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Chapter XVI: On Wings of Fire

"I learned then and there that I could not trust Harm Chronos. No matter how 'good' he was or what his ultimate goals were, he could not be trusted. It didn't matter if what he did was for my good, the good of Incendius or the good of all of Tower Thirteen. He could not be trusted.

"Aria was right about him. He makes you believe that the choices you make are your own but they're exactly what he wants you to do. Around him, there's no such thing as free will. Just more of his plots and strings that he eagerly pulls.

"I was so glad to have given him up to Titus that day."

Titus lay on his back, panting heavily and bleeding from various wounds. While he was regenerating, the damage to his body was far too extensive for his Time Locked state just to close every wound instantaneously. The Goatex stared up at the Wulfun Chronomancer who stood over him with a grimace. Harm Chronos had his paws folded behind his back and smiling smugly. Around them was the devastated bridge of the Final Moments. The crew lay dead or dying, caught in the one-sided battle.

Now, Titus didn't have a crew and it infuriated him that Chronos had played him so easily.

"How?" the Goatex demanded. "How did you manage to perform Time Splitting! You never learned that technique!"

Harm laughed, rolling his eyes. "Titus, I learned that long ago without help. But this is not Time Splitting."

"Then how can you be in two places at once! Time Splitting allows you to pull various copies of yourself from other timelines into this one!"

"Which is an extremely expensive process," answered the Wulfun like he was lecturing a child. "You have to do the actual copying of another instance followed by maintaining them on this timeline. Plus there's no guarantee they won't just rebel against you. Identity management is always an issue with Time Splitting."

"Then how!?"

Sighing heavily, the Wulfun knelt in front of Titus, staring down at him with the same condescending look he had borne two and a half thousand years ago when they had fought against one another and a few centuries even before that when they were in the academy together. "Many people view a person as merely a speck in the timeline. Imagine time as a river, progressing forward. The length of the river is the progression of Time. The width is its relation to space. As a speck, you can only occupy one space at a time. But what if you were to stretch yourself, stretch that speck across space while maintaining your presence in Time?"

Titus' eyes widened in horror. "You actually created a full blown replica of yourself!?"

"With the same consciousness," agreed the Wulfun, grinning broadly. "What? You think I've been idle for the past two millennia? Trust me Titus, you can't even begin to fathom the tricks I've developed during that time. I only came up with this neat trick fifty years ago. Imagine what else I came up with since we last met."

The Goatex snarled, his hands tightening into fists. "Your arrogance will be your undoing, Chronos."

"Oh I hope so!" laughed the Wulfun. Chronos reached forward and poked the Titus' forehead with a single claw. "I'm giving you a nice old 'bad guy banter' so you can somehow use my monologue that will unwittingly reveal my greatest weakness to make for a far more entertaining fight tomorrow." Chronos grinned. "Here, I'll even give you a clue."

Straightening, Chronos said, "This technique of stretching myself across space; It requires me to fragment my energy equally to each of the copies. So, in retrospect, I am weaker by a factor of the number of clones I have created."

But if he was weaker than a fully powered version... then...

Titus' eyes widened.

"Aw, I didn't just shatter your spirit, did I?" the Wulfun taunted. "I do hope you'll bring you're A-game tomorrow, Titus. After all, if you can't face a fraction of my abilities, what hope do you have of surviving your little challenge? Rest assured though, tomorrow, I'll be marched out ready to be taken by your troops."

Almost to himself, Chronos said, "I've made sure of that."

The Wulfun stood, dusting himself off mildly. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have business to attend to. Looking forward to tomorrow, Titus."

*****

Despite the devastation, Ironfrost was still a spectacular city. Dark plumes of black smoke rose from dying fires and there were bodies that littered the streets. Yet, the shattered, white bricks of the city's stones still glistened in the indigo twilight of the Sun Spire. A carpet of tiny, crystal, white shards that scattered all over the streets.

"Damnit," Hunter growled at no one in particular. "Stop being contrary to my mood, Ironfrost."

His paw was over his heart and he was panting heavily despite sitting on the parapet of the castle for well over an hour. Titus' soldiers had settled in for the night and their guard routines were slack. They were clearly cheap mercenaries. Hunter found it easy to slip past them. Part of him was tempted to slaughter them all but he decided these guys were either being coerced into working with Titus or just being paid.

It felt clichéd to find one of the highest places in Ironfrost and just look mournfully out to the distance but he didn't feel like facing Eton or Serena. Or Aria for that matter. He could just imagine the words she'd have for him. The more he thought about it, the more he realised Chronos had planned it from the beginning.

The bastard had planted the idea of unlocking Serena and Eton's memory in his mind. He was probably there when Hunter had been texting Daniel about the same topic. All those things about the Darkened and the 'great evil beyond the wall'? Most likely lies just to butter up Hunter.

And the kicker?

Chronos just did it for shits and giggles. No real purpose to it but to watch them squirm.

"Goddess I'm such an idiot!"

"Yeah, yeah you are."

When he turned, he found Tanar padding slowly up to him, propping himself up on the wall by his paws.

The Dire Wolf stared off into the distance before flicking Hunter his gaze. "Eton told us what happened. You can rest assured that Aria is giving Harm an earful."

"Not sure if that will do anything to that asshole but it makes me feel better." Hunter gave Tanar a shaky smile. "Thanks."

"It was an underhanded trick. One that served no purpose apart from to torment you." Tanar sighed heavily. "Deep down, I always believed Chronos had some decency in him. But to manipulate the hearts of others just for the sheer pleasure of it... I cannot see any way of redemption beyond that."

Hunter growled, claws raking against the white stone of the wall. "Nothing will redeem him. No god will forgive him. No one will trust him. I certainly won't."

"You'd be surprised," Tanar answered. "He still has many allies and with that Chronological Tracing or whatever he called it in his back pocket, he can turn anyone against the Church and in turn, ally himself with them. I fear... I fear... that we just gave him more power with the Redaction Spell."

You bet you did...

