Ch 7: The Cavalry's Arrival

As the fires of battle continue to rage within the Eye of Chaos, the Audentia arrives with Angelorum Lux's reinforcements.

            Aboard the bridge of the Ultio, General Dreck stood conversing with Count Ferid, who had come aboard with Rend a short while ago. At the moment, Ferid was saying, “Don’t you think it’s a bit silly to be keeping so many of your forces tied down guarding my subordinates? We have intruders inside the Vinculus you know, not to mention an enemy craft you could be engaging instead of just sitting here like this!” More concerned by the report he’d received earlier from Zack Mourne about the exposure of the plan to betray Alastor, an irritable General Dreck simply glared at Ferid and replied, “It’s rather annoying for a traitor like yourself to come aboard and try to order me around. I’m beginning to wonder why I let you on my ship in the first place. My orders are to keep watch over Ala Morte and the Vinculus, the rest is up to Alastor and the all the other odd characters he keeps around.” Glancing at Scathe, who stood staring out the bridge windows at the Tentrion as he commanded the anomalies attacking it, Dreck hastily added, “No offense…”

            As Ferid moved over to take an available seat and started to grumble his frustrations to Rend, the door of the bridge suddenly opened and Jay walked in, making his way to General Dreck with a sour look on his face. Facing him as he approached, Dreck asked, “What’s the meaning of this? Aren’t you Jay, one of the enforcers on Alastor’s team of specialists? I don’t believe you were given permission to…” Cutting him off, Jay held up the spherical shaped holo-recorder he held in the grasp of one of his metal gauntlets and said, “Sorry to break it to you, but there’s been a slight change in plan. He says watch this, and make sure a guy called Scathe is here to hear it.” With a displeased expression, Dreck took the holo-recorder and waved Jay away as he braced himself for what sort of message Alastor had placed in it.

            Activating the holo-recorder, Dreck watched as a small three dimensional image of Alastor appeared in the air above it. Speaking clearly, Alastor’s voice said, “Greetings General Dreck, I’m sure by now you must be squirming quite nervously. As I told you before, I always see that those who betray me are punished accordingly. However, I also make it a point not to waste a valuable resource. As things stand, your little fling with Malum has not caused me any real problems, and I still have plenty of use for you and your Brotherhood. From now on, if you follow my orders unwaveringly, I’ll limit your punishment to the knowledge that it’s foolish to defy me.” Having been listening to the cold tone of Alastor’s voice with chills running through him, Dreck wiped the sweat from his brow and thought, “It’s not often I find someone who can intimidate me to such a degree. I don’t understand what exactly happened, but I’ve escaped the worst possible case only to fall into the most favorable. My role is over, and whichever one of those shrewd b******s wins now, it seems I won’t lose anything either way.”

            Leaving Dreck to count his blessings, the image of Alastor continued, “Scathe, I assume you’re there as I requested?” Briefly pulling his attention from the battle outside the windows of the bridge, Scathe listened quietly as Alastor’s image said, “I’ve politely asked Jay to destroy part of the EDE interference array that prevents us from moving about via dark vortexes, which I managed to locate with my senses during our little walk around the Vinculus. Now that he’s arrived, he should have accomplished that task. I’m sure Dr. Nova will not be in the lab when we arrive, but running with his tail between his legs. Nevertheless, I expect him to leave me with a meager distraction I’ll have to deal with, so make sure you stall him with a few anomalies. Lastly, Angelorum Lux’s reinforcements should be arriving shortly if we’re to rely on Gisette’s predictions.” Alastor flashed a faint smile as he continued, “When they do, I want you to pull back all of our anomalies attacking their vessel. We’ll let Malum’s monstrosities fight them alone, reducing their numbers and sending a clear message that I’ve already taken steps against him. After that, you can stand by for further orders. Be ready, I doubt he’ll have much confidence once he realizes he’s without the element of surprise, but it’s possible our old friends from on high will make a move as well…”

            Walking back over to Dreck as the recording ended, a sly grin on his face, Ferid said, “What was that you were saying about traitors, hmm?” Narrowing his eyes in irritation as he glared back at Ferid’s grinning face, Dreck muttered, “Don’t think for a second I’m going to apologize. I’ve heard nothing relieving me of my command over this ship, so unless you want to be thrown overboard, I suggest you keep your mouth shut.” Dreck walked off before Ferid could utter a word, and his grin replaced by a scowl, Ferid watched him head over to speak with Scathe. Crossing his arms irritably, he glanced back at Rend and said, “Such a dreadful human! No manners whatsoever!”

