Five minutes.
The mont those words left his mouth, Atoy Muzazi turned on his heel -- and fled, thrusters blazing from his back and propelling him down towards the city. His body was still battered, but it seed he’d managed to muster up so asure of resolve within himself. He was the kind of man who wouldn’t give up until you killed him, then.
That was fine. reloco had no problem killing him.
Still, there were concerns. The syringe Muzazi had injected him with, for one. He could feel his strength and stamina surging, but he sincerely doubted that Atoy Muzazi would have gone to such lengths to boost his opponents power. In five minutes, there would no doubt be so kind of side-effect: one that Muzazi believed would win him the fight.
In that case, it was just as Muzazi had said. reloco would have to end this before five minutes passed.
Unchained.
After using Unthroned for that brief mont, the Untoward that reloco had used on the arena had lost much of its potency. More and more of the structure crumbled out of the sky each mont, and the process of destruction was inevitable now. In that case, he’d just make use of the remains.
Unchained crushed the remnants into a more firm structure beneath reloco’s feet, around the size of a truck -- and he reached out, gripping two stray wires like the reins of a chariot. The whole construct blazed with purple Aether. Atoy Muzazi wasn’t the only one who could conquer the sky, after all.
Unchained.
Like a bullet, reloco’s steed was launched right towards the shrinking swordsman.
Two Hundred Years Ago…
Noelath was all but fallen.
reloco watched, his expression impassive, as the defenses of the city collapsed beneath him. It had only been an hour since Damon had begun his assault on the capital, and in that ti they’d already reached the endga of the invasion. Pathetic.
This truly was a planet of weaklings.
A nearby tower fell, looking like the battlent of a tal castle, and reloco’s steed moved to avoid it. These creatures had long ago been crafted by the Gene Tyrants to aid in transporting their servants across the surface of Noelath, and they still did their job well. The Windwaver, with the appearance of a massive flying manta ray, rode the air currents that coursed across Noelath’s surface -- taking reloco with it.
His arms were crossed and his balance perfect as the Windwaver took up a new position. Right now, reloco’s job was simply to wait. Damon had already proceeded into the base that the leader of the remaining insurgents, a peasant woman styled the Hexpa, had been using. This would be over soon, with that woman becoming a re spray of blood on the floor. He’d be surprised if it even took ten more minutes.
So he waited, for the sight he already knew he would see. The troops below would take care of the rest.
It was nearly two hours before Damon erged from the central spire of the castle, with the Hepxa walking alongside him. reloco raised an eyebrow at the sight.
Had the planet surrendered? That was surprising. Noelath was one of the Borderworlds -- the long strip of unaligned territories between the Supremacy and the UAP. They were too proud to submit to the Supremacy, and too proud to join the UAP. reloco couldn’t imagine what Damon had done to change the Hepxa’s mind, but he knew it couldn’t have been pretty.
But…
…now that he looked, the Hexpa seed to be unhard. That in itself was bizarre. She was small and weak, thin, with pale hair and bleary red eyes. She looked like a stiff breeze would do her harm.
What was her na? Zoe? How had she co out of there without so much as a bruise? reloco furrowed his brow in confusion.
As if they’d sensed his confusion, Damon and Zoe looked up as one -- addressing the gathered warriors of the Supremacy watching from above on their Windwavers. His hand clasped with hers, Damon called out:
"The battle is over! There is to be no more bloodshed! The Hexpa and I…"
reloco narrowed his eyes as the two below glanced at each other. They exchanged a nod.
"...we are to be wed!"
Huh?
Present Day…
Four minutes.
Pinpoint applications of Unchained controlled the chariot that reloco had crafted, governing its flight through the streets of Azum-Ha. Traffic swerved to avoid him as he pursued Atoy Muzazi, more than one car scraping or slamming into a nearby building as a result. reloco paid them no mind.
Right now, the entirety of his focus was on the distant white dot that was Atoy Muzazi. He pointed a steady finger in the Full Moon’s direction.
"Unworthy."
A volley of gravity bullets surged forth -- but, the very instant reloco fired them, Muzazi began to zip and weave through the air, dodging the linear projectiles with re centiters to spare. reloco clicked his tongue. It seed Muzazi’s attention was deadlocked onto him, too.
reloco considered his situation.
What was the best move here? Right now, Muzazi was faster, but he was still battling grievous injuries. This rush of adrenaline could only do so much for him. He’d slow down. But would he slow down enough within the next four minutes? reloco couldn’t gamble on that.
Unchained.
