AN: We're back for round 2 of this week's update!
War continue to intensify! We will now see how the war affects the other parts of the alliance and how everyone worked to protect their world.
Enjoy reading!
Don't forget to commen, review and rate!
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Non-Administrated World #97, Star Rail Universe…
The first one to move was not Himeko, Dan Heng, the goblins, or the mages around them.
It was Welt. He casually took a few steps forward and waved his cane toward the Quantum Shadows rushing straight at them.
"Stay."
As soon as he said that single word, the Quantum Shadows dropped to the ground as if something unbearably heavy had pressed them down.
"What?!"
"What happened?!"
"What kind of magic is this?!"
Himeko had to do her best not to roll her eyes at Welt's "cool" moment. She simply stepped beside him, her eyes fixed on the struggling Quantum Shadows as they tried to push themselves up, only to fail.
"Perhaps you still don't understand…" she said, pointing toward the sky.
Above the planet, her Orbital Cannon, Heavenly Flare, had already locked onto the battlefield outside the Sanctuary. Its lens gathered energy, preparing to strike the surface below.
"Humanity never conceals its desire to control the heavens... and I'm no exception."
As soon as she said those words, a column of fiery red light descended from orbit toward the pinned Quantum Shadows.
The open field outside Meldiana Sanctuary was swallowed by a bright flash, shining like a second sun upon the ground.
As soon as the light faded, the defense force of the Welsh front stopped in their tracks.
All of them wore the same dumbfounded expression, eyes and mouths wide open as they struggled to believe what they had just seen.
The first wave of Quantum Shadows that had descended from the hole in reality, numbering in the thousands by the way, was… gone.
Yes, gone. Not a single one of them remained. Not even dust or quantum particles were left on the field.
Slowly, the defenders turned toward Welt and Himeko. The shock on their faces had not faded. After all, the enemies they had prepared themselves to fight with everything they had were gone.
Erased in just two moves. Feeling everyone's disbelieving stares, both Welt and Himeko felt a little embarrassed.
"My…" Himeko placed her hand on her cheek and looked toward the sky.
"Ehem." Welt adjusted his glasses, not daring to look anyone in the eyes.
Charlus held his head before letting out a deep sigh. "…Of course, Noah's family is also absurd like him."
Fleamont, standing beside him, looked at him. "…Should we be worried, Father? After all, as fellow descendants of Peverell, technically, we are Noah's relatives."
"…" Charlus did not know how to answer that.
Thankfully… was it really thankfully? The strange silence around everyone was broken as the second wave of Quantum Shadows came out from the giant hole in the sky.
"Let's put that aside for now…" Charlus shook his head. His expression carried a mix of exasperation and amusement. "For now, let's give our 'guests' their overdue welcome."
With a massive grin on his face, the old Potter apparated toward the Quantum Shadow wave.
"Huh?! Wait, Father!" Fleamont tried to stop him, but Charlus had already vanished into the rows of enemies.
Charlus reappeared right in front of the Void Taurus with a loud crack. For a man who looked like he should be sitting in a warm study with a cup of tea, the old Potter moved far too nimble.
The Void Taurus swung its limbs toward him. Charlus did not even step back. He only raised his wand.
"Protego."
A blue shield appeared in front of him as the Taurus's limbs slammed against it and bounced away.
"My, my… rude guests indeed." Charlus grinned.
Before it could recover, he flicked his wand upward. The ground beneath the Taurus moved, rising and clamping tightly around its lower body to lock it in place.
"Reducto."
The next spell struck its chest and staggered it, but it was not enough to break its quantum layers. Narrowing his eyes, Charlus pointed his wand toward a large stone not far away, summoned it, then dropped it directly onto the Taurus.
That did the trick. The Taurus's body turned white.
Charlus pointed his wand again. "Reducto!"
The Void Taurus did not have any chance to fight back before it dissolved into quantum particles.
"Looks like I still have it." Charlus grinned widely.
