68 The Broken Aegis

"Fuck we're made!" Diaz cursed.

Half of the Garrison in attendance on the courtyard turned their gaze towards their position and at the same time, over three dozen of Elven Ranger's, Elven Rainbow Helms and Mages appear on the across Samantha's two-o-clock, pointing their bows, somatic hands and staves towards them. As if no different of the forest tree's they were trained to blend upon, they sprung their ambush above the roof tiles.

"There is no point in trying to escape my sight Share Holder! We can see you all there!" Mita emerged amongst the Elves on the rooftop.

Meanwhile, below the ramparts Stryder Group stood on, there revealed below the Slaegian Legionnaires, Prince Valorion, Faithleann and the rest of their retinues and companions.

"You have finally revealed yourself oh Corrupted One! I have trained hard and long to finally best you … eh… Adversary!" Faithleann pulled out his blade and assumed an aggressive sword stance. His hands twitching amongst his childish grip from the cold and sweat of his palms.

"That snotty brat again?" Alpha Unit's Leader asked Samantha. Captain Rose nodded.

Stryder and the SEAL uncloaked themselves as there is no point of wasting their suit's batteries now their cover is blown.

"Mara! I should have known she would be here. She likely rang those alarm bells in the first place. I would do the same since my vampiric senses would have scented all of the blood we spilled today." Iris heart skipped a beat, lowering her Grenade Launcher.

"Brother!" Aliathra leaped out from her companions and pushed herself forward. Wanting to see her brother and his retinue with her own two eyes, just as she wanted when she first was turned to what the way she is now.

"Wha-wha- what did they do to you sister of mine?" Valorion's azure eyes gazed at Aliathra's matching albeit artificially oceanic blues in disgusts towards his younger sibling. He and his fellow compatriots were at a loss of words upon the sight of the Royal Princess Aliathra. She may look like, dress like, talk like, even act like her. But her body was all riddled with corrupting touch of the cyberware she had embedded in her body. They could almost vomit at such a hideous parody that he was presented to that was the Elven Royal Princess.

"You need to listen to me brother! I want to..." Alianthra shot her plea but she was interrupted.

"There is nothing for me to listen to, Sister. The Otherworlders might not be the Demons of Ages Past but they had corrupted. Look at you! Look at your body, once the epitome Elven grace. Now it is tainted by all of those… those… with mockeries!" Valorion pointed to all of Aliathra's noticeable augmentations: her eyes, her arms and her legs.

"You must listen to me Brother." A tear streamed into her face. "We do not have to fight each other today. We both want the same thing."

"And what stars aligned that WE are both in concert of sister?" Valorion drew his blade.

"We both want to return home, to the life we all had… together with you… with mother, father and Ithiel. As a family…" Aliathra answered.

"There is no more family! Just the nation! Do you not know of the Coup?!" Valorion dimissed her.

"Just the Coup…" Aliathra answered weakly.

"It wasn't some envious noble that struck out our father's heart. It was Ithiel herself!" Valorion announced to her sister.

"No… no… that cannot be…" Aliathra collapsed into her knee's. Barely absorbing what her brother just told to her. That her sister, a woman whom she idolized above all things second to only her parents was the traitor.

"As much as it pains me… all of us to speak of such treachery… in your own case… I feel pity for you." Valorion placed his hand onto his chest.

"Pity me?" the former Princess questioned.

"Your treachery… it is out of weakness… fear and misguidance even. Not out of greed and ambition. It was a great mistake for mother to send you to Ysanigrad to play hero. She should have known that her youngest child was more destined to the affairs of the household than the adventures of outside of the palace. Perhaps be married off to House Sinnodel that had stayed loyal to us for centuries. It is your sacred duty and what you are only truly good for. Yet mother lacked the foresight that having you stay at home was for the best." Her brother explained, an imperialistic tone oozed out of his honeyed mouth.

"I did not come here to just be some wayward Adventurer brother." Aliathra defended. "I came here to put all I have learned to good use. That I, as a maiden of Ethuilen could truly contribute both mind, body and soul to the world. To be worthy of all the time, knowledge and teaching passed down from Mother and Father… put onto me me." she rebutted.

"Naive Child! The outside of our city walls truly changed you for the worse! Did you realize all those trainings and educations are prepared for you to become the rightful bride of some Noble House once you are of ripened age? Mother and Father did not put all of that time, effort and money to raise such an impudent daughter. You ought to know that the youngest child always and will always the weakest of his siblings since they are inheriting the least arcane bloodline from their parents. Yet alas! You continue off chasing your heroic fantasies of being a proselytizing Cleric or some vigilant Ranger. Foolish I say!  You will never become as powerful as your sister and I as the first-born Elves no matter how hard you try because you are born that way Aliathra! Nothing will change that!" Valorion pressed his foot down and shouted.

"Sister, do you not realize all those years of your training and education was to prepare you for the inevitable? For you to become the rightful bride of House Sinnodel? They would accept nothing less than a bride of such caliber short of what we had prepared you for all of your life. And now… you wanted to toss away mother and father's generosity? Don't you see? This is you are forsaking your name as a Lareththor, the greatness that you could be for our family and people. I am ashamed, that you stray from the rightful path because of your frivolous fantasies. I am sorry but I have to end your apostasy, for the honor of our family and peoples, I must end you. I pray Nenya can teach you about listen to your elders when she purifies your soul in the afterlife." Valorion condescendingly explained.

Aliathra collapsed into her knees distraught. Her entire life of decades upon cycles of cultivation and self-perfection unraveled to be all a just a means to a fated conclusion. To be nothing more but a pawn in a grand game she had a say to be a part of.

It was if she never left that pit of despair, as if still stuck in the quagmire questioning her very existence, her very reality, her very soul.

If words could kill, the Elven Prince were likened to of thousands of spears piercing through Aliathra's heart as she realizes that all her hard work, dreams and aspirations so far mean nothing to her own family and to the extend the whole Ethuilen society never for her own desires. In the end to them, no matter how much she tried before she had met Samantha, they only saw her as nothing more than a political tool to further the influence of her family. Aliathra fought both tears and anger that flood her head upon now fully acknowledging this horrible truth.

The rest of Valorion's attendants, nay… sycophants silently nodded in agreement. They shun her with the turn of their haughty faces signifying their non-verbal answer to banish Aliathra's 'corruptive' presence. The princess became a deviant in all ways: renouncing her country, consorting those of lesser birth, defying the wishes of her family and her apostasy against her faith. All that for the power she seeks to try and change her destiny from what was the traditional order.

She began to weep, her resolve cracking before her former kin when…

The rest of his followers only silently nodded in agreement, their shunning turn of their heads their arms to banish Aliathra's 'corruptive' presence without lifting one bit of their haughty fingers.

If words could kill, the Elven Prince were likened to of thousands of spears piercing through Aliathra's heart as she realizes that all her hard work, dreams and aspirations so far mean nothing to her own family and to the extend the whole Ethuilen society never for her own desires. In the end to them, no matter how much she tried before she had met Samantha, they only saw her as nothing more than a political tool to further the influence of her family. Aliathra fought both tears and anger that flood her head upon now fully acknowledging this horrible truth.

Her own family, her flesh, blood and soul. Her own people were nothing different from Lyndis, the Black Elves and the Hold Dwarves.

"You lay a single finger on her and I will drain you dry, Prince… Dick!", Iris screamed at Valorion. Her claws readying to pounce and permanently silence this brazen Elf.

"Silence! Disgusting vampires like you do not understand the depths of familial love we Lareththor's have for Alaithra! I must free my sister from the grips of you all!"  Valorion asserted his foot forward.

"I am beginning to see a pattern here." Obediah commented. "Younger Elves like Alie are 'weak' no by nature but because you knife-ears value birth order so much that they being poisoned by the idea they are never good enough no matter what they do! This all proves you knife-eared cunts just punch down all the talents of your younger children if they don't follow up on your idea of what a 'perfect' child should be. Alie here? She is far more talented, faster and stronger than what you think."

