Chapter 10: Liberating a Planet Part 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Vandread or the Ace Combat series.

The Odyssey of Discovery: Gryphus 1 the Second Stage

Gryphus 1 blocks a horizontal slash from Francesca's blade and retaliates by kicking her knee, disrupting her balance and next kicks her in the chest. He discovered that while Francesca's defense was solid, it left her open to physical strikes and Gryphus 1 has been using punches and kicks.

He charges at his personal demon and swings his katana in a horizontal strike meant to slice Francesca in half but she dodged at the last second, however the sword cuts through her shirt leaving a nasty cut on her stomach. Francesca covers the wound with her free hand out of reflex. Reaching into one of the pouches on her belt, she grabs some healing cream and rubs it on the cut. The wound heals almost immediately earning a look of curiosity from Gryphus 1.

He commented, "So, the Red Paksis gave you more than just the katana. It gave you some sort of healing cream."

Placing the medical item into the pouch and locking it, Francesca said, "That's enough playing around." A menacing red aura emanated from her katana, "Let's see how well you do when the gloves are off."

Gryphus 1 declared, "You will die! That is a promise!"

Francesca grinned, "If that's what you intend to do, I'm going to give you everything I got. Here I come." She vanishes from sight and Gryphus 1 looks around before he spins on the heel of his boot to block a strike from his opponent's blade.

'I barely had time to block that attack. Don't tell me she...' He thought in realization.

Francesca laughed, "Did you think you were the only one that received upgrades? The Red Paksis augmented my physical abilities to match yours. My skeleton is denser than the average human's allowing me to shrug off hits that would shatter bone." At that moment Gryphus 1 concluded this battle was going to be very different from what he originally thought. He'll need to draw on all he learned from Ken if he wanted to leave this place alive.

Gryphus 1 replied, "It doesn't matter, Francesca. The fact you remains you'll die at my hands." He swings the katana in aggressive strikes to see how long Francesca can keep her defense up before it failed.

He aims for the green-haired woman's legs but Francesca uses him as a springboard to land behind him and thrusts her blade toward his back Gryphus 1 sidesteps the attack, turning to face her and picks Francesca up pinning her to his shoulder as he runs toward the wall at full speed, upon impact he lands punches on the woman's face then nails her with a powerful one and chains it with a backhand causing her to corkscrew in the air before crashing to the ground. Francesca gets up wiping the line of blood from her mouth.

She suddenly notices the Aurelian spin around to behead a cloaked figure, the now headless person appears out of nowhere spraying blood as it collapses. Gryphus 1 wasn't done as he kills 6 additional cloaked figures.

He said, "Planning to have these guys attack me when I least expected it? Not happening." He rips the last person's beating heart out of his chest.

Returning his attention to Francesca he parries her vicious attacks she then pulls her knife out of its sheath on her left arm and lands a hit on Gryphus 1's right arm though the thick fibers of his g-suit took the brunt of the attack. He shrugs off the minor burning sensation and trips Francesca, next he brutally stomps on her chest with the intent of breaking her ribs. Francesca thwarts one stomp and pushes Gryphus 1 away before standing wincing every time she breathed, no doubt discovering that some of her ribs were cracked.

Gryphus 1 taunted, "I can match your aggression easily, Francesca. I won't show you any mercy for you deserve none." He starts hammering away on her with brute strength, Francesca's barely able to withstand his power attacks and she feels him pushing her back using the momentum of his strikes. During the blade lock, he reaches for his atomic grenade Francesca first thought he intends on blowing them up when he pushes the button, activating the grenade's 5 second timer and throws it onto the conveyor belt which took it to the inside of the construction machine that builds the Death Harbingers.

After the timer reaches zero the grenade detonates tearing the interior apart. Alarms sound as the machine grinds to a halt with smoke bellowing out even as pieces of burnt metal rain down. Gryphus 1 and Francesca dodge the debris Francesca grabs two and throws one at her opponent, Gryphus 1 swats the projectile aside then spots Francesca in his face and swings the other piece debris like a baseball bat at his face though the helmet protects him, the force of it makes him stagger. She rushes at him intending on driving her katana through his heart when Gryphus 1 repels her with an uppercut followed by a kick to the chest.