However, his victory was short-lived as three Shadows of Ruin threw dark Quantum bombs toward him.
Despite not knowing what those dark orbs were, Charlus felt how dangerous they were. He pointed his wand and stopped the Quantum bombs in midair before waving it again, shoving them back toward the three Shadows of Ruin.
His decision proved correct.
The moment the Quantum bombs touched the three Shadows of Ruin, they exploded, turning their bodies white.
Taking that opening, he swung his wand forward and released a severing charm, successfully destroying all three.
Next, he turned and faced a Void Hellion. The Quantum Shadow looked like a knight mounted on a horse, but that did not deter Charlus. Instead, his eyes twinkled with mischief. He watched as the Void Hellion charged at him, then calmly cast a shield charm.
"Protego Maxima. Fianto Duri."
The Void Hellion crashed against the barrier, and Charlus answered by transfiguring the broken stones at his feet into a pair of roaring lions.
The stone lions charged. Their claws tore into the Hellion, pinning it down until its quantum layers broke. Once its body turned white, Charlus finished it with a simple blasting curse.
To those watching, Charlus stood in the middle of the battlefield, wand held loosely in his hand, white hair moving in the wind as the second wave continued to fall around him. He looked small compared to the black-purple swarm descending from the hole in the sky, but somehow, it felt like the Quantum Shadows were the ones being surrounded.
Charlus chuckled as another group of Quantum Shadows landed not far from him.
"Come then!" he declared, raising his wand as his smile turned fierce. "The House of Potter has opened its doors. Let us see which of you has the courage to enter."
Charlus apparated again, and when he reappeared, another blast exploded across the field.
"…Well, for someone Lord Potter's age, he sure is energetic," Damien said as he came beside Fleamont.
"Kakakaka! That's the Lion I know!" Director Ragnok laughed. "We can't have the old man hogging all the attention, can we?"
Damien and Fleamont watched as Ragnok jumped toward the nearest Quantum Shadow and slammed his axe into it.
"…Old men and their hobbies."
"Tell me about it."
The two looked at each other before sighing and joining the fray.
And they were not the only ones.
The other wizards and witches finally shook off their shock and raised their wands. Blue and silver shields appeared one after another as curses, blasting charms, and binding spells flew toward the Quantum Shadows rushing at them.
"Let's show our 'honored guests' our 'hospitality'!" one of the older witches shouted.
"Protego!"
"Incarcerous!"
"Reducto!"
Spellfire crossed the battlefield, striking the Shadows that slipped past the goblins and forcing them back into the open field.
At the same time, the mages from Meldiana stepped forward. Magic circles opened around them as wind blades, stone spears, and burning shots flew past the shield wall. Some focused on attacking, while others supported the line with well-timed healing spells, barriers, and cover fire.
Now the battlefield no longer belonged only to the impossible people from the stars.
The wizards, witches, goblins, and mages of this world were fighting too.
Himeko watched them from behind the line and smiled faintly.
"That's right," she murmured. "This is your world too."
"And it seems they have remembered that." Welt adjusted his glasses beside her.
Ahead of them, Charlus apparated again with another loud crack. Ragnok laughed as his axe tore through another Shadow, and the defensive line roared as one.
The Sanctuary's defenders had finally joined the battle.
—-----
Right above the planet, the TSAB reinforcement ships orbited Non-Administrated World #97–Earth.
On the bridge of the Arthra, Chrono Harlaown sat in the captain's seat, watching the central screen that monitored the ongoing battle below the planet.
"Admiral, the Meldiana Sanctuary point breach has been confirmed."
One of the operators raised his voice from his station. The central screen immediately enlarged the image of the battlefield near Meldiana Sanctuary. The hole above the region pulsed violently as another wave of Quantum Shadows fell toward the defensive line.
"The ground forces are engaging! Miss Lady Himeko, Mr. Welt, Mr. Dan Heng, the goblin forces, and the local magical defenders are holding the line!"
