Chapter 2

With the loud pounding of metal against stone, the Anvils charged into the Obelisk.
Genocide mode was a program that completely shut off the Anvils' self preservation systems.
It also primed high explosives inside of it's self for when terminal damage was taken. The purpose for this program was to force the Anvil to fight more brutally and without hesitation until they were slain. Upon their deaths, they would self destruct and kill and maim as many of their enemies as possible.
Already filled full of ammunition and fuel tanks filled with a super refined gasolene, the nine foot tall war engine would make a powerful shrapnel filled explosion.

"Overlord, this is Hunter 25 Actual!" the veteran soldier stated over her communicator. " We are taking what is left of Anvil squad 23 and are advancing into the Obelisk! Over."

"Affirmative, Hunter 25 Actual. Once you reach the heart of the Obelisk, you are ordered to set up demolition charges and destroy it. Once it's destroyed, you are to-"

The communication line went to static.

"Say again, Overlord?" the veteran spoke into her communicator. "Damn, must be radio interference from the Obelisk."

She sighed and loaded a fresh magazine of ammo into her rifle.

"Alright, lets move! Keep your eyes peeled. Who knows whats lurking in here."

As Hunter 25 and the six mechs from Anvil 23 trekked deeper into the monolithic innards of the Obelisk, they began to feel very cold.
The floor seemed to vibrate, almost like a heart beat. Eerie red lights whisped around the wall.

"I don't like this place, Sarge..." one of the soldiers stated worriedly to the veteran soldier, his eyes darting all around the place.

"Stay calm Private," the sergeant responded coolly. "Anvils, you picking anything up on your sensors?"

"Negative, sensors are showing zero energy signatures," the soulless machine responded.

"That's odd," one of the soldiers stated. "You would think that with all of the resistance we faced getting in here, would think that this place would be crawling with-"

Without warning, a blue arrow ripped through the soldier's face, silencing him as he fell in a spray of blood and skull fragments.

"Hostiles detected!" the lead Anvil blared. It's sensors were now showing up to twenty enemy signatures rapidly approaching.

With a loud clunking sound, the Anvils all readied their shot-cannons.

"Neutralizing targets!"

The Anvils charged into the darkness, their 20mm shot-cannons bursting. The loud thudding of their feet smashing into the ground was met by the clinking of armor as the black armored warriors charged at them. The "fight" was more like watching a train wreck. The Anvils slammed into the charging warriors and began to blast them apart.

"Move forward!" the sergeant ordered her squad. " Let the Anvils deal with the hostiles!"

As the squad moved forward, the Anvils began to push forward against an seemingly endless wave of black armored warriors. After firing at least a thousand rounds, the Anvils' shot-cannons stopped firing; they were out of ammunition.

"Primary weapon ammunition has been depleted! Basic attack mode initiated!"

The barrels of the Anvils' shot-cannons collapsed inside of their arms, and in their place unfolded a long metal cutting chainsaw like blade.
Sparks began to fly as the chain blades tore and ground against the armor of the warriors. As one of the warriors tried to climb up one of the Anvils, the machine grabbed the warrior and began to use it as a war-club. Cold and unfeeling, the Anvils smashed and snapped and tore anything their jaw like hands could reach.
But while the battle appeared to he one-sided, in reality, the Anvils were taking a pounding. They were constantly being struck by the unnatural glowing weapons of the armored warriors. Each strike further damaged the Anvils. Suddenly, on of the Anvils began to smoke and burn.

Using what little fuel it still had, the Anvil pushed deep into the wave of warriors. Like lice, they engulfed the machine, stabbing and tearing at it's metal body.

"Catastrophic damage detected. Initiating self termination protocol!"

The dying Anvil began to beep loudly.

"Get down!" the sergeant yelled at the top of her lungs.

The Anvil exploded into a large fire ball, blowing apart the defensive line of the warriors.
As the group pushed deeper into the Obelisk, more of the Anvils began to die and self destruct. Bullets and arrows thickened the air as the two sides fought tooth and nail for every inch. Slowly and luckily, the amount of armored warriors began to dwindle. There were only two reasons for this.
One; the sergeant and her squad really were wiping them out, or the enemy forces were being rerouted to the battle that was still raging out side.
Either way, the sergeant and her squad were relieved.

After several more minutes of combat, Hunter 25 and only two of the original six Anvils had made their way into were the heart of the Obelisk should have been.
Only one problem; there wasn't a heart.

"What the- Sarge, shouldn't the heart be here?"

"Yeah, but I don't see one," she responded as she looked around the chamber. "You see anything Anvil 2?"

The wounded machine scanned the chamber with a blue light. The heart wasn't there, but the chamber wasn't empty. Along the towering walls were ominous hieroglyphics of spear wielding warriors and frighting looking creatures. At the back of the chamber was a massive mural of an eight armed entity.
In it's hands it held a shield, a whip, a spear, and gauntlets.

"Structural weakness detected!" the machine crackled with it's damaged voice speaker.

Before the sergeant could respond, the two Anvils charged the mural and shattered it open. A gust of air burst out as the mural collapsed.

"Secondary chamber detected!"

