The ten motherships were the ones that started the party. Yellow energy were extracted from the khaydarin crystals that powered these giant vessels and turned into deadly purification beams. There were so many capital ships in the air that some ships were forced to remain above each other. It took the collaboration of the Purifier data web and the Warden tactical net to make sure all the purification beams could fit through the gaps between the hundreds of ships and land on Lance City.

The motherships were just the beginning. 50 tempests started unloading their kinetic matrixes on the city below. Giant balls of energy flew out of the vessels and landed in the middle of Shieldbearer armies, drawing massive explosions.

Battlecruisers contributed just as much. Despite only having around two dozen B-1s and B-2s, a result of the End War, these terran capital ships still unloaded a rain of laser batteries on the unsuspecting enemies below.

Within just moments, thousands of Shieldbearers were killed by the thunder strike. They were terrific warriors, but they were used to fighting with swords and arrows. The notion of floating cities firing beams of death down on them was just too much. Countless were washed over by energy blasts before they could even form a Formation. Their runes gave out as they were melted. Individually, no Shieldbearer could survive against the full power of a starfleet.

But the Shieldbearers weren’t completely defenseless either.

Within just moments, a layer of purple shield formed above Lance City. A B-1 that was too close to the city was in the way of the generating shield. The shield easily cut the capital ship into two pieces. The lower half fell down into Lance City, causing a giant explosion that engulfed hundreds more. The upper half fell into the energy shield and was evaporated.

Inside the mothership, Jean wasn’t surprised. If the two empires had energy shields, then there was no reason the Shieldbearers wouldn’t. Killing thousands of Shieldbearers and laying waste to half the city wasn’t too bad. That alone was worth risking her life to catch these Shieldbearers by surprise.

It would even be better if the fleet could just warp in without requiring her to be here. Unfortunately, she didn't have the exact coordinates of Lance City.

The shield was up, but Jean didn't give the order to cease firing. No shield could hold on forever, at least the shield of the Shieldbearers’ couldn’t. Jean had an armada in the air that was the peak of the Starcraft universe. She knew this world was much stronger than the Starcraft one, but she wasn’t a pushover either.

Countless energy beams descended upon the shield. Attacks like kinetic matrixes drew a large ripple every time they landed, but the ripples were pretty much the full extent of the damage. Laser batteries sent countless tiny ripples across the purple barrier every second, but what really contributed to the battle were the purification beams and prismatic beams. As a constant beam attack, they constantly exhausted the energy storage of the layer of life.

On the ground, the remaining Shieldbearers finally received a moment of rest that they desperately needed.

For over a century, the Shieldbearers have lived in total isolation. In a sense, they considered themselves above everyone else. Never have they fought in a battle this brutal. Half the city that they have lived in for their whole lives was gone. The rest were on fire. Thousands were killed in just seconds from a lightning attack that came out of nowhere. Friends. Families. Brothers and sisters in arms were reduced to ashes without laying a single strike on the enemy. This was enough to break some people.

When the Ancient One stepped out into the field, he found himself staring at a shattered army. Just like he told Adam, the Shieldbearers were the last legacy of the ancient factions. At an age where the dimension itself was damaged, resources and energy were scarce. He spent almost all the resources in this world to raise this army, and Jean just wiped a fraction of them in just moments.

But unlike his people, he didn't have time to mourn the losses.

Jean was right. The shield wasn’t invincible. In fact, the Ancient One could already hear it screeching. If the bombardment continued, it would just be a matter of time before the outsider fleet keep on raining down death and destruction.

He turned to his men.

“Shieldbearers! You have a duty.” He drew his sword. “It’s time to fulfill it.”

“For our world!”

“For our world!”

Immediately, the Shieldbearers remembered what they have been taught since birth.

The outsiders have returned, and they were the only shield between them and their precious world.

Strength returned to them. Men and women stood back up and grabbed onto their crossbows. Arrows were quickly brought to them. Those who weren’t qualified archers moved to rescue the wounded or put out the fire. Before long, through the observers, Jean could see phalanxes of Shieldbearer archers on the ground. Their runed arrows pointed at the fleet in the air.

Delta saw it as well. She quickly warned all the Wardens and Purifiers.

“All power to the lower shield. Brace for impact.”

On the ground, the Ancient One screamed a command.

“Loose!”

All of a sudden, thousands of runed arrows flew into the air, went across the purple shield, and darted toward the Purifiers and the Wardens. Trying to gun down space vessels with arrows sounded insane, but neither Jean nor Delta were laughing.

The arrows moved faster and faster. The acceleration runes on them were worth their weight in gold. Their tips sparkled in purple as they clashed into their target.

A carrier was the first victim. Over a thousand arrows slammed into the underbelly of its plasma shield and exploded. The shield did its best, but when it disappeared, dozens more arrows found their way to the thrusters of the vessel. The following explosion tore the ship apart. Delta could only tell the other ships to get out of the way as the debris fell down onto the purple shield and was completely obliterated.

Two more carriers and a B-1 followed the footsteps of the predecessor.

Delta knew she couldn’t let this continue. Just the firepower of these archers matched that of a full Starcraft fleet. Thankfully, as she examined the projectiles launched by the SHieldbearers, she had an idea.

“Deploy all interceptors and fighters. Target those projectiles.”

The arrows might be formidable, but they were ultimately material projectiles. Unlike energy blasts, they could be snatched out of the air. Of course, they might have protection, but if even the Shieldbearer arrows had their own individual shields...then Jean might consider retreating and calling it a day.

