Two Front War

Sarah frantically paced around the Command Center at Beyond HQ. She couldn't help but worry about the outcome of the invasion. She was receiving slight delays from her replica on the Aratris, causing her more grief.

Suddenly alarms started to ring on one of her consoles. She rushed to it and pulled herself out of her thoughts. Eight warships were descending on Earth, completely walking through her defenses.

The ships split up in two directions. Four headed in the direction of China, while the other four descended on France. 'This was bad,' she thought to herself.

China had not joined the alliance, so Beyond was not clear to head there. Sarah immediately sent her replicas to call the President and the ambassadors, but there was no response. She bit her lip, then ran to the Nova's dorms to prepare them for battle.

Back on Sonara...

Astrya stood unopposed and unimpressed as she froze away each golem Carina rushed at her, then manifested and launched dozens of frozen spikes at Carina, without mercy. In response, Carina raised a rock wall blocking the incoming barrage, then flanked to the right drawing out her short sword.

Astrya smiled, welcoming her charge. "You know, I like strong girls like you..." She said while overpowering Carina with ease.

The Nova reinforced her body with stones and pebbles. She made sure her hands were padded with clay, as the force of Astrya's strikes, were too much to bear. Regardless, Astrya broke the deadlock, pushing her back, as Carina raised a golem behind her aiming for her blind spot. However, in seconds, the golem froze with a path of ice leading up from Astrya's heels.

Carina was shocked, and braced for impact, as Astrya swung down hard, sending her flying and rolling across the ground.

Astrya laughed out loud. "You're too weak and honestly not meant for battle, but I could make you part of my collection... Such fair skin. Hmmm, maybe I must..."

She stepped closer, as Carina got up, but quickly enclosed her, in an ice cage. Freaking the Nova out, before she calmed down and smashed the roof open, with a large stone pillar and launched herself out on a rock platform.

"Stay with me!" Astrya screamed, not noticing the faint blur to her right. Bright flames caught her attention, forcing her to turn around, however, it was too late for her to raise her sword, as Amaara cut down with her entire might.

The princess's shoulder, along with her arm and a portion of her side, plopped to the floor, burning up. Astrya, dropped to her knees screaming from the pain, as she brought forth a wave of ice, pushing Amaara back.

"Now Carina!" Amaara demanded as blood dripped down her chin. She could feel a ribcage broken but had already taken the booster to ignore the pain.

Carina placed both of her hands firmly on the ground, raising a giant, made out of stones and metal. "Create: Stenhömakare!" She yelled as it morphed knuckledusters on its hands, towering above Astrya, then punched down repeatedly, nonstop.

As it did, Amaara concentrated all of the energy she could muster into her hands, manifesting a small, condensed fireball. She continued drawing further amounts of energy from all around her and raised the heat even more, condensing it as it got bigger.

Sarah had told her before the mission, that to defeat the children of Atlas they needed to destroy the core, or their body whole. The only problem was, that their core was as small as a marble and it could be moved anywhere around their body faster than a blink of an eye. Amaara knew their mission depended on her.

The golem started slowing down, then froze, as the ice continued all around it. "My love, how can you do this to me? It seems you require a lesson, that you can never forget!" Astrya yelled, as she walked out of the rubble and smoke kicked up, by the crumbling golem.

Carina panted, trying to catch her breath. She kept her guard up, as she watched the ominous ice spread even more, with each step Astrya took, safely from her floating rock platform.

Amaara kept condensing the flaming ball dozens of times over while hovering, to avoid the creeping ice. She rotated the sphere at almost Mach speed, cutting her palms up with burns, as she began to overheat.

Carina knew they only had one chance to get this right or they would have to retreat. She knew her role in this mission. "Create: Sten Valkyrie!" She yelled, raising her hand, as winged humanoid golems, rose from the ground behind her, and rushed at Astrya.

The princess shook her head, turning her attention back to Amaara as ice spikes manifested around her, taking down all of Carina's golems. "You bitch, I'm going to kill you slowly for that." She spat, as her arm grew back to normal.

Amaara gave her a playful smile. "Nah, honestly I don't see you doing any of that."

Carina dropped the collection of golem rubble she raised, without Astrya noticing, high above her, with the last of her strength. Astrya leaped forward towards Amaara to avoid it, noticing it at the last second.

The rubble crashed down hard, crushing half of her body, before she could get away, causing her to scream once again. "Who... Who are you? You're both just insects! How dare you do this to me!"

Amaara flew up higher, as burn marks, began visibly scorching her skin. "Damn, being stomped on, by insects, is a sad way to go out." She teased, giving her one last smile before she threw her hands forward. "Ignite: Solar Flare!"

Flames shattered forth, cracking the ball open. Racing towards the defenseless princess. She raised one hand up at the incoming blast trying to protect herself, but Carina moved the rubble forward covering her hand so that only her head stuck out.

"What was that about being 'weak'?" She taunted, glaring at Astrya, as her headaches, began to get worse.

Astrya looked back at the blast, terrified, and with all of her strength, manifested barriers of ice above her to block it, without success. It burned through like a hot knife, causing a deafening explosion, as it touched down.

Amaara dropped out of the sky suffering from third-degree burns. However, Carina caught her just in time, with rocks, slowing down her fall, then rushed to her, taking out a couple of boosters. She gave herself one first to bring down her explosive headache. Then plunged the other into Amaara's arm, who was already unconscious from the pain.

"We won... We won... Amaara! You were awesome!..." She smiled at her sleeping comrade, then fell over knocking out.

Back at Bolgan's castle...

Bolgan launched all of his floating projectiles at Tobi, who in turn flew higher to avoid them. However, they homed in on him, relentlessly. So instead he jetted down, making his way toward Bolgan, and unsheathed his sword. Then, launched forth the flaming, electric boulder he had been holding onto.

Bolgan raised a rock pillar under his feet, leaping him up in the air, to cut down the boulder in two with his axe and bare strength. He broke a piece off the column and used it to keep himself flying towards Tobi.

Their weapons collided as Bolgan's projectiles crashed back down into the city all around them. They both smiled at each other. Then jumped back, creating some distance in midair.

Bolgan lifted his axe onto his shoulder, sizing Tobi up. "It's been a long time since I fought someone worthy outside of my siblings." He said, swinging his axe down, causing a large gust of wind.

Tobi went back into a defensive formation. "You may find me worthy, but I have no respect for a warrior that holds slaves."

Bolgan frowned at Tobi's words. "Well if you don't give them work, they will overstep their place. We're merely asserting our right, that we have obtained with our power."

Tobi shook his head. "I guess we weren't going to see eye to eye anyway."

He felt a slight vibration, as Sarah whispered into his comm. "Tobi..."

"What is it, Sarah?" He whispered back.

Her voice trembled slightly, as she spoke. "I didn't want to tell you this, now of all times, but you need to hurry. Earth is in danger."