Atticus's Odyssey: Reincarnated Into A Playground

Chapter 1531  Choice

Still, Atticus exchanged a glance with Whisker.

Whisker nodded.

"Get in formation," Atticus said calmly.

The response was immediate. The fortress erupted into motion as soldiers snapped back into position. The walls bristled with artilleries and cannons, the gates slamming shut as barriers locked into place.

Whisker stepped forward alone, stopping just after the massive gate. His smile remained easy as the enemy advanced.

The champions moved forward. Each step they took carried weight, their wills bleeding outward and twisting the air around them.

But Whisker only let out a small sigh.

"I really should be charging extra for this."

As their wills surged, he raised an arm, yawned, then grinned.

"Manifest."

A massive gate tore open behind him.

From it poured an army of feral beasts, roaring as they surged straight into the champions.

Their eyes widened, and Wills flared immediately.

Some champions launched into the sky, others were dragged into brutal clashes with the beasts. Attacks rained down toward Whisker in the next instant, but a translucent shield formed effortlessly around him, every strike dispersing harmlessly.

Not a scratch touched him.

The battlefield collapsed into chaos as Whisker alone held all ten champions at bay. Behind him, the abyss soldiers howled and charged the fortress, but the soldiers were already moving.

"Attack!"

Artillery thundered. Cannons fired. The sky vanished beneath overlapping strikes as destruction poured down on the advancing army.

Atticus watched it all with a sharp, calculating gaze, committing every detail to memory. With Will Artifacts in play, the abyss army was effectively equal to his.

The difference was numbers.

'Champions and gods.'

But he wasn't without his own advantages.

Even Atticus didn't know the full extent of Whisker's strength. There was no way they were getting past him.

'He'll hold them.'

Atticus' gaze shifted to the other fortresses.

The abyss faction had begun a full scale invasion. Gods and champions led their armies toward the strongholds scattered across the hill, clashes erupting everywhere at once.

'They're more than I thought.'

It was starting to look disturbingly familiar, too much like the war with the Redflames. The sheer number of gods and champions alone was placing unbearable pressure on every fortress commander.

They couldn't sustain this.

'Are you there yet?'

'Yes, bond.'

Atticus ignored the chaos below and fixed his focus on the forest just as Ozeroth burst through the trees, charging toward one of the larger fortresses.

"I'll crush every last one of you pathetic cowards!"

Golden light erupted from him, expanding violently until his form swelled into a colossal giant, towering over the fortress and scraping the sky.

Soldiers froze, staring up in horror as twin hammers formed in his hands. He brought them down with monstrous force, wind screaming outward, but a dark dome flared into existence around the fortress just before impact, blast rippling out. As the dust cleared, Ozeroth narrowed his eyes.

Several champions had appeared within the fortress, their gazes sharp and cold.

'They still have this many?'

Atticus frowned deeply. He had hoped the scale of the battle would have thinned their ranks. But it hadn't.

'This is bad.'

Ozeroth was powerful. Whisker was powerful. But the ceiling of the Count layer was there, even for champions. Facing several opponents of equal standing at once was overwhelming, no matter who you were.

Ozeroth had been meant to seize the fortress quickly, before champions could respond, then hold it until the battle's end.

But that plan hadn't worked as intended.

A chuckle drew Atticus' attention back to Balanar.

"Oh, don't mind me," Balanar said pleasantly. "This is just… adorable."

"Let me guess. You assumed my forces were finite. With so many deployed, you thought the fortresses would be lightly defended. So you struck fast, aimed to secure one, then hold it until the end. Am I right?"

Atticus said nothing, but Balanar's smile widened.

"I'll give you this, Atticus Ravenstein, you're clever." He raised a hand, and a sense of dread crept into Atticus' chest. "But I did warn you."

"You're completely outmatched."

As his hand dropped, multiple streaks of light ripped through the forest. They slammed into the hill in violent bursts. As the haze cleared, Atticus' grip tightened.

More than twenty champions and four gods.

They smiled as one before splitting apart, streaking toward the various fortresses and unleashing destruction.

And it didn't stop there.

Even more champions surged toward Ozeroth, the forest erupting into fire and smoke as the clash escalated.

'He has even more of them.'

Atticus' expression hardened. The situation was turning truly bleak.

"Kuu."

He felt Noctis stir in his grasp and tightened his hold. "Not yet."

The little guy was his trump card. He had planned to unleash him after Ozeroth secured the fortress, have him reinforce the others. That hadn't happened. Revealing him now would mean showing a hand without gaining anything.

"Ah… that look," Balanar said, grinning openly at him. "Marvelous."

"You really thought you could win," he continued. "So tell me, how does it feel to realize it was all a lie? Look at your people. Tell me what you see."

Atticus looked at the people.

Everywhere he looked, his forces were struggling beneath the abyss onslaught. Lines were breaking.

They wouldn't last much longer.

"I see an end," Balanar said softly. "An end that could have been avoided, if only their leader had been obedient."

His gaze transformed to the exo suit embedded in Atticus' chest.

"Surrender it," Balanar said calmly. "That, and your life. Do that, and your people live. I promise."

As no response came, Balanar's smile thinned.

"Or would you rather watch them die?" he asked. "Slowly. Painfully. Choose. Them, or you."

Atticus looked again.

Anorah. Whisker. Ozeroth. Magnus. They were each holding on, barely.

'My family… or me.'

It was a question he'd faced before. And every time, the answer had been the same.

"Yo—"

"Kuu!"

Noctis cut him off just as he was about to speak. Atticus turned, the little guy was staring up at him, eyes filled with resolve.

"It's fine, Noctis," Atticus said quietly. "We ha—"

"Kuu!"

Noctis jabbed a paw at Atticus' chest.

Atticus frowned.

"You want to merge?"

Noctis nodded.

"What would that change? I can't pa—"

Atticus' eyes almost popped wide.

How had he missed this?

During his battle with Merek, he had merged with Noctis and fought a god. It had worked. Despite the fact that champions couldn't clash with gods, Noctis had fueled him. He had been treated as exactly that, fuel.

Which begged the question. Who was to say that Atticus couldn't be treated as fuel too?

"Make your choice," At Balanar's words, Atticus smiled, shaking his head.

"I already did." His voice was ice cold. "I'm going to kill you."