Chapter 7

Attack on the Rebel Base!

Corey cut down another demon with the sharp edge of the Tetsaru, blood splattering down onto the ground as he did. Corey, breathing heavily, had already taken down fifty demons on his own, but there were still thousands of them to come.

How?? How the hell did they get this close without us knowing? A demon leapt up towards Corey, who quickly cut it at the neck. It clenched its throat and died slowly.

"Damn it!!" Corey swore loudly, charging the energy into his Tetsaru and swinging the blade, blasting a Spirit Slash at a group of Darkine's soldiers.

"General Kartana! General Wolf is in trouble!" Shouted a soldier by the name of Louis. Corey looked at him,

"Damn! We can't take all of these guys down! Louis, head to the control station and see what the hell is taking them so long with the retreat!" Corey ordered, and Louis nodded and ran off. Corey wiped his brow and slashed down another demon warrior.

"Aw, man…what the hell am I gonna do?! Shit!"

******

Liz twirled her daggers diligently in her fingers. She nodded and ran at the next demon, gripping her blades and cutting down the demon. She coughed up a bit of blood, holding her stomach with her left hand. She had been hit with a blunt weapon hard when the attack first occurred. It had caught her off guard, which she was completely ashamed of. Her ribs were crushed due to the attack, but she was holding her own.

"Defense Division!" She yelled, looking at her second in command, a woman named Ellen, who carried a broadsword in both her hands. "What's the situation?"

"General Rain! General's Kartana and Wolf are both holding their sides, but General Wolf seems to be having a difficult time. It would seem that most of Darkine's troops are over there!" She informed, and went back to fighting.

Liz frowned. Why would they be attacking John's side? It's obvious that this is the weakest point…but why? What could they… She stopped herself in mid-thought.

"Oh God." She went to reach for her walky-talky, but a demon came out of nowhere and punched it out of her hand. She glared and gave the beast a mighty kick to the side of the head, decapitating it.

"Damn it!" She yelled, and turned to Ellen, "Hold this spot, Ellen! I have to go talk to Corey and John!" And without a second word, Liz ran towards the front entrance, leaving Ellen standing there, confused,

"General Rain…what's going on?" She wondered aloud, before having to defend herself as another demon swarm attacked.

******

Derek ran swiftly through the open fields as he watched the colony burn to the ground. He gripped his katana and grit his teeth.

"Soldiers! Keep moving! We have to put out that fire!" he ordered, his men following closely after him.

It didn't make sense. Why was this happening here? This colony was of no use to Darkine…so what could possibly be his plan? The thoughts just kept swarming Derek as he ran to the burning colony. He slid to a stop at the structure's entrance and looked around. Derek's eyes widened as he sniffed the air. The retched smell of burning flesh filled his nostrils. Nothing had been left standing in the area. Houses were burnt down, and the colonies HQ was in rubble. The worst part was…there was no one in sight.

"Where is everyone?" asked a soldier.

"I'm not sure…" Commented another.

Derek raised his hand for them for silence. "Search for survivors. Meet back here ASAP."

The soldiers all nodded and went off searching. The colony wasn't that large, and Derek knew that deep down all was lost. He looked down at the ground and found a toy sword, obviously belonging to a child. He reached down and picked it up with his left hand, his real katana still in his right.

"Who the hell does this?" Derek asked aloud, although knowing only to well who was in charge of the operation.

Still, though, why? What was the point in attacking this place?

A powerful blow to his back, which sent the general tumbling about ten feet in the opposite direction, interrupted his thought. Quickly regaining the control of his body, Derek stood and tossed the toy sword to the ground, clenching the hilt of his katana with both hands, glaring at his attacker. His eyes widened.

It was a Captain, draped in the same armor as Gebu had, except this one had a large pole-arm with and axe for the tip. He pointed the edged weapon directly at Derek.

"General Maison…we were hoping you'd come looking for us." Shouted the Captain, "My name is Jacks. It's an honor to meet you."

Derek grit his teeth. "I don't have time for formalities, Jacks! Now tell me…what was the point in attacking this place?! They served no threat to Darkine, so why?!" Derek was furious at the sight of this demon.

Jacks laughed. "Not so fast, General. Don't you want to say hello to my friends? I know they've already met some of yours!"

