Chapter 297 — The Defense of Cascade 1
The Covenant invasion had begun in earnest.
Across Cascade, hidden Planetary Defense Laser installations became the highest priority targets for the invading forces. They had already proven capable of crippling Covenant warships in orbit, and the Covenant had no intention of allowing them to fire freely again.
Fortunately, there were only thirteen such installations scattered across the planet.
That worked in the defenders' favor.
Rather than spreading their strongest fighters thin across dozens of objectives, they could concentrate overwhelming strength at every single site.
Each Planetary Defense Laser had been assigned a dedicated defense force.
Mindy and Saeko had been paired together.
Accompanying them was a full squad of UNSC soldiers responsible for reinforcing the perimeter and eliminating any enemies that slipped past the two women.
Their equipment had changed considerably.
At first glance, neither woman appeared much different than before. They still wore flexible combat bodysuits instead of bulky powered armor.
The difference rested on their backs.
Attached securely behind each suit was a compact backpack-like device no larger than a small field pack.
Hidden inside each unit was a miniature Arc Reactor.
After studying UNSC shield technology, Tony had immediately begun adapting it for everyone in the Chat Group.
The result was a personal energy shield integrated directly into their combat suits.
If plasma fire, shrapnel, or any attack considered immediately lethal struck the wearer, the shield would activate automatically and absorb the impact before it reached their bodies.
Tony had designed the system himself, and it was powered directly by his Arc Reactor.
It was far more powerful than the earlier versions Tony had tested.
The improvement was enormous.
The upgraded systems could withstand significantly greater punishment than ordinary personal shielding and, in some situations, rivaled the protection worn by Spartan supersoldiers.
Tony had insisted everyone use them.
A direct plasma hit was fatal for an ordinary human.
He had no intention of allowing someone to die from something technology could prevent.
Diana, however, had declined.
When Tony offered to build her the same shield system, she simply smiled and shook her head.
She already possessed armor.
More importantly...
She was a demigod.
Her own durability far exceeded anything Tony's shield generator could provide.
As a result, she continued operating independently.
Naruto and Tanya formed another team.
Like Mindy and Saeko, both had received Tony's upgraded shielding system.
The assignment wasn't random.
Tanya was an experienced military commander and combat mage.
Naruto possessed Sage Mode, Shadow Clones, and enough raw strength to defend an entire Planetary Defense Laser installation by himself.
His power had never been the concern.
His attention span had.
If left alone, Naruto had a tendency to become carried away in battle.
Tanya existed to prevent that.
She would coordinate.
Naruto would destroy.
Together, they formed one of the strongest defensive positions anywhere on Cascade.
The remaining Planetary Defense Laser sites were protected by combinations of UNSC soldiers and Iron Legion units.
Every installation had prepared fortifications.
Every installation had defensive plans.
Every installation knew exactly what was coming.
Naruto and Tanya stood atop a reinforced observation tower overlooking one of Cascade's hidden Planetary Defense Laser facilities.
Far overhead, dozens of Covenant dropships pierced the atmosphere.
The sky burned with blue plasma trails and blazing engine exhaust.
Every few seconds, additional enemy contacts appeared across the tactical displays.
The invasion had officially begun.
Naruto watched the descending fleet.
A grin slowly spread across his face.
Finally.
Action.
He cracked his knuckles before slamming one fist into his palm.
"I hope they're strong."
His grin widened even further.
"I've been waiting for this."
Around him sat hundreds of Shadow Clones.
Each clone remained perfectly still.
Cross-legged.
Eyes closed.
Patiently gathering natural energy of this world.
The instant battle truly began,
"Poof."
"Poof."
"Poof."
Clone after clone disappeared.
Dozens vanished simultaneously.
The accumulated natural energy returned to Naruto all at once.
Orange pigmentation spread around his eyes.
His pupils shifted.
Sage Mode.
The pressure surrounding him changed instantly.
It wasn't visible.
Yet nearby UNSC soldiers unconsciously turned toward him.
