Blade Over Magic

Chaos VI

As it turns out, Aubrey was being VERY generous when she stated she could ensure none of them die immediately.

Because the sheer insanity that the ant became following its comprehension of mana control was difficult to put into words.

Prior to this, the creature had been leaking its immense power into the atmosphere like radiation. A chaotic force of nature flailing blindly. But now, it had sucked every last thread of demonic corruption back into its body, causing the environment to go chillingly, suffocatingly silent. There was no water heat, no massive shockwaves.

Only vectors of absolute, invisible death.

Inside Aubrey’s library, the scene was that of pure, unadulterated chaos.

Each Information clone sifting through dozens of books every moment, streams of data passing through them at an obscene rate.

Ambient interference had decreased to 0.02%.

Target efficiency was approaching 100%

Clones number 3 through six allocated to developing countermeasures.

’It’s not swinging anymore!’ Aubrey about shrieked through the telepathic link, her voice reverberating inside the minds of the remaining Lunatics with an earsplitting sharpness. ’It’s cutting the space before the limbs even arrive! Don’t look at its body, trust my call outs! Ragna, drop right now!

The dark crimon-skinned berserker didn’t even thing. Trusting the voice in his head, he collapsed flat against yhe ground like a marionette that lost its strings. A microsecond later, a silent, horizontal red line sliced cleanly through the area where his neck had been. Residual suction of the compressed vacuum shredded the top part of his hair away, but his head remained on his shoulders.

’Bodhi, pivot left... now! Three paces, don’t stop the rotation!’ Aubrey gave out rapid fire commands like a machine gun.

Bodhi, his electric-blue hair shimmering with lightning magic, altered his momentum mid-leap. His massive lightning sword swept outward in a defensive arc, but it didn’t clash with the ant’s bladed limbs. Rather, it struck an invisible pocked of compressed demonic force.

The resulting shockwave shattered the lightning construct into a shower of blue sparks. But because Aubrey had caused him to pivot early, the trajectory of the ant’s counter-thrust missed his torso by mere a centimeter.

She’d constructed a trajectory comprehension model specifically watch the ant, and now it was working over time.

Inside her mana pool, her true consciousness felt like it was being scorched alive. Four clones were frantically flipping through books, and mapping out path-lines, and in multiple instances, some information clones which were looking through the stored information inside the prism got erased due to coming into contact with something they couldn’t handle, only to be recreated on the spot and continuing their frantic search for information to help predict the newborn’s intentions.

Blood began to seep from Aubrey’s nose, a telltale sign that her body was rapidly approaching the point of severe sensory-based mana burnout.

’Zeke, it’s behind you. It slipped in through a blindspot! Create a poison haze at your feet and leap backwards. Nash, make a defensive wall three meters to Zeke’s right!’ The coordination was no longer human. It was a desperate, synchronized hivemind dancing on the edge of death, driven entirely by one girl’s processing speed.

Zeke plunged his needle dagger right into his thigh, not even registering the pain as he released a toxic green mist around his heels focused entirely on sensory deprivation. A normal person would have had their senses cut off abruptly and unable to use them indefinitely if exposed to such a thing.

But for the ant? It only blinded its close range senses for a fraction of a second. But it was enough for Nash to slam his staff down, forcing a massive barrier of hardened roots to erupt from the ground exactly where Aubrey had instructed.

The ant’s bladed limb sliced through the barrier which could endure both extreme physical and magic trauma like a warm knife through butter, but the slight material resistance was exactly what Zeke needed to tumble away into safety, his good arm dragging the half healed one clear of the perimeter.

The ant paused in the center of the clearing, its lanky, pitch-black armor gleaming under the light of the gloomy sky. It’s remaining eye fitted across the battlefield with what could be translated as frustration. Every single strike it unleashed was flawlessly executed and carrying enough power to wipe out the entire squad. And yet, the moment its intent materialized, they were already moving the exact distance needed to avoid instant death.

It locked its gaze directly onto Aubrey who was standing further back, blood leaking from her nose and eyes as her eyes glowed erratically.

The newborn wasn’t stupid, it new Aubrey was a problem the moment it detected her, which is why it tried to take her out the first time and called h we a pest. Now. It instantly realized who the true linchpin of this entire defensive network was.

”... Pest.” It practically hissed, lanky legs coiling as it prepared to wipe her presence away from the material world entirely.

’Sparrow! It’s committing everything to a straight charge! When I tell you too, throw one of your swords and accelerate it with as much force magic as possible just past my face.’ She yelled as she drew her dagger once more.

Just then, the ant kicked forward.