Watching his opponent roll on the floor then stop, Gryphus 1 was panting not from exhaustion, no he was far from being exhausted, he was panting because he's finally able to inflict pain on the woman that ruined his life. Behind the helmet a crazed smile forms on his face relishing in the suffering Francesca was in.

Gryphus 1 said, "How does it feel getting a taste of your own medicine? Taste awful, don't it?" He remembers the lesson Ken taught him about taunting your opponent. Trash talking can disrupt their focus and give you a psychological edge but it can also backfire on you so it's a double-edged sword that must be used with caution.

Francesca throws a smoke grenade enveloping Gryphus 1's vision as she escapes, he switches to X-ray vision piercing through the smoke and detects Francesca's whereabouts by seeing her beating heart.

The Aurelian contacted the OSN Avenger's captain, "Kasumi, this is Gryphus 1. The production facility has been shut down but we have encountered some resistance, we won't be coming out soon."

Kasumi replied, "Roger that, Gryphus 1. Finish up and get out of there, the Avenger's radar has picked up a transport plane heading towards your location."

Gryphus 1 nodded, "Understood, ma'am. Gryphus 1 out." Ending the transmission, he chases after Francesca planning on not leaving this building until she's dead.

Up in space, the battle escalates between the Dreads, Gryphus, Tianlong and Razgriz Squadron and the Harvesters.

Catherine evades cannon fire from the PAK-FA she was engaging when she spots MiG-21s closing fast, she breaks hard left then arms her J-20's AMRAAM

She said while waiting for the missile to lock, "Trying to box me in? Get out of here with that shit." Once the locks turn red, Catherine pulls the trigger destroying the MiG-21s before engaging the PAK-FA again.

The young British woman releases chaff when she hears the missile warning, jamming the missile's radar-guidance system and retaliates with a heat-seeker but the PAK-FA pops flares to direct her missile from its target. Closing the distance Catherine fires her plane's autocannon, the bullets puncture the PAK-FA's body leaving holes. She continues firing the autocannon until the PAK-FA explodes making Catherine sigh in relief.

'Thank god it's over he was quite the formidable opponent.' She thought with respect over her downed opponent's fight against her.

Looking to her 3 o'clock, she watches Mori shoot her enemy down followed by Chang.

Mori said, "That was the most intense dogfight I've been in." A flash of orange light from their 4 o'clock gets their attention, looking at that direction they spot Archangel taking a direct hit to her port side from Calamity's 18" guns. Moving in for a closer look they spot holes in Archangel's body indicating the battle between them wasn't going in the Nirvana crew's favor.

Another 18" shell barrage strikes Archangel near the engine room, penetrating the armor. Fortunately the ship's fire suppression system activated instantly to stop the fire from spreading.

Vandread Jura leads the charge on attacking the enemy airborne fortress.

Gryphus 2 fires the F-22's XLAAM on Calamity but the missiles have no effect despite their increased attack power.

Hibiki ordered, "Crux, Gryphus 2, we need to protect the Archangel. I don't know how much more damage it can take."

Crux replied, "We need to equip our fighters with anti-ship missiles if we hope to pierce Calamity's hull, our current missiles aren't doing any damage."

Gascogne said over the radio, "I'm on my way over, sit tight."

Gryphus 2 urged, "Hurry up, Archangel's running out of time!" The Reg delivery ship takes off while Gryphus Squadron does what it can to protect Archangel.

Archangel fires her last cruise missile at Calamity, detonating on impact. When the smoke clears, the enemy airborne fortress was unharmed leaving the Nirvana crew in utter shock. Calamity arms the missile launchers and fires at the pesky flies that were interfering with its fight against Archangel. Vandread Jura sets its shield at full power while Gryphus Squadron takes evasive action. No matter what maneuver they try, the missiles follow them.

Crux said, "What will get these missiles off me? Chaff's no good. This better work." The E-3 Sentry II releases an electromagnetic pulse, disabling the missiles' internal components. The move allows Crux to swing around and destroy the missiles with the E-3 Sentry II's Vulcan Gatling cannons.

