13:00 IST, Twelfth day, Third month, 3079 PV | Arcos Bastion City / Training Ground
[Over Comms] “Oi, Ko, you’ve got six bogies coming up on your three o clock.” Says Ray. My girlfriend, and perhaps the most beautiful human, and being in general, in the universe.
It still feels kinda strange to refer to her with that word. It's almost been a month since we started dating. After over a decade of friendship, it's hard to transition the terminology. Though, girlfriend sure does have a nice ring to it. Feels right somehow.
Also, she is quite cute (like, really cute, I'm not joking). I think I forgot to mention that.
By the way, we are currently engaged in a mock team battle in a special training ground of forested nature. Conveniently located in the Arcos Bastion City, the voidlith is anchored in deep space not far from the Sol system.
Also, we recently figured out what one of the new functions of the augmentation kits were. Instantaneous wireless communication by method of a tiny prototype WRN relay. Although, it requires connection into a nearby ship or other large base that can boost the signal universally.
However, it's great for communicating over short distances, say, on a battlefield without much infrastructure. Which works perfectly for this assignment, a team battle between Ray & I versus Emil and Rigar. We each also have a few warriors assigned to us.
We can't communicate wirelessly with the warriors, so we have split our team into two, with Ray and I coordinating our approaches. Actually, it was one of the warriors that had the idea. They may be run of the mill soldiers, but the Order trains all of their warriors very well so they can understand complex operations.
“Thanks for the tip, preparing for interception.” I reply, to my unit I order, “Alright everyone, wedge round me, lay waste to them (nonlethally).”
They form up, rifles (non lethal ones) at the ready. I am not that great of a marksman, so I am carrying the portable repulsor field generator. A quite heavy device that projects a forcefield of sorts in a small range. Nothing particularly strong, but it can absorb a few dozen shots from these weak rifles.
“For Domination!”
The war cry resounds throughout the forest.
A few seconds later, I can hear the world thundering and I am hit with a massive shock wave. Thankfully I managed to stay on my feet.
Half of my warriors, as well as practically every tree nearby collapsed due to the blast. Revealed within the trees is a group of six warriors, spearheaded by none other than Rigar, the breaker of universes.
They wield their massive war hammer over their head, preparing for another slam. I quickly reinforce my warriors feet with some raw inae, to prevent them from being knocked back. Though, I'm supposed to keep my inae use to a minimum, this is a test of general combat prowess, not wielding.
“Open fire! Aim for Rigar, that hammer is far too dangerous.”
The experienced warriors quickly react and begin firing, several shots hit Rigar directly but are absorbed by their armor, or just Rigar’s sheer mass.
Rigar’s hammer impacts the ground, we all manage to stay on our feet, but the repulsor shield fails due to the impact. Immediately, the warriors in Rigar’s squad open fire and easily pick us off one by one.
[To Ray] “Squad no1 down, intercepted by Rigar and five warriors. Be careful of Rigar’s hammer, it's as devastating as we predicted.”
“Roger” I hear, just before I am hit in the head by a bullet.
I fall unconscious and am transported back to our basecamp, a small castle, to regroup and recover for several minutes before we are allowed back out.
I confer with the defensive squad that we left behind to guard our flag - the enemy's objective. Naturally, we must get to their flag and touch it to win the exercise.
I reorganize our strategy and talk with Ray a bit. We decide to group up and handle them together, Rigar’s crew is just too strong to be dealt with by only half of our offensive forces.
We go to Ray’s position, a plateau about halfway between the two castles. We get a pretty good vantage point on the battlefield. Which is perfect, because Ray took the two snipers that we were assigned.
Also, I forgot to mention, Ray, I and the rest of our warriors are all wearing a really snazzy looking uniform. Half is silver, half is purple. With our emblem, a purple crescent moon in a silver circle, on the back. On each of our shoulders is a marking that signifies our rank. A circle (like Ray and I) for generals, a circle with a dot in it for commanders (Like Emil and Rigar), and a singular dot for the other soldiers. Crew for our ships and other non-combatants have a similar uniform, but the colors are opposite sides and they have a marking of a triangle.
Apparently, Initae has been working hard with our tailor associate to design a universal uniform for our entire faction. They did a great job, now all those aligned into our faction can be easily identified. Which makes it far easier to tell who's who, as our faction grows ever larger.
The field is an oval, with the castles sitting at both points. It is around 200m on its major axis. The entire field is a dense forest, though it's just trees without any undergrowth.