"How the hell did you guys even manage that?" Hunter asked. "How'd you manage to create a spell that rewrote everyone's memories down to the minute details? I mean, Eton and Serena..." He choked softly, covering his muzzle as a tear rolled down his cheek.

"It was difficult. Ultimately, we needed help from the Mother Goddess."

"She helped you?"

"In a way..." Tanar leapt onto the wall, circling three times before crouching down beside Hunter, his head resting on the Wulfun's lap. Hunter gently stroked the Dire Wolf's neck. "When the Infinos Arcanum was destroyed by Aria, it just shattered into its different pieces and shot off into various directions by the explosion. Many saw them disappearing into the holes in space and time the demons created to enter Haven. Who knows where they are. However, one fragment landed on Haven and we retrieved it. Using that, we had enough power to rewrite history... or at least how people remembered it."

Hunter grumbled bitterly. "I still wish you hadn't. That way, I wouldn't be hurting right now..."

"Pain is good. Pain proves that you're alive and mortal. The only thing that separates us from the dark force that is Harm Chronos is pain." Tanar flicked his ears back and forth. Hunter became aware of others standing nearby. By their scent, it was friends. "For two and a half thousand years, Harm Chronos defended the Church and in those times, he suffered. He was injured, he recovered. He lost limbs and he regained them. He watched people he cared for die and developed new bonds. After going through that for centuries, he just became a numb to it all. Do you see that smile he constantly wears?"

"That smug, arrogant smirk that makes you want to punch him? Yeah. I know that smile."

"Rumour has it that is how he was Time Locked, with a smile on his face. It means nothing. It's a mask for the empty, emotionless void that lies beneath. He pretends to care or have a heart but in reality, he lost it a long time ago."

The soft clank of armour heralded Aria's approach. Her hand settled on his shoulder, soft, gentle and comforting. "Your first mistake was trusting him," she said. "But all that dulls compares to the fools that we were for trusting him for two millennia. Me more so than any others. Take this as a lesson, Hunter. Learn from it. Know your enemy."

An enemy... I have an enemy...

For some reason, that thought made him laugh. He covered his eyes, partially because the laughter was squeezing out the tears that had gathered but mostly because he must have looked absolutely insane at that moment.

"I've never had an enemy before, you know," he murmured, running his paw down his muzzle. "I've had rivals and people who hated my guts but never a real enemy. As an engineer, I never faced combat. I let the marines do that. My only 'enemy' was the machine that was broken. And now... Now..." He let out a near-hysterical laugh. "I'm up against a fucking Chronomancer!"

"Two, actually," Andy supplied, leaping onto the wall on his other side. "Titus is still out there and I don't think he's a pushover either. I've done the research on him and this guy is crazy! Did you know he was an Incendian? Oh! Oh! Also did you know that he was made a Chronomancer for inventing a big wrench that could channel and amplify other versions of Chronomancy? Oh! And he also -"

"Andy," Tanar rumbled. "We're focusing on Hunter right now."

Shaking his head, Hunter said, "It's okay. I could use the distraction."

"No," Smallfang rumbled. "I think you need comfort." The large Lupus strode forward, resting his paw on Hunter's other shoulder. "We are here for you, Hunter. We stand together against Chronos and his machinations."

"Totally!" Andy exclaimed, thrusting a fist into the air. "Down with Harm Chronos!"

Hunter eyed him suspiciously. "I thought you were against throwing him to Titus."

"After what he did to you? Of course I'm up for stopping him! Your biography is barely fifty pages long! I can't have you copping out now!"

A grin crossed his features, tearing away the sadness of Eton's choice and Chronos' betrayal. "Thanks guys... But I think I just need some time alone."

"Absolutely not!" Suddenly, Hunter found Elena's arms wrapped around him, holding him tightly. "You are our friend, Hunter, the panicky, foul-mouthed, overacting friend that, somehow, managed to unite us. We all know what happens when you internalise your fears and concerns."

"You contemplate suicide," Aria agreed. Much to everyone's surprise, she too wrapped her arms around Hunter. It was a light embrace but it was still a hug. "And you are sitting on the edge of a very tall castle."

"That was once!" Hunter protested.

"I am not ending your biography with the word 'splat'!" Andy growled playfully, adding his arms to the congregation.

"You'll have to forgive me if I don't hug you," Tanar murmured. "No thumbs."

Hunter laughed, all his sorrows just magically vanishing. He knew he'd have to face Eton and the possibility that the first meaningful relationship he ever had was ruined but somehow... trading a few weeks of dating for a lifetime of friends... Well... the damage was somewhat mitigated.

Suddenly, a huge pair of arms wrapped around them all, lifting them off their feet. Smallfang squeezed, pushing the air out of Hunter's lungs while everyone else laughed and squealed in glee. The big Lupus set them all down on their feet and they pulled away from one another. Elena gripped Hunter's left paw while Andy took hold of his right. Aria was still holding his shoulder.

"Thanks guys," he said. "I mean that."

Far off into the distance, the Sun Spire began to shine brightly.

Dawn was upon them.

His mood suddenly turned dark.

****

Leandros had decided to take a large number of his troops with them to march Chronos out into the plaza. There was a venerable army behind them of burly, furry Lupus soldiers. Andy was on standby amongst the buildings with Tanar and Serena. Hunter was partially grateful for that but amongst the Lupus faces, it was hard to make out Eton who stood at the forefront just behind Leandros. The Paladin would always look away whenever Hunter glanced at him.

That reaction hurt him more than he has expected and that only continued to cause his dread to mount over and over again. They would have to confront each other eventually but Hunter wanted Chronos, Titus and the whole war out of their minds first before they sat down and spoke to one another.

For now, Chronos was being marched forward with specially designed crystal handcuffs around his wrists that restrained his powers as a Chronomancer. Apparently they were called Chains of Time and prevented him from using 'active' Chronomancy. That meant he could still regenerate but he couldn't leap forward in Time or any of the other insanity one of his golden-eyed kind could perform. Aria flanked him, firmly gripping his left bicep while Ford guarded his right. Ophelia danced around them, laughing lightly. Even her childish antics couldn't lift the dark mood that hung around them.

