Guardians: Downfall Chapter 28
Chapter 28
Date: December 6, 2776
Location: Weapon Battleground
Miranda deflected another barrage of plasma bolts and snarled as she raised her right paw and a fireball shot out of it, hitting the group that had shot at her and exploding, killing them immediately. To her left, was a brilliant flash and the sound of the bombers engines accelerating as they attempted to avoid incoming fire from the two other AA Batteries. The one they had hit began to have a chain reaction of explosions and it crumpled to the ground creating a massive dust cloud that enveloped the battlefield . She shielded her eyes, and pushed forward. Phaser fire could be heard and a few shots glanced off her armor as the UGSM forces behind her pushed forward, attempting to hit their targets. After several more minutes of her continuing to fight the growing defense of the Lothians, she finally made it to the front entrance. She opened the door, and her eyes widened at the skeletal figure that stood before her. The remnants of a UGSM Admiral's uniform on his body, with blood red eyes focused on Grand Master Ardyn and five Knight's Order Soldiers. Grand Master Ardyn was defending them against a barrage of black shards when he saw her.
"Grand Master!" Miranda shouted as she raised her right paw towards the skeletal figure and dark clouds formed over the skeletal figure. From the clouds multiple bolts of lightning struck against the monster and his attack stopped.
"Filth!" It shouted at her as it turned towards her and, with a sweeping motion, black clouds surrounded her and she could feel hundreds of needles starting to stab into her. She let out a cry of agony as she formed a barrier around herself to try and protect her body. After what seemed like an eternity, the attack ended and the skeletal figure stood before her, ready to attack her again.
"Chain Life!" Shouted Grand Master Ardyn and a brilliant white light shot out from him, striking the five Soldiers, Miranda, and the skeletal monster. The monster let out a roar of agony as it took severe damage, it's bones chipping from the attack, while Miranda could feel her wounds heal. "Miss Miranda, get out of here!" Grand Master Ardyn shouted to her as the light faded.
"But Grand Master...." Miranda responded, then she shook her head. "With respect sir, I will not!" And she raised her right paw up towards the monster and a fireball struck out towards the being and hit it in the face. It roared in anger as it stumbled backwards and she made her way to the side of Grand Master Ardyn. "You need help! Don't tell me you don't!" She said to him.
Grand Master Ardyn shook his head, smiling. "I hate it when my students are right!" He said he raised his right paw forming a barrier around them. Miranda raised hers and reinforced it as another attack came at them. "This is a Lich Miranda, it is Admiral Whitcomb! I don't know what Everlont has done to him to make him this powerful, but if we are to help Protector Akutenshi we need to finish him off quickly." He said to Miranda. Miranda nodded in response. The attack ended and Grand Master Ardyn closed his eyes, "It is vulnerable to holy magic! Use them my young student!"
Miranda nodded, and raised her right paw towards the thing that use to be Admiral Whitcomb and closed her eyes, feeling the energy build up, she yelled out "Chain Life!" And a burst of light shot out from her right paw and expanded out like a bubble, feeling her wounds heal even more and seeing the same effect on GrandMaster Ardyn and the other five soldiers she smiled, and Whitcomb roared in agony as he took more damage.
"Knights Order, attack! We will do the best we can!" Grand Master Ardyn said. The five Knights Order acknowledged and ran towards the monster, firing with their rifles and evading his attacks. "We need to end this quickly to assist Akutenshi!"
Miranda build the energy up once more, and said "Chain Life!" To the same affect. Whitcomb howled in pain and rage as he began to bring a barrier to block the next attack. There was a thunderous explosion outside followed by the sound of the remaining AA Batteries crumbling and exploding. The fight continued like that for several more minutes, the Knight's Order evading the attacks while GrandMaster Ardyn and Miranda used holy magic to harm Whitcomb. Miranda panted, feeling her body weakens with every use of all holy magic she was thought, and could feel her body trembling. She was reaching her limit, she knew that this fight, if it continued this way, would drain the last of her life. A Guardians magic ability relied solely on their own life force, if they casted a spell that they had not conditioned their bodies to use, it could very well spell death for them. If they were in a prolonged battle like this, they could face death because they were using their own life force to cast their spells.
