Zero to Peak: Ascension Online

The elusive alien became one of Ivan's possessed minions. He mentally labelled the new acquisition 'Soldier A'. This victory was bittersweet; it meant he had now lost the entire contingent of sixty aliens he had possessed outside the property, sacrificed in the final, devastating attack.

Using the mental link he now had with Soldier A, he gazed around the property through its eyes. Everywhere was still quiet; there was nothing unusual, except for an alien that sat on the dome. The alien gazed intently at Soldier A.

'Shit, an alien eventually came out to check on the ruckus,' Ivan mused, more or less shocked to see the alien sitting on the dome. 'It's still fine. It didn't dare to come close to inspect the damage. I just have to make A act like nothing is wrong.'

Soldier A maintained a focused gaze on its comrade on the dome. They both locked gazes for about thirty seconds before the alien on the dome took off from the other side.

'Shit, it must have noticed that something is off,' Ivan guessed as he lay under the mountain of concrete rubble.

He felt an unknown energy form pulse out from somewhere underneath the rubble. He instinctively forced his way out of the pile. He stood outside the heap, observing for changes. There were changes, bizarre changes.

On the front ground, different things suddenly appeared on the plaza, among the hedge bushes, and in the pool of water at the centre. They ranged from damaged cars, whole trees, damaged street lights, and sections of damaged houses and phone booths. The front ground became a mess, a deviation from the serene ambience of moments ago.

Ivan did not know how to react. He desperately wanted to flee the place, but the thought of the people in the property who needed to be saved kept him there. That was his duty, but what gave him the morale was his new acquisitions: ten aliens whose attack power was ranked 'Transcendent'.

The bad news was that their vitality had taken a huge blow from Rania's attack. Their vitality was now more or less a bit below the supreme crusade rank.

Ivan let his other nine acquisitions lie underneath the rubble. He did not want to expose all his best cards before the fight. Rania, who was engulfed within her translucent golden shield, burst through the rubble. She yelled at Ivan, "Step away from the alien!"

She did not descend to the ground as Ivan had expected. She levitated within the sphere.

"Don't attack us. It's with us," Ivan said.

Rania took a hard gaze at the possessed alien beside Ivan. Soldier A, devoid of its own mind and under Ivan's control, still had its gaze locked on the dome. After a while of observing Soldier A, Rania asked Ivan, "Are you the one who banged on the door?"

"Yes, I am. But where are the others?"

"They have been transported to a safe sanctuary. I left them with a beacon that lets them get help to take them to the sanctuary."

'You can do that?' Ivan asked internally.

"It's good that you came here," Rania continued. "I won't ask who sent you. But I have to know your motives."

Ivan felt that having a conversation in the open was not safe. But there was nowhere else to have this conversation and no time better than now to have it, since there were lives at stake.

"I came here to save people. I'm doing a rescue crusade in the region," Ivan kept his reply short and simple, hoping that they could get things going.

His simple reply was what Rania wanted to hear. She had colleagues she cherished who were still trapped within the building. She did not think that Ivan would lie at a time like this. Human beings rarely sided with the alien race, and she bet her luck that she would not be a victim of the rare instance where a human being would.

Golden patches of light appeared high above the western wing. The light radiating from the patches dimmed, revealing them to be swirling whirlpools. The whirlpools simultaneously expelled terrifying golden bolts that fell upon the western wing.

"What the heck is she doing!" Ivan exclaimed, blinded by the lightning flash. He feared the lightning bolts would decimate the western wing.

A second after the lightning bolt attack, Ivan recovered his sight, and Rania was nowhere to be seen. She had barged into the western wing, not waiting for Ivan to initiate the battle. Ivan had been relegated to the support role, which he readily accepted without complaint.

The other nine aliens were under the rubble; he labelled them alphabetically, starting after Soldier A. He hoped for the opportunity to use them. He sent Soldier A to follow behind Rania. Soldier A jumped into the western wing of the building through the wide, gaping hole that Rania had formed by barging in.

Soldier A met a ferocious battle where Rania was taking on three Transcendent-ranked aliens. Two out of the three aliens had their powers based on shooting. The third alien had its power based on energy projection.

'These alien powers lack originality,' Ivan reflected on what he saw through the mental link.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The violent explosions of cannons ripped holes around the building, but the building's integrity did not fail. It was not because the shots did not pack terrifying power. They packed power, but the intent behind it was not to indiscriminately destroy; it was to hit a specific target, and it missed its target.

This ability to bend the power of an attack was what differentiated a Transcendent-ranked person from another who was ranked below. For those ranked below, their powers were indiscriminate and wreaked havoc unnecessarily.

Ivan did not join the battle. Unfortunately, he could not get a good perception node with Soldier A. It was difficult for him to perceive the specific locations of human presence within the building. His mind was under stress from controlling ten creatures who were ranked higher than him, which contributed to his reduced perception ability.

Soldier A eventually located one room where some people were hiding. The room was intentionally built to resist powered attacks. Ivan was impressed when Soldier A had bumped into the virtually impenetrable wall.

Ivan barged into the building and headed for the room. He was met with no resistance. On arriving there, Saint Angouleme was waiting. The room's door unlocked itself. Ivan was puzzled as to whether the saint had spoken with the people inside before the door was unlocked. It was a mystery.

After some quick talk with the wary group of seven government officers, the group agreed to trust Saint Angouleme and leave the room.

A blue plasma cannonball entered the room the instant the government officers gathered around Saint Angouleme. Everything suddenly moved in slow motion. They all saw the alien who had fired the round. It charged into the room, reaching for the Saint's head.

The saint and the government officers vanished, leaving Ivan, Soldier A, and the alien. The cannonball resumed its movement at its regular, fast speed. The room erupted into a violent explosion that tore it apart from within. The attack wasn't targeted, it was an indiscriminate attack.