War of Drekis:


Chapter 20


Onslaught


-----Maiinverno stood his ground while Aigonis’ two servants moved in front of their master. The man alone was enough to completely mask the visage of the Drekis general, and the young woman crouched down in front of his knees, one hand balancing her weight on the blood-soaked ground while the other held her massive sword above her neck.
-----“You’re not man enough to fight me?” Vincentzo challenged. “Have to rely on your little peons?”
-----“Tough words from a royal whelp,” the voice of Aigonis slithered out from behind the obstructions. “Thousands of soldiers move out to fight and die for your city, and you have the gall to slander my minion’s loyalty?”
-----The male minion leaned over and inspected Vincentzo from head to toe. “Besides, general Aigonis shouldn’t have to deal with a cur. We’ll be enough to finish you.”
-----“Cur!? Obviously you dolts don’t know who you’re dealing with.” Globes of light sprang out of Maiinverno’s palms as he took a battle stance. The sudden motion sparked an outburst among the surrounding crowd of Khazanian soldiers; dozens of men rapidly lifted their rifles and shifted from target to target as if expecting the bloodshed to continue.
-----In fact, not all of the fighting had stopped when Vincentzo uttered his challenge. The battleground was beginning to expand around the perimeters of Arael, and the outer rim of the borderlines was still rife with conflict. The combatants around Aigonis and Maiinverno were the only ones that had fallen silent.
-----“Calm down!” The man snickered, holding up both hands frivolously. “Your great leader here wants to fight alone, isn’t that right?”
-----“Two against one!” A voice from the crowd shouted. “That’s not fair at all. No deal!”
-----The woman stood up, carrying her sword above her like it was a feather. Her dark red lips pouted and she continuously flicked her earlobe with her fingers. “But we were so bored with all the random fighting. This will be a nice change of pace.”
-----“I never said I would have any problems with it.” Vincentzo reminded them. He turned to the soldiers and held one of the gleaming magic orbs above his head. “Do not interfere! I will take these two down and then proceed to end this battle with the death of their leader!”
-----“My hero!” The swordswoman moaned. As she said the words Vincentzo could actually feel the motion of her tongue wiping along her upper lip. Chills ran up his shoulders.
-----“And he even shows his back to us,” the man added. “Such unadulterated bravery.”
-----Vincentzo faced his foes as they began to advance. A smell of rotting corpses seemed to flow from the two warriors; the stench increased with each step they took, and by the time they were ten paces from him the skin around his nose began to burn. Still, the wizard stood his ground.
-----The two minions came single file, the woman leading the way. Maiinverno had to admit that he found her strangely provocative. Her movements had a sensuality about them that couldn’t be explained with words; her hips, legs, and curves transitioned with such perfect form, and her eyes had such an intense gaze that when he stared into them he felt his own eyes become tepid.
-----It was not a natural attraction, for he felt as if there was an air of intoxication about her. Somewhere within those alluring motions was a kind of hypnotic spell that just barely pulled his mind from the battle at hand. The man had no such presence, save that he stood head and shoulders above Maiinverno and was twice as wide; he was imposing to say the least.
-----“Allow us to introduce ourselves.” The woman said. Immediately the two servants dashed away from each other, and in the next instant Vincentzo found himself sandwiched between the two, though still at about eight paces distance.
-----The woman slid into place to the right of the wizard; she casually dragged the tip of her broad weapon through the dirt. “You may call me Shuradou.”
-----The man to Vincentzo’s left palmed his fists one at a time and cracked his knuckles. “I’m Grymhet.”
-----“Like I give a damn what you’re called!” Vincentzo said. Without warning he spun around and released his magic globes, one at each target. A green light enveloped the two servants, and then they disappeared behind two simultaneous explosions. The surrounding line of soldiers and Khazan rangers took a few steps back as long trails of smoke trailed off from the impact points.
-----There’s still a presence, Vincentzo thought. His eyes motioned towards Aigonis. He half expected the general to leap out and take advantage of the moment, but the winged reptile just stood there watching him; his eyes were closed, his arms folded, and his great weapon was thrust into the ground at his side. Damn him! Sending his dogs out after a man of my repute.
-----The smoke cleared, and as Vincentzo had already sensed, the two were unharmed. Shuradou had held her sword in front of her, and the blade itself was large enough to shield her entire body from harm. As far as Vincentzo could tell, Grymhet had shrugged off the spell without blocking at all.
-----As he measured up his opponents defensive abilities, Maiinverno caught wind of the strange scent again. This time it was not so much like rotting corpses, but there was still an unsettling odor, as if he was standing amidst a field of burning insects. With the two of them separated, he realized that the scent was pouring out from Shuradou alone; specifically, the smell hovered about her sword.
-----“Our turn!” Grymhet charged forward. Vincentzo was forced to look at his attacker, but in the back of his mind he could sense the approach of Shuradou. She closed the distance between them by the time Grymhet’s third step had fallen.
-----“Light, become my shield!” Vincentzo barely got the last words of his evocation off. Strands of light gathered in front of his right forearm and forged the shape of a knight’s shield.
-----Shuradou raised and swung her sword with a speed that defied the visible weight of her weapon. The jagged edge dug itself into the magic shield, cracking it with the first blow. Strange streaks of power slipped through these crevices and made small cuts across Vincentzo’s face.
-----“Repel!” The wizard commanded. The remaining spell energy of the shield grew brighter and then burst outward. The giant sword was knocked back, and Shuradou, as if chained to her weapon, was hurled away with it. The wizard shifted his feet and twisted his torso around to see Grymhet less than five feet away.
-----With his hands outstretched to the brown earth below his feet, Centzo cried out, “Rise!” At once the earth began to move, and a clump of rock stretched out between the two opponents, blocking Grymhet’s path with a spire of stone.
-----“Useless trickery,” Grymhet announced. He was already releasing a punch towards the wizard’s face when the spell had been cast. It was too late to stop now. His fist smashed through the mound of clay and burst the stone into pieces. The barricade collapsed around him, and behind the hail of cracked rocks he again caught sight of Maiinverno. The obstacle had failed to slow him down, and as he stepped through the wizard’s last defense he drew his left hand up and dropped it upon Centzo’s head. Grymhet’s rough skin passed through Maiinverno’s body, but he touched nothing.
-----“What’s this?” Grymhet sneered. He stared at the fading image of Arael’s leader. “An illusion?”
-----“Spiral Slash!” The words echoed behind Grymhet. The minion jumped up and landed facing the opposite direction; he was greeted with a dozen weapons such as axes and tomahawks being hurled at him. The many blades blazed orange and yellow with the light of magic; each one spun around wildly as it struck Grymhet, and even after the initial hit the weapons continued to fly about his massive figure, delivering blow after blow.
-----Vincentzo had poured a large quantity of eldritch energy into that spell, but the energy could only last so long. Eventually the magic weapons wore out, and with their last impacts they splashed off of Grymhet’s skin like drops of water. Each projectile had made multiple direct hits, but Grymhet was unharmed. Or rather, he acted as if he was unharmed.
-----In a few places where the weapons had landed Vincentzo spotted deep cuts across Grymhet’s exterior. It was then that Maiinverno could see what was so unnatural about this hulking warrior. The cuts were not like that of a flesh and blood animal, but like cracks in the side of a mountain. Nothing dripped out of those wounds, and the rest of his hide appeared smooth and hard like the shell of a turtle, though it still maintained the hue of bronzed skin.
-----Shuradou, equally unimpressed with the repel spell that Centzo had used against her, jumped high into the air and raised her sword. She was over one hundred feet off the ground, and had no trouble bringing her blade up with her.
-----“That same attack again?” Vincentzo laughed. As he watched her fall with the blade raised above her head, he began to gather light magic around his arm to form another shield.
-----The peculiar scent returned. It was still an alien odor to Vincentzo’s memory, though with each progressive experience it became more familiar to him. This time he could recognize the repugnant stench as two separate odors which were both emanating from that girl’s sword. The two scents swirled around the blade, never mixing but sometimes coming dangerously close to one another; the two smells were at odds with one another, for a feeling of nausea nearly overtook him every time the two scents began to mix. One of these odors was vaguely like gun powder, though it was more appropriate to say that it simply smelled like something was about to violently burst. The other was the stench of an aura that Vincentzo recognized as being a magic of some quality, though it was not of a kind that he was versed in.
-----Whatever forces they were, they did not want to mix—though as Shuradou fell from the sky the two auras began to draw closer. Her eyes opened wide and her pupils shook.
-----The light around Centzo’s arm dispersed, and instead the wizard jumped back. Shuradou landed before him without taking a swing, and strangely enough her feet softly touched the ground as if she had jumped no more than two feet.
-----“Playing things safe?” Shuradou raised her sword above her head and grasped the hilt with both hands. An unnatural aura enveloped her blade, but it was not one that could be seen.
-----Vincentzo could feel the aura, could smell the disgusting mixture. It was like the forced amalgamation of light and dark, an unholy union that created disorder and not balance. The two forces and their wild scents were scratching against one another’s borders, but at last the two aromas mixed. Maiinverno gasped for air. A weight was thrust upon him. His temperature dropped. His heart raced. His breath was lost.
-----In the shadow of a second, he saw the hand of the reaper reach out, and then he understood, in the most basic of terms, that he was sensing the most barbarous of death magics.
-----“…become my shield!” Vincentzo was barely conscious of his own spell. His instincts had taken over. Waves of energy encircled him until they formed a blazing sphere.
-----Shuradou swung her sword as she had when she sent the minefield into chaos. There was no crackle of energy, no wave of force, no feeling of pressure. She completed the slice and the area around Vincentzo burst apart. Mounds of earth the size of automobiles were carved out of the ground and disintegrated.
-----It was destruction in its purest form. No visible cause and effect. Where Shuradou’s sword fell, anyone and anything in that direction passed into oblivion. The ground sundered, the air became thick, and an impalpable blackness surrounded Maiinverno. The destruction spread out, carving a cone-shaped crater that engulfed entire platoons of Khazanian soldiers.
-----Vincentzo was blind, and even his magic senses were failing him. An aura of dread had been forced upon his heart; it was as if death were waiting outside of his barrier, impatiently clawing away at the obstruction that prevented him from claiming the young ruler’s life. The barrier shook. The pressure increased. Maiinverno raised his hands and began to chant a spell of defense. His magic reinforced the barrier by concentrating most of the energy onto a specific area, but the power of Shuradou’s sword was not like an energy beam or a projectile.
-----Instead, Vincentzo found that the destruction was raining down from all directions. It was as if giant hands had cupped themselves around the azure sphere and were slowly crushing it inwards.
-----Cracks inevitably appeared alongside the barriers exterior. First above him, then behind him, and finally in front of his own eyes. With each new crack Vincetnzo felt terror seize his soul. It immobilized him, destroyed his thoughts. In the next instant he would spit upon the unnatural cowardice that was surrounding him; in his own mind he was unconquerable, a man of high stature who would never let fear prevent him from taking action. To this end he fought against death’s intrusion and upheld the fractured barrier a little longer; in fact, just long enough. The ocean of shadow washed by—the great weight leapt off of his shoulders, and the last spout of pressure broke the barrier into a thousand shining fragments.
-----Some of the destruction remained, and as soon as the barrier fell he was assaulted by an agonizing force that passed through skin and bones to tear away at his very core. Mind, body, and soul each felt a simultaneous sting, like the sudden crack of a whip. The royal armor that he wore melted down until only the newly furnished Maiinverno crest remained on his tarnished chest plate.
-----By the time Vincenzto had come to his senses, he found that he had been moved at least ten feet back, though he had no memory of being thrown. The land around him had been gouged; torn bodies of humans and deminites littered the Arael soil.
-----The wizard anxiously turned his head and glanced at his city. The northern border of Arael had been decimated. Nothing remained of its meek walls or the perimeter housing facilities. Shuradou’s attack had only progressed twenty meters into the city grounds, but it had done its damage.
