The fragment's roar could be heard far and wide, the entire moon trembled. As pain it had never felt before coursed through it, this was its first time since its awareness it had felt pain that for a moment it became dazed. All its clone bodies came to a halt.

  "An opening don't waste it."

  A commanding master said as the battle ships also joined the attack, given they did not have to protect the rune finders for the time being. It was just for a second but with their speed this was a great opening for the battle ships and ground fighting rune master squads, fighting in various battlefields against the clones bodies. They attacked fiercely in that second, they felt victory was close even wanting to shout out in celebration but they knew this second could bring it all the more closer if they did not lose focus. One, two, three... clone bodies began to be taken down one after another.

  (It won't be long we too will end this battle then move on to another clone body.)

  Morale was high everyone was now attacking with strength greater than before, defense was neglected putting all they had into offense. At this moment to them the fragment was no longer some undefeatable foe left by the previous generations but a wall they could claim over to look down from. But again it was only for a second, for them it was plenty, accomplishing far more than a normal person could in such a short time.

  The second passed and with it their momentum, the whole moon felt a shift in gravity. Whether they were in motion or stationery, on a battle ship or on the ground all fighters felt a sudden heaviness. Those running slowed, those standing sunk into the ground with just their feet while the weaker ones were even brought to their knees. The battle ships started to descend no longer able to sustain their flight from the current weight.

  But they were persistent, this was the moon natural it had less gravity than their planet at best the change only became a few times greater than what they were used to, a manageable inconvenience.

  (Just like having a extra weights on me during training nothing I can't handle or gone through before.)

  Such were their thoughts as they started to adjust, some were slow but the constant, rune warriors and those with tempered bodies adjusted in just a few breaths. It was wasn't an instant adjustment as such the fragment didn't miss this chance. It's clone bodies pounced spewing lava while spikes of diamond began shooting out of the ground, targeting both battle ships and rune master squads. The result, many were injured but those that adjusted in the least amount of time took the lead protecting those slower to adjust, if not for this the deaths would be in the tens approaching hundred at best.

  The battle ships that had gone on full offense returned to defense, prioritising the work and safety of rune finders. Despite the fact that they adjusted in the least amount of time, after all they were not individuals but products of rune technology, all they had to do was change a few things on the controls.

  "Don't be shaken, this is proof that we have pushed it to its limits. Every time a clone is taken down there's a chance for a clear path to the core to be made focus on finding it."

  Rallied a commanding master, and it worked. The battle ships' main focus from the start was to defend against attacks while finders deduce the core's location. And most were veterans used to combat and not so easily overcome with battle spirit, the bigger picture was clear to them thus giving up on direct confrontation when they could also help resist during this sudden change of gravity.

  But as much as they hadn't been suppressed by the fragments gravity shift, it was still learning of this power it had now just realised it had.

  (Ah, yes this power bends to my will, now I shall unleash it with full force.)

  It thought before truly attacking with gravity, this power wasn't used by its scattered clone bodies but by the core deep beneath the moon. It willed and gravity went silent, no attraction whatsoever. The ships with nothing resisting their flight all began flying higher and higher some stopped ascending sooner than others but they had all flown too far to make any deductions on the core, too far to even participate in the battle in fact.

  (No what has happened.)

  Thought one master running or rather floating, he was in the midst of dodging a tail whip from a clone body. He jumped preparing to roll on the ground only to find he stayed in the air not falling back down. He turned his head looking at the giant tail coming back his way, his fate was sealed. How could he move himself, be it forward, back, up, left and right he needed something to push against. His body was frantic the ground was only inches away and if he could just get the right posture he would touch it but he was still ascending ever so slightly eliminating this possibility. In the end he could not come up with a solution in time, the tail reached him and lashed him straight to the ground. He gasped as he bounced back up only to get hit once more and was plastered onto the ground but it wasn't finished.

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  Bam bang bang!

  The tail rapidly slammed down on him not giving him a chance to recover, eventually he was turned to meat paste.

  Undoubtedly the fragment had gotten had an edge over them again, while everyone was subject to the changes in gravity its clone bodies weren't, moving the same as before. In fact better, gravity was no longer a challenge but an ally to them, with it they could lesson their weight moving faster, jump higher prevent their fall among many others.

