Chapter 148: Chapter 148: Orbital Strike
Chapter 148: Orbital Strike
The highest glass skyscraper in Bastion Six offered an unobstructed view of the central bridge.
The wind howled fiercely at this altitude, whipping Natalie’s dark hair wildly around her face. She stood near the ledge, her boots firmly planted on the reinforced graphene glass.
Next to her, Estella Everdawn looked down at the massive, sprawling warzone.
The central bridge was a critical choke point connecting the civilian sectors to the Vanguard Knight armories.
Down below, a horrific siege was unfolding. Hundreds of heavily armored Null-Fiends, guided by dozens of elite Cult Commanders, were battering against the Vanguard Knights’ heaviest barricades.
The Knights were dying. Their elemental spells were being completely absorbed by the beasts, and the Cult Commanders were casting corrosive blood magic to melt the steel gates.
"They are going to breach the armory," Estella noted, her voice calm but carrying a heavy, destructive weight. She gripped her custom transforming staff, feeling the volatile cosmic mana churning inside her core.
"Not today," Natalie replied, drawing a sleek, dark arrow from her quiver.
Before Estella could cast her first spell, Natalie’s sensory magic flared. The archer’s eyes darted toward the surrounding rooftops, scanning the dark ledges of the neighboring skyscrapers.
"Hold your fire, Estella," Natalie warned sharply, knocking her arrow.
"The Cult is not entirely stupid. They have overwatch."
Hidden in the shadows of the adjacent buildings, six Cult snipers had taken their positions. They wielded long, corrupted mana-rifles designed to assassinate Vanguard officers from miles away.
Two of the snipers had already spotted the girls on the glass tower and were adjusting their scopes to blow Estella’s head off.
"Target sighted," the lead Cult sniper whispered into his comms, his finger resting on the heavy trigger.
"High-threat mage on the glass tower. Taking the shot."
He never pulled the trigger.
On the glass tower, Natalie pulled her bowstring back to her cheek. She did not aim directly at the sniper.
She aimed slightly upward, calculating the wind resistance, the drop, and the exact spatial coordinates provided by her sensory magic.
[Eagle Eye: Piercing Wind.]
Natalie released the string.
THWIP.
The arrow shot into the air with terrifying velocity. It caught the high-altitude current, curved sharply around the edge of a massive billboard, and slammed directly into the lead Cult sniper’s skull.
The sniper’s lifeless body slumped over the ledge, his corrupted rifle clattering down to the streets below.
"What happened?!" the second Cult sniper yelled over the comms, watching his commander drop dead.
"Where did that come from?! I did not see a muzzle flash!"
THWIP. THWIP.
Two more arrows curved through the violent wind like guided missiles. They pierced the throats of the second and third snipers simultaneously. The remaining Cultists broke into a total panic.
They scrambled away from their ledges, looking wildly into the dark sky, completely unable to comprehend how they were being targeted behind solid cover.
"We are exposed!" a surviving sniper shrieked.
"Fall back! Find the shooter!"
Natalie did not give them the chance to run. Her hands were a blur of motion. She drew, knocked, and fired in a flawless rhythm.
Three more arrows whistled through the air, finding their marks with impossible precision. The final three snipers dropped dead in the shadows, their skulls pinned to the concrete by Natalie’s piercing wind.
Natalie lowered her bow. She did not even break a sweat.
"Rooftops are clear," Natalie reported, giving her partner a short nod.
"You have the floor, Estella."
Estella smiled, her eyes glowing with a brilliant, starry light.
"Thank you, Nat," Estella said, stepping to the very edge of the skyscraper.
"Let us give them a show."
Estella tapped the base of her staff against the glass. The weapon instantly transformed, expanding into a beautiful, highly complex catalyst of cosmic energy.
Down on the central bridge, the Vanguard Knight Commander roared in pain as a Cultist’s blood spear pierced his shoulder.
He fell to his knees. The armored Null-Fiends shrieked, preparing to trample the barricade and slaughter the remaining defenders.
Suddenly, the dark, artificial sky above the bridge lit up.
Pew. Pew. Pew.
Dozens of concentrated, hyper-dense beams of stardust rained down from the heavens. The cosmic lasers pierced the battlefield with terrifying accuracy.
The beams completely bypassed the Null-Fiends’ magic-absorbing scales, blowing massive, glowing holes through their heads and chests.
The shadow beasts collapsed mid-charge, their bodies disintegrating into glowing dust.
The Cult Commanders stopped casting their blood magic. They looked up in sheer horror.
"Look out!" a Cultist screamed as another volley of stardust beams tore through their ranks, vaporizing three men in a single second.
"They have artillery on the high tower! Bring that building down!"
But Estella was already preparing the grand finale.
The Vanguard Knights on the bridge stopped fighting. They looked up at the highest skyscraper.
They could not see the girl, but they could see the blinding, beautiful mass of cosmic energy gathering at the pinnacle of the city.
"What is that?" the wounded Vanguard Commander gasped, clutching his bleeding shoulder.
"It looks like... a falling star."
On the roof, Estella raised her staff toward the heavens. Her mana core spun wildly, pulling an immense, terrifying amount of cosmic power into reality.
The air around her vibrated with sheer destructive force. She was the Star of Ruin, and she was going to eradicate the Warlord’s enemies.
"Disappear," Estella commanded coldly.
[Star of Ruin: Meteor Fall.]
A colossal, blinding pillar of concentrated cosmic stardust erupted from the tip of her staff.
The massive beam plummeted from the sky like a localized orbital strike. The sheer light and heat of the attack temporarily blinded everyone on the bridge.
The Meteor Fall slammed directly into the center of the Cult’s horde.
There was no explosion. There was only a deafening, low-frequency hum as the cosmic energy erased everything it touched.
The heavy steel barricades, the corrupted blood magic, the heavily armored Null-Fiends, and the screaming Cult Commanders were completely vaporzized.
The earth beneath the bridge glowed white-hot, entirely melted by the impact.
When the blinding light finally faded, the central bridge was eerily silent.
The massive Cult army that had threatened to breach the armory was simply gone. A massive, glowing crater of glassed asphalt was all that remained of the enemy forces.
The surviving Vanguard Knights dropped to their knees. Weapons slipped from their trembling hands.
They stared at the smoldering crater, completely unable to process the sheer scale of the destruction. They looked back up at the distant skyscraper, feeling an undeniable sense of reverence.
They did not know who was up there, but they knew an angel of death was watching over them.
---
High above, Estella lowered her staff. The weapon shifted back into its dormant state. She let out a long breath, watching the glowing crater far below.
"Bridge secured," Estella smiled.
Natalie slung her bow over her shoulder. She looked at the devastation her partner had just caused.
"Remind me never to make you angry," Natalie noted dryly.
Estella laughed softly. The Captain’s orders were being executed flawlessly.
Sector by sector, the Eclipse Hunters were taking complete control of the war.
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