[MA] 293. Focusing on the Bigger Picture (Patreon)

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[There will be no chapters on next month's last week-ish (09/23 to 09/29)

Chapters this week: 1/3

Next release: Thursday]

Universes should just keep existing. However, it eventually came to a time when even existence itself had to cease. It didn't make much sense for Shen, who was told that Reality was the Will to exist in Space over Time, but that was the information he had.

When any universe reached that point, it underwent a natural process of weakening. It cracked, tiny pieces of it just ceasing to be. In a way, that lack of existence where there should be something was like being "infiltrated" by nothingness—by the Void. Said Void was "corrupted" by the Aspects of Reality, primarily Will, and started working directly to fulfill its purpose of bringing nothingness to the universe that was supposed to discontinue.

If nothing opposed the Void, the universe died. It happened pretty quickly; a single moment of weakness, and the Void destroyed a Subnode and spread into the other Subnodes, Nodes, and everything else.

Dying universes disappeared within days. In the grand scheme of things, that was instantaneous. One moment, they were there. The other, nothing.

However, strong enough beings could delay or halt that. Reality didn't seem exactly thrilled to have cultivators, but it allowed those who proved themselves through its tribulations to keep living. They were like antibodies to the Void disease, giving each universe better survival odds. Streamlining that defense was the primary reason the Alliance had the military.

A universe's weakening started at its Subnodes. Stationing B-ranks there allowed each Subnode to stay stronger for much longer, as in millions of years. Shen hadn't been told of any methods or treasures to further strengthen Reality, but he doubted those didn't exist.

Still, natural decay eventually arrived; when a single tiny piece of a Subnode ceased to exist, the fight against the Void started.

Whenever the Void invaded Reality, it started weakly. If unopposed, things quickly spiraled out of control, but when opposed, it sent Void Spawn into Reality to kill all opposition. The more time passed and the better the Void Spawn did, the stronger the Void influence became in the region.

Strong enough beings could just close a Breach, which was how they called any opening the Void used. In fact, A-ranks could theoretically just go around closing breaches. The military hadn't said why the Alliance didn't do that. Shen guessed it had to do with resource allocation and the unlikelihood of having A- and S-ranks permanently running around doing grunt work.

Zyn had only explained that the current state of affairs also assisted with training troops. Said state of affairs was that the Alliance slowed the Void's progress as much as it could. The military killed as many Void Spawn as possible and probably used unique methods not to have the Breach develop too quickly. Breaches started as lowly as F-rank and were allowed to grow until B-rank. Then, they were closed, and the Void had to start over.

Still, shit happened. The Void could ignore the rules at random. Even deep in the Alliance, a planet could just suddenly disappear one day. The greater the Void's hold over a region, the more likely it was to happen. The military was always alert and ready to react to any signs of something wrong.

Every universe had 33 Reality Nodes, each with 33 Subnodes. When they were contested by the Void, they became Voided Subnodes.

A C-rank Voided Subdone was one where the highest Void Spawn witnessed had been at C-rank. Such Void Spawn could be killed by having a Law touch it. That sounded simple enough to accomplish, but Shen had found in the basic course that things weren't as simple on the front lines.

The Laws of Reality were distorted in Voided Subnodes. While the Void had yet to destroy the Subnode itself, the corrupted subnode space was paradoxically not as well-protected as the universe at large. The stability in the Subnode itself, while its surrounding area was too "close" to the Void. The stronger the Void's hold over the region, the more it distorted any Laws.

Therefore, Reality-based abilities worked differently. A Guardian's reach, especially, was severely limited. Thus, visibility and battle capability suffered. It wasn't stated, but Shen was sure that a reason the military had so many weak members was to cover a wide area. Every warrior was a sentry ensuring the Void couldn't sneak around the Alliance's troops.

Shen felt the limited reach as soon as he stepped into the Voided Subnode. His Laws' reach was compressed into less than a mile, and his aura was half that. Moving was challenging. Gravity was about ten times stronger than on Earth when he walked but five times lighter when he moved his limbs. It didn't make sense, but the Void didn't care about pesky things like logic.

One word could easily define the place: gray.

Everything was that color in there. The ground was a long, endless, seamless gray floor of solid light. The Brigade arrived in something similar to a forest. The trees were enormous, reaching into the heavens, but leafless and twisted. They were so much space between each other that it could fit millions of people. Yet, they were so big that Shen could see many in the distance.

There was no planetary curvature there, few gases in the air, and light also worked differently. Shen had expected his vision to be impaired, but the Axioms of Light had been distorted to let him see further in this specific Voided space. Every such region was unique, as there was no order to how the Void distorted Reality.

Speaking of air, Shen didn't need to breathe anymore, but mana-wielding C-ranks and any D-rank did. They had been given enchanted air-modifying stones that changed the air around them to something breathable. All races present breathed oxygen.

Behind them, in the distance, a thick pillar of rainbow light shot from the earth to the skies. That's where the Subnode was.

Far ahead of them, the heavens were infected with black veins that pulsated angrily.

They had stepped into the strange portal battalion by battalion and formed ranks again on the other side. Zyn let them stay there for a few minutes, taking in the view and getting used to the place.

"We will stay here for three days," the First Lieutenant finally said. "There's no way to know how much time will have passed in Reality, but we estimate anything from three hours to seven days. You'll be considered to have spent three days here regardless.

"While you're here, you'll have three missions.