            Holding position within the Eye of Chaos amidst a sea of anomalies and monstrosities, the Tentrion defended itself with its mighty EDE cannons and speedy remote fighters launched from within its hangars. Fighting off any that dared set foot upon it, a platoon of Daemonholm’s finest stood vigil over the great carrier’s deck, equipped with ranged EDE weapons and bladed armaments. Overseeing the ship’s functions from within the Tentrion’s bridge with the others, a worried Rufus did his best to keep the ship intact. Staring at various damage reports that continued to come up on his screen, he called out over the intercom, “All available soldiers and remote fighters to the stern of the ship, there’s a few anomalies trying to breach the hull near sector four! Crew members in partitions E-3 through E-6 need to evacuate, we have to seal them off to maintain pressurization!” Looking at readouts of his own, Ace ran a hand through his hair and muttered, “How long do we have to keep this up? We’ve already lost half of our remote fighter squadrons! The EDE cannons alone won’t cut it!” Raising a hand up and waving a finger scoldingly at him from the other side of the holo projector between their command posts, Gibolu was as harsh on him as ever as he said, “Really now Ace, must you always be so negative? We’ll keep it up as long as we must! Gibolu’s Traveling Circus settles for nothing but success!”

            Rolling his eyes as he returned to his duties, Ace grumbled, “How exactly does this even fit into the job description?! No matter what we do, it’s circus this, circus that…” Suddenly spying something on the radar readouts, Dewie exclaimed, “Look, look, look! Radar’s showing numerous unknown objects coming into the Eye of Chaos behind us! They’re coming in fast, fast, fast!” Turning away from the bridge windows, Guru made his way down from the commander’s main control panel to stand before the holo projector as he said, “We got company eh? Bring up visuals and scanner readouts from the stern sensors!” Everyone watching the holo-projector, the image came up just in time for them to see the swirling walls of the perpetual storm part, split open by powerful wind magic to allow the Audentia to break through. Yet as welcome a sight as this was, the Audentia was not the only thing to come barging through the normally impenetrable storm. Agana, Valthrea, and Sulphir in their dragon forms along with numerous other dragons came flying into view, Ciestra and a number of her fellow Dragon Knights riding upon their backs casting the powerful spell that had let them through. His voice blaring from the Audentia’s loudspeakers, Schmitt laughed his hearty laugh triumphantly and called out, “Hang in there folks, the cavalry’s here!”

            The dragons all quickly dove into battle against the enemy forces as the Audentia added its EDE cannon fire to the fray. Flying over the Tentiron, as the main door of the Audentia opened, Fox, Richter, and Serius jumped down onto the deck of the great carrier. Addressing the Daemonholm soldiers around them, Richter said, “We’ll take it from here!” Flexing his fists, Fox grinned and said, “Hope you guys brought some popcorn, cause the real show’s about to start!” Then nudging Serius with his elbow, he added, “Whaddya say partner, we takin bets on who beats down the most of Alastor’s goons?” Glancing at him in annoyance, Serius said, “This isn’t a game you know…” Beginning to gather a mass of EDE, Fox laughed and said, “Aww, c’mon! It’s not like this is gonna be much of a challenge with my…” The mass of EDE molding around his body and taking shape, in a loud roar of flames Fox emerged with thick armor all across his arms, including a pair of large gauntlets and shoulderplates with large, twisted protrusions. All of it was made of a glossy dark red metal and had decorative lines carved through it like cracks that glowed with yellow light, heat seething from them. He also had a dark red chestplate that left his stomach exposed, black leather straps running diagonally across his upper body that were attached the the shoulderplates of his gauntlets, and gray colored lightly armored pants with red metal knee pads. Grinning confidently as he flexed one of his armored hands before him, Fox finished, “Excan Gloriae! The Blaze of Glory!”

