As the Perses Missile impacted, chaos and destruction followed alongside.
The first Perses Missile crashed into the ground where the Warlock Centaurs had been talking excitedly about the expedition ship, Tritaenus. The Warlock Centaurs were torn into shreds in an instant. They couldn’t even react as their bodies disintegrated, the shreds of their bodies shot through the surroundings by the shockwave caused by the missile’s impact. Then the missile exploded with a powerful burst of energy. The highly explosive contents of the missile released a tremendous amount of heat and erupted, creating a second shockwave that radiated outward. Whereas the first shockwave was not that loud, the second shockwave was ear-deafening and highly destructive.
It tore apart the Colosseum, turning the majestic building into a huge pit of dirt, debris and corpses. Rubble poured down on the young participants of the Battle Exchange as the Colosseum’s ceiling collapsed on top of them. The referee – as shocked as he might have been – reacted quickly. He stirred his energy storage and released a burst of energy outward to conjure a dome of protection around the young Awakened and Lords near him. Large parts of the Colosseum collided onto the energy dome, causing the energy to ripple through the shield. However, it didn’t break – at first.
As more Perses Missiles shot through the open roof of the Colosseum, the referee’s eyes widened. He grit his teeth and channeled more energy into the dome to protect the youngest generation. But it was all for naught as two Perses Missiles smashed into the energy dome soon after. The content of the missiles was released at once, causing a humongous explosion that ravaged through the entire arena of the Colosseum. The explosions ruptured through the energy dome, tearing it open to make way for the remaining force of the explosion to wreaked through the referee and the young generation alongside.
Screams of terror and groans of unbearable pain resounded through the Colosseum – or what was left of it – after the third Perses Missile impacted. The third missile seemed to have been the last missile fired at the Colosseum, but that was already more than enough. It caused enough destruction, death, and terror in the hearts of those who were lucky enough to survive.
When the dust settled, the Colosseum’s grand and imposing structure was nowhere near the same as before. The walls were blown apart, the roof was no more and even the ground had huge cracks as some parts of it caved in due to the weight of the rubble. Debris was scattered inside and outside the Colosseum and scorch marks could be seen everywhere. The corpses of two Berserkers were torched and horribly mangled to a point where no one would be able to recognize them. Their bodies were still burning, and so were some of those who had been lucky enough to survive the missiles’ impact. But now they were burning like oil-coated torches.
More thunderous explosions echoed through the entire city, but the Colosseum was spared from further attacks. That was the biggest fortune of those who survived.
Michael moaned in pain. His left arm hung down his shoulders, unmoving. It was half-burned, half-frozen. When the first Perses Missile impacted, Michael tried to use Extraction to extract the shockwave and explosive contents that were discharged with a terrific burst of energy. That didn’t work as well as intended, forcing Michael to use seven layers of Enhancement on himself and Glacicle as he created walls of ice in front of him.
Michael tried to continue using Glacicle and Extraction to extract parts of the explosion and block the rest with the Glacicle walls. He had lifted his left hand to use his body to control his Soultraits with ease. Unfortunately, the impact was too heavy. Perses Missiles were not something ordinary people could block simply. They were weapons of destruction used in spaceships, to fight other spaceships and enormous monsters residing in space. It had been years since someone dared to use space weapons to attack a planet. At least, Michael hadn’t heard any news about something like that happening recently. Everyone knew that using space weapons against civilians would end up in retaliation of the same kind, if not worse. Nobody wanted their kind to cease to exist, after all.
So why did someone attack Piloq, especially during a time like this when the youngest generation of the Tritan Alliance had gathered? Was there an unknown race attacking them with ill intentions? But if that was the case the space defensive mechanism would have reacted, enveloping the City of Piloq with huge Protection Spheres as well as the other cities long before the enemy forces could reach the attack range to fire Perses Missiles. The Perses Missiles would have damaged the City Protection Spheres rather than passing by all the defensive mechanisms before impacting innocent civilians and destroying everything in its path.
‘But if an unknown race attacked us, why would there be Perses Missiles? Only large-scale spaceships engineered by humans would use them…or the Tritan Alliance…The Tritaenus?’
The only spaceship close enough to Piloq and equipped with Perses Missiles was the Tritaenus. But what did that mean? Did some other race capture the Tritaenus…or was there something else?
Michael didn’t know and he figured that he wouldn’t be able to find out more for now, either way. He could make up theories but that was not very helpful. However, there was something else he could do. Michael could get his act together and help the wounded.
His injury was not that bad. His arm was limply hanging down his shoulder, but consuming some potions and circulating energy through his arm would heal it in no time. In the worst case, a healer could take a look at it for a second and snap everything back in place. He was not in a rush.
Retrieving a healing potion from his War Rune, Michael removed the lid and swallowed the content. He then looked around the Colosseum and made some quick calculations.
He remembered where some Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs had been seated before, but everything around them was buried under large rocks and debris. The walls and the ceiling had collapsed on top of some of them. With a grim look, Michael recovered another potion, this time, an energy vial. He swallowed the contents and rushed to the walls where he used Extraction to remove the collapsed walls with ease. He closed his eyes and tried to listen to the sounds around him, but that was easier said than done. It looked like his eardrums burst when the shockwaves impacted.
Michael opened his eyes again and discharged tendrils of energy from his body. He hoped that the tendrils of energy would help him find some of those who had been buried. Sensing some vibrations through his feet, Michael noticed that someone knocked against the fell wall from beneath. He quickly removed the wall via Extraction and found a group of injured Berserkers underneath. One Berserker had thrown himself on top of his comrades to protect them from the impact of the Perses Missile and the aftermath of the attack. His back was now a mangled blob of flesh and several metal pipes had impaled him. Moving the Berserker to the next healer without killing him would be increasingly difficult.
Michael frowned and used Extraction to remove the metal pipes. Fountains of blood gushed out of the wounds, which Michael sealed temporarily by channeling freezing mist into the holes right before turning the mist into Glacicles. Michael knew that freezing wounds like this was dangerous. His act could block the Berserker’s cells, potentially killing him. However, the Berserker was already as good as dead with the metal pipes impaling him. Therefore, Michael chose the second best option – freezing the wounds until a healer could take a look at them.
Michael used every bit of force in his body to throw the Berserker over his shoulder and carry him through the hall. Carrying a four-meter-tall Berserker as a human with average height was not easy, but it was not as if Michael expected it to be an easy task, in the first place.
He looked toward the center of the Colosseum and found Maria. She was unscathed other than the droplets of blood oozing out of her ears. The same couldn’t be said about the people around her. Maria’s loyal followers looked even worse than the Berserker who had been scorched and impaled several times. Not all of them looked that bad, but they must have jumped in front of Maria to block the majority of the explosion’s force to protect her. No matter how bad Michael’s opinion of Maria’s followers was, they were certainly not cowards. They made sure that the future’s strongest healer of the Tritan Alliance would survive the two Perses Missiles that exploded near her.
Michael pulled the Berserker to the arena – or what was left of it. He put the Berserker down and noticed her staring at him for a second. Her gaze flicked to the wounded Berserker for a moment before returning to him once again. Her lips parted, but Michael didn’t understand anything.
He pointed at his ears and the fresh blood that was trickling out of it. Maria nodded in understanding and took a few steps forward. Her hands began to glow brightly and a soothing sensation surrounded Michael.
Maria’s hands cupped Michael’s face. Her soft and warm fingers ran across his face gently, stunning Michael momentarily.
Then her lips parted again.
“I thought you were dead. You did well surviving,” Maria said, her eyes locked with Michael’s, “Now help me out a little.”