Gacha Kingdom Building-Chapter 305: (System Break) 07

--This chapter is written using Piper's POV--

Once Finn fell to the ground, I turned my back on him and searched the battlefield for Miwen.

Despite the clash between my summoned army and the AOTG kicking up dust and a myriad of distractions, finding Miwen wasn't hard at all.

I had been watching him all this time, and he remained at the same place, before the tree he had grown as its roots and vines bound the giant that once erupted from underground.

He focused on defending the position and quickly found himself surrounded, yet it seemed like the AOTG men were the anxious ones. Even though somewhat coordinated, their attacks fell through as Miwen pushed them back with that gothic sword of his.

With the help of my summons, the numbers on their side dwindled, and Miwen had time to breathe before the next wave.

Reality finally started to kick in for the man facing us. Despite the numerical advantage, they had no hope of winning.

Still, I wasn't happy.

I knew Maya would turn out great. It'd be more of a surprise if she didn't, and because of this, I never thought much of her quick rise.

It was as expected.

However, Miwen was a different story entirely.

Even by himself, he probably could hold his own against her. And even against the rest of Alpha Team besides me.

I didn't know what to make of it.

Maybe one day he could really surpass me?

Unfair.

But it would be fun to see him try.

Finn: "I... won't break... from just... this much..."

Piper: "I know, right? We can't let these brats get too full of themselves."

I was shocked to see that Finn still had fight left in him.

The hellish vision I forced on him should have been powerful enough to turn him into a meek coward for the rest of his life. He shouldn't be able to so much as raise his voice, let alone his hand.

Yet, while barely hanging on to consciousness, he used all of his remaining strength to grab my ankle, preventing me from taking a single step forward.

The quicksilver that once entered his body through the strands burst through his skin, controlling him like a marionette and forcing his body to move.

The strands that ruptured out of him seemed to follow his will. Instead of forcing him to stand, they coated his hand and my feet, locking us in place.

I saw behind him the same cloud he had summoned at the start of our fight, now once again hanging above his head. It began to cycle between its different colors, from green to blue, from red to silver.

The cloud began to extend new strands. These strands no longer connected themselves to Finn only; they drew every type of liquid from his body, as well as the surrounding area of the complex.

Blood red. Toxic green. Mercury silver. Ocean blue...

Piper: "As long as that doesn't turn piss-yellow-"

Before I could so much as finish that terrifying thought, the strands had already collected all the blood that had splattered on the ground, alongside the quicksilver that Finn had cast and all the other liquids left over from the battles between the two armies.

Even the mana in the air condensed into the purple strand.

Only then did I realize what it represented.

Finn: "Chakram of the elements..."

The cloud started to spin as the liquids it collected stretched into a thin, rotating ring. Their colors began to blend in some spots, creating a stunning yet ominous display.

I already knew Finn had kept a hidden card up his sleeve during our fight, but I never imagined it to be this much.

An attack that grew stronger the longer the battle went on, feeding itself by drawing from the chaos, blood, and sweat that permeated the battlefield.

Even though Finn's grip loosened as the last of his mana left him, the cloud's quicksilver still forced me to stay as it launched the ring towards me.

Piper: "You're a real stubborn guy, you know that? You're lucky I quite like that."

Even I would be in trouble if that thing managed to hit. There weren't that many safe humanoid species I could turn into that could survive having their bodies cut in half.

Most of my summons would also barely work as a shield. The ones that would survive were a bit too dangerous and uncontrollable for me, especially since Miwen was still around.

With few options left, I decided to summon something outrageous.

If hell itself wasn't enough to break Finn's determination, then maybe paradise was.

I poured my mana into the ground beneath my feet, turning the concrete into earth. From the earth, grass and flowers grew. Trees popped up one after another, and even the sky above me began to clear.

The center pieces of the liquid-filled ring disappeared the moment it touched my skin, and its remains fell uncontrollably to my side, hitting the flowers and the trees, but not so much as causing a single petal to fall.

Finn: "...It can't be-"

Piper: "There are many interpretations of paradise in literature. In many of them, it's a garden in which no death or injury may happen. Isn't it cool? You can't hurt a fly here."

The breeze and the scent of the earth were also surprisingly nice. I wasn't a fan of strong floral scents, and luckily, this garden was quite mild even in that area. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Piper: "Now, go to sleep~"

I incorporated the voice of a mermaid whose suggestions should be unbearable for a man who barely hung on to his will and consciousness.

However, Finn made it clear he should not be underestimated.

To make sure he wouldn't cause me any more trouble, I summoned a conceptual prison in another dimension, forcing him to stay there until we had returned home.

Speaking of which...

Miwen: "Yo! What did you think? Cool enough for- What the hell is this?"

For a brief moment, the prison appeared as a massive four-dimensional cube, its sides folding into themselves.

In actuality, the prison was in a much higher dimension, but beings like us couldn't see more than its three-dimensional shadow.

Once it got its last prisoner, the giant that Miwen defeated, the cube became small enough to fit inside my pocket.

Miwen's reaction to it was priceless. I made a note to summon more weird things whenever he's around.

Piper: "Super complicated stuff. I'll give you the summary later. Now... What do you wanna do? Wanna check the sixth floor, or should we grab our things and get out of here?"

Miwen: "...I checked it earlier with my mana. There's nothing human down there. I can tell you that much at least."

I thought it was a little disturbing that he didn't go into details.

I knew better than to ask for things I didn't want to know, though.

As such, we avoided the AOTG and made our way atop the tree again.

Once there, I summoned whatever sci-fi aircraft came to mind. We grabbed the man the AOTG kept underground and headed out of the facility while my army kept the AOTG soldiers busy.

I waited until we had put enough of a distance, and then...

Piper: "Wanna see something cool?"

Miwen: "Yeah?"

He seemed a little unsure of himself as I told him to look out through the window.

Behind us, a massive spacecraft appeared, dispersing the clouds around it and casting a shadow that easily covered the entire facility.

It looked like the moon was about to crash into Earth.

A second later, the spacecraft released a red laserbeam that instantly destroyed the facility and all the men inside it.

As the sand met the beam, it crystallized into glass.

As the beam continued pouring down, the glass melted away, allowing the laser to dig deeper into the earth.

Once it finally stopped, the sand started to pour into the glass, like it was filling a cup.

Even if that facility had a seventh or eighth underground floor, it would have been destroyed and then buried by the erasing sands.

Piper: "Mission accomplished!"

Miwen: "...Now I know why they don't force you to bring the surveillance team."

Yeah. Most of the time, having someone accompany me is a bother. It just hinders me more than anything.

But I had to admit that I had fun this time.

So maybe bringing Miwen to tag along every once in a while wouldn't be so bad.

Piper: "We got everything, yeah?"

Miwen: "Pretty much. Finn and Gary are high-value targets. I'm pretty sure they were using the facility to make those special bullets, but we'll know more once we get this guy talking. In any case, since you've destroyed it, we shouldn't have to worry too much."

Piper: "Alright. We're dropping off then."

Unfortunately, the prison had drained a lot of my mana.

We had to make our way back using the car, which wasn't lame, but it meant we'd stay out camping another day, and I was dying to get my hands on a game.