Hunter noted that quite a few of the Paladins and Lupus were wielding long, black spears; Spears of Longinus. What worried him, however, was Harm Chronos' smug smile. He remembered what Tanar had said. Chronos was incapable of feeling anything after centuries of living with emotions. Being numb to all emotions and just pretending to have them... that truly made him a monster.

He was surprised to find the eastern plaza was empty save for the bodies and wreckage they had left just yesterday. The massacre Ford and Ophelia had perpetuated mixed with the crashed fighters Aria and Harm had obliterated lay everywhere. From where he stood, he could see the wreckage of the H2LC Wings of Damnation jutting out of the river, its ruined hull sticking out above the city's buildings.

Above them, the ominous battleship, the Final Moments hovered. It had repositioned itself so that it met them head on and had put a rather large distance between them. Clearly, Titus was still scared of Chronos.

"Well..." Ford murmured. "Here we are... Now what?"

They waited... and only silence met them. Hunter expected a dropship to emerge from the Final Moments then he remembered the hanger had been destroyed. Maybe there were some elsewhere? Perhaps some soldiers would emerge from the buildings and take Chronos off their hands?

The familiar click-click of a gun being armed heralded the approach of several mercenaries. Hunter remained rigid as a good twenty or thirty soldiers emerged from the nearby buildings and approached them. He flicked his ears backwards and realised that another twenty or so had emerged behind them, sandwiching them between two well-armed parties. He just hoped Andy and the others had managed to remain hidden.

One of the soldiers reached for his earpiece and asked for a pickup.

More waiting.

The soldier repeated the request.

Nothing.

With rising urgency, the man asked one more time.

Laughter was his answer... laughter from Harm.

"You didn't really think that Titus would just let everyone go, did you?" His golden eyes glimmered with mirth. "He has a Siphon of Infinity around his neck meaning he's just a dog of the Church, easily put down if he so much as sets a foot out of line." Chronos cocked his head to the side. "What do you think will happen when the Church finds out that he devastated Ironfrost just to get to me, huh?"

They'll kill him...

Hunter's eyes began to widen in horror.

"You're catching on," Chronos said, flicking an ear towards the battleship. "I say the ship is about... two and a half clicks away from us? Certainly far enough for the charging process of a beam cannon to go unheard but definitely close enough for it to incinerate everyone here."

The Wulfun lifted his paws and the shackles around his wrists dropped free. He held them delicately in his thumb and forefinger. "Before we all get incinerated by superheated plasma energy, humour me. What story do you think Titus will go for? 'I battled Chronos with my best and the causalities were the entire time and the Lupus population' or 'I did my best but Chronos slaughtered everyone rather than give up to me so easily'?"

The fur on Hunter's arms began to stand on edge. He never ever got to scream for everyone to run before the searing beam of green energy came cascading down on them. A powerful force collided with his arm, hurling him away from the column of light that just consumed a smiling Chronos and tore right through Leandros' gathered army.

His back struck hard stone and he gasped in pain. Through the screams, he heard a familiar heavy panting. Over the scent of burnt flesh and fur, he caught the hazelnut and pine mixture that sent his heart both fluttering and plummeting at the same time.

Eton's ice blue eyes regarded him with a mixture of relief and sorrow.

"You saved me..." Hunter whispered.

The Lupus smiled. "Of course I did. I -"

Hunter suddenly became aware of searing agony emanating from his legs. It started off as a dull throb but then became stronger and stronger until he was reduced to tears. Whatever Eton said was drowned out in such intense pain that it throbbed in his ears. Somehow, he managed to look at his legs...

... and screamed.

Everything from the left knee down was gone. Completely burned off and left with nothing but a bloody, burnt stump. Eton's eyes went wide in horror as Hunter's cry mixed with those of everyone else around him. Those who were unlucky enough to have survived the initial blast had body parts completely burned off like a hot knife had carved off their bodies and left them for dead. The Lupus could not regenerate. Their flesh had been cauterised leaving no room for the tissue to meld itself.

"Smallfang! Smallfang!"

Somehow, through all the pain, Hunter heard that cry and turned his head, grimacing in pain. Lying a short distance away, Smallfang stared blankly into the sky. Blood was streaming out of the corners of his lips. His upper torso was riddled with small burns and debris and his right arm was missing. His leather breastplate left a foul stench in the air but no more than the burn flesh that covered his entire lower body... at least what was left of it.

He had nothing below his abdominals.

Oh shit... No... Gah, it hurts!

For some reason, as his flesh began to knit together and his regeneration began to rebuild tissue and bone, the pain only intensified.

Leandros cradled his son, his brown eyes wide in horror. Tears were streaming down his face. "No! Smallfang... No!" The King of the Lupus pushed his son's head into his chest, wailing mournfully.

The air sizzled once more.

"Another beam is coming..." Hunter groaned, gripping Eton's arm tightly. "Get out of here!"

"I am not leaving you!" Eton shouted, shoving his arms beneath Hunter and hoisting him up. "Everyone! He's firing again! Get moving!"

The few that were uninjured or capable of moving were rising to their feet but it was too late. Hunter felt the fur on his arms stand on edge. He screamed at Eton to move but the roar of the beam came far too soon. He shut his eyes, burying his head into the crook of Eton's neck. If his last moments were to be this, he wanted it to be with the man he almost had. The high-pitched keening of the beam became unbearably loud. His fur sizzled, heated plasma descending around them in a titanic column powerful enough to melt flesh off bone and turn that very same bone into nothing but a puddle of charged goo.

Strangely... there was no pain... just the constant discomfort of the air charged with electricity.

"Oh shit..." he heard Eton whisper.

Hunter opened his eyes...

... and found himself staring at Harm Chronos, standing a few short feet away, paw lifted into the air and catching the beam of green energy.

"Now don't tell me you forgot about this little trick," Chronos said, smirking broadly. Eventually, the beam cannon began to overhead and Titus was forced to stop firing. All that energy became focused into the titanic ball Chronos held in his outstretched paw.

