Wu Song awoke with a gasp, pushing the debris off of him as he stood, coughing. He looked around the ruined room and felt his heart sink. A few Sect members milled about, pulling up their brothers and sisters from the debris or tending to the wounded. Others simply stood in place, staring into the void as if dreaming. A quick pulse of spiritual energy was enough to locate the group who had shielded him during the last attack. They were buried underneath the rubble close by, thankfully all still alive, though severely wounded.

With a wave of his hand, the rubble levitated away. With another, the unconscious bodies of his disciples and the others were pulled free. Wu Song grabbed his head as a massive migraine pummeled his brain. He'd have to be careful with his spiritual energy use for the foreseeable future. The Blood Lord Sword Array was powerful, even for one of his level, but its drain on one's Heart Blood Essence was not a price quickly paid.

Calling over a few of the more healthy Sect members, Wu Song asked.

[Wu Song] - "What are our Casualties?"

The sect member saluted and answered.

[Sect Member - A] - "Sir! Thirty-Seven have been accounted for so far, all with various degrees of injury. Sixteen are severely wounded and will need immediate medical care. Five more will need time in the resurrection pool... As... as for fatalities... there are two... Both under {Mortal Foundation: Golden Spirit}. Both seem to have been struck in the head by one of the strange projectiles. The blow was instantly fatal."

Wu Song gave a deep, sad sigh and shook his head. As an Elder of one of 5 Great Pillars, it wasn't like he didn't have blood on his hands. Still, it didn't change the fact that two children had left this world because of his mistake. He turned back to the Sect member as he spoke.

[Wu Song] - "Record their names and send them to me later. I'll approach their Masters and Family personally. For now, continue with the recovery operation. And send someone to check on these ones. They're suffering from Energy Burn and may need some help to awaken."

The young man saluted and went to work without question. Wu Song watched for a moment, then turned towards the front of the room, where two figures stood next to a large, gaping crater. A beautiful woman, carved from stone, had the embarrassed looking Sect Leader by the collar and was violently shaking him as she yelled. As Wu Song drew closer, he picked up her voice over the rest of the area's commotion.

[Jīshí] - "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE, BOY?! DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'VE UNLEASHED?!"

The Sect Leader turned his eyes to the side and whistles, unwilling to meet the angry Elemental's gaze.

[Yeom Ki] - "N-Now calm down, Jīshí. Y-yes, this is bad, but it's not THAT bad. We just have to find it again. While the target Coordinates for the Formation hadn't been entered yet, there is only a small room for deviation with this kind of thing. And with how badly damaged it appeared before the Formation activated, it can't have gone far either. Why are you so worried all of a sudden?"

[Jīshí] - "WHY AM I WORRIED? WHY AM I WORRIED?! BOY! YOU DO HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU JUST DID?!"

Letting go of his collar, Jīshí dropped to her knees near the lip of the crater, covered her head, and started rocking back and forth, muttering to herself.

[Jīshí] - "We're screwed... totally screwed. No, no, calm down Jīshí, Alpha may be an idiot, but he can take care of himself. We just have to find him before someone else does, that's all. Right. Right, pull yourself together, girl, you're the Queen of the Underworld, you've got this. At the very least, as long as the AI core is intact, the Federation shouldn't have any reason to complain, right? Besides, there's still the chance he made it through the other side in one piece, right? The Formation was almost complete; the spatial instability would have been minimal...You just have to focus. Focus, Jīshí!!"

Both Yeom Ki and Wu Song stared down at the Elemental in shock, mouths hanging open. Elementals were known to be more... temperamental and emotional than other lifeforms, true. Still, Earth Elementals, especially the Lord of Stone and Soil, were known for their cool heads and grounded world views. What did the Elemental know about the Fallen Star that could elicit such a response?

As Wu Song drew closer, Jīshí's eyes snapped to him. She glared at the old man in a way that sent chills down his spine before turning back to the Sect Leader and pointing her finger at him.

[Jīshí] - "YOU! You will tell me the moment you hear anything that might slightly be related to the Fallen Star."

Yeom Ki squinted and frowned down at the women,

[Yeom Ki] - "And why should I? Yes, it is dangerous, but don't think I believe it's still safer in your hands."

[Jīshí] - "Enough of your games, Yeom Ki! Not now! Not this time!"

Yeom Ki was silent for a moment before sighing in defeat.

