A pair of silver-blue eyes calmly surveyed the Unds base, a staggering ten thousand feet below, through one of the cargo bay windows. Within those eyes, an unwavering resolve burned, an aura of firm determination palpable to anyone who dared meet their gaze.
Rider, the lowest-ranked trooper aboard the aircraft, navigated the cargo bay, a tray laden with packaged drinks clutched in his hands. His lowly rank condemned him to the role of onboard waiter, a perpetual servant to his comrades.
Thirsty troopers would summon him, and he would dutifully approach with the refreshments. Invariably, after his service, he endured their crude, mocking taunts, a daily ritual of humiliation that grated on his spirit.
The silver-blue-eyed man shook his head, a flicker of profound disappointment crossing his features at the troopers' callous treatment of Rider. Their boorish behaviour was a stark contrast to the gravity of their shared predicament.
'They claim to yearn for liberation from this cursed game, yet their actions betray any semblance of deserving such freedom,' the silver-blue-eyed man mused, a bitter truth echoing in his mind. Their hypocrisy was a heavy burden to witness.
Were it not for the critical mission at hand, the man with the silver-blue eyes would have no desire to associate with such contemptible troopers. Their presence was a necessary evil, tolerated only for the greater objective.
A crisp, feminine voice resonated through the public address system, cutting through the cabin's low hum: "Soldiers, prepare for deployment. Attack commences in thirty seconds." The announcement was sharp, leaving no room for hesitation.
The troopers scrambled with disciplined urgency towards their lockers, arming themselves for the impending combat. Each movement was precise, a well-rehearsed ritual of war. The metallic clatter of weaponry filled the air.
Moments later, a grim line of soldiers formed at the dive line, poised behind the massive dive door in the aircraft's belly. Their faces were set, a mixture of apprehension and grim resolve.
Rider, lagging behind, was the last to hasten towards the dive line. As he moved, his gaze instinctively dropped to his rifle, a quick assessment of his weapon, ensuring it was ready for the fray.
But upon lifting his eyes, a chilling realisation struck him: he was utterly alone in the cargo cabin. He froze, bewilderment seizing him, a cold knot tightening in his stomach.
He scanned his surroundings, a strange stillness pervading the aircraft. The familiar, mechanical roar of the engines, usually a muffled thrum despite the active noise cancellation, was eerily absent. The silence was deafening, unsettling.
Rider's panicked gaze, darting frantically, snagged on a solitary figure standing by a window on the starboard side of the cabin. He fought a fierce internal battle against the primal urge to flee, but where could he go?
Plunge from the aircraft, only to fall into the merciless embrace of the enemy below? The figure at the window calmly turned, revealing their identity to Rider. Rider recognised him instantly: the man with the silver-blue eyes.
"Merlin_13!" Rider gasped, a surge of incredulous excitement washing over him. The name itself carried a weight of legend, a beacon of hope in humanity's darkest hour.
Merlin_13, the enigmatic man with silver-blue eyes, was a living legend among humanity's freedom fighters. His power, rated at Calamity Tier, positioned him as one of humanity's foremost weapons in the relentless struggle against the aliens.
He also wielded an S-rank weapon, a formidable sword he named Black_Riot. Its reputation preceded it, a blade of immense power capable of turning the tide of battle.
Rider didn't shiver with excitement; rather, a cold dread settled over him at being alone in the cabin with Merlin_13. In his mind, he desperately pleaded with the universe that this surreal reality was not, in fact, the afterlife.
Merlin_13's lips parted. "Rider, my good soldier," he began, his voice calm, yet carrying an undeniable authority. "You are not like the others. You are one of the rare few who are not overtly selfish."
"You possess humility, kindness, and an unyielding optimism. That is why I have brought you here." His words were a balm, yet also a mystery, deepening Rider's confusion.
"You brought me here?" Rider queried, his confusion deepening. The idea was absurd, yet Merlin_13's presence was undeniably real.
"Indeed, I did. You see, I discovered a glitch, and I have interwoven its essence into my sword." From seemingly thin air, Merlin_13 drew forth his legendary longsword, Black_Riot.
He held it upright, tilting it subtly from side to side, its blade catching the ambient light, a lethal gleam in the stillness. The sword hummed with a suppressed power, a living extension of its wielder.
