Chapter 35: Final Stand

  "Forcing a corpse to fight, really?" Hearing this voice, Slava breathed a sigh of relief. It couldn't be anyone other than… "It's disgusting." Turning his head toward its source, his eyes met a familiar figure.

  Sasha elegantly landed on the ground next to him. Her appearance hadn't changed but any previous signs of fatigue were gone. How fast did this girl recover? Seeing the purple glow shining through her bandana, he raised an eyebrow.

  "You're already up? What kind of monster are you?" He asked, panting. Slava really was stunned. Twice on the same day. Twice she had recovered from serious injuries. Was it her natural body or her awakening?

  "The kind which hates being played for a fool," she said glaring at the Blood Queen. Honestly, he was also curious. How did they fit that old decayed corpse inside that suit? But now wasn't the time to think about that. He could feel his headache getting worse.

  "Where's Kolya?" He asked, bending his knees, his chains at the ready. She had to have come across Kolya, he was the one dealing with Godspeed originally.

  "I don't know, we got separated when that black bitch came," she said, her eyes still locked on Aria. At least they got one down. But he didn't know how long they could keep this up. Where the fuck was Serena when they needed her?

  "Watch out!" He heard Sasha scream. Before he could react, she grabbed him by the shoulder. As his vision shifted a few feet back, he witnessed a massive beam of light hit the spot he was just in.

  Shocked, he simply looked on. The blast created a massive crater. He'd never seen such firepower. The most powerful blast he'd achieved in the simulations was barely half this size.

  "Oof! That was close!" Yeah, it was, he almost got incinerated. Nothing could possibly surv…

  "Are you alright?" Asked a voice, interrupting his thoughts. Squinting his eyes, he witnessed a pair of dry, fleshy wings rise from the crater. Unfurrelling before him, blocking his vision, they shifted, plumes growing from them. Folding back on themselves, they revealed a familiar figure. Her white hair was now tied in a ponytail.

  "You shouldn't be asking me that," she said, extending her hand towards the crater. Her name was Angel, wasn't it? How fitting. At the same time, on the other side, Lightbringer slowly landed next to Aria. His suit was tattered, and the number of drones around him had been reduced by half.

  Seeing some movement out of the corner of his eye, he glanced back towards the crater. Angel's extended palm was grabbed by a massive cracked hand. This… Kolya slowly rose from it. His body was in shambles. His left arm was missing, his wings were torn, only a shadow of their former selves. On top of that, his body looked cracked beyond repair. He looked like he might crumble away at any minute. But despite his appearance, he stood tall, glancing at his two opponents. Meanwhile, Slava noticed a dark figure lunging toward him. His vision turning grey, he was about to dash forward when his friend abruptly turned around.

  Letting Anyxa dig her claws into his chest he simply grabbed her head, unfazed. Now that he had turned around, a massive crack in his armor revealed half of his face. Slava could now clearly see Kolya's left eye squinting as he smashed her onto the ground. Despite the fluidity of his movements, he looked tired.

  Barely dodging a ray of light, he threw her in Lightbringer's direction. Swiftly moving to the side the Blood Queen intercepted her, her soothing red aura mixing with the suffocating dark smoke escaping Blackcoda's orifices. Meanwhile, Lightbringer launched his rays but they were swiftly blocked by Angel's now massive clawed hand.

  Hmm… Jumping into the fray, ignoring his headache and shabby state, he started thinking… Angel… What was it? The source of her awakening. Her body was constantly changing, sometimes gaining animalistic features, sometimes features he couldn't understand. Strangely enough, her transformation always looked elegant as if she was part of an intricate play, changing characters with every movement.

  If she ever became an enemy, he'd have to find a way to deal with her. From the way she moved, she seemed to rely on instinct more than anything else. Judging from what she said earlier and the way her body reacted to external stimuli, she probably either studied animalistic physiology, genetic engineering, or something similar. He could…

  "Don't get distracted when you're in front of me." Taken by surprise, Slava quickly turned his head. His eyes widened just in time to see Aria's scalpel reaching for his temple. But before it could reach his eye, it disappeared. At the same time, the Blood Queen who was closing in was kicked to the side.

  "Slava, wake up! We don't have the leeway to fuck around." Slava could feel Sasha's gaze scrutinizing him. She was right, he had to focus, everyone was reaching their limit. Turning around, he reached out with his chains, grabbing the foot of a dashing Anyxa. At the same time, Aria who was closing in suddenly changed course. Instead of rushing toward him, she reached out to Anyxa. It took her but an instant. She effortlessly cut his chain with her scalpel and dashed away faster than he'd ever seen her move.

  Strange… why would she… as he looked over, he witnessed her look back, her eyes slowly revealing themselves. For the first time, he saw sadness in her gaze. He could see her cheeks move. She was speaking but he couldn't hear. It only lasted a moment before she averted her gaze and her suit moved to cover her face. His eyes flashed with realization. This… this could only mean one thing. He still remembered his training.

  Annihilatio Singularis, the Army's last resort. The only weapon for which the Gamma suits would be asked to retreat. A weapon of mass destruction created as a final defense against the tainted and more specifically, against the Shén.

  But why now? Why here? It didn't make any sense, they wanted Sasha alive didn't they? Besides, that weapon could literally destroy the world. A singularity-creating device that condensed space at a specific location to create a black hole. Had they gone insane? Unless…

  Slava turned his head away from the fleeing Blood Queen and his eyes soon landed on a similarly shocked Sasha. She was just standing there not saying a single word. It seemed like she shared his thoughts.

  "There's no way," she whispered, falling to her knees. "How far are they willing to go?" They didn't have the time for this, she was their only hope. She had to get her shit together, now wasn't the time to despair.

  Walking up to her, Slava was about to say something when purple lightning spread from her scythe all the way to her eyes as she stood back up. A small storm surrounded her leading Slava to reflexively put his hand in front of his eyes

  "I'll take care of this," said the voice that wasn't Sasha's. "The child is too exhausted. Go! Get them out of here!" The familiar Sasha with unfamiliar eyes stabbed the hilt of her scythe into the ground.

  Seeing her sit cross-legged behind her weapon, he bit his lip. He still felt uneasy about this strange woman inhabiting his friend's body, but… argh, shit. Shifting his gaze, his eyes locked onto the aerial battle.