"Status update at Mahora point," another operator quickly followed.
The screen is split into two. One side showed the Sanctuary battlefield, where spells, beams, and explosions lit up the land outside the barrier. The other side showed Mahora, where the academy's barrier shone against the invading enemies while mages rushed through the streets below.
"The Mahora defense team has just cleared the sixth wave! The first barrier failed after the third wave descended, and the second barrier is at sixty-five percent integrity, but is still holding. No casualties reported from either the defense team or the civilians."
"So the battle of the two main points continues…" Chrono's fingers tightened against the armrest of his seat as his attention moved to the several red dots around the Sanctuary and Mahora on the map. While they were smaller than the two main holes, there were far too many of them.
"How is the status of the smaller tears near the Meldiana and Mahora points?"
"Most are unstable for now, but they are close to opening. If they fully tear through, Quantum Shadows may bypass the main defensive lines." The operator's hands moved quickly across her console as her expression turned grim.
"However, some have already opened and caused Quantum Shadows to attack civilian areas."
"Status of the Quick Reaction Force?" Chrono asked immediately.
"The QRF teams have been deployed," the operator reported. "TSAB squads, Chaldea support, and local defenders have intercepted the Quantum Shadows that appeared, preventing civilian casualties!"
Chrono let out a sigh, but his relief was short-lived as another alarm rang across the bridge.
"Admiral… Chaldea has just sent a new update from the remaining points." A third operator suddenly turned pale.
Chrono looked toward him. "What does it say?"
"The remaining breach points are destabilizing faster than expected. Egypt, North America, and the Mediterranean crossing have all entered pre-breach status."
A cold silence came over the bridge as the Egypt site, North America site, and Mediterranean crossing site flashed a dangerous orange-red on the planetary map.
"That Dormammu truly wants to break this world." Chrono gritted his teeth, then turned to his wife and executive officer, Amy Limietta Harlaown.
"Do we have any news about the three who went to the Dimensional Gap?"
Amy bit her lip and shook her head. "Same as earlier. We are mostly receiving static noise and occasional flashes of white-gold, deep purple, white, and dark violet images."
"So even they are still…" Chrono muttered, but he did not finish the sentence.
The meaning was already clear to everyone on the bridge.
Noah, Sirin, and Hayate had entered the Dimensional Gap to face the source of this disaster directly. Yet even with the strength of those three, the situation around Earth was still continuing to worsen. It only showed how powerful the interdimensional being Dormammu truly was.
Then another alarm rang.
"Admiral! The Egypt site is now opening!"
The central screen split again. The desert region flashed red as the dimensional readings spiked. The sky above the marked location twisted violently before a black-purple hole tore open, spilling Quantum Shadows toward the ground.
Before Chrono could issue a new order, another operator shouted.
"The North America site has also opened!"
Another red mark changed into a live feed. A second hole opened above the distant continent, its shape unstable as Shadows dropped through the tear in reality.
Amy's face tightened. "Chrono…"
The third operator turned pale as the last warning appeared. "Mediterranean crossing site is opening too!"
A cold silence fell over the bridge.
The five major points.
Meldiana Sanctuary.
Mahora.
Egypt.
North America.
The Mediterranean crossing.
All of them were active now.
Across the screen, the planet looked like it had been stabbed in five different places.
Chrono gritted his teeth. "Dormammu…"
The name came out low, almost like a curse. He forced himself to calm down and looked back at the operator.
"How are the movements of the main interception teams in those areas?"
The operator quickly pulled up the deployment map. Three new windows opened beside the live feeds, each showing a different battlefield.
"Egypt site, first interception team has already arrived. Chaldea's advance unit, UN Magic/Science Hybrid Battalions, and the local magical defense groups are engaging the first wave near the perimeter. Our TSAB aerial mages are forming a containment net above the breach point."
The screen showed the desert sky splitting open, with Quantum Shadows falling into the sand below. Flashes of magecraft and Midchildan magic immediately fired upward to meet them.
