Starship Commander Trapped In A Fantasy World 231 Fall Of The Empire 5

Realizing he needed to do something drastic so Solaris and Alice could keep their lives Dax broke operational doctrine and forced a connection to Solaris' armour while he activated his own ascension spell architecture. In a split second Dax's mana ambient mana signature flared as it increased by several magnitudes as he interfered with Solaris' mana enhancing armour, rewriting the frequency generator so it cancelled out the angel's spell instead of enhancing it. With the sudden split second twist of the battlefield, the Shadows demonstrated their flawless teamwork as they switched their attention almost exclusively to Dax, even the ominously glowing dagger seemed to have some sort of mana tracking function as it turned around mid air and propelled itself towards Dax.

(This could be a real pain to deal with…)

Dax had expected a response to his drastic actions, but not to this level. Facing the Shadows of the emperor was almost like having a spar with Lux and her personal squadron of the 125th when they had mind melted, everything they did seemed pre planed with the constant and consistent responses to the changing situation. If the shadows had been biologically enhanced and had access to mind melt like Dax he couldn't for a second say with confidence that he would win against them, there was a chance he could win if he had been the one pulling off the ambush and had used chemical weapons, but still, it wouldn't be great odds. Even with his full strength in use, Dax had only been able to injure a single one of the Shadows when only some of them had their attention focused on him, but now about 90% were bearing down on him.

Still, he had the advantage of using mana.

(Sige formation: a.s.sault hammer.)

Creating a sphere of highly compressed air Dax slightly altered the spell to make it spin rapidly in the air while he layered another spell on top of his offensive.

(Air pressure control: Haze.)

Raising the ambient humidity by creating tiny particles of water which he rapidly spread throughout the shadows Dax layered a third spell on top of that.

(Air radiation control: Damping field.)

Forcing the air and water molecules to almost halt their vibration at an atomic level Dax radically cooled the area which the shadows occupied, slowing down their movements as a thin layer of ice instantly formed on all surfaces.

Including cloth, armour, flesh and especially lung tissue.

At this point, it had still only been a few seconds since Solaris had tried to use her ascension spell and now she had finally realized the mistake she had made. But before she could do anything about it herself, the anti angel weapon which had been thrown at her suddenly turned around in mid air.

"Dax don't!"

Just as she realized that Dax had decided to tank the hit for her did Dax cast his fourth and final spell within those few seconds.

"Air radiation control: Acceleration field!"

Flash heating the air and water molecules a split second after it had been almost frozen solid, the water instantly turned to steam while the air expanded and the corridor filled with the smell of burning flesh while steam instantly forced everyone to close their eyes or risk being blinded for life. Having rendered all of the shadows combat ineffective Dax felt his implanted mana circuit burn while his head filled with warning messages from ICI as he was pus.h.i.+ng it way past its limits, but still, he needed its services to cast one final spell.

Taking a split second long sharp breath through his clenched teeth, Dax threw away his cursed sword as he shouted the name of the final spell he would be using for quite a while.

"Seal: Ambient mana disruption!"

Staring down the engraved anti angel dagger which was already activating, Dax attempted to fully eliminate the mana in and around him, but as the implanted mana circuit was already past its limits it failed mid cast.

(Fuc!-)

With the engraved dagger activating, it instantly used up all ambient mana to do one thing: Create high energy air blades which vibrated at almost supersonic speeds. With the spell taking effect before he could even finish cursing out in his mind, Dax felt his body being quite literally cut apart, luckily the last spell which he had cast managed to at least take partial effect, lowering the ambient mana in and around Dax which the anti angel weapon could use. But even as he survived with his life Dax still suffered critical damage, and the sight of him falling over on his face with blood and grey matter pouring out all over his body was enough to send both Alice and Solaris fully into shock. Luckily Dax's spell had also affected the shadows they had been fighting so the pair dealt with them in a timely fas.h.i.+on before rus.h.i.+ng over to Dax.

"Dax!"

"Stay with us! Can you hear me!?"

Doing as they had been taught Solaris and Alice injected several vials of fresh grey matter into Dax's neck, as the nanomachines started healing the damage while supplying fresh oxygen to his brain, the person in question quickly regained his consciousness.

"f.u.c.k… Me…"

Somehow managing to let out a groan with a sliced apart lung Dax tried getting back on his feet by was stopped by Alice who firmly held him down.

"Don't move yet! You're lucky to be alive."

With tears streaming down both her own and Solaris' face, the girls managed to calm down Dax as he realized how worried they had been for him.

"It's fine… This is just… Another day at… The office."

Showing a warm smile as his body already started healing up at a truly impressive speed, Dax started gently wiping away Alice's tears before turning her attention to Solaris.

"Dax I am so sorr!- Hau!?"

Delivering a swift punishment even before Solaris had finished apologizing, Dax flicked the meek looking angel square in the face as he smiled at her while wiping away her tears.

"You stupid half pigeon. Did you really think… I would die from something like this?"

Removing Alice's hand from his shoulder Dax sat back up as he placed a hand on Solaris head like he had done with Alice, rea.s.suring the angel that he was fine.

"I'm already starting to heal up, although a lot of important things have been replaced almost entirely by grey matter I'm fine. More importantly could you get my sword? I threw it away because I figured there might be a chance it would be destroyed if exposed to that spell."

"... Fine, although you really can be inconsiderate some times."

"You mean most times, right?"

As Alice corrected Solaris while she went to collect the sword, Dax turned his attention to the person who had just said something really rude about him.