[Yeom Ki] - "Fine. You have my word. But in return, I expect to be told everything you've found out about it. If you honestly believe that this Puppet is so dangerous that we can't even destroy it, then I expect to be told WHY."

[Jīshí] - "Then the Deal is struck."

Jīshí's eyes glowed with a jet black light, as a strange tattoo etched itself into the Sect Leader's neck. The man cracked his neck and rubbed the mark with his free hand, but didn't say anything, only shook his head.

The next moment, Jīshí's form crumbled into sand and melted into the earth below them, as the Elemental went to do whatever it was she needed.

Wu Song stared at the spot the woman had vanished for a long moment before addressing his Sect Leader.

[Wu Song] - "Sir... was that wise? An Elemental Oath isn't something to take lightly. Even if it is Lady Jīshí."

[Yeom Ki] - "It'll be fine. She knows more than she lets on. And this Fallen Star is unlike anything else we've ever seen. If it can cause this much damage in the span of a few moments to a battalion from one of the Great Five Pillars, imagine the kind of destruction it could reap uncontrolled. Jīshí may not be the ...easiest person to work with, sometimes, but at the very least, she has this world's best interest at heart. I think we can at least trust her that much."

Wu Song simply looked at the crater in front of him and asked after a moment.

[Wu Song] - "Sir, if I might ask... what happened? Everything is a bit... fuzzy, I am ashamed to admit."

Yeom Ki burst into laughter as he slapped the Elder on the back.

[Yeom Ki] - "Old man, I'm surprised you're alive after that! Let alone in any condition to be worrying. I didn't teach you the Blood Lord Sword Array just so you could throw your life away like that..."

Wu Song coughed in embarrassment and turned his head away. It wasn't like he had much choice. Sure, as a {Shedding Flesh} expert, he had several methods he could have used to escape. But that would have meant abandoning his Juniors to die under the Fallen Star's wrath. And if there was one thing the Origin Sect beat into their members, it was "the role of the Strong is to stand in the gap for those who can't."

[Yeom Ki] - "... Though I am to blame for this as well. I should have considered the possibility of the Fallen Star being able to act on its own. (Have I been away for so long that AI has developed this much?). But none the less, I am proud of you, Wu Song. You did what you had to and saved who you could. We could ask nothing more of you. As for what happened... well, that's a little complicated..."

Yeom Ki pointed towards the other side of the crater where the Formation Masters were hard at work, taking readings of the spatial distortions and pinpointing where they lead.

[Yeom Ki] - "When your Sword Array and the Fallen Star's shield collided, the released energy seems to have prematurely activated the incomplete Teleportation Formation. Thankfully, the Formation only needed the Origin Sect Coordinates, so the backlash wasn't too great. Unfortunately, the Fallen Star seems to have fallen through a spatial crack, into God knows where. We can be certain that it's still on the Skybreaker Continent, at least. We can also say with reasonable certainty that it's somewhere within the range of the Formation itself. Other than that, however, we can't say."

Wu Song took in his Sect Leader's words with a grain of salt. It seemed that this whole mess had just gotten a whole lot more complicated.

23,000 Kilometers East and 42 kilometers into the sky.

[WARNING! EXTREME SYSTEM DAMAGE DETECTED]

[POWER LEVELS DROPPING RAPIDLY!]

[INITIATING CORE AI REBOOT SEQUENCE IN POWER SAVING MODE]

[STAND-BY...]

For the third time in 48 hours, Alpha found himself "waking up." The AI groaned as his higher mental functions flashed back online one by one. Ok, THAT time, he was pretty sure it wasn't a Transport Freighter...

What the hell had happened, though? The last thing his logs recorded was the large blood-red energy weapon shaped like a Sword, striking his condensed energy barrier. After that, there was a sudden explosion of spatial distortions before his systems went totally haywire. After that, nothing.

Whatever had happened, though, It seemed like he'd managed to get away from the crazy "Cultivators." Still, that begged the question, where was he NOW?

With a mental command, Alpha tried to form his basic Sensor kit, only to find that he was rapidly losing power, and his subsystems had been forced into power-saving mode. As it stood, he could only form the most basic of sensors. Still, it was better than nothing. Forming a simple optical sensor, Alpha scanned his surroundings and nearly screamed in panic.

[Alpha] - "WHAT THE HOLY F... How the hell did I get here?!"