"Your primary goal is to survive. You're not considered actual warriors yet. You're little more than worthless toddlers. That said, you must retreat as a group if it comes to it unless I specifically order otherwise. Deserters will not be tolerated.

"Your secondary goal is linked to the first: stay with your unit. D-ranks will move as Companies under their Battalions. Battalions will obey my commands.

"Your third and final goal is to kill Void Spawn. I'll take you to a Void Farm we found this side of the established perimeter. I'll command you into taking it out."

He paused as he looked over the troops, giving them time to think about it.

Void Spawn was the first and simplest thing the Void created in a Breach. They were "sent" from the other side of the Breach, though they were actually formed right on the boundary. After a Breach got enough rank, Void Farms could appear at random. Despite their name, they were a sort of access point connected to the Breach that kept creating Void Spawn.

Farms were rare, which was a small blessing. They could appear anywhere in a Voided region, including inside the Subnode itself. If left alone for too long, they also expanded. They started with a single "seed" from where enemies spawned but gained more seeds as time passed.

The goals sounded simple enough for Shen. Unless something went very wrong, no one should have any trouble.

Zyn added, "Let me give you three warnings.

"First, I'm not as limited by the environment as you are. I was given an enchanted item to keep my power. Don't think for a second that I won't detect or punish treason.

"Second, Lieutenant Specialist Karlov will help you work on your Stress Discipline. He is a domain holder. I know he doesn't look like much, but he's stronger than me.

"He'll use his domain to make you confused and scared. We're in a C-rank Voided Subnode, which is dangerous, but Captain Abbav decided it is not good enough. He said this exercise is too simple and straightforward and that you can take extra practice.

"Third, the Stress Discipline drill will affect your willpower even more than the rings already do. It'll be more tempting to allow yourself to be corrupted. And so, remember this well:

"TALK!" He bellowed the last word.

His shout shook everything around them. Everyone became fully focused on him, no matter how pressured their minds were. Some people even seemed to be dozing off and were now alert.

Shen was worried about those who could barely think. The D-ranks would have trouble even fighting, much less resisting the Void whispers to turn into Void Spawn. This deployment sounded like a suicide mission for them.

He couldn't question things, though, only do his best to protect the D-ranks under his care and hope the military wasn't throwing lives in the trash in such a stupid manner. Letting people get killed like this was against the rules, so he was confident there was more to this training than met the eye.

Zyn continued, "Leaving or talking are the only ways to prevent corruption once you hear the voices in your head. You won't be allowed to leave, so talk. No one is ever deployed alone against the Void for a good reason. You need a companion to trust with your innermost thoughts and share your insecurities. When someone shares it with you, you must support and help them see reason. As you were repeatedly told, do it for you if not for them.

"Don't let negative feelings for them make you refuse to help. If they turn into Void Spawn when you least expect it, you'll die. If you keep watch over them, something else will kill you while you're distracted by them.

"That said, if you hear voices, share the weaknesses the Void is exploring with someone you can mostly trust. I'll be watching, but don't put your life on my hands if you can avoid it. And don't open yourself to people you despise unless there's no alternative. If you survive the front lines, you'll return home when the Calamity is over. I won't be there to protect you from anyone using your information against you there. But I suppose you could just join the military for good. We're always hiring."

Sheen didn't like calling what the Void did "hearing voices." Everyone only heard their own voice whispering their own negative thoughts.

Zyn looked every single person present in the eyes—quickly, but still took a while—then concluded, "This is the actual front lines, Lieutenants. People will die today. It's a test as much as training. This is real. The gloves are off.

"Remember your goals: survive together while killing Void Spawn. Remember my warnings: don't get corrupted, help whoever is being corrupted, and be prepared to develop your Stress Discipline.

"Follow me."

Zyn turned and started running.

"Follow me," Shen and all other Battalion Commanders repeated and ran after Zyn.

Orders flowed down the chain of command from Commander to Commander. If Shen refused to obey any order, his Battalion was supposed to disobey it with him. It was considered more damaging to have a unit erupt into chaos than to have them not do what they were supposed to do.

Of course, if Shen disobeyed, a Brigade's Staff Lieutenant would quickly get to him and kill him. There was no arguing or reasoning even outside deployment, and disobedience here was treason. Even if the order was suicidal, you could only choose whether to die in the hands of the Void Spawn, which gave you a chance to survive, or in your superiors' hands. Even if you survived deployment, the odds of no one finding out about your betrayal once you returned to headquarters were almost null.

The military hadn't softened the obvious when they said it: sometimes, your superiors would order you to die to accomplish a higher purpose. And you were supposed to die gloriously. If you were lucky, the higher purpose would be accomplished before you were gone.

Shen understood that when things got dire enough, using lives as expendable resources might be necessary. The bigger picture—the Subnode, Node, or entire universe—took priority over saving everyone on the battlefield. Still, he doubted there were such commands at usual times. For instance, most people present would refuse to die for the "greater good" right now.

This was the military, but there was hard to indoctrinate people with high willpower and turn them into yes-men. That took drow levels of control over an entire culture for a long period of time.

So, everyone knew they might need to pay the cost, but only a foolish Commander—or one with absolute hold over their troops—would not impart how important that payment was before telling their people to die.

But that was neither here nor there. The command was simple: follow your Commander. Everyone obeyed.

A few seconds after Zyn gave the order, everyone was rushing ahead.

[A/N: I kind of got into a tangent at the end, but it had to be addressed sooner or later. Now felt like a good time.

And a special thanks to our A-rank patron: Harry Wilde! You rock!]

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