“Look who was dying to come see me, of course, it's Ko.”
“Hey, you also know firsthand how dangerous Rigar’s hammer is. So you can't really fault me.. Your intel didn't really cover the fact that Rigar was preparing to flatten part of the forest.”
“Pfft, you should be able to extrapolate that much, you're the strategical genius.”
She gives me a big pat on the back and a quick hug. Though she keeps it very professional she has been talking any chance she can get to be affectionate. It's kinda annoying at times, but I definitely enjoy it. Did I mention she is very cute? I may have forgotten, but she is super duper cute.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“So, our strategy is pretty simple, huh Ko.”
“Yep, we are just going to rush to their castle. Hopefully your railgun should be enough to pierce their defenses with ease.”
I forgot to mention, she was given a pretty hefty railgun. Apparently she liked the dragonkilling ones on Grasis; she did some training specifically with railguns. Now she is an absolute badass with her massive railgun slung over her shoulder. Of course, this one is customized to fire non-lethal stunning rounds. Though, I bet it still hurts like the pits of Kek’s basement.
With our plan in place, Ray and I depart along with twelve warriors. We leave two behind to assist the snipers. Who are perfectly positioned to provide us long range support on our change. Thanks to their high velocity coilguns (non lethal of course).
We dash through the forest and quickly reach the edge of the clearing with the enemy’s castle. I can see their warriors on the battlements, plus I can see a faint glow that must be Emil’s wings. Guy always has them out, even when he probably shouldn't. Though, it makes him quite popular with the ladies (and others), so I guess it's not all for nought. Somehow, he manages to reject all of them without hurting them. Emil is a genius, must be all that princely training and experience. Also, he has a katana at his side. He really took a liking to the weapon when he saw it, so they made him a special one, befitting an emperor.
“You ready, no.1?”
“As always, no.2. Lets go smoke us some fresh flag for dinner.”
“That was a really bad call to action.”
“Hey, it got the point across, right. That's all that matters.”
Speaking of points, I grabbed a very pointy stick, sometimes known as a spear, from the basecamp. It's also quite zappy, I find that I already really love it, and I haven't even stabbed anything yet.
We rush out into the field and quickly come under fire. Ray at my side stops briefly and shoulders her railgun. It barks with the sound of a projectile being accelerated near instantly to 2km/s.
Moments later, a quarter of the battlement is demolished. In addition, a gigantic hole is blown into the wall. Medical robots quickly enter the scene to assist the wounded. Now that we have breached the castle, they will be out of the match unless we are rebuffed.
Our squad reaches the hole in the wall, but as we move to enter, a firing squad appears on the other side. They get off a few shots but are knocked out by our sniper squad that is providing that vital support.
We enter the castle, but as soon as I go through the wall I notice a presence to my right. A very handsome guy.
Emil quickly strikes at me, aiming for my hand that holds my spear. I manage to parry him, but just barely.
I move to counter with a thrust directly for his chest. A stray arc of electricity strikes him and creates a brief pause, but he manages to dodge the actual point.
He quickly strikes back, hitting the back of my knees with the hilt of his katana.
I fall to my knees and end up dropping my spear because of the pain.
“My my, guess our little prodigy isn't quite up to snuff yet. Naturally, I've had centuries of practice on you.” Emil taunts
“Try blocking this, pretty boy.” Ray says, moments later a railgun bullet hits Emil directly in the chest. His exosuit flares bright purple, trying to absorb and disperse the kinetic energy, but while it prevents any actual damage, he goes flying backwards into the wall. Leaving quite a dent and knocking him unconscious. Guess even alien tech can't take a hunk of metal going at 2km/s from point blank range.
I recover and pick up my spear, “Thanks for the assist, no.2.”
“I'm sure you'd do the same, no.1.”
We regroup with our squad, which managed to take out the rest of the combatants. But before we can make our way into the flag room, we hear a resounding cry that resonates around the entire field.
“For Domination!”
Moments later, the world shakes. It feels like there is an earthquake, which is impossible considering we are in an artificial ecosphere. Which as far as I know doesn't have active tectonics.
It must be Rigar, it's safe to assume our walls have been breached. I give Ray a quick look that she returns. We dash as fast we can for the keep. It's now a race against time.
We enter the keep and race up the steps. Just as we are entering the room containing the flag, an announcement rings out.
“Winner of this exercise: Team Rigil.”
