Forum Wars - Civil War

♥]]] [♦]]] [♣]]] [♠]]]The Order of The Hammer[[[♠] [[[♣] [[[♦] [[[♥]

Theodosia turned around to see dark hair, green-eyed boy with a leather jacket. "Commander Jayce is on ground mission helping recover one of our captured units, but I am, 'running the show', as it were." Theodosia spoke to Vincent. "What can I do for you, sir?" Theodosia asked, writing something on her clipboard.

 

"I'm looking for help repairing my spaceship," Vincent said. "I was shot down near that tower and met some people who brought me to this ship. Do you have any coolant system components? I'm willing to trade, or take on some jobs if necessary."

 

Throda Bronzebeard's PoV:

What a nap. Throda groggrily fumbled for the incessant alarm clock, the piercing noise threatening to break down the thick skull surrounding a "delicate" mind. The beeping was finally silenced, and the Hammer's were down another alarm clock. "Damn human engineering," Throda said, inspecting the shattered remains of the despicable device. A hefty groan accompanied him as he stood up and surveyed the room. Smacking his mouth, the dwarf rubbed the sleep from his eyes and exited his quarters. Throda adjusted his armour as he walked down the hall, whistling a tune. He passed a young soldier and accosted the man, "Lad, what's going on here. What 'ave I missed?" The Hammer explained the situation and continued on his way, wincing from an overzealous pat on the back.

Throda marched straight into the bridge, throwing Theodosia a quick wave. "Where's that button that lets me talk to everybody?" A startled operator pointed to a button labeled "Talk to Everyone Button". After taking a moment to admire the creativity of the title, Throda landed an armoured fist upon the button. "Alright you sons of bitches. I'm bored and there's a fight going down. If anyone else is feeling the same, meet me in the hanger. We're leaving soon. Soldiers only." Throda started towards the door but soon returned to the button, "Also I need a new alarm clock. Make it cool. Anyways, hanger." Throda flashed Theodosia a cheeky grin before exiting the bridge. A soldier offered him a high-five as he entered the hanger. Throda returned it before addressing the gathered warriors, "Alright you crazy bastards. We're headed to a warzone. Let's go." As he turned to enter the shuttle a timid voice called out: "Sir, what's the plan of attack." Throda turned to the amassed soldiers and shouted, "Plan of attack? We hit them harder than they hit us." The soldiers cheered wildly and Throda beat his breastplate.

Three shuttles full of soldiers exited the Valiant, headed towards Asleigh's advancing army. "Get me Asleigh," Throda told one of the operators flying the shuttle. With a few bee-bops Throda was patched in. "Miss Conductress. This is Throda Bronzebeard. I'm headed to your position with three shuttles of overhyped soldiers. I'm told an AA gun defends the outpost. Is there a plan for dismantling it? I really despise running."

 

Zahariel watched the shuttle approach and well the logical option was that they would try and land within the camp. There was only one place for them to land, the landing pads.... "Fitzgerald! Get a handful of engineers and clear the landing pads and prepare a warm welcome for our honoured guests in that shuttle. I am sure they will appreciate it." Zahariel said, he had a little idea that he had read about in a report buried pretty far down, but not far enough down for it to escape his notice. They would have to be careful though, seeing it could backfire on them. "Fitz, keep an eye on that crate if it doesn't make it here don't go along with the plan, however remain prepared to execute the plan, this may be a diversionary assault with the main wave distracting them and then have troops land in back." A costly strategy and a bit more up his alley but if he had the option he would still do it differently, probably a stealth team in and distract while the main force assaults in the confusion. The engineers that Fitz took wouldn't be missed too much on the front lines then again every gun counted. The rifleman acknowledged the orders and went to work clearing out the landing pads.​

 

Champain, the god of Champagne, appeared out of nowhere. He raised his hand and fired a bullet into Onamakritos' side, before disappearing in a cloud of mind-erasing smoke.​

Shnk!

Oh, that was going to leave a scar. Jayce groaned, clutching his side as one of Carissa's bolts wormed its way into his body. Immediately, he felt his already limited magic supply slip away. What kind of weapons did she have in her arsenal? He'd heard all the stories of course, listened to how Carissa had felled his sister... but he'd never been on the receiving end of her accursed weapons. Worse yet, he had a feeling her quiver contained even more surprises.

One such surprise was intercepted by Rose, who flung herself in the way of Carissa's next bolt.

"You better get the hell out of here and not let your damn pride win. No use us both being caught."

And another one down. Not that Rose had been in a real fighting state to begin with. Now he was truly on his own, facing off against Carissa and that f*cking fire mage. Speaking of the latter, he was fairly certain his injuries weren't causing him to imagine the black flames descending on them, threatening to surround both Jayce and Rose. Oh s*it. Already they were licking at his weakened form, promising to consume him if he didn't escape now.

