I was alive. I had to stabilize myself and puked all over the mech. My breathing needed to be regulated. My body stopped shaking. I didn’t notice any of this while falling through the sky, but there I was. As I suspected, Kyra opened the hatch for me seeing what I had accomplished. The mech squirmed and whirled as I hung on top of it.

  I slid inside the mech and found the Imperator staring at me in confusion. I stepped inside the gravity well, that is used to keep the pilot steady while the mech moves around.

  “Wh-what are you doing here?” he asked. I cracked my knuckles and launched my fist straight into the jaw of the Imperator. It felt so good being able to hit that fool. When he stumbled around, the whole mech stumbled with him. I noticed the suit the Imperator was wearing.

  He had several wires protruding out his back. He was the Goliath mech. I took my cleaver blade and slashed down on the wires. Then I tore through the mainframe of the machine. The machine fell its knees. He cried out about his precious toy being destroyed.

  “If you were so concerned about your toy, you shouldn’t have brought it out to play,” I jabbed.

  The Imperator glared at me with tear-stricken eyes filled with hatred. Then he ran to a nearby compartment. Suspecting the worst, I scrambled to reach him. He pulled out a golden gun.

  I almost wanted to stop and bitch about how he really needed a gun made out of gold. I threw myself out the hatch as a bullet hit my suit. Luckily my suit could survive a few rounds. I crawled over top of the mech head and waited for my moment.

  The Imperator stuck his head out, clueless. I descended on him like a predator ambushing its prey. We tumbled off the mighty machine towards the ground. I ended up on top of him. I took off my gauntlet and deliver one solid punch to the jaw. That was all it took for the so powerful Imperator to take a nap. I was angry and full of adrenaline. I yanked him by the collar and was about to deliver another blow.

  “No!” a voice called out to me. I found Priscilla aiming a pistol at my head. I spotted my wrap around her wrist. “He must stand trial by the people for his crime. He and I,” she said. My eyes widened.

  “But you were just—”

  “Following orders?” She laughed. “You heard me out there. I was trying to marry this scum and put all my chips on him. And I lost. I deserve to pay for my crimes for allowing corruption like this to seep so deep. I don’t deserve to call myself a Battle Maiden. The least I can do is take him into custody,” she said. My eyes squinted and studied her unsteady eyes. I nodded and rose to my feet. Then in a swift movement I grabbed her pistol out her hand.

  “Sorry, Priscilla,” I said. “But you’re just trying to take him and run off. On your knees.” Her eyes widened as if I had just caught on to her plan.

  “Please, Blu,” she said, frantically. “If he goes down, so do I. My entire legion will be disgraced. Fifty thousand sisters stationed around this world who had nothing to do with my decisions will suffer. The Iron Maiden will never forgive us.”

  She must have been speaking of the leader of the Hammer of Serenity. I knew they didn’t answer to the King’s Shield so this Iron Maiden must be the top of their organization.

  “Good,” I said. “Then you can spend the rest of your life rebuilding your reputation, as you deserve. Trust me, it’s possible.” I noticed my Marines running up to me along with Blade Warriors.

  “Lock these two up and allow them to face trial for their crimes on this planet,” I said. They nodded and got them up. I had a feeling I’d be seeing Priscilla again. Battlelord Kuurus and Alicia trudged towards me.

  “Oh my God, it’s finally over,” Alicia said.

  “That was a good fight! Next time you trying to overthrow some corrupt Imperator make sure you’ll call the Blade of Fury,” Kuurus said.

  “Hey, guys, I’m happy to celebrate about this but my best friend Jerry is still fighting for his life across the city. Plus, there’s still a new alien threat coming here,” I said. Battlelord called into his mic.

  “All Blades head to the other side of city now. We got more fights that way,” Kuurus said and then he saluted and left without a word. I admired his troops’ silent faith and dedication.