"Silence Otherworlder! You know nothing other than darkening her heart and soul. If my sister was truly of pure heart, she would have confided herself with her own blade rather than letting you Otherworlders dragging her from the light to the darkness." Valorion rebutted. "Yet alas! She is too afraid to commit the deed. So, I must do it for her."

"Hmph." Samantha snickered. "Maybe you are right on that." Valorion scowled, his aura of superiority caught off guard for a moment as Samantha continues to explain. "We did 'darken' her soul. But you fail to realize something: Too much light or too much darkness can blind you, blind anyone. Sometimes you need a little bit of darkness to guide you to the right way in a sea of blinding lights." Samantha explained the balance that Aliathra had to endure, both from her spiritual tribulations and her trials living with Cybernetic Implants.

"You think she is 'impure' because she did not follow all those traditions of yours to the letter? No! She did all of that because she has the powerful will to live and through that will to live she has accomplished what all you elves and imperials have miserably failed: seeing the truth about us. You people can boast that you kill dragons, monsters or gains victories in many wars but I bet that none of you have visions and guts to realize what you are currently doing here is all wrong. Aliathra is stronger than all of you because she see's beyond what you folks overlook, us being 'Demons', those 'barbaric' Daosne? Even the 'evil' Vampires too! They are all just like her see with dreams, families and the ability to love and aspire just like her." Samantha stated.

"Are you… trying to argue with me?" Valorion's nerves struck violently. "There is no argument here! I am going to end this charade of hers because we love her!" he placed his hand on his sword, readying to unsheathe it to defend the honor of the Lareththor's.

"This… is 'Love'?!  Putting her down for entire life and trying to kill her without giving her a chance to explain and you call that… 'Love'?"  Samantha questioned.

"Only her family can gain her a merciful death to a coward and weakling like her than having her to endure the torment of serving under you Otherworlders only to get betrayed in the end! At least with this she will not dishonor all the brave elves who has died fighting you all and her ancestors." Valorion scoffed at the Captain.

"By calling me and Iris, a vampire here as friends! Aliathra just proves that she is the bravest elves in the entire history of your people and more than those before her! And I am proud to call them all as my friends, my mentors and my sisters!" Sam defiantly rebuked him.

"And you would think, we would ever betray her? We would stab her in the front! Because that was friends are for." Iris added. And in hindsight, that could have come off better from her venom filled tongue.

The Samantha's words pulled Aliathra from the edge, hero tears uncontrollably shedding out of unbridled joy. She was not alone; she was never alone in her struggle. From out of the shadow of the weight of despair, lay a light of hope. For Valorion however, it was an upset to rival all ages, there is no enthralling spell or any form of corruptions for the weak-minded that had caused her sister to turn against Ethuilen. The Otherworlders use nothing but the words of empowerment to make her sisters side with them.

"Enough with this nonsense! I will take you all down right here and now!" a hot-headed Faithleann came forward and drew his sword.

"Let the grown-ups do the talking and fighting brat! Unless you want to soil your pants again like last time at Haringpoint!" Iris annoyingly dismissed the Bane.

"I have armed myself with the best enchanted armor and magic sword but most of all powerful amulet to boost my magic to a large degree so you will not defeat me so easily again." The Bane Chosen One boasted.

Valorion and the rest of his soldiers unable to stop themselves from reddening in shame the moment the Ser Garmhaic glowed brightly in charged up his magickst. For a while he though that despite the immaturity of the Bane, his raw magical power could prove that he is formidable in combat and his defeat by the Shareholder must be a hard fight. However, as the Bane prepares his spell casting, he realizes his assumption was wrong.

"Stay back Ser Garmhaic, you are not ready to combat them yet. Allow me." Valorion halted Faithleann's advance with his arm blocking his path.

"But I can defeat them!" Faithleann insisted.

"A Neophyte from Pavia would know to remember to keep his War---" Sellyine was about to reprimand him but was interrupted.

"Omni-Push." Samantha says as she generates a powerful repulsive force from her palm to send Faithlean flying at high speed at the wall behind him, knocking him out of this conversation in a single stroke.

"When idiots like him learn that armors and weapons do not make them great warriors! I killed fools like him while they wore enchanted armors and weapons with just my claws."  Iris chuckled mockingly.

"Now then brother, after everything you said and my friends have said to me so far, I will keep this simple to you. Stand down now or else you and every one of your soldiers here will perish with only the cold winds of these Northern Wastes as your only mourners." Aliathra coldly, yet firmly drew her line on the snow.

Valorion had heard enough, he drew his enchanted sword now shining with Wind-Runes and ordered with only the motion of his blade to commence the attack.

Behind him, his Elven Warriors let loose their enchanted arrows and eldritch missiles upon Alpha Unit,

Reacting quickly, Aliathra's arm metamorphosized to expose her the inner workings of her Cybernetic Arms. They were shaped into an invisible unbinilium-deuterium fluoride laser capable of discharging Mana Energies in whatever shape or form the user desires.

"Begone!" Aliathra's arm conjured the magical shield that shifted its gears to unleash a massive spherical repulsion wave causing everyone and everything within a full 360-degree radius, except Alpha Unit and Stryder Group to be pushed away with great force. Dozens of Elven and Imperial troops were knocked away or straight up slain as their bodies impact the hard surfaces. Some of the Elven Rangers from the roof even fell to their deaths.

Bravo Unit, seeing their opportunity to escape, then burst out of the Armory to make a bee-line toward Alpha Unit under their fire support.

"Mama-Bird this is Stryder, Get to the Central Courtyard and prepare for a Hot Extraction!" radioed Clay.

"Affirmative." Mama-Bird, the call sign of their Super Osprey Extraction nodded.

"Get the artifacts out of here when they touch down! We'll hold'em!" Crocker yelled.

"You will not escape my blade sister!" Valorion recovered from Aliathra's magical blast. He drew his sword and with the swiftness of the blowing winds, charged straight towards his sister.

"Let take him down." Samantha charged the magical energies of her Hecate Suit, readying herself for Spell-on-Spell combat, but her Elven Friend stepped, shaking her head.

"No, he is mine. You take care of the others." Aliathra cautioned the Captain. The Elf's arm's metamorphosized again into Nano-Carbon Blades that protruded like the claws of a Mantis insect from her upper forearms.

"Damnit… you are right… good luck!" Samantha nodded, her faith resting upon her friend as she vaulted off the Battlements to join the ensuing fight below.

"Do not think you can stand a chance against me! I will end you swiftly." Valorion arrogantly boasted.

"Then let me show you how a 'Good-For-Marrying-Off' Waif like me can do!" Aliathra grinded as she imbued Arcane Energies to enhanced her Nano-Carbon Blades for her duel with her brother. She will need them to break through his many wards that protected him from harm.

There blades instantly clashed upon contact, the Mana Energies of each of their weapons of choice vibrating into minor shockwaves that reverberated the ground around them. Fueled by emotions of betrayal, anger and the desire of honoring their ideals. The battle was more than just a melee, it was a clash of two opposing principles. And given the day, only one will triumph to march forward to the Future while the other shall be resigned to decay below the cold stone ground forgotten and defeated.

From an objective standpoint, Valorion held the reach advantage given his sword that gracefully flurried its way to deal a killing blow towards his sister. Yet Aliathra held the speed advantage, the Rapid Movement boosters and having two shorter rather than one long blade gave her a better degree of finding the right angles to attack the Elven Prince. Her eyes meanwhile, could easily sense the slightest twitching of motion and split second openings that she could exploit.

In order for the former Princess to triumph, she will need to pierce through the layers of Magical Wards that Alie knew her brother would have enchanted into his Armor at all times.

"I will show... you…" Aliathra spotted a split second of vulnerability in her brother's posture as she launched her bladed arm towards Valorion's pauldrons. Charged with an amplified 'Dispel' magic, the wards blasted away not only Valorion, but several parts of his armor.