"Hey Titus!" Chronos shouted, drawing his paw back. "Catch!"

He punched the ball. A thunderous boom hit their ears, powerful enough to send even Eton's tree-trunk thighs stumbling to the ground. Hunter hit the ground again, gasping in agony as his stump of a leg hit hard, packed brick roads. Through the tears of agony and somehow fighting the shock of losing part of a limb, he watched the ball of glistening green energy disappear into the hull of the ship, shattering right through the kinetic shielding and burning through a large segment of the hull.

Chronos dusted his paws together before reaching for the pocket of his pants. Harm pulled out the glistening, red, fiery feather and smiled. "Rebirth is nigh, Firefeather." Then he swung the feather backwards in a wide arc, flames surging outwards and bringing forth that fiery, curved blade once more.

"You know what to do," Chronos said with a smile. "Cauterise their wounds."

White flames suddenly exploded out of the blade, surging outwards and spreading all over the ground like a carpet of rapidly growing, weed-like grass. Hunter tried to scramble away but was unable to get away in time. The flames spread all across his body. A strange, tingling warmth spread all throughout his body like he had just eaten a bowl of hot chicken noddle soup. The pain in his leg ebbed and the screaming all around him died into gentle sighs. His vision was obscured by the dancing flames.

The sensation of being wrapped in a warm blanket faded and there was nothing more Hunter wanted to do than to reach for the flames and pulled them back over himself. But a more startling sensation took precedence.

He could suddenly wiggle the toes on his left foot again.

Awed, he watched the white flames dissipate to leave his left leg completely whole again. Admittedly, his pants and boots were gone but his leg was back whole again! His eyes darted towards the other injured and watched each of them stand up or gawk at their rejuvenated limbs.

A gasp from nearby signalled Smallfang's return to the land of the living.

"Son!" Leandros exclaimed, squeezing Smallfang tightly against him. The look of shock on Smallfang's face was more than just from the fact he was alive. Slowly, he hugged his father back.

Hunter's eyes went back to Chronos whose back was turned to them.

Explosions suddenly rang across the skies. The Final Moments began tilting forward. Plumes of smoke jutted from its flanks and explosions ran across its hull.

Andy... They must have gotten on board!

Wait...

"Chronos!" Hunter shouted. "Andy, Tanar and Serena are on that ship! You were meant to distract Titus while they blew the goddamn thing up!"

"No they're not. Check behind you, kid."

Hunter did. Andy was scrambling out of the buildings, helping Aria to her feet. Tanar was amongst the other Paladins, rapidly checking the others for injuries.

"Then who...?"

"Titus killed his own men on the ship," Chronos said. "A blow to the ship of that magnitude is beyond even his comprehension to maintain. Honestly, I'm surprised he learned how to pilot the thing let alone fire its forward beam cannon. It is about two millennia after he was incarcerated that it was designed."

Suddenly, the Wulfun frowned. "Everyone... Get up. Run."

Hunter blinked and was slowly staggering to his feet. "What? Why -?" His eyes went straight up to the Final Moments. Despite all the damage, its engines were still functioning... and it was at a rather steep tilt. Slowly, the ship's size grew bigger... and bigger... almost blocking out the Sun Spire...

"He's going to ram us!" Eton roared. "Move! Move! Move!"

The ship was seven hundred and fifty metres long and fully armoured. No amount of Paladin-level power could knock a beast like that back especially when it was charging at them, gaining momentum!

Hunter turned and then realised two things...

The ship was seven hundred and fifty metres long... and it was designed to traverse the vast emptiness of the Void in hours. There was no way they could outrun that thing. Once it hit, the force would plough it straight into the underground vaults where the other survivors were holed up. It would only be a matter of time before the reactors went critical and tore the entire place apart in a cataclysmic explosion.

Feeling hopelessness dawn on him, he just stood there, staring blankly into the air with his limbs hanging numbly by his side.

"Hunter!" Eton cried from a few feet ahead. "Come on!"

"There's no point..." he murmured.

"If you're going to be all dramatic because Serena and I -"

"It's not that!" Hunter wailed. Aria stopped, turning to him with a look of concern in her eyes. "That ship is too big, too beefed up! The moment it hits, it's going to take out a huge chunk of the city and at the momentum it's going, it'll tear through half of the city! Then when it explodes, it's going to take out everything else! How are we going to run from that!?"

The calm answer from behind him strangely filled his heart with dread.

"We don't."

Chronos, still facing Titus' mad charge, gripped his sword in both paws and pointing it straight down. "Adramalech... you're up."

Wait... what...?

Harm Chronos lightly tapped the tip of his sword against the scorched ground.

A sound like cloth being torn cut through the air, loud enough to leave a constant ringing in Hunter's ears. Hunter turned back towards the castle in time to see the sky itself rip open with a ragged, shining, blue wound. Two, clawed, scaly hands gripped the edges of the wound and pulled them apart, tearing the gap wider and wider open. Beyond, Hunter could see a terrifying world of constant fire with a dead, burning planet hovering in the air.

But his attention was more occupied by the creature that continued to tear open the rip in space and time. The beast was enormous. It rested one titanic foot into Ironfrost, shaking the entire ground with a quake that threw Hunter to his knees. It loomed over even the tallest spire of the city, its enormous, muscled body glistening with the red and gold armour it wore. Four broad, red wings spread out from its back while two sets of arms gripped the tear and pulled it wide open. Black, charred chains wrapped across its chest and dragged across the ground, crushing homes and houses as they were brought into the city. A beak covered in a bloody, steel mask shone in the Sun Spire's light. Three eyes stared the Final Moments with like a hunter staring down a helpless prey. Its two horizontal eyes narrowed while the single, vertical version widened.

The beast roared, the mere shockwave from the cry pressing Hunter hard against the ground and blowing him back past Chronos. Others were thrown back as well, crashing around him as they shook in fear at the monster that Harm Chronos had summoned.