-----“Curse you.” The wizard whispered as he looked himself over. Bruises adorned his body, and his mage robes were tattered beyond recognition—they looked more like the rags of a homeless man from the Lowtown district of Khazan City.
-----Shuradou eased her sword arm, allowing the heavy blade to drop down into the ground. A faint trail of the awful stench remained. “That felt good.” She moaned several times and rubbed the back of her neck.
-----“I’ve got new respect for the guy,” Grymhet declared. “It’s not everyday I see someone stand up to your sword.”
-----“He does look awful though, really.” Shuradou began to suck on her pinky finger from the side of her mouth. “Poor guy must be getting old.”
-----“You talk like you’ve won already!” Vincentzo said. “But only a leakage of your meager power even managed to get through my barrier. You don’t really expect to beat me with such plain magic do you?”
-----“Magic…well, he’s an observant one isn’t he?” Grymhet scoffed.
-----“Drop the act,” Shuradou pointed her sword at Maiinverno and a second wave of nausea passed over the wizard. The two auras were slowly beginning to merge again, though Shuradou was still keeping them inches apart. “You’ll never be able to hold your barrier up that long again. You’re all wilted up.”
-----“Think of me what you will.” Vincentzo replied. As he coughed up the words his eyes traced a route of blood which led back to the city. His city. The outermost buildings were ruined, crushed by an attack that he could not thwart. Soldiers shouted and guns flared. Trails of darkness stampeded into the border; deminite and human clashed, gun against flame—fist against claw. Their battle cries dominated the city, but they were only a distant discord to Maiinverno’s ears.
-----He heard instead a faint cry, the murmur of much softer voices. They were not at peace, but there was no blood-thirst or hatred in their tone. He saw a million eyes staring up at him as he gazed from some high plain, yearning, wanting. What they wanted could not be given to them, but there was no vengeance in their stare. If anything, he felt an understanding in their presence; but that did not shake the sorrow that was plainly visible.
-----Vincentzo himself was barely conscious of the fact that as he heard these whispers he began to stand upright; his slouch vanished, his shoulders rose. Pain caressed his legs, but his wounds could not deter him.
-----“Beacon of the heavens!” He yelled without warning and threw his hands towards the air. The open sky, which had become grey and wet with the arrival of the Drekis creatures, gleamed with an unnatural violet hue. Even in the afternoon light the stars seemed to shine. “Gather before me, become my star and fall—crush those who stand before me!” Vincentzo’s throat became coarse; his legs collapsed and he fell onto his hands as a coalition of colors fell around him.
-----“Here it comes!” Shuradou drove her sword into the ground and held it in front of her. She was prepared to deal with any spell that the young wizard could throw at her.
-----The rainbow coalition spread out from Vincentzo’s position, but no attack came. The ground and even the air around the two lord minions became enchanted with a whimsical brilliance. Little sparks flew around them like fireflies. The scent of magic permeated the battlefield, such that no one, regardless of their familiarity with the arcane arts, could sense the location, direction, or motion of the magic. Indeed, the magic was everywhere around them.
-----The mystic aura diverted their attention, allowing the true spell to come about unseen. Above the combatants, in the sky of stars which defied the consuming light of the sun, a red stream of energy poured out, seemingly from the stars themselves. As the stream grew, the stars faded, until in the end the stars disappeared and the scarlet energy gathered together.
-----The Deminites and their lords were meticulously concentrated on locating Maiinverno’s attack from some direction around them, and so they failed to notice the red ball that was forming. Flames spiraled around the sphere and deep shadows were cast across the freeway and the valleys.
-----When this happened everyone became aware of the object, but it came down with such speed that the last minute recognition was not enough to prepare for the fall. The miniature sun plunged, its destination locked onto the area where Vincentzo had cast his magical aura. The sea of enchantment was not originally intended to be a distraction, but a focal point for the falling star.
-----The meteor released a blinding shockwave when it met with the earth. There was no direct hit, but such a thing was not necessary. The power of the spell far exceeded Vincentzo’s expectations. At once he was thrown back by the impact, but the pain of being thrown about paled in comparison to the wounds that he had suffered from Shuradou’s blade.
-----Escape would not be possible for the two lord minions. The meteor had plummeted in-between Shuradou and Grymhet. Thirty meters of land had become a crater, though such a thing had already happened numerous times in the battle. By now, the freeway that led into Arael was no longer visible; it and the field that surrounded it had been reduced to a land of depressions. The very sight of it all called to memories of torrid battles between the Fallen and the Sentinels during the time of Quietus.
-----“That…was one of my best,” Vincentzo spat out as he lifted himself up. “All I can do now is trust that it was enough to put them down.” His patience was wearing thin, and the sight of an endless dust cloud disturbed him. He waved his hand as he stood and invoked a spell of wind; a light gust swept through the area and cut the smoke away, revealing two familiar figures.
-----It was relieving, at least, to see that one of the figures was lying on its back, motionless. From the build it was clearly Shuradou, and her sword lay some distance from her body. Breath was still coursing through her, and it was difficult to assess the physical damage that had been done, but in any case Maiinverno could see that his last spell had produced some results. He took in a deep breath, once, twice, three times.
-----The war had not halted—for the deminites and lesser minions of the Drekis Empire fear nothing short of their master’s wrath. The shockwave had damaged many of their kind, but that didn’t stop the survivors from pushing forward. The Khazan soldiers had previously been provoked into concentrating on the burning meteor which the young ruler had summoned, but the tenacity of their opponents quickly pulled them back into the skirmish.
-----No lesser minions dared to approach Vincentzo, for there was still one lord minion standing who laid claim to the wizard’s life. Grymhet was silent as he observed the crater that had swallowed him up. He cast one look at Shuradou, who briefly matched his stare, and then he smiled. The smile was different from the smug look that he had been giving Maiinverno before. The expression was alien, completely unbefitting of his thuggish countenance.
-----Grymhet’s skin now had numerous cracks adorning his chest, neck, and head. No sign of worry or blood emerged from him. With one arm he smashed his fist into the ground and propelled himself skyward. He emerged from the crater, jumping no higher than he needed to, and landed right in front of Vincentzo.
-----Barely an arms reach separated the two. Vincentzo staggered back, completely caught off guard by the speed of his enemies approach. No attack came. Grymet stood there, silently looking down at the wizard. His cracks grew until the left half of his face was covered with crisscrossing lines.
-----“I misjudged you, Vincentzo Maiinverno.” Grymhet said calmly.
-----“What’s that?” The words barely flew out of the wizard’s mouth.
-----“You’ve found a new reason to fight now, something else to fight for,” Gryhmet continued. “I admire that. At first I thought you were a glory-hound of some sort.”
-----“I fail to see how someone who would admire me could justify the kind of atrocities that your people have wrought upon us.”
-----“Things aren’t always as simple as light and dark, black and white. More often there is praise to be found on both sides.” A few more cracks widened across his arms. “Both of us have something to protect. But I lost what I was protecting; now I’m trying to get it back, and to secure its future.”
-----“I don’t understand any of your gibberish.” Vicentzo said.
-----“I never asked for your understanding.”
-----“Well then, what are you waiting for?”
-----“I just want you to know that you died giving it your all,” he replied. “It’s not often that someone can crack through my armored body. You tried your best—you can be at peace when I send you to the next world.”
-----“Who do you think you are? First you come to my city like some sort of hired goon, and now you speak to me like some sort of high and mighty official. Your attitude, it just…it really irri…it pisses me off!’
-----‘Don’t think, even for a second, that you can play the empathetic card, and expect me to be happy with anything less that victory here. I will not be at peace with my city in ruins.”
-----“Good, then perhaps you can still give me an interesting fight.” Grymhet said. “But just because I respect your determination doesn’t change the circumstances here. You’re struggle is valiant, but pointless. Shuradou will recover; I am still standing, and Lord Zekruel stands unharmed.”
-----“Don’t tell me the details!” Vincentzo barked. “Do you think I exhausted all of my magic?” A green glow surrounded him. “If you won’t attack me then…”
-----“It’s a pity when courage filters down into desperation,” Grymhet cut him off. With that he sped forward without making a sound, and was upon Vincentzo in an instant. His hand was raised, his fist was tightened. All that was left was the killing stroke, but the young wizard had more energy in him than Grymhet had guessed.
-----By the time Grymhet’s fist plunged into the barren rock, Vincentzo had jumped back; his feet somehow found the power to carry his wounded body away from harm, though he only crept a few feet, outside of the hand’s reach and nothing more.
-----A sharp wind flew up, and the cuts across Maiinverno’s face stung when the current swept over him. His spells were broken, shattered into nothingness. The green light, the last of his defenses, faded. Instinctively Maiinverno jumped back once more and began to chant a spell, but Grymhet was already springing off of his fist, his elbow drawn back to prepare another blow.
-----There was no doubt in Maiinverno’s mind now—Grymhet had become faster. As the cracks in his hardened skin grew, so did his speed, though there was no logical connection between the two. This time the young wizard could not fully escape, and a jab from Gryhmet caught him in the stomach. His muscles stiffened as his body left the ground, catapulted up by the hit. A bulge gathered in his throat, and he felt as if all the blood in his body had rushed to his head.
-----Briefly he fell out of consciousness, but awoke a few seconds later, face down in the dirt. He pushed himself up, slowly at first until the memory of his situation flickered. Vincentzo managed to stand once more. He was hunched and one of his eyes was closed and bruised. Scarred hands cradled his torso, and he felt the unforgiving wind as if it was passing straight through him. Blood poured out of his mouth as he coughed, but he was not about to welcome death just yet, and even as a puddle of his own blood formed at his feet he became more resolute. With a sneer he spit out the last few drops of blood and took a deep breath to do away with his urge to cough.
-----Despite the amount of damage that the punch dealt, it was to Maiinverno’s fortune that he had stepped back a second time, for if he had been but a few inches closer the fist might have ruptured his internal organs or snapped his spine.
-----“Why?” Vincentzo wheezed. He sought for more magical power but found that he had been drained. Falling to his knees, Maiinverno began a spell of aura regeneration; it was not the kind of spell that healed physical wounds, but one that slowly replenished the magical powers of sorcerers. It could be hours before he could regain his full strength, and Grymhet was still advancing. Still, it was his only option. The soldiers and heroes around him were busy warring with the other deminites, and even Aigonis had taken to the air and slain any ally of Arael that came within fifty feet of the cracked giant.
-----“Why…” he continued. “Am I not the one who was born to rule? As steward of this land, I alone am the one who can save my people. I must, and I will. You dare to belittle my power here, but I will break myself before I see Arael fall.”
-----“Your intentions were admirable,” Grymhet said, “but pointless. One single person cannot devote himself to a society. You wish to protect these people, but you do not have the strength to do it. Such is the futility of mortal lives.”
-----“Every last breath, and every last ounce of magic within me,” Vincentzo replied, “Whatever it takes, I will take you down and…”
-----His words disappeared into a gasp. Grymhet was charging, uninterested in the young wizard’s words. Deep shadows embraced him, the wind became cold. Both of Grymhet’s hands gathered above his head, a look of malice was in his eyes while satisfaction formed in his lips.
-----“This will not be my fate!” Vincentzo shouted; and then when those words echoed across the battlefield there came a second shadow that passed overhead, and a lean figure crossed in front of Grymhet. Before the final strike could fall the figure spun around and kicked the brute in the head. A snap sounded throughout the field.
-----It was Woose who knocked away the would-be executioner. A might unbefitting someone of his ordinary size allowed him to knock the lord minion away, and the foul aura around his feet burned the surface of Grymhet’s skin like acid.
-----Grymhet was hurled into the air, but as he was about to land he flipped over and pushed himself off of the ground with his hands; a perplexing agility let the muscle-bound fiend land on bent legs, and by the time Woose had taken a stance he was up again.
-----“No, you fool!” Vincentzo cried. “You’re no match for that monster. Rejoin the war, help my soldiers contain the enemy!”