The Elven Prince couldn't believe that his 'weak' sister struck such a blow against him. This insult angering him further as he redoubled his assault. This must not come to pass, a thing she knew from the ever so tranquil lover of hers, Diaz: 'Never let your opponent attack more than you'. She needed to force him into the defensive, and dictate the flow of the fight. Valorion's sword chopped towards her right, that Aliathra easily weaved but suddenly as his wind-enchanced sword moved left it shifted right, locking the Princess to a pin where her brother manage to grapple her from her flatfooted posture. With Exposed, Valorion was about to guillotine Aliathra when she reacted quickly for the counter, using her weight, she forced herself and brother to fall down to the ground, causing Valorion's longsword to tumble away. Letting go off his grip, the Cyborg Elf thrusted both of her hands towards her brother's exposed breastplate. Spark immediately dispersed from the violently discharged magic that was dispelled by Aliathra's Nano-Carbon Blades.

The Elven Prince couldn't believe what is happening, that his sister was beginning to usurp him in power and skill.

Valorion rolled away, his armor torn away from him and exposed only to his gambeson, blooding seeping out of the many cuts around his shins, arms and torso. He quickly grabbed his sword as he resumed his posture, albeit the damages Aliathra inflicted on him was beginning to show its cracks within his now besieged body. He arched his sword overhead, as he began to whisper to his sword.

A nervous sweat fell below Aliathra as she knew what her brother is about to attempt to do. He will speak a vile edict so cruel that those who hear its singular tone had their hearts stopped beating forevermore.

"I am sorry… Sister." Valorion turned to his sister, his blade gripped with murderous thirst.

"You don't have to do this! You still can do the right thing!" Aliathra pleaded her brother as she readied her bladed arms to meet his brother's attack.

"But it must be… This shall be an ending to all things!" Valorion gave out the last of his power and energy into one final assault. "Rodin-peth, Beleth!"  he struck his tongue with a singular and exhaustive breath.

With those cursed words ringing into her ear, Aliathra could feel the hateful magic course into her body. An invisible force began to systematically shut off her body one by bit, first her muscles, then her breathing and then finally her heart. The Elf in that one instant collapsed to the floor just as Valorion swore he would accomplish, to honorably slay his aberrant sister.

"I am sorry if it has come to this sister of mine…" He bowed his head over her corpse.

As Valorion begins to start pity over her sister's corpse, Aliathra suddenly sprung up immediately from her 'dead' state much to his fright.

"H-How?! How did you survive the Killing Word? Your heart should have stopped beating from that spell." Valorion's eyes widened as he barely parried the redouble assault of his sister's attacks.

"That spell only works on heart made from flesh and blood, but mine made from metal", Aliathra explained her unexpected survival.

"Of course, you only damn yourself further! Rejecting what the Goddess gifted you for of… non-living metal! I must purge you off your heresy!" Valorion charges at his sister to decapitate her in one final ditch attempt to triumph this day.

But it was another classical error of her arrogant brother. Aliathra weaved around her brother's killing blow and with a little lesson she learned from Diaz and Samantha: 'In a fight to the death, fight as dirty as possible'. She positioned her head and rammed her brother by his abdomen with the spring of her augmented legs. The heavy blow knocked down Valorion to the ground and disarm his sword from his hand. Yet even when in such a handicapped state, he still dared to fight her. The Elven Princess pommeled him to his jaw a good dozen times. She could swore she managed to dislodge several of his pearly teeth from their gums by the crunch of his bones.

Her brother revulsed from the pain, any resemblance of a fighting capability dissipating. Seizing her chance, the former Elven Princess then charged her right finger with mana energy and poke at his forehead.

"Give up brother, you cannot fight anymore after that strike in the forehead", Alianthra tells him.

"What makes you think a simple finger can stop me?!", Valorion growled. He tries to cast his magicks to fire at Aliathra but was suddenly unable to do so much to his shock he cannot draw any mana from his body to perform or even just pluck any Mana from the Aetherium to his aid.

"What have you done… to me?!" Valorion roared as he spat out a mixture of blood and saliva whilst clenching his fractured abdomen.

"You know your Arcane Meridian's Valorion? Thanked to the Federation's immense medical knowledge, I have learned that there are so-called "pressure points" in all living beings that managing the flow of life force and even the flow of mana. By meddling some of these pressure points, I can sever your ability to draw mana. You cannot cast any of your spells for at least a moon's pass." Aliathra answered. "That and you are no longer able to fight. That means… I… have won."

Still too stubborn to accept defea, Valorion feebly stood up and attempted to strike at his sister with his bare fists intending to fight her sister with everything he has. Remember the martial arts lesson from Samantha, she parried his fist, then struck him by the jaw to stun him before grappling his arm and twisting it with all of her weight against her brother's. A loud crack of disjointed limbs followed as the Elf broke her brother's right arm. Valorion recoiled backwards in pain, where Aliathra easily took hold of his other arm and broke it too.

"I-I-Impossible.....I...am…than... her. How… could she…. You…" Valorion mumbles, distraught in the shame of his defeated body.

But alas, there can be no denying it. He had lost. The Elven Prince fell back down to the ground defeated; It was the truth. The cold hard truth, his 'weak' sister had triumphed over him in every possible way both in strength, mind and soul.

"I have won Valorion. This proves that for all of your talk of your traditions that our people had upheld for centuries have been and cherished by every Elven Family had been proven false! I have… I am the stronger sibling now." Aliathra looked down on her brother.

The Prince groaned and moaned of his defeat, coughing off blood and some of his teeth as he unable to stand up or even move his body less he aggravate the grievous injures his sister inflicted upon him.

"Even though you broke my heart into thousands of pieces, you are still my brother Valorion. I will not kill you. There is still time for you to give up and end all this meaningless bloodshed." Aliathra broached him. "Free yourself from all of your anger. I can help you!"

"Never! I rather die than letting myself and my men submitted to the Otherworlders! You might have defeated me but you are still a weak and foolish child who submitted to the Otherworlders to save your own hide and betray everything our people stood for." Valorion spat at his sister.

"I did not betray my people brother. I am trying to save them from themselves and lifting them from the darkness they themselves unknowingly created. Despite our affinity to the Weave, The Elves were never the paragons of civilization and righteousness as I had thought it to be. Our race is just as flawed as the younger races in Gliesea! In fact, we are no better than the barbarians and so-called evil races that we always revile! If wasn't for the arrival of the Federation, I would never realize this nor the need for an Amelioration." Aliathra swore.

"Amelioration?" Valorion furrowed, his brow confounded.

"Just like Prince Clovich, I will create my very own Amelioration to make our society become better and advance ourselves toward the stars! With the Federaton's firepower, the Dark Elves will be defeated once and for all along with their barbaric ways. With their help, I can cast out all those absurd traditions and bindings that had deluded us once and for all! The Glisea as you know is gone Valorion. The new age has begun. You can either join me to build a better future or perish along into the annals of history." The Former Princess heartfully appealed his brother one last time.

"You impudent child! I will not let you destroy the way of life that allowed thrive for centuries!", Valorion roared.

"Then you are truly lost, brother. Your fate shall be determined by the Federation's judgement now. Farewell, and may Nenya have mercy on your soul." Aliathra turned away from her injured brother.

"Aliathra! Get back here!" he continuously roared at her, but he could do anything but hoarse yell to the top of his lungs as the former Princess returned to her friends. "Don't you dare leave us! Don't you dare leave me!"

[-]

"Crush!" Samantha unfurled her hand as she magnetically rends the Slaegian Legionnaires asunder of their armor. Turning their protective garments into their black-blooded funerary garments.

"Take this." Sam then generates air pressure that superheated above her right hand. Upon throwing her fist, she created a gust of wind so great it blew the Magical Knight, Petur Reikdorf and his summoned swords away.