Possibly two hundred demon soldiers leapt from the rubble of the colony, catching most of Derek's men off guard. All hell broke loose as the two armies began to battle each other. One of the demons tried to attack Derek, but he merely cut him down with one strike. He couldn't help but notice the smell of flesh on his breath.

"You…monster!!" Derek screamed as he charged Jacks, the Black Dragon Sword already activated and flaring black fire around the katana.

******

Liz fought swiftly through a flank of demon soldiers, trying to make it to Corey. She knew she'd need his help with this, and with no way of contacting him, she knew she'd have to battle her way towards him. She almost stopped when she saw a mass blast of spiritual energy just on the other side of the giant base of the Mobile Fortress. She allowed a sigh of relief to escape her lips, before going further towards him.

Come on…

******

"Take this! And that! Keep on coming, you bastards!!" Corey screamed as he slashed at the demons that were attacking. Two hundred and sixty-two. That was the number of Darkine's soldiers that Corey had already taken down, and they seemed to be slowing.

"Come on! We almost got them!" Corey yelled, rallying his troops. They all cheered and continued their fight. Just when Corey thought he might just have what it takes to keep the base safe, Liz arrived to him.

"Corey!" He heard her yell. After decapitating a demon soldier, he looked over at her.

"Liz!? What the hell are you doing here? What about your side—"

She cut him off. "It's Jade! The whole reason were under attack is because Darkine wants to kill Jade while she's weakened! She's on John's side! Corey we have to—"

It was Corey's turn to cut her off. "Watch my side!! You're in charge!" He bellowed, turning and running off towards John's side.

"Be careful, Corey!!" Liz screamed back at him, before continuing Corey's fight.

******

John wiped a bit of blood off of his chin, and gripped his right rib. He had lost his left Hook Sword, and was holding one of the spiritually charged handguns, gripping the other blade with his right hand. It seemed like no end to the battle. The demons just kept coming.

Damn it, all…what now? He asked himself. He had already lost nearly a fifth of his troops, and the rest were getting tired. He shot down another three demons that were pressing forward.

"John!!!" Came the voice of Corey from the side of him. He glanced over, and sure enough it was him, a panicked look on his face.

"C-Corey?! What is it?? What's happened?" John asked, not liking the look of terror on Corey's face.

"It's Jade! They're going to attack—whaa!!!" Just as Corey had almost made it over to John, a blast of demonic energy shattered the ground, sending the young man into the Rebel Base's wall, giving it a large crack. Corey quickly recovered and stood next to John and looked for his attacker. Both he and John's jaws nearly fell.

There, before them, was a Captain. He held a bastard sword in just one hand, his red cape blowing in the snowy wind.

"Oh, shit…" Corey said, gripping the hilt of the Tetsaru with both hands. John held the Hook Sword in his right, and the handgun in his left, the gun aimed at the Captain.

"Corey…this is bad…" John said.

"Yea…no kidding…" Corey agreed. The Captain soon began to laugh maniacally, "What's so funny??" Corey yelled at him.

"So…you two are Corey Kartana and John Wolf. It's truly a pleasure to meet you. My name is Ryu… Captain Ryu."

"The pleasure is all ours, pal!!" Corey roared, swinging a fully charged Spirit Slash right at the Captain, who merely stood there as the blast seemingly went right through him, "What?!?!"

Ryu laughed. "Fool. Such an attack will not work on me…hmm?" Corey was running directly at Ryu, baring his teeth like a wild animal. Ryu swung his sword at Corey, who leapt into the air to dodge. He held out his right index finger.

"Spirit Gun!!" he screamed, blasting the creature with a point blank attack.

"Ack!" Yelled Ryu, covering his face with his armored arm when the attack occurred. Corey landed on the ground, his hand giving him balance as it touched the snowy field.

"How's that for an attack?" He asked, grinning. Through the smoke's blast, stepped Ryu, unharmed except for his helmet was now destroyed, but he himself was fine.

The Captain had short blue hair, and tribal like markings on his face. His red eyes glared at Corey.

"That…was a mistake." He growled, kicking Corey hard in the chest. Corey barely had enough time to hold up his left arm to block it, but it didn't do much good. The young man heard a crack in his arm as the kick made contact, and it sent him into the air. The young man landed with a thud beside John, who helped him up. Corey was breathing heavily.

