Exilus, Jade and the Noble Elite forces had just returned from battle, arriving at the temple’s barracks. The vehicles used in combat were placed in their respective hangars, and any recovered bodies were respectfully cremated. The living quarters were very spacious, with every group of two hundred soldiers receiving their own rooms. There was a mess hall capable of fitting up to a hundred and fifty thousand people inside, and hovering transports that acted as shuttles, escorting each soldier to their assigned table.

Jade and Exilus had been sparring for hours, but Exilus refused to use Ion. She wanted him to stop holding back so much, it bothered her to no end. Deciding on one last match, the duo unsheathed their blades and struck defensive positions. They used the same room that was previously ravaged by Voltis and Thantier, noticing the burn marks and ash surrounding every corner. Nodding simultaneously, they charged forward; both of them were prepared to win. In a split second, Exilus slid underneath Jade, swiping his sword horizontally. She easily avoided, and recovered with a series of layout flips. Countering with a barrel roll twist, Jade thrusted her blade forward; barely missing the Everian Lord. Exilus sped towards his Commander and drove her to her knees with a strong downward thrust. Forming a second blade, she leaned back and used her momentum to knock him backwards. Falling to the ground, not a second had passed until Jade was on top of Exilus; her swords at his chest and neck. She had won; wearing a confident smirk.

“I guess I win. Thanks for the match,” Jade exclaimed, earning a sarcastic look from her superior. The lengthy duel had given both fighters plenty of energy, adding to their already superhuman abilities. The two split up; Exilus headed home and Jade left to train the NE Forces. However, both of them failed to notice that they were being watched.

“Lord Miran, I’ve mapped their coordinates. They haven’t a clue of what we’re planning” the mysterious figure said into his comlink. His glowing eyes were the only thing peering through the darkness of the gymnasium rafters. The figure was an Azuranite spy working for the Ravan Nobles; his task was to locate and assassinate both Exilus and Jade.

“Don’t fail me, Ker’al. I’ll be watching,” Miran replied, safely aboard the Evercrimson.

Ker’al was a veteran mercenary, and he’d been working with the Ravans for hundreds of years. His appearance was similar to that of Ter’adir, while only slightly less imposing. A large, deep scar ran across his face and down his abdomen; this was due to a previous battle with said Chieftain. Powerful as he was, Ker’al was merely a pawn of the Military. His left fang was broken in half, a symbol of experience, and his eyes glowed red instead of yellow; a symbol of betrayal. Using his energy manipulation abilities, he speedily crawled across the ceiling. Without being seen, he leaped on top of the roof; preparing to pounce on Jade. She was walking directly below him, an easy target.

“I refuse to believe that this woman is as strong as Lord Miran had promised. It’s not plausible,” he exclaimed to himself, seeing that the High Commander was at least four feet shorter than him. “I’ll break her, and then chew on her like a toothpick,” he rambled confidently.

Sensing an odd presence, Jade held up. Motioning for her platoon to hold together, she charged her power steadily. Without warning, Ker’al jumped down and pounded his fist into the ground, emitting a massive shock wave that knocked his opponents around like bowling pins. Unveiling her blades, Jade got into a yoga like position; standing on one leg with both swords crossed above her head. Her eyes turned an amethyst shade of purple, with static of the same color surrounding her body. Ker’al stared at her with an inquisitive expression, he hadn’t seen a move like this before. Jade lurched forward, swords behind her back; leaping over her attacker’s head. She let out a battle cry that screamed of anger and determination. Ker’al quickly swatted her away with one hand, sending his opponent slamming through walls. Leaping high into the air, he clenched both fists together above his head, and bashed them into his opponent. Picking Jade up and holding her between both hands, Ker’al gave her a sadistic look, and began to charge his own power. Sending millions of volts coursing through the High Commander’s body, he threw her with all of his might; sending her flying once more. leveling several hangars, Jade left a small crater where she landed. Much to the assassin’s dismay, Jade simply got back up and brushed herself off; wearing a cocky grin.

“If only I had told you sooner, I’m not at all like the soldiers you just murdered,” she began. “They were just standard cannon fodder. I however, am unlike any opponent you’ve faced before!”

Jade leaped out of the crater and tumbled over opponent, prepared to drive her blade into his back. Before she could do this, the mighty Azuranite knocked her to the ground with another blow. No longer holding back, Ker’al began to overcharge himself. Enormous waves of blue lightning shot from his titanic form as he roared in exhilaration; he was now at his maximum power. Jade quickly got up and avoided his initial charge; he simply turned back around, no longer bound by momentum. Charging and firing energy blasts, Ker’al’s expression changed from a smirk to a menacing snarl.