Something about Naruto simply felt...
Heavier.
More overwhelming.
Tanya glanced sideways for only a brief moment.
She looked completely unimpressed.
"I would prefer incompetent enemies."
Her voice remained perfectly calm.
"I have no interest in strong ones."
She adjusted the Type-95 Computation Jewel hanging from the chain around her neck.
She had deliberately chosen not to use the Elenium Type-97.
Although Being X did not exist in this universe, she still refused to rely upon something created by that existence.
Naruto laughed.
He had come to understand Tanya's personality over time.
Despite her cold demeanor, she genuinely preferred peace whenever possible.
"You're no fun."
Tanya ignored him completely.
Her blue eyes focused upon the descending Covenant formation.
Calculations immediately flooded her thoughts.
Wind speed.
Distance.
Altitude.
Velocity.
Enemy deployment patterns.
Likely landing zones.
Potential reinforcement routes.
Before the lead dropship even crossed the nearby mountain ridge...
She already knew where every shot needed to land.
"There."
Naruto followed her gaze.
The lead Covenant dropship.
Tanya raised her Type-95 rifle in one smooth motion.
Golden light erupted from the Computation Jewel around her neck.
Formulae unfolded across her vision.
Target acquisition.
Range calculation.
Trajectory prediction.
Penetration enhancement.
The calculations completed almost instantly.
She squeezed the trigger.
A high-output bombardment formula erupted from the rifle.
The magical shell crossed the battlefield almost faster than the eye could follow.
The lead dropship exploded.
Fire blossomed across the sky.
Burning wreckage tumbled downward.
Nearby dropship immediately broke formation to avoid the explosion.
Exactly as Tanya expected.
Tanya kicked off the observation tower and took to the sky, magical propulsion carrying her high above the battlefield.
She was already selecting another target.
A command transport.
Higher priority.
Destroy the command structure.
Create confusion.
Maximize disruption.
Her rifle shifted only slightly.
Another firing solution.
Another calculation.
Another shot.
The command dropship disappeared inside a sphere of fire.
Almost immediately, nearby Covenant aircraft altered course.
Coordination began deteriorating.
Response times slowed.
Their formation started unraveling.
Tanya never watched the wreckage.
Destroyed targets no longer mattered.
Only future threats.
Her Computation Jewel processed another sequence.
A Wraith moving into firing position.
Eliminated.
A Fuel Rod emplacement deploying beside the landing zone.
Eliminated.
A Sangheili officer directing troop movements.
Eliminated.
Every shot removed another vital piece from the Covenant assault.
There was nothing random about her attacks.
This wasn't indiscriminate destruction.
It was systematic battlefield dismantlement.
To the Covenant...
Death arrived without warning.
A transport vanished.
A commander disappeared.
A heavy weapons team ceased to exist.
No battle cry announced her attacks.
No declaration echoed across the battlefield.
Only cold...
Efficient...
Methodical destruction.
High above the battlefield, Tanya moved through smoke and tracer fire with the precision of an experienced combat pilot.
Every movement carried purpose.
Every shot had meaning.
Every target had already been evaluated before she ever pulled the trigger.
To Tanya von Degurechaff...
A battlefield was simply another problem.
And problems existed to be solved.
Meanwhile...
As Naruto watched the dropships retreat hoping to stay outside Tanya's effective range after deploying Covenant troops, dozens more emerged overhead.
They stayed just far enough away that she couldn't shoot them down immediately.
One after another, they began unloading more Covenant soldiers onto the battlefield.
Naruto cracked his neck.
"Alright."
He smiled.
"My turn."
The ground exploded beneath him.
The observation tower shook violently.
Concrete fractured outward in every direction.
Naruto disappeared.
To the Covenant below...
It looked as though a golden-orange blur had suddenly materialized inside their formation.
Then chaos followed.
A Jiralhanae barely managed to begin raising his weapon.
Naruto was already behind him.
One punch.
The Brute flew through three other Covenant soldiers.
