Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation(Vol 5)

Vol 5/Chapter 65: The Decisive Battle Between Two Sides

Reed's self-made magic trick always worked like a charm! It took out most of the bullets flying at us. Only a few soldiers too far away to be affected kept shooting.

Luckily, our escape route was clear now. With no more gunfire blocking us, we could fly higher without worry, until we were completely out of their reach.

"We finally escaped!"

It was harder than I thought. I let out a long sigh, but couldn't feel happy. Getting mixed up with the Empire led to this mess with Earth - something I never expected.

"They can't do anything to us now, right?" Mia asked nervously, looking down. Unless Earth's army brought heavier weapons to chase us! But they probably had to deal with the chaos at the base first.

For Mia, breaking through was a close call. She'd probably want to study more high-level magic after this. If she knew "Light's Shelter" like me from the start, hiding wouldn't have been so tough.

"But after all this trouble, I guess there's no hope left for negotiations..." Adrian said worriedly. I was surprised he cared so much about Reider's proposal.

"Isn't that better? The Empire really screwed us over this time. I don't mind letting them keep suffering from these otherworlders!" Mia said harshly. To her, neither side was good, so she'd be happiest watching them fight each other.

After leaving the Earth base's control, we didn't rush back to the Light Elf village. We landed on a nearby hilltop for now. Reed and the others wanted to watch the two forces clash. This spot was perfect - hidden but with a clear view of the whole base.

It was afternoon. Mia rested a bit, then hurried to do her usual Spiritual Communication with Edenmere.

Reed, who helped us escape the most, finally spoke up. She glanced at me and asked, "How did Reider know we could speak Earth languages?"

"He said you guys lived in the otherworlders' home before becoming angels, so knowing their language made sense... But didn't Feliciana deny that in the end?" Adrian answered honestly after thinking.

"You... you don't suspect anything?" I stuttered nervously, feeling very uneasy.

"Well, I do, a bit. When I entered your mental world before, I did hear you mention H-country. But that was a mental world twisted by the Light God Beluto, so we can't take it as complete truth..." Adrian hesitated before explaining everything.

So he remembered all along! My suspicions were right - Adrian really did see what I looked like as a boy, and remembered clearly! But did he think that part was real or fake? I still couldn't tell! He didn't seem to want to say either way. It's like he treated everything in the mental world as just a passing dream. That's pretty uneasing!

As for how Reider knew these secrets? We discussed for long time but couldn't figure it out. In the end, we could only guess it had to do with his mysterious System.

"That shameless emperor dared ask us angels for help! They said 'suicide airships' from another world were super fierce and almost broke through their border base defenses. If they keep invading, it'll be a huge threat to the whole continent's safety!" Mia soon brought the latest news. The 'suicide airships' must mean the missiles we saw earlier. Looks like after failing with me, Reider had no choice but to ask Edenmere for help.

"Did you agree?" Adrian quickly asked.

"No way, the Empire people are always nasty and tricky. We definitely won't do what they want this time!" Mia shook her head and told us, "Lady Elara ordered that Serena's First Angel Legion won't get involved in the fight between the Empire and the otherworlders. When they arrive, they'll stay in the Light Elf village in case things get worse."

Originally, Elara sent the First Legion just in case. But after we met the Earth people, she figured these otherworlders probably wouldn't hurt the continent as badly as monster invasions. So she decided to wait and see before planning the next move.

"Looks like the Empire is doomed this time..."

Even Reed had to admit it at this point.

All the conditions for the final battle were set! That evening, we saw huge Empire armies gather around the Earth base - tens of thousands of soldiers surrounding it completely.

The two sides faced off for a whole day. On the second night, the great war between two worlds finally broke out.

In the early morning, a few gunshots suddenly came from the Earth base. This meant the Empire's sneak attack was discovered.

Soon, flares shot up into the sky, lighting up the whole area.

"Charge!"

The Empire's main force was ready. With this loud cry, the cavalry attacked first, coming from three directions at once.

I instantly understood their plan! Since the Earth base had no high walls, these horsemen knew how deadly the enemy weapons were. They wanted to use speed to quickly break into the base, mess things up from inside, and create good attack conditions.

Airships in the sky moved forward too. Sadly, while the Empire airships' magic cannons were great, their range was too short! Whether dropping magic bombs from high up or using old-fashioned burning barrels, they had to fly close to the target to work.

This set them up for failure. The Empire clearly didn't have enough info! Even after all their testing, they still didn't learn much. They hugely underestimated how strong those guns were!

The cavalry's first charge was wiped out halfway. Horse bodies and human parts piled up in huge mounds outside the base, blood flowing like rivers! This actually blocked the foot soldiers coming up behind.

The airships lost even worse! Compared to Earth fighter jets, these slow flying things were like target practice for the H-country soldiers! Most got shot down by anti-air guns before they could even move. They had no chance to dodge - dead before the battle began!

"Ranged troops! Quick! Quick!"

Of course, the Empire army had more than just these attacks. The close combat troops died first, but archers and mages were ready. As soon as ordered, they started long-range attacks from very far back.

Because of physical differences, this world's archers could shoot farther and more accurately! But in large-scale front-line battles, they shot up to use gravity to hurt enemies, so the power didn't increase much. The Earth army was ready with defenses and cover, so only a few people got hurt. It was even less effective than the fire magic from the mage squads.

Those powerful explosive spells caused some trouble in the Earth base. Besides hurting people, the magic-lit fires were hard to put out, causing chaos for a while.

But the Earth army wouldn't let enemies keep succeeding. After several rounds of shelling, the Empire's back lines were torn apart. They couldn't organize any more good attacks like before.

"Looks like they're finally using their trump card!" Adrian suddenly pointed ahead and warned us.

Just then, a huge thing burst out of the thick forest - it was the Midas!

"Oh no, almost forgot about that guy!" I thought it was bad news. Sure enough, after the Empire took it back, they fixed it up some during this time.

No wonder the Empire army still had confidence to fight even while losing so badly. We didn't know if it was back to full power, but this sudden appearance of the Gundam definitely challenged the Earth army big time.

"Don't worry, even a perfect Midas is no match for them!" Reed calmly watched all this, telling me the facts without worry. As one of the designers, she knew its abilities well.

"No way, that's a Gundam!" I still couldn't believe it. Even on Earth, we never built real Gundam! These human-shaped war machines only existed in sci-fi movies and anime. Wouldn't it at least scare them a bit?