As Sam finished her attack, Findrum the Dwarf Slayer throws his axe at her but it is deflected in time by Iris's magic blast.

"I will kill of yo--", Findrum states but he is interrupted by a loud bang and he looks at his chest and see blood flowing from it. He then sees Iris holding her Magnum Revolver right below his abdomen.

"I cast… Gun." Iris mocked the Dwarf as she sees the Dwarfen Slayer collapse to the ground, grovelling at his wound.

The battle in the Courtyard raged as bullets, swords and magicks created a maelstrom of carnage that even the most steadfast of souls could easily befuddle those who are caught in its melee. Pockets of Slaegians, Elves and UFEAF descended into anarchic clashes as Samantha struggled to keep her team close to each other, only to find that the only person that managed to keep up with her hastened pasting was Iris Cadohagan.

"Let's keep at it!" the Captain pushed forward with the momentum she had achieved so far.

"You two shall go no further!" Huguet roared as he appeared in emerged from the dust in front of them along with Arch Mage Sellyine as well as a large of group of Elven and Imperial reinforcements.

"Shareholder!" the haughty Elven Mage called Samantha out. "You have power, you have knowledge just like mine Vampire. But your dabbling with the Dark Arts will be useless." Sellyine challenged Iris and Samantha. Her stave shining brightly in arcane azure.

"I do not have time for this! Back away!" Samantha readied herself for Spell Combat.

"I have to say Shareholder, your magic is impressive. I am not surprised, unlike that brat Ser Garmhaic. You are trained by those that actually know and well-attuned to the Weave. However, your magic lacks… finesse… not as to match of mine. You and that vampire will not win against me." Sellyine remarked her.

"Why need 'finesse' when you can defeat your opponent with just one or two hits?" Sam answered her, with her fist curling to ready another sorcerous spell.

The Arch Mage held her staff towards Samantha. She remained cautious knowing of the tales and now firsthand accounts of the Shareholder's capabilities, realizing her opponent is not wrong. Her spells and fighting technique while brutish and crude but were viciously effective. When the Shareholder defeated the Bane, both the great thinkers of their Ethuilen circles instantly reasoned that the Shareholder is an opponent not to trifle with. She even admitted that both she and Valorion will not be able to block Shareholder's lighting fast attacks as they are too fast for them to block or even endure for long periods of time if allowed to dictate the flow of battle for an extended period of time. If they are to confront her, they will need to come prepared.

She needed blunt the edge the Shareholder's power and isolate her from her vampiric companion if she was to stand a chance against Samantha.

"Archers! Pin them down!" Huguet gave the order.

A downpour of Legionnaire-borne Missiles began to descend upon Samantha and Iris as the two friends tucktailed and protected themselves with their magically conjured shields. The UFEAF Captain squawked as she was pinned down by the arrows' suppressive fire. Which played into both the Marshall and Arch Mage's plan.

Sellyine spoke arcane incantations that caused the ground beneath the captain's feet to haze. Moss and fungus began to erupt around Samantha and Irises, feet at first no smaller than the spring's bloom only to augment in size and began to wrap the two women with their veridian tendrils. The Arch Mage called upon the very life forces of Gliesia, even if sparse in the northern regions to work with. She fueled all of her enmity to be in concert with sacred Gliesia's into this Primal spell. The Captain didn't even have time to fire her FBR-20 when it was violently taken away by one of the vines before leashing itself onto her arms.

"I am stuck!" Iris growled, trying to claw her way from those entangling vines but every time she cuts one down, two more wrap themselves further into her body.

"Prepare to die Vampire!" Huguet readied his sword for the killing blow to the Vampire Witch.

The captain knew that her friend's life has come down to the wire. She needed to break away these bindings. Fighting through her bindings, she reached for her grenade pouch. As the vines was about to fully entrap her, Samantha used her magicks to telekinetically unpin the fuse of her high-explosive grenade and with a great fling launched the orb towards Arch Mage Sellyine. The Blast knocked several of her comrades away whilst also breaking her concentration off. Her grip on the spell loosening its power making the hateful plants let go of the two. Just on time, Iris was able to dodge Huguet's coup-de-grace at the last possible split second. Her fangs bore down towards him as she readies to cut the head off of the reviled leader of the Slaegian Empire's Legionnaires.

"I may not be like those Hunters of the Inquisition, of which no doubt you have slain many. But I have their steely passion to purge your filth from this land once and for all or die trying!" Huguet straffed around Samantha and Iris.

"I will drain you dry!" Iris accepted his challenge.

Huguet swirled his sword towards Iris. Dancing both their blades and claws at each other. Huguet maybe brave, but bravery alone was no match for the inhuman Iris. The Vampire Witch conjured a magical leash from her hands. She tossed the conjuration, aiming for the Slaegian Marshall, lassoing him in between its dark tendrils. She pulled the arcane-created rope with all of her might, yanking the Slaegian Marshall towards her. In one fluid motion, the Vampire Witch conjured a Mana Blade from her left hand. With one singular swipe, Marshall Huguet of the Slaegian Legion was no more. His severed head fell down to the floor as a geyser of blood erupted from his neck that the Vampire Witch feasted upon with a maddening gusto.

"By the gods! She killed the Marshall!" a Knight recoiled, startled at the terrifying display of vampiric brutality Iris had demonstrated.

"That was for House Lachtinach!" Iris dropped the Marshall's corpse to the ground. The taste of blood of vengeance fulfilled intoxicating her.

"Iris!" Samantha snapped her back into reality. "We still got another big fish to fry." Samantha pointed her attention to Arch Mage Sellyine

"Gods curse you!" Sellyine danced her fingers as she somatically gestured three times upon herself a powerful Magical Ward on her. She must shift her tactics for this fight for it was all up to her to stop them now. The spell was much more potent than her previous wards, only used in the direst of confrontations for her own personal safety. And that moment was the impervious time to unleash her most exhaustive of maneuvers.

To add to the durability of her Ward, she activated the mana-amplifying amulet around her to amplify its strength so that it could block all the magic attacks the two women could throw at her. Much to their chagrin.

"Fool! My Runic Wards protects me from all harm!" the Arch Mage glared.

"Damnit we cannot go through her with that Ward up!" Iris cursed. Her nerves pulsating towards Samantha for any plan they could

"We have to breakthrough that Ward then." Sam replies

"Perish!" Sellyine conjures an exceptionally powerful wave of Arcane Energy directed at both women, causing them to struggle to shiled from it.

Being an Elf of exceptional acumen, Sellyine could easily cast two powerful spells, one on each hand with little difficulty. The same skill applicable for holding Staffs and/or Wands too.

As the two struggles, Sellyine then conjures several magic blasts from her right hand while her staff continues to bombard them with magic wave to overwhelm the Shareholder and the Vampire.

"We're trapped!" the Iris yelled.

"Maintain hold the shield, we can try to blink ourselves behind her so we can take her down." Samantha analyzed her surroundings whilst grunting to maintain the Shield under the weight of the Arch Mage's assault. Already her body was already beginning to exact its toll.

It was a long shot, but if the Elf needed direct line of sight to attack and defend herself from, then just one second out of her sight would make all the difference.

"This ends now!" Sellyine grips her staff with both hands. Expending her all to create a concentrated magical beam aimed for their shield. The beam broke it, causing both Sam and Iris to be blown backwards several feet away.

"Be gone from my world you abominations!" Sellyine prepares to finish off Sam and Iris as they are down but then just as quickly as she stepped forward, she saw both of them sink towards the Ground in a seemingly cowardly attempt to escape her wrath.

"Cravens! Do you think you can hide from me for long? I will just need to ---" her arrogance was cut short as the ground below her feet within her ward ruptured. She fell down to the ground as her eyes met with the Share Holder and her Vampiric companion once again, there eyes lusting for her defeat.

Before the Arch Mage could react to what just happened, she was struck with a great impact on her jaw from Samantha's fists. Without her concentration, her Ward immediately dispersed.