Before anyone could react,
Naruto vanished again.
Then appeared elsewhere.
Then somewhere else.
Then somewhere else again.
Orange flashes erupted across the battlefield.
Shadow Clones burst into existence.
Hundreds.
Then thousands.
The Covenant suddenly found themselves surrounded.
Every direction.
Every angle.
Every position.
Naruto's clones surged across the battlefield like a living tide.
One moment there was nothing.
The next...
A clone was already there.
Punching.
Kicking.
Throwing.
Destroying.
Unggoy flew through the air.
Kig-Yar defensive positions collapsed almost immediately.
Even Sangheili warriors struggled to keep pace.
The clones individually lacked Naruto's full strength.
But there were simply too many.
A squad might defeat one.
Perhaps two.
Maybe even ten.
Then twenty more arrived.
Then fifty.
Then another hundred.
Soon the battlefield became a sea of orange blurs racing across impossible distances.
High above them...
Tanya continued dismantling the Covenant command structure.
Below...
Naruto tore through frontline forces like a force of nature.
One represented absolute precision.
The other represented unstoppable momentum.
Together...
They transformed the battlefield into a nightmare.
Naruto couldn't stop smiling.
For days he had carried supplies.
Helped evacuate civilians.
Worked logistics.
Protected convoys.
Now...
He was finally doing what he liked.
Fighting.
Against most Covenant troops...
The outcome wasn't even close.
Unggoy.
Kig-Yar.
Even many Jiralhanae.
A single Sage Mode-enhanced punch ended the fight.
The ground cracked beneath every impact.
Shockwaves blasted nearby enemies off their feet.
Armor buckled.
Bodies launched across the battlefield.
To the Covenant...
Naruto and his clones resembled less a military force and more a natural disaster.
Not every enemy died immediately.
Some Sangheili possessed personal energy shields.
Naruto's first punch struck.
The shield flared brilliantly.
The Elite survived.
At least briefly.
Naruto blinked.
"So these are the guys with the shields?"
One Shadow Clone suddenly appeared beside a shielded Sangheili.
The Elite turned.
Too late.
A Rasengan slammed directly into his energy shield.
The barrier held for a brief moment.
Then it shattered.
The spinning sphere of chakra continued forward.
Armor buckled.
Flesh was torn apart.
The Sangheili flew backward as the resulting explosion blasted nearby Covenant soldiers off their feet.
Naruto grinned.
"Yep."
"That works."
Most Covenant soldiers possessed no shields at all.
Against them...
Naruto was death itself.
Orange blurs crossed the battlefield constantly.
Shadow Clones appeared.
Disappeared.
Reappeared.
Naruto no longer seemed to move normally.
He simply existed somewhere else.
Left.
Right.
Forward.
Backward.
Across rooftops.
Across trenches.
Across open ground.
Entire Covenant squads found themselves attacked from impossible directions.
Even veteran Sangheili struggled to track him.
A clone standing fifty meters away...
Suddenly appeared behind them.
Vanished again.
Another attacked from above.
Another from the side.
The battlefield itself felt haunted.
High overhead...
After deploying their troops, several Covenant dropships finally identified Tanya as one of the greatest threats on the battlefield.
They immediately changed course.
Plasma cannons rotated toward her.
One pilot opened fire.
Blue plasma streaked across the sky.
Tanya calmly shifted sideways.
The attack missed.
Another burst.
Another.
Every shot passed harmlessly by.
Her movements were almost graceful.
Like someone dancing through the air.
The Computation Jewel glowed once more.
Formulae flashed across her vision.
The rifle rose.
She fired.
The nearest dropship exploded instantly.
Its burning wreckage collided with another aircraft.
Both spiraled toward the mountains.
Tanya never watched them crash.
She was already selecting another target.
Ground forces attempted shooting her.
Needler rounds.
Plasma rifles.
Fuel Rod projectiles.
Every attack missed.
A slight movement.
A small burst of acceleration.
A tiny change in direction.
That was all she required.