  In an hour as we gathered the remaining of our forces we were preparing to move to the other end of the city. We tied up all the troopers and Hammer of Serenity sisters. That was when laughter echoed through the air. The ground shook and from the old first defensive line, a black portal opened. I’d never seen anything like it.

  It was like something from a fantasy book. More opened beside it and then finally a red-skinned humanoid giant walked through the portal. It had a horned head and sharp teeth. It had a face shape like humans with a chin, nose and two eyes. However it resembled demons of mythology. It wore black armor and stood at least forty feet tall.

  “You now stand weak and tired. I will strip you and this world for all it has. I, Belphegor, proclaim.” It was his thoughts being seared into our mind. It felt like my head was being bashed with a hammer.

  What the hell was this? Then as I thought, I remembered that one Plague Bearer minion.

  “The Dark King is coming?”

  “He’s the Dark King.”

  033

  “Dark King?” Alicia echoed me.

  “That’s what the Plague Bearer order said. Look like devils,” I told her. The Dark King was still. He was opening smaller portals and those portals were letting out small troops with red spiky demonic armor.

  I stood in place and gandered down at all the arrested soldiers below the cliff of the city. There were enough to reinforce my force twice over but I did not know if that would be enough against this new enemy. Both fighting forces were exhausted.

  This has to be what the King’s Shield sent me to investigate, I thought. Just looking at the beast gave me shivers. It’ skin was red like blood, teeth razor-sharp like daggers and eyes dark as night. It fit all the folk tales that I was wondering if I had fallen asleep and now suffering a nightmare.

  I shook my head and stared down at the soldiers. We fought each other but now we could stand together to fight this new threat. I couldn’t risk it though. I had them escorted to the outskirts away from the battlefield.

  The Dark King’s army lined up in disoriented groupings. Not just that, but now there were twelve other red giant demons like the one that called himself Belphegor, but these had wings and shorter. I had no idea the reach of their fighting potential. Seeing their endless numbers was overwhelming. I heard footsteps shuttered behind me. I rounded, my nerves rattled. It was only Alicia.

  “They never can fight fair and square, huh? Always have to outnumber us,” she said calmly.

  “Yeah. Let’s see what they can do. Load all long range guns,” I said.

  “You sure you don’t want the Blades to turn back?” Alicia asked. Having them by my side did give me a strong sense of relief but I knew Jerry needed help, I did not want him to die.

  “If it turns bad, we’ll make a slow retreat into the city and back to our stronghold. Radio the Warden to ready transport vehicles. Something off about this.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, what kind of space-faring race steps into a battlefield with no war machines?”

  “The first wave of Leones didn’t attack with a bunch of high tech weapons,” Alicia informed.

  “Yeah, but they had war machines and artillery pieces. They just didn’t have small firearms because they take bigger equals better to a stupid high level. These guys have little to nothing to lay siege to a city. Something fishy,” I said. Alicia bit the bottom of her lip.

  “You’re right,” she said. Then a soldier informed me they had the artillery were ready. I didn’t use much of it to fight my people but now I’m holding nothing back.

  “Only one way to find out. Fire all artillery!”

  Missiles, plasma, and large shells flew through the air and down on the gathered force. The Dark King laughed. His laugh echoed through my mind and reached the depth of my soul. It was deep and dark. When the firepower we launched was about to land, he simply lifted his hand. Everything we fired at him just froze in midair.

  “I see why they don’t have artillery now,” Alicia said, slowly backpedaling, as the Dark King swung his arm and sent it flying back at us. “They don’t need it!”

  “Everyone fall back!” I yelled through my intercom.

  I ran as the attack we launched at the Dark King came smashing back into our battle line. It hit buildings and most of our long range. He had perfect aim as he threw them back. Some hit buildings and forced them to collapse right on my forces. One ball of plasma came for me.