"You conniving rats! Get your dirty fingers ooo---", Sellyine growled, but before she could conjure a spell, Iris thrusted her razor-sharp claws of her right arm onto her chest.

"Y-you..." The Arch Mage whimpered, as her eyes fell several tears of disbelief. She collapsed into the ground, clutching her bleeding chest wounds, in a grave attempt to save herself from Death. Despite her audacity, she was no longer in any shape to fight anymore.

"Elven Blood…" Iris licked the arrogant Arch Mage's blood of from her red hand. "Delicious."

As the vampire starts to feast on her blood, more Elven and Imperial reinforcement come and this time with heavy armored knights and Great Eagles, causing Sam and Iris to retreat toward Stryder's position a now uncontested jog away.

"Bravo team, come in!" Clay radioed.

"We manage to make through half of the distance from the extraction zone but we are being under heavy fires from the wall." Bravo's Team Leader answered.

Ever since the entire infiltration group was compromised, the entire Fortress was put unto a total lockdown, stifling any attempt for the intruders to move around as they wish without encountering fierce resistance.

"Can your Aircrafts use this Courtyard to land?" Karliah suggested.

Re-examining the field, the Mage was correct to reason that this Courtyard can be used to land one at a time the UFEAF's Aircraft to extract everyone out of here. It wouldn't be as a clean extraction from the original extraction point, but alas, no plan ever survives first contact. They will have to keep their toes up until the very moment the Osprey dusts off.

"It's risky, but we don't got much options left." Sergeant Crocker nodded. "Send it."

"Mama-Bird, dust of and reroute to this secondary extraction point!" Clay followed..

"Coordinates received, E.T.A. Three-Minutes." Captain Kaprelian answered.

"Gee-Tee-Eff-Ooh!" Diaz squealed.

As Stryder and Bravo Unit were ready to move out, Kayin suddenly gets struck by a bullet to his shoulder.

"We got a shooter on the roof!" The group directed their fire at the individual on the roof as they tried to hide away from their fire but a well-placed blast from Karliah knocked the figure out of the roof, tumbling down to the cold hard ground.

Karliah walked past Samantha to examine the figure's body but they suddenly sprung back up, as if not injured at all by grabs Karliah and aimed his weapon, a MAR-A5 Assault Rifle.

"Do not move! Or else I blow up her head" Mara announced to the UFEAF.

"It is you Crow Master… Or should I say Mara?" Karliah asks her.

"Do not call me that name!" she scolded her former colleague.

"Sister! You don't have to do this!" Iris pleaded to her.

"From fumbling a grenade to hostage hold? Yeah… your sister learns fast." Diaz swallowed his tongue. His toes aroused by just how truly tenacious this rogue was in adapting to their Methods. He hadn't seen this much grit since his younger days back in Kesserheim.

"Do not think me like the rest of my idiotic kind Vincente! I am the only one understand who you people really are!", Mara states as she shoved the assault rifle's barrel near Karliah's head to threaten both her and the UFEAF Soldiers who aimed their guns at her to not attempt anything drastic.

"If the Blood Memory ritual you inflicted on those captives earlier told you anything, you should know by now that resistance is futile. The end is all but inevitable." Iris reasoned. "I can help you Mara! Please Sister!"

"She is right Mita… I mean… Mara… This war of ours did not need to happen. By now you are only just pointlessly tossing away lives the longer you resist." Karliah tried to keep herself calm as she addressed to the Crow Master.

"Stop calling me those names! Are you come here to gloat on me for becoming a vile vampire after what I did to your father!?" Mita turned to Karliah.

"I do not hate you Mara! I forgive everything! You just like me. We are both victims of the deceit brought forth by the Slaegians. I accept you of who you are!" Karliah reasoned.

"Shut up! Shut up!" Mita screeched ferally. "I do not need any of your proffers of reprieve. I made you turned traitor! You must revile me!" she once again denied the truth of her vampiric heritage as part of her rather, believing the less wholesome but more sympathetic lie that her newfound bloodthirst is a curse brought forth to her Iris.

"I do not care whether you Otherworlders with your 'science and technology' can eradicate hungers, elevating the down trodden of peoples of this world to heavenly degree's, building majestic cities within a blink of an eyes, revolutionize smagic or enabling the people of this world to sail across the cosmo! This is OUR world! the Federation has no right to destroy our identities and ways of life." Mara rebuked them all.

"When I drank those soldiers of yours with that accursed Sanguinomancy you struck me down with… I was revealed with… so many truths of you." Mita spat on the ground as she continued to threaten both Karliah and the UFEAF with her captured seized Assault Rifle.

"Talk about being a tough bitch…" Diaz snickered as he probed Mita's posture for any physical weaknesses he could exploit, but was reprimanded by Crocker immediately afterwards for his off brand comment.

"The truth is… that you are no different from the Slaegians, the Elves or the Dwarves!  You Otherworlders are just another merry horde of ruthless conquerors and devourers of lands who destroys any cultures and ways of life that you deem inferior under the guise of 'enlightenment'. Look no further than the Elf, the Filipino Rogue, your two croenddu followers, and the Maori second-in-command you call as companions Samantha. Their culture had died by your people's hands… many cycles long ago! Tell me, how you would be different masters to us… the Daosne, the Dwarves and all of the others of Gliesia when you finally claim victory? Samantha?" Mara concluded her affidavit against the Federation.

Samantha's squad were left unnerved by the Crow Master's scathing study. A hint of compunction dithered beneath there bones as they tried to maintain a façade of stoicism in the face of such a nemesis. But it was easy for Mita to know that she had struck her adversary to a cord that not even the sharpests of forged blades could ever puncture.

"Maybe you are right. In the end, when one walks forward, to progress, sacrifices are needed to be made." Samantha frankly nodded. "We have toppled regimes, destroyed entire civilizations, scattered peoples all around. But we can change, we learn from our mistakes. Gliesia of the past may no longer be able to survive the future from here on out, but that doesn't mean those people can still bring whatever they carried, whether their values, cultures and aspirations into the new era. And we just have to… clean up all the unusable… the unsavory parts of them all. Slavery, Familial Honor Killings, and Famine." She argued back.

"Who gave you the right?" the Crow Master rebutted. "Who gave you the right to choose what is 'unsavory'? Do you ever look upon yourselves and realize… no matter where you go you upset the very order of this world by your mere prescence… existence alone? You Otherworlders have the remarkable ability to cause upheavels where ever the earth you walk your feet upon! Then you sweetly tongued your way through so many hearts of those who kneel before you. The Empire may had its foible defects, but how your ideas of 'freedom' any better than just Chaos?"

"Again, we have centuries… of knowledge of what works and not. For every failure we make we built upon it to create something that would eventually succeed. We have grown accustomed to not being afraid of failure… in fact we dare to keep moving forward no matter what hardships we came through. Your empire, in its bid to preserve itself… to avoid its failure… in fact became the catalyst for it. This Chaos, this Collapse of the Old Order is but the seed for something new." Samantha replied. "I may not know fully the extent you now know us Mita… but we are no longer the 'Demons' you thought us to be."

"Then you have already lost!" She cackled hysterically. "You lack the conviction to finish what you started. Hiding on your air mist of your 'high-and-mightiness'… too scared to finish your enemies. Maybe you it is true you do not wish to become 'the demons' of yore's past. That means we can still rise again, hold on to that grain of hope of that old spirit we once had until you grow tire of our insolence and leave our world forever. Face it, no matter what you try to tame us, we will never be enslaved by the likes of you. Even if Ghana's Wall is to fall this day, there are still many more of us scattered amongst this world, not just us Slaegians, but the Daosne, the Elves, the Suzerains will defy you for every step you take!"

"We do not need to help everyone. Time moves marches on… and in the end… you will… and all of us will be taken away by it. But what we build will move on until it is there turned to be torn down to build something anew. That is the way civilization always has been… always shall be." Samantha held out her secondary pistol forward towards Mita. "Now let Karliah go!"