"I harnessed power from that anomaly to forge this temporal bubble we now inhabit. I have, quite simply, halted the flow of time within the game itself." The revelation was staggering, defying all known laws of their reality.
"You and I are the sole individuals unaffected. However, I shall ultimately face severe repercussions for attempting to fracture the game's fundamental code. This, Rider, is the second reason I brought you here."
"Many believe my sole purpose here is to assault the enemy base, but that is not the full truth. I also came to shatter the dam that restrains the river." The cryptic statement only served to heighten Rider's apprehension.
Rider's brow furrowed, a silent testament to his profound confusion. A dam? A river? What could Merlin_13 possibly mean?
Merlin_13 elucidated, "The Unds have discovered a method to gradually breach the very heart of the game's algorithm. They are slowly, meticulously, chipping away at its core."
Rider's mood plummeted into abject terror. This was the gravest peril humanity could possibly face. Should the Unds gain control of the game's core algorithm, they could irrevocably rig the game against humanity.
Or, even worse, obliterate humanity with a mere string of code. The thought sent a shiver down his spine, a cold dread far worse than any physical threat.
Merlin_13 continued, "They are still breaching; they haven't yet discovered how to modify the code. All they have managed is to extract certain coding from the game. This extracted code has manifested as a flowing reserve within their base."
"They control this river, preventing its outflow from their base with a dam. If the river flows freely, the game will actively attempt to patch the anomaly, thereby assimilating the river."
"My task is to shatter that dam, liberating the river's current. Once it flows out, the game will recognise it and reabsorb it back into its core coding package." The plan was audacious, a desperate gamble.
"What is my role in this plan?" Rider enquired, his voice barely a whisper. The weight of the situation was immense, pressing down on him.
Merlin_13 stated, his voice devoid of emotion, "I do not anticipate surviving after I rupture the dam. I require you to cast my sword into the liberated river once it finds you."
"Do not fret; Black_Riot will permit you to wield it for a brief period. Flee back to safety the instant I destroy the dam." The words hit Rider like a physical blow.
Rider's breathing grew ragged. He struggled to comprehend his predicament, the sheer weight of it overwhelming him. He was a mere trooper, thrust into a cosmic gambit.
Before he could gather his scattered thoughts and pose further questions to the silver-blue-eyed man, a jarring shift occurred: everything snapped back to normal. The eerie silence vanished.
He found himself standing at the rear of a dense swarm of troopers, the familiar hum of the aircraft's engines once again a muffled backdrop. The temporal bubble had burst.
The massive dive door at the end of the cabin bay swung open swiftly yet smoothly, revealing the vast expanse of sky and the distant enemy base.
For an inexplicable reason, Merlin_13 now stood at the vanguard of the assembled troopers. He strode purposefully towards the edge of the ramp, his movements fluid and resolute.
As he advanced, his left hand reached into the seemingly empty air, grasping an unseen hilt. He drew forth from the void his legendary sword, Black_Riot, its dark blade gleaming ominously.
He plunged from the ramp, plummeting headfirst towards the enemy encampment like a guided missile locked onto its target. A lone, defiant figure against an alien artillery.
The enemy's automated weaponry immediately identified him as a grave threat and unleashed a barrage of fire. Lasers and projectiles streaked towards him, a deadly symphony of destruction.
Merlin_13 slashed horizontally, and brilliant arcs of sword-light erupted, deflecting the incoming attacks with impossible precision. He was a whirlwind of motion, an unstoppable force.
He shifted Black_Riot to his left hand, then unleashed another horizontal slash, moving from left to right. This action unleashed a devastating wave of energy upon the enemy's base.
Multiple buildings and equipment spontaneously detonated in a fiery cascade, a testament to Black_Riot's immense power. Smoke and debris billowed into the sky. Golden yet crimson flames subsequently erupting.
Aboard the aircraft, the commanding captain ordered the troopers to deploy, joining the full-scale assault on the enemy base. The troopers plunged from the aircraft in timed waves, following their legendary leader.
Merlin_13 impacted the ground like a plummeting meteorite, creating a crater where he landed. As he landed, he thrust the blade of his weapon deep into the earth.
This action triggered a cataclysmic eruption that obliterated everything within a one-kilometre radius, a devastating display of power that shook the very foundations of the alien stronghold.