16:00 AT, Day Twenty Two | Western Mesa / Near Fort Holdfast

  “Darling! Watch out!” I shout, just as Ray walks over the edge of the cliff. She was trying to be cool and walk backwards while complimenting me. It turns out that is not a good idea while near cliffs.

  She quickly drops off the cliff and I rush over. Only for her to leap over the edge and on top of me, pinning me to the ground. A devilish smile is on her face, she definitely planned this outcome.

  “Oh no, did I make my little Ko worry about me?” She says, an innocent look in her eyes, just before she leans in and whispers (in a non-innocent tone), "That's unfortunate, I would never want to make you worry about me, darling.”

  I kiss her to get revenge. I don't particularly mind this type of attack, but I must take revenge for the principle. After all, I don't want to encourage her to start bullying me, right?

  Her face flushes a bright red and she tries to speak but fails. So, I kissed her again, this time far longer. Then I manage to flip us over and pin her to the ground instead.

  “My my, how the tables have turned.” I whisper into her ear.

  “Ko, you're a super big jerk.” she says, refusing to look at me.

  “Aww, is my super cute girlfriend getting flustered? That's too bad, anyways, perhaps we should stop making out on this cliff and go blow things up.”

  She turns to look into my eyes. “Aww klack, why must we choose between the two best things in the universe? I want headrubs and explosions. Oh well, let's blow some things up, darling.”

  Several Moments Later

  Ray lets out a beautiful laugh as several grenades go off nearby. She quickly swings her blades to cut down a nearby defender of this fort. Meanwhile, I just sit on the battlement and watch as my beautiful girlfriend has lots of fun.

  Sometimes It is important to sit back and enjoy the important things in life. Like watching your girlfriend hack, slash, burn and explode defensive drones. You know, the important things.

  Ray rips through the defenders that are pouring out from every alleyway and corner. It's almost like they are some sort of pest infestation that we are purging. Of course, our other forces are doing similar things.

  Ray is by far the cutest though. After all, she is the cutest in the entire universe, or perhaps even all realities.

  “Ko! Get your cute butt down here and help me, you worthless NEET!”

  Well, I guess if she tells me to stop admiring her and start helping, I should do so.

  I jump down from the battlements and land right next to Ray, spearing a defender through the skull on my way down. I even manage to stick the landing with a slight bow, definitely earning a few style points.

  I give Ray a quick kiss on the cheek and then I head off down an alleyway, smashing defenders as I go. I emerge into an open space, and am faced with a great-level. We size each other up for a few moments, but then I take the first strike.

  I quickly charge in, dodging their blade as it arcs for my neck, I land a glancing blow on their flank, only to quickly jump onto a nearby roof.

  I catapult myself higher into the air and push myself downwards. My spear meets their sword with a loud clash. We are both flung away and I can feel the impact still vibrating in my arm.

  I pull out my pistol while they are distracted and discharge three lances right into their chest, leaving them as nothing but a smoldering pile of scrap.

  I look around, but unfortunately, there is no one to see my glorious display of combat prowess. Oh well, I just hope they got some good footage for the universe to watch. Though, hopefully they will focus on Ray’s overwhelming cuteness, which would overshadow any combat ability I can display.

  I meet back up with Ray, just as the last defender falls. We quickly proceed into the center core and claim the fort as our own, naming it Fort Holdfast. We considered something like ‘slippery footing’, but that sounded a bit too cringey. Thus, we chose a more normal name.

  9:00 AT, Day Twenty Four | Eastern Mesa / Fort Rock

  The fort dubbed ‘Fort Rock’ is, as it sounds, a giant rock. It is embedded in a large cliffside, and it seems that almost all of the fort is buried underground.

  It turns out solid rock makes a great shield, which makes it very easy to defend. Unfortunately, we are currently the attackers.

  “Ko, I wanna blow things up.” Ray says, linking her arm around mine as we look up at the exterior of the fort.

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  “Well then, I guess I should give you something to blow up, right?” I say, intertwining my fingers with hers.

  “Of course, after all, it's your duty as my super cute boyfriend to give me things to blow up. Standard boyfriend responsibilities and all.” She says with a devilish grin.

  One day, this girl will truly be the death of me.

  Until then, I simply must give her things to explode. For now, it seems such things are in no short supply, thankfully.

  I do wonder what she will end up exploding during peacetime though. This trial may be a curse, designed by the IEC to torment me by awakening her desire to explode things. I guess it is good training to be a galactic emperor.

  A few moments later, Ray and I take off into the sky. Our belts are loaded with explosives.

  I perform my combo using the Titan commendation and we pierce through the shields with ease. Ray gives me a nice smile. There seriously isn't anything in the universe that I wouldn't do for her. If she wanted me to defeat a sentient blackhole, I would have to go do that.