As he split an incoming automatic truck in half, reloco weighed his options. How could he make Muzazi stop sooner? How could he make the Full Moon turn around? There had to be a way. This was a fool ruled by sentint.
Yes… sentint.
reloco put a finger to his ear.
"Woman," he said to the one on the other end. "Which hospital is Morgan Nacht staying in?"
Two Hundred Years Ago…
Usually, reloco would not have questioned Damon’s decisions. It wasn’t just that it wasn’t reloco’s place. In the past, he’d simply never wanted to question them. The notion of it never even interested him.
But this absurdity… he couldn’t just ignore it.
"Is this sothing she offered you?" reloco asked, leaning against the wall, his arms crossed. "In exchange for her life, she said she’d marry you?"
They were in Damon’s private quarters on the Amun-Ra, the Supre’s flagship. Through the windows, the surface of Noelath could be seen -- the planet that was ant to have been pulled into the Supremacy. Now, apparently, it was to remain independent.
Damon looked up at him from his throne. The trials of supremacy had visibly taken their toll over the last few months: heavy bags under his eyes and a pallor to his skin. Even his black horns seed to droop a little.
"As I said," he sighed. "I spoke to Zoe about the present situation, and we agreed it wasn’t sustainable. As partners, we can move together to a new future. A better future."
reloco nodded slowly. "So… where are we invading instead, then?"
A strange look passed over Damon’s face, and when he spoke he looked away. "re," he said slowly. "Do you ever feel like… there’s sothing wrong with this world?"
reloco frowned. "Noelath?"
"No, no," Damon shook his head. "The galaxy, the whole world… the -- the shape of it, I guess. Like there’s sothing so wrong about it, but I can’t put it into words. It’s not that the machine is broken… but the machine was wrong to begin with, right from the blueprints. Do you get what I an?"
reloco considered the question for a good long while, scratching his cheek. This conversation in itself was unusual. Damon wouldn’t normally consult reloco on decisions like this, or seek outside opinions at all. Damon was the one who made choices.
He led, and reloco followed. Life was more comfortable that way.
But… if he really needed reloco’s opinion for this…
"You want to change sothing?" reloco finally replied. He shrugged. "Then change it."
Damon nodded, almost frantically, a broad grin spreading across his face.
"You’re the Supre, after all," reloco continued. "You have that right."
The grin vanished.
Present Day…
Three minutes.
"Terknil Hospital!" reloco roared at the top of his lungs, voice bolstered by Aether. "Run if you want, Atoy Muzazi!"
They both turned at the sa ti -- reloco in the direction of the hospital, and Muzazi in the direction of reloco. The bait had worked. In an instant, Muzazi blazed his thrusters like never before, rushing towards reloco at a speed beyond his maximum. Narrowing his eyes, reloco extended a flat hand in the direction of his incoming opponent.
Sentint… every ti.
Two Hundred Years Ago…
"If we don’t do this carefully," Damon said. "It’ll an civil war, or maybe even sothing worse. There’s no telling how people will respond."
He was hunched over a holographic map of Supremacy territory, miniature planets and stars spread out before him. His face was locked in concentration, eyes flicking from one system to the next, as if so secret miracle existed there if only he could spot it. Even if that were true, he clearly wasn’t finding anything. His hands tightened on the console.
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The woman with him, the forr Hexpa of Noelath, put a gentle hand on his forearm.
"You’re respected by the warrior class," she said softly, her own red eyes looking down at the map as well. "So at least will follow you, even if they don’t agree with what you’re doing."
"But how many?" Damon sighed. "Enough to fight off the ones who don’t agree?"
The Hexpa considered her words for a mont before speaking again. "I… I don’t think there’s a perfect version of what we’re doing here. No matter what we do… it’ll be ssy. The best we can hope for is eventual peace and joy… for all mankind."
Damon took in a deep breath. "I suppose you’re right. We either do sothing, or things stay like this forever. The things I saw as a kid… they’ll just keep happening, again and again, forever. The shape of this world makes it inevitable."
"Then that shape is what we’ll break."
They’d been talking for a while now, enough for reloco to piece together exactly what they intended. His heart thumped in his chest like a dull bell.
A new edict was to be declared by the office of the Supre. It was to give each and every system within the Supremacy the right to secede and declare their independence without challenge or retribution. Even the weakest could act without fear. As if that chaos wasn’t bad enough, the Supremacy as a whole could take no action against their new neighbors for at least two-hundred years.
As he stood outside the door, eavesdropping on this absurdity, reloco glared daggers into the wall before him. This would be the end of the Supremacy, without a doubt. If this happened, the nation would crumble away into nothing -- not by being defeated by a stronger enemy, as was proper, but by their leader giving up.
reloco had never been one for the dogma of the Supremacy, but this was beyond the pale.