Gryphus 2 somersaults his F-22 so that the missiles are front of him. He fires the XLAAM on the targets, turning the enemy homing missiles into scrap metal.

He stated, "Gascogne, where the hell are you?"

The Reg leader answered, "I'm almost there. Hold out a bit longer."

Crux said, "We're gonna die if you don't get here!" The Reg delivery ship arrives and Vandread Jura protects it while Gryphus Squadron swaps their special weapons.

Gascogne stated, "Delivery complete, you're good to go."

Gryphus 2 said, "Thank you. Now get out of here before Calamity turns its sights on you." Gascogne takes his advice and leaves the vicinity.

Hibiki ordered, "Alright, guys let's hit Calamity hard." They collaborate with Archangel in attacking Calamity but despite the joint attack, the enemy only suffered cosmetic damage to its hull.

Jura gritted her teeth, "Why won't this thing die?" Realizing it won't survive much longer, Archangel makes its decision.

It rerouted all power to its engines and heads directly for Calamity.

Gryphus 2 wondered, "What's it doing?" He then gasped, "It's going to do a kamikaze attack!"

Crux ordered, "Stop it!"

His squad mate replied, "I can't, it's preventing me from doing so!" He then gets a message from Archangel.

It said, "I know I am not going to survive this battle so I'm going to take Calamity out the only way I know how. It's been an honor to fight alongside you guys." Archangel sets the engines at full power and rams into Calamity from the port side, taking both ships out. Gryphus Squadron and pilots of Vandread Jura stare at the sight in complete shock.

Mobius 1 told them, "Snap out of it, you four there's still a battle raging."

Hibiki regained his composure, "He's right. Come on!" Razgriz Squadron racks up their nineteenth kill respectively and occasionally had to refill their ammunition.

Phantom blasted a group of F-16 Falcons with its shotgun and Edge said, "It's like there is no end to these guys. If we don't get help soon, we're screwed."

Blaze nodded, "As much as I don't want to admit it but I agree with you, Edge. The surprise attack Earth did five years ago pales in comparison to this." Inside the military base, Meia and Mia stand back to back as they fight Satoshi and Megumi. They've been going at it for 20 minutes and their opponents haven't fallen.

Mia had blood dripping out of a cut below her left temple while her older sister had bruises on her face and her flight suit had tears in it.

Mia chuckled, "Heh, this is one interesting way of bonding, ain't it?"

The Dread leader smiled, "Bonding in the midst of battle. How weird is that?" Their facial expressions harden when they spot their respective opponents charge at them.

Mia brings the glaive over her skull to block an overhead chop and twirls it around to parry each of Megumi's attacks, they both throw a roundhouse kick that generates a shock wave. Quickly after that, their fists collide with each other, landing the occasional hit and Mia lands a powerful kick that sends Megumi rolling on the ground. She runs forward and leaps through the air with intent on impaling her opponent, Megumi rolls out of the way. Mia pulls the glaive free and whips around to catch Megumi's hand, thwarting a stab attempt from her. Next Mia kicks the black-haired woman hard enough for Megumi to lose her grip on the claymore. Unfazed by this Megumi runs toward Mia and throws a series of punches and kicks to Mia's stomach. The light blue-haired woman loses her grip on the glaive and body slams her on the concrete floor causing Mia to arch her back in sheer agony. Sheathing the claymore, Megumi uses it like a club against Mia's back sending more pain through the Dread pilot's back. Feeling a rush of adrenaline Mia catches the sheathed claymore and whacks the black-haired woman in the face with it before getting behind her, wrapping her arms around the older woman's waist and executes a German suplex. The force of the impact causes Megumi to lose grip on her claymore. Mia kicks the sword out of her reach and leans over to grab her opponent when all of a sudden Megumi jumps onto her hands and lands a kick square in Mia's chest, repelling her. The younger Gisborn returns to her feet and the two lock eyes.