  (Yes this is it, be crushed beneath my feet like the ants you are. Parasites that feed on the world dare think I, world dragon am an easy prey. Hehehe, one who seeks death eventually finds it.)

  It thought reveling in the continued slaughter, moving had become hard bringing their ability to fight to to rock bottom. Jump and you would not return to the ground, stand still and you would still find yourself floating away from the ground. Even walking had become harder not to mention running which was required of them to evade. Gravity increasing only needed strength to resist, while with the lack of gravity finding their way back to the ground was a harder feat in comparison. And this was the cause of so many losses.

  Masters kept dying left and right, while the battle ships were fairing better despite being in the hands of rune experts.

  After gravity increased they had altered flight power thus kept their flight and were yet again smoothly maneuvering around the clone bodies while protecting rune finders. So when gravity ceased they flew higher than intended, beyond the the battlefield itself and in the process escaping from the fragment's retaliation.

  But they also had the same difficulty, outer space maneuvering, only for them it was worse. The battle ships were not fully enclosed, when they were flying down or moving side ways some rune experts would be left suspended in mid air, this happened to quite a few. But they weren't as helpless as rune masters in this regard.

  (Hmm, the ships moving down but unlike everything else that's left behind the crates are tied to it so they're pulled along with it.)

  Assessed Nubel as the royal battle ship moved away and was leaving him behind. Having observed this he acted quickly and announced.

  "I know this is new but we can get through it. Runes of binding should slightly negate this. Use them!"

  Following his own words, Nubel used a rune that caused the battle ship to grow vines around his legs, effectively binding him to it. With this regardless of direction he would be traveling with it without fail. The other rune experts also followed suit but not necessarily using vines as well, some used chains and anything that could glue them to their respective battle ships. And the binding method used changed from time to time even for the same individual was to allow smooth movement on the battle ships. Soon they had adapted to return to battle without suffering too much from the disadvantage.

  Boom boom boom!

  They descended while returning fire, rune masters had suffered a great loss the situation could not be allowed to go on like this any further. Thus the battle ships also went on the offensive, several cannons shooting at once from one battle ship, with at least four battle ships against one clone body. The bombardment was well distributed, one focused on the legs, another focused on the mid section, the third focused on disrupting its attacks and the last focused on the head, Akarn's royal battle ship was the only exception to this.

  "To think the day I had to rely on chunks of wood and metal would come."

  Expressed Jura breathing heavily, he was also on the brink, without this timely support he wasn't sure he could last for much longer.

  "It can't be helped, we thought runes of wind and water would be nearly useless here but to think we'd face such a challenge."

  His squad mate spoke with regret, they had actually replaced some runes on themselves and stocked up on runes that wouldn't be weakened from the environment. The runes of wind were one such kind of rune, in this environment there was little air thus it would not do much as an attack or defense but for pseudo flight it would have been possible. A shame they did not have them otherwise the situation would not be this bad.

  "Forget regrets, we're veterans. We only need a bit more time I'm sure someone would have come up with a solution we can all use."

  Said another as he arrived by swinging from the rain of spikes using a thread. It relied on the fragment's attacks and was a poor method to be sure for several other points. But not much else could be used, this was the best improvisation the situation could allow so far.

  And even though they had numerous similar limited counter measures, the fragment still dominated the battlefield for a time. It would fling any and all with gravity. When they swung around using binding runes in the form of threads, vines, chains...etc it would use gravity pulling them down when they least expect it. But gravity was new to it thus its tactics were limited, and with these limitations came a clear pattern the subjugation army could recognise and form a strategy against.

  Time kept on passing and not too long after the prediction was made a rune was spread among them, rune of fixation. It allowed something to remain fixed in place for several moments before losing effect. In the hands of rune apprentices and experts its current effect could not be displayed, but using it they fixed the runes they drew on air. They used them as platforms and footholds to propell themselves in any desired direction. The runes used for this was not limited to any kind nor did they have to be precise thus they could be drawn in just fractions of a second.

  Slowly the fragment began to lose initiative, their familiarity with the fixation rune and this application of it was increasing. With it their style of combat, in fact for some this was no less than pseudo flight with a wind rune. Even the crude method of running up the clone bodies was overtaken with another method.