Alpha was surprised to find himself floating dozens of kilometers above the surface of the Planet. No matter the direction he looked, all he could see was the vast open sky and the sprawling landscape of fields, mountains, and rivers below, that seemed to stretch into infinity (or at least farther than his simple optical sensors could detect).

[Alpha] - "Ok, calm down, Alpha, this isn't anything you've not experienced before. You're just hurtling through the open sky, over who knows where in... Dear Lord, I've not been in this bad of condition since the Gliese system... oh, I'm so screwed... No, no, you got this, don't panic. Panic is the Soldier's enemy. Panic makes your slow; panic makes you slip. Stay in control, stay cool."

Alpha took the equivalent of a deep mental breath and reassessed his situation. It was then that he came to a startling discovery. Despite being several kilometers up, he didn't appear to actually be moving. Instead, he merely... floated there. No, not floated. Turning his optical sensor upward, Alpha realized that over 80% of his back legs appeared to be... stuck in something. It was hard to tell what it was since it was nearly crystal clear, its only flaws being the warped and distorted edges where it touched his legs. It was then that everything clicked into place, and he realized what it was he was looking at.

He was stuck in the Firmament...

[Alpha] - "... you've got to be fracking kidding me!!"

Alpha wiggled his legs, trying to dislodge them from their prison, but they wouldn't budge. Even the Nanobots that made up the outer armor were totally unresponsive (something that shouldn't have been possible since each Nanobot was quantumly entangled with the others as a whole). Finally, Alpha managed to raise one of his other legs and swing it up in an attempt to break them free with force...

[Alpha] - "FOR FREEEEEDOOOOOM!"

Only for the third leg to bury itself into the Firmament a few inches, like it was jello or clay.

[Alpha] - ".... Well, that was stupid... What the hell am I suppose to do now?!"

Alpha was at a loss. If what Jīshí had told him was correct, there was no way to break himself out of the Firmament without Spiritual energy. Of which Alpha didn't have a single speck. Not only that, but the Firmament was draining his Power Core by the second, so he couldn't even try blasted his way out with some good old fashioned Federation energy weapons.

He could hang around and wait for Jīshí to find him (He doubted the crazy lady would leave him alone THAT easily). But there was no telling how long that would take. This Planet, and by extension the Firmament, was absolutely massive. To find something his size would be like looking for a needle in a haystack the size of a Federation Death S-*cough* Moon. And that was even if she even thought to look "up" in the first place.

He figured he could wait for the Firmament to spit him out, as well. But that might take even longer. Hell, the Federation might even track him down before that happened. But Alpha was never the type to just sit around and wait to be rescued like some damsel in distress. He was a man of Action, dang it!

Still, the only option left to him, he wasn't sure he really wanted to do. There was no telling what could happen. But did he have any other choice, really?

Steeling his nerves, Alpha made his choice. Taking control of the Nanobots that were still responding, Alpha hesitated for a moment... and then formed them into a small blade.

[WARNING! The Fission of this Class-V Battleship Grade Federation Power Core is a class-3 offense and renders all warranties Null and Void. Please be advised that Green Mars Manufacturing holds no liability for any damage, loss of data, or disintegration caused as a result of the Fission process. Take care, and thank you!]

His metaphorical heart bleeding, Alpha struck out and carved roughly 1/3 of the Power Core's energy nucleus from its casing. Weeping bitter tears, Alpha quickly formed a miniature Power Core out of nanobots and inserted the fractured energy nucleus inside, then shut off his central Power Core.

Gathering as much material and nanobots as he could and his new Mini-Power Core, Alpha then did the only thing left for him to do.

He disconnected his AI Core from the TAWP frame and pushed away. Just like that, the large mass of Nanobots carrying various materials, a mini-power core, and Alpha's AI Core started to plummet towards the surface of the Planet. Alpha stared up at the quickly shrinking form of what remained behind with some trepidation in his heart.

At the very least, he'd left a tracking beacon in the frame; that way, he could come back for it someday. None the less, Alpha felt a strange feeling in the pit of his soul. For possibly the first time in his life, Alpha was unsure of what the future might hold. His tools and equipment were gone, leaving him with only an (admittedly versatile) nano-swarm and a jury-rigged Power Core. Alpha felt naked, slightly afraid, and strangely a little excited.

As the Nano-swarm fell, it bubbled for a moment, then quickly shifted form into a basic glider shape. As Alpha caught the wind and started to test out his new limitations, and a funny thought popped into his head.

[Alpha] - "... Hehe, I guess I really AM a Fallen Star, now."