Flinging Rose over his shoulder, he danced forward, leaping with his formidable speed and agility whilst attempting to maintain a good grip on his assassin. Even so, he wasn't quick enough to escape unscathed. The flames briefly smashed into him from both sides, and were it not for his enchanted armor he would have been consumed. Speaking of which, most of the robes on the upper-half of his body had been burned away in typical anime fashion, exposing his lean, yet somewhat muscular form.

Damn it. He was so close. A few minutes ago, he'd been tearing through the Shards left and right. Yet now he was here, his injuries burning his body and mind away. The flames behind him would give him a brief moment or protection against the fire mage, maybe enough time to find and kill Carissa.

No, remember what Rose said. Get out of here. Get to the shuttle. This was still a victory. They had Rose, the mission was a success.

...No.

This could very well be the final chance he'd have at ending his sister's assassin. All the years she'd slipped through his fingers, now she was here. Wounded and on the battlefield. He had to end it. Had to send a message to Samarost. Had to avenge his sister. Only he could. Kalak wasn't here, and the others were wounded or dying. No, he was the only one left.

He gently set Rose on the ground, cast his Arm Shield spell (the golden barrier was dimmed slightly) and began searching for Carissa among the fires and the dead.

...

At first, nothing seemed to happen. The crystal glowed for a few moments, before dying down once more. Like someone had just left the phone to ring, unwilling to answer. However, not a second later, the room was illuminated by a brilliant, blinding light and Xanatos Reaver was born again. Or at least, his hologram was.

"Oh for goodness sake," he huffed, "here I am trying to murder the Guardian of the 7th Dimension and you just decide to spam the call b- oh."

He glanced around the room, his blue eyes the only visible surface upon his face. He drank in the visages of those present: a Samarost, some scientist and...

"Oh sweet mother of Arceus no!" Xanatos fell to his knees, "I'll give you what you want! Money, power, anything! Just remove THAT from the room!"

His gloved finger was extended towards Calxiyn. ​

 

​

Ashleigh was shocked to hear a thick dwarven accent in her earpiece. She narrowed her eyes as she watched the dwarf's ships flying towards them "Good to have you with us Mister Bronzebeard, though I do wish you'd called earlier. We're sending a shuttle into the artillery piece to disable it, it has priority over the AA gun. I would therefore advise you to land as soon as possible, unless you have your own method to destroy it" she told the dwarf calmly "And please, inform me before you do anything rash. Upon my signal, we attack" she instructed as a last remark. The shuttle which contained requiem and the pilot flew calmly through the air and Ashleigh watched with anticipation.

At the last moment, as the shuttle was nearing the wall, the pilot suddenly turned it downwards to head straight towards the artillery gun, and both pilot and Requiem activated the ejector seats. They flew out of the ship and watched as it screamed down towards the gun, before activating their parachutes.

Ashleigh grinned as the plan begun, and raised her sword into the air. It was a ceremonial sword and she had no idea how to use it, but it was something to rally the troops. "Charge!" she yelled, and their line rushed forward, heading towards where there would soon be a large hole in the wall.

 

Carissa felt the explosion going off not too far from her. Someone sporting had fired a rocket at her, but it had missed. She counted herself lucky that she had kept herself low amongst the bodies of the dead. A shower of blood and bits of limbs rained down upon her, but she crawled through it all. If anything, it helped her look like some of the people here, acting as a macabre camouflage. Jayce had escaped Onamakritos' flames, who was sporting a wound in the side now, but she wasn't worried. She saw her bolt buried in him. Even if Rose had taken the paralysis bolt, Jayce's greatest advantage was gone now. He was down to her level, his magic limited and in the mortal realm, she excelled. The Huntress soon arrived at her objective. The back of the vehicle was damaged, notably the gun on the back of it was destroyed and the windscreen shattered. That was fine. She pushed the dead driver out and spotted Jayce. He wasn't hard to find. She put it back in gear and set off as quickly as she could. It was a rough ride, the vehicle's wheel having to climb over or plow through the bodies to get to him. She fired off a bolt from her crossbow at the Demi-God, and sped forth to run him down.




Corruption Rating: 45.5%

"You should have surrendered sooner. You'd have kept your dignity." Spoke the Ancient Spirit. Smoke rose off Kalak's body from the explosion. Bits of ragged flesh hung off his face, but already dark stands were beginning to weave it together. The armour had been destroyed, but the shadow simply rebuilt it. "No matter. Immortality is useful like that... We can wait as long as need be..." The Demi-God walked towards Reitan, holding Duskfall in two hands. A Black Chakram materialised near the ground and spun swiftly for Reitan's legs while a Shadow Lance sped towards his chest.
"You'll die... eventually." The tone of voice was shifting, from the calmer voice to a rougher, savage tone and back again.




The Demi Gods were legendary. Incredibly powerful beings that wer more than any mortal man could hope to be. Angrier, sadder, yet happier and calmer. They were the peak of everything humanity dreamed itself to be. Masters of the physical, the mental and the magical. They were foes worth fighting. At least, that's the story he spun. They were the villains of Aidan's glorious, oh so successful crusade that got them here in the first place.

