CHAPTER 173: THE FIRST WAVE

The sky above Portentia turned a sickly, metallic green as the first wave of the Ravager fleet entered the atmosphere. They were not ships in any conventional sense; they were biomechanical horrors, living creatures of chrome and flesh, shaped like monstrous insects and deep-sea predators. They descended on the city not with the roar of engines, but with a chorus of dissonant, chittering clicks and wet, guttural screeches.

On the walls of the city, Nox’s army stood ready. The human players, clad in their new, Dwarven-forged armor, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the sleek, black constructs of the void. At their head, Elisa hefted her massive warhammer, her face a mask of grim excitement.

"Let them come!" she roared. "Let’s show these overgrown space-bugs what a real fight looks like!"

Nox stood on the highest tower of his spire, Serian at his side. He was not wearing his armor. He just watched the descending horde, his scepter held loosely in his hand.

"Vexia," he said, his voice broadcast to his sister-in-law via a communications rune. "Status."

"The city’s main shield is active," Vexia’s voice replied, calm and steady from her command center in the heart of the spire. "It will hold against their initial orbital bombardment, but their smaller fighters are already breaching the perimeter."

As she spoke, a swarm of smaller Ravager craft, sleek, dragonfly-like creatures of metal and sinew, peeled away from the main fleet. They dove toward the city, their multifaceted eyes glowing with a malevolent red light.

"Archers!" Mela’s sharp command cut through the air from her position on the walls. "Fire at will!"

A storm of arrows, each one tipped with an explosive, rune-etched head, shot into the sky. The dragonfly-fighters weaved and dodged with an unnatural agility, but several were hit, exploding in showers of green, acidic ichor and twisted metal.

The first wave of the battle had begun.

Nox just watched. ’This is a probe,’ he thought. ’They’re testing our defenses, seeing how we react.’

The dragonfly-fighters that made it through the arrow-storm opened their insectoid mandibles and spat streams of corrosive acid at the city’s main energy shield. The massive, golden dome of power, woven by Vexia’s most powerful runes, sizzled and sparked where the acid hit, but it held.

"The shield is holding," Vexia reported. "But its energy is draining at an alarming rate."

"They’re not trying to break it," Nox said. "They’re trying to force us to expend our power."

He turned to Serian. "It’s time."

She just nodded, her face a mask of quiet, absolute resolve. She closed her eyes, and a brilliant, golden light began to emanate from her body. It was not the fierce, burning light of a warrior, but the gentle, life-giving light of a sun.

She was not preparing for a battle. She was casting a prayer.

The golden light flowed from her, not as a weapon, but as a wave of pure, life-affirming energy. It washed over the entire city, over every soldier, every citizen.

The wounded were healed. The tired were revitalized. And the fearful were filled with a new, unshakeable courage.

It was the Blessing of Lifewoods, the ultimate power of a Feselian heir.

On the walls, the soldiers roared, their fear gone, replaced by a zealous, righteous fury. They fought with a renewed strength, their attacks more coordinated, more powerful.

The tide of the initial skirmish began to turn.

---

In the Ravager mothership, a being of pure, cold intellect watched the battle unfold on a massive, biological viewscreen. It was the Hive Mind, the central consciousness of the Ravager swarm. It had no body, no face. It was a god of pure, consumptive logic.

’The primitives are more resilient than anticipated,’ the Hive Mind thought, its consciousness a silent chorus of a billion different voices. ’Their defensive capabilities are rudimentary, but their morale is... unexpectedly high. The female with the solar-aspected energy is a significant morale-booster. She must be neutralized.’

It focused its will, and on the battlefield below, a new type of Ravager creature detached itself from the main horde. It was a single, massive, centipede-like being of black, chitinous armor, its head a cluster of glowing, psychic lenses. It was a Psy-Slayer, a creature designed not to fight bodies, but to break minds.

The Psy-Slayer ignored the main battle on the walls. It just burrowed into the ground, its massive form disappearing beneath the earth, its target clear.

It was going for the heart of the city. It was going for Serian.

---

Nox felt it the moment the Psy-Slayer entered his territory. It was a cold, alien presence in his mind, a psychic probe that was as subtle as a thrown brick.

’So, they’re finally getting serious.’

He looked at Serian, who was still in her deep, meditative trance, her golden light a beacon of hope for the entire city. She was completely vulnerable.

He didn’t hesitate.

"Elisa! Vexia! Mela!" he commanded, his voice a sharp, urgent bark. "I have a new target for you! A big one, underground, heading for the spire! Intercept it now!"

He turned and walked back into the spire, his own face a mask of cold, absolute fury. He was not just a king defending his city anymore.

He was a man protecting his queen.

He walked to the center of his throne room and sat on his throne. He placed his scepter, Regulus, across his knees. He closed his eyes.

He was not going to fight the Psy-Slayer with his fists or his armor. He was going to fight it on his own terms.

He sent his own consciousness out, not as a probe, but as a declaration of war. He met the Psy-Slayer’s alien mind in the psychic space above the city.

’Get out of my house,’ Nox’s thought was not a word, but a wave of pure, unadulterated void.

The two minds clashed. The battle for Portentia was no longer just a physical one. It was now a war for the city’s very soul. And the Silent King had just entered the fray.