“You can’t outrun me!” he exclaimed; repeatedly swiping at Jade and tossing her across the vicinity. Recovering and throwing a punch that carried her opponent through a nearby skyscraper, Jade began to unleash her own overcharge ability. Speeding from the wreckage like a arc of unstoppable raw power, Ker’al charged energy into his fist; transforming it into a blast upon contact with the fuschia maned Commander. Jade landed with the force of a large nuke; causing her point of impact to be disintegrated in a giant ball of plasma. Ker’al laughed heartily at his prey’s seeming downfall.

“I knew you would be no match for me! Surely, you realized that your death was imminent!” he shouted in Jade’s direction.

Purple light flashed from the massive smoke cloud, followed by a swirling tornado of electricity. Ker’al’s eyes widened; it couldn’t be, impossible! She was gone; obliterated! Charging a huge plasma sphere with both hands, the Azuranite mercenary screamed at the top of his lungs; prepared to deliver one last explosive blow. Walking from the inferno behind her, Jade appeared to be almost unscathed; aside from a few bruises, ash marks and lacerations. Turning into a living energy conductor, she unsheathed her dual swords yet again; swinging them out to either side of her form. Spinning her blades and flying towards the would be killer, she bathed herself in raw lilac energy and flew at him like a screaming comet; laterally slicing through him as if he were made of butter. Jade landed lightly on her feet, not even looking back at her assailant.

Ker’al stood motionless, groaning in pain. There were two cleanly cut, smelted gashes cleaved straight through either side of his abdomen. His mortal injuries oozed thick, molten viscera; and ablated chunks of crystal flesh fell from his body like hot wax. Emitting a low gurgle, a last set of words gruesomely escaped his throat.

“No…please, mercy.”

Unexpectedly, a delayed third wound appeared, this time straight through his neck. Spouting more incomprehensible dialogue, gurgling blood and mucus leaked from his throat as his head fell off his shoulders with a final guttural grunt.

“Fuck you,” Jade said with a quiet, disgusted whisper as she sheathed her weapons. Looking at her opponent’s lifeless form one last time, she got up and walked away as Ker’al’s corpse slumped to the ground with a dull thud.

Voltis had woken up to Rina screaming hysterically. He shot out of bed and nearly hit his head against the wall behind him. This could mean only one thing; his father was back. Waking down the hall and trudging downstairs, he felt the effects of his training session yesterday; his awareness and agility had once again increased. Being a Speed Born definitely had its perks, something that he would readily admit. Walking barefoot on the cold floor downstairs was always jarring; the most unpleasant part of the morning.

His sister was literally running back and forth as if she’d been stung by another one of those hornets, causing Voltis to roll his eyes and exhale deeply in response.

“He’s back! Dad’s back!” she exclaimed excitedly, prompting her brother to shake his head in dismay. The 7 foot tall figure of their father entered the lobby, his signature armor present as always.

“How are my kids doing?” Exilus asked, wondering how their first day of complete independence had gone.

“Dad you wouldn’t believe it! I crushed an entire army of storm hornets!” Voltis replied pridefully.

“That’s great! You bring honor to our family and to the guild!” his father exclaimed in reaction. Rina jumped onto her father ecstatically; wrapping her arms around the back of his neck and embracing him with tears in her eyes.

“I missed you sooo much!!” the energetic girl cried out; still not letting go of her paternal figure. Voltis once again cringed in annoyance, resting his forehead on his right palm.

Easing Rina off of his shoulders and setting her on the ground, Exilus walked downstairs; he had business to attend to. Heading down a seemingly endless spiral staircase, the Everian Patriarch walked into a dimly lit hall. The hallway was lined with various busts and portraits; each presented in chronological order. The armor and primary weapons of each ancestor were placed alongside them, offering a personal tour of Exilus’ familial history. The hall’s end beheld a large metal door; with an odd device placed beside it. Exilus pressed his hand onto it’s surface, causing the entrance to shift open; in turn revealing an incredibly bright sanctum.

He had received word of Jade’s violent encounter and how the subsequent fight destroyed a large section of the 45th District. This is insane; he thought to himself, still in the dark on what his enemies had been planning. Pressing on another hand panel, Exilus opened a display that contained Retrion’s legendary Armor of Revolution. The armor was composed of a blacksteel base (much like his own armor), with secondary layers of shock crystal carved and welded into the sides, edges and joints. It was more like a metal shell than fitted plating; indicating it’s ancient nature and the dire situations his ten thousandfold great grandfather experienced. However heavy and outdated it appeared, the war armor was far more advanced than anything currently residing in the Everian arsenal.