And yet, what he was faced with was an idiot.

Jaden frowned and folded his arms, giving a disapproving glare to the antics of the legendary Xanatos Reaver. He would have said that this fool could not have been him, yet he seemed to be rather opposed to the presence of Calxiyn. Part of him was amused, but the other part was displeased. This is what Aidan couldn't kill? He could barely disguise his contempt. He had nothing to say. He just waited for how Cal reacted to this... Mess.​

 

▂▃▅▇█▓▒░۩۞۩ ۩۞۩░▒▓█▇▅▃▂Shards of Hope▂▃▅▇█▓▒░۩۞۩ ۩۞۩░▒▓█▇▅▃▂
​

Spoiler

The Remnant burst into laughter. "Xanny-Wanny it's me! Don't you recognize me? I know I was 16 when we met but I'm 21 now, maybe I look a little different but it's still me!" Calxiyn pouted. "I know it's been a few hundred years, I may have grown a bit taller." She had a huge grin on her face. "I looked everywhere for you! Now this kook is telling me you got yourself in a war! You always bit off more then you could chew. Like the time where Nightwack hit you and you lost all that blood and you were like "I'm a manly man I'm fine" but I was like "Xan you're dying" and I gave you a blood transplant with my helmet? That was hilarious but you seem fine. Why didn't you let me know you were ok? I know I was zipping across the galaxy but I didn't know you got yourself in a war! We could have fixed everything but I know how you and Aidan were, always thinking with your-" Calxiyn cut herself off, finding another train of thought.

"Oh, oh! You should have SEEN what happened after you left, I took the Mark of Mastery and became a Keyblade Master, and then I brought my old home Kingdom back to life, back on my planet, and I'm sort of a Heavenly Super person, but they say Empress. Anyway, EVERYONE has Keyblade and we're all collecting Light for power and we have a whole group of people fighting for the light now, basically an army of Keyblade Masters! Oh, and I had a daughter, Aidan's daughter, but maybe I shouldn't talk about that part..." Her voice trialed off.

"Anyway, this is sort of my daughters body with my soul and her soul in it and it's all very confusing but here I am! You must have missed us. I wonder where all the others went, I guess they couldn't have stayed alive too long huh? What ever happened with you and Sport anyway? If you have a son I mean he must be hers right? Sorry I didn't mean to bring up bad memories or anything but is it her son?" Calxiyn continued. "I can't wait to show you my Kingdom, there's a hot spring and a massage parlor and-" Calxiyn stopped before laughing hysterically. "You may also enjoy a brothel, I mean from what I heard it must be hard to have intercourse over 4 sets of corsets... It was always like that with you though, you would probably look at a group of girls and while the others guys were all like "if you can get with one of them you're loaded" and you were like "Well is it a question of IF or which one?"" Calxiyn barely took breaths in between her lines of sentences, laughing a bit as she spoke.

"Anyway I missed you so much Xan! You didn't get to be my daughter's God-father- haha, get it, God-father, because you're a Demi-God. But it's okay, you're here now, well, not HERE HERE, I think if you were they would try to kill you but murder is murder and you know, morally wrong." She glared at Jaden. "You know, Aidan would probably tell you to go **** yourself, but what if “go **** yourself” means “go jack off so you can think clearly and see why this is a bad idea”. But then again I guess a bad idea is relative and there's an exception to every rule. There’s a exception to every rule. And the exception to the rule that there’s an exception to every rule, is that there’s no exception to the rule that there’s an exception to every rule." Calxiyn paced around the room as she spoke. "You and Aidan should have just had a duel with pistols, you know, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 number 10 paces fire? Like that. That would have been so much easier. You should have gotten us to help you handle the dispute, most disputes would just die and no one would start shooting! Why did you always have to do so much on your own, you had your friends!"

"What happened anyway? And where are you anyway? Are you in the void? You've been hanging around darkness for too long. You gotta try and think positive." She stood directly in front of the screen now, looking at Xan expectantly.

 

The Andaran Prince had finished his ritual the warrior standing guard over him as he picked up his rifle again the Anti-aircraft gun had opened fire on the shuttle as soon as it was in range, it's rounds not doing much to stop the shuttle that was approaching fast. The Andaran Prince took to his scope and started looking for targets, again targetting officers, if they could break the command chain it would make it easier on them.

