Chapter 169 – Kinetic Bombardment

Dream overlooked the construction for a bit before joining in himself.

With Dream in the mix, while it would still take quite a while, the project wouldn't take as long. There were many parts that required precision the bots couldn't handle. At the same time, Dream's construction ability was many times greater than a measly bot. 

Like this, construction was immediately kicked off and quickly charged through the first stages. Despite the speed though, just the outline took 3 whole days. 

The reason for this was the sheer size of the platform. 

As with any railgun, longer rails allowed for more time to accelerate a projectile. And because Dream's design for the platform consisted of 2 pairs of rails stacked on each other, all of which were nearly 8 kilometers long, it required many materials and a structural system that could handle such large scale operation. 

Rails as long as a small city's width obviously implied a projectile that was similarly massive. And it was, but not in a shape conventional to normal projectiles.

One of the greatest enchantments Dream could apply to his projectile-based weapons was the ability for mana to guard the projectile against any air in front of it. This effectively negated wind resistance and allowed his bullets to travel with much higher velocities and maintain the majority of their initial force. However, it also gave them the ability to use unique designs.

The projectile that Dream and Sophia designed were not long telephone pole projectiles, but soda can projectiles. Each projectile was over 100 tons in weight and designed like a soda can. It was cylindrical, but not long and skinny.

This design had in mind the surface area of the projectile, of which they wanted to increase to promote the spread of the delivered force outwards in the ground. Dream didn't want this projectile to be a mere bunker buster, but a strategic level weapon capable of destroying cities. And this soda can design allowed for that.

The reason why normal projectiles were pointed skinny cylinders was that the projectile needed to worry about wind resistance. However, Dream could remove that factor entirely. This allowed the projectile to attain ultra-high accuracies as well as reach insane speeds far surpassing normal estimates of Mach 10.

By Sophia's design that included an auxiliary booster system, these soda cans could reach impact speeds of nearly 27 kilometers per second. That's nearly Mach 80!

Needless to say, these cans would cause utter devastation. However, mathematically speaking, these cans would only deliver the force equivalent to half a Hiroshima bomb, or about 36 terajoules. It would take two cans in this instance to equal a single such nuclear weapon. And compared to the nuke that Dream launched over the demon castle, it was thousands of times weaker. There were still advantages to this kind of weapon though. 

For one, there was no nuclear fallout. Two, the projectile was a simple can made with tungsten. Dream didn't have any uranium or plutonium on hand to make nukes, so this was considered cheap by his standards. He could make tens of these projectiles. Three, the projectile would deliver kinetic energy that would cause seismic damage, not thermal. This led to its own results that Dream would favor in certain situations.

Though perhaps the biggest reason as to why Dream would use these cans was because they were awesome. He could use them without hardly any consequence and they would cause literally earth-shattering results. It was a boyish fantasy come true.

However, Dream knew that no matter how awesome they were, there was a limit to what the soda cans from god could do. And because of that, the orbital railgun platform was given two modes of bombardment: kinetic and fusion.

Dream had thought about making pure fusion bombs a while ago, and now they were finally coming to life. Using the platform as a launching system, he could fire fusion bombs in the same way that he fired the soda cans. Although they would be fired much slower than the kinetic rounds, it was still a useful delivery system that didn't need rockets like conventional nukes. 

Plus, Dream could fire a lot more fusion bombs than even kinetic rounds.

This was where the real firepower lay. Sophia's design for the bombs would net an explosive yield of about 15 megatons. While it wasn't as powerful as the one he launched that yielded over 100 megatons, he could launch more and all without the radioactive consequences. 

With these two modes, Dream would be able to destroy any army from anywhere within minutes. 

And Dream didn't want just one of these platforms. He wanted two!

While two may not seem like much more than one, it represented a maximum response time of less than half than with just one. If he had to hit a target on the human continent, but the platform was over the animal continent, it would take around 8 minutes for the platform to move. But if he had two, he could put one over each continent, ensuring an arming to impact time of less than 4 minutes.

With that, Dream would have no worries about the demons. Of course, it would take a while to actually get those weapons up and running.

After Dream had completed the skeleton of the first platform, Sophia came out with an estimate of around 16 days to complete the rest, including the projectiles. This meant 19 days per platform while constantly working. 

Dream would only have his two platforms after a month and a half, but he was fine with that. Nothing could interrupt him in space. That was probably his greatest advantage in all this.