-----“I’ll take that as a thank you,” Woose responded, fists just below his eyes. “But in case you didn’t notice, this little street fight here is part of the war too. You’re not the only one who wants to defend Arael my friend, and you’re not the only one who’s going to.”
-----“But…Woose…Powwaah-man…” the words trailed off, but he became silent, speechless.
-----“This is not your responsibility alone,” Woose said. “And I don’t care what you say; I’m joining this fight, for your sake as much as for the city’s.”
-----Grymhet laughed as he felt the cracks along the sides of his face. He was barely recognizable now. “Aren’t you ashamed Maiinverno? Here you fail to protect your people, your precious culture, and now you’re rescued by those who would come to save you.”
-----“Don’t laugh,” Woose said, and his expression was graver than any that Vincentzo had ever seen on his face before. “He was the one who fought off both of you—two against one and still the city stands. Damaged, maybe, but its still there, and we’ll not let you get one deminite into those streets.”
-----“I do not laugh at you, but I find your situation amusing,” Grymhet bellowed. “As least you seem to have a better understanding of what it means to protect something that is dear to you. For you do not aim to protect everything around you; you follow your heart, naďve though it may be, and protect that which is dear to you, only salvaging the larger picture indirectly. Vincentzo did not understand this, but he would have known it when the end came. You saved him physically, but now you have left him still chained to this city that he loves so much.”
-----“Shut up!” was all that Woose could say back, for he did not fully comprehend all that Grymhet had said.
-----“Defend your city if you must, and perhaps you will put up an even more interesting fight—but, there is more to war than heroes, generals, and lord minions. Your allies cannot stop the tide of deminites; Lord Aigonis’ army will breach the borders before long, regardless of the outcome of this battle.”
-----“Then it is you who does not understand what it means to protect something,” Woose said. “For every soldier that fights for our cause is a hero to our people.”
-----“A hero in their eyes, but a fool to others. So I am a villain to you, and perhaps a hero to my people. It matters not; labels can not move our identities…enough.” He moved to attack, but it was Woose that leapt towards his opponent first.
-----Woose released a swift kick, but Grymhet raised his knee as if to crush his opponent’s ribs, and the two countered one another. They landed far apart, and an unseen shockwave shook the land, so that even the most heavyset monsters in the surrounding army fell to their knees. Woose’s feet, which smoldered with an unruly aroma, had singed the skin around his enemy’s knee, but the opponent made no mention of the revolting stench; many of Woose’s foes had fallen to the overwhelming smell long before they fell to his might, but Grymhet was by all appearances unaffected.
-----This did little to deter Woose’s courage since he himself was quite ignorant of the unconventional power that his feet possessed. In most cases Woose was unaware of how he attained a victory in battle, he knew only that he had triumphed, and that was all that mattered.
-----Here he charged without concern for his life, and for a moment Vincentzo’s heart was warmed by the selflessness that he displayed; but there was also a jealous longing for Woose’s conviction, as if it was an insult that Woose of all people should take the spotlight. And then those words would resurface: that this was not his battle to fight alone. The magic began to stir up in his body and the weight of his injuries was no longer a burden. The spotlight in his eyes vanished, and the power of magic flowed around him.
-----At that time he would have come to Woose’s aid, but a rekindled will alone was not enough to overshadow his weariness, and it would still be some time before he regained enough magic to cast even the most plebian of spells. He clenched his fists and slammed them into the soil in front of his knees. All he could do now was watch…and wait.
-----He feared that Grymhet was a foe that was beyond Woose’s skill, for he had never witnessed the martial artist travel at such a velocity as he had seen in the lord minion’s last attacks; and if his theory about the cracks and his speed was correct, then Grymhet would be even faster.
-----Rapid punches filled the space between the two warriors, and no person of average sight could have seen more than the evaporating after-images of their fists. At first they stood face to face, trying to push each other back with brute strength. Failing that, the two began to circle around, and their battle became a series of stylized motions like an odd dance. This was not a clash of untrained muscle; both fighters honed more than one style of the martial arts, and they wielded as much grace as they did strength.
-----Unfortunately is was Grymhet who possessed the greater skill, and even as Woose constantly shifted his footing to circle around his opponent, still Grymhet would follow him stride for stride and match his blows; and when their fists met and shockwaves flashed it was Woose’s hands that became bruised while Grymhet’s merely continued to chip and crack. Their speed did not fall, but increased as they continued on, ignoring the growing wounds that they inflicted upon one another.
-----It would have been one sided had it not been for the unconventional attack patterns that Woose employed. His martial arts were authentic, but hardly of renown, even within the city of Arael. In his own mind he was a greater fighter than he truly was, and this both weakened him and strengthened him in unexpected ways. Often he would try elaborate, flashy motions, like a child that mimics the spinning kicks of over-the-top karate films. Yet the unbalanced mixture of amateurish stunts and professional moves proved to be utterly confusing, and Grymhet found himself on the defensive more often then he wanted to be.
-----Still, Vincentzo cringed at the sight; Grymhet was still increasing his speed, and Woose appeared to have tapped out his own swiftness. For every four punches that Woose performed, Grymhet would casually block with a single motion. So it was not long before Grymhet adapted to the estranged fighting styles of his new opponent and knocked Woose’s hands aside.
-----Woose was left open and unguarded; immediately he was the victim of a torrent of punches, and his face could not completely move to one side before it was batted to the other.
-----When Woose’s face had been bruised into a lump of flesh Grymhet drew his right arm back and put all of his strength into the final punch. The hit fell on POWAAA!-Man’s cheek and the force twisted his neck around until it was facing the opposite direction. There was a loud crack as the rest of his body followed, twisting wildly through the air and rolling across the dirt.
-----“No…” Vincentzo whispered, and the limp body of POWAAA!-Man came before him. All hope left the young wizard, but suddenly he was overtaken by a surge of anger, and at last he stood. His rage outweighed any sense of desperation. Fear and doubt could no longer cloud him. Death no longer crossed his mind, and victory was no longer his goal. Only the destruction of Grymhet was necessary—the one thing that he must do; even if Arael should fall at the hands of the enemy, at least their general would know that one of his greatest servants had been struck down by Vincentzo Maiinverno, grand magician and lord of Araelis.
-----Bloodlust stirred in him, and just as he began to chant a new spell there was a low moan that came from the corpse of his companion. And it was not a corpse as he had thought; Woose jumped to his feet, spry as ever, and with both hands he twisted and cracked his neck back into place.
-----Fighting at the edge of death had robbed Vincentzo of his memories, or else he would have known not to fear for Woose’s life. Though Woose was far weaker than he made himself out to be, he did have power over an indomitable will to survive, and no physical blow which could kill a normal man would keep him down for good. Rumors had even spread though out Khazan that it was POWAAA!-Man’s inanity—his infuriating ignorance of the mortality of his injuries—which propelled his longevity. It was mind over matter, and the kind of absurd doggedness which made villains avoid Woose at all costs, not out of fear but out of a lack of patience.
-----Grymhet only smiled and stretched his arms out. “You’re pretty good. For someone who wears a pink gi, I mean.”
-----“Tough guys wear it.” Woose responded, pointing a thumb towards his chest; he showed his opponent a wide grin, and all of the bruises from the earlier punches were gone.
-----“I’m intrigued,” Grymhet said. “Just how long can you keep that up? I’m sure you’ll wear out at some point.”
-----“Maybe,” Woose taunted, “But you’ll never wear me out, because I’ll knock you out long before I give in. Justice demands that it be so!”
-----Grymhet laughed, and it was not out of scorn or mockery; he appeared to be earnestly laughing. “You two are quite amusing. And you, you’re the weirdest of them all! Justice you say! Hilarious. You think that I’ll tire first do you? I haven’t broken a sweat yet, and the way things are now you’ll never land a blow.”
-----“You may be right about that,” Woose said, “but I haven’t shown you all of my incredible powers just yet.”
-----“Incredible you say? Come now, don’t award your talents such high praise—I always end up disappointed.”
-----Woose clapped his hands together, held them tight, and spread his feet to shoulder width. His face became flushed, and the folds of his gi began to waver about. Vincentzo recognized a powerful aura forming around Woose’s body, but it was not any kind of magic. It was the lifeblood of a martial artist, the fifth element that allowed all fighters of his kind to reach heights of superhuman power. Chi, the very essence and energy of his life—that was what Woose manipulated. At all times Woose kept his chi balanced throughout his body, except now Maiinverno sensed that the power was converging around POWAAA!-Man’s fingers.
-----“What are you doing!?” Vincentzo yelled. He recognized the technique. He had seen it once before and knew the consequences involved in utilizing it.
-----Without response the stubborn hero parted his hands, and between his palms a pink light lit up. Woose’s hands meticulously caressed and crafted the energy until its shape had become that of an open circle, a ring of glowing chi.
-----“You can’t use that!” Vincentzo barked. “You’re bound to use up all of your power if you use that now!”
-----“Not to worry.” He said calmly. “I’ve been training in the depths of the Champion Mountains for the last year, and I think this is the perfect chance to see how far I’ve come.” With that he circled his hands around and a second ring appeared. It was followed by a third, a fourth, a fifth, all the way up to a dozen rings of equal size and shape. Each ring interlocked with several of the others, and it was like a clump of key rings tied together. The pink light burned brightly, becoming a faint red. A trace of flame flickered at the base of the shapes.
-----“Try this!” POWAAA-Man yelled. The rings condensed, the space between them shrank down so that it became a mass of energy. The chi projectile shot off with a deafening boom and a bright pulse that knocked Woose back as he released it.
-----Grymhet was not a stranger to chi and its various uses in the field of martial arts. He readied himself to face the energy. The clump of chi rings descended abruptly, as if Woose had aimed them poorly. Such a sight made Grymhet lower his defenses. But the attack had not been aimed at Grymhet to begin with. It fell exactly where it was aimed, directly at Grymhet’s feet, where the ground burst apart and a trails of smoke engulfed him.
-----Through this smoke screen Woose rushed into his foe. Not head on, as Grymhet actually expected, but from the side. The sound of the explosion had diminished his footsteps, and now he was upon a defenseless enemy.
-----Caught off guard, Grymhet made a vain attempt to turn and back hand his assailant away, but Woose staid low to the ground as he charged, passing under the intended counter and coming up only when the time was right…the time to release his ultimate attack.
-----At least, it was the ultimate attack in his own mind, and how an ordinary punch could be considered ‘ultimate’ over the ring projectiles that he had cast into the ground was anyone’s guess. However, he had put all of his strength, such as it was, into this one punch, and it had connected with Grymhet’s chest without hindrance.
-----There was the sound of cracks, but also of things tearing, ripping. The cracks became deep chasms, his limbs were torn asunder. Pieces of his skin shattered and scattered about his feet.
-----In this moment, when every part of him seemed to break apart—he smiled. Every inch of his skin had been cast off, and now Woose stared at a new Grymhet, completely identical to the last but with a blue-green hue in his latest skin.
-----“He had, another layer of skin underneath!?” Maiinverno stuttered.
-----The fist which had smashed through the first layer pressed on, but in one second it brushed off of the next layer and Woose was repelled.
-----“I commend you.” Grymhet said. “That was a great move…I didn’t see it coming. Honestly, I didn’t think someone of your…special nature would be able to come up with such an elaborate plan.”
-----“That was elaborate?” Vincentzo groaned.
-----“Now you can see why I felt that your efforts were so amusing!” Grymhet declared, his voice becoming louder. “Behold. This is my power! My skin is my armor, and it has many layers. With each attack that falls upon me I absorb its strength, slowly increasing my own power. You have cracked the first shell, but only to allow my new power to emerge.”
-----“I cracked the last one, and I’ll just have to smash through this one too!” Woose announced. He jumped into the air and duplicated his ultimate punch. All of his strength went into one strike to the face. A clang rang out, as if something soft had crashed into a wall of metal. Grymhet’s face was not cracked, and it was not bruised. The blow had even failed to move him at all.
