87 Things to find out and stuff to hide?

It's been a few months, but we finally found a clue on the rest of the Council. One of Eris's hints led us to the right location. 

I arch an eyebrow while I look at the planet under us. It's one big factory in fact. And it's producing nothing but those hideous Spheres! 

When we entered the system with everything we got, we met heavy resistance. All of the bigger societies immediately dispatched a force to deal with this threat. 

It wouldn't be an understatement if I call our reaction overkill. From our side, we invested the Nomad and twelve of the new ships. The other forces sent troops and the Arcane Community actually came with a fucking moon! 

They converted a whole moon into a giant ship. Chiffre commented that the crystal technology is very useful, but it's still more efficient to bring the best source of mana directly with you. And that's a planets core. 

I just frowned at this logic. 

Right now we are bombarding the hell out of the planet while trying to keep it intact as much as possible. 

The moon of the Arcane Community is actually doing the most work by launching a steady stream of magical energy at the planet which results in earthquakes and rising temperatures. I never saw boiling oceans before.... 

Good that the planet wasn't colonized by mortals. 

"We are detecting that someone is trying to use a pathway in order to escape!" A technician informs me. 

"Location?" -Me 

"They are on the central continent." -Technician 

I nod. "Inform the other powers and get someone down there. I want them captured for interrogation." 

An officer nods and gives the required orders. I turn back to the screen and continue to watch the scene. 

"To think that they have something like this and use it for building Spheres? Please give me an estimation on how many Spheres they were able to create on this world until now." -Me 

"By assuming that every one of those facilities on the ground can produce a handful of Spheres a day... several million Spheres..... of course just if they started their production since they went into hiding." -Technician 

I massage my temples. There were far too few incidents compared to the number of Spheres they create every day! Are they placing them on different planets to wait for an activation signal!? 

"Sir. If they have these numbers of Spheres and each of them is on it's own planet we wouldn't be able to contain this. Even with all our forces combined together." -Officer 

I close my eyes. "Do we have any idea how they could be activated?" 

"I don..... Sir. The team on the surface encountered problems. There is a very strong individual down there." -Officer 

After grabbing my staff, I stand up. "Send me down." 

Seriously. I still have to do everything by myself. The world shifts around me again. I reappear on a barren wasteland with craters and a mountain range in the distance. 

Above me is the moving moon of the Arcane Community shimmering in a blue light. It's clearly visible because it's so close to the planet. 

There are destroyed facilities everywhere. Just in the nick of time I realize that something is flying into my direction and I duck. 

I get an after-image of Carne's face with the imprint of a fist and then the something is past me and impacts a little further behind me. A gust of wind blows over me and covers me in dust. 

"Look! The king of gods pays us a visit." An elf-like figure with plants sprouting from everywhere greets me. Such a creepy fellow. His look fits for Elohim. 

"I see that you showed Carne the power of your fists?" I smile at the figure while I take a look around. There are quite a few soldiers and warriors from different factions around here. 

Right off the bat, I recognize my own people, a few guys from Carne, and a few of Zanders's people. There are also quite a few guys who belonged to the Council. 

They are all on the ground and don't move. Carne and Elohim were the last two standing? Looks like I am coming late for the party. 

"You worms are nothing to me! I shouldn't even recognize you as dirt on my feet! The only thing you are good for, is to be fed to the great almighty lord!" Elohim lifts his arms like in a prayer and smiles at me. 

This fellow has a few screws loose.... is he brainwashed like the others? Most likely. I guess wasting time to talk to him isn't worth the effort. I lift my arm at Elohim and bolts of pure energy leash out at him. 

But his aura diverts the energy and I stop the attack. It's pointless to continue an attack which your enemy has a defence against. 

"Kukuku..... Do you realize my power now worm?" Elohim starts to walk with confident steps into my direction. 

I guess it's futile to hold back against him. There is nobody living here, so who cares? I thrust my open palm towards him but he twitches suddenly and rolls off to the side. 

A mountain behind him is blown to pieces. "Tch!" How annoying! The stupid bugger has survival instincts! 

Elohim turns around to take a look at the wasted mountain. "You aren't as concerned about this world as the others." He turns back towards me and smiles creepily. 

"Why should I?" I wave my hand again and a shimmering disk of light shoots towards Elohim, but he disappears before the disc hits him. 

He appears directly in front of me and I erect a barrier in order to protect myself. 

Elohim touches the barrier with his left and sparks of energy skim over the thin layer between me and him. 

He starts to grin while a few cracks appear in my shield. "That's a commendable spell. Do you power it with this staff? But it will be no problem. Soon it will break and then I will take your soul to offer it to the lord." 

