Chapter 399: Sailing Through the Sea of Explosions

Some of those who were sent up were not prepared to fly towards a battle of hydrogen bombs and nuclear explosions.

Chris and Grace were shaking.

Oark, Madison, and Cheryl remained quiet and held their complaints back as their figures flew to the sky.

The only ones who were calm were Arthur, Richie, and his team.

But no one could complain or voice out their hesitation.

Richie had already thrown them up with his powers.

The wind also blew, and a wind channel was formed. The wind blew according to which was according to the specifications that Arthur instructed, and Hermes was ready to adjust.

The instructions themselves were very complicated that no even someone in the Surmounting Unbecoming stage could keep up.

Hermes and his four winds had to work together to keep up with the complicated orders.

The orders of the wind channel that they should form encompassed from their flight to how they would navigate through the sea of explosions rocking the heavens.

On the other hand, Richie's instructions were far simpler as Arthur only told Richie what he needed to do and didn't emphasize the distance, direction, and the timing of when he would use his powers.

Arthur began to speak with great speed. He also had two voices talking which was commanding Richie and Hermes at the same time.

"Austin! Do not hesitate! Follow whatever Arthur says! If you don't, you will die! So even if you think he is making you rush towards an exploding sun, do it!" Grant Hermes gave his rare warning to Austin.

"Ye-Yes Boss! I will!" Austin answered back as he gazed at the sky.

Richie followed the directions that Arthur said, and they were positioned right underneath a rising sandstorm.

Hermes and his group were on another location waiting for Arthur's signal.

"Omricon, you will be the first to attack. Our enemies are hiding behind the force field. You have to cut it."

"As for the attack on the force field, I leave it up to you." Arthur finally ended his instructions towards Hermes.

"My sword will not fail, Boss."

"Omega, You will act next. Regardless of what their techs are, a sudden change of vacuum will definitely affect them. Austin, Alvin, you follow next. And will chase after one of those suits and battle with it. After that, we will assume the form of the Wind God."

"Yes, boss!" All the Winds chorused. 

Richie waited with his team as Arthur watched with intense focus at the battle. Although the sandstorm stood above them, it was as if Arthur could see what was happening beyond it.

His constant calculations continued throughout the process of the battle.

Richie stood at the side and watched Arthur.

"Can you do it? Zone's out..." Richie sent asked a question that only Arthur could hear. 

"If you fail, most of these guys here will die." 

Zone was one of the most important aspects of Arthur's calculation. The math and his gambles that played along the line of statistics and probabilities were what made his predictions perfect. When he fought the Tyrant Empress and walked in between the clashing forces of the Overcomers, his Zone remained stable. But now, the enemies he faced were disrupting his ability, that he was not confident that his predictions were correct.

"I won't. Why do you think I worked amidst those idiots? Vender and Lowengren's unpredictable actions are paired with Harker and Gardo's eccentric wishes. They were my companions, and we worked together to accomplish various plots, from our meeting in the Mediterranean sea to our infiltration in Egypt. And our collaborative plots and misdirections that we did in Egypt were all to help me strengthen my Path. This battle is simply the application of all I've learned. I know that if I lose my Zone, I will die. That's why I died on Seeker's past life. And I have made my preparation." Arthur didn't even bother to hide his answer from the rest.

"Richie... Hermes... Prepare your corresponding attack. The window will open soon."

The battle between the Flood Dragons and the Suns made massive eruptions in the sky that ate up all the rockets and attacks that the other nations were shooting. 

Several explosions happened immediately.

"Now!" Arthur gave his orders.

Hermes and Richie were the first to zoom in with their respective companions following.

Then a calm occurred. For nearly three seconds, there were no massive explosions.

"N-now?" Austin asked. It was too tempting, and Austin felt that they wasted the chance.

"No. Wait for Arthur's orders!" Hermes chastized. It was rare for him to be so hard on Austin.

All of a sudden, massive eruptions shook the sky.

"Now!" Arthur ordered.

Without hesitation, Hermes and Richie charged forward.

As the massive explosions continued to occur, Arthur continued to remind the group and issue corrections whenever one of them was flying too fast or slow or off course. 

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The groups were moving in small narrow channels in between the explosions. In some cases, the group was barely attacked by the explosions as the fire reached several meters from where each of them was.

Hermes and Richie covered both teams with wind and with sound to resist the fire, force, and radiation as they zoomed in the small gaps between the explosions.

They traveled faster than most jet-propelled Exoskeletons as the wind became an air channel, and the sounds added the propelling force of their flight.