"Chain Life!" She shouted, and after it was casted, she collapsed to her knees and could barely keep herself conscious. Grand Master Ardyn was now taking the brunt of the attacks and dealing damage back, but she could see that he was also weakening. She struggled to get back to her feet and raised her right paw towards the Lich, knowing that this last spell may kill her, but she needed to do it. As she began to channel what she had left to this next attack, the wall above the entrance shook violently, the ground beneath her shook and she fell back down to the ground.
"The hell?" Said one of the Knights Order, his voice rough.
Grand Master glanced towards the wall and then launched another spell at Whitcomb, cracking several of the ribs on the LIch. "Focus on the fight at hand!" He ordered to the Knight's Order Soldiers. They acknowledged. There was the sound of an explosion and the wall above the entrance doors gave way, the doors collapsing, and there stood an arrow shaped freighter, her shields taking fire from plasma rifles and flickering as they absorbed the damage, and the gun on the nose of the ship took aim towards Whitcomb, and a barrage of laser fire struck against Whitcomb sending him several feet back. The ship began to swerve to make itself a harder target as it continued to fire. The ramp on the right side of the ship lowered, and an Otter stepped out onto it, the look on her face was annoyance. Her uniform was like a standard UGSM uniform, however where the rank was was just a valkyrie symbol and it was a midnight black color compared to the dark grey, navy blue, and black combat fatigues soldiers normally wore. She raised her right paw towards Whitcomb, and muttered an incantation and a brilliantly colored green and blue ray of light shot forward and struck Whitcomb in the face sending him back several more feet. She leapt out of the ship and landed next to Miranda and looked down at her.
"Take it easy Miranda, me and the Grand Master have this one." She said to Miranda, her voice soft, yet stirn. "Old man, I know you can do better than this bullshit!" She shouted to Grand Master Ardyn.
Grand Master Ardyn looked over at her and a wide grin appeared on his face. "My old friend, it's nice you could join us." He replied to her.
She scoffed at him and smiled, "Let's kick this things ass, I have a target in here that I've been chasing for a very long time that I really want to get my paws on. Knight's Order, this is a standing order from O.W.S3, protect Miranda and stay the hell out of our way." She said.
Miranda stared up at this Otter, her grey muzzle, her lean physique, and the way she carried herself. "Who are you?" Miranda muttered.
The woman glanced at Miranda then chuckled, "Above your paygrade dear, take a breather." and she walked towards Whitcomb, both her paws outwards, "Hey, dickbiscuit, stop trying to kill these guys, and focus on me and Grand Master!" She said as a the same brilliant light moved around her body, and formed into a stream that she sent towards Whitcomb striking him in the chast. There was a loud scream of anguish from Whitcomb as it destroyed multiple ribs and disintegrated a small portion of his body.
Grand Master Ardyn raised his right paw and a spear of the same color flew out of his right paw and struck Whitcomb in the face, shattering his lower jaw and disintegrating it. The two continued firing spells with the same color towards Whitcomb, not giving him a chance to move, to retaliate. Miranda watched as the five Soldiers rushed to her side and took a defensive posture, deflecting debris and within the next minute, Whitcomb laid on the ground, his body almost completely destroyed and beginning to vanish in a black mist. The woman and Grand Master Ardyn stood by the body, Grand Master Ardyn breathing heavily, and the Woman with a smirk on her face. "Well," The Woman said, "That was a nice excercise." She turned to face Grand Master Ardyn. "Well, old man, I have someone here I want to watch die, take care of dear Miranda."
Grand Master Ardyn chuckled at the Woman and nodded, "Yes Osma, you have fun chasing whoever it is you want dead. I'll be making my way to the control room to assist young Akutenshi with Everlont." He responded.
