BOOK 1 - CHAPTER 22 - ASSAULT ON THE RED CRYSTAL PALACE

CHAPTER 22 - ASSAULT ON THE RED CRYSTAL PALACE

Johnny was aching from the weeks of sword practice with Qin. He had managed to at least get a seasoned swordsman with Qin's help. He used radiant blades that Qin would give him. All he could do was practice keeping himself defended. There were occasional rift eater hoards they were dispatched to dispose of. Other than that, things were slow. Even so the Loathing One's presence on the world was causing total unrest. They had taken care of the void core. Now they needed to get rid of the planet's chosen.

For months the Radiant Alliance was busy trying to gather intel on the location of the planet's chosen. Soon they found out the whereabouts of the chosen. They had started with small teams to track the chosen down. Unfortunately, the chosen kept giving the alliance the slip or their assassins ended up dead. The champion and his underlings were forced to flee from city to city. While they ran, they spread their influence, giving more power to the Loathing One.

The alliance was then able to corner the chosen in the nearby city. They kept sending in teams to deal with the issue, but so far every attempt failed. At this point the alliance was getting desperate. They were getting thin of members to they could send. So they asked Orion for help. He ended up selecting Julia to lead a major last assault. Johnny was there ace in the hole.

Orion had an emergency meeting called for Julia and her team. They met at the end of the week to discuss tactics. They needed to figure out how they would handle the break in and finish off the chosen. Unfortunately, not all ears were friendly in the meeting…

     One of the members attending the meeting was a spy for the Loathing One. They re-laid the information over a hidden communication of the radiant alliance's plan to raid the red crystal palace.

     A man looked through the receiver. As he was getting all the intel from the meeting. The man smiled with a toothy grin. "Looks like we finally get to really have some fun." Laughed the man. He had a scar across his left eye. His body was muscular and ripped. He sat in his chair with an amused grin when the connection was made. "We are going to have so much fun indeed."

     Johhny and his group were instructed to attack the fortress wing of the red crystal palace. The groups would be splitting off into three groups with four in each. The rest of the alliance would clear the way for Johnny and his group to take down the Loathing One's chosen.

     The day of the assault finally came. All of the fighters had left the camp by the lake. They were now marching there way to the city. The attacking group consisted of around 200 members of the alliance. Some were brand new recruits who were very nervous. Too old veterans who were cybernetically enhanced from years of fighting.

Halfway approaching the city Julia sensed something was wrong. She was leading the assault as her scouts came back to report the gates were closed to the city. "Something is very off." She had a worried tone when she was given the report. They soon made it towards the city to find the gates shut. No one was around the city. There wasn't even any noise coming from inside the city. It left an eerie silence all over the place. The guards on top of the gate were standing there. Everyone looked at the guards to see their eyes were just fixed on them where ever they moved.

Julia was the first to approach. She had a tense expression on her face as she approached the gates. She walked up to within twenty feet of the gate and spoke. "I am Julia Viridis. I am a warden of the Radiant Alliance. We demand entrance." Her proclamation made the guards fire at them.

     As of cue Julia things would only get worse. The ground began to shake as the red crystal palace began to glow a deep purple. A dark flash illuminated the city before dissolving into three different barriers at each gate.

That wasn't the only thing to change. The guards above the gate started to morph into humanoid rift eaters. Soon the city alarm bell was ringing as panic began to spread throughout the city. Everywhere random citizens and guards alike morphed into humanoid rift eaters.

     "This isn't good. We are going need some reinforcements." Julia sighed in frustration. She quickly ordered scouts to run back to the camp. She wasn't sure if they would get there in time for backup. She fired off a flare spell for Orion knowing things were desperate.

     Meanwhile, back at the camp.

     Orion was preparing the second force for stand bye. If things were to get too complicated, he was going to have to lead this next assault. He wasn't very cherry about the whole ordeal. He was getting tired of failures and losing resources.

     Orion stood waiting with a force of around 20 elite guards. I hope Julia can handle this without me. Orion thought to himself as he stood. Suddenly, the ground began to shake. Is that an quake? Thought Orion before he saw Julia's warning flare. He just sighed when he saw it. There must always be some sort of trouble every time. Orion saw the signal and had the elites mobilize after him. Even before Orion took a step. Things would get even more chaotic.

     There was screaming coming from the camp as Orion looked over in the direction. A few guards had slain a figure in a dark robe. Unfortunately, the man had done his job. Right beside the lake a portal started to form. Rift eaters began to pour out by the dozens.

     Orion sighed as he knew he had to deal with the issue. He had fifteen of the elites go to the city while he stayed behind with the rest. He was now having to deal with the fall out.

     Back at the city.

     Julia quickly began to bark out orders for them to break the gate. Unfortunately, it was protected by a magic enchantment. She would be the one to have to break the enchantment. It would take a while before it could be destroyed. Meanwhile, she had Qin and Margaret, as well as other flying magic users, fly over the city. They were trying to stop the humanoid rift eaters from infecting the area. They were repelled by a magic barrier as they tried to fly over. They all cursed as they kept trying to pass.

     Julia, realizing they needed to break the barrier as well. She cursed under her breath. "We need to find the source for the barrier." She groaned in frustration as they were getting shot at by dark energy. So far, the battle was a losing one. Members of the alliance were falling as they tried to shield themselves. The healers did their best to keep up. Julia was glad she brought a lot of potions for the fight. Many began to fall back and regroup.

Julia had rogues and scouts look for the barrier's power. They soon were able to spot it at the top of the crystal tower. Thinking it would be easy to destroy a few of the alliance with wings. Flew up the source on the top but were quickly knocked back. 

     Julia was getting frustrated. Qin came over to Julia and suggested draining out her energy to use Judgement Day. Julia shook her head saying that would be too risky. Others were trying to think of ideas. Thankfully, the other elite guards arrived.

"Thank goodness you're here." Julia said with relief. She then spoke again. "where is Orion?" The others told her the camp had been attacked by rift eaters. So he had to stay behind and deal with them. She just sighed. She then had them help her blast the enchantment.

Within moments they passed through the first set of gates. Only to be met with heavy resistance. With the first gate destroyed. The first barrier fell. Winged rift eaters started flying out of the city from the slum section. Archers with radiant bows shot them out of the sky. Qin and Margaret, along with winged alliance members took the wing rift eaters on as well. Qin and Margaret said they would catch up as soon as they had dealt with the flying rift eaters.

     The slums were overrun with rift eaters. Julia had to decide. She had ten of the elites help with combating the slum section of the city. They ran into the same enchantment issue with the next two barriers. The more developed section of the city had less rift eaters running around. Julia had the remaining five elites set by Orion take care of them.

     There wasn't much resistance inside the third barrier, which Julia found very odd. It was now just Johnny, Cleo, Lisa, and her. The four of them did run into a few skirmishes along the way. By then Qin and Margaret were able to catch up after the flying threat had been taking care of. They gave Julia a report of the situation. "The elites are still busy. Looks like we are doing this on our own." Said Qin with frustration. They were supposed to have additional help, but with the way things are currently. They had to face the threat as a group. They finally made it into the palace. Not before another barrier fell behind them. Julia just sighed. "This is obviously a trap. With no way out." With no way back they all continued forward.