Then she retaliated.
Golden light gathered before her rifle.
She fired.
The magical projectile crossed the battlefield.
An entire Sangheili squad disappeared beneath the explosion.
Unfortunately...
Several Naruto clones occupied the edge of the blast.
"Poof."
"Poof."
"Poof."
Nearly a dozen clones vanished.
The original Naruto immediately looked upward.
"HEY!"
Tanya glanced down.
"What?"
"You hit me!"
She adjusted her aim.
"It was only your clones."
Naruto's eye twitched.
"Hmph."
"They're still me."
Tanya fired again.
Another Covenant position vanished beneath another explosion.
Without looking at him, she answered calmly.
"Then stop standing where my targets are."
Naruto stared.
Then dramatically pointed toward her.
"You're impossible."
Tanya ignored him completely.
The conversation lasted only seconds before both returned to fighting.
The UNSC soldiers stationed around the defensive line could do little except watch.
Especially when it came to Naruto.
Even after working alongside him for several days...
Actually witnessing him fight was something entirely different.
One moment Covenant troops advanced across open ground.
The next...
Orange blurs swept through them.
Bodies flew.
Shockwaves erupted.
Entire positions collapsed beneath an endless tide of Shadow Clones.
A young Marine slowly lowered his rifle.
His mouth hung open.
"Naruto..."
He shook his head.
"I thought the clones were already strong."
His eyes followed another orange blur crossing nearly one hundred meters before punching a Jiralhanae straight through a barricade.
"But this..."
He couldn't finish.
Nearby veterans normally would have ordered him to stay focused.
This time...
Nobody corrected him.
Because every one of them was thinking exactly the same thing.
The Covenant weren't simply being pushed back.
They were being dismantled.
One squad attempted advancing.
Shadow Clones intercepted them.
Another tried flanking.
More clones appeared.
A Sangheili officer rallied his troops.
A Rasengan erased him moments later.
A veteran Marine let out a low whistle.
"Jesus..."
Another slowly nodded.
"It feels like we're watching a one-man army."
The first Marine shook his head.
He pointed toward the battlefield.
"No."
"Thousands of one-man armies."
That was the truly unsettling part.
The battlefield moved too quickly.
Every few seconds another Naruto appeared somewhere else.
Supporting him with gunfire risked hitting the clones instead.
So the Marines remained behind their prepared positions.
Watching.
Waiting.
Ready to assist if necessary.
Yet increasingly realizing...
Naruto probably didn't need their help.
Not here.
Not against this landing force.
Several soldiers shifted their attention toward the sky.
Toward Tanya.
Most of them only knew her as a small blonde officer who coordinated evacuations.
Some assumed she was merely a staff officer.
Others believed she was some kind of civilian advisor.
Many quietly wondered why someone so young held so much authority.
Now...
Those same soldiers watched her glide effortlessly through enemy plasma fire.
One Covenant dropship exploded.
Then another.
Then another.
Each destroyed with almost casual precision.
One Marine blinked.
"That's Tanya?"
Another nodded slowly.
"I thought she was some staff officer."
A veteran snorted.
"So did I."
High overhead...
Tanya rolled gracefully through another burst of plasma fire before calmly returning fire.
A golden projectile struck a dropship cockpit.
The aircraft immediately lost control and spiraled into the mountains.
The soldiers simply stared.
None of them fully understood what Tanya actually was.
Only that she looked nothing like an ordinary human.
And somehow...
She was every bit as terrifying as Naruto.
One represented overwhelming force.
The other represented surgical destruction.
Together...
They were tearing apart an entire Covenant assault.
Across the battlefield, Covenant formations continued collapsing.
The few surviving dropships burned.
Officers continued falling.
Heavy weapons disappeared one after another.
With every passing seconds...
The invasion lost more momentum.
Only a handful of Covenant troops remained.
The landing force that had once looked overwhelming was steadily falling apart before the combined might of Naruto Uzumaki and Tanya von Degurechaff.
(IMAGE)
~~~
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