Chapter 20: Goodbye, Earth

Fighting recklessly and in rage was never a good idea. Although your attacks seemingly became more powerful, packed with just enough force to immobilize your opponent, it made precision and accuracy drop exponentially.

Rayleigh ducked beneath another vibrational pulse when suddenly, an idea entered his mind, one that he wasn’t sure could work but was willing to give it a try.

"Activate Energy Shield!"

► [Energy Shield Activated]

An invisible energy field formed around Rayleigh, expanding outward until it encased his entire body inside a dome.

Rayleigh stood in place as Cassandra sent another vibration pulse through the air.

The attack slammed into the dome and... nothing happened. The Energy Shield disrupted the impact.

Cassandra’s face hardened, and she punched out another vibration, followed by another and another. Each vibrational pulse crashed into the invisible dome, but none of them could reach Rayleigh.

"You can’t hide in that hole for much longer!" Cassandra yelled as she began to launch a series of devastating attacks at Rayleigh.

Rayleigh knew she was right, that he couldn’t hide for much longer, but that was exactly what he was hoping for!

His eyes remained fixed on the system display.

► [Energy Shield Integrity: 50%]

► [Energy Shield Integrity: 40%]

The invisible barrier began to weaken.

Glowing cracks started appearing in the air around Rayleigh as the dome’s integrity continued to fall.

Cassandra continued attacking with no idea that Rayleigh was waiting for this exact moment.

► [Energy Shield Integrity: 30%]

► [Energy Shield Integrity: 20%]

► [Energy Shield Integrity: 10%]

The dome was on the verge of destruction when Rayleigh sent another command.

"Activate Lonefield Barrier now!"

► [Lonefield Barrier Activated!]

Just as the Energy Shield was destroyed, a new barrier formed around Rayleigh.

It covered his entire body. It felt like he was inside a balloon, completely surrounded by something invisible and weightless.

The Energy Shield dissipated, and Cassandra’s next attack slammed directly into Rayleigh.

Once again, nothing happened.

Rayleigh’s eyes widened because he had actually done it.

’It absorbed the attack just as the system promised!’

Cassandra paused. For the first time since the fight began, confusion washed over her face.

"H-How?"

She didn’t know about the Lonefield Barrier’s ability to absorb energy. What she also didn’t know about was its other capability: it could store that energy.

Not just that, it could release a refined and concentrated version of that energy it had absorbed, making it even more powerful.

Rayleigh’s lips slowly curled into a grin; his eyes almost disappeared behind his smile. "My turn!"

The energy stored within the Lonefield Barrier surged through Rayleigh.

But it wasn’t released in the same uncontrolled form Cassandra had used; rather, it was refined, concentrated, and dense.

Rayleigh’s entire body jerked forward as a wave of vibrational force erupted from him.

Cassandra’s eyes grew wide in shock.

"What the—"

Never in a million years had she expected anyone to use her own ability against her... until today.

The refined vibrational force slammed into her with tremendous power before she could even think of a defense.

Cassandra was knocked off her feet, the force blasting her almost ten feet through the air before her body slammed into a nearby brick wall.

CRACK!

Her head snapped back from the impact. Her eyes shut. Her body went limp, and Cassandra Moon collapsed to the ground.

She was knocked out cold.

◇◇◇

The brawl had ended ephemerally, having not lasted longer than ten minutes, with Rayleigh emerging as the victor.

An Ascendant Runer wasn’t weak, nonetheless, but that didn’t make them fully invincible.

Cassandra’s earlier instruction to the other Silvered agents to let her deal with Rayleigh had inherently delayed backup. Rayleigh knew it was only a matter of time before the Silver Corp learned about her defeat and came storming into the Academy.

Deactivating the barrier, Rayleigh stretched his muscles casually, like this entire fight—even though it was tough—was nothing more than an inconvenience.

► [Objective achieved: Defeat the Ascendant-Ranked Runer known as Cassandra Moon]

► [System Reward...]

Rayleigh dismissed the system interface; it pivoted into his peripheral vision before disappearing completely.

His current state wasn’t the time to go through his new rewards and achievements. It was only a matter of time before the Silvered agents wondered what was taking their star agent decades to bring the terrorist in.

Rayleigh walked up to Cassandra Moon’s unconscious body. He crouched low, studying her frame. Specifically, he checked for a pulse; a heartbeat, perhaps.

Sure enough, he confirmed she was breathing. It never really mattered to Rayleigh whether she lived or not. The only paramount factor was that he got what he needed, and he did.

Yanking the device off the unconscious Silvered agent, Rayleigh picked himself up and turned around.

