Judgement Day

Machia stared despondently at his feet. The distant rumbling had slowed. Yet, after dragging himself through his past, he found himself smiling as he raised his gaze.

A tall feminine figure walked alone atop a distant hill, pausing after reaching its peak. 

Silence assembled across the grassy plains. All productivity ceased to a halt as tired, idle soldiers rose to their feet. The giants tore their docile, disinterested eyes away from the ground and up towards the distant hilltop. Four Args lay behind the giants. Their enormous red figures lay flat on the ground, undisrupted in tranquil stillness. 

The feminine figure scanned Machia and the assembled force with stoic nonchalance. She stood as still as a statue against all odds.

Machia contemplated his words. Despite his natural talent and skills in negotiation, he was rattled by the feelings he had harboured for so long. After ten long years, it was hard not to be, but as comforting as the scene deserved to be, his tainted, crazed eyes betrayed him.

'So you won't even look at me? I'm not the one who left, but I suppose I'll be the bigger person here. I know what's best for us after all, Amelia.'

Machia inhaled deeply. With calm, decisive words, he announced.

"Halt Amelia. You allowed a messenger to escape amidst the chaos. We are aware of your crimes! As punishment, submit, me and you, we will work together with the Empire to face the progenitor of the fiends. I'm uncertain why now, of all times, you chose to rebel but live up to the consequences. If you surrender, your actions, they can be forgiven.

Nothing, not a single emotive movement or word, escaped the girl's stoic figure. From atop that hill, she stared down at them with daunting silence. Machia clicked his tongue before raising his voice louder.

"If you surrender... I won't have to kill your brother!"

Adding weight to his words, Machia dangled Perse's limp, unconscious figure in front of the woman. This time, she turned to stare at Perses in silence. But not a shred of emotion escaped her. 

'I suppose she changed a little herself. This was supposed to be an easy job, yet she's gone all quiet.'

"A little shy arn't we? Then could it be, Amelia, that you don't know who this is? HEY COME ON, say something already."

With a faltering patience, Machia raised Perse's body higher as he grasped the back of his neck. A small sweat circulated on his head as he yelled louder and louder, but he was ignored, neglected by the condescending stare of the woman.

"Hey, don't FUCK WITH ME. YOU DON'T THINK THAT I'LL DO IT, IS THAT IT?"

Machia's furious shouts caused a stir among his allies as many shuddered. The giants themselves, spurred on by the gravity of the atmosphere, eagerly rose to their feet. Whilst a single eye of the closest Arganout flickered open. Its animalistic amber eye stared at the two distant figures with resentment as its peace was disturbed. 

Everyone assembled on the battlefield was stirred by the conflict and the yelling, all except her. With an ominous indifference, she cast her gaze away from Machia. Looking upon Perse's figure, something strange happened. Her mouth opened into a smile. 

Embarrassed by his ineffective outburst, Machia assessed her expression.

'I was right. So you really are here for him, Amelia.'

Before Machia could cast his gaze down in sorrow, he was shaken by a familiar sensation.

His eyes rattled as they sought out every detail of Amelia's appearance in panic. He could not see that familiar emerald glow, but he could feel it pulsing, growing. The aura surrounding the woman could not be perceived, unlike in the past. 

With his sense of panic rising, he raised a hand and pointed it at Perse's neck. His hand was coated in an inky dark shadow that drew a mere drop of blood. This single drop of red blood fell from his neck. As it fell, glistening and gripped by gravity, she finally moved. 

A shimmer of green blinded Machia's eyes as a roaring aura ascended around the woman. With one final desperate plea, Machia yelled amidst the surging screech of air. 

"JUST GIVE UP ALREADY-" 

Space shimmered as a lightning-fast glint of silver descended towards Machia's skull. Fierce green eyes followed in its wake, trailed by a flicker of emerald light. Amelia closed the distance in an instant before the drop of Perse's blood could even hit the ground.

Machia's instincts kicked into overdrive as he desperately lunged away from the strike that descended towards his skull. Pulling Perse's body towards himself as a shield was simply second nature. This caused the impending blade to freeze at risk of severing both bodies simultaneously. 

Amelia spun in an astounding display of balance and skill, flinging herself to Machia's side. Her footwork was light, dazzling and perfect as she manoeuvred to Machia's flank. With fierce resolve, she turned, positioning her sword between the duo. Her eyes clouded with incessant green rage, she swung, and she severed.

An arm still adorned with a black sleeve fell to the ground. 

Machia's grasp on Perses was released forcefully. His momentum continued to carry him back. Without his arm to hold on to Perses, he was separated from him. Before Perse's limp figure could fall to the ground, he was caught, embraced by Amelia's free arm. 

As Machia fell back, he found himself reflecting on his mistakes. The battle was by no means over. But the vicious resistance of Amelia, that outward violent rejection, caused him to fall. He lost interest in countering or even landing on his feet as he soared back. 

Before Amelia left for the army, he'd often observed her many a time using her immense power. But its strength had always varied. Something as simple as a light insult on his part could have devastating ramifications on her strength. He also knew that her strength could be charged to some extent. It was as if she had the power to store and harness the energy of her own human heart. 

Machia had gone out of his way to hide this fact from even his father. Perhaps this had been his very first real betrayal. Yet that knowledge had not saved his arm. 

Objectively, the situation was not as dire for him as it may have appeared. Thanks to Perses use as a shield, Amelia had failed to land a finishing blow on him. That fascinating, deadly speed she had accomplished could likely not again be replicated in this battle. His abilities had always been superior in versatility. But now, thanks to that demonstration, the strength of his innate ability likely exceeded hers, too.

All of these technicalities, presumptuous facts, were worthless. Right now, he was merely absorbed by the sight of her. As he slammed into the chaotic formation of the clustered soldiers, he smiled. The troops that were not crushed by Machia's figure scattered desperately in panic. However, he remained gazing so so longingly as green light encompassed her beautiful figure. 

As energy gathered around her, he looked from her flowing hair, kicked and scattered by the wind, to her gentle, broad smile. 

'It's always, all smiles in the middle of a battle, Amelia.'