Fiona has obviously made enough preparations before coming to this part of the spaceship. Kiba concluded this when he saw her trying to open the grand door through advanced gadgets.
“Being from an aristocrat family is sure amazing,” Kiba commented.
“…We have our own struggles,” Fiona replied as her gadgets worked through the door sensors.
“Of course,” Kiba agreed with her.
He didn’t know much about the State of Avalon or Nine Great Aristocrat Families, but he knew the competition there was very high.
This was to be expected as Nine Sovereigns have great number of descendants. Whenever there are too many people, the fight for survival and resources is very difficult.
This was something that has been true from time immemorial. Even the slums which were the worst place on Earth weren’t an exception to this rule.
Of course, the members of the nine families didn’t have to worry about food, residence, or employment.
But the struggles of the nine families were difficult and sometimes life-threatening.
Everyone schemes against each other for power and the best resources. It was similar to being born in a royal family.
For Fiona to rise and reach her current standing, it obviously showed her talent and efforts.
~creak~
With a creaking sound, the door opened to reveal what seemed like a boundless hall.
“Phew~” Fiona inhaled a deep breath in relief as she looked ahead.
The hall was part of the spaceship with floors and ceiling, but it was vast, truly vast. It at least occupied 1 sq. mile with most of the region covered with an ethereal fog.
“Let’s step in,” Fiona glanced at Kiba before taking a step into the hall.
“Sure,” Kiba followed her.
“We must be cautious as there are bounds to be traps and hidden dangers,” Fiona warned as they walked ahead.
Just then, an ethereal barrier popped some ten meters ahead.
“Or maybe not so hidden danger,” Kiba remarked as he landed his eyes on the barrier.
It crackled with turbulent and violent energy strands that let out an eerie presence. There was little doubt the barrier existed to destroy than protect. If one touched it, he would disintegrate into ashes.
Without any warning, the barrier charged at them with explosive force. The air whistled as the barrier appeared in front of Fiona.
Her pupils flashed and she dispersed into light dots; narrowly avoiding the barrier just as it was about to slam into her. The light dots fleed backward to escape the barrier’s range.
This took a while to describe, but so far, the barrier didn’t stop in the slightest even after Fiona’s successful escape. It continued to move ahead and rush at Kiba.
Kiba’s expression didn’t change in the slightest. He raised a hand and stretched his index out just as the barrier was about to slam into him.
An ear-piercing blast reverberated as the barrier and Kiba’s finger made contact. Violent, destructive ripples cascaded out, making Kiba’s golden hair dance in the air as he stood in the same place, without making any movement.
Fiona has reverted back to her physical form and she looked at the scene with astonishment. She knew he was strong, and was confident that the barrier wouldn’t be able to harm him, but what she saw was not something she ever expected.
The barrier has been stopped by just a finger! No, not even a finger, but a fingertip! It didn’t seem the barrier was made of powerful energy fragments, but rather paper.
This could only explain why fissures were forming on the point of contact. Like a spiderweb, the fissures spread throughout the barrier, and then with a rumbling sound, the barrier exploded into a fierce, energy storm.
Kiba continued to stand without moving in the slightest. His hair whipped as the turbulent energy fragments flew around him, whirling together.
He just moved his stretched finger into an arc motion, and simultaneously, the energy storm sliced apart, as if cleaved by a giant sword.
“There is no doubt… He is Alpha!”
Fiona concluded with mouth agape. She has a feeling that might be the case but she wasn’t sure until now. Since she somewhat expected it, her shock was still limited.
“Till when do you plan to stand there?” Kiba asked without turning towards her.
“Ah! Sorry,” Fiona quickly got over her astonishment and lead the path.
Kiba followed in silence. If it was earlier, he would have been hesitant to use his powers, but not here. This section was isolated so he could freely use his strength as Alpha without worry of repercussions.
A few minutes later, after they covered some distance on the metallic floor, multiple shadows conjured in thin air.
These shadows transformed into battle droids and robots. Blasters and plasm weapons were embedded throughout the bodies and locked on the intruders; rapidly charging up.
Fiona’s pupils constricted. She knew there were multiple dangers here, but the sight of so many, and that too, this soon stunned her.
Time was of essence and she summoned her entire strength in less than a second. Her body dazzled with light particles and energy concentrated in her limbs.
The droids and robots shot out energy beams and blasts while Fiona twisted her body to retaliate.
Bright flashes of epic proportions filled the hall; promising terrifying destruction.
But nothing happened! No attack slammed against each other nor there was any explosion!
Time has come to stand still and everything froze.
“What’s going on?!”
Fiona’s face turned pale as she felt time almost pausing. Her body was in mid-air with streams of light energy flooding out of her limbs, but just like her body, the light energy streams were struck.
The same was for the robots that were lunging at her. Their flashy but horrifying attacks were similarly frozen.
She didn’t know how many seconds or minutes or hours actually passed before she heard two words.
“Gravity Cage.”
The incorporeal concept of gravity warped and a strong gravitational pull appeared from all directions.
Fiona’s pupils dilated to the size of a needle. She felt as if she was locked in some intangible cage where the laws of existence were contrary to what she known.
She was still stuck in mid-air, and despite the dread washing over her skin like a bucket of ice, she was the same. But the scene around her couldn’t be any more different; more horrifying.
The terrifying flashes of attacks rapidly compressed to the size of nothingness before fading away. The powerful robots and droids, who were as vast as multi-storied buildings, slammed downwards, and even before they crashed on the floor, their bodies ripped apart and disintegrated into pieces that were even smaller than dust.
“Impossible!”
Fiona’s heart thumped slowly and her breathing turned heavy as she witnessed a sight she would never forget in her entire life.
Time runs slower wherever gravity is strongest. This was fundamental knowledge she was naturally aware of, but experiencing it was an entirely different matter.
The brief experience of robots disintegrating and attacks fading seemed to last forever; leaving her breathless and terrified.
By the time, the robots actually slammed on the floor, they were just atoms… Completly wiped out of existence.
The moment this happened, the incorporeal cage disappeared, and Fiona collapsed on the floor. No, it wasn’t the smooth surface of the floor, but a crater on the indestructible floor.
A few steps away, Kiba lowered a hand.
For Fiona – thanks to being inside Gravity Cage but not targetted by its powers- the experience lasted for forever. For Kiba, it barely lasted a second.
“Do you need support?” Kiba stepped in front of her and asked.
Fiona’s heart thumped crazily. Her throat was completely dry and her stomach was filled with knots as she lay on the floor. But she still summoned some strength and answered, “N-no sir.”
She stood up on her own, trembling. The experience of witnessing Gravity Cage has left her terrified beyond words.
Kiba looked in front. His eyes flooded with a golden glow and two beams of light streaked out. The beams passed through the hall at an incredible speed, and as they did, he saw everything within their path.
They easily passed through the fog and various traps laid within. Almost a mile away, they passed by a raised platform where a container was placed, surrounded by force field.
“It must contain Chryslia, whatever that is,” Kiba thought.
The light beams continued to whistle forward. He realized the setting on the other side of the platform was similar to this side.
“There are two entrances?”
Suddenly, he flinched as he observed a woman facing multiple robots. On the back of her left hand, two colorful seals have broken apart…