◇◇◇

It was neither an easy task, nor was it hard, but Rayleigh successfully evaded the full force of the Silver Corp.

He successfully made it out of the Academy grounds without being spotted.

His only leverage out of the planet sat somewhere inside his invisible inventory; Rayleigh’s hope had once more been reignited.

Rayleigh successfully made it back to the underground world of Skylark City. Navigating his way through, he made it to Elias’ domain.

A tremendous surprise awaited Rayleigh Pierce the moment he stepped inside Elias’ office.

Nou and Ron Kol were there as well, so was Elias. They all stared at Rayleigh like he was a walking disease.

"That better be ’the your-ship-is-waiting-at-the-hangar-bay’ kind of look." Rayleigh said, glancing at every person inside the office to show he meant business. "Do you have my ship?"

Elias exhaled dramatically. "Yes, we have your ship. Do you have what I need?"

Rayleigh stretched his palm forward, but it was empty. Elias raised a brow, not sure what it meant.

Suddenly, a small device materialized into existence, settling on Rayleigh’s open palm.

"Nice trick," Elias chuckled lightly. "Never took you for a wizard. I’d ask you to turn me into a rabbit, but we haven’t got the time, so where is the classified file? You know, the same one that’ll get me to my system? The same one you were supposed to get!"

"The Silver Corp is onto you," Rayleigh replied dryly. "There was no file. It was merely a setup to see who’d attempt to steal what didn’t exist. Your informant, whoever they are, is about to get discovered, and when they do, you’ll be in disarray to find this place crawling with Titan-Ranked Runers by the end of the week."

Rayleigh shoved the device toward Elias. Elias had no choice but to catch it.

"This here contains the true information," Rayleigh said coldly. "Now. My. Ship."

Elias signaled Nou, who escorted Rayleigh out.

◇◇◇

Nou led Rayleigh through the underground corridors toward the space hangar. The journey didn’t take long.

When the hangar doors opened, Rayleigh finally got a view of the ship waiting for him.

It was decent. More importantly, it was advanced.

The sleek spacecraft rested in the center of the hangar, its dark metallic exterior reflected the white lights above it. It was larger than Rayleigh had expected, with a streamlined design that made it obvious the ship had been built for more than simple transportation.

"Your ship is ready," Nou said as Rayleigh looked at the vessel. "This is an Atlas-9 Combat Ship. Military grade, with both combat and defensive systems."

’I honestly do not even want to know how they managed to get their hands on a military-grade spaceship.’ Rayleigh thought.

Nou then added, "I also went through the trouble of breaking into your apartment and bringing along whatever I thought might be important."

Rayleigh turned toward him. For a moment, he didn’t know what to say. That thought had never even crossed his mind.

"Thanks," Rayleigh finally said.

Nou nodded. "Why were you all looking at me like that earlier?" Rayleigh asked, remembering the strange looks everyone had given him inside Elias’ office.

Nou’s expression became slightly more serious. "You’ve been officially branded as wanted. You’ve made it to top five most wanted on the Silvered’s list. The entire Five Factions will be looking for you now."

One would expect Rayleigh to care that he was probably the most wanted man in Skylark City but he didn’t. He was leaving the planet, after all.

"What if the ship gets detected when I enter Skylark’s airspace?"

"It won’t," Nou answered. "It’s a military-grade ship. It’s invisible to the most advanced radar systems out there. Additionally, it has a stealth feature so you’ll be just fine." He assured.

Rayleigh nodded. "Thanks, Nou."

He turned toward the ship and boarded. Inside, he made his way toward the cockpit, where he was immediately greeted by a bunch of unfamiliar controls.

Rayleigh stared at them blankly.

He had never actually flown a ship before but he could figure it out. He had the system afterall.

"Activate Identity Scan."

The system responded immediately.

► [Identity Scan Activated]

► [Identified: Atlas-9 Combat Ship]

► [Military-Grade Vessel Detected]

► [Would you like to initiate an automatic system override?]

Rayleigh barely understood what it meant, however, he didn’t hesitate with an answer.

"Yes."

► [Automatic Override Initiated...]

The system somehow took over the ship because one by one, the controls came to life.

The engines hummed and the ship began to vibrate as its systems activated, and moments later, the Atlas-9 Combat Ship slowly levitated from the hangar bay.

Rayleigh watched through the cockpit window as the underground hangar disappeared beneath him.

Before long, the ship had broken through Earth’s atmosphere and Rayleigh was already in orbit, staring through the cockpit window at the massive blue planet below.

For the first time, he saw Earth from above, and for a moment, Rayleigh simply stared at the View.

***