Even with all her senses tuned closely to it, all she managed to do watch catch a brief blip in space that was upon her in an instant.

’Now!’ A fast moving object covered in blue light struck the side of the bladed limb that would have pierced straight through her skull, causing it to miss by the smallest of margins.

But even then, the sheer momentum from its body smashed into Aubrey and sent her flying, her nose and several ribs fracturing instantly.

The pain was blinding, but she simply split her consciousness into segments and placed the feeling of pain into an inconsequential segment, still giving out her commands even as her body soared through the air, keenly aware of the fact that the ant was already beneath her, arm thrusting upwards to impale her through the chest.

Once again overlaying Xander’s information to herself, she spun mid-air to strike her dagger against the side of the bladed limb, using the conflicting momentum to push herself away from the attack.

But despite executing this near flawlessly, she felt the bones in her hand get shattered as she was blasted into the ground, bouncing and rolling violently before coming to a stop.

’Come on... almost...’ She groaned as she rolled to the side, the ground where she’d been getting cleaved apart as the ant tried to bisect her into two.

The Lunatics finally caught up again, but their presence barely changed the situation which rapidly devolved.

What followed was just a frantic and desperate frenzy of dodges and extremely close calls that looked like the most macabre dance imaginable. Not a single person on the battlefield had the slightest room for error, Aubrey especially, as even the smallest mistake in her commands would result in someone dying, and losing just one person would cause the fragile balance to collapse instantly.

The only person besides Aubrey who could even marginally comprehend the speed of the ant was Sparrow, and her body was rapidly breaking down due to the use of her boosting skill along with the damage she endured just from the excessive force the ant gave off when it moved.

Not just her, but everyone. The Lunatics were in their strongest possible states with the human equivalent of a supercomputer among them, but simply surviving the sheer insanity that was the ant was already a tall task.

Moreover, while their bodies broke down, the ant only got more and more proficient in controlling its strength. Its movements were becoming less and less wasted, its timing more precise, its already deadly strikes even more lethal.

And eventually, all of this reached a head.

The ant suddenly stopped moving, and it lowered its body slightly, bladed limbs glowing an ominous red light as it held both close to its body.

Aubrey’s pupils dilated as every single information clones relayed the exact same bit of data to her at the same time.

The incoming attack could not be evaded.

No matter what avenue her mind went it, whether disrupting the creature mid attack, retreating, or attempting to kill it before it could complete its movement, the result was the same.

They would not be able to evade.

’But...’ She gritted her teeth and relayed the corresponding information to everyone.

’We can at least... mitigate as much damage as possible!’ As soon as she had that that, the ant’s limbs flicked out.

Suddenly, the entire area was engulfed in a storm of red lines that shredded everything to bits. The cuts weren’t rough or jagged, seamlessly precise. The cross sections of everything that was severed appearing paper thin.

It was brief, but when the storm ended, what remained was a scene of utter devastation.

The ground and mountainside was reduced to shredded chunks, and most of the frontline was just gone, any unfortunate soldier who had been in the vicinity reduced to nothing but chunks of meat.

As for Aubrey and the Lunatics...

Aubrey’s mind buzzed as she quickly became aware of the fact that most of her limbs were missing. Her only had her left arm remaining, the rest reduced to shreds around her.

The rest of the Lunatics weren’t much better. The only person who was somewhat functional was Nash, and he was missing both of his legs. And that was because he was relatively far away from the epicenter of the attack.

In the last moment, Aubrey had commanded all of the to focus their mana entirely on defense, at the same time, she gave each of them a precise series of movements to follow, the result being their current state, but anything else would mean they had died.

But with that said, if things continued like this, they wouldn’t remain alive for long.

With some effort, she managed to look up, and in front of her, the ant stood. Its second eye had been healed, so right now, it looked no different from how it had when it first appeared, and it was now even more problematic as well.

Its mandibles clicked before it raised its bladed limb, not even bothering to say anything else to her. It was more inclined to get rid of the annoying pest that had made this entire ordeal more irritating than it should have been.

At this moment, Aubrey sighed and spoke.

”... You took... far too long.” Hearing this, this ant was confused for a moment, then it sensed a presence behind it.

It slowly turned its head and saw a figure approaching.

He wasn’t very tall, and his armor had a considerable number of dents and gashes. Yet his eerie green eyes were bright, and his expression was cold.

Xander flicked his sword to the side, removing the greenish blood that stained it. He regarded the ant, then he regarded the scene before him, noting everyone who was injured and the absence of the captain.

He didn’t yell, didn’t grind his teeth, didn’t react in any exaggerated manner.

Instead, he simply entered a stance with his sword.