I Refuse To Be Fate’s Puppet - Chapter 56

Every Element had a Realm that the Energy came from. Its Source. But the Element’s weren’t the only Realms around. When people cultivated to a high enough level, some would be given the opportunity to create a Realm, infusing their Energy and abilities to create a new Source. A Source that was created by someone would be different to one made naturally by the Elements. These Realms could only be used by those who had access to it. Many schools, Clan and Sect’s inherited Realm’s from their predecessors and founders.

As Tech Enhancements developed and evolved, the technology and ability to fuse a Created Realm and Tech was created called Visualization Tech. Using the Source Energy of a Created Realm, an Illusionary world could be produced, and then using Visualization Tech, you could allow the Source Energy to enter one’s Elemental Reservoir and connect you to it.

Although your senses were active in this world and you still feel pain, you wouldn’t die within it as it was an Illusionary world. However, there would still be mental effects if you were to die in this Illusionary world. Arata felt the Visualization Tech connect with his Elemental Reservoir and felt an uncomfortable feeling as he if he was been sucked out of his body. When he opened his eyes, he was within the Illusionary world.

He was standing a military fortress. There were soldiers lined up, ready for battle. He was also wearing similar armor. He turned to see Akari and Tallis in armor as well. The three nodded as they went to work. He could still feel his body in the real world and felt the table in front of him. The three immediately began typing commands. They watched the soldiers get into formation and spread out according to their instructions. Tallis, Akari and Arata had already decided on how they were going to carry out the mission.

Once the timer finished counting down, they would lose their connection to their bodies and be integrated to the Illusionary World. When that happened, it would be like a regular battle that they would have to fight, guide and lead their army. Arata and Akari organized the soldiers into pre made squadrons. Tallis used his ability and connected himself to the commanders of the squadrons, as well as connecting to the scouts. At his current level, he was unable to connect to the entire army, so he chose those who could pass down his orders and the scouts who would become his eyes.

They quickly finished organizing so they withdrew from their bodies early, which those on the outside were shocked to see that they had stopped typing and were still. Meaning they had finished their preparations. By cutting themselves off early, they could now move freely in the Illusionary World. By doing this, they had a slight headstart on the others as they were already moving in the Illusionary World while they others could only look around as they organize their troops.

Akari joined a group of soldiers and waited patiently. Arata went around scanning their soldiers with his Shadow Awareness, sending the information to Tallis. He also used his Vitality Bestowal to collect certain Energy from some of the soldiers. Tallis sent his orders to Akari, Arata and the commanders. The time was almost up and the battle was about to commence.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Begin.

The soldiers seemed to come alive. They were previously moving around like zombies, in a standby state. Now that the battle had begun, they were now active and ready for battle. They received their orders and moved out immediately. Arata joined the scouts as he sped off into the battle field. They scouts were fast and were difficult to spot as they moved forward. There would normally be a distance the scouts would travel before coming back and reporting. But because of Tallis’ ability, they could just keep moving forward. Arata’s mission was different to the other scout’s though.

While the scout’s were trying to stay hidden and just find where the enemy was, Arata was on the lookout for the other scouts. Using his Shadow Awareness, he was searching for the enemy scouts to eliminate them. By cutting off the enemies ability to gather information, you effectively weaken your opponent in a strategic battle.

Arata spotted his first target. They had blended into the trees in the area, but they couldn’t hide from Arata. Arata quickly moved over and dispatched the enemy scout. Tallis watched this through his ability and sent a scout to move forward, as the likelihood of the enemy being in the area went up with the presence of an enemy scout. A moment later, Tallis informed Arata that there was a tower in the area, there was a commander and a team of around 30 soldiers. This was clearly an outpost to gather information and prevent others from approaching the main base.

Arata grinned. 30 soldiers? Piece of cake.

Tallis communicated to Arata that he would be sending 70 troops that would arrive at the tower in 8 minutes and he needed to defeat those at the tower, quietly, in that time. Before they see the troops coming and can send a warning to the main base. Arata sent back a confirmation as he rushed forward.