            The Daemonholm soldiers all staring at him while whispering among themselves in awe, Richter simply looked at him with eyes narrowed, saying in an annoyed tone, “Showing off again are we?” As he saw a group of monstrosities touch down on the deck a short ways ahead, Fox rushed off to battle as he mockingly called back, “You should do the same if you don’t wanna be shown up!” Shaking his head as he watched him rush off, Richter smiled reluctantly as he muttered, “One would think experiencing death would be enough to sober him up, but he’s as drunk on life as ever. Well Serius, shall we go all out?” Forming Vox Regna, as the mass of EDE he gathered formed into his bladed sonic armor, Serius replied, “I suppose we may as well.” Gathering a mass of EDE as well, as it took shape around him Richter was obscured momentarily by a flash of prismatic light, appearing a moment later wielding a pair of blue and silver twin barreled semi-automatic pistols and clad in a blue and silver trenchcoat. His outfit was adorned with silver buttons and medals with decorative chains, including silver metal crosses affixed to the upper arms of his trenchcoat. He also wore blue and white gloves, blue and silver cowboy boots with silver spurs, and a pair of silver framed crystal glasses just like those of his Fragminis Caelum. Following after Fox with Serius in tow, Richter said, “The training we did on the way here was intended to counter Alastor and his new henchmen, but I suppose this is as good a time as any to introduce my Dextra Legis, the Right Hand of the Law!”

            Lunging at Gisette with another powerful swing of her demonic arm, Giselle struck only air as Gisette time jumped from where she had been, appearing next to Giselle and lashing out with her scythe-like arm blade. Barely managing to parry the arm blade with her sword, Giselle turned her body and brought her demonic arm down for a crushing blow, but Gisette merely time jumped away again. Pulling her demonic arm from the hole she’d made in the floor of the dungeon corridor, as Giselle saw her sister further down the corridor in front of her channeling EDE into her bladed arm, she quickly aimed the palm of her demonic arm at her and channeled as much power as she could muster into it. Sparks of red electricity crackling around her arm, Giselle unleashed a mighty beam of her demonic red lightning at Gisette, and at first it seemed to have succeeded in reaching Gisette where all her other attacks had failed, exploding in a powerful red flash and obscuring her from view. Yet as the aftermath died down, Gisette stood unharmed with a shining temporal barrier around her. A wicked grin on her face, Gisette swung her bladed arm and unleashed the EDE she’d channeled into it as a storm of temporal energy blades. Unable to deflect them all, Giselle quickly took cover in an open cell.

            Watching the blades sail by, Giselle panted in exhaustion, thinking to herself, “She no longer needs her staff or her incantations to use any of her abilities, and I have no doubt she’s been toying with me this entire time. Is this my sister’s true power as an Observer?” Hiding in an adjacent cell, having been watching the bout helplessly, Saria could see Giselle’s strength was failing her, and through the bars separating their cells she pleaded, “Stop Giselle, you’ll die!” Glancing at her with an irritable look in her eyes, Giselle replied, “Stop and do what? My sister isn’t going to let us just walk away you fool! If there was a way for either of us to escape without confronting her, you should have already left me behind to save yourself!” Suddenly coming from right next to Giselle’s ear, Gisette’s voice said, “That’s right Giselle…” Having time jumped into the cell, Gisette thrust the claws of her more human like arm into Giselle’s side, tearing into her. Staggering away, Giselle tried to turn to swing her demonic arm, but a blast of concentrated psychic power emitted from Gisette’s eyes blew her out the door of the cell and back into the corridor. Strolling slowly out of the cell towards where Giselle laid beaten and injured, Gisette readied her arm blade and said, “Neither of you are leaving. This dungeon will be your grave!”

            Raising her sword, Giselle blocked as her sister brought down her scythe-like arm blade, and she struggled against it with all her remaining strength as Gisette continued to push with her bladed appendage. Gathering EDE quickly as she continued to fend off Gisette’s blade, Giselle channeled it into her sword and cried out, “Rising Steel!” Suddenly sprouting out from nowhere, three giant sword blades burst out of the floor around Gisette and Giselle, all three stabbing into the surprised Gisette’s chest. Choking as blood ran from her mouth, Gisette went limp, hanging there impaled on the sword blades. Pulling herself out from under her, Giselle stood and let her sword evaporate, staring at her sister’s body in silent horror. Stepping out of the cell, Saria hesitantly said, “Giselle…” Not looking at her, Giselle’s voice trembled as she quietly replied, “Leave me. Find your friends and leave this place.” Unable to simply leave her be, Saria approached her slowly as she asked, “What about you?” Still staring at Gisette’s unmoving body, Giselle finally clenched her eyes shut and muttered, “Whatever happens to me is none of your concern! I wouldn’t care if I died here and now…” Suddenly Saria’s eyes went wide as Gisette’s bladed arm shot out and plunged its scythe blade deep into Giselle’s gut, having stretched like rubber across the distance, extending to an unnatural length. Standing there to the side of the blades that had impaled her, quite alive, Gisette grinned at Giselle and said, “If that’s what you wanted, all you had to do was ask!”