-----As Woose fell back he spun in the air and snuck in one last kick to the side of Grymhet’s face, but this too failed to move or harm the lord minion.
-----“You are no longer a threat to me,” Grymhet said as Woose flipped back and landed on his feet. “As I said I have been absorbing your strength, as well as Maiinverno’s magic. But also my body has been analyzing your attacks, and nothing that broke or cracked my outer shell will break my new one.”
-----“Then lets bring in something a little different,” a voice called out, and it seemed to come from all directions, flowing over the battlefield.
-----Grymhet was the first to jump back and locate the speaker; he saw, high in the air, a lone figure who was slowly drifting down. “Dragoon T.” He stated.
-----“I see you’re a little worried,” Tanin said with a smile. His descent quickened until he landed on the ground, standing between Maiinverno and the lord minion. “I suppose your master told you about the time I sent him running away from the Astra Canyon with his tail between his legs?”
-----“We expect nothing short of grand power from the Avatar of light,” Grymhet said. His expression showed no fear or worry as Tanin had claimed; rather, it was a look of hard determination that was not present in his battles with Maiinverno and Woose. Against the previous two he had been a perplexing mix of bully, philosopher, and confident villain, but here the lord minion knew that he was dealing with someone whose renown escaped the confines of Khazan and adorned the heroic tales of entire galaxies. He became a menacing sight.
-----Tanin stretched his arms out and then drew Chrysillium. A white light enveloped the blade.
-----“You finally decide to show up!” Maiiverno managed to cry. He stood behind Tanin and almost felt like giving the Avatar a smack on the back of the head. “I bet you were watching from up there the whole time.”
-----“Well, not quite.” Tanin replied. He turned his head and gave the wizard a smirk, but his open eyes avoided Vincentzo’s and innocently stared up at the clouds. “As a matter of fact I helped drive off some of the enemies around the western border; and now it seems that the defense forces from the other borders have managed to regroup here. I waited until all concerns regarding the battle as a whole were accounted for before I came here…but yeah, I was watching for maybe a few minutes.”
-----“How could you…!”
-----“Relax. I wouldn’t have let anything happen to either of you. At least now I know a little about this Grymhet fellow and that lady, what’s her name.”
-----A shadow leapt out of the crater in the background and landed in front of Grymhet. The delicate figure waved a large sword around and then let it rest on the ground. Shuradou eyed Tanin contemptuously and said her name once again.
-----“Yeah, you.” Tanin said.
-----Shuradou shifted her eyes to the side and looked at Grymhet. “Once again you spend way too much time babbling about ‘protection’ and respect. You should have killed the wizard and the pink guy when you had the chance. Then we could concentrate on the Avatar.”
-----“You’re so practical,” Tanin laughed. “Well, don’t bother getting mad. I’ll arrange your ideal scenario for you.” With that he turned to Maiinverno and said to the wizard: “Listen up. I want you to retreat back into Arael. I’ve bought us a lot of time, and the other border defenses have joined the fray, but they won’t hold forever.”
-----“What are you saying?” Vincentzo was at a loss for words.
-----“Bio-fighters are coming from the East,” Tanin said solemnly. “And also bigger flying creatures that we haven’t seen before. Maybe we can still pull off a win, I don’t know, but keeping them outside of the city is a lost cause.”
-----“I won’t abandon my post.” Vincentzo said plainly.
-----“And I’m not asking you to. I need you to go back into the city and run things from there; that’s where you can best protect your city and your people.” Tanin slumped his blade over his shoulder and exchanged a casual glance with Woose. “And you too POWAAA-Man. Go with Maiinverno and defend the city from within.”
-----“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Woose nodded. He sped to the side, circling around Grymhet so that he could join up with Vincentzo on the other side.
-----“And you…” Vincentzo said, “What will you do Tanin?”
-----“I said we won’t be able to keep them from breaching the city,” Tanin said, his eyes focused on the lord minions. “But just the same, I’m not about to stop trying. The rest of the army will probably have to fall back soon, but I’ll be the last one standing in these fields; I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure these guys don’t get any further.”
-----Vincentzo stared in silence while he clutched his arm. Woose tugged on his torn mage robes and pointed towards the city. “So be it. I leave it to you then. Thank you.” He turned and ran back to the city, just as Tanin had instructed. Not once did he look back, and Woose sprinted beside him.
-----“Maybe I should kill them while they run.” Shuradou smacked her lips and drew her sword towards the sky.

-----“No. Let them go.” Grymhet said harshly. -----“So tense,” she cooed. “For someone so rough you play all so nicely.”
-----Tanin swung Chrysillium around and then held it out in front of him. “Let’s get this over with. I’ll take on both of you, and don’t even think about holding back on my account.” His smile brightened, and the light of his sword became a disheartening thing for the lord minions to behold.
-----Neither minion dared to make the first move, but just as Tanin was about to dash towards his enemies there appeared a shape of pear-white wings just above them. Aigonis Zekruel, general of the army, landed with a heavy crash; cracks slashed the earth around his landing, and a visible green cloud leaked out of the pores with a sharp hiss. In his hands he held the Starblade, currently in the shape of white spear that was smooth like ivory.
-----“It has been a while, Tanin of the light.” Aigonis greeted.
-----“I was wondering when you were going to show up,” Tanin replied. “So it’s three on one then. That sounds better. Ready to end what we started in the canyon?”
-----“It won’t be like the last time.” Aigonis retorted. “This will be your last battle, Dragoon T.”

---2---
Many Faces

-----No lesser minion of the Drekis Empire dared to enter the battlefield where Drekis and Kaas stood. All members of the Fallen avoided that area as well, for they feared the might of Dorchadas Laan just as much as they feared the mysterious Avatar of Chaos. The Fallen possessed a tenacity that rivaled the Drekis hordes, but at the core of every individual Fallen was a selfish greed; when a single opponent could wipe out a hundred of their numbers with one gesture, they avoided conflict at all costs and looked to their elite members for answers.
-----Even though the battle of the Fallen isle continued to escalate, the eyes of the Fallen council were bent on the impending duel of Avatars. Marc Dollar, who was still responsible for coordinating special operations of the Fallen military and its war machines, couldn’t help but watch; a war between Avatars was a rare thing, and quite the spectacular sight.
-----Kaas slowly began to circle around his new opponent, walking to the left and observing the odd mass that hovered before him. A vague form of arms and a draconic head leapt out of the dark shape, but Drekis’ lower body had become a shadow that seeped into the ground.
-----As he walked, Kaas realized that no matter how he circled around the Chaos Avatar, he was always staring at Drekis from the same angle. Drekis would be facing him, a devilish smile on his face, and yet Kaas never perceived any movement. “You’re a foolish example of a dark lord,” Kaas said to him. “When you could be using your time and your pitiful minions to oppose the forces of order or light, here you wage war against the void.”
-----“And if I were to wage war upon order or light, what would you do?” Drekis hissed. His voice was like a rasp, but behind it there was a deep boom that made Kaas’ armor rattle. “I do not believe that the forces of the void would stand by idly while someone else took their glory.”
-----“Devyn once told me that Chaos and the void could never co-exist.” Kaas said. He stood in place and drove the tip of Dorchadas Laan into the ground; both of his hands came to rest on the top of the sword’s hilt. “I have always wondered why. Our goals are mainly the same, with but a few minor details separating us. Even a chaotic being such as yourself must realize that if you had allied with the Fallen you could have insured victory not only on Khazan, but across the entire universe.”
-----“Is that why you, an Avatar of Darkness, sides with the void?” A low laugh echoed around Drekis.
-----“The Fallen’s end goal may not be the same as mine, but their methods and actions conveniently serve my own needs.”
-----“And you think that they would serve mine?”
-----“I would hate to have to destroy a power that could potentially further the Fallen’s purpose. I’m offering you a choice between life and death Drekis, and I am usually not so benevolent.”
-----Drekis laughed as the dark fog that enshrouded him began to grow and expand. “You think to test my integrity, fiend of the dark! You know as well as I do that what darkness and the void desire, chaos scorns. The void, especially, is a laughable lie, an illusion. It’s as absurd as creation. To create out of nothingness…to return the universe to nothingness—those are nothing more than blasphemous ideas.’
-----‘Creation does not come from nothing, and even the gods, who in their moments of pride believed that they had brought existence out of the void, were themselves deceived. For there has always been a substance present, even if is of a kind unperceivable, impalpable, beyond the comprehension of even celestial minds.”
-----“So you think it is not feasible for the Fallen to seek the end of all things?” Kaas mused.
-----“Labels such as void, creation, light, and even darkness,” Drekis continued. “What you fail to realize is that these are all aspects of order; they are words—definitions that people use to rationalize and understand the mysteries of the universe. They are imposed beliefs, imposed systems of thought. But the truth…the truth only comes when these labels are removed, and then you understand that chaos is one true force; order is nothing more than a reaction of Chaos, an attempt to control it.”
-----“Very well,” Kaas said. “Now that I know where you stand and what you desire, I know that the Fallen can never tolerate your existence.” He raised Dorchadas Laan with both hands, and the blade became wrapped in shadow.
-----“You think that you have what it takes to kill me?” Drekis said. The dark mist suddenly reached out in all directions, smothering the land with a darkness that nearly rendered Drekis invisible.
-----“I’ll test this so called Chaos Edict!” Kaas yelled. He held Dorchadas Laan to the side and waited for the tide of dark fog to fall upon him. When the mist came close, he swung the darkness sword horizontally and cut through the cloud. Air escaped from the severed wisps and was heard like a wail around the island. The fog was thick like the hide of an animal, but as soon as it was cut it drew back and spread into several clumps. From each mound of smoke grew a tentacle; the fog that formed them was so dense that Kaas could not see past them.
-----Several of the tentacles darted towards Kaas. Their edges had become sharp, but Dorchadas Laan sliced through them. The severed shapes landed at Kaas’ feet and burst apart, releasing a nauseating cloud of darkness.
-----As Kaas waved the smoke screen aside with his sword he caught sight of Drekis; the chaos lord seemed to be growing in size, and the clouds around his shape flickered with bright lights. Bolts of red lightning sizzled around his form, and an intense light emerged from his right hand.
-----“You’ll regret that mistake.” Kaas whispered the words to himself as Drekis released a flowing beam of red and green sparks. The attack was faster than Kaas expected, but still he managed to bring Dorchadas Laan between the blast and himself. Streaks of energy flowed into the darkness blade, until at last the entire beam was drained and the sword which had once been shadowed now glowed furiously.
-----“This power you have given me,” Kaas said with a smile, “I return to you.” He swung the sword up high, and as it completed its arc a wide blast escaped the black metal. The same colors of Drekis’ attack were reflected here, but this beam was shaped like a giant comet that dwarfed even the growing visage of Drekis. The returned blast consumed the chaos lord, and the subsequent explosion sent red beams hurling into the sky. The land was illuminated, and when all had passed Kaas found that the surrounding land, with all of its trees and hills, had been laid flat. The uneven ground was smooth, and all grains of sand had been turned into slivers of glass.
-----As soon as the explosion diminished Drekis appeared, completely unharmed, and he held his right arm up; his fist clenched as red sparks burst around his knuckles and jagged claws. “To destroy me with my own power?” He boomed. “Nonsense.”
-----Then Drekis raised his fist into the air, and the dark fog around him collected at his sides to form two great wyrms with smoldering eyes and wide mouths full of teeth. Chaos energy flowed out from Drekis’ body and empowered the shapes—brought them to life at his call. At first the flying serpents dashed over the ground and attacked Kaas head on, but just as they came within reach of the darkness sword they parted and circled around Kaas.
-----One of the wyrms returned to the front and lunged forward with a snap of its jaws. Kaas easily countered the first beast, slicing its head open with his sword. More of the dark mist poured out from the wound, and the shape of the beast fell apart. The other creature moved up from behind, and its speed was somehow greater than the first. By the time Kaas turned around, the serpent’s body twisted and curled to the side, and there it bit down on Kaas’ undefended hip. Its jaws sank deep, piercing through Kaas’ armor. A terrible shock ran through his body, and he felt as if his mind and his soul shared the pain.