Zahariel watched with mild curiosity as the AA gun tried to down the shuttle and failed at that, when it took a dive he realised what it was they were gonna try, that their opponent would be so rash, well no matter as the AA-gun had failed to do it's job it fell on Bisenti to take it down. His trusted Ironwing soldier took aim with his weapon and fired, the rocket hit the shuttle and resulted in a crashlanding into the gatehouse instead of the intended artillery pieces. The Shard soldiers cheered as one as the shuttle crashed down. They lost the gate and Zahariel quickly dished out some relocation orders for the second machine gun team to set up to cover the gate, the machine gun attached to the AA gun was gonna support them. He gave the artillery units the order to keep on shelling the advancing forces as the forward observers called through the targets for the guns as their thunderous roar rolled across the lands. As soon as the charging infantry was within range the two MG's on the walls started up. Two four man fireteams started to open up on the parachuting pilot and soldier. The crash in the gatehouse however didn't leave them entirely unscathed as a few soldiers had manned it when the shuttle came down. While a breach was made in the wall at the gate, it wasn't a clean breach with wreckage of the shuttle and rubble of the gate still covering it. The AA-gun started to open up on the three other shuttles. Zahariel stood on the wall watching the approaching enemy with a smile on his face. The opening moves had been made and it paved the way for the battle itself.​

 

Throda Bronzebeard's PoV:

Throda was just finishing his breakdance routine when Ashleigh's voice came through. He made his way through the partying soldiers, receiving many pats on the back as he did so. Throda fumbled with the headset before jamming it on his head, barely making out the demi-god's words over the bass-infused rap music.
"I see. Looks like we'll be landing," Throda sent back. Throda watched as the shuttle smashed into the gate, missing the AA cannon. He grimaced, already feeling the soreness in his short legs.
"Well lads," the dwarf roared, overpowering the music, "looks like we're taking a hike." The soldiers' groans were cut short by the patter of bullets hitting the shuttle.

"Sir, we appear to be taking fire, the cannon is unable to reach us from here but if we proceed..."
"Alright, bring us down out of that gun's reach." The three shuttles did a u-turn and headed back a little ways before extending landing gear and settling on the ground.
"Alright boys! The early bird gets the most skulls cleaved in!" The soldiers roared in confused agreement.
Throda raised his weapon into the air, "HAMMERS!" A resounding cry of "Hammers" was returned. Busting out from the shuttle's door, with a roar of his own, Throda led the men into the fray.​

 

ERROR!

XANATOS.EXE HAS STOPPED WORKING AND WILL NOW CLOSE.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEND AN ERROR REP-

"NO, DON'T SEND IT! REBOOT!"

From behind his computer screen, The Creator was furious. Just one post from The Remnant had resulted in a total character crash. How one could withstand such an onslaught of meaningless b*llshit was beyond him. Even he couldn't program the characters to survive such an attack. Swearing under his breath as the error report did send itself, The Creator brought up a programming screen and tapped in a few commands, which quickly resulted in Xanatos restarting once more. He made sure to add a filter, so the worse of Cal's drivel would be blocked out. Speaking of which...

"I should kill you right now," The Creator muttered, his finger hovering over the button to call in Champain. Something else caught his attention however. Something that would make the game MUCH more entertaining. Yes, that was it. True, he'd been hoping to bring in his little project much later in the game, but he supposed it wouldn't hurt if they made an appearance now. It'd pose quite the challenge to the participants, and with any luck, would eliminate The Remnant before she did anything else to wreck with the game. Yes, that was it!

The Creator opened up the MainAntagonist tab, and lowered the timer from 1000 to 50...

Back with Xanatos...

Ugh, my head.

What had happened? He felt as if the total amount of b*llshit in the universe had just been compressed and shoved into his head within the span of a few seconds. His vision blurred, he was able to make out Samarost, the scientist and... oh, her. She was still here. His sudden headache was starting to make sense. He thanked Arceus that his brain had been able to repel her mental onslaught, only keeping the essentials in mind.

"Good to see you too Calxiyn," Xanatos moaned, "now to answer your questions. No I don't recognize you. It's only been a hundred and fifty-ish years, don't exaggerate. I never bite off more than I can chew. That never happened, that would contradict all logical reason. I never thought with my d*ck, such a thing isn't possible. No you couldn't have fixed anything, you tend to break things."

"The frig is a Mark of Mastery? Actually, don't answer that. Becoming a Key master isn't that difficult, I'm very good at unlocking stuff. I didn't realize Disney was such a money-loving corporation to sell Keyblades. Congrats on the daughter, could have done a better job choosing the father."

"You know, saying you're inside your daughter isn't very safe for work. I didn't miss you that much, no. The others are all dead, Aidan and I saw to that..."

He paused for a minute, taking a breath and glancing off into the distance. If one had looked hard enough, a glint in his eye might have been visible.

"Sport's gone too. We had a son and a daughter, but only Jayce is left now. I believe he's currently trying to put an end to Samarost's emprie."

He glanced at Jaden, his blue eyes flashing red.

"I won't be coming to your kingdom, kinda busy in another dimension right now. Nor will I partake in its brothel. And I was hardly the type to stare at girls. I was married at a young age, foolish girl. God-father, wow, haven't heard that one before. Please don't give me a mental image of Aidan jacking off. There aren't any exceptions to rules, only people who break them. I didn't need a duel with pistols to beat Aidan, my hammer beat him just fine."