Sothing had to be done.
Present Day…
Two minutes.
reloco fought against an irritating fly.
Atoy Muzazi had clearly realized from their earlier bout that he couldn’t hope to withstand another one of reloco’s hits, and so he had switched tactics entirely. Rather than darting in and out for attacks as he’d done before, he was now staying just outside of reloco’s range -- far enough away that the Full Moon could dodge any attacks that were launched, but close enough that reloco couldn’t turn to head to the hospital.
It only made sense. If reloco’s assumptions were correct, Muzazi no longer needed to land any hits. In two minutes ti, whatever substance reloco had been injected with would begin to turn against him.
In short, he needed to end this fight within two minutes. Under these circumstances, there was only one way to do that. Ordinarily, reloco wouldn’t have been able to use this twice in one day… Muzazi would surely regret giving him that strength.
reloco reached out… and seized the world.
"Unthroned."
Two Hundred Years Ago…
reloco glared as the two of them marched down the aisle, hand in hand.
reloco glared as the two of them exchanged vows of white noise.
reloco glared as the two of them danced, smiled, laughed.
And reloco glared as, hours later, he silently stepped into Zoe’s quarters.
His ears twitched. Bells could still be heard in the distance. Soon enough, they would surely hold a new aning.
reloco quietly closed the door behind him.
Zoe looked up from the window. The pale woman had been staring out at the landscape of Hepal, at the pale orange fields stretching out as far as the eye could see. This was the landscape Damon had given her for this farce of a wedding. It was far better than she deserved. The parasite had eaten its fill.
"re," she said, a half-rembered grin still on her face. "What is it? Did Damon send you?"
reloco’s eyes narrowed at the nickna -- that, and his lack of response, seed to clue Zoe in. Her own eyes widened just a fraction, and she carefully clasped her hands on her lap. In the distance, bells continued to ring.
"Are you here to kill ?" she asked.
"Yes." He took a step closer.
There was little need for conversation here. He had no intention of changing his mind, and she surely understood that as well. This was not a difficult thing for him. It entailed the sa level of effort as cleaning his boots.
Still, the woman talked.
"Did the Shepherdess send you?" she asked.
reloco furrowed his brow. "Who?"
Zoe closed her eyes. "So it wasn’t Ruri, then… may I ask who did send you? The Body? The Tree?"
"Nobody sent ," reloco snapped, a sliver of irritation entering his voice for the first ti. "I’m doing this because I want to."
"So I’ve offended you sohow." Even now, her voice was soft, bordering on apologetic. That just made reloco’s blood boil more. One should not be so courteous to their murderer.
"You’re in the way," reloco growled, looming over her. "You’re causing trouble. Filling Damon’s head with stupid shit."
She smiled sadly. "You found out."
"Damon worked for years to get where he is," reloco seethed. "He’s beaten down everything in his way, and he’s been beaten down. He’s given everything to beco Supre -- and you’re gonna make him throw it all away? No. I won’t let you."
"Do you think he’s happy?"
"What?"
"Do you think Damon is happy?" Zoe repeated. "Do you think becoming Supre made him happy? Has he ever seed happy to you?"
Today.
"He doesn’t need to be happy," reloco grunted. "He’s the strongest."
Zoe spoke up with more fire than he’d expected from her. "And what is that worth? You’re the strongest -- so what?! It’s aningless. A crown you convince yourself was worth it all. You tear everything away from yourself to reach the top… and when you do, you realize not a second of it was worth anything."
reloco sneered. "Don’t try to talk your way out of this, woman."
She looked up at him -- calmly, with the eyes of soone who knew what would happen next. "You can’t understand, can you?" Her voice was full of strange sympathy.
"What?"
"You don’t get what I’m talking about. You can’t. This world… the machine’s ruined you." She smiled softly. "Damon’s told a little of your story. I get it. There’s no room inside you to think about the world, is there? It’s been starved out of you."
"Keep talking, and I will kill you."
Zoe closed her eyes. "I’ve already accepted you’ll kill ."
reloco raised an eyebrow. "You won’t try to run?"
"There’s no point," Zoe whispered. "You want to hurt , and I don’t want to hurt you. There’s only one way this ends."
reloco’s eye twitched. As if this woman could ever hurt him. As if anyone could.
As je took his final step forward, Zoe opened her eyes again, looking up at him, her red gaze resolute. "Do you really think this will make Damon happy?"
"He’ll understand."
reloco’s fist ca down.