Osman smiled and shook her head as she walked away. The ship that had dropped her off had lowered to the ground and a White furred with small black sections running up his side stepped out with a Canine, his fur a dark gold color wearing a grey BDU with body armor and holding an ARC-32 rifle walked towards Osman and the ship took off. The battle was still raging outside. "Jack, it's nice to see you were able to get Kyle and give me a ride here, but I don't think I will need you two." She said to the two.
The White furred Wolf, Jack, chuckled at that, "Oh hell no, we've been after this guy for far too long and I'm not about to allow you to have all the fun." He said, his voice raspy and low.
The Golden furred Canine smiled, Miranda guess it was Kyle, "Like Jack said Miss Osman, we've been wanting to take this bastard out for thirty-five years. We'd like a piece of him." He said, his voice deep.
Osman laughed at the two, "Gods, fine boys, let's go get Levin." She said to the two and they walked off through a door and vanished from site.
Miranda looked over at Grand Master Ardyn who had walked over to her and was now on one knee placing a paw on her shoulder. "Miss Miranda," He said. "Thank you for the assistance, rest for a while. Once you are ready, head to the top floor and help me and Young Akutenshi."
Miranda nodded to him and smiled as he turned and walked through a set of double doors.
..................
Lupin maneuvered the dropship to avoid several bolts of plasma from enemy fighters, the soldiers in the back silent as he rolled the ship to the side then performed a continuous roll and deployed counter-measures to avoid the incoming missiles. The air above the Weapon Structure had turned into hell with fighters and mech's trying to shoot each other down. The Six remaining warships that Admiral Harper had brought were now beginning their descent towards the spire at the center of the weapon. His heart was racing, almost feeling like it would burst out as adrenaline rushed throughout his entire body. His hands and legs were shaking almost uncontrollably and he knew one slip up right now would cost his and his passengers lives. He had agreed to pilot a dropship to get troops to and from the battlefield and that was his goal. He had already made several trips from Harpers ship and knew that these men and women were needed on the ground. The AA Batteries had been taken down by both the bombers and ground forces and the entire battleground down there was covered in dust making it hard for the bombers to find their targets and he knew that it would result in friendly fire. He swerved the dropship left then angled the nose straight down towards the ground and punched it. "Prepare for a Hot Drop people!" He shouted to the back and raced towards the ground. Within a matter of minutes he was within the outer dust cloud and saw the NAV marker appear where he was expected to drop the fresh troops off at. Only several more kilometers, come on old girl, he thought, you can do it. He fought to straighten out the dropship and could hear rocks hitting the bottom of the dropship and knew he was skidding on the ground now, thrusters at full.
"Everyone, hatch is opening! Prepare thruster packs to slow your descent!" He shouted to the back as he hit the hatch release and could hear the wind rushing into the dropship and could hear the troops cough as dust and smoke filled the cabin. He sealed the door leading to the cabin and prayed that they would make it as he punched the command to give them the green light. The screen to his left showed the troops unstrap from their harnesses and jump out the hatch, activating their thrusters and rolling along the ground and he closed the hatch then angled the dropship towards where the sky should be and punched it. He sunk back into his seat as he felt the G-forces increase with the acceleration. Within a matter of minutes he was above the dust cloud and looking at grey skies.
His communications crackled and Admiral Harper's voice came over them. "This is Admiral Harper to all forces, warships are in position and will fire, danger close. I repeat, danger close!" He said and the communications shut off and two wedge shaped warships and two elongated arrow shaped cruiser descended through the clouds, their weapons coming to life and firing streams of orange and red lasers, a stream of torpedoes launched from their concealed ports, and several brilliant blue white lights shot from the massive cannons in the center of the vessels all rushed towards the spire of the Gothic structure's spire and collided with it. There was a brilliant flash and Lupins dropship shook violently from the shockwaves from the ARC weapons onboard the ships. He struggled to maintain control and continued climbing to get above the warships and he saw them continue to fire on the spire. He watched as another stream of torpedoes launched forward and collided with the blinding light that was attacking the spire and then, they ceased fire. After two minutes, the light and dust vanished and the black material that covered the spire had crumbled away revealing a massive cannon that was brimming with energy. "All ships," Said Admiral Harper, "Resume fire!" And the warships began their assault again, but this time a forcefield stopped the incoming barrage and several green beams shot out towards the warships colliding with them. Electricity arked over the surface of the vessels and their lights flickered and they began to descend even lower.