  I beat my feet across the ground as hard as I could but the explosion still knocked me all the way to the next block. Alicia as well. The smoke finally settled and I stared up. All the buildings that were behind the battle line had collapsed or were falling into others. Alicia coughed and attempted to stand but fell back down on her back. She rolled over to me.

  “How do we fight something that just can throw everything we shoot at it back at us?” Alicia said, wiping blood from her forehead. I grabbed her helmet and handed it back to her. I also wiped the blood off her forehead and face. There was a blush on her face but I didn’t have time to entertain that.

  “I don’t know,” I said, honestly. I never fought anything like this nor was this type of enemy part of my training. I could see from here the dust cloud of an army advancing. I gathered myself and pulled myself to the top of a falling building. The large army was treading along with the large-smaller devils behind them.

  The battle line was ruined, my forces scattered. Only the Hammer of Serenity and the Imperator’s army were unscathed since they were below the city edge. However, they would not be enough for that army.

  “They’re coming,” Alicia said, grabbing my hand.

  “I know.” But I must have not said it loud enough.

  “They’re coming!” Alicia said again with more fear in her voice than I ever heard before. Regardless I yelled back in annoyance.

  “I know!”

  “We can’t win. I’m all out of fight, I can’t take on such a large army. Don’t even try to motivate us to fight that endless army. There must be millions of them pouring from those portals,” she said.

  I couldn’t argue. I took one good look around the battlefield and fell into despair. So many troops were running. Only the Hammer of Serenity and some of my Marines were willing to fight, but I could see that they were going to give too.

  “I doubt they’ll accept surrender,” I said, giving up myself. As I did that a light came from the sky. It lit the first line of the charging army up in flames with a gold laser. Blinding flashes of fire were left in its wake as it cut through their line. I stared up and saw a white and gold ship of alien organs descend downward.

  “Whose ship is that?” Alicia asked.

  “I don’t know.” Then I heard the monster named Belphegor yell. He spoke in a harsh language that was not the one he spoke to us in. Winged figures began to descend down from the white and gold ship.

  “No way,” I said.

  One of the winged figures glided toward me. It was an angel! Those reports weren’t delusional. She had white large wings and gold and blue armor with a white tabard that hung over it. Her hair was cherry blossom pink and her skin fair with beautiful blue eyes. She spoke to me but I could not understand her, then she reached out her hand.

  “I think she wants you to grab it,” Alicia said.

  “How would you know that?”

  “It’s trying to make contact. They could help, I have a feeling,” Alicia said, moving closer. I stopped her.

  “No!”

  Alicia growled and ran forward to touch her hand. I tried to stop her but Alicia was too stubborn and swatted my hand away.

  When she reached out to touch the hand I made one last effort to stop her just to be grabbed by the angel. She touched us both and my mind ran away from me. For a moment I began to see a few images but they were too fast for my brain to process it and then the angel released us. Me and Alicia both pulled out our rifles and aimed it at her. Blood poured from both our noses, accompanied with a jarring headache and sudden blurred vision.

  “I told you!” I snapped, regaining myself.

  “What did you do to us?!” Alicia demanded.

  “Wow! You people have a hard time trusting.” The angel said, speaking for the first time. We both lowered our weapons.

  “How can you speak our language now?”

  “My people were blessed with the ability to absorb complex information through touch. I’ve learned your language by touching you two,” she said. The angel ascended to the air as the Belphegor roared. She whirled and then turn back around.

  “We have about ten minutes before the battle resumes, I’ll answer a few questions and then can you promise to fight beside us in this battle?” she asked.

  “That depend how you answer the questions,” I said.

  “Very well.”

  “What are you doing here, what are you?” Alicia asked swiftly.

  “That’s two, but I’ll take it as one. I am Archon of War, Azrael. My people and I are Cherubims,” Azrael said.

  “Are you an angel?” I asked. She furrowed her eyebrows.