"Civilian population in the nearby settlement is being evacuated. No casualties reported so far, but the tear is still expanding."
Chrono nodded once. "North America?"
"Second interception team has made contact. Our TSAB mages are assisting with the evacuation, while local magical forces are holding the first defensive line. Chaldea support familiars have been deployed for search and rescue."
Another window enlarged. The North America site showed the New York City district under emergency barrier coverage, with Quantum Shadows pouring down like black rain over the populated city.
"The main breach is active. Smaller tears are also beginning to appear around the area, but the deployed units are intercepting anything that slips through."
Amy's hands moved quickly over her console.
"Mediterranean crossing?"
The third operator answered immediately.
"Mediterranean crossing site has also entered full breach status. UN naval and air units, together with local magical defenders, are moving to intercept. The first wave is descending over the coastal zone."
The image switched to a darkened coastline where the sea below reflected the ugly light of the tear overhead. Several ships moved into position as barriers rose across the shoreline.
"Evacuation routes are still open, but the breach is forming above a crossing path. If the Shadows spread too far, they could cut off the civilian retreat."
"So all three teams have engaged." Chrono's expression darkened.
"Yes, Admiral," the operator replied. "Egypt, North America, and the Mediterranean crossing are now active combat zones."
Another report came in from the side.
"Small tears around Meldiana and Mahora are still being contained, but the QRF teams are already fully committed. We have no idle ground teams left except the reserve response unit."
Chrono frowned as his jaw clenched.
He understood the full situation now, and how grave it was becoming.
The main forces were holding their assigned points. The Quick Reaction Force had already been deployed to areas that needed immediate assistance. That meant every defensive hand they had prepared was now on the board.
"According to Chaldea's calculations, as long as the dimensional barrier remains above fifty percent, Dormammu cannot fully cross into this side. It will be up to our forces to maintain the stability of the barrier until Noah, Sirin, and Hayate finish him."
His eyes moved back to the planetary map, where the five breach points continued to flash in bright red.
"So if our forces fail to keep the Quantum Shadows from spreading, then…"
Time seemed to stop inside the bridge as everyone suddenly felt the weight of their part in this operation. Their hands and bodies felt heavier over their consoles.
Out there in the Dimensional Gap, Noah, Sirin, and Hayate were fighting Dormammu directly with everything they had.
And every second they remained standing depended on the alliance buying them time. Every defensive line across the planet existed for one purpose now.
Hold.
Hold long enough for those three to win.
The people below were fighting with spells, blades, cannons, and courage. But up here, their weapons were numbers, coordinates, timing, deployment routes, and reports. One wrong reading could delay reinforcements. One missed tear could allow Quantum Shadows to spread deeper into the planet. One failed coordination order could collapse an entire field before support arrived.
No one said it out loud. They did not need to. The bridge crew understood it at the same time.
Every calculation they made, every route they cleared, every artillery request they sent, and every emergency deployment they coordinated was another second earned for Noah, Sirin, and Hayate.
Amy's fingers tightened over her console before she forced herself to breathe and continue processing the data. Around her, the other operators straightened in their seats. Fear remained on their faces, but their eyes returned to the screens with renewed focus.
Chrono saw young officers, veterans, communication staff, analysts, and ship controllers all carrying the same realization.
If the people below were holding the line with their bodies, then the Arthra had to hold the line with coordination, timing, and information.
Because if the alliance failed to buy enough time… then Noah, Sirin, and Hayate would have to face Dormammu alone. Which was why not one of them could afford to look away.
Then a communication line opened beside Chrono's seat.
On the screen, March 7th appeared with Caelus standing beside her. Behind them were the members of their assigned response team, already armed and waiting. Several TSAB mages, Chaldea personnel, and local magical fighters were watching the same battlefield updates on their own monitor.
March's usual brightness was still there, but her expression had turned serious.
"Chrono! We're seeing the same thing from here! All the major points are open, right?!"