"One more step and I… I will kill her and take as many of you as I can!" the Crow Master threatened.

"Oh?" Diaz coyly curled his right brow. "Kill her if one of us takes a step? Like this?" Diaz non-chalantly leaned backwards and took a playful step forward as the Federations Soldier's eyes widened.

Mita screamed as she readies to pull the trigger…

Only for Diaz to be faster, using drawing his Ruiner Pistol quickly, Diaz shot the lower receiver of Rogue's assault rifle causing its tubular snout to rupture rendering its means of discharging its ammunition inert.

Karliah, seeing an opportunity to escape, elbows Mita by her abdomen causing her to loosen her grip and collapse to the ground so that she can make a dash to escape. Taking this split-second opening, Diaz drew his sword and in one swift stroke, slashed Mita by her right hand, severing her hand from her arm.

The Crow Master clutched her now severed limb painfully to stifle the bleeding. She may be able to regenerate but it is still painful to endure such a rending slash to her nonetheless. That's why she prefers to avoid getting attacked in the first place.

"What do you gain in the end by keep siding with this doomed alliance? It is only a matter of time before they are able to see your true self! Do you honestly think they will listen, let alone accept that a Sochairfuil like you as part of their struggle?!! And Do you naively think the Federation would just 'give up' this world and refuse to learn from the past mistakes against the stubborn likes of you?" Iris yelled at her sister.

Once again, Mara scoffed at her. Even when she lay broken and bleeding before them, she would not allow them to gain the satisfaction of her surrender. Seeing the stubbornness in Mara's eyes, Iris angrily snatches the mana-suppression amulet hidden in Mara's clothes and crushes it into particles of dissipating Mana Energies.

"There!" Iris spitefully screamed. "From now on, you cannot go back to the alliance anymore without them knowing of your true nature! You have no choice now! I will take you in, whether you like so or not!" Iris decreed. The SEALs of Alpha Team soon approached to apprehend Mara. She is a valuable intelligence asset after all. Although the Vampire Witch may have to tell Agent De Sardet to not allow her sister to be in one intact and alive piece when he is done with her.

Mara then uses all her strength to magically make her right hand to be able break out of the paralysis by her willful constitution alone. Freeing some portions of her body she scrambled amongst her hidden leather pockets an metal orb that she ignited before tossing it in front of the approaching Diaz and Obed. Sensing her devious ploy, Iris quickly conjures a ward to shield her two comrades from the resulting smoky explosion.

As the dust cleared, she stood back up only to see that Mara has disappeared. The magical orb was in fact an Enchanted Smoke Bomb that masked her escape once again from Stryder's clutches.

"Sister!" Iris lungs burst in distraught.

"We're outta time now Iris! We didimau! We didi-now!" Kayin grabbed her by the shoulder. "Let her go." He knew that Mara made her choice. Now she will have to sit on it as just the impending consequences of this rebellion's dissent reaches ever closer to its foregone conclusion.

"Captain Rose." The leader of Bravo Unit sighed in relief as he finally reunited with another friendly face. "Thanks for the assist." He gave his gratitude.

Samantha smiled, finally able to rescue her comrades once again. "Hey drinks are on the house when we get back, don't mention it. Now let's get the hell ou---"

"Rrrrrraggghhhh!!!!!!!"

A heart-chilling roar echoed across between the two mountains as the skies blackened caused by the arrival of the shadow of A larged winged beast. The winds swiftly blew away as such a creature of majestic size made its prescence known. A horned-draconic beast gilded in the shiniest gold whose equally massive splendor could rival the Sun.

"It's the Sun Dragon!" Iris gasped.

Several off the Alliance Soldiers, upon seeing the Dragon descend to their aid had their morale soared exponentially as they raised their weapons back against the Otherworlder's as if directing the magical beast to baptize them all in its infernal breath.

"It must have been summoned by its master, Prince Valorion." Iris clarified. "They must be very desperate to let this loose in here of all places."

"Son of a bitch." Samantha cursed.

"Watch out for its Greater Malynaris Flames, if you aren't Warded, its breath will incinerate you to ashes!" Aliathra yelled.

"Captain Rose!" yelled the voice of Dr. Mahelona from the Hecate Suit's Warrior NETT Communicator. "How are we going to kill that thing? The Super Osprey's can't safely fly off with that thing on the loose!"

"Sun Dragon's are temperamental by their nature. They will always destroy whatever incites the most offense to them. I will try to distract it. Hurry now!" Aliathra explained.

"Wait, we'll come with you." Samantha and Iris followed the Elf.

"Keep its attention away from the Ospreys then!" Colonel Polonsky chimed in. "Prioritize getting the Osprey with the Artifacts out of there!"

The Dragon's snake like visage indeed turned around to face the Captain and Alianthra who began to fire its Great Malynaris Breath in a form of a powerful heat ray at Samantha's direction. She barely dodges its golden beam which of which it vaporizes several of the buildings it touches similar to Meson Laser Canons of one of the UFE Navy's War Ships.

"Hey ugly! It's me you want!" Samantha taunted him. She held her legs forward, her right facing front and left facing behind her in a wide and deep pose with hips facing forward.

The Captain gritted her teeth, casting several Magic Missiles onto the Dragon, aiming specifically at its Eyes and Underbellies, the most vulnerable parts of the beast to draw its attention. And fearfully to her, its rampage towards Samantha.

"Captain!" Kayin turned around, holding Iris by his hands.

"Get everyone out of here! We'll hold it off!" Samantha urged Kayin to take the others out of there. Only she, Iris and Aliathra were capable of holding off this great giant beast. The last obstacle to Gliesian Reunification and Amelioration.

Kayin nodded, knowing the mission was the priority now. He and Iris gave a small salute to her before they dashed away with the rest of the SEAL's.

"We have to dust off now! The whole base is swarming at us!" Captain Kaprelian alarmed.

"No! We can't risk it until that Dragon is dead!" Crocker protested.

The Dragon's snake like visage indeed turned around to face the Captain who began exhaled its infernal rays of fire onto Samantha's direction of which she narrowly dodges.

"Captain Rose! Its attention is back at our Osprey's again! Do something now!" Colonel Polonsky radioed her.

"What's that? Are you sure? Fine I will take your word for it…" a break of David's voice followed by a tone of nervousness betrayed the otherwise self-confident scientist that the captain noticed.  "Samantha I was just given word by the Abacus, our resident Sacred Crystal Heart Gem told me of way we can kill that beast."

"What is it Doc?" she asked.

"It told me that you can use the Arcane Meridian Implants and your Mana Absorbers from your Hecate Suit turn the energy of the dragon against itself with, equal to the power of the Sun. Like take as much of the Dragon's Breathe's excess Mana off into yourself and then fire it back with a huge Beam! But… there is a risk… " David reluctantly explained.

"Risk?" Samantha furrowed.

"You risk catastrophic system failure if you do not channel all of that energy properly. The Hecate Suit hasn't even been tested if its current incarnation could handle so much Mana like that!" David answered.

"But it can be done?" Samantha pressed.

"M-Maybe?" he reluctantly answered ambiguously.

It was a working theory based on what he knows of his creation's capability. Yet nonetheless, both Samantha and Dr. Mahelona knew that there was no other way of proving this theory is grounded in reality or not. Science today must take its gamble one step more.

"Then let us share that burden with you Samantha." Aliathra volunteered. "Then we will share that amount of burden to you! You just need to transfer all the exceed mana to us.

"Be careful when you conjure the Consuming Ward. If you falter for even a moment the Ward will break and we will be turned to ashes." Iris lectured to Samantha about the specialized Abjuration Spell, which highly skilled mages such as even her own Bloodline had used to absorb Mana from opponents to turn their magic back at them.

"I know." The Captain smiled meekly.