Elohim is strong. I never would have imagined that a god could put a few cracks in my barrier. I am using a sizeable amount of my power in order to maintain it and another big portion comes from my staff, which is charged to the maximum. But I also feel that his soul is strange. His whole aura is strange. A single god shouldn't have that much power..... 

"What are you planning to do with those Spheres?" I try to smile at him while he doubles his efforts and the cracks in my barrier spread further. 

"Isn't it obvious? We will activate the Spheres and they will consume everything within the multiverse. All will be one with the great lord!" Now a few drops of sweat appear on his face. 

"How is this possible? This barrier should be gone by now!" 

I grin at Elohim. "You are not the only one with cheats. I already realized that you are using multiple soul-spaces. Whom did you eat?" 

Elohim doesn't answer but licks over his lips. Yes. Definitely a creepy fellow. I guess even with my staff I can't hold the status quo forever. 

*ZZZZZIIZZZZZzzzzzz* 

A disk of light suddenly whisks through between us. Elohim looks after the disk, which slowly disappears in the distance. 

I frown while I look into the same direction. "It finally decided to come back! But it had bad aim. I will have to change the spell a bit. It's a little embarrassing. Looks like I messed up the aiming function of -highest above the earth- with -closest to me-." 

*Thud* 

Elohim's left arm got severed in the middle of his forearm. It dropped to the ground with a sad noise. Elohim looks with big round eyes at the bleeding stump of an arm. 

"That looks nasty. You should take care of it." I grin at Elohim. 

Suddenly something hits Elohim from behind and his face smooches onto my barrier while sparks of energy start to sizzle Elohim's face into a brown and crispy mass. 

Now I realize that Carne came back from the dead and used his chance to grab Elohim's head from behind. He is pressing the poor guy against my barrier. 

Elohim is twitching and trying to get out of Carnes grasp. But it looks like it's futile. Carne is too strong! 

"You got back from the dead! Nice one! But why are you suddenly so strong? I wouldn't have come down here if I knew that you were holding back." I greet Carne with a cheerful voice. 

"Shut up! It's my ability! As long as I can keep physical contact with someone I can switch powers with them. The fucker just didn't give me an opening to grab him until now!" Carne smacks Elohim repeatedly with an angry expression into my barrier. 

*WHAM!* 

"And the sucker!" 

*WHAM!* 

"Ruined! 

*WHAM!* 

"My!" 

*WHAM!* 

"Beautiful!" 

*WHAM!* 

"Face!" 

*WHAM!* 

My barrier breaks and I jump backwards in order to avoid being sullied by the bloody lump of flesh dangling from Carne's hand. 

Wow! I didn't realize that Carne is such a beauty fanatic. I guess it's important if you have a harem like him? Even though he looks just average. "That's interesting! That means that right now you are as strong as him and he is as strong as you? Bwahahaha!" I start to laugh. 

"What's so funny!?" Carne glares at me. 

"You are actually really weak Carne, aren't you? For someone like that to be the leader of a big society...." I smack my thigh while I almost go to my knees. 

"So what!? I am the strongest while being the weakest! I just have to grab my opponent! And if you don't stop laughing I will pay you back for what you did to me! Five kids! One night and I will have to deal with five kids for at least a decade or two! I should do some really horrible things to you!" -Carne 

Now I really fall to my knees and laugh while Carne shakes his fist at me. 

"ARRGH! DAMN!" Carne throws Elohim into the sky during a moment of pure outrage. 

*WRROOOOM* 

The Council member disappears at an unbelievable speed and a shockwave flattens our surroundings. I cling to the ground in order to not being blown away. 

The air calms down and I look up. "Hey! We still need him as a prisoner! You can't throw him into the orbit!" 

"Ups." -Carne 

I stopped laughing while I looked upwards. Above us is the moving moon of the Arcane Community. Everything is silent and I count the seconds. 

Will it really happen? I know that Carne didn't aim for it. He couldn't be so unlucky could he? 

Suddenly I see the moon changing it's form while a sizeable chunk of it dissipates into the surrounding space and the full moon becomes a half moon. The cool blue shimmering flickers a few times and then stops..... 

Of course this happened in absolute silence because there is no noise transmission in space. 

Carne starts to gnaw at his fingernails. "Do you think I can pay by instalments?" 

I shake my head while I still look up. Chiffre was so proud of that thing. And it got busted in its first battle! "Nope. Chiffre will dissect you!" 

"Then we have to cover it up! Elohim jumped by himself in order to headbutt the moon! He wanted to show his power! You are my witness!" -Carne 

I scratch my cheek. "That story might be a little hard to sell..." 

Carne grabs me at my shoulders. 

"You... owe... me!"