-----Though the shock burned away at his psyche, Kaas gathered the strength to ignore the sting and sliced Dorchadas Laan into the creature’s neck. As soon as the monster’s form faded the dark clouds that had constructed it flowed into Dorchadas Laan, and the blade was darker than a starless night.
-----Once more Kaas waved his sword in Drekis’ direction, and from his blade sprang forth a black silhouette that was like a spear of dark energy.
-----But Drekis raised his hand and grabbed the blast as if plucking a leased arrow from the air. “If this is all you can do, then you are no threat to me.” With a roar he lashed out, throwing the captured spear back at Kaas.
-----The Avatar of Darkness didn’t expect the second return, and the blast struck him in the chest, sending him flying backwards. Kaas regained control in the air and spun around so that he landed on his feet. The armor around his chest was cracked and seared.
-----“Is this the power of the Chaos Edict?” Kaas wondered. “Even against his own chaos, he will not fall.”
-----He stared at Drekis intently, looking for any weaknesses that he could take advantage of. If reflecting Drekis’ attacks was unsuccessful, then his only choice was to strike him with Dorchadas Laan directly. While the sword’s ability to reflect an attack was formidable, the greatest power of Dorchadas Laan lied in the blade itself, which could not only cut and sever, but destroy its opponents at a molecular level.
-----Just then Drekis disappeared, and there was no trace of his body or of the dark cloud which had hovered over him. Immediately Kaas felt a heavy presence appear behind him, and without looking back he rolled to the side, barely escaping a glowing claw that dove into the ground where he had stood.
-----“So you teleport too!” Kaas laughed. “That didn’t help your little servant.”
-----Drekis drew his arm out of the ground, and as his hand emerged the land withered away. It was as if the rock and sand at their feet was melting away. Kaas lost his footing at first, but as the ground sunk into the shape of a crater he leapt up into the air and fell down with a heavy slice. Dorchadas Laan plunged into Drekis’ shoulder, where it cut all the way to the ground and nearly split Drekis’ right arm away from his body.
-----Something like a groan, but also like a sneer, came out of Drekis’ mouth. He bared his teeth and bent over Kaas as the severed pieces of his body pulled themselves together. Kaas pulled his sword from the wound, and in the next second there was no longer a wound at all.
-----“Futile.” Drekis bellowed. His right hand increased in size, becoming a massive claw with sword blades for fingers. He swung this weapon down at Kaas’ head, but the Avatar of Darkness spun to the side, and as he completed his spin he thrust Dorchadas Laan towards his opponent’s chest.
-----But Drekis caught the sword with his left hand and casually held the blade out in front of him. “Dorchadas Laan,” Drekis said as he observed the blade. “A weapon that will not fail to slay an opponent; but it will not kill me.”
-----Drekis relinquished the sword as Kaas jumped away. The Dark Avatar slid to a stop, his eyes narrowing as he glared.
-----“I see…” Kaas said. “Your body—it is not made of matter.”
-----“Not matter as you know it.” Drekis replied.
-----“And yet I was at least able to sever your body earlier.”
-----“Whether I am cut or not doesn’t matter to me. Either way I won’t die, so the effect of your attacks will merely depend on my whim.”
-----“Is this the power of the Chaos Edict?” Kaas asked.
-----“Chaos Edict?” One of the red eyes that peered out of the wavering form grew larger and brighter. “That’s nothing more than another label, a name constructed by someone—god or mortal, I know not.”
-----Kaas smiled briefly, but his eyes were still narrow and his voice became coarse. “I was told that you could not be killed. That you possessed immortality based on a decree, that there is only one way for you to be killed, and that all other methods would fail, regardless of the power of your opponent. It sounded absurd to me, so I wished to test it against you personally.”
-----“Absurd!” Drekis cackled. “Yes, absurd, I’m sure you see it that way. How others choose to rationalize me or my actions is not a concern of mine. I am an embodiment of chaos, and chaos is a thing of many faces.”
-----“Many faces?” A dark flame shrouded Dorchadas Laan. “You speak more nonsense!”
-----“Think about the world you live in,” Drekis challenged, “the universe that you think exists. This is just one possibility of many, and chaos holds that there are endless possibilities, like a die with infinite faces. The reality that you believe to be true is just one face, but I live outside of the rules of reality, for I encompass all the faces of the universe. Your sword, Dorchadas Laan, is a sword that will destroy anything that it cuts. That is a rule that is true for this world, but that does not mean that it will destroy me.”
-----“So that is what is meant by the Chaos Edict,” Kaas spat out, “Overly complicated foolishness. Although I suppose that means I can’t kill you; but there are other ways of dealing with people who can’t be killed.”
-----Drekis laughed, but it came out as a low moan that swept over the land like a passing whisper. “Interesting. I’d like to see a barbarous creature like you try something other than hacking at me with your sword.”
-----“The sword will do just fine.” Kaas bellowed. He ran forward, Dorchadas Laan raised to his right side. “I’ll slice through you eventually, and when I do I’ll make sure to keep your in an everlasting flow of pain, never giving you a moment to regenerate!”
-----“You think you can torture me!” Drekis boomed. He raised an arm and with that the ground in front of Kaas rumbled. A jagged spire of rock jutted out from the ground at an angle, nearly impaling the Avatar of Darkness; but as Kaas charged he shifted to the side, just in time to let the spike’s tip fly by his face.
-----“Until you tell me the way to slay you!” Kaas shouted. He carved a line down the rock spire, and dark energy coursed into it until the entire form broke apart.
-----“Well,” Drekis said, circling a finger around in the air. “Perhaps it isn’t some way, but someone.” The ground beneath Kaas’ feet shook again, but this time the land seemed to open up and rose above him, like a gaping mouth that tries to swallow the clouds. Darkness swallowed him up; the ground had digressed and parted, forming a chasm while the rest of the ground flew skywards. The walls that were raised soon separated into many towers and then curved inward, so that from far away it appeared that long fingers were stretching out and reaching down to clasp something. Their tips sped downward, crashing down on the chasm until it was once again filled.
-----“That is to say,” Drekis continued, his words flying over an empty, flat battleground, “that you will not be the one to slay me.” Many waves rippled through his right arm as he clenched his fist. Slowly he raised his fist, and with it came a giant hand out of the ground, but it was not made of stone, but a sparkling, silver metal that amplified the last vestiges of sunlight that fell upon the isle. Within its grasp was Kaas, his mouth open like a wild beast bearing its fangs. Only his head and shoulders were visible, the rest was tightly held by the artificial hand.
-----“Stop these childish games Drekis!” Kaas yelled. “Are you really so afraid of my blade that you would resort to this kind of trickery?”
-----“I don’t care about the means, only the end.” Drekis replied. “I did this because I can.” His fingers extended towards the metal hand and bolts of electricity flew out from his claws. The energy flowed out as a stream of red and blue sparks, first striking the metal hand and then passing straight through that conductor until it reached the Avatar of Darkness that was inside.
-----Kaas roared violently as the bolts flew across his entire body. Even his open mouth was filled with crackling streaks of power that shot off from one tooth to another. Drekis continued for a full minute, intensifying the lightning with each second that passed.
-----Then Drekis cut off the assault and slowly slithered his form across the desolate valley; the extended presence of his power had withered the land away, and even the shadowed island of the Fallen which had never been known for its beauty had now become a place where no living thing grew. Even outside of the grounds where these two Avatars clashed—where the legions of Drekis and the machines of the Fallen fought—the change in atmosphere inspired the lesser minions while filling the minds of the Fallen with an illogical dread.
-----“You said you were going to torture me.” Drekis said, a smile forming on his dragon-like head. “It seems that I am the one torturing you.”
-----The last gleam of red faded from Kaas’ face, and then he sneered as he said, “After everything I’ve been through in the past, this is nothing.” His shoulders shook. Large cracks slid down the metal hand and dark flames spewed from the fractures. With one last roar the metal hand was shattered, and Dorchadas Laan was raised towards the sky, red and blue sparks gliding across its darkened edges. Before Kaas touched the ground he swung the sword, and out came a dark shape that bolted across the sky, closely followed by bands of red and blue lightning. A clean cut was made, and the blast tore Drekis’ head asunder.
-----“You are just as persistent as the heroes you loathe.” A voice crept out from the headless body, and even without any mouth to speak it seemed louder and bolder than it had before.
-----Kaas watched a thick, dark ooze boil at the center of the wound in Drekis’ neck; there it bubbled and festered until it could no longer flow freely. Wisps and whips of black, oily matter sprung from the gap in his head and groped at one another. There was no doubt in Kaas’ mind that he was regenerating—a creature like this would not die from the loss of its head. Still, it was the best chance he had to attack the chaos lord.
-----In the next instant Kaas realized his mistake; he had assumed that the lack of eyes would prevent Drekis from sight, but the flaring red eyes of Drekis were nothing more than a form that was assumed out of convenience. His entire body could see, hear, and even feel the environment around him; and when Kaas stepped forward and lowered his blade, Drekis instantly lashed out with one of his arms, and even though they were over ten meters apart his arm stretched until the distance was of no consequence.
-----Bleak, greedy fingers latched onto Kaas’ face, and to the Dark Avatar it felt as if a beast of slime had pounced on him, and was now slowly feeling its way around his head. In fact, the slithering fingers of the extended arm had grown out in order to completely ensnare Kaas’ head.
-----The fiend dared to return the favor, but Kaas would not sit idly by. A silver flash sliced the air—Dorchadaas Laan severed the arm with a swift strike. A hiss rang out as the impotent limb whipped around in circles and then receded.
-----But the hand that grasped Kaas still clung to his skin, and even the piece of the arm that was attached to it continued to hang in the air, as if some invisible brute had taken control. Into the air it carried Kaas, lifting his heavy body with no effort; and then without warning it propelled itself towards the Fallen Tower, faster and faster like a rocket, dragging the Avatar of Darkness along.
-----A bright circle of light expanded as Kaas abruptly stopped. The arm pressed him against an unseen wall, a glowing obstacle that flashed with power, and yet as Kaas was pushed harder into the wall the lights began to fade. The circle of light which had appeared behind Kaas wavered slightly, then blinked rapidly.
-----It was the fourth barrier that Kaas had crashed into. Already the shield had taken a beating from the bio-fighters and terror beasts that swarmed the skies. It was the last remains of its energy that held out against this rather ironic assault—the Avatar of Darkness, whose own body was being thrust against the barrier by a strength that was impossible for a detached hand.
-----An annoying pain shot through Kaas’ back, but he remained fierce and managed to outlast the barrier. The shield could take no more, so it broke down, disappeared with a shriek that shrunk down to a low grumble and then died out. Kaas was hurled through the perimeter. The arm that held him, having completed its purpose, withered away; by the time Kaas got back up, there was nothing left of the arm, and Drekis had completely regenerated.
-----“That leaves only three barriers left.” Drekis observed. “Then the Tower will be vulnerable.”
-----“The barriers are only our first line of defense.” Kaas responded. “You’re a fool if you think that you can bring the Tower to ruin with an army of this size; it may have been formidable in the beginning, but by the time you make it through the last barrier you will have lost so many of your peons that you won’t even have the firepower necessary to undue the magic that binds that obsidian together.”
-----Drekis’ hands glowed a dark green, his fingers became smooth and long, and everywhere in the dark cloud that hung over him there were patches of green that lit up and faded randomly. “I don’t think you understand your position. Allow me to enlighten you.” His left hand struck out first—the green light blazed with such a fury that his fingers could no longer be seen, and then an emerald beam flashed across the sky. As it flew the beam wobbled up and down as if it were unstable, but still it held its course and passed over the warring legions of Drekis and the Fallen until it reached the next barrier.
-----This shield had immediately fallen under fire from the terror beasts, and also by the deminite tankers who launched packs of plasma from the cannons in their backs. However, the power of a Dollarcorp shield was not be trifled with, and under normal circumstances it would take a long time for the Drekis Empire to break through it.