“Drat. We lost.”
“Hmm, well at least we tried our best. You looked really cool using that railgun too! A complete badass.”
“I am a badass, thank you for noticing.”
To conclude our loss, she gives me a brief kiss on the cheek.
Did I mention? My girlfriend is really cute.
Several minutes later, we, along with Rigar and Emil, convene in a very fancy military strategy room. There is a long fancy table and a projector screen on one wall even. Just like you'd always see in those old timey Western Earth TV shows.
Initae stands at the head of the table, staring us all down. She has put on a pair of glasses somehow. The golden color of the frames contrast really well with her white hair.
“Alright you whippersnappers, let's get this debriefing over. We've got dinner in half an hour and you know how I get when I am late for rice gruel day.”
Initae has been getting a real kick out of us this past month. She has been training it like a human military bootcamp. Only with more ridiculous methods of training. Just last week she dropped us on a desert planet and had us circumnavigate it, by foot. With minimal rations. It was hell.
She has also been forcing me to repeatedly expend as much raw inae and straining my aura and shifter inae to its limits. As a result, my tolerance for wielding has increased severalfold. I can now shift a battleship three or four times without passing out (Before just once would leave me quite weakened).
Though, the improvements have been astounding. Ray and I can actually decently wield melee weapons (at around a high level, previously we were barely scratching low), and I have gotten far quicker at creating pure inae and weapons/armor made out of it. But I am not quite ready to fully use it in combat, or start ‘amplification harnessing’ as Initae calls it.
Emil and Rigar have both had prior training, so she hasn't had to do as much work with them. Instead, we used them as sparring partners to really push Ray and I to our limits. We have also been training with several other of the Order’s non-wielder warriors. Who Initae hand picked from recent academy graduates all across the universe.
In total, our forces now consist of about five hundred warriors. Emil, and Rigar serving as commanders. As well as Ray and I as generals. Initae, naturally has planted herself in a special ‘advisory general’ role. Which is equal to ours, but she still technically is under our command, not that she would just randomly take any order though. She even got her own marking on her uniform, a star shape.
Also, did I mention? My girlfriend looks really cute in her uniform. She is also really cute all the other times too.
We also have acquired four combat-type battleships in addition to the Sycos and Clak which we already had. The Clak has even been outfitted with Order modifications to make it more in line with the rest of the fleet. I'll see if I can pull a data file on the combat battleships. But they are quite classified, so I've been having trouble getting it. Even though I technically own the bloody things, since I'm kinda acting as the chief general of our military organization. Though, informally, since Ray and I are equal (all of the ships call me Admiral and her Captain though).
The briefing was over, Initae went over some of the weak points in our strategy and gave us some advice. Though she said we did a fairly good job and has officially announced this section of Initae’s Accelerated Combat Preparation Course? as over. Which is just in the nick of time, since the second trial is to start in about a week.
”Darling, whaddya say we go celebrate the end of Initae’s hellish program with some fine liquor?” Ray says, quite seductively. I have no choice in the matter, I must accept. After all, when your really cute girlfriend asks you to go drinking, what sane person would refuse?
“Sure thing, lead the way, darling.”
We proceed to one of the many bars located in Arcos City. Naturally, Ray proceeds to get blackout drunk and I end up carrying her back to our quarters slung over my shoulder.
Some things never change.
I'm sure that heading into the future, Ray and I will be able to overcome any hardship, together. So, bring it on.
End of Chapter 51
A/N: Welcome back, dear reader. It's the great Author once again. Now, I'm sure you have many questions. While this chapter was full of exposition, there was obviously nearly an entire month of stuff that was skipped. Our cast has matured and changed quite a bit. I hope the change is not too jarring.
Now, you're probably wondering, “But what about the awkward thing where they officially say they are dating?” Well, to be frank, I intentionally skipped that in particular. I just couldn't figure out a way with my skills to write it in a way that I thought fit the characters (like, cmon, have you seen Ray and Ko? How the heck am I supposed to do that?). So, let's just say there was a bit of awkwardness but everything worked out. Now Ray and Ko are dating and they can continue on in their romantic development, free of their obliviousness to each other's feelings. (Though, do be sure to expect Initae to tease them a ton.)
As always, if you have enjoyed this story so far, be sure to follow/favourite/leave a comment, share it with a friend if you can, it is always appreciated! Until next time, dear reader.
- Cathrix
Humanity’s Game has a discord! Come chat about the story, or other things.