            The sword blades that had impaled Gisette were all aging, decaying as though they had rusted but at an extremely accelerated rate, and Gisette’s wounds were nowhere to be seen. Gagging blood, Giselle simply choked, “How…?” Pulling her bladed arm free abruptly, using a sudden jerk and the innate shape of the scythe blade to do even more damage, Gisette retracted it back to its original length and merely chuckled. Giselle dropped to her knees, unable to even stand as her sister approached to finish the job. Panicking, unsure what else she could do, Saria rushed in between them and shouted, “Stop!” Struggling to move, Giselle could barely speak as she said, “Don’t… you fool…!” Looking at Saria as she stood there with her arms held out at her sides in Giselle’s defense, Gisette laughed maniacally for a moment. Then showing a sickly sweet smile, she said, “Silly girl. What do you think you’re doing? Using your own body to protect a former enemy, it’s not only stupid but it’s quite boring since we both know how it will turn out in the end.” Trembling slightly, Saria had tears in her eyes as she exclaimed, “Why can’t you understand she’s sorry?!” Getting irritated, Gisette raised up her bladed appendage to level the tip of the scythe-like blade at Saria’s face as she replied, “Whether she’s sorry or not has no meaning to me at this point. I can no longer feel anything but anger and hate, unless you count how painful it is to live in such a twisted body! Whatever sisterly love I once had, Gisette the Observer of Time is dead! I’m Gisette the Tainted now, the Revenant of the Black Hour!”

            Flying down the corridor of the dungeon on her broom, her Elementum Orbis around her, Mythra aimed her wand and said, “Ultimate Element: Tempest Gale!” The crystals of Elementum Orbis all turning light green, as a giant light green rune circle formed in the center of the array of crystals, a powerful gale of wind emanated from it and swept through the corridor. Gisette, Saria, and Giselle all turning their attention to the wind as they heard it howling towards them, none of them had any time to react as it swept them up. Speeding after them as they all were thrown into the air, Mythra gathered her crystals at the back end of her broom, shooting forth into her own wind attack at breakneck speed as she said, “Shooting Star!” Trailing multicolored magic behind her, Mythra swooped in and grabbed Saria and Giselle out of the air, and turning about with a sudden 180 degree spin, she quickly sped towards the exit.

            Dangling from her shirt collar in Mythra’s grasp, Saria said, “Mythra! So everyone really is here?” Being dragged along by her normal arm, Giselle exclaimed, “I never asked for your help Spellweaver! Release me this instant!” Suddenly Giselle clutched her injury and started coughing blood, and glancing back at her, Mythra said, “I don’t know why Saria protected you, but shut up and stay still! I’ll heal you as soon as I have time!” Turning her attention to Saria, she added, “I didn’t like it, by Amy insisted she had a bad feeling that you needed help as soon as possible, so we split up! I have to hurry back and help her save Alexander and Grey!” Even knowing they were in trouble, a wave of relief washed over Saria as she heard these words, as it confirmed the fact that both her brother and father were at least still alive. Fighting back tears of joy, she thought to herself, “Thank goodness…” Meanwhile, crashing to the floor of the corridor as the wind finally died out, as Gisette struggled up, she prepared to time jump after them as she said, “You think you’ll just brush me off that easily?!” Yet before she could use her powers, her eyes went wide and she dropped to her knees from the shooting pain that suddenly went running through her body. Shaking uncontrollably, Giselle clutched her body and muttered, “Of all the… It seems this body is still too unstable after all. My revenge will have to wait a little longer…”