............

........

....

With Dream constantly working on the platform, time passed by quickly. 

As he worked, the girls would come visit every other day or so in between their battle sessions. When they had first seen what he was building, they were astounded. A singular structure of such size didn't exist anywhere on the planet. Even the Elven Tree was only 3 kilometers tall. This platform was over double that size, and it was a weapon.

They were shaken for a while as they thought about the sheer destruction it would be capable of. They eventually found their bearings though. This wasn't the first time Dream had done something this crazy, and it probably wouldn't be the last. Despite him being a bit of a maniac though, they were glad such a weapon was in his hands. 

So as time went on and construction pressed forward, they enjoyed seeing the progress. Every time they came it would be more and more complete, and their expectations grew accordingly. They wanted to see it's completion. 

Other than them though, things in the Empires went smoothly as well. 

All the human armies were launching attacks, as were the animal armies. Everyone was supporting each other with Dream's help and mediation, which allowed them to press back against the demon invasion.

Thousands of battles were fought among every power level. Class 4's were getting just as much work as the lower classes, and deaths were happening all the time. While they tried to be cautious, this was war. They all knew that they could die should they be carless.

However, it also served as a time to grow. The weak died and became experience for the strong. And after only a week, the combat power of the armies had actually risen due to experience gain and skill growth. 

This bolstered morale and kept the armies fighting. Everyone was once again feeling what it was like to get pushed and become stronger. It was an intoxicating feeling that permeated the armies, promoting camaraderie.

Things went on like this, and despite the constant death, things were progressing exceedingly smoothly. That was until the demons threw in a curveball about 2 weeks in.

One night in an army camp on the frontlines, a class 4 was assassinated!

When this happened, it actually wasn't noticed until morning when the other class 4's were wondering where the victim was. Upon checking, they found the dead body with 3 stab wounds in his spine, head, and neck. 

This news quickly spread among the upper echelons, but it was also suppressed. None of the ordinary soldiers knew what happened and an excuse was quickly made for the absence. They didn't want morale to fall after all.

Despite the suppression though, Dream was able to easily find out about it. In fact, he watched it happen after being notified by Sophia. But despite knowing about it, he didn't say anything. He didn't want everyone to know that he could spy on those with bracelets. 

After the assassination, security was increased and all class 4's were vigilant. However, the assassination attempts kept coming. After only another week, there had been 12 attempts, but surprisingly, only one of them succeeded. This was obviously the best outcome for the upper echelons, but after seeing all these assassination attempts, Dream was left a little skeptical.

Well, the reason he was skeptical was because he couldn't actually see the assassination. Every time it happened, the demons would go after the bracelet. This led to it being destroyed or the class 4 putting it in his inventory. Either way, Dream would only regain connection after the battle had been fought and the victim was left a weak and bloodied mess. 

Dream sighed when he saw this. He had underestimated their intelligence. He didn't think they knew about the bracelets, and how they found out concerned him. However, Sophia was actually able to find the answer after sifting through some records. 

Apparently, there was one particular class 3 upper echelon whose son was converted to a demon. This son was a soldier and had been captured after a battle. After being converted, he was forced to give up what he knew which included the function of the bracelets.

Although it should've been easy for Dream to notice this happen, people were getting captured on the frontlines all the time. Most of them didn't have bracelets though, at least at first. As Dream pumped more out, they were passed down to the common officers. This son happened to be one, and he happened to be captured as well. 

It was unfortunate, but now they knew. Luckily Dream could just deactivate the bracelets, making them unusable to the demons.

Interesting thing was, these assassinations didn't only happen on the human continent. The same exact situations were playing out on the animal continent. Class 4's and even 3's were experiencing assassination attempts, and every time the bracelet connection would be cut. Some of the attempts ended with the animal dead, but most ended with them alive. 

Dream was just glad they were alive after everything. If they lost too many class 4's, things would get bad. 

And so, the flames of war kept raging. The demons continued pouring in demons onto the continents, and by now, the two continents had over 200 million demons each. For the animals, the situation wasn't so bad, but the humans weren't doing all that great. In fact, after the third week that Dream started his project, the Mercenary Empire fell.

With them gone, the many kingdoms around them were utterly razed and over 150 million people died. It also didn't help that the demons were already pressing onto the Sword School and Spire, and within the week, they would be receiving a full force attack.