"Even if that's the case it's still quite harsh to just say it like that…"

"Is it? Then perhaps you should start paying a bit more attention to the things you say yourself, there's a chance it will help~"

Looking at Alice's face Dax found himself at quite a loss. The girl Dax had met when first arriving in this world was a somewhat clumsy and immature girl who was easy to make fun of, but the Alice in front of him right now seemed like a completely different person.

(She really has grown a lot under Lux…)

"Anyway, how was your fight? Was it interesting to face someone stronger than yourself who didn't hold back in the slightest?"

Pondering the question for a second Alice's smile somewhat lessened as she gave her honest opinion.

"It was really hard. If you weren't here as a safety net I'm sure I would have eventually lost…. But that doesn't matter right now, if anything it has hardened my determination to become strong enough to stand beside you as an equal, no matter how long it takes!"

With renewed determination clearly visible on Alice's face it was clear that she would almost certainly reach that point one day when she did he would be sure to reward her efforts.

(d.a.m.n, I really am falling in love with these girls… Who knew was still able to do that?)

While Alice had renewed her determination and Dax had come to a quite important self realization the two of them shared a tender moment, but only briefly.

"Dax! Are you okay!?"

As Solaris suddenly rushed into Dax's chest and knocked him over Dax was quite confused for a second, until he noticed Solaris' unusual tone.

"... Oi, didn't I say that possessing allies was off limits?"

"Eh, is that the swords speaking!?"

Also realizing what was going on Alice noticed that Solaris firmly held onto Dax's cursed sword in her one hand while embracing Dax with the other, something which made Alice somewhat annoyed.

"This isn't a possession! I'm just using this child's body since we're both worried about you Dax! There was so much blood pouring out from you just a second ago, are you sure you're fine to sit up already?"

"I'm completely fine to fight already, luckily I managed to somewhat cancel out that spell so my brain and sup processor came out the other end without damage."

Standing back up on his own Dax displayed that he was completely fine while hiding the fact that he couldn't really move that well yet. Due to the rapid healing Dax had lost about 40% of his overall strength while becoming unable to use magic, he would need a bioprinter to heal those things completely.

"Now hand Solaris back over, she's mine. Besides, we still have some stuff to do."

"Tch, fine. This angel really has a nice body~✿ But I'll give up on her for now."

"Not just for now, forever!" 

Snapping at the cursed sword which was using Solaris' mouth to speak Dax pried the sword free from her hand with an extremely irritated expression on his face.

"Dax, is the sword always speaking like that?"

With it being the first time Alice had heard the cursed sword speaking she was quite confused, having heard second hand about how Dax had tamed a cursed demon sword she had expected it to be some sort of homicidal maniac, but the truth was that it actually did appear to care for him, a fact which Alice even more annoyed as she started puffing out her cheeks with a slight frown on her face.

"Yeah its constantly like that, this sword is the extremely obnoxious kind that it always yapping about something inside my head."

"Hmm?~ Is that so?"

"Huh? Why do you seem so mad all of a sudden ms Alice?"

"Why don't you try asking your sword about that!?"

While Alice and Dax had a little lover's quarrel Solaris had long since regained her sense of self, although there was a very good reason as to why she continued to remain silent while the wings on her back fluttered around so fast that they almost became a blur.

('She's mine' he said!~ He really said that straight to my face! I'm so happy!)

-

With the entirety of Dax's party having returned to the real world after a few minutes and Dax himself having reported the injury to Lux, Dax started checking for survivors among the shadows, finding only a single one which was still barely alive.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to use that detestable thing on your, nor am I going to forcefully abduct you. If you want to die here I won't deny you that honour."

Speaking in a calm and collected manner Dax crouched down next to the now blind shadow which laid limply on the floor. 

"Just… Let me…. Die."

"Okay then, in that case, allow me to say some praise to you and your comrades."

Carefully grasping the burned hand of the shadow, she felt a sincere warmth move throughout her body as she found herself shamelessly clinging on to life so she could hear what her opponent wanted to say to her.

"That ambush was simply fantastic. Be proud as you pa.s.s on, your group almost managed to kill the one who is nicknamed 'the immortal' and stands atop the Galactic imperial navy's most elite fighting force, the 125th special ops and orbital wetwork battalion. To my enemies, we are known as h.e.l.lwalkers for our ability to constantly outcla.s.s entire armies. It was only through luck I managed to live, pa.s.s that on to your comrades in the afterlife and remain proud."

"I… Will…."

"... Rest in peace."

Feeling the shadow's pulse flatline trough her hand, Dax carefully put it down before he stood back up.

"ICI, mark my current location, I have 24 people in need of casvac, make sure they are buried with the highest honours."

[CASUALTY EVACUATION CONFIRMED AT CURRENT LOCATION, TASKING CAS-7'S FOR ESCORT AND BURIAL WITH FULL HONOURS.]

Looking at Dax's sombre expression Solaris timidly reached out and grasped his hand.

"Wouldn't it have been better to save her?"

"No, this was a matter of honour, she and her allies earned my respect through combat. As a qiton I can only respect the person's wishes."

A race built for the sole purpose of warfare which had dedicated their entire culture to that effort and a group of children who had dedicated their lives to protecting their master, in a way they were the two of them were the same.

"... Time to see what the Emperor has been planing for me."

Looking at the walls of the imperial castle Dax could clearly see that the transport formation which was located in the throne room had already been fully charged and was ready to be used.

(Perhaps she wanted to listen to what I said to make sure she completed her final mission?... d.a.m.n, if things had worked out differently I definitely would have made such a brilliant force mine.)