As they neared the barrier, hey gathered into the shape of an arrow with one of the largest groups at the forefront. Standing above the Sea, Jonah was shocked to see that their coordination was not at all weaker than that of the squadrons of Heroes of the first wave who had trained together for years. As if sensing his confusion, the Bishop said, "Marvellous, isn't it? Most of them haven't even met each other once in all their lives… Yet, now, they fight as if they grew up together. It is the beauty of the Mastermind… there have been many attempts to adapt it to those who are more powerful, too, but alas, it can only act on those who are at the level of an Eminent Hero, as you call it. Well, against everything we've seen so far, they should easily be enough…"
As her voice trailed away, the tip of the arrow turned into a glistening white metal-like spear that met the barrier of Angaria accompanied by the sound of a gong being struck. Like they had seen before, the barrier changed so that its resources all concentrated on this point of impact, but still, the power of the Chameleon corps was visible as they managed to pierce through many of the layers before finally coming to rest.
In the process, the continent-wide barrier bent inward like a balloon at the verge of being punctured. This meant that it was still doing its job of protecting the rest of the continent while defending against this attack, and once again, Jonah wondered how such an incredible thing had even come into being on his homeland.
He had no more time to think on this topic, though, as he saw the six groups of the Chameleon corps turn back and easily dodge the attacks of all the Heroes of the order. Jonah wondered why the Hivemind they had seen before which could deploy the power of the core of Angaria had not been used, yet, but when the arrow turned around once again and began another attempt to break into Angaria, he found the answer.
They had been waiting to strike at the perfect moment.
On the surface, it might look like the arrowhead was the main reason behind the strength of this formation, but Jonah had seen that the five other groups of zombielike individuals had all been focusing their power to bestow the arrow with incredible speed and immeasurable power. Yet, it looked like all of this meant nothing when a ray of red-hot Energy flew from a point at the center of Angaria at the exact spot where the Chameleon corps had arrived to strike the barrier.
The barrier even deactivated for the briefest of moments so that the Energy could go through, unaffected, and the one who was controlling it was so deft that the Chameleon corps could not make use of this vulnerability even though they were so close to Angaria. As the attack from the core swept through the arrowhead, it almost seemed to melt, then break before immediately turning back and abandoning all thoughts of continuing the assault.
"Not bad… but not good enough, either."
Even before the last word left her mouth, all of the 2000 soldiers who had retreated once again regrouped a few hundred meters away from the barrier. Narrowing his eyes, Jonah saw that the purple glow around the heads of at least 200 of them had gone dim, but after placing these individuals at the back, the arrow formed once again and began to attack Angaria as if nothing had changed.
Jonah had thought that each group had a specialty, but he was wrong. If this went on, they could successfully deplete both the core and the resources that were powering the barrier of Angaria without losing too many of their own soldiers. He could see that even in the case of these 200, the glow was slowly returning which meant that they had only been incapacitated temporarily, so there was no way that Angaria could allow the battle to continue in this manner.
Sure enough, on the third assault of the arrow, the barrier shrunk abruptly. Until now, it had formed a large dome all around Angaria, but suddenly, it changed into a flattened version that only protected the continent a few hundred meters above the land. The reason behind this became apparent, though, when the groups of mages and fighters who had wreaked havoc over the war weapons of the Church before appeared once again.
At the same time, the ten thrones all over Angaria also came into view. Because he was so close to the continent, now, he could clearly see the faces of each of the sovereigns, and once again, he felt proud of how much they had grown. He wished that he could let his gaze linger on them so that he could study their faces and try to find clues about what they had undergone over all this time, but alas, the Domination corps had already reached the forces of the Church and hence, he turned his head to see what would happen.
Kellor's woodcutter's axe struck first. Short and sharp, the blade prepared to cleave through the entire arrow that represented the Chameleon corps in one fell stroke.
Yet, right as the blade neared the tip, the five groups behind the arrowhead dispersed. As for the arrowhead, itself, it changed to become denser, stronger, and indestructible. A silver glow appeared all around it at the moment that Kellor's blade met its surface, and an instant later… the blade broke, and the Domination corps were flung back.
The breath that Jonah had been holding hissed out of his nostrils as he saw this.
This is not good…
He could see that this group of the Chameleon corps had been prepared to deal with the woodcutter's axe. The 'Mastermind' was known to be able to adapt the soldiers to any situation in any battlefield, but could it really be this effective?
The only consolation was that none of the members of the Domination corps who had created the woodcutter's axe seemed to be seriously harmed. They did look like they had been caught unawares, but the discipline that had been hammered into them by the masters of the Fists of Justice training hall kicked in. Unlike the people of Angaria who had only been training for a few months, they had been preparing for this moment for years, so they only needed a few seconds to recover and form the blade once again.
Feeling glad on seeing this, Jonah turned to the other individual battles, but alas, they had all turned out the same way.
Cassandra's phoenix flames had been quenched by a group that transformed into a Tundra Rhino, a being famed on the Mainland for its ability to bring winter to an entire area.
Aran's Mindhunter ability had been neutralized by a spell that messed with the consciousnesses of the casters. It caused those using it to become slow and stupid, but the price was worth it.
Luther's blade of darkness had been set upon by a defensive globe that trapped it in place.
Elanev's Fighter squadrons were being targeted by fast-moving mages who specialized in ranged attacks.
And finally, Faxul's Black Raven was being sent to the ground after being the aim of a gravity-changing spell.
Everywhere he could see, Angaria was on the verge of being defeated. There had been no deaths on either side, yet, but as the Chamelion corps gathered in the sky of the continent, it became clear that they were aiming for a killing blow.
Now was the time to deploy a card none of them had seen, yet, so Jonah waited with bated breath to see what it would be. Seemingly with the same anticipation, the Bishop had stopped breathing altogether so he knew that she had reached the same conclusion, too.
For a moment, time seemed to slow down as the Chameleon corps lingered in the air. The Mastermind had clearly read the situation and seen that attacking without anticipating an unknown enemy might bring down ruin upon those it was controlling, so as the seconds ticked on, the Domination corps recovered and prepared to try again.
They began to fly back up, so it became apparent that Daneel was still holding back. Determined to break them again, the Chamelion corps branched out into groups to counter the attacks of the sovereigns again, but right as they finished doing so…a familiar figure appeared between the two forces.
It was a replica of St. Rectitude, and initially, Jonah automatically assumed that the Chamelion corps might have fallen back on a lesser form of this famous attack that had been used by the Saint.
Only…on observing further, he saw that something was wrong.
Is-isn't it turned the wrong way?
Rubbing his eyes, he waited to see whether the image in front of him would change, but no such thing happened. St. Rectitude had appeared to smother his enemies with his hands…but he was facing the very forces who were fighting for him.
Hastily, he searched for the ones who were casting the spell, and even as he spotted them, he heard the Bishop stutter, "No. No no no no no. NO! I-I outsmarted him! D-didn't I? Th-this shouldn't be possible! Not again. NOT AGAIN!"
As Jonah recognized the source, her scream of fury accompanied his delighted smile.
The commanders she had handed over before had entered the field…and somehow, they were fighting for Angaria.