“Let them come to Ion,” Exilus stated; activating analog mechanisms and literally walking into the war suit. Voltis and Rina had hurried downstairs just in time to watch their father become encased in metal. Voltis’ eyes went wide with awe while his sister buried her face into his chest out of fear. She was shaking; he had never seen his sibling so afraid in his life.

“It’s alright, Rina; I’m doing this to protect you” Exilus assured his daughter. Rina let go of her brother and looked back up at her father with an eased expression; but Voltis’ awestruck face quickly turned into one of anger.

“What are you talking about?! Are you telling me that they’re coming here?!” he shouted in confusion. “Why am I always told of something important at the last second?! I’m sick of this!”

With that, he ran off defiantly; hoping to prove himself worthy of fighting for his home. For some reason, Exilus understood his son’s sudden action; he was finding himself.

Back on the Evercrimson, Miran was about to prepare his next assault. The eighteen-year-old heir stood on the bridge, about forty-five hundred kilometers from the Ion Megaplex’ location. His fleet was comprised of eighty-two Airships, sixty thousand VTOLs, and close to a hundred thousand additional attack vehicles in the hangar and cargo bays of each ship. His soldiers numbered in the millions, not counting the eight hundred and sixty-six thousand War Automatons currently in storage. Miran’s personal elite squadron stood by him; two on each side. They were hand picked by his father to accompany the young noble; four of his finest soldiers. The soldier on the far right was large and muscular; around seven and a half feet tall. On the far left was a girl who couldn’t have been older than twenty years. The inner soldiers were entirely identical; presumably twins. Sending them off to wreak havoc, Miran sat down in his war chair and drank from a crystal glass of sky cider.

Smoke was visible for miles, it seemed to Voltis that there had been a nuclear meltdown of some sort; and his guess wouldn’t be far off. Running back upstairs to his room, he got ready to find out the truth behind these strange events. Looking outside of his window, he noticed a small transport craft land in the nearby field. It wasn’t of the colors that he recognized; this VTOL must have been a Ravan landing shuttle. Guards were rushing out of the castle, grabbing weaponry of all kinds and setting up at the castle walls. Closing the gates, they assumed combat positions.

Out of the shuttle stepped Miran’s elite soldiers. They were clad in armor that looked almost as strong as Exilus’, and each of them wielded twin swords.

“Lord Miran, we’ve engaged the target’s troops. Awaiting your reply.”

The elites overcharged themselves and overpowered the NE guards within seconds, leaping over the three-hundred-foot walls in only a few bounds. Smashing through a large window pane, the merciless intruders began to rip the castle’s interior asunder in search of Exilus. Opening the unlocked door into the main lobby, each of them split up. Voltis could hear the carnage clearly; heading downstairs in an instant. He had to find Rina; she moved around too much to still be downstairs. Running outside, Voltis saw that his beloved twin was nowhere to be found.

“Dad must’ve taken her somewhere safe,” he thought to himself; hoping for the best.

He charged himself to a fifth of his total power and prepared to face the Everian Castle’s infiltrators. On the balcony above him, his first opponent showed himself. It was the hulking, muscular elite known by his code name, Uriah. Jumping down silently behind Voltis, the soldier unsheathed a wrist blade. Sensing the change in the local atmosphere charge caused by the proximity of a humanoid bioelectric field, Voltis leapt away immediately. Sizing up his opponent, he decided to attack; beginning with a quick rush of punches that threw Uriah into a wall. Getting back up and briefly flaring his overcharge with an angry growl, he charged Voltis abruptly, grabbing and throwing him. Voltis smashed through an ancestral stone statue, but managed to push off of the debris in midair and land, stumbling, but still on his feet.

“I take it you’re the old man’s kid,” Uriah called out, causing Voltis to draw up and assume a defensive stance. “I’m not going easy on you, don’t worry,” he continued, brandishing his plasma swords. Realizing that Uriah wasn’t too bright, Voltis figured that he could trick the brutish assassin easily. Charging himself to a quarter of his full power, he ran out of the way; leaving a lookalike static image in his place. Uriah took the bait by slicing through this doppelganger; causing it to disappear. Cursing at his foolish impulse, he turned around too late. Voltis unveiled his own energy blade, produced by his own powers. Surging forward, he locked blades with his burly opponent; staggering him. Uriah broke the lock with his momentum, causing Voltis to fly through the air. Recovering easily, he unleashed a volley of unblockable electric blasts; turning his hapless foe into a molten statue.

Admiring his handiwork, Voltis believed it would make a great addition to the courtyard. He had sealed Uriah inside of his own armor, killing him through it’s conductive material. Curious as to what his vanquished foe looked like under the helm, he peeled it from his face; dropping it and jumping back. What was once a recognizable man had become a grotesque fried corpse. One down, three to go. Heading back inside, Voltis was faced with a frightening sight. Rina hadn’t made it outside; she was held hostage by the remaining intruders.