All through the event, the Wulfun Chronomancer merely stood there, scarf whipping in the air but impassively smiling.

Adramalech the Seraph of Fire lunged forward. The rip in space closed almost immediately. Those enormous clawed hands seized the Final Moments. Despite the creature's size, the ship was still a formidable force. Adramalech pulled the ship towards his broad chest with his two lower arms. With the other, he seized the burning engines and tore them clean off! The Final Moments instantly lost all momentum.

With a derisive snort, the Seraph dropped the ship.

The impact shook all of Ironfrost more than the Seraph's thunderous footsteps. Hunter was bounced several feet back and every bone in his body was shaking from the resonating quakes. A huge plume of dust rose from the impact, slowly spreading across the city. Hunter covered his eyes and muzzle as the cloud spread across him, drizzling him with scattered fragments of soil and brick.

Adramalech's triumphant roar echoed through the dense cloud. There was a flash of red light through the mist. Suddenly, a powerful gust blew the cloud clean away. Hunter winced when a single speck entered his left eye and he had to endure the gust before blinking it away. Above him, a thousand red, fiery feathers rained down on them.

The Seraph was gone.

Harm Chronos idly dusted his shoulders free of debris. "Are you scared yet?"

Strangely, Hunter knew Chronos wasn't talking to him or the Paladins or the Lupus. He caught a glimpse of something golden standing on a nearby rooftop. Before he could cry a warning, Chronos was spinning around, swinging Firefeather.

CLANG!

Titus Shockarm brought an enormous wrench riddled with chambers and rotating parts crashing against Chronos' red sword. The two Chronomancer's were just inches away from one another, one growling with utter hatred and the other smirking. The Goatex disengaged, leaping back and swinging his wrench around him. Bolts of golden electricity rolled between the teeth of the weapon.

"We outnumber him!" shouted the Goatex. "Lupus, humans, nonhumans, soldiers and Paladins! Rally with me! We can defeat him!"

Chronos just laughed. "Titus, you just fired on these people! You even shot at the men you hired! You really think that they'll follow you after that!?"

A look of panic crossed Titus' features. He looked from face to face, looking for support. Only cold, hard, disgusted looks greeted him. One soldier in particular, still gripping his rifle, threw it to the ground and crossed his arms. The other mercenaries did exactly the same, content to watch the traitorous Chronomancer suffer.

"Fools!" Titus screamed. "It was all a ploy! Can't you see that I too was a pawn in his game! He caused me to panic! He tricked me into firing upon you! That show of that beast? It was all to win you over to his side! Do not be fooled by his 'charity'!"

Chronos shook his head, tut-tut-tutting. "You're losing them."

Ignoring Harm, Titus continued his plea. "You think I am the monster!? He played the part of the executioner to the entire Chronomancer race! He was the one that armed the Church to imprison or destroy us all!"

Harm sucked in air through his fangs. "Definitely not something you want to bring up to people you're trying to get on your side."

The Goatex's fur was growing bright red and his eyes were wide. The panic on his expression lost him even more supporters and even Aria had lowered her spear, watching. "What makes you think that he won't betray you all!?" demanded Titus. "He betrayed the Chronomancers and he even betrayed the Church that he served so loyally for millennia! He is just using you for his own gains!"

The Wulfun fanned himself tauntingly. "Oh, such high praise from the man who wants to use the very same people he is petitioning as cannon fodder against someone who is vastly superior to him."

"You are not my superior! I became a Chronomancer the exact same time as you!"

Hunter perked his ears. It was a little odd to think that these two Chronomancers had trained together. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he had always assumed Chronomancers held some sort of hive mind; that they all shared the same ideals and just followed each other bees. Looking at Titus, he saw jealousy, hatred and endless frustration. It was hard to believe that there was any sort of competition between what was a more cohesive organisation than the Church.

Or so it had seemed.

"You should know the progression of Time is meaningless to a Chronomancer," Harm said, scoffing loudly. Chronos waved his paw absently. "Why don't you make your case, Titus? You know no one here will throw their lot with you after you effectively tried to turn them into radioactive goo and obliterate any remains with a monumental explosion."

Titus spun and faced the crowd, glaring at them with his golden eyes... almost pleading. "And you would ally with him!?"

"Of course not," Chronos answered, smirking. "By now they all know that I opened the gates to Ironfrost. Rumours of my diabolic ways had spread through the ranks. They saw me intimidate even you and more than anything, they all know I'm a remorseless bastard who willingly let himself get marched out in front of an entire congregation with the full ability to stop your attack and yet I still let everyone fry just so I could laugh and gloat." The Wulfun lifted his muzzle, smiling down at Titus. "They won't throw their lot with me. But they'd gladly watch me humiliate, toy and eventually obliterate you."

That sly -

Hunter was half-tempted to leap into the fray himself when he realised that no matter what he did - no matter what anyone did - they would be lending Chronos a helping paw. If they helped him, it would make the battle against Titus easier. If they stood still, that was less opposition against him. Even if they aided Titus, he would be eliminating any resistance.

"Stop stalling Titus," Chronos said, swinging his curved blade upwards so that it rested on his shoulder. "Face me. Chronomancer to Chronomancer." He angled his head to the side, his eyes narrowing. "Or is that it? You're scared. You're stalling because after all you've seen, you know you can't beat me."

Titus roared and flung back towards Chronos. The air suddenly became filled with spinning, golden gears and crackling, golden lightning. An enormous, gold and black gun barrel appeared from a nest of gears, hovering in midair. It immediately fired. The smile on Harm's muzzle faded as he quickly sidestepped. The blast of energy from the barrel slammed into a nearby building, spreading flames and rubble in all directions.

Titus smirked. "Did you honestly believe that the Chronomancers stopped developing after you rebelled?" The Goatex gained a confident grin. "That is called Chronometric Materialisation." Lifting his free hand, a small tower of spinning gears appeared on his paw with a soft chime. "We developed this technique long after you left us so you never learned this. Whether or not the others showed you its capabilities I cannot tell but by the look on your face, you clearly did not expect it."

...

Chronos was silent.