The order was quickly carried out. By the time the second round of arrows came into the air, they found themselves facing hundreds of thousands of interceptors, as well as thousands of F-1s, phoenixes, and scouts.

These fighters might not be strong enough to take on the purple shield, but they were certainly sufficient to blast the arrows out of the air.

The arrows were fast and durable, but there were too many obstacles in their way. Dozens of interceptors chased after every single arrow, constantly blasting at them with lasers. Lanzer torpedoes, ion cannons, and anti-matter missiles took arrow after arrow out of the air. At the end of the day, less than one tenth of the arrows found the target. This time, not a single capital ship fell.

“Knock!”

“Loose!”

“Knock!”

“Loose!”

Waves of arrows were flung into the air, only to be deflected. A dozen battlecruisers have moved into position as the first line of defense against the arrows. When the arrows landed, they landed on green defensive matrixes.

Meanwhile, Jean wasn’t just standing by and watching.

All around Lance City, white mechanical figures emerged from the trees. Some of them were smaller, around the size of an SCV. Two Gatlin guns were all the armaments they had. Others were larger, equipped with missile pods and flamethrowers. The third type of machines were multiple stories tall, with crucio shock cannons and 330mm gun barrels.

Wardens Striders.

10,000 S-1s. 5,000 S-2s. 500 S-3s.

The best of the Warden army.

The S-2s formed multiple lines in the front. The S-1s covered the side and the back. The S-3s, in the middle of lines of comrades, transformed.

Crucio cannons were brought online, and they were pointing at the purple shield.

A Warden Command Unit stood in front of the S-3s.

“Open fire.”

With a speed too fast for human beings to see, 500 cannon rounds smashed into the purple shield and exploded.

The shock cannons weren’t as powerful as the orbital bombardment from the fleet, but they were still able to pull some of the shield’s energy to the side.

Under the shield, the Ancient One keenly realized the arrows were no longer working. He turned to a lieutenant who he has sent on a retrieving mission to the armory.

“Are the ballistas ready?”

“Yes. Twenty units will be ready for use very soon.”

“Fire when ready.”

What he was unaware of was that every single line of conversation between him and the lieutenant was recorded and sent to Jean. Despite their legacy, they have never dealt with invisible enemies before. This was a fatal mistake.

Sometimes, intel was more important than manpower of firepower.

“We need to break through quickly.” Jean didn't know what the ballistas could do, but if Shieldbearer crossbows could shoot down her spacecrafts, then she wasn’t ready to test the ballistas with her own forces.

“Our damage output is insufficient against the shield.”

Jean nodded slowly before coming up with an idea.

“Which mothership is the most damaged?”

On the ground, the twenty ballistas entered firing position. Archers loaded five meter long arrows, covered in runes, into the weapons. Just as they looked into the sky, searching for a target, they suddenly noticed something.

A number of ships have dispersed, opening up a gaping hole in the blockade. But that hole was immediately filled when one of the giant cities that the Shieldbearers estimated to be as large as Lance City itself came dropping down.

It was heading for the shield itself.

An officer screamed an order.

“Take down that ship!”

Ballistas after ballista unloaded. The five meter long projectiles were transformed into beams of purple light as they flew into the mothership.

It turned out Jean’s concerns were justified. As soon as the ballista rounds hit, the plasma shield of the mothership gave out, and the purple beams penetrated the entire hull of the mothership. Some almost came out the other end before their energy were exhausted, and they were forced to come to a stop.

For a five meter projectile in a one kilometer tall ship, that was very impressive.

With the plasma shield gone, countless arrows landed on the unprotected mothership. All the fighters and interceptors have got out of the ship’s way, leaving it open to strikes. The mothership was obviously dealt with.

The Ancient One smiled. These ballistas were ancient relics. He has kept them in the armory for centuries. Just maintaining them was time and energy exhausting. He was glad to see they were put to a good use. That ship might not be the largest ship in the fleet, but taking down a vessel as large as the city would certainly boost the morale. These outsiders, despite their strange weapons, were ultimately defeatable.

But both the Ancient One and the Shieldbearer archers missed one thing.

The mothership was several kilometers long and several kilometers wide. Could the five meter arrows penetrate it? Sure. But could they blow it completely apart? No way.

Most of the mothership was intact, and despite losing the thrusters, the gravity of the planet was still pulling the ship down.

When the Shieldbearers realized the catch, it was too late.

The mothership smashed into the purple shield. The energy shield could disassemble anything material in its way. That was what it did to the ship debris and all the non-energy attacks. But there was only so much it could do. When something as large as the mothership came down, almost every inch of the shield was turned to full power, trying to deal with it.

It couldn’t.

After a few seconds, the shield popped.

Two third of that Purifier mothership was gone in those few seconds, but the parts that remained came crashing down onto the Shieldbearer phalanxes. This time, there was no shield to protect them.

A few men tried to focus their rune energy and raise a Formation, but it was too late.

Screams and cries cover the field as countless archers were crushed alive. They formed tight lines to maximize their damage output. Now, this also maximized the number of people each falling debris could land on.

At this point, the fleets could easily bombard the Shieldbearers out of existence, but Jean has a further goal in mind now. Slaughtering the Shieldbearers was good, but taking their technology and knowledge and using them to enforce herself was better. Those ballistas, for example, could easily be mounted on her capital ships.

“All fleets, lay down suppressing fire. Warden ground forces, advance.”