“One step and your walls get a new coating of paint,” shouted the female elite, holding a sword to Rina’s throat. Freezing in place, Voltis didn’t even have to move. Out of nowhere, a familiar figure punched the soldier and sent her flying through a window. It was his father.

“Don’t touch my daughter, you filthy whore,” Exilus spat at the enemy kunoichi. He knew she wasn’t dead, but at least she wouldn’t bother them for the next few minutes. “Voltis, take Rina to the temple right now!” Exilus ordered, unsheathing Ion. Voltis lifted his sister over his shoulders and took off, peeling away at top speed.

Rina had been knocked unconscious by her assaulter; she was barely breathing. Arriving at the temple within seconds, Voltis witnessed Central Government workers run back and forth gathering information as soldiers patrolled the premises. There were tanks and transports surrounding the vicinity, preventing any potential threats from breaching the area. Taking his sister indoors, he headed to the infirmary. It was a moderately large room, around the size of a train station lobby. There were all sorts of advanced medical tools and equipment. Everyone from children with toothaches to soldiers on life support could be found in this wing of the temple. Voltis set Rina down on the most comfortable bed he could find; calling out for a nurse. An emergency team arrived within moments and put her on oxygen. He was told that she would recover within a day, and could come back home immediately afterwards.

Back at the castle, the female soldier had recovered and was fighting Exilus with the Twins in a triple assault. Unfortunately for them, their opponent had faced far worse. Thinking swiftly, Exilus bisected both twins laterally in a single strike; pointing his sword at the kunoichi.

“You haven’t beaten me yet,” she announced stubbornly, lashing out at him in an impressive acrobatic display. It was obvious to Exilus that she was the only experienced fighter in the group. Her dual katana slashes reminded him of a certain High Commander; meaning that he knew her style quite well. Simply dodging and countering, Exilus stayed just out of harm’s way.

“Argh! Enough!” she shouted at him; attacking with her fastest combo flurry yet. Smacking her across the room with the flat side of Ion; Exilus had broken one of her swords and her helmet had cracked in half as well.

Struggling to get back up, the assassin was down on all fours, defeated. Without her face guard she was beautiful; red streaks dyed into her cobalt hair and eyes of a unique amber hue. Setting Ion down against a railing, Exilus got down on one knee to interrogate the ninja.

“Before I decide what to do with you, I’d like to know who you are,” he questioned in a surprisingly calm tone.

“You! By showing my face to you, I have dishonored myself!” she shot back, slapping away Exilus’ hand. “But,” she continued, “I might as well tell you my name. I am Katanya Tyra Uleran.”

Exilus smiled lightly, as if he were a counselor.

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” he asked curiously. “I can see that you aren’t like the other Ravan soldiers.”

With a disgraced look, Katanya grabbed her remaining sword; holding it in a suicidal point.

“Wait! Don’t!”

It was too late; she impaled herself with the blade. Coughing a copious amount of blood, she fell onto her side.

“Shit!” Exilus cried out, grabbing the katana and removing it. He immediately placed his hands on both sides of the exit wound; cauterizing it with his powers. She had passed out; causing Exilus to exhale in frustration. He spoke into his comlink.

“I need a medical officer at my location immediately!”

Exilus began to wonder why he decided to save someone that attacked his daughter; it was definitely out of character for him. Perhaps he realized that some people can change and be led to a better life.

Soon, a Medical Officer arrived with a crash team. They carried the critically wounded Katanya to an EV-15 transport just outside.

“I hope that she can deal with this; an assassin’s honor and secrecy is their most prized possession,” Exilus thought to himself. The damage done to the castle was minimal; but the bodies would need to be properly cremated like those of any warrior. Walking outside, he met up with Kai to discuss important matters.

“Captain, I’ll need you to watch over my children for the night while the castle is secured and renovated,” Exilus ordered as he climbed into his car to drive off to the previously ransacked military base.

The Evercrimson’s crew had begun to turn around under direct order from the Lord of Ravan; causing a dismayed Miran to curse under his breath.

“Father, why must you interrupt my fun,” he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose in disappointment. His comlink began to sound; it was his father of course.

“What is it, can’t you see that I’m busy?” Miran questioned angrily.

“You fool, do you not see that the Everians have defeated your best mercenaries?!” a baritone voice replied with an even angrier tone. “You cannot win, retreat immediately!”

“Yes, father,” Miran answered obediently, ending the transmission and reclining into his seat. The fleet headed for a fortress in the south; ending the ambitious heirs’ assault.

With Miran’s departure, Ion was safe. But for how long?

Original work by Patrick Gaffney 2017. Edited by nullfather 2017.