Whoa. Titus actually surprised him!

"Just like Divine Magic," Titus explained, "those of us who have obtained a great amount of Time can materialise that Time into physical forms. It is creation based entirely on Time! I am a god!"

Aria scowled at that comment.

Chronos, no longer smiling, shifted into a battle ready position; lowering his blade and holding it by his side using his left paw. His right paw was held behind him, open but ready to strike should he need. "Gods live in heaven. The earth is for mortal men."

Suddenly, both Chronomancers were gone from sight. A second later, a building far down the street exploded outwards. Hunter spied the two men in mid-air, their weapons pressed against one another and the air simply sizzling with their power.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

More building erupted all around them, some hundreds of metres away. Golden flames burst out of some collisions, sweeping through the ruins of Ironfrost greedily. The brick roads cracked and shattered when the two landed on solid ground once more. They skidded across the ground, uprooting bricks and soil until they came to a stop. Neither of them stood still for more than a second and then they were gone. It was impossible to track them, only track the devastation they caused.

Aria began shouting for everyone to vacate the area immediately. No one argued. The air rang with thousands upon thousands of metallic collisions almost like silverware constantly clattering against one another. Violent winds blew all over the city while buildings would just spontaneously erupt, combust of be reduced to rubble.

Hunter tore his gaze away from the battle. Compared to the battling titans, he felt so weak, insignificant. He couldn't imagine how the soldiers of old every faced off against the Chronomancers if this was their power.

Fiery swords suddenly descended from the skies, littering roads and walls. Golden cogs would appear followed by a massive cannon. A bolt of golden energy would disappear into the distance, heralding a thunderous explosion that shook the ground. Moments later, the cannon would be sliced into bits and fall to the ground.

"This is insane!" Eton exclaimed. "This is the power of a Chronomancer!?"

"They haven't even begun to fight yet," Andy answered excitedly. He had his notepad out, rapidly sketching. Hunter watched his bright, blue eyes darting all over the place. The Leomian would jerk his head around so quickly, Hunter was afraid it would snap at any given moment. "I've seen recordings and accounts of full Chronomancer battles! Ooh! Look!"

Above them, Titus stopped in mid-air and let out a thunderous cry. Dozens of golden cannons sprang into existence around him, forming a ring of batteries ready to fire their salvo. Chronos, once more sporting a pair of fiery, red wings swung his blade. The air rippled with intense heat and an enormous, fiery arm sprang from the trail of his sword. The disembodied limb, a haunting image of Adramalech's form. Its clawed fingers crushed Titus' conjured weapons with ease while the Goatex Chronomancer was sent dashing across the air before vanishing.

"How the hell are they walking on air like that!?" Hunter asked.

"Multiple techniques, most likely," Andy answered quickly. "Maybe Titus is using Chronometric Materialisation to form platforms beneath him or maybe he's stopping the pull of gravity in time. I know Harm is just flying. It's clever."

Dozens of red swords suddenly rained down around them. Hunter instinctively dove to his right, ducking into an alleyway. Andy and Eton followed suit, shielding their heads with their arms.

A ragged, blue tear appeared high above them. Dozens of fiery, blackened meteorites shot from the rip and rained down on Titus. Wielding his wrench like a bat, Titus swung his weapon. He moved faster than Hunter could keep up, bouncing form rock to rock at blinding speeds. His weapon collided with the meteorites, shattering them and raining down fiery rocks upon Ironfrost.

Through the intense combat, Hunter spied the remnants of the crashed Final Moments... particularly a set of high-impact turrets.

"Andy, how long do one of these battles usually take?"

"Until one of them gets bored or one of them slips up. Chronomancers regenerate their strength, remember? If either Harm or Titus loses sight of one or the other, that's time when they are passively recovering. This could last days."

"Then we better do something to end it quickly," he rumbled, eyes fixated on the ship. "Or else we're all going to get caught in the crossfire."

BOOM!

The ground shook violently. It looked like one of the Chronomancers had hit the ground with enough force to cause a small quake. How anyone could have survived that was beyond Hunter's comprehension.

"You got something in mind, Hunter?" Eton asked.

Hunter... he didn't call me 'hun' or 'babe'...

Shaking the thoughts from his head, he pulled his headphones partially over his ears. "Yeah. Follow me." He slipped them on, blared uplifting, upbeat pop music in his ear and drew Zero Hour. "The time is now, Zero Hour!"

He summoned his blade and bolted out of the alley. As if sensing his emergence, Harm and Titus erupted from the building in front of him, the Goatex gripping the Wulfun's neck while lifting his wrench for a death blow. Chronos' expression was grim but showed no signs of rage or effort like Titus. They both smashed into the opposite home, the entire structure collapsing beneath them. A second later, they erupted from the debris shooting into the air. Chronos swung his fiery blade, burning swords springing form the weapon and shooting towards Titus. The Goatex countered by swinging an electrified wrench and knocking the weapons aside.

On the ground, Hunter bolted across the streets, the world a blur of golden cogs and twisting gears. He could see both Chronomancers as monochrome images in the sea of gold. Whatever they manipulated, though, was still subject to his strange, gear-world vision. The fiery swords Chronos produced or the bolts of golden lightning Titus shot were all wrapped in chains of gold or streams of gears.

And those he could predict.

Hunter took one step to the right. Three swords embedded themselves into the ground where he had been. A second later, he was leaping back to the left, dodging a bolt of lightning. The Chronomancers crashed into the ground ahead of him, the impact creating a crater and throwing chunks of earth the size of a person into the air. Hunter swung Zero Hour once, twice and a third before ducking and rolling. Nothing so much as came close to him.

He circled around the crater. From the corner of his eye, he saw Chronos had the Goatex pinned and pummelling him with his fists. It was a little odd to see the two powerful men using their fists instead of some grandiose magical spell. The moment he had that thought, the two were gone and standing on opposite buildings across from one another. Hunter bolted right between them, just barely catching their conversation.

"You will pay for every second that I suffered!" shouted Titus.

Boom!