His gloved fist was clenched, and for a moment a flash of blue iron filled the screen as Xanatos smacked something down in front of him. His tone, formerly bored and mono, was tinged with anger and pain.

"My friends were there Cal. They helped me, and they died. Aidan had allies too, and they too fell. Though if memory serves, you weren't there for either us. Yet here you are now, still alive somehow. Not entirely sure how that works. Can't say I've heard of two spirits of the same family inhabiting the same body."

"As for what's happened, I don't know. I've been away from Arkan for some time now. As to where I am... that's a story for another time."

He glanced to Jaden once more, his expression now pleading.

"Perhaps you can tell me why you called, Samarost. What do you want and how did you acquire this crystal?"



Shnk!

Was this was it felt like to be mortal?

Jayce fell to one knee, an arrow protruding from his leg. To his right, the roar of engines and the squealing of tires on corpse signaled his approaching adversary. He had to hand it to Carissa, she was determined to put an end to the Order's leader. Hah. Fat chance of that. He was Jayce Reaver. Son of the invincible Xanatos Reaver and...

And...

Oh who was he kidding? He was a child playing with a toy gun, in the grand scheme of things.

Was this how his sister had felt in her final moments? Was this how each of Carrisa's victims had felt? So... so... blind? His senses felt buried under mountains of cement. His body burned with the sting of hundreds of viruses he'd never built an immunity against. His breathing was heavy and everything hurt like hell. How did one describe it? Being so open to the vast universe, only for it to be shut off to you, suddenly and without warning. Carissa had done much more than put a few holes in him. She'd stripped away what made him a Demi God. His resistances, his magic, taking away everything until little more than a shell remained.

Still, what was it they said in the old shows? If he was going down, he was taking him with her. Carissa had killed many Demi Gods, but today would mean the end of her hunt.

He raised his gun, put his magical shield forward and used the last spell in his arsenal that wasn't dependent on his energy.

"Demi God Technique - Scatter Shot!"

And the bullets flew forth from his gun, smashing into the engine, the wheels and (with any luck) Carissa herself.​

 

Rose thanked the starts that Jayce made his movements so obvious, and even did her the favour of shouting out his plan. She covered her head and threw herself on to the passenger seat as bullets riddled the vehicle. It pitched forwards disturbingly as the shots blew out the wheels and she saw the engine catch fire. Alarmed, she threw herself to the side and wrenched the door open, tumbling out and rolling away as the fire soon spread and the engine detonated. A scalding wave of heat rolled over her and she cried out, the heat blistering her skin and marring her pale face. She could only hope that Jayce suffered the same. She picked up her weapon and loaded it again, one of the few paralysis bolts she had left in hand now, her stock down to three. One of which she loaded. She looked through the glare and haze of the engine fire. She dared not get near it for fear of getting burned worse, so she walked around to the back and peered around. She turned, and checked the other side. In this manner, she lay in wait for Jayce and fired as soon as she caught sight of him.




Jaden decided to ignore most of the obscenities spouted by Calxiyn. She was most crude, and he couldn't help but understand why Aidan had abandoned her, and also wondered how they managed to put up with her for so long. If this was her real personality when she was around her friends, then he couldn't imagine anything worse than being stuck with her. She also didn't reveal anything particularly useful to him, so what she said was of ultimately little value. He couldn't help but smirk a little as the Demi-God shot her down at each and every turn. He particularly enjoyed the mockery of her vaunted keyblade.
"Did it? I hear it broke." Jaden raised a sceptical eyebrow at the comment about the Hammer. As far as he was aware, it was broken before that time. Unless he had reforged it of course. "Strange isn't it? How we all have our friends, and they die for our wars." The look that he gave the Demi-God was best described as accusatory, as if to remind him that this was his fault.
"You'll be pleased to hear that Jayce Reaver still lives. For now. As for the crystal, we 'requisitioned' it." He considered the answer to the final question. "I want to talk. I want to understand you, and why you felt it necessary to continue that feud. I want to understand why you fled. I want the chance to see history for myself. To see it through your eyes." And for this war to end, with me as the undisputed victor.​

 

​

Ana leaned her head against the wall, her eyes welcoming the blessed relief of the darkness as her lids shut over them. "Well this was fun and all, but I want to go home now." She murmured, her breathing ragged. Every second of life cost her in pain, and she was getting low on revenue. She hadn't even looked to see if her rocket had helped, because she knew it hadn't. If it had been worth the effort and the strength, then they would be flying away right now, all of them. And they weren't.

Goddammit. Opening her eyes, she stared at the ceiling. What am I doing here? Risking her life for a team that didn't care if she lived or died, giving her blood quite literally to try to keep them from death when they rushed into it with open arms...what was the point? Jayce only saw her as a piece of meat, a body to fill a slot on the battlefield. Kalak was no better. Ashleigh...she didn't even know what Ashleigh thought of her, and Veera gave everyone the same cold and blank stare. She didn't know anyone else at all other then by face, and even that was sketchy now. Rose....well Rose was the closest thing she had to someone actually giving a shit about her personal safety, and the assassin either refused or was unable to be an actual friend.

