305 Convergence 2

After having killed the half humanoid spider monster, Phillipa reached the mana generator inside the battleship Ingenuity where she quickly took care of a few Emergence drones before she stopped to take a closer look at her surroundings. The web covered room surrounding the mana generator was completely out of some kind of fantasy dungeon, none of what was happening around Phillipa at the moment.

"Unless…"

Turning back to face the corpse of the larger frost monster, Phillipa examined the remains to find an Emergence interface which made Phillipa finally able to make sense of the current situation.

(So the Emergence controlled this large monster? In that case, why even go for our mana generator, and why does the Emergence even have access to monsters in the first place?)

Still, with more questions than she knew what to do with, Phillipa contacted Dax.

"I've cleaned up the incursion onboard the battleship Ingenuity, as expected the Emergence was going for its mana generator and control interface, it's just the way they did it… You're going to want to see this, but for now, I'm placing this area under level delta information control."

[... Okay, I'm moving to your location right now, ETA 5 min.]

-

"Lia! Now!"

"Will o' wisp!"

Invoking the spell by finishing its incarnation, Lia sent a swarm of small white flames into the Emergence bio converter which created a large explosion which shattered the machine, spreading a smell of burnt flesh throughout the mega block it had crash landed inside. Taking a second to look at the devastation and destruction surrounding the bio converter it was clear to Lia that this was something entirely different from her original world, sure there had been grand world wars, but they simply couldn't compare to what was currently going on in this world of technology. From the vantage point of the hole in the side of the residential mega block, Lia could see the strange gate that the Emergence drones continued to swarm out of, and the destruction they had caused in little under 4 hours.

(Multiply this kind of devastation by the few hundred worlds the Emergence already have taken over… When Dax said this was a war of annihilation, he really wasn't joking.)

"Let's move on to the next bio converter Mare."

"Mmm."

[I'm afraid that'll have to wait, I've new orders for you guys. We need support down on street level, Lux is moving to recapture a battery of cloud rippers to use against the gate, help her out.]

But as Lia started listening for the closest bio converter, new orders came in from Dax which the beastkin pair immediately followed. Quickly moving down to street level, Lia and Mare didn't need much more direction as the amount of havoc Lux was constantly creating served as a great guide.

"Howitzer!"

"Lux, where do you want us!?"

Joining up with Lux as the 3 of them took cover behind a car, Lux quickly gave the two beastkin orders as she wove together a new spell.

"Lia, with me, we're moving to the cloud ripper battery on street level. Mare, take control of the Hornets and use them to clear out the flanks, I don't want any more ambushes from the nearby skyscrapers, they're a pain to deal with constantly, especially when I need to take some time to take control of the cloud rippers back from the Emergence."

""Roger.""

Seeing the reliable expressions of her two subordinates, a smile crept onto Lux's face.

"Then let's do this! Lia, support!"

Leaping out of cover as she recast her phalanx defences, Lux charged an armoured formation without a hint of hesitation, now that she had the support she didn't need to hold back.

"Lighting!"

Seeing Lux's move, Lia immediately followed up with an offensive spell, creating a bolt of plasma which lept from drone to drone, leaving behind a strong smell of burnt metal as Lia followed that spell with a swarm of other lighting bolts which wreaked havoc among the Emergence lines, creating an opportunity for Lux to close the range, an opportunity she happily exploited. Gaining the attention of the Emergence heavy drones she was closing on, Lux successfully predicted their fields of fire and avoided armour piercing railgun rounds while anti personal canister rounds harmlessly bounced off her phalanx defensive spell formation as Mare commanded the Hornet drones under her command to provide additional cover fire, pelting the Emergence drones with their tandem warhead anti tank guided missiles and armour piercing ammunition fired at a blistering rate from their Menhit rotary cannons, filling the air with chaff and flares as they weaved in and out of nearby wrecked buildings in an attempt to avoid the Emergence counterfire they immediately ensured in response.

While Lia and Mare made a mess of the hostile forces on, Mare had adopted a far more up close and personal type of approach in the buildings which looked out over the street the two others were fighting on. Emerging out from the cover of a concrete support pillar without making a single sound, Mare effortlessly sunk her hypersonic vibrating knife in between the armour plates of an Emergence drone before twisting her knife, destroying the drones reactor as she emptied a magazine of armour piercing pistol rounds into its head, just to make sure. With the commotion she created, Mare was immediately spotted by the other Emergence drones inside the half destroyed office which collectively unleashed a hail of small arms fire which Mare flawless avoided with quick, sporadic movements and multiple optical illusions which made it look like there was a swarm of small, wolf eared beastkin charging the drones from all directions. This was the work of a new spell Mu had specifically developed for Mare, while it had a complex, official Lazarus designation, both Mu and Mare referred to by a far simpler title.

"Parade."

Perfectly utilizing her extreme mobility inside cramped spaces like an office, Mare practically bounced off the walls and ceilings as she cut the Emergence drones apart in a ruthlessly efficient manner, clearing out the group of 20 some drones in just a few minutes. Even with its limited capacity for reasoning, the Emergence quickly realized that it needed to take out Mare before it could launch an effective strike on Lia and Lux who were pushing forward down on street level, so the units who had originally been tasked to flank Lux and Lia were quickly retasked into a dedicated strike group which quickly served to corner the small beastkin in a corner office, of course not realizing that they were playing into Mare's hand all along.

"IMI, CAS. New tasking."

[READY, IMI CAS ON STATION.]

Hunkering down behind a sturdy office table Mare remained calm as the Emergence drones which had her pinned continued spraying small arms fire.

"Maneuver 4, danger close."

[MANEUVER 4, DANGER CLOSE CONFIRMED, TIME TO STATION: 5 SECONDS, WEAPONS HOT.]

Outside the skyscraper Mare currently found herself pinned down inside it was clear where she currently was to anyone observing, it was the corner office on the 6th floor where small arms fire blasted out from, so the tasked Hornet close air support quickly found its target before it started to hover about 10 floors above.

[CAS ON STATION: THUNDER.]

Then the Hornet drone simply cut power to its twin electrothermal thrusters as its rotary cannon spun up, the hum of its electrical motor could almost be confused with a murderous glee as the drone's engines rekindled and turned on their afterburners, bringing the Hornet drone to its shooting position just outside the 6th floor corner office as the Hornet drone's Menhit rotary cannon opened fire with a roar. Sweeping the entire floor as Mare hugged the floor, the Hornet drone's rotary cannon cut trough walls, reinforced concrete and Emergence drones without any form of discrimination, with its insane rate of fire there was armour piercing rounds enough for everyone to share.

[AREA NEUTRALIZED.]

After nearly 10 seconds of continuous fire which had almost felt like an eternity to Mare which had been right in the centre of it all, IMI's synthetic sounding, cold and emotionless voice stated the obvious as the Hornet drone went into standby, eagerly awaiting the next target Mare would point at it to slaughter.