The Unlocked didn't even have any Exoskeletons but only brought their pocket technologies to trigger certain Paths. The lack of metal and techs allowed them to maximize their stealth, and since only sound and wind allowed them to fly, the series of explosions masked their approach perfectly.

Madison could not help but use his Skill and allowed time to stop in his perception.

He watched the timing of Arthur's movements intently. But, even though time has stopped, he himself could not see any hopes of sailing through this ocean of explosion.

"How does he see it?" Madison pondered as time resumed, and he maximized his concentration.

Their flight was full of arcs and turns. They always would move at the edge of the explosion radius and, at times, stood between two.

"Amazing. He even calculated the maximum tolerance of my sound armor. He's stronger than ever... That Arthur!" Richie praised as he turned from being serious to having fun. It wasn't every day that he could sail through these seas.

"Richie, we rush straight no matter what. Harden the sound armor by another fold and prepare a concentrated attack at the most fragile part of the force field. We're breaking through that part. Make sure that the sound armor can withstand Omega's pressure since he will be creating a vacuum. Slip into the hole that Andronze's attack caused!"

"Hermes, the moment you move past the third explosion, you will be in a clearing. Make your move and attack the forcefield to breach in. You will have a five-second window until the next explosions occur. After that, you are on your own."

Two separate orders were sent out, and Richie and Hermes made their move.

Hermes was the first to reach the clearing.

"The Sky is my weapon!" Omricon shouted as he held his two hands up high as if holding a sword.

Omega's power continued to gather a massive amount of wind that even though they had passed through a storm of explosions, he still carried a sky's worth of wind with him. And Omricon wielded that sky. 

Hermes concentrated as he aided Omricon. He hadn't been careless during the break but continued to research how to strengthen the quality of his wind. He had learned how to compress it, freeze it, gather it, and even wield it. Each of those abilities was bestowed and used by one of his four winds. But now, Omricon's research with the Realm King was finally taking effect. 

No longer will the Wind of Hermes fail to travel in the middle of a great vacuum. His winds now head a Realm of its own, and it was as if Hermes was learning to control the very molecules of the air he wielded. 

The air molecules began to shake as Hermes held on a peculiar device containing one of the Void Assassin's applied science. Teleporting and moving through the void was still impossible for humans as the strange space could slice, cut, pulverize and destroy. But sending air in that dimension was easier.

The space the air traveled became warp. And because of the previous alterations of Shakstress's compression of space and how Pridgeon used Crostfree's technology to break through the fourth dimension and appeared on the third, the space in the entire area was very fragile. And all of these factors made the traveling wind retain much of its speed, power, and intensity.

The sky was visibly seen being cut.

A large cut that had true nothingness inside appeared on the vast sky. It was as if the space where the cut was made simply ceased to exist. 

On that day, the infinite space of the entire universe shrank as it lost the space where Hermes's attack struck.

The slash altered reality itself. The forcefield that protected the entire flying saucer grew unstable. 

At that moment, Richie rushed forward and brought all his team with him. 

An explosion occurred on the location he was headed to as one of the Flood Dragons managed to land an attack on the force field that covered the massive hole in the flying saucer.

BOOM!

The flames and shockwave of the massive attack expanded out but Richie dove in. By some amazing miracle, Richie's forward rush in the center of the flames occurred just when the explosion reached its peak and was diminishing in strength. 

Richie concentrated and maximized his Realm Somatotopoy to control the radius of the explosion.

Richie's Realm had grown. He now had the ability to harness the kinetic energy that was around him. Should he survive an attack, he could gather the force and power that was dissipating and vibrating through the air and control it.

"Spear of Transgression!" Richie shouted as the explosive force moved and became a spear that shot towards the unstable force field.

BOOM!

The spear pierced through the entire area and pierced inside the hole of the saucer.

The force field shattered, and Richie used the remaining force of the explosion to catapult them all inside the hole.

Yet these things were unnoticed, for a peculiar event occurred as the burning flames from the miniature suns and the explosions in the sky suddenly distorted as all oxygen was snuffed up.

Omega was turning so red, and blood was leaking off his nose. He did his best to absorb the for nearly a kilometer wide.

"Bear it, Omega. Omricon, Austin, Alvin! Get ready! We'll be rushing at that Dark Armor! Defend against the sun!" Hermes warned.

Richie's rush was hidden inside the explosion, and his spear attack was invisible.

The moment the spear pierced inside, they were immediately 'injected' inside using the spear as the needle that stealthily brought them inside.

But Hermes's attacks took the attention of the Pioneers as they saw the appearance of five men in the sky and the strange distortion that they caused on space.

"Attack them! It's another Presider!" The Commanding Pioneer exclaimed as he ordered to bombard Hermes.