Why am I doing this? Until now, it had been something to fill her time. But as her life flashed before her eyes, Teliana felt like she had made a horrible mistake. Next time....I take the date. Screw the mission.

​

Veera couldn't help but roll her eyes at Ashleigh's melodramatic entrance. Sure, it was inspiring. If you wanted to let the enemy know there was any army waiting, that it had all been planned....it didn't matter. Veera rushed forward, her eyes glinting in the dark as she overtook most of the soldiers, hanging back until the hole in the wall had been made. Then? Then it was time to slaughter. And she had been promised many sheep.

​

For the second time that day, Kala's gaze flickered into existence as her eyes stared at the sand. Such tiny grains....such small little lives. She pushed herself up, her body shaking with effort. What had happened? She could just barely remember...Timothy and the strange glowing man. And then she had...."Timothy!" She screamed, her voice hoarse and broken as she looked around. Please let it be a dream. Even if he never existed, please please please...But the gods were not so kind. Timothy's dormant robotic body lay on the sand, and the form of a man was hunched over it. All at once, the rage returned to Kala; though it could not restore itself to its former glory, it still gave her the strength to run across the sand, throwing her naked body on top of Aster and struggling to wrap her hands around his throat.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE! HAVEN'T YOU DONE ENOUGH?" She screamed in his face, her tears blurring her vision. Suddenly, everything seemed to pulse. Kala looked up, the pupils of her eyes leaking into the white. The glowing man was here. His weapon aimed at Reitan. Reitan had been kind. Aster had been kind.

Without so much as an apology, Kala used Aster as a springboard and leaped off the ground, flying towards Reitain with all the grace of a baby duck. She shoved the Lancer out of the way, a scream passing her lips as the Shadow Lance penetrated her stomach. "He's gone. It doesn't matter." She whispered, tears streaming down her face as she tugged at the thing sticking out of her, collapsing onto the sand. "My hood...my hood Timothy...." she whispered, her voice barely making any sound as the wind shivered over her bare skin, raising goosebumps. "I need my hood..." The black flickered, receding ever so slightly from her eyes as her body tried to convert the strange energy that had harmed her into its own.

 

Xanatos waved his hammer at Jaden.

"Look carefully heretic, and see that the Xanahammah is whole and powerful, as am I. The artefact you hold is from another time, broken when I was broken. It is fitting that a true Demi God wields a weapon, true and whole."

The Demi God remained strangely silent as Jaden spoke, observing the Inheritor from behind his blue veil. This was the man who opposed his heir. The leader of the Shards of Hope, the only remnants of Alpha's empire. In all fairness, they weren't exactly remnants. They were the most powerful force ever assembled to topple the Demi God's reign. Even Nighthawk hadn't come this close, and he'd been closer to a God than anything else. Since when did humanity grow so powerful?

"I want to talk. I want to understand you, and why you felt it necessary to continue that feud. I want to understand why you fled. I want the chance to see history for myself. To see it through your eyes."

Huh. He'd been expecting insults. Bold claims and bragging rights. They were winning this war, on the cusp of destroying his race forever. Yet there was none of that. Did Jaden truly wish to speak with him? He searched his eyes for hints of gloating, and perhaps the laggy connection hid it, but he could find nothing lurking in those orbs. Well, if it was only to talk, perhaps he could honour this ancestor of Aidan...

"I killed Alpha's wife," Xanatos began, "it was not intentional of course. You hate Demi Gods, but you know we don't go around murdering innocents. I journeyed to his fortress, after receiving word that Alpha was plotting against me. I have no idea if that was the case at the time, but I journeyed there anyway. Killed his men and broke into his sanctuary, whereupon I engaged him in a brutal battle. Before either of us could gain the upper hand however, she got in the way of one of our attacks."

I can't even remember her name.

"I left Alpha with her corpse after that, and warned him never to cross the Demi Gods again. He obviously didn't take too kindly to my words, and began a war to bring me down. I responded with my own forces of course, and we waged a war that stretched from Arkan all the way to Sarn. We both won and lost many battles, and the conflict saw a great many of our allies perish... including my wife. The war began with a kingdom prosperous and proud, but as the years went on, barely a husk remained."

"Eventually, Alpha and I met for a final battle with our armies. Both armies clashed in what is perhaps the bloodiest conflict I've ever seen. Both sides suffered greatly, but my own forces found themselves facing new technologies from the foundries of Sarn. My men took a beating, and I knew that if I didn't do something, we would lose. So I took to the front lines and found the great and might Aidan Samarost. We fought as Sarn and Arkan collapsed around us, landing many painful blows, until I finally managed to overcome him with one of my attacks..."