-----Normal was the least applicable word for any battlefield that Drekis stood upon. Where the terror beasts and deminites had taken hours to crush through the first four barriers, here Drekis’ shining energy beam continuously drained the power from the fifth. It was as if a focused ray of light were burning away at a wall of ice. Then the barrier collapsed, and the beam dissipated just in time.
-----“Two barriers left.” Drekis announced,” And then he maneuvered his right hand just as he had with the other. An identical ray was fired, and again the next barrier trembled.
-----“That’s enough!” Kaas yelled. He rushed to Drekis’ side and swung the darkness sword upwards, cutting off the hand that released the beam. But by the time Kaas had acted the beam had completed its task; the second barrier was down, and now only the first barrier, a relatively small but powerful dome around the Tower, remained.
-----“One.” Drekis laughed, but his joy was cut short by a flash of silver that ran down his entire form. Dorchadas Laan severed his head once more, but this time it continued down the entire body until Drekis was cut in two.
-----Both halves of Drekis changed form, and they were no longer a black shape but waves of water that were the color of twilight. The twin waves swirled around Kaas, becoming a whirlpool that caught the dark Avatar in its current. Then the waves grew out and swallowed Kaas up; the water became thick, dark. Slimy hands grasped every corner of his body, and even his sword arm was pinned down.
-----The water hardened into the same substance that Drekis had once been, but this time his body was long and snake-like, and it was already wrapped several times around Kaas. Drekis’ head formed up in front of Kaas’ eyes, and his long snout was like a serpents. Long rows of ivory-white teeth bore down on him.
-----“You are a formidable foe Kaas, and very powerful, I do not doubt that,” Drekis said. “But I do not fear you; nor do I fear Tanin, your wretched foe that you have failed to do away with. Darkness and order…both are a part of the order of the universe, and I reject them wholly.”
-----Then Drekis’ body became like water again, and Kaas fell onto his back while the water hurled itself away. Kaas was confused, but wasted no time in leaping to his feet and lifting Dorchadas Laan.
-----The dark liquid had gathered some distance away, and now it had risen up and become a vague shape again. Two large, muscular arms emerged alongside his serpentine head. Curved spikes grew out of his shoulders, and his lower body passed like a shadow into the ground. From out of the soil sprang multiple tentacles, and all around him there again appeared a black mist. Drekis’ eyes now stared past Kaas, and the Avatar of Darkness now felt as if his battle had come to an end, though with no real conclusion.
-----His part had unfortunately ended, for as he followed Drekis’ gaze he saw a short cliff that overlooked him, and on it stood one of the highest ranking members of the Fallen council, standing there with his arms crossed.
-----“Devyn!” Kaas said.
-----Drekis smiled eagerly. “Soyokaze.”

---3---
Burning Against the Stars

-----A trail of light cut into the left side of the Shezranade’s hull, chipping off layers of armored plates as it slid across the entire length of the ship. Clouds of fire burst out inside the ship, bulging through layer after layer of armored wall until they escaped the port side hull and were silenced; red lights flashed along the top and bottom of the ship. Within the vessel there were constant tremors; tubes and circuits snapped and crewmen rolled across the floor, struggling to grab hold of something stable. But even the walls and the bulkheads were starting to shake apart, and for the crew of the Shezranade there was little hope of anything other than being thrown out into the bitterness of outer space.
-----“Shield’s are down!” Lieutenant Strife reported. She grasped the sides of her console as the bridge was rocked by incoming blasts.
-----“As if we couldn’t tell already!” Krauser shouted. He held himself in his chair with two arms while the other two continued to manage the sensory equipment. “The whole damn ship is starting to come apart; I’ve only got half power up for the sensors.”
-----“So quick…” Commander Fandor whispered, though everyone on the bridge could hear, “Shields are down and they break through our armor just like that?”
-----“Stay alert!” Captain Nora yelled. “Our damage can’t be that bad. Mellina, make sure that we do everything we can to soften the damage and compensate for anything we’ve lost. Move all planetary assault forces to the armored hangars and tell them to stay there, we can’t afford to lose any of them!”
-----The Shezranade was the only thing between the two terror beasts and the Star of Khazan, and yet the living warships were content to hunt the GDF ship down. Captain Shire had originally determined their target to be the space station, but now it was apparent that the destruction of the Shezranade was high on their priority list.
-----Both beasts slowly advanced, and from a distance it appeared as if they were somehow slithering across space. While they advanced slowly, the terror beasts performed insane maneuvers, things that no ship with human cargo could ever perform safely; and as mindless as the creatures seemed, they constantly predicted the firing patterns of the GDF cruiser and dodged them with theatrical barrel rolls.
-----One of the terror beasts rolled to the side and came up around the Shezranade’s starboard side, and the other passed overhead, rapidly dropping energy beams. The ship sustained over a dozen hits, but the armor was strongest around the bow and the top, and over half of the energy splashed off of the ablative plating.
-----Nora’s ship returned the favor, releasing several particle beam shots from the double-barreled cannons that rose up from hidden compartments across its roof. Both vessels passed each other, exchanging blasts until they had escaped each other’s firing arcs. The GDF ship survived the exchange, but every particle beam that they offered up had been countered by a red field of static.
-----“Their shields…still no effect,” Mellina said. The tone of her voice was low and calm, but her eyes were strained and her lips were turned down.
-----“As soon as the anti-proton cannons are ready, fire on the starboard target!” Nora commanded. “Don’t let them intimidate you.”
-----The terror beast at their side closed in, almost as if to ram the Shezranade with its insect-like head, but as it came within half a kilometer it slowed down and fired several blasts. The beams flew out from unseen cannons along the shoulders and spines of the beast.
-----Lieutenant Armstrong had been watching the terror beast ever since it first rolled to the side, for he had witnessed this very same tactic being used to destroy GDF ships. By the time the terror beast had fired the Shezranade dipped down under the beams, and as it plummeted a few sparks lit up around the hull. From out of those flickering lights came a cluster of torpedoes. Twelve were launched, and they crashed into the terror beast six at a time. The first wave hit the shields, and a tremendous wave of light expanded out from the impact zone.
-----Computer screens fizzled and the main viewer was blinded. Even from a distance the ship shook from the shockwaves that its own torpedoes produced. The next wave hit, and the same radiance coiled around the warship.
-----“Maybe that was a bit excessive.” Singer said. She smiled brightly and her shoulders moved up and down, but all that came out of her was heavy breathing.
-----“Not for them,” Commander Fandor replied. “That was the bare minimum when you’re dealing with them.”
-----“But at least it got the job done.” Singer said. Brightness faded, and the view-screen returned to normal.
-----Krauser looked over his data and frowned. “Target is still active!”
-----“How…?” Singer cried out. She watched the injured terror beast as it drifted up above them. Its exterior was clearly wrecked; entire sections of its underbelly had been ripped apart, and large spines that protruded from the sides had either been severed or broken off entirely. “Those torpedoes were S-class, specially designed for anti-Drekis use…weren’t they?”
-----The warheads of an S-class torpedo had long been deemed illegal for use by the defense forces, but the War of Oblivion’s Fall had changed many of the old ways. A single torpedo was capable of vaporizing a large city, and the cluster that they had launched against their foe should have been able to crack the entire surface of a large moon. Excessive was a world that was appropriate for them, but against Drekis’ most powerful bio-ships they had proved to be the only warhead-based weapon that was capable of doing damage.
-----“We blew through its shields with that last barrage, but only barely,” Strife informed them. “Its shields are regaining strength and its wounds are already healing. One minute left until the primary guns can be fired again.” It was possible that the terror beast could have been destroyed if the shields had been down, but their shields were not created by technology; they were the devices of powerful magics, and it required constant punishment in order to break them down. Yet only advanced weapons like those possessed by the GDF could hope to puncture them, for those shields fed upon other magics, and so arcane powers often aided the shields rather than diminish them.
-----Ensign Eagleton tapped the side of his communications device and then pulled it from his ear. “Sir, engineers said that they might be able to get the shields back up, but they don’t know how much.” He turned his head to look at the captain; he was breathless, shaking. He was too young to have seen the horrors of the War of Oblivion’s Fall, and a great fear was evident in his eyes; but it was a natural fear, and it did nothing to cloud his judgment.
-----“Then do it!” Nora ordered. She turned her attention to the main view screen, which was now tinged with static lines that hovered back and forth. Discolored images of the two terror beasts greeted her, and to her dismay she could see that any damage that they had done to them had already been healed.
-----“The enemy is far stronger that we anticipated.” Mellina said. “We can not hope to win with just our ship; retreat is advisable.”
-----“But if we leave,” Fandor broke in, “They’ll attack the Star of Khazan for sure.”
-----“They may be counting on that kind of moral attitude.” Lieutenant Strife countered. “Their primary target would seem to be the Shezranade, and they probably believe that we won’t retreat because of the vulnerability of the space station.”
-----“Just the same,” Captain Shire said, “They would stand to gain some things if they destroyed the Khazanian station; so even if we did run away unexpectedly, something in my heart tells me that the station is in danger. I can’t allow those people to die, not when there’s a chance that I could prevent it.”
-----“If there’s a plan I need to hear it!” Lieutenant Armstrong said as he veered the ship to the right. “The terror beasts are starting to recognize our basic maneuvers. I won’t be able to dodge them forever.”
-----Several bright beams spewed out of the terror beasts and came down like hail upon the ship. Each ray came within inches of piercing the hull, but with careful turns and tilts the vessel made it through; only a single beam hit, and it was nothing more than a scratch that tickled the side of the ship.
-----“Main guns are ready,” Mellina announced.
-----“Charge at the one we wounded!” Captain Shire instructed. “Fire particle cannons at the other to keep it at bay!”
-----The second terror beast dived at the Shezranade from above, but the GDF starship circled around, taking only a few hits as it passed beneath the opponent. At full speed they charged the intended target, the sharp tip of the vessel heading straight for the terror beast’s head—right between the eyes.
-----The creature showed no sign of fear; instead, it increased its speed and met their challenge. As they closed in on one another, the Shezranade activated their most powerful weapons, the two heavy anti-proton beams that were positioned at the front of the ship. The two cannons were long, slender shafts that extended out from the front corners of the ship, parallel to the sharp point at the bow. They were formidable, but costly. Each shot brought with it a waiting time of five minutes before the guns could be used again, but time had been on their side, and the cannons now unleashed a torrent of red light against the enemy.
-----The shields flared up, and the terror beast shrugged off the initial attack, but the anti-proton beam fired continuous rays; slowly they burrowed and dug through the weakened shields. The torpedoes had at least done their part—the terror beast had been incapable of bringing its defenses back to full strength.
-----At last the beam broke through, and it happened at the best possible time, since a few seconds later would have spelled doom for the crew of the Shezranade. Just as the shields fell and the head of the beast collapsed, the GDF ship quickly veered to the left, seconds away from a head-on collision.
-----“Now! Anti-matter cannons!” Shire ordered.
-----The anti-proton beams had not finished burning their way through the insides of the creature, but as the two ships passed, side by side, the starboard hull of the Shezranade opened up, revealing a massive interior compartment that covered half of the ships length. Within that space was a mass of cannons, all lined up with little space between them, as if the hull was full of little dark craters. Groups of cannons began to fire, ten at a time in a consecutive fashion. Each cannon lit up and sunk back when it fired, and even in the soundless space there was sense of power behind those shots.
-----What appeared to be projectiles were actually canisters which contained unstable energy fields, and within those fields were anti-matter. The containers were hurled into the terror beast, and there they broke open, their fields collapsed and anti-matter was smashed into the monster’s flesh. Violent reactions broke out in the beast’s hide; one by one the shots broke off pieces of the creature and dissolved them.
-----It took less than three seconds for the ships to pass, but in that time the Shezranade fired each of its starboard cannons, and all that was left of the terror beast was gone, vanished in a cloud of smoke and a drifting bubble of dark liquid.