Meia runs at Satoshi and stabs her staff into the ground, using all of her weight to drive her feet into the man's gut. Satoshi stumbles back then recovers to throw knives at Meia, the Dread leader deflects them and looks to crack the enemy's head open when Satoshi pulls an extra knife out and slashes Meia across the stomach, the Dread leader places her left hand on the cut. She deduced the cut wasn't very deep but it still needed to be treated to prevent an infection.

Shrugging the burning sensation off, Meia picks up one of the knives near her feet and the two fighters cautiously near each other. The knives collide generating sparks on contact until Meia stabs Satoshi in the shoulder of his dominant arm before ramming her knee into his gut, driving all the wind out of him. Feeling lightheaded due to the bleeding Meia takes an Implode and pierces Satoshi's chest, the red-orange liquid drains from the vial and into his body. Meia backs up and hears bones breaking and Satoshi screaming in agony as the weapon lived up to its name, his body shrinking in on itself until the pressure within bursts the sack of flesh, spraying its contents and covering the Dread leader in blood. Meia falls to her knees from exhaustion.

Mia too was feeling the effects of the lengthy battle and sensed the adrenaline will run out shortly, she needed to end this battle quickly.

Megumi attacks her with a rapid series of short strikes and stabs hoping one of them gets through but Mia's defense holds up, batting them away with tight parries. Spotting an opening in her opponent's defense Mia switches to offense swinging the glaive that drives Megumi onto her back foot. Mia stabs her in the left leg followed by injecting Expand into her. She kicks Megumi away before her body starts expanding uncontrollably then explodes. Sighing in relief, Mia squeezes the gliave's hilt causing both blades to retract into their standby position. She next places her free hand on her right shoulder when she felt it bleed. One of Megumi's rapid strikes left a cut on it though Mia didn't show it on her face during the fight.

Walking over to her sister, Mia helps Meia up and places an arm around her shoulders and left the weapons storage room. They soon discover an infirmary and use the medical equipment to attend to their wounds. Mia rubs some disinfectant alcohol on her cut, hissing slightly from the burning sensation and then applies some ointment. Next she removes the chest and shoulder padding before unzipping her flight suit to repeat the self-treatment on her shoulder.

Meia turns on the faucet of a sink and removes the blood off her face with cold water though her flight suit would need to be fixed and cleaned. She then look into the mirror seeing her reflection stare back at her, the bruises weren't too bad and would heal in a couple of days.

Once they finish treating their injuries, Mia and Meia decide to rest for a while.

Gryphus 1 enters some storage room that had volatile chemicals inside, he knew that if the containers leaked it would take only one spark to ignite them. Prior to entering the room he engaged a horde of demons that were once humans. They were part of an experiment conducted by the descendants of the Gray Men, probably as part of a new program that would use demons as foot soldiers. The abominations made him use up all of his Implodes, Expands and atomic grenades so he was down to his knife, M9A1 Beretta pistol and katana which suited him just fine.

Switching to thermal vision to see in the darkness, Gryphus 1 searches for Francesca since he saw her enter this place. He looks around in caution the only audible sound is his own breathing through his helmet.

He said, "Why are you hiding, Francesca? Could it be that you realized you have bitten off more than you can chew? Face it, Francesca there is no escape for you now. Death's calling your name and you won't deny him your soul."

Francesca replied, "My soul isn't ready to be collected. Yours is, though."

Gryphus 1 said coldly, "We shall see." He whips around to block a horizontal slash from Francesca's blade and using economy of motion rips it out of her hands followed by landing a vicious left hook.

Francesca blinked in surprise before demanding, "What is the deal with your hand?!" Her only response is another vicious left hook to the stomach forcing blood and spit out of her mouth.

Gryphus 1 said, "The surgeons were kind enough to give me an artificial left hand to replace the organic one. You may have a denser skeletal frame but how much punishment can it take before a bone shatters? Let's test it out." Grabbing her throat, he hits Francesca in the face then slams her onto the floor.

The psychotic woman gritted her teeth, "Die, you fiend!" Gryphus 1 sidesteps each of her strikes before driving his knee into her stomach then delivers a kick that sends her flying.