Xanatos paused, slowly turning his head from Jaden and gazing at something far away in that unknown world. A flicker appeared below one of his eyes, but a rush of static later wiped it away.

"Both sides retreated after that. The Sarn Insurgency had lost their leader and The Order of the Hammer had taken too many losses. We regrouped and restored a fragile peace to the world, and after that I left for... my current home. I thought I'd beaten Alpha for good, I didn't expect him to become a martyr to his followers. A very effective one at that. And now we're here. The Shards are on the cusp of destroying The Order, and I'm sure if you have it your way, Jayce will die."

"So I'll make you a deal Inheritor. You can destroy The Order and the world I worked so hard to build. Each and every one of them. All the champions Jayce has brought to his side, you can slaughter them. Just promise you'll spare my son. And in exchange..."

A grin formed on Xanatos' face.

"In exchange, I'll tell you how to save Arkan."



The flames licked his body with the same gentleness sandpaper would lick wood.

He hurt. He f*cking hurt all over. It had been bad enough with that fire god blasting him with a flamethrower. Without his magical armor, nothing had protected him against the car exploding. Horrific red blotches had splashed his form, transforming him into Frankenstein's monster's ugly twin. One that would be needing a long trip to the healer if he was going to recover. Speaking of which, he was fairly certain bones weren't suppose to poke through legs like that.

As of that moment, he was crouched behind a piece of fallen metal, the heat melting further into his skin. Even the slightest movement blasted pure hellfire through his crippled form. It was all he could do to keep his gun gripped, his tear-filled eyes scanning the environment for Carissa or anyone else who would attempt to finish him off. Once he was certain no one would disturb him for the moment, Jayce whispered a croaky, broken message into his communicator.

"Emergency... evac... my location."​

 

Bomb #1 pov:


As Ashleigh ran towards the wall something unexpected happed. Everything was in place. Boom!! A large explosion went off right by Ashleigh throwing dirt and ground into the air. Birds that were near by now flew off at the sound of the explosion.

 

​

Ashleigh cursed as the ship was thrown off course, but fortunately it landed in the gatehouse, leaving a possible entrance. Any entrance was good enough. Ashleigh placed a helmet on her head, the kind worn by her soldiers, and spoke into her headset "Veera, get into their base and try to take out their sharpshooters on the battlements. You too Requiem. Anthem, with me" she commanded as she ran along with her soldiers "Squadrons, spread out. The artillery is active. Group 1 with me, Group 2 flank the entrance by the west, Group 3 flank it by the east. Throda, do what you do best, get in there and kick some-" Ashleigh suddenly stopped mid-sentence as she heard the click and saw the metal hidden in the ground. With demigod reflexes she placed her hand on the ground. Instantly, a beat travelled from her hand as the ground between her and the bomb resonated with her music. The undulating earth hit the bomb with a boompf sound and propelled it away as the explosive reaction began to take effect. The blast was slightly mitigated but still blasted away all the nearby soldiers and Ashleigh was thrown a few feet away. With a scowl she checked her injuries, she was mostly fine, she would heal, she was a demigod after all. But a few soldiers had been killed in the blast. "And watch out for bombs"

<FORCE RESETTING>
...
<SYSTEMS OPERATIONAL>
...
Flickering light, darkness, enemies, friends. Legs operational. Arms operational. Body operational. Visual receptors operational. Timothy awoke to see Kala. With a lance embedded in her chest. She was hurt. She was HURT. Timothy suddenly got to his feet, and glared at him. The man in white. SHE WAS HURT... and this was the man who did it.
...
<OVERDRIVE ACTIVATED>
...

​

...
Unknown systems within the core of Timothy activated, and he felt an entirely new emotion. Fury. Without hesitation, Timothy sped forwards on mechanical legs suprisingly quickly for such a bulky creature, but that bulk only gave him more momentum to hit things with. As he bounded forwards he raised his fists, which were now crackling with electricity. He even seemed to be growing as the anger filled his mechanical heart, his already impressive height was increasing dramatically as panels and machinery shifted and undulated like liquid across his brass body. Timothy was driven with single-minded purpose, to obliterate that bastard who injured his mistress. As he came close to the man, he swung a fist with all the momentum of a train straight towards the demigod's face.

 

​

Teliana had managed to drag her bleeding, bullet riddled carcass to the pilot. Giving him directions, she had made him, with the power of an intense knowledge of male physiology, fly over and land to pick up Black Rose. He had briefly left the pilot's seat in order to do so, leaving her with the radio and the task of coming up of more painful ways to tell him she was going to rip his balls off if he didn't do exactly what she said. She coughed, staring idly at the crimson liquid that escaped her lips and covered the armchair of his seat.

