Chapter 153: Burning with Excitement

The two sides of the fighter ships exploded into the combat and sometimes into pieces.

It should be under an hour until we reach the planets now.

The three planets, Asta, Neo, and Lisb, were dots that were slowly getting bigger on the sensors. An interesting thing to note was all three of them had mana flowing through them.

I wonder how they managed that….

They felt like the other major planets, like Earth, Metous, etc., meaning they would all be extremely durable, unlike some manaless moons.

I doubt there happened to be a large dungeon on each of the planets… Actually, there could’ve been. It’s either that they found a way to mimic the process currently only occurring when a planet has been over 50% influenced by a dungeon, or they found a way to have dungeons spread rapidly across the planets.

While I was debating how they managed it, I did inform Nina, who then relayed it to others. Basically, all that meant was that blowing up the planets wasn’t going to be feasible.

One of the largest ships in the fleet had been glowing with a silver light, increased its own speed, and pulled along all the other ships. So we were moving faster than I initially predicted, but it wasn’t fast enough.

More ships from Dominous Hood, hidden in hidey-holes, emerged to attack the fleet. The plan appeared to be to cut down and damage as much of the assault fleet as possible, for planetary combat began.

I still didn’t get involved as everything appeared to be handled, and instead, I began pulling mana from my body, ready for an attack.

How should I go about attacking?

Under the restrictions, I was only slightly stronger than my previous Awakened self, but I now had good movement, so much more mana and energy, and could handle all my strongest attacks.

So while I technically was at the same level of strength, in other ways that was far from the truth, as what was limiting me was my body's ability to handle the energies and my control, both of which had greatly improved.

It is hard when everyone is around.

With a whole army to fight with, I didn’t want to do something that would get in the way of the group effort.

I wanted to be a kind ally. I wanted to give everyone the chance to kill people.

Looking upon the planet, I found something disturbing charging up.

“Nina! Evasive action immediately!” I yelled, “Inform everyone! A massive attack is incoming.”

“Understood.” She didn't argue and did her thing and informed everyone over the coms.

The large ships moved apart, and all the shields strengthened. It really helped that everyone trusted Nina.

Suddenly, space lightened up as a large beam of light exploded from Neo and headed towards the fleet; the early warning helped as the ships were able to move enough out of the beam. Well, most of them did; one small ship didn’t move out of the way and got incinerated by the beam of light.

“Dammit!” Nina swore, “What was that?”

“A large fucking gun,” I commented. Gigantic planetary defences were visible on the surface of the planet, larger than anything I had seen before. Even the military bases on the major planets didn’t have anything that big, not that they needed something that bloody massive.

I replicated what I was seeing with a Light construct. “Each one is about as tall as a skyscraper.”

“How many?” She asked.

I replied, “Four in total. They appear to be on moving platforms, and there are two on Asta and Neo.”

Nina swore under her breath, and she spent a moment thinking while I kept an eye on the cannons.

“Can you keep relaying their location?” She asked, “We need to shoot at them.” She clearly was on comms, ready to relay it.

I asked, “Do we have any weapons that can fire that far?”

“Yes, but accuracy will be difficult.”

I watched with [Star Mapping] as multiple of the largest ships revealed massive guns from their hulls.

Oh, they are big.

I could feel energy flow into the cannons; however, they were far from quick enough.

I warned, “Another shot incoming, twenty seconds.”

“Argh!” I watched as Nina’s eye glowed as the massive beam of energy fired towards us, and a large vertical barrier appeared.

The two collided, and the beam of energy dispersed across the wall, sending the energy up and down. Nina collapsed to the ground.

…Looks like I need to deal with this.

The ships were able to dodge one blast, but that was only when one cannon fired, and it was already recharging. The only cannons were also charging up to begin the assault; they needed to be taken down before the fleet got torn apart.

I said, “Nina, would it be easier if I direct the shots where they need to be?”

“Depends on how.”

“By shooting at them first.”

She paused, “Yes… But can you create an attack that can fire that far?”

“Oh, absolutely,” I smirked from under my helmet. “I am prepared for this time.”

Over my armour, I created a layer of hardened Starlight that made my original appearance vanish. I created a simple illusion with my Light, one of my newest tricks, and I left the ship and found a spot above the fleet where I wasn’t in the way of anything.

I will need more Starlight and Sun, Fire, and Light energy for this… Hehe…

I activated my [Starlight Horns] and as well, pulled on the large amount of energy I had been storing since I had first arrived back. My recharging may have been pitiful when my horns weren’t out, but when they were, it was greater than any human I had come across. Besides that, my body could store massive amounts of energy, to the point it hadn’t ever been full, so I had just been piling up energy.

My heart was burning with excitement. Heat was increasing from my chest as power coursed through my Starlight body.

(“ Someone is excited ”)

I’m burning with it.

(“ Well, make your entrance fitting for a higher being ”)

Haha! That wasn’t the plan, but I will make sure it lives up to it!

The illusion shattered, and surrounding me, four large Starlight shells formed, locking into place. They spun as they strengthened and connected, increasing in size. The four massive cannons created an imposing figure above the assault fleet.

[Starlight Annihilation] is a superior version that doesn’t blow up my body! HAHA, let’s see the light show!

Sun, Starlight, Fire, Light and all the energies I had access to mixed together in a nasty concoction that superheated to an extreme point, a mini reactor in each to power each one further beyond.

The four cannons, perfectly aimed at their targets, using light itself as my cursor, each cannon locked onto its partner.

BURRRNMMMMM

The four cannons roared with energy as the light from my surroundings was dragged into them, devouring everything for more power!

Oh! I got an idea!

I could see confusion from a select few members of Dominous Hood on the ground; most couldn’t see us from this distance, but there were a few who apparently were getting a live feed of the area.

“Hello, Thomas.” I sent a massive soul pressure wave into the planets; it should be ringing in the ears of everyone on the ground. I directed it so none of my coworkers today would be hearing it. “I hope you missed me.”

The lacklustre panic that existed before now had flip-flopped as everyone was confused about the voice in their heads.

Look at them squirm!

I stayed in position, as my existence was the gate that filled the four cannons. My domain may be young, but it has been creating energy, filling the never-full realm.

The cannons on the planet were nearly charged with energy again, so I didn’t have much of a choice with my timing.

Burn! Let’s call this Starlight Grand Annihilation!

The four cannons exploded with beams of energy that superheated the space around them as they travelled through space and eventually—

BOOM!!

BOOM!!

BOOM!!

BOOM!!

Melting through the metal and shielding the gigantic building drilled into the planet's surface, exploding everything in the way. Once the beams were completed, there were four large meteor-like craters on the planet’s surface.

It truly is a mana-empowered planet, though. I am curious what would’ve happened if I sent all that power into one attack.

The four cannons were corpses of their former selves; there was still a semblance of structure to some of them. The attack was weaker than some of my previous attempts using that combination of attacks, but it excited me about how I could make it stronger. How much charging time would be needed to replicate the attack I performed on Jellannax Station in full? Only my helmet hid my grin as I planned my next move, but then I remembered about the people underneath me.

“Hmmm, I guess the fleet doesn’t need to do a follow-up attack.” I still decided to take a step back and vanished with another simple illusion. It could be broken easily, but I had a feeling everyone would be a little busy for a moment.