Each class had 600 hundred soldiers at their disposal. During the set up, you had the chance to choose the basic abilities, class and ranks of the soldiers. Obviously, higher ranked soldiers were limited and there were limits to how many soldiers of a certain kind you could have. The 70 troops that were heading to Arata were the ones he had personally selected to follow him. Arata, Tallis and Akari had planned a simple three part mission. Akari would take two thirds of the soldiers and lead them directly into battle. Arata would take his 70 and go around doing his own thing. Tallis would then have the remaining 130 and defend the main base.

When the examiners saw how Class 7 had distributed their soldiers, they shook their heads. In their minds, they had given too much to Akari and there wasn’t enough soldiers left to help Tallis defend the base. They were also confused at what Arata and his team of 70 were going to do. They couldn’t understand these tactics, so they waited to see what they would do.

The soldiers at the tower were looking out over the trees that surrounded them they were positioned on a small hill and the tower gave them an almost 360 degree lookout of the surrounding area. The trees weren’t gathered too close together, so it would be easy to see a group of people approaching. There was, however, enough trees for Arata to move forward, completely unseen. Arata could clearly see the soldiers that were scanning the area, and so he made use of the windows where they would turn to look in a different area.

Arata managed to get to the outpost. It was a simple set up. There was a basic wooden wall that went around the outpost. Inside, there were soldiers walking around on the lookout. The tower was set up in the center and looked over the wall and over the trees. There were 6 soldiers at the top of the tower. The other soldiers were scattered throughout the outpost or in the outlying forest. Or rather they were, but Arata disposed of the outliers quickly. He also was able to dispatch a messenger. Due to the direction he was running in, Arata and Tallis were able to figure out the direction from the outpost that the main base would most likely be.

Arata was preparing to sneak inside, but Tallis stopped him, telling him to wait for a moment. After understanding why, he happily waited. After a few seconds, there was a sound of a large explosion in the distance. The soldiers in the outpost all saw a bright white light far away. Even with the distance, the bright light was still visible from where they were. They wondered what the light was.

As they were all distracted by the explosion, perfectly timed, Arata snuck into the outpost and found a spot to hide. He scanned his surroundings and quickly killed and hid a soldier that was close by. He then quickly disposed of another soldier that was still staring in the direction of the light. Arata hid the bodies and quickly went out, taking out the soldiers one by one. Arata saw a soldier walking towards an area where he had hid bodies. The soldier was about to discover the bodies.

Arata got himself into a good position. At that moment, the soldier found the dead bodies and yelled out. The soldiers in the outpost all looked over to see what had happened. Arata took out three soldiers that were distracted by the yelling. He the rushed towards the remaining soldiers. He took out two more before the others spotted him. At the point, on of the soldiers headed for the exit, presumably to inform the main base.

Arata, of course, wouldn’t allow that to happen.

Arata weaved through the soldiers that were trying protect the messenger and caught him at the entrance to the outpost. The soldiers quickly realized that Arata had just taken out their messenger and he was now standing in the way of the exit. Arata grinned as the warriors rushed at him. He took up the Vitality Bestowal stance and took them out as they came at him. Quickly, he had dispatched the 30 soldiers. He went up the tower and could see his 70 soldiers heading his way. Tallis also informed him that a scout had ran ahead and had found the enemy base in the direction they had guessed.

Arata grinned as images of the enemy base filled his mind. Tallis was directly connecting Arata to the vision of the scout. Tallis wasn’t able to do this before, but he could now due to Arata’s training. His abilities were much more powerful and refined now. Arata saw that the base held roughly 250 soldiers. With Tallis’ improved abilities, directing an army was easy for him. Although it seemed reckless to have all of the soldiers on offense and not on defense, but with his ability to see what the scouts could see, he didn’t need to worry about surprise attacks from the enemy and he had a clear grasp on the surrounding area. If it was needed, he could get a section of the soldiers with Akari to rush back.

But he knew that wasn’t needed. He had his own strategies and methods to take on any soldiers that entered his vicinity. He was hoping that someone would come to him so he could let off some steam. Arata had his eyes closed as he received all of the images from the scouts. Sifting through them to gain as much information he could. He went over the next steps with Tallis as the 70 arrived at the outpost. Arata took them in the direction of the enemy base. Tallis gave Akari the signal.

“OK, Akari. You’re up. Make a scene.”