Ravens of Eternity

146 The Flow of Blood, Pt Eva and Szereth stood in his lab and pored over the Ra’ventrii armor as it hung suspended in midair. Hanging next to it was a highly translucent holographic readout of all of its statistics and settings.

Though Szereth was deep in the weeds and explaining every stat, Eva found herself unable to concentrate. Part of that was her trait, of course.

But most of it was because of Ledoss. More specifically, his words.

“I think I gotta stop dueling,” she said.

Szereth stopped in mid-explanation, turned to her with a quizzical look on his face, and opened his mouth to protest. But just as he was about to speak, he came to a realization.

Every fight she had with a Reborn had been tough, and it was only going to get tougher for her the higher she climbed.

“I’m glad,” he said, “if you think we need to stop, then we should stop.”

“Well, it’s just like you originally mentioned,” said Eva. “Those Reborn are tough as hell. You all saw – I was right on the edge a couple of times. If... if I didn’t have the skills I do, I would’ve been dead. Or worse.”

He sighed deeply at the thought of losing all that potential revenue.

.....

“Hah, like I said indeed,” replied Szereth. “What can I say? I expected some Coin, but not quite this much. It’s all too tempting to keep going. It seems like such a waste to turn down all those lucrative offers and contracts...”

Eva looked away in shame.

“That’s the other reason why,” she said. “It’s because I’m getting greedy. And that greed’s causing others to suffer. That’s... not who I am or who I wanna be. That level of greed’s everything I hate, and everything I stand against.”

Not that Eva had any problems wrecking people who went after her, but the anti-humans among the Drogar never actually did anything to her. If anything, she was the one who riled them up first, and caused their hate to balloon.

On purpose. For money.

Eva sighed deeply, and grew solemn at the thought.

Szereth was taken aback by her statements. She was talking as though greed was something to be avoided. But to him, to all Drogar, it was as natural as breathing. For most, it was more about the enrichment of one’s self over everything else surrounding.

But Szereth understood. Although he wouldn’t call himself benevolent, he was also far from corrupt. He understood that it wasn’t just about his own wealth, but of his entire clan, and of all the clans who worked for, or with him.

Their successes allowed his own to grow higher.

“I understand,” he said. “Regardless, I’m glad we got to this point in the first place. It’s a good testbed for if I wanna do another human duelist investment in the future.”

“You probably shouldn’t,” Eva replied. “Not unless you’re able to separate Reborn into their own leagues. You’d be hard pressed to find many humans who could even face up to them.”

“I see... You don’t regret doing any of this do you?”

Eva shook her head resolutely. Then she looked down at her fist and clenched it before she responded to Szereth.

“No,” she replied. “Not at all. I needed to feel it, experience it. To better understand greed, you know? I’m kinda realizing how easy it is to fall into it.”

By this point, Alevos and Severas, both of whom had been chatting quietly off to the side, had heard Eva and Szereth discussing retirement. Alevos rushed over as fast as his belly would allow him.

“Hold on a moment,” he huffed. “Did you say you were going to stop fighting? But what about our offers?”

“Can’t you still sign them?” asked Eva. “I mean, it’s not like my achievements are gonna disappear or anything, right?”

“I thought you were avoiding your greed?” asked Szereth.

“Doesn’t mean you have to,” she answered. “Besides, I know what I wanna do with my share.”

Just then, a number of shrill beeps emitted from Severas. The Justicar quickly went through her gear and pulled out a small, palm-sized datapad and read its alerts.

Her eyes went wide and her mouth hung agape as they scrolled past the screen at speed. When she was done, she looked up at Eva with eyes filled with disappointment and anger.

“The compound,” she said. “Savoth’s terrorists are attacking it as we speak! Couple thousand, according to estimates. We need to go!”

Eva jumped up in alert – her friends were in danger!

“Goddammit!” she growled. “Just when I was feeling sorry for them!”

Before either of them could take a step towards the door, Szereth frantically stopped them with an open palm.

“Wait, wait, wait!” he said. “Let me crank up the armor. Now that you don’t need to use it in the arena, we can unlock its full potential. Tougher! Stronger! It won’t take long.”

He tapped a number of commands on his datapad in a mad flurry, then pointed to Severas.

“You too!” he exclaimed. “Take off your armor so I can upgrade it! Quickly now!”

~

Gunfire echoed all around the prison compound’s entrance. The hundred or so guards up on the walls and gate towers were completely overwhelmed by the unrelenting storm of gunfire coming from the heavily-armed crowd in the street.

Savoth’s trained home-grown terrorists, Taloren’s Chosen, had finally made their move and came out en force. Heavily armed and armored, the first few hundred of them bore down on the gates with their rifles and sidearms.

And as they fired relentlessly on the hapless guards, they chanted their anti-human and pro-restoration slogans loudly.

“Kill the apes!”

“Bring back Taloren!”

“Burn every apelover!”

“Return Taloren Prime!”

“Apes must die!”

Down on the street below, over a thousand of them ambled their way towards the compound gates. Many of them pushed forward large makeshift fortifications that rolled around on all manner of scavenged wheels. At the same time, some of those behind the fortifications fired wantonly at the guards.

All of the terrorists wore painted blood-red armor and wielded all manner of civilian rifles and weapons. Scattered among them were the few hundred with the privilege of wearing Gravoss’ lost power armor. Buckets of ammunition were getting passed around to ensure everyone had plenty to shoot.