"The situation is really bad now, right?" Caelus crossed his arms, his eyes fixed on the red marks across the display behind them. "Shouldn't we deploy now?"
"Our team is ready, Admiral. We can reinforce any of the active points." One of the TSAB mages behind them nodded quickly.
March leaned closer to the camera. "Yeah! Send us wherever things are worst! Sanctuary, Mahora, Egypt, anywhere! We can help!"
Chrono did not answer right away.
His eyes moved from the screen showing March and Caelus to the central map of Earth. Every instinct as a commander told him to send every available fighter to the ground.
But that was exactly why he could not do it.
"I'm sorry, but I can't send your team yet."
"…Eh?" March blinked.
"Huh? What?" Caelus's eyes widened in surprise.
Chrono sat straighter in the captain's seat as he answered them. "Your team is not to deploy yet."
"But why?! People are fighting down there!" March's mouth opened in disbelief.
"I know that," Chrono replied, his tone heavier. "But that is exactly why I'm keeping your team in reserve."
"That doesn't make sense!" March clenched her hands.
"March." Caelus placed his arms around her, trying to calm her down, then turned to Chrono. "Can you explain to us why?"
Chrono looked directly at them through the screen. "Voldemort has not moved yet."
The moment he said that name, the atmosphere in the reserve room changed. Several local magical fighters stiffened. The TSAB members looked toward each other, and even March fell silent for a brief second.
"The Quantum Shadows are the visible threat. They are breaking the world open and forcing every defense team to spread out." Chrono's voice remained steady, but the weight behind it was impossible to miss. "But your team was specifically formed as our main counter and trump card against Voldemort."
Amy nodded beside him. "Every member of your team has the strength and flexibility to handle his army. Death Eaters, vampires, werewolves, giants, dark creatures, or anything else he decides to throw into the battlefield."
She looked directly at March.
"Miss March, your Six-Phase Ice can shut down entire battle zones. You can block spells, freeze enemy advances, and control the battlefield faster than most combat units can react."
Then she turned to Caelus. "And Mr. Caelus has the power and durability to fight Voldemort head-on. If Voldemort appears, you two are the strongest direct response we have."
"So you're keeping our team here while everyone else fights?" March frowned.
"With the rest of the Astral Express crew occupied on the defensive fronts or fighting Dormammu directly, we can only entrust Voldemort, who gained power through his contract with Dormammu, to the two of you," Chrono explained.
March looked frustrated. She clearly wanted to argue. She turned toward the monitor behind her, where the five active points continued to flash red.
"But everyone else is already fighting…"
"I understand that you want to help everyone down there," Chrono said. "But your group has an important role to play. One that could change the tide of this war when the real knife finally comes out."
His expression softened slightly, but his order did not change.
"We all trust you with the moment we absolutely cannot afford to lose."
March lowered her head, and Caelus glanced at her before looking back at Chrono.
"The moment Voldemort and his army make their move, I need a team that can respond immediately. Not five minutes later. Not after being pulled away from another battlefield. Immediately," Chrono continued.
March's hands were still clenched, but the anger on her face slowly turned into resolve.
"…So we wait until the snake crawls out."
"Yes." Chrono nodded.
Caelus gently patted March's back, then answered Chrono. "Understood. We'll stay ready."
March looked back at the screen, her expression less tense now.
"But the moment they show themselves…"
"You will deploy," Chrono said. "Without delay."
March nodded hard, and Chrono gave them one last nod before the communication line closed.
The bridge returned to the chaos of reports and alarms, but Chrono's eyes remained fixed on Earth.
Five giant holes had opened across the planet.
Noah, Sirin, and Hayate were still fighting in the Dimensional Gap.
The ground forces were holding the main points while small tears spread across the globe.
And somewhere in the middle of that disaster, Voldemort was still waiting.
Chrono's expression darkened.
"Come on then," he muttered. "Show us where you are."
====== Chapter 223 END ======