Chapter Seventy-One: Revenge

A group of rebel ships were pursuing Lucilia's ship. This group was sent by the rebels that Ren and the others had just saved Rin and Rei from. The group was led by an all-too familiar blue face. Zaiga, the man who nearly killed Ren, was leading the charge with one objective in mind. Revenge. He wanted payback for what Ren and his group did to him. So once he got away from the ship that Lucilia and the others destroyed, he called his troops and reorganized his forces for his counterattack on Ren and the others.

Inside the flag ship stood Zaiga, hovering above his pilots with a determined look on his face.

"You will not get away..." Zaiga said, staring at Lucilia's ship, his gaze filled with anger.

One of the pilots turned around and asked Zaiga "Sir, say the word to launch our attack; assault teams are at the ready."

"Good...send them now; I'll be joining them in a moment." Zaiga replied with a smirk on his face.

"Yes sir..." The pilot responded.

Zaiga left the bridge of his ship and headed down to the hangar. "Just get ready, you green-eyed bastard... I'm not done with you yet."

*Ren's knight*

Ren and his team of pilots left the ship and got in position on the right side of it to defend Lucilia's ship. Eleonora also had her team on the far left side of the ship, awaiting the same.

"Eleonora, do you read me?" Ren said into the comms.

"Loud and clear, Ren; make sure everyone in your fireteam can read you too." Eleonora said this while doing her own checks with her squad.

"You're right." Ren said before turning on his team's communications channel "Everyone, can you hear me?"

The first to respond was Scarlet "I hear you, Ren!"

"This is Tyler standing ready."

"This is Aleyda. I read you loud and clear."

"Serenity standing by."

"Silili, I'm ready."

"Ceti, awaiting orders."

Ren took a sigh of relief "Good, I read you all. Listen up, this group is the same group that we just saved Rei and Rin from, and if their leader survived, he is not to be taken lightly. If there's a significant threat on the battlefield, do not approach it alone; always have backup ready."

"Is he the same person who hurt you that badly?" Ceti asked.

"Yeah...don't do anything rash. Learn from my mistake." Ren said.

"It wasn't a mistake; you saved Rin and Rei from him and saved us from possibly being hurt by him too." Serenity added on.

"Yes, but Eleonora had to risk herself to save me, a kindness I can never repay." Ren said on the comms.

"Could add her to that harem of yours." Tyler joked on the comms.

"Uh...Tyler...you're talking on an open channel." Scarlet added on.

Tyler had a quick look of realization on his face before saying "Oh..."

Meanwhile, Eleonora was blushing profusely inside her knight. She slapped herself on the cheeks, yelling at herself, "Focus!"

"Is something wrong, captain?" Sakura said from inside of her knight.

"N-Nope...N-nothing." Eleonora replied.

"Who knew our captain could have a cute side?" Sakura teased.

"Shut it, Sakura." Eleonora replied with a blush on her face. "Focus on the mission."

Sakura laughed on comms before saying "Yes, Ma'am" with a bit of a sarcastic tone.

After the teasing ended, everyone noticed the rebel ships launching their own mechs, over twice the size of Ren and Eleonora's squad put together.

"We're outnumbered..." Eleonora said, looking at her opponents.

"It's not the quantity; it's the quality. Most of these mechs are shoddily repaired mechs from other battles, plus Eleonora, you haven't truly tested the features of a knight." Ren replied.

Then Ren radioed in to the ship "Hey Mae, did you finish the upgrades I asked for?"

Mae replied as she was on the bridge to watch her knights in action "All of your requests were met. Make sure to test a few of them for me in live combat, Ren."

"Will do. Eleonora I will lead the assault; just watch." Ren said before he launched ahead of all of the troops.

"Ren, what are you doing?" Eleonora yelled out on comms.

"He's showing off..." Scarlet said, sighing.

"He's excited; of course he'll show off." Lily replied.

Ren's knight charged right to the center of a large mass of hostiles, dodging each of their shots in the process, frustrating the rebels since they couldn't hit him. The rebels took his dodging almost as if it were a challenge in itself, like they were facing one of the top threats they could. Each of them took their chance to answer the challenge, but Ren had other ideas.