They were suddenly to Hunter's right, Chronos pushing a thick, jagged, wooden pole through Titus' chest. Where Firefeather had gone he couldn't imagine.

"You got off easy," Chronos replied, his voice dark and strangely emotionless.

WHAM!

Suddenly, they had their weapons again, both of them standing just ten feet to Hunter's left. It looked like Titus' arms were broken and he was clutching his wrench in his jaws.

Chronos levelled his sword at Titus, a trickle of blood running from his right eyebrow. "Gods are doomed to die but mortals will always have heaven."

CRASH!

A tremendous bolt of golden lightning collided with the ground a good distance away. Hunter ignored it completely. Even in the clear, cloudless sky, lightning continued to cascade on the other side of the city. The gears around Hunter suddenly began to twist in a certain way and he ground to a halt, holding his paw behind him to stop Eton and Andy from running into him.

A moment later, a stream of golden lightning raced across the street right in front of him, just a few inches from his nose. Letting out a huff, he leapt over the scorched earth the bolt made.

The Final Moments hadn't truly crashed, more like it had been embedded into the ground. That made it easy to find one of the many access port, yank it open and scramble inside. A glance over his shoulder showed the gears representing Eton's vocal chords were moving. He pulled his headphones from his ears, letting the world revert back into its delicate colours and brutal reality.

"What are we doing here?" Eton asked again.

"We're ending this before anyone else gets hurt," Hunter answered. The ship had settled on its side making everything inside the cramped space bizarrely twisted. He was standing on the wall of the ship and all the doors were either beneath or below him. The interior was bathed in blinking red lights. Against what movies would have him believe, the angled hallways were quite intact. Devastation on one side of the ship did not automatically mean the entire ship exploded into fire and totally unrelated pipes would burst.

He took a second to gain his bearings, recalling the layout of this particular class of ship. Once he knew exactly where he was going, he bolted across the hallways, bringing a cry of surprise from Andy and Eton.

It didn't take him long to find exactly what he was looking for.

Hunter leapt into the gunner's seat of the anti-ship cannons. Two powerful barrels jutted out of the cube-shaped turret, each one capable of firing 400mm hypervelocity armour piercing rounds designed to cut right through the thick hull plating of starships. Kinetic barriers would prove difficult but that was what lasers from other turrets were for. Right now though, he was going for tearing as much limbs off as possible and not melting flesh and bone.

Working quickly, he overrode the alarms of the turret that constantly warned him about the ship's condition. The red lights in the turret blinked out and suddenly had a very clear view of Ironfrost. The constant quakes of the ongoing battle directed his attention back to the eastern plaza. There, Harm Chronos was facing off against Titus on the ground. They had stopped leaping around through time and were having a brutal battle with just their weapons, no overtly powerful magical attacks. Aria and the other Paladins were nearby. It looked like a building had fallen on them and Aria was hurriedly trying to pull Tanar out from beneath the rubble with the aid of the others.

Hunter lifted the turrets, aiming directly for the battle.

"Shoot him!" Eton insisted. "Shoot Harm!"

"What?" Andy exclaimed. "He just healed you and is our best chance against Titus! Would you honestly prefer to be at the mercy of the man who attempted to kill you?"

"Chronos did attempt to kill us, remember? He blew up Mirecragg!"

"All to teach us a lesson and bring us closer together!"

"Couldn't he just have sat us down on his knee and gave us some candy!"

"You're being ridiculous!" Andy gripped Hunter's shoulder. "Hunter, you know I'm right. Chronos has a grand plan and if we shoot him here, his contingencies will come into place which will no doubt be much worse than his existing plans. Please, Titus is our enemy."

Eton seized his arm tightly. "Hunter, he messed with us and broke your heart not once but twice! He deserves this!"

"Do you even know what he wants?" Andy shouted, his cheery, hyperactive façade fading. "Eton, think about it! We know Titus wants to kill us. What does Harm Chronos want?"

"I don't care! Hunter -!"

"Hunter!"

...

Hunter ignored them both, pulling his headphones over his ears and letting himself become immersed in his gear world. Peering through the crosshairs of the turret, he could immediately make out the battle before them. It was still impossible to completely predict where the Chronomancers were going to go or what they were going to do. The fact that they were the only creatures not immersed in gears worried him but he dismissed the thought.

Tearing his gaze from them, he focused instead on the gears around the Chronomancers. The ground and the air were all part of the world around him and the more he focused, the more he saw... and understood. While he couldn't see the Chronomancers fully, he could see how they interacted with the world. He could see their silhouettes in the flow of gears.

And from that... he could see them... and what they intended.

There was a sudden influx of gears towards the two and he could see a slight crinkle in the network. He traced it to a spot on the plaza ten or so metres away. He was a little behind from when the Chronomancers reappeared but he could trace them... He could tell when they were going to jump through time and where they were going.

I got you, you bastard...

His thumbs hovered over the cannon's triggers.

... This...

... This is for breaking Eton and I up, you asshole.

Krak-oom!

*****

Titus fell back, gasping in both agony and frustration. Two and a half thousand years of plotting, of consolidating his knowledge of Time, of developing new techniques in theory and plotting his revenge... and this is where it got him; On his rear, beneath the Chronomancer who had humiliated him millennia ago and who once again triumphed over him. This time, it was far worse.

Back then, they had been somewhat evenly matched. Chronos had resorted to trickery and the ace up his sleeve - his Time Bombs - to defeat Titus. This time, it was just a game. No Time Bombs not even tearing up his surroundings with Final Hour to regain Time. He had resorted to fists, punching and kicking. When he wanted to be flashy, it was just to humiliate Titus further as if to tell him 'your moves are good but mine are better'.

Grinding his teeth together, he stared up at the oddly grim-faced Harm Chronos. The emotionless, unreadable features scared him. He remembered during the Purge of Time when that face was contorted in rage over various atrocities. Titus had laughed then; laughed at how easily the great Destroyer of Time was easily moved by the weak.

Now...

"What are you waiting for?" he spat. "End me!"