That was probably a bad sign, on some level. But then, so were the fifteen holes in which lead still resided. The pilot was still bringing in the apparently paralyzed assassin when a call came over the radio. Teliana, she wasn't ashamed to admit, debated leaving Jayce. Letting him get a taste of what it was like to be abandoned, to be nothing. But her better nature won out. Barely hanging onto consciousness, she grabbed the pilot's fingers and bent one backwards, telling him his commander needed his service and needed it now goddammit. That might have been a little excessive, but if Teliana was going to die, she didn't want it to be in the sands of a strange desert, or on the metal floor of a transport ship. She wanted to be in a bed, staring up at a ceiling, knowing she was loved. The last one was a tall order, but she would settle for the first two. At this point, even just one would be nice.

She propped herself up against the lower part of the dashboard, watching the pilot fly, the ship's movement doing strange things to her sense of balance. As it thudded to the ground, wherever the pilot figured Jayce was, she let her hand fall to her lap, watching the blood pool underneath her with a raised eyebrow. As much as she tried, the crimson liquid wouldn't respond to her commands anymore. How disappointing. Tilting her head back, she settled for staring up at the sky through the window of the transport. A single tear slipped down her cheek as she considered how beautiful the weather conditions were. "What a lovely lovely day." She whispered as the pilot opened the door to allow Jayce onboard.

​

Veera grinned as Ashleigh gave her a command. Alpha thirsted for blood, and so did she. Her legs pounded along the ground, her feet racing faster as she darted along the battlements. Several times her feet touched down on what could have been a bomb, but then she leaped away. Most of the time it didn't explode. This gave several idiots the courage to follow her, the one time she actually did land on a mine. She didn't look back as they screamed, torn to bits by the shrapnel and gun powder. She didn't flinch as an arm landed next to her. Her eyes glowed slightly in the dim light as they focused on her single goal.

Snarling, she slipped inside the crack in the wall, immediately jumping upon a soldier. She broke his neck with her bare hands and drew her sword, running his companion through before turning to face the rest, her gaze alight with the scent of battle. But she had to listen to Ashleigh's words. Ashleigh was pack leader. Alpha grumbled, but turned her attention to a sniper who was aiming at her down his scope. Veera slipped behind a board as he shot, and then turned, kicking another man in the stomach and running her blade across his throat, the blood spattering across her armor as she started up the set of stairs he had been supposed to guard. The sharp shooter that aimed at her fired again, grazing her cheek. She paid the injury no mind as she cut down another, the madness of violence in her eyes.

​

She was someone. Who was she? No one? Perhaps. She tried to move, but her body refused to obey her. Kala. She clenched her fingers, her arm shaking with the effort as she struggled to raise her head. Miss Kala. Tears ran down her cheeks as she gave up, leaving her cheek to press against the grains of sand. The cold had long spread through her body, leaving her with little left to continue existence. Why bother? She didn't know. A girl needs a name. I don't want a name. Every girl has a name. I don't want a name. Monsters don't get names.

Monster. Demon. Life taker. She shut her eyes, but the tears didn't stop, dampening the ground beneath her. The black had faded, taking with it the strength to live, it seemed. What will I be when I cease to exist? Will I go with the other humans? Or will I fall away to a different place? Forever alone? That hurt. She had been alone for so long, wandering the deserts by herself until Timothy had come. Timothy. And they murdered him. What will happen to him? Did robots as sweet and kind as her only friend get an afterlife? They should.

Kala saw clearly, for the first time in a long time, what she was. The rest was bits and pieces, but she knew now. And she didn't care. I would rather let myself slip away then be condemned to be alone. Her hand slowly unclenched, and her head slumped, her tiny breaths stirring the sand a little less with each passing minute.

 

​

With Kalak's next attacked fired off towards him, Reitan had a come up with a plan to avoid taking any fatal damage, a plan that would likely end with him being unconscious given his current state and at that point it would be up to fate what happens to him then. As he braced himself for the shadow lance, something unexpected had happened. Kala had managed to push Reitan out of the way out the lance and take the blow for him. With how focused he was on his own fight, he'd hadn't given much thought to where Kala had gone off to and now here she was taking a hit for him.

Kala's act had left Reitan briefly stunned, much like it had the last time someone had saved him. This time however his time stunned was much shorter for out of the corner of his eye he saw Timothy. Seeing the mechanical body charge towards Kalak with such speed was unexpected, but that wasn't the biggest concern on his mind at the moment. With Timothy attacking Kalak, this would give him time to get himself and Kala away. He wouldn't be able to get far though given his condition. Using what strength that Reitan could muster, he picked Kala up and placed her onto his back. Not wasting any time he limped away as quickly as he could with his lance dragging behind.

With each step that he took he could feel his strength further leaving his body which in turn made his movement slower and sluggish. He had no idea just how face he had actually gotten before he'd reached the point where his body said no more. Without any warning the lancer was brought down to his knees and soon after onto his face with Kala rolling off his back and landing next to him. His vision soon after started to blur before gradually becoming dark. Dammit. Was the last thing he thought before falling unconscious.