"Launching Lasers." Ren said with a smile.

It was then that eight lasers were launched out of the sides of the shoulders and back of Ren's knight, cutting down multiple enemy mechs immediately and causing several casualties. After he finished, he grabbed the sword attached to his knight's hip and started to cut down his enemies before saying on the comms. "All units ATTACK!"

Every single knight that had been deployed launched at the same time, shooting their weapons directly at the rebel forces and cutting them down immediately. Making quick work of the enemy forces as no one was left standing among them.

"I told you, Eleonora, quality over quantity." Ren said with a smile.

"Hush, we still have to keep an eye out for that blue guy just in case." Eleonora said.

"He's not out here, at least not yet." Ren said, observing his surroundings.

"What makes you think that?" Eleonora replied.

"He wouldn't have gone down so easily." Ren replied.

*Inside of Zaiga's ship*

Zaiga was still inside his custom mech waiting for reports.

"Sir, the entire first wave has been destroyed. Your orders?" the pilot said on Zaiga's comms.

"Ram their ship at full speed. I'll attract those knights attention." Zaiga replied.

"But sir..we wouldn't surv-" the pilot tried to say before being interrupted.

"You are replaceable; die well for the cause." Zaiga replied before taking off from the hangar inside of his mech and heading straight to the battlefield.

"Yes sir..." The pilot replied before gulping. "Hilna...I'm sorry."

*On the battlefield*

"Ren one hostile approaching." Rumia said on comms.

"That's got to be him..." Ren replied.

Ren knew someone like him wouldn't die in that explosion on his ship. He hoped for that to be the case but was well prepared just in case Zaiga lived.

"All units take out the rebel ships, Silili, Aleyda, and Serenity, with me. Scarlet you take command of our other troops." Ren ordered.

"Are you sure, Ren?" Scarlet asked on comms.

"We need to hold him back. If he gets too close to the ship, he could cause massive damage, or worse, we don't have to win; just hold him back for the ship to get ready to jump systems." Ren then turned on the communications to the ship. "Lucilia, how many minutes until we are ready to jump?"

Lucilia quickly replied from on the bridge of the ship "Eight minutes."

"Okay, Scarlet and Eleonora, you two should focus on taking out his support ships. We'll hold him off."

Ren, Silili, Aleyda, and Serenity all gathered in front of the perceived unit with Zaiga in it. It's color had black metal along with blue decals, including the logo of the rebel group on its shoulder. It seemed more advanced than the rebels basic units, like one that wasn't made from scrap metal.

"Get ready, everyone..." Ren warned everyone. Waiting for an opportunity.

The unit facing Ren charged without thought right at Ren's knight, who blocked its attack with his sword.

Ren counterattacked, with Silili, Aleyda, and Serenity targeting him from the sides and the back.

Ren engaged Zaiga's mech in a melee in which he couldn't gain any advantage over him; the two were deadlocked with each other, neither giving ground.

"Dammit..." Ren said inside of his knight.

It was then that Zaiga pressed his attack on Ren, becoming more and more ferocious.

"DIE YOU BASTARD!" Zaiga yelled from inside his mech, inches away from the revenge he sought.

It was then that Silili and Aleyda both joined the melee, with Serenity focusing on range. With the combined assault from the three of them, Zaiga started losing ground with no quarter to give, or else he'd be killed.

He defended against their barrage of attacks while also attempting to dodge all of Serenity's range attacks, sustaining damage while barely being able to dodge them all.

During this, Eleonora and Scarlet managed to destroy the ships that Zaiga had sent to ram Lucilia's ship, and Lucilia was now ready to jump.

After she sent the warning to all of the knights in combat, Ren's team started to retreat, but Zaiga was not letting them go so easily.

He used all of the energy his mech had to catch up to Ren's team and deal one blow with the metal sword that Zaiga had on his mech.

*Slash*

"NOOOOO!" Aleyda yelled from inside her knight.

Soon, an explosion happened right next to Aleyda, as she just saw the death of a comrade.

------------------------------------------------

If you guys want to to support me check out my patreon, it's as cheap as a dollar!

Patreon:

https://patreon.com/Alex_Blackwood628

Discord:

https://discord.gg/97ejzvAGKb