However, this was when Dream finally stepped in. While the human Empires had amassed a few armies about 30 million strong each from drafting, things were still being organized. Thousands of Dream's Ships were constantly flying and transporting troops and supplies. It would take a while to stabilize things. But luckily, Dream would be able to buy them time.

........

3 days after the Mercenary Empire had fallen. This was 22 days after Dream had started construction.

Dream was up in the factory. On the wall of the storage area, another platform had been started. This was the second railgun platform Dream was planning to build. As for the first, it had already been completed. In fact, it was already positioned above the human continent. 

Dream was sitting on a couch by himself as the family was out fighting with the armies. His eyes were closed and his mind constantly processed various bits of data that Sophia gave him. But after a few minutes of pondering, Dream eyes finally snapped open.

"Arm the Pea Shooter."

[Understood.]

Sophia nodded and began sending signals out.

About 4 km away was a massive structure hanging above a specific spot on the planet Kaban. This was the orbital railgun platform dubbed the 'Pea Shooter'. And not long after Sophia got the order, it received a signal.

Upon activation, the 8.5 km long platform whirred to life. The platform looked like something straight out of sci-fi. Its massive rails were encompassed with equally massive heat sinks that made it look like a spiked barrel. The rear of the platform held several huge fusion reactors and an uncountable number of supercapacitors that all attached systematically to the rails and other systems on the platform. 

Last but not least, the platform held inside it dozens of 100-ton tungsten soda cans and dozens of nuclear fusion bombs. All of them could be fired from the rails. All they had to do was be loaded onto the rails like a bullet into a gun. 

And they were. After Sophia gave the order, one of the prepared tungsten soda cans shifted into a hatch and was placed inside the rail chamber. It was then locked in place and prepared to fire. 

After that, the fusion reactors dumped massive amounts of power into the supercapacitors and rail systems. Lightning-like arcs of electricity jumped between the four massive rails and even over the tungsten soda can. Under such power, even the rails that were built from grade 11 mithril and extensively enchanted by the best enchanter in the world couldn't help but receive burn marks. 

Finally, after 50 seconds of charging, the platform was ready. Back in the factory, Dream overlooked the target area. 

The target was the previous Mercenary Empire. Here stood a demon stronghold that held over 30 million demons. They stopped here after the fall of the Empire, but unfortunately for them, that made them easy targets. 

"...Fire when ready."

[Commencing firing procedure...]

[Firing in 8...7...6...5...]

..........

......

Meanwhile, as Dream gave the order, the family was fighting alongside one of the human armies. 

As they fought, they suddenly got a notification. When they read it, they were shocked. 

The reason they were shocked wasn't because Dream was firing his railgun, but rather that the target was only 200 miles from their position. They weren't very far from the fallen Empire, and the army they were fighting was a vanguard troop sent by the stronghold there.

After seeing the notification, the family didn't stop fighting but instead activated a live feed from one of the drones over the destroyed Empire. They could see the huge settlement of demons, and the sight made their skin crawl. 

However, they knew that the sight would soon change. In their vision, they could see the countdown.

[5...4...3...2...1...Firing.]

...........

After waiting several seconds, the family still hadn't felt anything. Iris looked around the sky in confusion.

"Shouldn't the rod have impacte-"

*BOOOOOMMMMM*

Right as she spoke, a massive rumble shook the ground beneath them. It was a force than nobody had ever felt before, and all the millions of soldiers and demons lost their footing, tumbling to the ground.

Anyone who could fly quickly did so, including the family. As they did, they glued their eyes to the live feed of the destroyed Empire.

"Oh my god..."

Selene spoke with an incomparably shocked voice. 

In her vision was no longer a destroyed Empire, but a tsunami of dirt and stone.

After impact, the 100-ton soda can reshaped the ground, immediately creating seismic waves that bent the earth with it. Like dropping a boulder in a calm pond, waves of force were transmitted across the ground, loosening all land for 50 miles around. Outside of that, the force was enough to cause earthquakes like what the armies over 200 miles away felt

Not only that, but a pillar of dirt and dust rose into the air, throwing boulders off into the distance and killing anything unlucky enough to get hit.

And when all started to settle, the only thing left behind was a crater seemingly created by a meteor. Nothing that resembled a city was left. Everything was totally leveled. 

It was mass destruction not delivered by nukes, but by pure kinetic bombardment!