747 A Duel Of Life And Death (2)
Mere seconds before impact, Ashton unexpectedly concentrated all his aura into his fist, delivering a powerful blow that shattered the hull of the Precursor ship.
Even the resilient hull of the Precursor vessel proved insufficient to withstand the force of Ashton's concentrated attack, resulting in multiple cracks that marred its surface. The loud crack echoed through the night, but Ashton didn't stop there. Instead of focusing his aura on a single point, he rapidly expanded it, tearing apart the Precursor ship from both the inside and the outside.
The result was a devastating attack that tore the Precursor ship apart from the inside and outside. What followed was an explosion that unleashed a burst of energy, transforming the darkest night sky into one lit by a dozen suns. The brightness was so overwhelming that no one could keep their eyes on it.
Everyone on the ground wondered if that was it? Was Astaroth dead? But as the light faded, a dark figure tore through the explosion. Unaffected by the blast, Astaroth threw a punch at Ashton, who responded in kind.
Their fists met in a fierce collision, creating shockwaves that blew away debris from the Precursor ship everywhere, forcing the residents of Livania to seek shelter.
"Pleased to see your death didn't adversely affect your strength," Astaroth commented as they tumbled through the air.
"No thanks to you," Ashton retorted, blocking Astaroth's fists before delivering a kick to his side.
Astaroth didn't expect the attack to hit that hard and had to unfurl his wings to balance himself in midair. "Look, I know my words won't have any effect on you," he mumbled, "but I didn't have a choice back then. Even if not for Linea, Kro'Han would have killed us if I didn't do what I did."
"Yeah? And now you're invading Earth because you care for us so much, don't you?" Ashton retorted.
"It's not like that-"
Ashton, enraged after seeing Astaroth before him, ignored his explanation and charged at him with renewed vigour. Realising the futility of words, Astaroth shook his head and countered Ashton's attack, delivering a swift kick that sent Ashton crashing to the ground.
The impact created a small crater in the heart of Livania, but to everyone's surprise, Ashton remained unscathed. Upon seeing their leader on the ground, everyone rushed to Ashton's aid. But Ashton raised his fist to stop them. The fight was to remain between him and Astaroth, and as for the rest of them, they were to focus on fighting what remained of the Precursor fleet. Astaroth, hovering above Ashton, took a moment to assess the situation. Though he recognised their will to fight the invasion, he couldn't be disappointed because they were fighting a useless war. "You never did know when to give up," Astaroth muttered while hovering over the crater. "We've got our own battles to fight," Mazton declared, redirecting their attention to the remaining Precursor ships. "Leave Ashton to handle Astaroth."
After Ashton, Mazton was the one in command, so the troops followed his lead and rushed to carry out the orders. In the meantime, Ashton was preparing to engage Astaroth again, but it seemed the former Xyran general had different plans.
"I would love to stay and fight, but I got places to be, so see you around," Astaroth shrugged and flew upwards. Ashton prepared to follow him. Unfortunately, Astaroth had thought of a way to keep him busy. As Ashton took flight, Countless drop pods descended from the atmosphere, hurtling towards him. The ground shook as the drop pods landed and from within emerged Precursor combat robots. While they weren't as strong as the guardians, they still posed a significant threat to the earthlings.
"Fucking bastard pulling cowardly tricks like these!" Ashton cursed as he had to turn away even though he didn't want to. The combat robots, programmed for destruction, immediately engaged the army and Livania's defences. The battlefield erupted into chaos as the robots unleashed devastating firepower. "Consider it a farewell gift from me," Astaroth commented before rushing away. As Astaroth slipped away, Ashton gritted his teeth in frustration. However, before he could resume the pursuit, the combat robots closed in, forming a barrier around him. It was evident the robots wouldn't allow Ashton to follow Astaroth freely. While the robots weren't exceptionally strong, their sheer numbers were staggering and defeating them all quickly seemed nearly impossible. Ashton tried using Hellfire to dispose of them quickly, but the attack had minimal effect on them. "Looks like elemental attacks won't work on them," Ashton mumbled in frustration. "Physical force is necessary to dispose of them, but that will take too long. Fuck!"
Although it was an annoying situation, Ashton had no option other than to fight through the horde of metal. Just as he prepared to launch an attack, a battleaxe soared through the air with incredible precision, slicing through the robots before him. Astonished, Ashton turned to witness Mazton standing amongst a graveyard of robots as the battleaxe returned to his hands. And he wasn't alone; mercenaries from the Towers were beside him, chopping through the robots.
"Go after Astaroth!" Mazton yelled as he sliced through another robot. "We'll deal with these tin cans."
"Thanks!" Ashton nodded with gratitude.
Without wasting a moment, he flew away from the robots, leaving Mazton and a group of mercenaries to confront the 'tin cans'.
However, Livania wasn't the only place struggling with Precursor robots. Nirvana and Vania had their hands full with the rampaging automatons. While Nirvana fought numbers with numbers, the vampires had to use their physical combat skills to subdue the threat. Thankfully, the twins and Viper were there to help them balance the scales.
But there was one thing bugging everyone. When Ashton arrived on Earth after his 'death', he warned them about the cannons used by the precursor ships. Everyone was scared of the powerful attack those cannons could launch. However, even though the Precursor ships were close enough to use their cannons, they didn't do it, which seemed strange. It felt like Astaroth was waiting for something, and the rest of the world had minutes to figure it out before all hell broke loose.
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