CHAPTER 27: OMNISCIENCE

The tiny rotors on the drone whirred, kicking up a small storm of dust from the palm of Allen’s hand. With a final, satisfying buzz they spun up to full speed.

Allen tilted his hand slightly and the miniaturized drone lifted off, hovering for a second at eye level before he gave it a mental command.

It shot upwards, like a black speck disappearing into the sky with a speed that seemed impossible for something that small.

In just a matter of seconds, the drone had climbed to a hundred meters, then two hundred, becoming completely invisible from the ground.

That’s an impressive climb rate, Allen thought, a slight grin appearing on his face as his lips curled upwards.

He was no longer looking up. His eyes were fixed on the translucent holographic screen that had appeared before him.

The drone’s cameras came online. The screen which had been blank a moment ago, now flickered to life.

The screen was split into three different feeds. One was a perfect top-down view that looked straight at the ground from a ninety-degree angle, like a tactical map.

The other two were angled forward and gave him a panoramic view of the battlefield.

He let out a breath of relief after seeing that everything was working perfectly.

For the first time since arriving in this world, Allen felt a sense of complete control.

He had just become one of the first people to look down at this world from the skies.

The chaos of the battle was gone, replaced by a rational and clear picture.

The soldiers who had seemed like imposing figures just moments ago were now nothing but tiny specks moving across the dirt.

He could see everything.

His eyes scanned the feed as his brain processed the information at an incredible speed.

He saw the main clash of forces, a chaotic blob of movement where Preservence knights were holding the line.

He saw the enemy knights trying to flank them from the east, their movements obvious and clumsy from his god’s-eye view.

He saw the half-dead knights scattered across the field like broken dolls.

He could even zoom in with the high-definition camera, showing him the gruesome details of their wounds and flesh as they mindlessly dragged their bodies to fight till they physically couldn’t anymore.

This was more than just a tool. It was something which had taken the theory of how wars were fought and completely flipped it over back in his old world.

This was an entirely new sense. It was omniscience.

Finally... I have some kind of trick up my sleeve. I mean, I started with a literal war so I don’t really want to think about whatever I will be facing in the future, he thought to himself, his thoughts wandering.

However, he was soon pulled out of his overthinking when his gaze settled on a group of enemy archers and knights taking cover behind a small ridge, preparing to fire a volley at an exposed group of the knights already engaged in a battle.

Oh? Look at these guys, thinking there’s so sneaky and all, Allen commented inwardly.

He then focused to give the drone another command. Make it follow me and stay above my head while maintaining its current altitude.

He commanded and then dashed toward the group of archers and mages. The drone above followed him as instructed, giving him a live feed of everything that was going down.

***

"Come on, do it quickly while they have their guard down. We can’t afford to be here all day, we’re literally in such an open area," Dustin said, commanding the group of archers with him and Heath.

The two of them combined with a squad of archers were currently taking cover behind a ridge and aiming to take down the enemy knights.

Since the knights were already engaged in a battle, they had their guard down toward everything else and had no way to defend themselves from a second party.

The mages around them had already been taken out so it was only a matter of time till someone killed them from afar.

"This isn’t as effortless as it looks! We have to get the aim right or it’ll all be for nothing. Do you not realize how fucking windy it is right now?" one of the archers replied back.

He had a point. They were at least a hundred meters away from them and the constant strong winds made it relatively hard to get an accurate shot.

And they only had one chance at it since missing would mean alerting the knights and missing this golden opportunity.

"Sigh, this is such a mess. I don’t want to be here for long," Heath chimed in.

"Stop crying it’s not like I want to be here! Just get this done! We’ll get killed in no time if you are careless like this. You’re supposed to be a guard so do that part properly!" Dustin replied.

"I am doing it properly! Heck it is exactly because I am doing my part properly that I do not wish to be here. The threat around here is way too much, it feels like anyone might come out from any direction and attack us," Heath explained.

Their annoyance was reasonable. After all, they did not really want to come to the frontlines and were perfectly content being the second line of defense.

But orders had come from their commander to advance and push back the Preservence knights.

"Can’t do anything about it. If we go back, they’ll kill us for treason," Dustin replied.

Both of them along with a dozen more knights stood alert in formation, protecting the squad of archers from any incoming threat.

"Now now, don’t be too sad y’all. I almost got this," said an archer, his one eye closed as he perfected his aim and adjusted his bow accordingly.

Heath faced away from them, looking forward to watch out for potential aggressors coming their way.

"I really wish I wouldn’t have agreed to come here. I would’ve been safer running away probably," he mumbled under his breath.

A wave of pure exhaustion washed over him. It was more mental than anything, as he contemplated the life decisions he had taken which eventually brought him here.

His eyelids felt heavy, the tiredness of it all getting to him.

Just for a second, he thought. Just one second to rest my eyes.

He let them close.

CRACK!

The sound was violent and way too close.

Heath’s eyes flew open. His heart hammered against his ribs.

"The fuck was that?" He spun around, his sword half-raised as his mind raced for answers.

That’s when he saw it

Dustin was on the ground. He hadn’t made a sound. He was just... down.

Heath stared, his mind refusing to understand what had just happened in that split second.

Dustin was still clutching his sword with all the grip he could muster, yet he did not get a chance to use it.

A small, perfectly round hole was punched through the side of his head just above his ear. A dark, thick liquid was already starting to pool on the grass beneath him.

With his eyes still open he looked at the sky above. It was clear. Completely in contrast with what went on at the ground below.

It was pure and peaceful, devoid of any sort of violence and blood.

Perhaps that is why they called it heaven.

Perhaps his life would have flashed across his eyes one last time, and he would have held his daughter in his arms even if only in his memories.

But his entire brain was blown into a pulp. Hence none of that happened.