry again. A quarter to a fifth would be much more realistic. Not enough, in other words. Not when she was preoccupied.
It wasn’t an unsolvable problem.
“Sylviane,” she raised her voice.
A moment later, the girl opened the door to the tower’s roof and hesitantly walked over to Serana, every distant impact making her flinch while the wind messed up her hair.
‘Maybe I should have railings installed once things calm down,’ Serana mused as the girl did her best to stay as far away from the edges as possible.
“Yes, Lady Custodian?” the handmaiden spoke once she neared Serana.
“Tell Aisac to order a retreat should the passes fall. They would do well to stop the enemy from forcing a battle, if dispersing is the price, then so be it. Move the fight off the battlefield.”
The handmaiden looked at her with wide eyes.
The passes were well-fortified. A few of her chosen working together should be able to defend them reasonably well, though she wondered whether their enemy would even bother attacking. She had thought they’d capitalize and try to seize at least one of them while they kept her busy here, but apparently not. Perhaps they wanted to try and kill her first.
“Repeat it back to me,” Serana ordered.
Sylviane did so and the Custodian shooed her off, before beginning the painstaking process of repeating the same information to the chosen knights stationed in the south. She went one by one and wrote the message out in the air in front of them, much to their surprise. Speaking was a possibility, but that might make them think she could be listening as well, which would make things stressful. For them, obviously. Serana herself couldn’t care less about their gossip.
She did however note the usefulness of the pendants as communication devices. Admittedly it was an idea that she stole from the Terrans as well, but it was one that would be very useful after the war. It was somewhat embarrassing that she had never thought of it herself. A way to communicate and observe nearly instantly all over the continent was going to be an amazing administrative boon. For now, it’d remain merely a strategic one, but war would always be a mere interlude to peace. She’d be remiss in her duties not to consider the aftermath.
The bombardment grew even stronger for no apparent reason then, making her frown and crane her neck upwards.
The Terrans were creeping uncomfortably close to her limits, even if they still had a ways to go. Like the knights, the Custodian’s body could handle only a fraction of Eternity’s power. While her capacity was a lake compared to their drops, she too had limits.
Taking a deep breath, Serana finally considered the possibility of loss. Of death. Though her role predated written history, she knew more than most that no one was truly irreplaceable. Not that Eternity had ever pretended otherwise. It was a simple fact that humans weren’t eternal, something she too had more experience with than most.
As such, she hardly had any thoughts of invincibility or the like. Nor did she hold any ill feelings towards the Goddess. Mostly, she sympathized. It was hard for her to value the lives of regular mortals, considering how fast they aged.
How difficult would such a thing be for an Eternal Goddess?
Sure, Eternity might help were she awake, but she might not and the Custodian did not want her to in any case. She had been gifted with more than enough power to succeed on her own.
Gods helping you was a silly peasant notion in any case. As if humans went around answering the prayers of ants. Eternity already did more than anyone could ask for. The Goddess listened, even if she did not truly care.
It was something Serana admired greatly, for it wasn’t something she herself was capable of. The Custodian had stopped caring about the people of Eigos as fellow humans a long time ago. They were a complex puzzle to be managed. Sometimes a piece broke and you had to mould it back into shape, sometimes you had to replace one entirely. She might take a passing interest in an individual or two every once in a while, but such people died too soon for it to be anything more.
Now, it could be her turn. Rather than fear, the possibility excited her. The aliens had been exciting even beforehand, but that was because they were new and interesting. It was the excitement of finding a new book to read, not of a life-or-death struggle. Even if they had demolished most of Eigos, it wouldn’t have meant much in the grand scheme of things. The population would have recovered in a few centuries anyway.
But to be actually capable of killing her in battle?
Serana smiled.