Cautiously the sergeant and her squad advanced into the hidden chamber, their weapons at the ready. The sergeant couldn't believe what she was seeing.
The ceiling of the chamber was a massive holographic display of earth. She could see live footage of the battle raging outside as well as the battle on the eastern front. It was looking very grim. The Russian and Chinese ground forces were getting slaughtered and the battle outside the Obelisk wasn't looking much better.

"Isn't it terrible?" a soft feminine voice spoke.

The soldiers all raised there weapons towards the location of the voice. In the back of the room sat three thrones, one was purple, one was red, and the middle one was white. The white throne slowly turned around. Sitting on throne was a thin woman dressed in pale blue armor. She wore a helmet that obscured her face so that only her mouth could be seen. Wrapped around her from her waist and over her shoulder was a white ribbon.

"All of this death and destruction. None of it would be happening if you had just accepted our terms."

"Hostile detected! Neutralizing target!"

The reckless Anvils both charged the pale woman with their chain blades roaring. Before the blades could come within an inch of her face, the pale woman gracefully lept from her throne and landed behind the two Anvils. A blue light flashed from her forehead, and both of the Anvils' legs were sliced from underneath them.

"Humans...so creative, yet so violent," she sighed sadly.

In her hand was an oil stained spear. It gleamed blue and seemed to have appeared out of the blue flash of light. The pale woman began to approach the squad of battle weary soldiers.

"Sergeant...?" one of them asked worriedly.

She didn't know who or what they were facing, but knew that it needed to be stopped.

"Open fire!"

As the order was given, the soldiers fired their rifles at the pale woman. With unnatural agility and grace, she dodged the stream of bullets.
She darted from one point of the chamber to another in the blink of an eye, and seemed to be toying with the soldiers. With a scream and spray of blood, one of the soldiers was cleaved in half.

"Sergeant, we aren't hitting her, she's too fast!"

"Stand your ground soldier!" she yelled back as she fired her rifle.

"But Sarge-"

The soldier's head was suddenly cut from it's body as the pale woman swung her spear.

"I take no pleasure in this," she stated calmly as she darted gracefully around the soldiers. "My hand has been forced."

"Damn it, die already!" the sergeant cursed through gritted teeth.

The pale woman smiled as she slew one soldier after another. They were outmatched and they all knew it. Despite staring at their impending demise, the soldiers stood their ground up till the moment they were slain. It happened so fast, before she knew it, the sergeant was the only one left standing.

"Look what you made me do!" the pale woman cried out. "That's your kinds problem, you just don't know when to stop!"

The sergeant was slowly being backed into a corner as she emptied her ammunition in vain.

"If only I had known back then..." the pale woman spoke with regret. "I could have saved him!"

The pale woman slammed her foot down onto the sergeant's chest, breaking her ribs. Slowly, the pale woman raised her spear.

"This is going to hurt me more than it will hurt you!"

The sergeant shut her eyes tightly, expecting her death. But the sound of grinding metal and a loud scream snapped her back to reality. The pale woman was being crushed by a giant mechanical fist. Propping itself up on its free arm was one of the Anvils, its body was leaking oil and sparks flew from exposed circuitry. Using the last of its fuel and power, the Anvil crushed the pale woman in it's grasp. She screamed in agony, then fell silent.

"H-h-hostile, n-n-neutralized!"

With it's fuel all used up and it's body too damaged to function, the Anvil groaned then slammed to the ground, the pale woman firmly in it's grasp. Shaken and injured, the sergeant forced herself off of the ground. The floor was slick with the blood of her comrades. For the first time in the battle, she took off her helmet.
Her brown skin glistened with sweat and her brown hair as tied back into a knot. With her rifle still raised, she slowly approached the unconscious pale woman.
As a precaution, she fired a burst into her legs, that way she wouldn't be able to run.
With her dirt and oil stained hands, the sergeant removed the pale woman's helmet.
Anger and betrayal flared deep inside of her as she laid eyes on the woman's face.

Suddenly, her communicator sparked and began to relay radio transmissions again.

"Hunter 25 Actual this is Overlord, we lost communication with you. What is your location?"

The sergeant sighed and pressed her communicator.

" This is Hunter 25 Actual. I'm inside the center of the Obelisk. The rest of my squad...they didn't make it."

"Whatever you did in there, it worked. The enemy ground forces are being wiped out. Wind Piercers are falling from the skies and the Russian and Chinese ground forces are reporting that the enemy is falling dead in their tracks."

"That's great to hear," the sergeant spoke numbly. "I've taken a prisoner. What should I do with it?"

"Bring it out with you. We've rounded up two prisoners as well. Your not gonna believe who they are."

"Oh, I've got a pretty good idea who they are," the sergeant responded.

It was over, it was finally over. After thirty years of war and countless lives, the war was over. But now the world needed justice to be carried out.
With empty eyes, the sergeant pressed her boot down against the pale woman's neck.

"Why?" she asked her voice shaking with grief.

She had lost so much because of the war. She lost her parents, she lost her friends, the one she loved, she even had her future taken from her. She had nothing left now but questions and anger.

"Why did you do it, Pearl?" Connie asked coldly.

"Why?"

What a twist!