A battle between planes should have been a cosmic spectacle powerful enough to shake the soul.
Yet from within the Ship Plane, as a mere component of this enormous war machine, Benjamin's feelings were somewhat complicated—exciting,
but also a little boring.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
On the light screen, beams of energy capable of effortlessly vaporizing mountain ranges tore through the void and crashed heavily into the living Frostfire Plane below.
Every hit came with a deafening explosion, as well as soul waves emitted by the plane itself, like agonized howls.
The Living Plane was not about to be outdone either. Its enormous mouth of magma spewed flames that incinerated everything, while the gaseous mass formed by its eyes stirred up energy storms powerful enough to warp the void.
Both sides' offensive and defensive tactics were filled with countless variations and intricate calculations.
Through the main control screen inside the node, Benjamin could see simulated data for all sorts of energy transmissions, rune circuits, and elemental tides.
But from the outside, the two planes merely seemed to be madly hurling huge numbers of energy cannons at each other—simple, brutal, and lacking any real spectacle.
Benjamin's own task was even more boring.
As a cog in this colossal war machine, an insignificant component, all he had to do was obey the commands sent through the Magic Network Terminal and precisely operate his node.
Raise energy output, shift rune frequencies, stabilize spatial fluctuations—over and over again.
It was not as though his work had no purpose, because the proper functioning of every node affected the Ship Plane's offensive and defensive efficiency.
But he truly had little sense of participation.
Most of the time, Benjamin felt like an audience member sitting in a control room, watching an epic film.
*The tension is certainly there.