            Rushing through the halls in the direction she’d been told to go by Amy through telepathy, Patch carried Magus’ unconscious body with her as she went. Yet despite her desire to protect her, Patch knew it would be unwise to bring her much further. Just as she was wondering what exactly she should do with her former comrade though, Magus started to come around. Slowly opening her eyes a bit to find herself slung over Patch’s shoulder, Magus weakly said, “What happened to me…? Fury?” Stopping, Patch turned her head to look at her as she said, “You were shot by Ghost, and despite how much you may hate me, I would not leave you to die. Not after all we’ve been through together.” Shifting her multicolored eyes to meet Patch’s gaze, Magus said, “Why Fury…? Why did you betray us? That day when we were finally set free, we agreed to serve Master Ferid in exchange for his protection. Alone we’re nothing but soulless beings, but as Ala Morte we had a place, a purpose. You promised me you’d forget that life, that foolish dream that led us to be imprisoned in the first place.”

            Turning away from Magus, Patch quietly replied, “I tried Magus, but I could not. Something about Bella, she was like a second daughter to me. When I saw her stand behind those people, I realized that she had found a place of her own. That’s when I understood. I understood that I missed the feeling of having my own place, of being free.” Closing her eyes and heaving a sigh, Magus said, “Put me down.” Moving over to a doorway set in the side of the hallway, as Patch lowered Magus down so that she sat propped up against the closed door, she asked, “Are you going to be alright here by yourself?” Magus did not answer or look at her. Turning to go, Patch said, “I’ll leave you here then.” Before she could leave though, Magus suddenly said, “How can you still be so strong Fury? You lost everything, even Odette. She was gravely ill, but the moment the doctor examined her and found out what she was, the truth of what we all were started to be questioned. That despicable husband of yours, his position among the high elves could have saved us all, but instead he let them toss her in that prison along with us just to save his reputation. She’s dead now because of that, yet you still want to do it all again?” Standing there with her back to Magus, Patch was silent for a moment. Then as she turned to look back at Magus, Patch smiled sadly as she replied, “If we hadn’t tried, I would never have known Odette or the happiness she brought me. I don’t know what will come of trying a second time, but staying frozen in time out of fear of being betrayed won’t bring me that kind of happiness again.”

            Staring at Patch in surprise for a moment, Magus finally turned her gaze away, clenching her fists as she exclaimed, “What did you even come here for?! Just to make me doubt myself?!” Reaching into her clothes and taking out a data disk, Patch held it up and said, “I came here to learn the truth behind this Legion Project I’d heard word of. The encryption on the data was more than I could handle, so I downloaded it to have it decoded by someone else. When the ship came under attack earlier, I felt that I could faintly sense Bella and her friends, so I shut down the control systems to try and aid them. To my disdain, the manual mechanisms to open the door got jammed. I was looking for another way out of the room when you arrived.” A strange, somewhat fearful look in Magus’ eyes as she stared at the disk, she said, “The Legion Project…?” Noticing the strange way Magus looked at the disk, Patch said, “Yes, the initial project that Dr. Nova worked on with Ferid. Do you know something about it Magus?” Magus’ voice seemed strained as she replied, “Throw that disk away Fury. You don’t want to know the truth behind that endeavor.”

            Finding Magus’ behavior more and more unusual, Patch pressed for more information, asking, “What are you talking about? What stake do I hold in the truth this disk contains? Ever since I mentioned the Legion Project, it’s as though you’d seen a ghost.” Letting out a sigh, Magus reached up and removed her mask, revealing the somber expression on her painted face. Looking Patch directly in her one good eye, Magus said, “I suppose keeping silent is pointless as long as you have that disk. I don’t know much about the project either, but I know what I saw. During the start of the Legion Project, I received orders to arrange for the transport of a container out of the old cell blocks of Casa De Ala Morte. I was told it was classified materials to be used in the project, and even though I wasn’t supposed to, I took a look inside the container…” Magus stopped there, looking hesitant to continue. Patch stood there looking at her expectantly, and mustering her courage, Magus finally said, “I’m still not sure why Dr. Nova even assigned me for the task. I’ve done nothing about what I saw out of hesitation, it’s true, but… I know it was her. Even though she died during the revival process of the cryogenic stasis unit, her body was still preserved. It was Odette…”