Max smiled as the drones tore through the crashed Cathedral Ship. They were doing a brilliant job of destroying the enemy force, and even from where he was standing, the sense of rage on the other side of the portal was clearly understandable.
Whatever force, presumably another Greater Energy Being, was sending the troops to this world was throwing a fit on the other side, and the mental anguish of the enemy leader was highly entertaining.
It wouldn't be long now, and they would give up on this place entirely, allowing the Myceloid God to pick and choose its targets again, which was to Max's advantage, as they wouldn't be showing up at random all over the world this time.
But there was a sense of maliciousness mixed in with that anger and anguish that was becoming stronger by the second. It was a much more powerful being than the Greater Energy Beings, and Max had to resist the urge to find a way to flee back to the safety of his home Galaxy, where such things could not approach them.
The energy pouring into the constructed planet began to surge, and Max wondered if there was going to be a lesser demon invasion in the next few seconds, but it didn't seem to be that sort of power. If it was, he should be able to absorb it as it came through the portal, but at the moment, it was just a wave of energy like sunlight that he couldn't do anything with except to feel it against his skin.
The power was still increasing, and the ground under his feet began to shake, trembling under the might of the creature that had arrived outside. That was definitely not good news, and Max immediately sent the retreat order to all forces in the area.
He would most likely be fine with the level of power and the Mecha that he had. But the Valkia with their Archangel Exoskeletons might as well be armoured in tinfoil under this onslaught of power.
Then, the energy changed, and Max could feel the Myceloid God intervening, getting between whatever was on the other side of that portal and the world it had created.
For a few seconds, everything seemed to be stabilized, and then the power surged, and the world began to crack apart.
[Sylvie, Felicity, get everyone onboard the ships right now. Start with the mortals, so we're not leaving living beings behind.] Max ordered.
The ground around the portal was beginning to collapse and be sucked into the other layer, destroying the planet and anything else unlucky enough to be caught in the crossfire. Even the bodies of the Great Enemy force were being torn apart by the spatial fluctuations as Max fled the area right behind the rest of his troops.
The AI would get to him soon enough, he could sense the confusion and relief of the troops that had been pulled home by the portals, as well as Nico's annoyance at having her fight disrupted.
Then there was nothing, the world went black as the expanding collapse reached the other portal, and everything vanished, leaving Max floating in space next to the Alliance Armada and a perplexed group of Myceloids, who were pulled to a strange world ship that looked like an asteroid.
Their God must have rescued them at the last second as it deconstructed the collapsing world, but the mental sense of both the Myceloid God and whoever it had been arguing with was gone, hidden from Max's senses now that the portals were closed between the layers.
Sylvie brought Max back on board Creeping Darkness, where numerous Valkia and Shin had been gathered in the massive cargo bay, and he prepared to update everyone on what had happened, or at least what he knew about the situation.
"Commander, it's good to see that you made it back. Where are we?" The leader of the advance recon team that had been closest to him when everything went wrong asked.
"You're aboard Creeping Darkness, the spherical World Ship that I arrived on. I ordered the AI to rescue everyone when the planet started to collapse, and it brought you here. There was likely a good reason for the choice, and I'm guessing that it is efficiency, as there is so much open space on an empty world ship, but we can get you all sorted out to your proper homes after we are back inside Alliance territory, where the portals to other layers won't lead to anything." Max replied.
[Commander, we have requests from the Alliance vessels to begin docking procedures with the World Ships. They will need significant time to get their systems back online. The effects of the planet forcibly shut them down, and they are not easy to reboot without a maintenance procedure and some antimatter injection.] Sylvie informed him.
"Bring them on board and get all the dry docks staffed with androids. What is the state of the power systems aboard Creeping Darkness and Absolution?"
[I have returned my propulsion systems to full capacity already, and Felicity will have the same procedure done within the next five minutes. Due to her higher population at the time, she couldn't shut down life support and other high drain systems in order to do a full reboot.] Sylvie explained.
"That's good enough for now. It will take at least that long to get everyone securely docked and to start sorting out the crews."
Max then activated the external speakers of his Mecha.
"The AI system will be ready to move as soon as all the vessels have docked. We will sort you all out and find your home vessels once we have returned to safety." He informed the rest of the occupants of the bay.
Sylvie forwarded his voice through the ship, informing the rest of the rescued soldiers of their intentions, while Felicity did the same on Absolution.
"Sylvie, how much of the force did we lose, and where is Nico?" Max asked.
"Fifteen percent of the Androids and drones could not be recovered in time, but I am collecting them now. Subcommander Nico is currently in the research labs aboard Absolution, where she was placed by Felicity by default."
Max chuckled at that. He was returned to the command station of the last vessel that he was on, but Nico was returned to the research labs on Absolution as her emergency relocation home. That definitely sounded like something that she had programmed in advance.
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