Up above them were dozens and dozens of gondolas, all of whom swarmed chaotically in the air, 10, 20, 30 meters up above the street. Instead of transparent domes, they were completely open but ringed with sheets of armored fortifications.

Each gondola was manned by a half dozen Drogar, most of whom joined the firefight and supported their troops below.

They were all semi-armored, and had a different variety of metal plates bolted, welded, or strapped on. Although their various ground and air armors were made with a hodgepodge of various materials, they were still relatively effective. They certainly kept most of their people from harm. Most of the time, anyway.

Shieldmaster Toreth peered out of his tower’s shooting window, and fired expertly at a number of those fortifications. His bullets scattered across them with great force and precision.

His rounds impacted on the metal, denting and warping it. Some of his rounds tore through the few gaps in between, or through flimsy sheets of scrap. They ripped through to the other side and slammed into any Drogar hiding behind.

Toreth ducked back into cover and activated the communicator at his ear.

“Shieldmaster to Control,” he said. “Do you read?”

“Control here,” came an answer.

“Get all defenses running asap,” ordered Toreth. “Turrets first, then drones. I also want a comms scramble and an alert beacon. Report when issued.”

“Yessir!”

Back at the barracks deeper in the compound, and up on its top floor was the Guards’ control station. In the middle of the room was the main operator’s holotable, which was encircled by multiple terminals, each one manned by determined technicians.

The techs took control of various popup turrets and drone squadrons, and activated them quickly.

All of the turrets all over the compound quickly popped out of their hiding spots, many with grass “hats” on top to conceal their true identities. The ones under the various sparring circles had long since lost their grass, and were just clumps of soil on top.

The turrets just outside the walls had also popped up, and they took no time in firing at the crowd of terrorists.

With their nearly bottomless amounts of ammunition, they spent no expense blasting away at the fortifications. Their ferocious barrage slammed on the makeshift barricades with great force, which dented and tore them to pieces.

The terrorists who were hiding behind them were equally ripped to shreds or reduced to bloody mist.

But the rest pressed on resolutely. They continued their chants while they fired their rifles at the guards.

It was almost as though they had been taken over, and their actions were no longer their own. As though they were possessed with the need to destroy.

Up on the gondolas above, a number of the terrorists providing air support slung long home-made tubes on their shoulders. They each pressed their triggers and launched a slew of unguided rockets straight at the gates below.

They slammed with explosive force at the gate and everything around – the street, the turrets, the walls. The blast shook every guard standing on the walls and the attached towers.

The guards who were closest to the gates were blown away and knocked to the ground. Their limbs were shorn off from the force of the blasts, and the intense heat burned their scales black.

As the dust settled, it became apparent to everyone that the gate and the surrounding walls had been greatly warped. It was even partially torn right in the middle. Many of the turrets that were on the ground were also blasted to pieces.

As Taloren’s Chosen cheered with their victory, a squadron of a hundred Scythe Drones leapt over the gate and quickly towards the crowd.

They appeared to be about a meter tall, and were like skeletal velociraptors. Their sleek metal frames were lightly armored, but combined with their bipedal hindlegs, they were incredibly fast and agile.

Their arms terminated in long sharp talons while their feet had a wickedly curved short claw.

Many of the terrorists were immediately alarmed by their presence, and fired into the squadron in a panic. But few of their shots hit – most drones were simply able to evade their fire. They juked the Chosen with fast, graceful jumps from side to side.

Those that were hit took some damage to their frame, but were able to shrug it off and keep advancing.

The squadron leapt right at their prey and shredded them to pieces with their talons. Many tore right into the terrorists and opened them up for all to see. They brutalized their front line with mechanical efficiency.

Talons and claws tore the terrorists to pieces, regardless of how much or how little armor they wore. The mutilated corpses of Taloren’s Chosen littered the ground as the drones dismantled each of them with surgical precision.

One of the Drogar screamed in absolute pain as one of the drones dug its hind claws into him while it used its talons to slice him to ribbons. He was literally held down while he was disemboweled alive.

The Drogar’s compatriot was on the ground next to him, completely frozen with fear. His hands shook so intensely that he could barely keep his gun trained on the drone. Just as he gathered enough courage to steady his aim, a bullet shot right through the side of his head in a flash.

His body then slumped to the side, lifeless.

Shieldmaster Toreth lowered his rifle after he confirmed his kill. Afterwards, he spoke into his comms with authority.

.....

“Wall units,” cried Toreth, “support our drones!”

All the guards along the walls popped out of cover and fired rifle bursts into the crowd, and shot down all of the Drogar who had been exposed and uprooted by the drones. Together, they ripped through the enemy line with absolute ease.

And although their front line was being rigorously decimated, they were completely undeterred.

The rocketeers on the gondolas above peered over the edges once again, and fired a second salvo at the gates. The rocket bombardment slammed the gate and area surrounding for a second time.

Guards were knocked to the ground from the force of the successive blasts. Some were even thrown off the walls and down to the courtyard.

And when the smoke and dust settled, the gate had been fully wrenched open. The compound was open to attack, and the Chosen raucously cheered with victory.

Shieldmaster Toreth’s eyes grew wide as he watched the swarm of Drogar charge towards their base. He quickly grasped at his communicator in utter panic.

“Fall back! All guards, all drones – fall back to the courtyard!”