-----“Target destroyed.” Strife said.
-----“One more.” Shire whispered.
-----“Sir, shields are back up! Thirty percent, sir!” Eagleton said.
-----“Enemy is coming around, five o’ clock,” Armstrong declared.
-----“Three seconds to firing range.” Mellina chimed in.
-----“Sir, your orders!?” Armostrong continued.
-----“Bring the ship around…” Nora said.
-----“In firing range!” Mellina’s voice sounded.
-----“…Take all the energy they managed for the shields and pour it into the main cannons.”
-----“You’d leave us defenseless?” Fandor questioned. “After all the damage we’ve taken? Captain the outer regions of the port side are falling apart, and the integrity fields won’t hold forever.”
-----“That one’s shields are not damaged,” Nora uttered as the Shezranade turned around to face its last foe. “In the time it takes us to punch through we’ll have already been destroyed…thirty percent isn’t enough—we need the main guns ready as soon as possible.”
-----“The enemy is changing its maneuvers to maintain a position in front of us.” Mellina said. “It would appear that it is hesitant to face our broadside after that last display.”
-----Shire smiled. “That’s just fine. It won’t be expecting the main guns to be ready so soon. How much time did we cut off?”
-----“The energy transfer took us down to one minute time remaining.”
-----Fandor slouched down in his chair and rubbed his forehead. “A lifetime in this situation.”
-----“You’re not giving up on me now commander?” Shire said, crossing her arms as she sat up.
-----“No,” Fandor bared his fangs and grinned, “I suppose I never will.”
-----Energy beams spilled out of the beast-ship, but the armor in front of the Shezranade was still strong, and the barrage failed to knock the vessel off course. The creature began to move around to face their port side.
-----“Thirty seconds.” Mellina counted down.
-----“We don’t have any anti-matter guns functioning on that side!” Singer shouted.
-----“Keep it in front of us!” The Captain demanded.
-----The two ships continued to stare at each other, and in this way the heavy armor of the battlecruiser resisted the persistent attacks that the terror beast unleashed. Then, when all of their hope was reignited, the crew witnessed three bright orbs drop out of the creature’s underbelly. They looked and sparkled like energy, but they moved in an arc like a missile.
-----“What…?” Lieutenant Singer had just uttered the word when the three orbs suddenly rocketed to the side and circled around like starfighters with mad pilots.
-----“They’ve got some new toys.” Fandor sneered. The orbs came upon the port side of the ship, pushing their way through torn armor and melted shielding. Three large holes were forged in the side of the vessel; trails of flame filled the interior, and half of the ship was now sheathed in fire.
-----“Engines are failing!” Armstrong yelled. “I’ll try to…” a tremor overtook the bridge, and the Lieutenant flew against the back of his chair; his neck snapped back and he cried out in pain while the bridge lights flickered. His neck was not broken, for he was still alive and his moved a great deal, but he was writhing in pain and fell from his seat. Eagleton left his station and came to his aid while Singer took control of the primary helm.
-----“Two…one…ready!” Mellina said.
-----“Fire!”
-----The primary cannons released another pair of anti-proton beams; they were not quite as powerful as before, but it was enough to drain away the shields of the terror beast. A residual leakage of the beams pierced the static walls, striking the underbelly of the creature and melting away its hard skin.
-----Just as the Captain had intended—a large hole had been drilled through the body of the beast. Already it was beginning to heal.
-----“Second barrage, now!”
-----Torpedo were launched, and the S-class warheads took off in a circular formation. As they neared the circle tightened, so that by the time they reached the terror beast they became a tight ring that flew into the tunnel that the beams that carved. Deep within the terror beast they exploded; twelve torpedoes total released their simultaneous fury. A dozen flashes lit up space, and it looked like a star was forming and then quickly dying. Dimly lit darkness returned, and the terror beast was gone.
-----“Enemy eliminated.” Mellina said.
-----“How’s Armstrong?” The Captain asked.
-----Eagleton threw the injured aviator up onto his shoulder and started to carry him off the bridge. “He should be fine Captain. Nothing broken; just whiplash or something…I’ll get him to the medical center.”
-----“Alright, take care Armstrong,” Nora said as they walked through the main doors. “Singer, you’re primary aviator for the time being.”
-----“Yes sir!”
-----“You’re first duty as primary aviator,” Commander Fandor declared, “is to get us to the Star of Khazan. This ship will fall apart if we don’t receive maintenance right away.”
-----“The Shezranade is not that kind of weak vessel,” Captain Shire responded. “She’ll hold together—but as long as there’s a threat of more terror beasts coming we should make repairs at the station right away.”
-----“Do you think they made it?” Fandor asked. “The Dollarcorp fleet I mean.”
-----“No way for us to tell with the sensors the way they are.” Shire sighed. “From what Singer has told me about Dollarcorp I’d say that they might have a chance…although I feel weird rooting for those people. If they won their battle, then that’s that…”
-----“But if they lost, then an entire fleet of those bio-cruisers will come after us.” Fandor finished.
-----Shire nodded. “When we get to the station we have to contact headquarters. We’ve used up the patience of a saint waiting for a reply from our main fleet. We need reinforcements now!”
-----“Such a bother!” Fandor growled. “I hope things are going better for the ones fighting on the surface.”
-----“That’s not our battle right now. We have to secure Khazanian space. If we don’t, and Drekis gains control of the skies of Khazan…you know what that means.”
-----Fandor scratched the side of his head with a sharp fingernail. “Any surface battles could become irrelevant.”
-----“We can’t let Drekis have that kind of advantage. We can’t let him win.”

---4---
Sad Retreat

-----The middle of the day was coming to an end, and the sun was hanging high above the battleground; but no light entered the city of Arael during this battle. High above the houses and skyscrapers of the city dwelled airships that flew side by side, creating a blanket over Vincentzo’s land, and in between them flew mecha of various shapes and sizes. The mecha were arranged in groups, with each squad taking turns diving down to help the soldiers below and coming back up to guard the air.
-----From this vantage the battle below looked like a struggle between two massive walls that were pushing against one another. The Drekis legions advanced, and the Khazanian soldiers held their ground, ignoring the unfathomable numbers that their enemy possessed. Mechs landed amongst the crowd to support their troops, but even they were soon stalemated, locking horns with the devonox’s or the tankers.
-----Not a single deminite made it through the line of defense that had been scrambled together, but at the same time it was clear that one of these two walls was stronger than the other. The Drekis army pressed forward, hindered by the obstacles before them but sliding forth nonetheless. Soldiers and mecha held their line, dragging their feet through the mud as they tried to hold their opponents back. Between this contest of might there were guns firing, claws lashing, and magic of both dread and faerie flying about.
-----It was around the time that Tanin, Avatar of Light, challenged Aigonis Zekruel and his two lord minions that a new threat grew out of the east. From the horizon of the rising sun came an ominous black cloud; it swooped down from the clouds, darkening the valley and slicing over the Falcon River; and where the cloud flew the land seemed to cower; trees grew gray and flowers were bent towards the ground.
-----At the clouds neared the city their form became clear: they were thick clusters of bio-fighters, flying with all of the grace of a flock of birds. Together they flew in unison, and drew so close to one another that it was nearly impossible to tell where one shape ended and another began—and yet there was never a collision, even as the creatures, mockeries of starfighters that they were, swerved and tilted on an ever changing course. Not all of the bio-fighters flew directly for the city; some moved to the right and others to the left, all circling around until they could tighten their grasp on Arael from every angle.
-----This is what the Khazanian military had been waiting for. The bio-fighters had proven to be a deadly adversary, and in several incidents they were arguably the very reason for the success of Drekis’ armies. The airships and the mecha that escorted them had been placed above Arael for the specific task of intercepting Drekis’ aerial arsenal.
-----To this end the appearance of the bio-fighters was not a surprise, and the military was prepared to meet them in battle. But the appearance of the airborne devils from the east had crushed the hopes in the soldier’s hearts; although few could truly comprehend the implications, it was no doubt a sign that most of Cretalia had fallen, and it was from the northeast that these bio-fighters had come, fresh from a victory in the sea-side State-Kingdom. They had passed over the central valley and now they were at Arael; they were messengers of despair as well as reinforcements.
-----Down below, officer Jennifer Chase watched as the battle of the heavens began. Mecha dived into the fray like angels of war, and the bio-fighters were like black dragons that dived down to catch their prey. Gunfire lit the skies, and now there was no difference between the battles of air and ground.
-----Jennifer breathed rapidly. Her heart was heavy and her body was numb. Within Metalneck’s cockpit she felt lost and unnaturally light. She imagined herself floating there, watching the war unfold on the small screen before her eyes.
-----“Officer Chase…Jen!” a voice called out.
-----A deep breath followed, and Jennifer wiped a line of blood from her forehead. “I’m still here.”
-----Metalneck took a few steps back to avoid the claw of a devonox. As his right foot touched the ground he felt the rubble of a crushed wall crumble, and then he knew that he had reached the border.
-----“We’ve been pushed back to the city.” Metalneck said. “And now those bio-fighters have arrived. Things don’t look good I’m sad to say.”
-----“What are you saying?” Officer Chase smirked. She pulled the triggers on her side control panel and Metalneck’s shock cannon fired. At one hundred percent it released enough force to knock the devonox off of its feet. Metalneck drew out a heavy assault rifle and emptied five seconds worth of ammunition into the fell beast before jumping back into the city grounds.
-----“Only that we’ll have to try even harder.” Metalneck replied.
-----“Exactly. We can only do so much but…” a heap of plasma flew out of the distance and splashed against Metalneck’s left shoulder. Orange specs flickered off of the armor plating as they wrinkled, and the mech himself was forcibly turned and fell onto one knee. “…we’ll do what we can…you okay? Damn it.” Red lights beamed inside the cockpit; Chase tapped a few buttons and a jet of steam screamed out of Metalneck’s back.
-----“I’m fine.” The MARS 550 reported.
-----“The soldiers are beginning to fall back.” Chase stated. She couldn’t blame barricade from falling apart. In the beginning they had held the Drekis minions at bay without giving much thought to the casualties that their efforts were yielding, but now they were painstakingly aware of every mutilated corpse that was added to the pile.
-----“We can’t stop the advance.” Metalneck’s voice was low and full of static as he rose. “Our stand will have to be made in the city streets, but I fear that there will be a lot of collateral damage.”
-----“Worse than that,” Jennifer said, directing Metalneck to fire a spread of gunfire through the Drekis legions. “We can’t compete with their numbers. These guys…it’s like they don’t know the meaning of attrition. Every time they enter a battle they act like they’ve never lost a single life in the previous one.”
-----“There isn’t much we can do on the ground. Perhaps we should aid the aerial forces.”
-----Jennifer quickly scanned some readings on the panels along the right side of the pilot seat. “I know I can count on you in these kinds of situations, but with three jets broken—I don’t want to take the chance of you taking more damage. Those bio-fighters are demons you know, and it always seems like the wind is at their beck and call.”
-----Hundreds of soldiers rushed past Metalneck, moving around and under the mech’s legs as they looked for cover. They knew that it was pointless to hold the perimeter, but they had not given up just yet. Although no one wanted to risk having Arael’s young beauty ruined, the various structures did provide useful cover for the soldiers, and with the enemy’s number advantage it appeared that the only available path to victory lied in guerilla warfare.
-----Even Chase was forced to roll Metalneck behind an empty house as a flock of fireballs fell around them. Deminites were eagerly leaping into the city; they hunted the soldiers down, and some of them even managed to jump into the air and land upon their prey before they could find cover.
-----Metalneck pressed his KOM-ium back against the house and peered over the roof. There were thousands of deminites and reptillons in the city already; not only were the lesser minions crawling and creeping across the ground, but they were scaling the buildings and parading across rooftops as well.
-----Among these familiar creatures Chase caught sight of strange phantoms, and at closer inspection she realized that she was staring at humanoids that were expertly cloaked, barely visible even in the fiery chaos that had decorated the outskirts of the city. These assassins moved in on covered soldiers unseen, and when they had targets in their sights they quickly de-cloaked, fired, and then became ghosts again.
