Lemegeton.

A gloomy air of depression descended in the central module of the Naval Station. A person wearing a black robe engraved with hand-stitched red sigils stood in the center, surrounded by four other people donning the same robe with the absence of the sigils. They all stood in a formation with the person in red sigils in the middle and the other four surrounding him in the front, back, left and right respectively.

In the corner the commanding officer watched this scene while his forehead was drenched in sweat. He had heard of the higher ups being able to communicate and even summon ‘those’ entities but it was his first time actually witnessing this thing in person.

The person in the middle was Admiral Daniel. The four people surrounding him were his subordinates.

‘Who would have thought!’

The commanding officer thought.

Just then---

[ I invoke Thee, the Terrible and Invisible God: Who dwellest in the Void Place of the Spirit:-]

[Arogogorobraō: Sothou:]

[Modoriō: Phalarthaō: Döö: Apé, The Bornless One:]

[Hear Me: ]

The evocation increased in intensity and a huge sigil, with the Admiral in the center glowing in a purple light and radiating an infernal aura, expanded. The Admiral had his eyes closed concentrating on the ritual which he termed as ‘The Address Unto the Spirit Upon His Coming’.

-Beep-

-Beep-

-Beep-

-Beep-

The alarms resounded throughout the Naval Station. The commanding officer frowned but he knew he could not disturb the Admiral or else they would be facing horrible consequences. He hurriedly exited the cabin and moved towards the Command Center.

Inside he could see his team and the officers moving to and fro.

“REPORT”

He shouted.

“Commander, scanners have detected an energy lock on the station.” One of the men reported.

Hearing this the commanding officer frowned, but he maintained his calm as he asked.

“Have the other side deployed their Dreadnought?”

“Negative commander, the source of energy lock appears to be from the surface and based on the frequency, it seems to be from a railgun battery. But we cannot confirm, the signature is too weak.”

Another man reported.

Suddenly--

[WARNING]

[WARNING]

[ALL PERSONNEL EVACUATE TO SAFETY]

The on-board quantum computer warning sounded throughout the station. The whole station descended in chaos.

“Commander. The energy signature seems to have risen abruptly and has crossed the threshold of bearing for the Naval Station. We need to evacuate.” One of the officers shouted in panic as fear gripped his heart.

This time there was a change in the expression of the commanding officer. He looked everywhere and noticed the panic in their actions with fear in their eyes. He took a deep breath and remembered the Admiral and his ritual.

“Open the voice channel.” The commanding officer ordered.

After receiving the green signal he continued.

“All personnel, this is the Commander speaking. We have detected an energy lock from a weapon capable of destroying the entire station. But there is no need for panic. The Admiral along with his subordinates is here. You shall witness the power of our faction. I request everyone to remain in their position and not panic. May the Almighty be with us.”

Saying so the commanding officer disconnected. Everyone inside the command center was astonished by this address.

Then it happened--

Outside the Naval Station a huge blue beam of energy could be seen moving from the surface of the planet at breakneck speed piercing through the clouds, its target, Naval Station Lemegeton.

Just as the beam neared the Naval Station, something happened. Above the black and dark space of the Naval Station, a huge purple line embraced by purple flames appeared. The purple line then split apart, just like a cracked mirror as purple mist surged from the other side. Something could be seen moving in the crack which threatened to emerge outwards but was blocked by some restricting force.

When the beam was about to destroy the Naval Station, a huge fist almost the same size as the Naval Station blasted out from the crack as the amount of purple mist rapidly increased. The fist stretched one of its fingers which collided with the blue beam. The beam was then sucked in the finger. Then the fist stretched its pinky as inside the Naval Station a horrifying terror surged through their minds of everyone in the Command Center. The officers were gasping for breath. This sensation existed for only a second as a small spark of purple flame descended from the pinky, slowly moving towards the source of the blue beam.

But suddenly it diverted its track and moved forward in a straight line.

Now after rewinding the time a few seconds before.

On the I-CA Naval Station Poseidon’s Dreadnought, Captain Zero along with his First Officer Jessica were observing the real time feed of the attack by the Planetary Defense Turret on the Naval Station Lemegeton. When the huge crack appeared above the Naval Station, Captain Zero felt chills as each and every cell in his body squirmed in fear. He immediately turned towards his head towards the First Officer.

“Weapon Systems Online, NOW! Target, Naval Station Lemegton. FIRE AT WILL!” His voice reverberated throughout the command deck.

The officers were flabbergasted but they did not dally any longer. Previously the rail-gun batteries were already at hundred percent charge. Thus without any delay, the shot was fired from the main heavy-weapon class rail-gun which zoomed in at a great speed towards the opponent’s Naval Station.

Back at the scene--

The purple flame spark suddenly intercepted the shot fired from the dreadnought. Instead of a shockwave something more terrifying happened. The shot fired from the rail-gun consisted of ninety percent energy and the remaining ten percent was from the metallic payload. Despite the stored kinetic energy in the shot, it abruptly stopped in its track, losing all of its kinetic energy. The metallic payload was then consumed by the flaming spark and turned into ash. The purple flaming spark seemed to have lost all of its power as it too disappeared.

Inside the Naval Station Lemegeton’s central module.

