-=+ +=- [COMPLETED] The Second Universe -=+ +=-

Part 16: The End

A massive chunk of planet under what was the Pacific Ocean and nearly the size of it was launched into the atmosphere, as a creature peeked its head out and into the universe. A VTOL shuttle also broke atmosphere by this time, and, seeing as it offered no return fire, a New World Union cruiser directed an AA gun to fire an airburst munition above it, knocking out its engines and lightly damaging the fuselage. A recovery craft was sent in, and after it retrieved the vehicle and returned to the cruiser, the main fleet disappeared.

Coalition telepathic comms filled with frantic chatter as the creature's left arm grabbed a section of what was formerly Central America, and its right arm grabbed onto a section of planet in eastern Asia. Long-ranged fire immediately impacted the creature, causing it to slightly recoil back into the planet. Using the crust of the planet as a surface to propel itself off of, the creature used another pair of legs to grab onto where its first set of legs were. When it did this, every vessel in its way was immediately destroyed. 

As it crawled into space, a pair of wings unfurled, then using yet another pair of legs -- the third pair -- to propel fully into space. Another set of smaller hind wings also unfurled, and the creature had a visibly tri-forked tail. Its head had two prominent horns, with more along the sides of the neck forming into a kind of small frill. In all, the creature looked like some form of alien dragon, and the OFR and UIGR ships that still remained in vicinity of the planet were then... inspected by the creature.

"Too many casualties. Abort operation! ABORT OPERATION!" Coalition command transmitted. Just as the thing that emerged prepared to use a left... talon to touch a UIGR ship, it found itself unable to move. An Enigma Corps PMC frigate approached the now lifeless CROS homeworld as another CROS VTOL fled past it. The VTOL took light fire from the frigate, receiving heavy damage as it accelerated away, seemingly headed towards Mercury. As the frigate got closer, the planet itself also stopped moving completely. 

It seemed the frigate -- or someone or something aboard it -- stopped time in the local area around the planet. Enigma Corps PMC comms erupted with cheers, as the activation of some device or something of the like merited this cheering. In addition, OESH vessels began to show up alongside CSF vessels in multiple formations. 

Some older CSF destroyers appeared along with similar-looking yet still different vessels, IFF systems reading them as belonging to the UNPA and SPTF. A bombardment followed. Similar to what happened in the Highway, the destroyers closed the distance and fired off missile and gun salvos while still moving through stopped time. Miscellaneous vessels attempted to contain the planet's thaumaturgy-laced atmosphere.

Ripping through the stopped... space-time, the existence erasure munitions fired had little permanent effect, the creature regenerating at speeds faster than an instant after. What did happen with plenty of effect, instead, was the 'flickering' of the stopped time zone. "Disen[gage], disen[gage]." Coalition chatter intensified as the destroyers dipped into the flickering zone to rescue their own allied ships, then warping away. The PMC frigate also followed, leaving time stopped there for now.

As the creature was stopped, ships from all Coalition nations attempted to barrage it with weapons fire. This proved ineffective--all CSF grade munitions in standard service seemed to be shrugged off. Godkilling lasers, reality-erasing plasma all faltered before this unknown, unheard of thaumaturgic being. 

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"Next Steps"

December 29, 35794 - 14:05:43

Coalition Command

Solar Research Fortress AB570438

New World Union space

It was clear a meeting was taking place, with high-ranking sentients from the NWU, OFR, and UIGR planning on how to proceed. "So, we know the creature can take damage from existence erasure, though it regenerates far too fast. We are unsure if we can keep up the stopped time radius--does anyone have any bright ideas?" It seemed they indeed had ideas, as plenty were brought up. The most common were ideas that were variants of 'shooting it until it dies and making it really loud so everyone hears it', which would be funny and what mr. narrator would go with if he was paid enough.