-----Chase could not follow their movements, but she did see them de-cloak, and she saw the heavy weapons that they carried—armaments of technology, not unlike those carried by the Khazan elite infantry and perhaps even stronger.
-----“Lock onto those cloaked ones as best as you can,” Chase whispered. “I’ll let you handle the rifle from here on out.”
-----“Right. And you?”
-----“I’ll take control of the missile attachment.”
-----Metalneck nodded and held his rifle close to his shoulder. When the tide of deminites and reptillons came close to his position he spun around the wall took aim. His first shot rang over the heads of the deminites and cut through a hunter-killer that had just de-cloaked. The bullet itself was larger than the minion, so the hit blew it apart, leaving only severed ankles on the ground.
-----From target to target, Metalneck swerved his torso towards them, aimed the rifle, and fired before his enemies even knew that he had caught them in his crosshairs. He maintained focus on the hunter-killers while Chase pressed a button on the roof of the cockpit, causing a small visor to sink down. The binocular device was lowered through a metal bar, stopping just in front of Chase’s eyes. Through it she saw the targeting crosshairs of the attachment weapon that was on Metalneck’s soldiers.
-----One pull of the trigger was all she needed to make the attachment flicker open, and inside were two dozen launchers, all primed to release their missiles. Officer chase strafed the crosshairs through the deminite army as she pressed a second trigger and held it down.
-----High powered missiles bolted out of the attachment, and within two seconds of unleashing one missile it loaded another; the firing rate increased until the only thing that her enemies could see was a flash of white and a cloud of smoke that was rising above Metalneck.
-----Steam jetted out of Metalneck’s back and out of his shoulders; the attachment wheezed as it spat out its last explosive. The tide of enemies had receded into the distance. There was no telling how many she had killed with that barrage, but she did know that ten times that amount was about to rush into the city in minutes.
-----“It’s not like you to be so excessive.” Metalneck commented.
-----“We’re not on police duty anymore my friend.” Jennifer sighed as she sunk back into her chair and knocked the visor back up to its normal position. “We’re at war, and as long as we have the extra fire power we might as well use it.”
-----“Very well…take that last comment as a joke,” Metalneck replied. “Still, maybe you should have left at least a few missiles?”
-----“You really think we could have made better use of them?” Jennifer asked. “There are thousands of them—more than we could ever hope to have enough ammunition to take care of.”
-----“Half of my energy weapons still function. Two hundred and twenty eight rounds left in the rifle.” Metalneck chimed. “We can still fight.”
-----The house that Metalneck had hid behind collapsed, and from out of the dust cloud stumbled a tanker, a humongous creature that crawled across the ground on its thick arachnid legs, its head held low to the ground.
-----Metalneck stepped back, and as he moved he fired his assault rifle, chipping away at the vaguely skeletal, crocodilian head that shook furiously in response. A roar shook the cockpit as the long jaw split open, and from out of a glowing maw blue flames burst out. The breath was like a flame thrower, and the azure downpour surrounded Metalneck, scorching his exterior.
-----The cockpit immediately sweltered. “Get us out of her Metalneck…” Chase’s voice faded into a sodden gag.
-----“Jen…no…” Metalneck turned on his jets and strafed to the side, carrying his feet mere inches above the ground so that he could slide out of the way. The tanker followed his motions, and so the fire followed him as well, but for a split second Metalneck was freed from the consuming embers. In that moment, Metalneck thrust out his left arm and with a clang the forearm sprang open on all sides. Left, right, up, and down—all four corners of the arm revealed a hidden cannon. Two of these weapons fired, sending a pair of plasma grenades into the monster’s mouth. No human being without the aid of a targeting system like the one included in Metalneck could have navigated those plasma grenades in between the spouts of fire that were spewing from that throat.
-----Metalneck landed on his feet; the jets died down, and then the tanker’s head was split in half by the explosion. Its legs collapsed and its corpse crushed the remains of the house beneath it.
-----“Jen…”
-----“I’m alright,” Chase said. She flipped a switch and several vents opened up along the side of the cockpit. The cool air was welcome, but with it came a foul stench. She detected some kind of gunpowder in the air, and within it another stench that she could not quite identify, though it churned her stomach just to think about it. Her side-view monitor scouted the area around her, and in the distance she spotted several flashes of light. Four figures were flying around in the outskirts of the city, and where they fought there were no deminites or soldiers to be seen. “Things are getting intense I guess.”
-----She looked back to the front, and to her dismay the streets of Arael had already filled up with more deminites. Devonox’s were among them, taking their position at the front of the army while hive guards remained in the back, channeling their mystical energies into the lesser minions.
-----“We need to get you out of here.” Chase said.
-----“I still have sixty percent weapons output.” Metalneck replied.
-----“Just look at your chest! The armor’s scorched. All the new plating we got for you…ruined!” Her fist slammed a large green button, and with that a large number of hidden compartments on Metalneck’s body were revealed. His entire exterior was littered with energy blasters. “I’m pulling you to the southern border, and I don’t want anyone following us!” The energy blasters fired simultaneously, wiping out the deminites that were in front of them. The devonoxes continued to advance, but even they were cut down before they could get within arms reach, though they had to reduce them to red chunks before they would stop.
-----A voice broke through the static in her communications module: “All units, retreat! I repeat, all units retreat!”
-----“What’s that!” Metalneck shouted. “Where are we falling back to?”
-----“I don’t know,” Chase responded, “I thought we were all heading for the southern border anyways, but…”
-----“Every soldier, hero, Sentinel, vehicle, mech, airship…we need everyone to evacuate Arael immediately.” The voice continued. “Vincentzo Maiinverno has given us these orders: we are to leave Arael and head for the central valley. Don’t stop until you reach Mesterte city or Axia Prime.”
-----“What? A full retreat!” Jennifer gasped. Deep down in her heart she knew that the battle for Arael was a lost cause, but she never expected that truth to come down so hard, so fast. Everyone believed that it was at least a battle worth fighting, and Maiinverno especially had demanded that the people who love Araelis would stand and protect the city, no matter how grim the situation appeared. She had expected the full retreat, but not so soon.
-----“I never would expect Maiinverno to give that kind of order.” Metalneck said. “At least, not from what I have heard of the man. To leave now and head for Axia…that means to forsake the whole State Kingdom.”
-----“It’s probably killing the poor guy inside.”
-----Metalneck began to turn, but just as they started their retreat a pair of bio-fighters descended from the shadowed sky. They changed in mid-fall, becoming mockeries of humanoid mecha just in time to land on their feet.
-----“Those things!” was all that Officer Chase could say. She motioned Metalneck to turn and meet their adversaries, but when the assault rifle was raised the bio-mechs extended their palms towards them and a pair of beams shot out.
-----Chase’s main viewer went blank. Even though she could see nothing of the outside world she could feel Metalneck fall. The MARS 550 had taken control now, and she could feel him spring to his feet and run. His few remaining jets were flaring now, and he was using all of his power to attain speed.
-----When the viewer fizzled back on she could see that the assault rifle was gone. Her breathes fell short as her eyes caught sight of the damage. Not only was the gun destroyed, but Metalneck’s left hand was gone, replaced with a swollen, melted lump of smoldering metal.
-----“Your arm!”
-----“It’s nothing! I’ll be fine. The important thing is that we get out of here.”
-----“Like hell! Look at what they’ve done to you!” Suddenly she was torn between a desire for swift vengeance and the need to follow the evacuation order. She looked for her enemies, but when she found them there were five more of the bio-mechs standing there. A dozen more came down from the sky, and then two dozen after that.
-----Then Officer Chase understood the flaw in Arael’s tactic, although it was due to something that was largely out of their control. The number advantage that the Drekis legions controlled was even greater than they had surmised.
-----It was likely due to the conquest of New Xaelis that had allowed the armies of chaos to grow at such a rapid pace; now there were not only countless deminites on the ground, but an endless swarm of bio-fighters that polluted the skies. There were more than enough of the bio-mechs to stalemate the airships and mecha, which gave any of their excess numbers an opportunity to come down and fight on land.
-----Then Chase knew why the evacuation order had been given, and she realized that the battle was truly lost, for even glory was no longer attainable. This was slowly becoming less a battle and more an onslaught. There was no practical reason for anyone to stay and die now.
-----“Discretion.” Chase muttered as she relaxed. She put her hands to her mouth and coughed.
-----“Is the better part of valor? Metalneck said while he ran. He looked over his shoulder and saw no minions following, although he could still hear them shouting, cheering as if victory was already belonged to them.
-----“I guess.”

---5---
Promise

-----A spear-headed airship plummeted, leaving trails of ash and cinders flailing in the air as it crashed into a building. The windows burst and flames lit the building up, floor by floor while the downed airship burrowed its way to the ground.
-----Vincentzo reached the southern border of Arael and watched the airship explode, taking out several surrounding structures. He could see walls of flame slowly moving up his royal hill, reaching for his palace. His statues were broken and laid about the perimeter of his estate.
-----Woose was by his side, and many other soldiers were evacuating the city as ordered. The wizard had stopped, turned his gaze back to the city one last time, and for a long while he was silent, not even appearing to breath.
-----“We have to get out of here.” Woose said, tugging on the tattered cloth that hung on Maiinverno’s shoulder.
-----“How did it come to this?” Vincentzo rasped, waving off Woose’s hand. From where he stood he could see a host of deminites scaling every building in the city; they were clawing their way to the top most floors, throwing fireballs through windows, lighting the skyscrapers with just enough fire to set them aflame but not bring them down. The very things that Maiinverno had worked hard to build, the very symbols of a new Arael, had become towers of fire.
-----“My city…”
-----Woose looked at the city they were about to leave behind. “You made the right decision.”
-----“They will pay for this insult. Vincentzo Maiinverno is not someone who will just back down from this kind of madness. They just caught me off guard—on a bad day—that’s all.”
-----“I know.”
-----“I could stay and fight…I could at least salvage my honor, and fight them to the last like Tanin is right now.” Vincentzo cried, then his voice softened. “But this isn’t about my honor, and I have more responsibilities than just to myself.”
-----“Yeah.”
-----“But I won’t let them do this to me Woose. I won’t let them make me run away and never return; I will not doom my State-Kingdom to the same fate as Thenesiea. I will come back—I don’t know when—but I’ll take my city back; and if they burn every house to the ground by the time I get back, then I’ll rebuild everything from scratch. I did it once, didn’t I? I’ll do it again if I have to. That’s a promise.”
-----“We’ll all fight to make good on that vow.” Woose said. “And when you come back to reclaim Arael, you won’t be alone. At the very least, I’ll be there.”
-----Vincentzo laughed as he turned around. “To think that I would feel relief from knowing that youof all people will be there. This war has turned everything upside down.” He took one last glance at the city of Arael, then turned to Woose and said, “Let’s go.”
-----Woose walked alongside him, and together they began to board a chocolate-colored transport vehicle with many wheels and a silver balcony stretched out along its roof. Both of them leapt up the side of the vehicle, making use of grooved steps built along the side of the vehicle.
-----“What about Tanin?” Woose said as they climbed onto the balcony; a lone solder sat in a mounted gun turret at the center.
-----“What about him?” The transport hummed as it began to move. Eight wheels dug up the ground and then began to soar across the land. Arael was slowly diminishing.
-----“I know you said evacuate, but…can we really just leave him out there?”
-----Vincentzo leaned against the balcony railing and stared at the ground, watching as his shadow strolled over the valley. “Tanin said he wanted to fight them until he was certain he could do no more. When he’s satisfied, he’ll come back.”
-----The vehicle picked up speed, joining with another small group of transports that began to ferry the troops away from the lost city. For them, the battle of Arael was over, and the sounds of gunfire were already fading in the background. They headed southeast with their heads held low, pressing towards the central valley.


End

Next:
Chapter 21:
Lady of Evangeles