"John…this guy is tough…"

John smiled grimly. "We've been through this, Corey…"

"Hey…I got an idea. It's stupid…but we don't have a lot of time…" Corey stood himself up, leaning against his blade for support.

John blinked. "What?"

"Follow my lead."

******

"Die, bastard!!" Screamed a battle worn Derek, colliding swords with the Captain once again.

They locked, and held their ground, demonic energy bursting from both warriors. Slashes and thrusts were what followed, each fighter going so fast that no ordinary person would be able to even tell where the other was headed. Each fighter had taken damage, and they were nearly equal when it came to energy, but Derek had one thing on his mind: getting back to his wife and son.

"I'm ending this now, Jacks!!" Derek roared, gripping his katana with his right hand and extending his left.

Out of his arm produced a black dragon arm, black flames and all. Grinning darkly, Derek made one last thrust with his blade, which Jacks blocked, but Derek had the advantage now. He winded back, and then threw his dragon arm directly at Jacks' armor, shattering it.

"Release!!" All at one, the black dragon escaped Derek, and went plowing through Jacks' chest, going through the other side and vanishing. Jacks, eyes wide, fell to his knees.

"It's over, Jacks…" Derek said, breathing heavily and stopping the flow of the Black Dragon through his katana, but to Derek's amazement, Jacks began to laugh…

******

"You're mad!" John yelled, after Corey had explained the plan.

"So?" Corey said, smirking, "It's all we got." The two readied their weapons, breathing hard.

"Fine. Ready?" John asked, glancing at Corey.

"Yup. Don't go getting killed."

"You either."

And they both took off running towards the Captain. Corey, ran towards his right, and John to the left.

"A side attack? I was hoping you'd be more original then that, boys." Ryu commented, swishing his sword in the air and readying himself for the attack.

"Shut up!" Corey yelled, glancing at John who was now just a little bit ahead of him. John ran straight up to Ryu, and held up his handgun and fired a spirit bullet right at him. Ryu had his full attention on John now.

"That's it? Ha!" Ryu laughed and was about to take the full blow of the gun, until he noticed a mass amount of energy coming at him from behind. He turned to see a fully charged Spirit Gun coming right at him.

"What?!" Ryu gasped, as John's bullet nailed him in the back of the head, knocking him off balance to a point where he couldn't get out of the way of Corey's attack. The spirit energy shot Ryu in the head and chest, destroying his armor and causing the Captain to get knocked back, his neck exposed.

"Now, John!" Corey shouted, rushing towards Ryu. John, who was now behind Ryu, brought up his Hook blade around Ryu's neck, and pulled back, just as Corey brought the Tetsaru pummeling right through his chest. Blood splattered to the ground as Ryu fell, dead before he touched the ground.

******

"What the hell is so funny?" Demanded Derek, holding katana to Jacks' neck, who was still laughing.

"Heh heh heh… you'll see. Richard!!!" He screamed. Derek's eyes widened. At once, from out of the blue, came another armored warrior, wielding a Trident.

Derek's eyes widened.

"A-another Captain?!" Derek said in disbelief. He couldn't believe it. He hardly had enough energy to fight one captain, let alone a second.

"Well, Jacks, it seems you really got your ass handed to you." Commented Richard. Derek growled as Jacks continued to laugh, before Derek plowed his katana into his neck, dispatching him. Now it was Richard's turn to laugh,

"A little angry, Maison? I wouldn't doubt it. You played right into Lord Darkine's trap." He laughed louder, as one hundred soldiers appeared from the same direction that Richard had, attacking the remaining Special Ops soldiers. The soldiers, who were already weakened from the first attack, were already getting over run.

"No!" Derek yelled, standing up and gripping his katana wearily, "I'll…kill you…"

******

"We did it, Corey! We beat a Captain!" John said, smiling lightly and clutching his Hook Blade as a brace and looking down at Ryu's body.

"Yea…" Corey said, but then his eyes widened. "Wait. Oh my God! Jade!" and he took off running into the base, leaving John yelling at him about what was happening.

Darkine's soldiers had already penetrated the base's defenses. Corey now had to battle his way towards his best friend's wife and child.

Damn it, Jade! Stay alive! Please!!