As the purple flaming spark disappeared the huge fist trembled for a moment and disappeared along with the cracking space, Admiral Daniel knelt on the ground whereas all the four subordinates coughed out blood. Admiral Daniel too had a stream of blood dripping from his lips.

The doors to the cabin opened and the commanding officer entered. Observing the situation of the Admiral he hurriedly moved towards him and helped him stand up. Radio-ing his team he called for help, soon his men entered and the subordinates were transferred to the med-bay.

“All that effort only to be left in ashes!” Admiral Daniel sighed.

“Admiral, please. It was because of this that we were able to protect the Naval Station.” The commanding officer interjected.

“You won’t know commander. Anyways, were you able to track the origin?” Admiral asked.

“Yes Admiral. We were able to pinpoint the approximate range of the origin from the energy spike, but the weird part is there is no habitable place near to the region.” The commanding officer reported.

“Interesting. The opponents seemed to have been hiding a lot of things from the I-CA. Don’t worry about the rest, just forward the coordinates to the HQ and the ground team will take care of the matter.” Admiral Daniel said as a glint of coldness flashed past his eyes. The surrounding temperature seemed to have decreased by a few degrees.

Everyone seemed to have forgotten about the huge fist and the crack in space which had mysteriously disappeared after a brief struggle with something unknown.

I-CA High Command. Moon.

R-Ad. Amelia Valerie along with all the officers on the command center were shocked by the recent exchange between both the factions. The hidden cards displayed by both the parties surpassed everything that they knew.

R-Ad. Valerie left the command center and entered her office. She immediately connected with the higher ups from her faction and conveyed everything that had transpired.

[No need to worry. They may have their cards and so do we. Just maintain a neutral stance. We do not want unnecessary casualties from our side.]

Hearing the reply from the other side, R-Ad. Valerie turned silent and could only obediently follow the order.

On the other hand inside the central hall of the pyramid located on Atlantis.

King Atlas along with the other seven Kings observed what had happened. Everyone had a different expression apart from King Atlas who had a calm expression.

They all knew instinctively how lucky they had been, if not for the timely action by Captain Zero, Atlantis would have very well submerged back into the ocean. Such was the terror of the counterattack by their opponents.

“Everyone, there is no time to worry about what happened. The enemy won’t be able to use the same attack twice. But now that our location has been disclosed we must stay alert. Ready the troops and prepare for war. I want to know everything that is happening in Atlantis. Also relay my order to Captain Zero. He is to stay alert and ready to mobilize in case the enemies target the Naval Station.”

King Atlas, worthy of being the Head of the Ten Kings, relayed commands one after other without wasting any time.

Meanwhile inside a dark room, few figures were having a discussion.

“Dispatch Phenex-squad.”

That was the conclusion of the discussion.

Later that night, a twenty-person team of highly trained elites equipped with state-of-the art technological weapons departed for their mission on a modified MH-60. Their target, the coordinates sent by the Naval Station. Heading the team was a skinny pale-face youth.

“Hey Captain, what do you think about the mission?”

One of the members of the team asked.

The Captain turned his pale face towards the man and let out a creepy smile.

“What is there to think? We go, we kill and we return. Simple.”

After listening to the reply the man grinned, so did all the other team members.

The aircraft moved steadily and stealthily towards the target.

--------

In the deeper parts of the base that Jason and Cap. Brad landed on. Just when the crack opened up in space.

A screen lit up and strings of encoded messages flashed past at a great speed. Soon the messages stopped and a final message appeared on the screen.

[Report being transmitted.]

EDS, located at a higher altitude between the two I-CA Naval Stations. A small light flickered and soon disappeared without anyone being able to detect it.

-------

Perhaps both the factions belonging to the I-CA were unaware of the fact that the deadly exchange between them was being observed by certain deeply hidden factions on the planet.

On a huge mountain, stood a woman with an arrogant expression. Her gaze pierced through the barriers of distance and landed on the purple crack as her expression turned frigid. She then turned around and left.

Similarly in a certain city another woman stood on her balcony, her gaze piercing through the obstacles and landing on the island of Altantis and the huge Planetary Defensive Turret. She frowned.

On the peak of a snow covered mountain. A man was seated cross legged wearing just a sarong around his waist with his upper body totally naked. Sensing something the man opened his eyes briefly and then closed them again, not bothered about it.

On a certain huge pillar was a small temple. A man wearing a kasaya was sweeping away the dust in the courtyard of the temple. Just then, he turned his head towards the sky.

“Hmm, they have become quite capable. Being able to summon a minuscule amount of his power. But alas they forget the nature of these beings.”

The man tapped the broomstick he was holding on the ground and closed his eyes.

“Amitabha.”

He mumbled, as he made a palm gesture. An unknown heavenly voice emerged from his mouth which echoed throughout the surroundings as the bell on the temple began swaying creating a sonorous tone.

Then he opened eyes and watched as whatever was struggling to come out of that crack was stopped by an invisible barrier. As the purple flaming spark left the pinky of that huge palm, the man tapped once again with this foot.

“Amitabha. BEGONE.”

He shouted, as he watched the purple space crack being closed slowly but surely while a trail of dark red blood slid down his lips.