"This is the Osiris, we are losing main power and can not regain control! All hands, abandon ship!" Said a female voice over the communications.
"This is the Apollo, reactor is going critical! We can-" said a male voice which was abruptly cut off as one of the two wedge shaped warships began to explode from the inside. Lupin watched as the chained explosions rippled throughout the warship. It was a horrifying moment as he watched the last wedge shaped warship plummet into the dust cloud below and saw a brilliant light as it collided with the ground and detonated from the impact. Admiral Harper's own shit had somehow regained thrusters and was slowing her descend, angling herself to skid along the ground while the other two warship's lights flickered on and their engines kicked on stopping their descend completely.
"This is Admiral Harper to all remaining warships, fall back to a safe distance and use the ARC Cannons to damage the shielding. All ground prepare to retreat!" Said Admiral Harper over the communications.
Lupin snarled, black fur starting to form over his right hand. What the hell were they going to do now?!
Location: Weapon Control Room
Akutenshi stopped at the top of the staircase and tried to catch his breath. Several flights of stairs later and he was now facing a large metal door. The walls around him had gradually gone from the black stone material of the lower floors to grey metal with conduits and red and yellow wires running along the walls. He could feel Everlont's presence within the next room, and also the two demi-gods and snarled. Soon, this would all be over, one way, or another. He walked towards the door and saw a control panel next to it and he tapped it. There was a chime as it scanned him and the door made several clicking noises and hissed open to reveal a long walkway leading to a large circular room with a massive circular part of a cannon going up towards the top of the spire. The floor on both the walkway and circular room appeared to a reinforced glass of some type with metal railings on the walkway. The walls were grey metal with conduits running towards the circular room where consoles flashed different colors. He cautiously walked down the walkway, weapon drawn, and saw several monitors stationed along the walkway showing power regulation and, if he read it correctly, mana absorption. Akutenshi could feel his heart racing, knowing full well that his father was in the circular control room, or what he figured was the control room for the weapon, and that this fight was unavoidable. It had been for so long. There was a soft whisper in his ears, the Lord of Time was once again speaking to him.
"The gears of fate, the gears of time, have been turning and turning, leading all of us to this point. You have the support of all of us young Ishimura, do what is needed." The Lord of Time whispered into Akutenshi's ears. He glanced around quickly, but didn't see the Lord of Time himself at all.
"I only hope I've made the right choices." Akutenshi said back as he entered the circular control room, there was a thumping noise as power circulated upwards to a massive square object possibly half a kilometer above him. He looked around the room cautiously, and saw nobody there. He steadied his breathing, remaining as calm as he could as he double checked the room to make sure no one else was there and sure enough, there wasn't. He let out a sigh of relief as he made his way over to an array of monitors that were stationed at the back of the room and began to put in commands with the holographic keyboard that had appeared when he walked up to it emitting a faint orange glow. Power was at ninety-five percent and climbing, mana collection was finished and was being filtered into the cannon, and it was showing that the weapon was generally almost ready to fire. Only an hour left before it did. He input commands trying to get access to the weapons main controls to try and turn it off, but was unsuccessful. The system, for the most part, had been locked down by a command code. "Damn it..." He hissed as he attempted to input several codes and was denied every time.
Then, suddenly, there was the sound of boots against metal, and he looked up from the control console, and saw Everlont's figure standing at the entrance to the weapon, a standard MK-1 Phaser pistol in his right hand, and a short sword in the other. "So, my child, you have arrived." He said, his voice hoarse and regret. "It's time to end this."