  “Based on my understanding of your language, I’m not what you’ll consider an angel. I’m just a winged humanoid. What you consider angels are spiritual beings,” she answered. That made sense. It was actually more relieving, strangely.

  “Where did you come from?” I asked.

  “We come from our home, near the center of the galaxy. I’ve followed this Malum for decades across space, trying to kill him.”

  It was a wild tale. A lot of question ran through my mind. Where did they come from? What was their culture like? Were all them so beautiful?

  “Okay next question,” I said. “What is that thing down there?” I said, pointing to the red monster howling and swinging his weapon at the flames in front of him.

  “He and his ilk are what we call Malums. They are a vicious race that have highly evolved minds. They trap those with lesser minds into their thrall and field them in armies. Those down there in the red spiky armor were all humans enthralled to the Malum down there,” Azrael said.

  “No way,” Alicia said in disbelief.

  “If that’s true, how do we beat someone who can just use mind control?” I asked. Azrael smiled.

  “Follow me, fight by my side and you’ll have nothing to fear.” I took a deep breath.

  “Alright, alright, I’ll rally what’s left of my forces and meet you at what’s left of our frontline.”

  034

  I and Alicia gathered the remainder of our forces. Our forces still did not match the strength of the Malum army which seemed endless as they continued to pour from the portal. Azrael graciously swooped down to us, her army of Cherubims flying right next to our army. Everyone was as if in awe.

  The Cherubim hit me and my troops with a gold ray of light. I felt rejuvenated and many of my wounds closed up. The Cherubim may not have seen themselves of angels, but I’m pretty sure many here did. I rallied what was left of my forces. I even had my Marines release the Sisters and Troopers. I didn’t want to use them but what choice did I now have? I stood on top of a cliff, staring them down.

  “I know what you’re thinking… Why should you fight for me, when so many of your comrades die by my forces’ hands? Well that’s why!” I said, pointing over the flames to the devil-like creature. It stalked side to side, waiting for the flames barricading their forces to die down.

  “Will our crimes be forgiven?” a single trooper said.

  “I can’t answer that, but your deeds here will be noticed. Plus, if you don't fight, you don't have to worry about whether or not your crimes will be forgiven because you’ll be dead. That beast over there is why my legion came here. Your Imperator decided to waste our strength pitting us against one another.”

  “We can’t fight that monster,” s sister said. “Even with these angelic new allies. Look at that army, look at those enemies,” she said. I heard that Hammer of Serenity were only used to quell rebellions, maybe this was why. The Blade Warriors would jump to fight these guys, but I needed them to reinforce our forces against the feral horde pushing from the east. This was it. I needed to rally them. This was my moment. I had to step up. No more doubt. I did not feel like being proper, or acting like the heroes I saw on movies. I just spoke from my chest.

  “And? This is just another alien bastard, with his ugly ass alien army. Just another foolish alien who has the gall to challenge the human race. Sounds like Tuesday to me, am I right, Marines?”

  “Hoo-rah!” they said from behind me. Seeing my Steel Marines rally behind me invigorated the planetary forces. The Hammer of Serenity was also rallied, they won’t be outdone by lowborns.

  “These aliens are just another face to taste our boots. Get your red shirts on, warriors of the Kingdom of Men. We got new aliens to add to our kill count.” A loud cheered followed my speech and all the armies ran to gather their gear and get into position. Azrael landed beside me.

  “Quite, a speech. My troops are ready,” Azrael said.

  “Anything we should know about the enemy?” I asked.

  “Leave the supernatural enemies to us. The enemy troop are no better than feral versions of yourselves put in armor and given weapons. Keep the line tight and hold them together.”

  “Okay I know you said no more questions, but why help us?” I asked.

  She looked as if she did not want to speak for a few seconds. Time was not an ally at the moment, as for some reasons the flames separating the Malum and us were dwindling.

  “I have been hunting this devil for decades. From star system to star system. As for why it’s here, it’s running and trying rebuild.”

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27