The Dragon roared as it readies to squash this annoying human gnat with its infernal Draconic Breath. Casting Consuming Ward she could conjure; the Mystic Three bore the full brunt of the Dragon's attack onto her suit. Such tremendous outputs of Mana would have devoured lesser mages immediately, but not for them and the Hecate Suit.

The scorching rays of the Sun Dragon darted across the courtyard to the Mystic Three, engulfing her entirety in flames. If not for the Ward her story would have ended right then and there! But she held firm, if barely atop of a tight rope that edges from snapping. Or in this case exploding into a Mana-Nuclear Meltdown that would have likely detonate not only herself but all those within Ghana's Wall with her.

One body alone couldn't withstand such power onto themselves, but the Elf and the Vampire Witch shared into her awesome burden. Carefully, they siphoned Samantha's collected Mana Energies into their themselves, harmonically coalesce the great surges of Mana into their own body. From there is one, now there is a trinity.

"So much! So much!" Iris surged. The mana coursing on her vampiric veins was threatening to rupture her body inside out.

"Friend, Let me take some too…" Aliathra plucked out the energy from Iris' into her own."

"Mana Batteries are overloading. Risk of Meltdown at 96% increase!" the ISAC relayed its forewarning to her.

"We cannot hold the Ward for you much Longer! Too much mana… and we will explode! We need to get this all out of us!" Aliathra answered as she and Iris let go of conjuring the Ward so they can focus on creating the needed Arcane Orb that will defeat the Dragon. "It's all up to you!"

"Your only half way to the Mana Energies we need Captain Rose! Keep going!" Doctor Mahelona cheered.

"Release all safeties. Selective Overclock: Arcane Meridian Internals" Samantha turned up the dials of her suit to its maximum performance. Sweat, tears and even a droplet of blood bled forth from Samantha as she pushed her body to the very limit of what it could take.

"Warning! Catastr---" the suit's AI attempted to warn her.

"I know! Release all Safety Measures." Samantha shut it up. There was no turning back from this action as she readies herself to face the Dragon head on.

With the safety measures off, Samantha had unlocked the full capabilities and dangerously so of her Hecate Suit for her to fight against the Dragon's might.

"Almost there… Almost there… Eighty Percent!" Doctor Mahelona eyes affixated to the Suit's meters on his computer screen.

With great difficulty and gnashing of teeth she called for the aid of her two friends. Her tears streaked upon Samantha's cheeks. She could feel her body starting to exert so much power yet can barely keep herself together. What started as single ember, became an infernal mountain she and her companions beholden upon the Sun Dragon.

"I—can… not… hold… much more…" Aliathra's eyes glowed bright blue as her tears streaked into her eyes and blood began to crack on her nose.

"Samantha!" Dr. Mahelona was at the edge of his seat, the suit's metrics are beginning to glow red in alerts of cat

"I got this!", Sam replies as she creatively conjures a micro-fusion reaction within her two hands using their collective absorbed Mana to conjured a miniaturized sun floating between her two Palms.

"Get ready! Let this damn lizard have it!" Iris cheered herself onwards. They were so close…

"Now!" David barked.

"Fire!" Samantha roared, alongside Iris and Aliathra they let go of the fused Mana Sun they had created.

They thrusted their palms towards theDdragon, which the mini sun implodes and release a powerful fusion beam which tore through the absorbing ward and even push back the Great Malynaris Breath at the dragon. The beam blasts through the dragon's head, causing it to explode spectacularly. The mighty but now headless beast then falls down to ground, causing massive crater to be created. The garrisons are petrified at the scenery as they just witnessed an impossible feat that just has been performed. They had only thought only the Gods themselves could accomplish such an awesome feat.

The Dragon's limp and decapitated body collapsed to the floor. Just as Samantha, exhausted by the sheer weight of exertion she had done followed its descent.

"Sa-Samantha!" Aliathra, exhausted just as much as Iris is too hurried to her side.

"Holy shit! Holy fucking shit! It worked! It actually worked!" Mahelona arose from his office chair.

Examining her friend, to their horror however, they discovered that Samantha was not breathing, her body pale, still and slowly becoming cold…

"David, s-she… she is not breathing!" Aliathra cried. "I… I-I … I am out of… Mana…" she vainly attempted to conjure her Restoration Magicks to heal her friend but to no avail.

"Oh… Ah… Epipherine Injector!" David yelled over the radio.

"Where?!" Iris cried.

"Left breast pocket! Left Breast Pocket!" David answered, he had personally overseen the equipment Samantha placed in her vest. If anyone knew where the Adrenaline Injector, the one thing that could save her life, it would be him.

Their hands scrambled for a tense few seconds, but Aliathra found the Injector on Samantha's vest first.

Removing her vest and pressing her thumbs onto the button, she pierced Samantha's chest with the stimulating fluid.

The Captain jolted to life, albeit minutely, as if she struggled to breathe from the drowning depths of Death.

"Get her out of there quick! You got Sleg's all over the damn place!" Obediah roared on the radio. The Super Osprey

Carrying Samantha together, Iris and Samantha carried the Captain back upstairs where the awaiting ramp of Captain Kaprelian's Aircraft awaited them. The walk was treacherous, but Stryder Group in union protected their Captain until she was safely onboard. Firing away their weapons to blanket their evacuating team mates.

"Go! Go!" Crocker ordered the Pilot just as the first few sword blades clashed their steel upon the Super Osprey.

The great bird dusted off, shaking off those Slaegians and Elves who tried to hold onto it. But they plummeted to the ground to their deaths.

Angered by this humiliation, the Gliesians looked above them in equal parts awe, humility and denial. That Ghana's Wall had been violated, and its defilers had just gotten away with it.

"Shield-Father, this is Stryder, Extraction is successful. We are all accounted for." Crocker radioed. "Proceed to Phase Three."

"Excellent Stryder Group, I am glad you are all coming back home." Polonsky nodded. Behind him was Prince Clovich, who oversaw the entirety of the operation within the Command Room.

The young usurper's heart raced quickly in a struggle to calm himself as he stepped forward to the microphone across the room to deliver a speech. He knows that the speech will all likelihood fall on deaf ears to its intended recipients yet his honor and image had to be maintained that he is fighting not as a conqueror nor as a rebel but as successor that arose from the Slaegian's corpse to bring about the coming of the next age.

As the Super Osprey flew a great distance away that from Ghana's Wall, a projection drone is sent to fly at the fortress and projecting the gigantic image of Prince Clovich in his Italian Suit, a purposely tailored suit to signify his adoption of his new office for all the still defiant Garisson and People's to see.

"To all Slaegian and Ethuilen forces still fighting in fortress of Ghana's Wall!" His voice boomed from the drone's speakers. "This is your now crowned, Emperor, Clovich Rian. Your marshal and your dragon are dead and your useless Chosen One could not save you. I implore you all to lay down your arms and surrender and by my honor I shall stayeth my wrath that had only been kept at bay from my patience that had slowly thinned away since the beginning of this terrible war we brothers and sisters befallen ourselves." Clovich spoke.

The Indian Sea Missile Frigate War Ship loomed above Ghana's Wall as it emerged it stealthy colossus above the last remnants of the rebellion. It's shadow becoming a death veil for the last remnants of the old-world order of Gliesia. The Warship alongside Clovich's thunderous voice shattered what little is left of the resolve of the refugees within the fortress but not for the Legionnaires and the Ethuilen who continue to stand defiant towards the usurper's projection.

  "The Federation's warship above you will not hesitate death upon you all, the lighting arrows of destruction that will ensure the fortress will be turned to dust instantly much like how Little Hill fell before my crusade's might! It is pointless for you all to keep fighting and throw away your lives for nothing because of a bogus prophecy made by an old fool you called 'Grandmaster'! Surrender is your only option now beside meaningless death and it is not coward move but a right and prudent move since I will make sure you all not only be able to live but enjoy the new and better world, the Federation is going to give to Glisea and all the problems you might have will be solved thoruoughly together. Take my hand and I can show you this new future. Or be cast away to have your names cursed and forgotten from upon the annals of history." He continued.