Once, twice, three tis… each ti with the force of a sledgehamr, each ti cracking bone and sending blood spraying onto the walls. He worked fast -- the guards were already on their way. Just three hits, and the woman was already a broken ss on the ground.
A hollow rattling filled the air. If the woman wasn’t already dead, she soon would be. This was the extent of what her words had been capable of. Weak.
reloco went to turn away…
…but then, he saw it.
His eyes widened. His mouth went dry. His fists unclenched, gore spilling out.
He could see one of Zoe’s hands where she’d fallen -- and, from this angle, he could see her nails. He could see underneath her nails. He could see the sheathed claws she’d kept concealed until the very end, deadly sharp and venomous. He could see her Killing Engine.
Inimant.
reloco’s legs began to shake, and soon enough they collapsed beneath him, sending him to his knees. This woman had been an Inimant. This woman had been a killing machine. With the slightest scratch, with the barest effort, she could have ended his life.
This world was survival of the fittest. Truly, reloco cared nothing for the dogma of the Supremacy, but he had believed that, at least. And yet… here… the fittest had closed its eyes and accepted its end. Until the mont it had vanished, it had kept its claws sheathed.
It didn’t make any sense.
There was more. An Inimant was cursed with the instinct to kill, to mutilate, to slaughter… how much willpower must it have taken to go an entire lifeti without spilling blood? How much must it have taken not even to defend oneself? There was strength there. There was strength there that reloco couldn’t understand.
He realized that tears were streaming down his face. He didn’t know why.
You don’t get what I’m talking about. You can’t.
Yes… he had never cared about the dogma of the Supremacy, had he? He admitted that freely. So why was he here? Why had he done this? It wasn’t for the Supremacy or the honour of the Supre or any of that bullshit. Why had he killed this woman?
She’d been turning his friend into soone else, and his friend was the only thing he had. That was it. Jealousy.
Everything else… had been starved out of him.
By the ti the guards ca, reloco was blind to the world. His fists covered in blood, he knelt down on the carpet, allowing himself to be taken. The body of the Supre’s bride was taken away as well.
Rumour went that, while she was being treated -- fruitlessly -- the bride had reached out and taken the arm of her doctor.
Rumour went that a surge of Aether had flowed through one arm and into another, her body crumbling into dust.
Rumour went that the doctor fled the planet the sa day.
But reloco had no ti for rumours. He was confined, stewing in his own thoughts -- thoughts he did not understand. It took a long while before Damon ca to see him.
And the worst part?
Damon did understand.
"I hope you wake in a kinder world than this."
Present Day…
One minute.
reloco held the void.
There was no way that Unthroned was an actual black hole. The amount of power needed to create and control such a thing would be absurd. If reloco was capable of such a feat, he’d be on a level far beyond Supre. So it wasn’t an actual black hole.
But it certainly looked the part.
reloco’s hand was gripped like a claw towards Muzazi, flayed and bloody from the pressure -- and floating before it was an orb of absence. It devoured everything -- the automatics, the walls, the passing trucks, even light itself. Muzazi was pushing against it with all the force his thrusters could generate, but even so he was slowly… slowly… slowly being dragged in.
Thirty seconds.
But that was alright. He’d already made preparations. When he’d initially fled from reloco, he’d planted the pillars of Radiant Almighty in his path -- and when reloco had forced him to return, he’d absorbed the energy they’d generated. He had Almighty ready to go.
Fifteen seconds.
But he had to wait for his mont. He’d been timing this situation carefully in his mind. If he fired off Radiant now, he had no doubt it would be devoured by this monstrosity -- by Unthroned. He’d only get one shot at this. He had to make it count.
Seven seconds.
So… at the very mont the five minutes were up… at the very instant the agony descended… he would fire. He’d end this battle with one blow. Right as Unthroned disappeared, Muzazi would blast through the space it had occupied.
Three seconds.
But…
Two seconds.
...Atoy Muzazi…
One second.
…had not noticed.
His plan had been dood from the outset. No matter how vicious the pain inflicted by Embolden, it didn’t matter. To the man called reloco, it wouldn’t even qualify as a mosquito bite.
When his eyes had been burnt, reloco had not flinched.
When his hands had been charred, reloco had not flinched.
When his foot had been mangled, reloco had not flinched.
These were not the results of stoicism or willpower. This was sothing far more primal, far more esoteric… and far more insurmountable. This was sothing that would bring all of Atoy Muzazi’s plans to ruin.
reloco’s Aether tic was pain nullification.
Zero.
"Radiant Almighty!"
The beam of light shot forth, and was devoured by the darkness.
reloco did not flinch.
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