"Holy shit, it dropped! It actually dropped!!"
"An Overlord Class Echo! And it's the Impermanence Heron!"
"That's less than a one-in-a-thousand chance, oh my god!!"
"Sentinels above, someone pinch me!!"
The moment Rover's final sword strike landed, the Impermanence Heron's massive body dissolved into a golden phantom. Every last one of the battle-hardened Midnight Rangers lost their composure, jaws dropping in unison.
Not that Rover had made it look difficult. But that was because he was a walking cheat code. Under normal circumstances, the only sane response to encountering an Overlord Class Echo was a full retreat.
Especially for a large military formation.
One breath of purple fire from the sky and the earth would erupt into an inferno. The thing was a hard counter to massed infantry. Without someone powerful enough to challenge it directly, numbers were nothing but a higher body count. And while the Impermanence Heron's physical durability wasn't exceptional for an Overlord Class Tacet Discord, it could still shrug off most conventional gunfire.
For a human army that couldn't fly and whose ranged firepower was next to useless against it, this creature and its devastating air-to-ground assault was the absolute last thing anyone wanted to face. Only the Midnight Rangers, an entire corps of Resonators forged in countless battles, could manage to survive under its attacks. A conventional army? Total annihilation wasn't out of the question.
And now, that same living nightmare...
...was bowing all three of its heads to a single Rover.
"Not bad, not bad at all. Now I've got something that runs on the ground and something that flies. Give it a while and I'll find something that swims, too."
He reached up and patted each of the Impermanence Heron's three heads in turn.
The left one was dopey. The right one had a mean streak.
The middle head was the most vicious and short-tempered of the bunch.
Basically King Ghidorah from the movies. One for brains, one for fighting, and one lovable idiot.
"ROOOOAR!"
"SKRAAAAAW!" x3
The Lightcrusher lumbered over, letting out a couple of low growls at the Impermanence Heron before nuzzling against Rover.
The message was clear: I was here first.
The Heron didn't back down. All three heads hissed at the Lightcrusher in unison, as if to say, I'm Overlord Class. What's a little Elite Class runt doing, mouthing off to me?
To be fair, the Lightcrusher had every right. Sitting at the threshold of Overlord Class, its combat strength wasn't far behind the Heron's. On the ground, the Lightcrusher would win outright. In low altitude it was a sixty-forty split. Only in open sky did the Heron hold the clear advantage.
"Enough. Behave, all of you. Fall in."
At his command, the Lightcrusher, the Impermanence Heron, and the remaining handful of Elite Class Echoes lined up in a neat row.
Danjin and every Midnight Ranger present could only stare.
After the Common Class swarm had been wiped out, the surviving Elites and one Overlord barely totaled double digits. But everyone here understood what they were looking at: a fighting force of terrifying power.
And the dark-haired, golden-eyed Rover who commanded them all?
He wasn't their general.
He was their king.
Jiyan grasped this more clearly than anyone. He was the Midnight Rangers' general himself, and a general could command troops, issue orders, but soldiers still exercised their own judgment.
Just as he had, during the Battle Beneath the Crescent...
But a king was something else. A king was sovereign over his soldiers. They didn't think. They obeyed. Where his blade pointed, their hearts followed.
"A pleasure to meet you. I'm Jiyan, General of the Midnight Rangers. You have my gratitude for your aid today. Without you, we would have taken losses."
He pressed his fists together in salute, genuine appreciation in his eyes. Before joining the Midnight Rangers, he'd been a doctor. He'd only changed course after realizing that medicine alone couldn't save Jinzhou. A doctor's reverence for life ran deeper than most.
These were his soldiers, every one of them.
Even one fewer casualty was a weight off his shoulders.
"Don't mention it. We were passing through, hunting Tacet Discords to level up our Data Docks. But is the front line really under this much pressure? Overlord Class Tacet Discords showing up out here?"
"...It's been considerable. Tacet Discord activity and the frequency of Tacet Field appearances have spiked to several times their normal levels. A major battle may be coming soon."
Recognizing something uncommon in Rover, Jiyan hesitated only briefly before laying out the situation. The bottom line: war was on the horizon.
The Midnight Rangers could still hold the line for now. But this was only the overture.
Every sign pointed to the same conclusion. The Threnodian might be stirring again.
When it did, Jinzhou would face a trial of life and death.
"All the more reason for my thanks. Intelligence reports confirm that the two of you cleared this entire sector of Tacet Discords and Exiles today. That eliminates a great many threats for us."
Beyond that, there was the other Rover. The wounded soldiers she'd rescued and escorted back to the rear camp had all made it safely, every single one.
"Well, in a way, it's what I'm supposed to do."
He nodded. Back when he'd been playing through the 1.1 storyline, he'd griped about all the fetch quests. But after finishing it... This is my domain. Of course I'll defend it.
Ahem. Funny how you could never quite empathize with your past self.
"Anyway, that wraps things up here. Time I headed back to my companion." He jerked a thumb at the Impermanence Heron behind him and grinned at Danjin. "Come on. I'll take you for a plane ride."
"Yes! Me, me, I want to ride!" The girl's eyes lit up.
"You're leaving already? I'd hoped to invite you both back to Midnight Rangers headquarters," Jiyan said, a note of regret in his voice.
"There'll be time for that. Soon enough..."
Rover smiled, something knowing behind the expression.
He recalled every Echo except the Impermanence Heron, took Danjin's hand, and helped her up onto the Overlord Class creature's back.
Purple wings beat the air, and the calamity bird launched skyward.
Jiyan and the Midnight Rangers watched the two figures shrink against the clouds. Something seemed to click behind the general's eyes, and surprise gave way to anticipation.
"Then I look forward to our next meeting... honored guest."
...
High above, wind rushing past them, Rover sat atop the Impermanence Heron and surveyed the landscape below.
"Hmm, it's not as free as Flight mode, but riding an Echo is a lot less effort. What do you think, Danjin?"
"Me? Oh, um... I think I liked the other way better."
She scratched her cheek, a faint flush creeping in.
Riding on an Echo's back was nice, sure. But earlier, when he'd carried her in his arms while they flew together... that had made her heart race in a way this couldn't touch.
"SKRAAAW?!" x3
The Impermanence Heron froze. It was being rejected already?