  Though, it may be far harder to find a sentient black hole than defeat one. Can black holes even be sentient? What even is sentience?

  “Kooo, I can see the existential crisis on your face. Stop having a crisis and help me give these defenders a crisis of being dead.” Ray says, quickly snapping me out of my line of thought and back to the matter at hand.

  We rush into the Fort, quickly taking the front gate with our combined power. We are the Moonlight Duo, it would be quite embarrassing if we couldn't take a front gate or two with ease.

  We quickly proceed into the fort, using grenades and other explosive devices liberally. It turns out that explosives are super effective in enclosed spaces. Especially when the walls are made out of super strong alien material that just absorbs any damage.

  Which is good, we don't want to accidentally bring the whole mountain down. It's best to do such things intentionally. That way you can get proper camera angles for dramatic effect.

  I skillfully take down a defender and Ray gives me a kiss on the cheek in celebration. Then she immediately gets back into action with a quadruple kill.

  I really do love this girl.

  We emerge into a room with a lone great-level waiting.

  Naturally, between the two of us, they are quickly dispatched and we easily capture the fort, which is aptly named Fort Rock.

  Of course, this conquest is followed with a very lengthy session of headrubs. After all, it's important to appease the needs of super cute girlfriends. It just so happens that mine really likes headrubs. Which is good, because I really like headrubs too.

  8:00 AT, Day Twenty Six | Western Floodplains

  The fancy hover-truck hums beneath us, carrying us across the floodplains as we explore it for the first time.

  It turns out that the new zone two materials unlocked a lot of cool things. The flight suits were just one of them. We also got hover trucks, fancier mechs, as well as some pretty sick upgrades for general weapons.

  Those poor beasts, they better watch out, cause the Moonlight Alliance is armed and hungry for money to expand.

  Speaking of expansion, our troop count is now sitting at around 20,000 soldiers. Most are low and mid-level, but we do have several thousand high-level. We also managed to acquire 45 great-levels. Which is quite a bit better than the projected 40 that we should have. I guess Ray and I are just lucky with the human being lottery (which is still a weird concept to think about).

  We have firmly settled into the Mesa. As well as the grassland, prairie, and forests. We have yet to make any headway into the snowy forest, jungle or desert. We have also seen absolutely no signs of Luna or her faction. Our progress is still hindered and we are unable to explore those regions.

  Whatever she is brewing, I feel like it is something we aren't going to like.

  Oh well, there is always a bit of fun in the unknown. Not knowing what you're up against is quite fun, makes you think fast and adapt. Plus, it often means you get to make lots and lots of things explode in a panic to destroy them.

  Ray and I sit in the truck, my arm wrapped tightly around her as she leans into me and lightly sleeps. We have been travelling for a while, so I figured that she should get some sleep.

  After all, girlfriends do need their beauty sleep. Even though Ray would be no less beautiful without her rest, it's still important.

  She tends to get very demanding with the headrubs when she gets tired. I am all for headrubs, but her drowsy requests often surpass my great headrub abilities. I shall have to improve. Good thing that I've got billions of years to perfect my techniques.

  We are currently on our way to investigate another anomaly. It is similar to the one around the Mesa Legend, Geoff. So, we presume that it is the next legend to fight.

  So naturally, we are bringing our entire raiding party.

  A total of 27 Great-levels, 400 high-levels as well as our core members and all the support and logistics people. It truly is a marvel of management that we are able to easily move around so many people and their equipment.

  It's all thanks to a lot of hard work put in by the geniuses of Emil and Linda. They have really formed the backbone of this entire war effort. Seamlessly enabling the flow of materials, personnel, trophies and information all around the entire arena.

  Without them, Ray and I would be well and truly klacked.

  We would still win of course. It just wouldn't be as fancy or with nearly as many style points. Which would be unfortunate, since everyone knows that style points are a critical measure of wartime success.

  You cannot have victory without style. It just goes against everything that victory stands for to do it unstylishly.

  Ray stirs next to me, and I wrap my arm tighter around her as she nuzzles into my side.

  My girlfriend is so cute, it defies reality itself. I really do love her, perhaps I will have to dedicate an entire galaxy to a massive exhibition of how cute she is. Unfortunately, it's going to take a while until we can dedicate resources to such a project.

  Oh well, I shall add it to the list of future plans.

  I am sure that whatever comes next, Ray and I shall overcome it together. Whether it be a giant duck, dragon, or an endless snowstorm. We shall overcome it, after all, we are the Moonlight Duo. So, bring it on.

  End of Chapter 116

  Next: Chapter 117 | Uak The Loud

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