Chronos was silent for a long while.

"You're so bent on revenge that you can see nothing else."

Titus spat. "How would you act if you were trapped in endless agony for two and a half years!?"

"I would be grateful that the agony was not 'endless'." The Wulfun's eyes narrowed. "How do you ease the pain of one who has known nothing but pain? How do you reintroduce a world of love and affection to a being whose entire world was nothing but agony and a single-minded goal?" He let out a soft chuckle, eyes gazing away slightly. "The answer may surprise you..."

He turned back to Titus, grim once more.

"It is over, Titus." He lifted his paw towards the Goatex. Glistening blue energies encased in golden cogs and gears appeared between his fingers. "Time... Time waits for no man."

Krak-oom!

Titus' eyes widened in surprise.

In one moment, he was staring death in the face... then the next, he was looking at the gaping hole in Harm Chronos' side, the entire arm that had been outstretched towards him ripped clean off and with a large chunk of the Wulfun's flank gone. Chronos' legs were also missing. For a second, he just hovered there. Then physics took hold and the Chronomancer, eyes wide in shock, was pulled to the left by the force of whatever hit him.

Titus saw his opening.

He gripped his enormous wrench and threw himself at the Destroyer. With a cry, he pulled the wrench's teeth wide open and seized Chronos' neck between them. He pushed the Chronomancer to the ground, pressing his foot against the Wulfun's chest.

"Die!" he screamed and pulled a trigger on the wrench's side.

Tremendous bolts of golden lightning exploded from the wrench, cascading down its gold and black surface before slamming right into Chronos' head.

Splat!

Warm blood splashed across his face along with bits of brain and charred fur.

Eyes wide... he... he...

... He had just...

Did he just...?

"Titus!"

He spun just in time to catch a jet-black spear that he knew all too well. Aria Valkyrie screamed his name one more time before he took her meaning. He immediately spun the Spear of Longinus and slammed it right into Harm Chronos' torso. The body jolted with shock.

But his fingers were still moving.

"I need more!" he cried.

Valkyrie seized two more Spears and threw them straight to Titus. The Goatex threw aside his wrench, gripping the black weapons in both hands. He jabbed them right into Chronos' chest before leaping back.

He waited... Just... waited for that moment.

That moment when he would hear Chronos' laughter in his ear, mocking him.

But it never came.

A minute passed.

Then two...

And finally, a third.

He stared at the ripped, dismembered body of the Last Chronomancer, the Destroyer of Time and the traitor of the Chronomancers.

Vengeance... At long last. After two and a half millennia... at last. Hot tears streamed down his cheek and he knew it would be equally painful when those very same tears receded back into his tear ducts but the relief was just so overwhelming... and... emptying. The moment of triumph felt... tainted.

He couldn't strike down Chronos by himself like he had imagined for all those years. The one-sided battle he had envisioned filled with gloating and cries of agony was reversed... in some way. Chronos didn't look at him with arrogance. It was pity that was in those golden eyes and it hurt more than any physical blow ever could.

And now... he felt...

He felt...

Splurt!

... pain.

A brilliant, red blade jutted from his chest. Burning agony spread from the weapon but no more than the presence of the Wulfun muzzle right next to his left ear.

"Those who focus on a single road can very easily be sideswiped," Harm whispered. The Wulfun Chronomancer stepped out from behind Titus, standing in front of him. One paw reached out and seized a Spear of Longinus and pulled it from his own corpse.

Titus fell to his knees more out of shock than actual weakness. "What... H - How...?"

"I told you," answered the Wulfun, yanking out another Spear, "I can stretch myself across space while occupying the same instance in Time."

How could he have forgotten!?

So that meant... all this time... he was just fighting a Harm Chronos at half power!

"But..."

"The manacles?" answered the Chronomancer. "They stopped the 'me' that it was bound to from using Chronomancy. The others were free." He yanked out the last Spear and threw it aside.

To Titus' horror, the body that lay crippled and devastated began to heal... very rapidly. That was impossible! The more damage caused to a Chronomancer, the slower they should heal! With an arm, both legs and his head blown completely off, it should have taken days if at the least hours for that Wulfun to regenerate! But in the span of five minutes, there were two Harm Chronos' standing in front of him.

"That's... That's impossible...!" Titus gagged.

"A Chronomancer regenerates based entirely on how much damage they sustain," one Chronos lectured. "The greater the variation to the form when they were Time Locked, the longer it takes for that Chronomancer to return to that saved state."

"But I have stretched myself across Time and Space," the other said. "A single consciousness but different bodies each with an equal amount of power."

"So say if you damaged one said body," came a voice from his right. Titus spun, his eyes wide in horror as another Harm Chronos stepped into the plaza from the main road. Even the Paladins were utterly horrified. "That means you've damaged a fraction of the whole."

"Therefore," added a fourth, appeared on the roof of a nearby building, "the amount of damage you've actually done to the collective is minimal at best. My rate of regeneration for that entity, is thus quite fast."

One by one, instances of Harm Chronos began stepping out from behind doors, debris and around corners. With each one, Titus began to see just how insignificant he was. There had to be three dozen of them in the plaza! That meant it took most of his power to obliterate one-thirty-sixth of Harm Chronos' power with help!

"You see, Titus?" a thirty-seventh said, gripping the hilt of the sword still embedded into Titus' back. The Goatex gagged as the blade was yanked out from behind him and the Harm Chronos stepped up to join the rest. "Even at your best, you come nowhere near my abilities. We're not just talking about raw power either."

Chronos made a slashing gesture with his free paw. One by one, each of the other instances dissolved into golden dust. Titus felt an immense pressure building around him like the air had grown incredibly thick and heavy. He found it hard to breath. A vice seized his heart and lungs, making him gag and cough. Reaching out with his other more magical senses, it felt like there was a huge, dense wall in front of him where Chronos stood.

It both instilled fear and awe into him.

"Now let us end this farce."

Titus gagged when the sword point was levelled at his neck.

"Time waits for no man, Titus Shockarm. Remember that."

...

Click.