"What you lot think's we gonna surrender to you Traitor? The Marshal might have perished but someone will take up his mantle to lead the rest of us against you! Our Will shall yield to the likes of you!!" one Huguet's surviving lieutenants yelled.

"Do not think you already won?! Your actions within the fortress today matter nothing against us! We have beaten back your warriors and we can surely can do so again!" a still hobbling Prince Valorion joins in the shouting as a Cleric healed him from his injuries. "We will never stop fighting against you and your otherworldly patrons until all of your corrupting influences are purged from this world! Stone by stone, memory from memory and blood by blood!" he swore with his breath.

"Vainglorious fools! Your alliance doth not have any Armies left! Your Refugee problem, shall be the death of you and your allies will abandon you! Elves of Ethuilen! The Federation can ensure you can have not only your homeland back but a unified Afel Nora under the Ethuilen's reign not the Black Tree Pact. So please think about the possibility you can achieve by stop fighting foolishly this day." Clovich pleaded. "And to those of my Slaegian Bretheren, surrender now and I will grant every last one of you, from the lowliest page to the highests of Knights my full amnesty if you surrender peacefully to me now."

"We will never yield to one who sold his soul to an Otherworlder. The Gods will never allow this fortress to be conquered by your barbarian masters! We had thrived for countless ages before their lot came and destroyed everything!" Valorion screamed at the top of his lungs, voice hoarsed from all the exerted breaths he took that tulmultuous day. His defiance once more was followed solidaritious stance of all the Garisson's remaining forces and even the refugees too who are inspired by his Charisma.

"Who says I am here to 'conquer' this fortress?" Clovich coyly perked his lips. There was no answer from the Garisson. Whether it is stubbornness, confusion or a mix of both, the new Emperor had no longer the patience to contemplate. He has more important things to attend to than wasting his tongue upon those who refused to see reason.

"Very well, I shall condemn you all to your fate. May you die with your delusions of 'valor' and your old 'traditions'. Colonel Polonsky, Major Holyfield, get these rabbles out of my sight!" Clovich lowered his head, grimly ending his transmission.

"Well at least you tried." Polonsky shrugged his shoulders.

"That's all in the cameras right? No Censors, no Edits, no bullshits?" Holyfield turned to the few Press Journalists invited to cover the conclusion of this War. These buzz-hungry vultures were sent to grant the public back home at the Federation's Core Worlds a hundred-and-one percent transparency of this far off yet starting to become expensive war by these Primitive albeit admirably valorous Natives. It was only through this expose into this moment in history that Clovich, Holyfield, and Polonsky could finally close the book of this terrible war and move on forward to rebuilding this shattered world.

"This is the Indian Sea. We are primed and awaiting orders." The radio from the Missile Destroyer hollered.

"Indian Sea you are clear for Kinetic Bombardment." Holyfield ordered. "Bring the Wrath of God unto them."

[-]

Within the fortress, the Crow Master hurried at gathering of the leadership of the Alliance in the courtyard. All these souls readying to make their final stand here in Ghana's Wall.

"We need to head for the Tunnel right now everyone! The Federation is about to destroy the fortress!" Mita screamed.

"A vampire!? Here?!" an injured Faithelean draws out his sword at Mita as he saw her fangs. With her Mana-concealing Amulet now gone, her full Vampiric heritage was in full display upon their even more bewildered colleagues.

"Crow Master! You are… a vampire?" Findrum states in disbelief while holding himself from his gunshot wound from Iris earlier.

"The Vampire Witch cursed me somehow me into a vampire just like her. B-but I am still on your side!" Mita pleaded. "We need to leave now to the Tunnel!" she implored them all.

"You are in league with the Otherworlders this entire time? I knew it! All those things about the Otherworlders are lies! You have been corrupted a whole time. And now you are here to finish us of!" Valorion accused Mita as the surrounding Slaegians and Elves draw their weapons towards the Crow Master.

"Stop with this nonsense! We ne---" Mita voice shuddered as two Kinetic Missiles slam into the palisades of Ghana's Wall, generating a massive explosion, which completely disintegrate the wall and any unfortunates inside it.

Dozens more began to descend into the Fortress, shattering the bastion piece by piece. The entire Garrison and Refugees were shaken into disarray as the resorted to running wildly for their lives in chaotic panic as the finale of the apocalypse began its dreadful crescendo.

An explosion rocks the courtyard killing tons of Elves and Sleagians troop and causes Prince Valorion and the rest to stumble and unable to move.

"You want to live?" Mita grabbed Prince Valorion's hand of which he unhesitantly nodded. His self-preservation and the care of his own men to fight another day dawning upon him. "Then start running toward the tunnel! ", Mita shouts as she and the rest run frantically toward the tunnel leading to the underground farm.

[-]

"Is… it over?" Samantha's weakly opened to see Sargeant Crocker's.

"Yes… yes its over…" he huffed his grizzled breath happily to her.

"Impact!" Captain Kaprelian squawked.

A bright light encapsulated Ghana's Wall in the distance, so great was its radiance that it could blind those whose eyes directly see it. The ground ruptured, annihilating those life forms unfortunate enough to be caught in its wake. Captain Kaprelian's Super Osprey rocked with turbulence, having the aircraft so close to such a great detonation nearly cause it to lose its flight's stability. Object and bodies flew around the Osprey, those especially of unfastened security holding on for dear life.

Like a new dawn emerging to cast off the twilight of the last age, the Kinetic Bombardment illuminated the sky.

"Steady! Steady! Steady!" Kaprelian's Co-Pilot yelped. His voice shook just as the very bird battered them all as.

The Pilot struggled to maintain the altitude her aircraft has. It wrestled with the gigantic shockwave for its survival. Sweat poured from her brow as she glided the plane from the maelstrom back into peaceful skies.

"Aircraft stabilized… Going back to auto-pilot." The Co-Pilot reported.

"This is Mama-Bird 1-1, Turbulence has subsided. All systems are fine and we can return to the Aurora. Over." Captain Kaprelian radioed.

"Affirmative Mama-Bird. Bring them home." Colonel Polonsky nodded.

"Guys…" Samantha was flabbergasted, she basked at the solace of her friends, her team, her Stryder Group. "You…"

"My god, how many civilians were there in that fortress?", Clays grimly asks as he watches the carnage

"They have chosen that fate with my brother and the rest of the alliance! They cannot help themselves no matter what we had tried." The Elf lamented.

"Alie? About your brother…" Iris approached her.

"Fret not, I have already made amends with what has happened. I now accept that saying you told me long ago… 'You cannot make an omelet without breaking a few eggs'. My Amelioration has only just begun." Alianthra firmly gripped themselves three-sorrowful tears were purged with the last of her grief from her eyes.

"You did it Captain." Clay cheered. "What you did with that Dragon was incredible!"

"We, Captain." Crocker interrupted her. "We go where Angels fear to tread." He recited Stryder's Motto.

"Porro Terra." Clay nodded.

"Porro Terra." The rest of Stryder and everyone else in the Osprey saluted.

"Porro Terra." Samantha answered them all back. Just

[-]

As Doctor Mahelona oversaw Samantha's Vitals and Suit Data normalizing from his overseeing computer. The Sacred Crystal Heart behind him, in its glass tube chamber glowed ever brightly.

If it had a face, it was beaming with an infectious radiance as it turned its gaze towards the bewildered but ultimately elated Scientist.

"It is finished." The Heart announced.

"Stage-One has been accomplished! Conditions set for Stage-Two to commence. Additional Archive access has been granted." The Heart announced.

"I have questions, Abacus and you WILL answer them." The doctor looked on to the scene wondering about the true nature of Abacus as he heard the phrases from its crystalline shell. "I know for a fact you are no ordinary 'Magical Stone'."