Gryphus 1 stated, "I see the Red Paksis gave you some form of night vision. Nice but utterly futile." Francesca retrieves her katana and the two clash again.

The sound metal against metal echoes throughout the room and Francesca scores a hit on Gryphus 1's helmet leaving a mild scratch mark, he jumps to avoid getting his feet cut off. However, Francesca unleashes a powerful punch that sends Gryphus 1 into a wall. She next throws a grenade at the ceiling above him causing debris to fall. Huge slabs of steel reinforced concrete land on top of Gryphus 1 burying him underneath it.

Francesca panted, "Looks like your revenge has been denied, boy. Pity. I never got the chance to tell him that Diego Navarro orchestrated the oil rig attack that his dad, Daniel Masterson was on." She suddenly feels a chill run down her spine. Turning around, she barely dodges a stab from Gryphus 1's katana but leaves herself wide open for a brutal kick to the ribs. After rolling on the ground, Francesca curls into a fetal position holding her stomach and moans in pain.

Looking through the pain filled haze, she spots Gryphus 1 standing there with one half of his helmet missing down to the neck, his g-suit had tears in it with some bigger than others, his gloves were trashed, the synthetic skin over his left arm was torn up, exposing the artificial hand. He discards the helmet and Onryo Mode activates in response to his seething anger and bloodlust, his eyes turn red with slit pupils and glowing red vein marks appear. With a belly full of fire, Gryphus 1 draws on his full rage. In response to this the Onryo Mode goes to a second level, causing his teeth to lengthen into deadly fangs, grows claws on his organic right hand and the glowing red vein marks to climb up his neck until they merge on his face which made the skin turn pitch black until only his red eyes are visible. The black aura emitted bolts of red lightning.

Gryphus 1 said in that demonic voice, "So my father's death wasn't an accident. It was all Diego Navarro's doing? Congratulations, you gave me all the more reason to killing you two! I'll make sure you die a thousand times over down in the pits of hell!" Hearing his personal demon moan in pain, he grinned, "Your suffering has only begun." Walking up to Francesca, he grabs her face and steam somehow appears. Francesca feels like someone took red-hot metal and pressed it against her flesh.

The next thing she feels is Gryphus 1 slamming her against the wall repeatedly creating a spider web-shaped crack that grows with each impact. Upon the final hit, he body slams her on the ground numerous times before holding Francesca off the ground with an outstretched arm. He then backhands her and his fully extended wrist blades leave deep cuts on her cheek, she rolls around on the floor like a rag doll. Francesca struggles to get up, the pain of broken ribs and in her back made her vision blurry. She manages to restore her footing and Gryphus 1 strikes at her with his full fury, all Francesca can do is defend herself as best as she could but the enraged Aurelian pounds at her without restraint. The combination of his ruthless barrage and pain of her injuries wears Francesca down and with one ferocious overhead chop, Gryphus 1 destroys her katana. Noticing the fear of death in the woman's eyes, Gryphus 1 advances forward methodically and slices both of her legs off with no remorse making Francesca scream in pure agony she attempts to crawl away but Gryphus 1 severs her right arm.

Staring at Francesca with disdain he kicks her to where the chemicals are located, her body crashes into them causing the glass containers to break open and the volatile liquids to pool around her. A burning sensation assaults her nose and Francesca realizes what she's laying in and footsteps alert to her attacker's presence.

Gryphus 1 looks at her with a dark smile, "How does it feel to experience the pain you've caused me? It hurts pretty bad, don't it?" He raised both the katana and wrist blades placing the katana on top in a cross pattern, "I recall you did something like this to me before I was...resurrected. The sickening scent of my flesh being seared by flames and the pain it brought was mind-numbing. And now you have a date with death!" He slides the katana across the wrist blades generating sparks that ignite the chemicals on contact.

Gryphus 1 retrieves his helmet and exits the storage room while relishing in Francesca's scream of agony as her flesh burnt.

The Gisborn sisters continue to rest when Meia senses someone in the doorway of the infirmary. Directing her gaze at that direction she spots Gryphus 1 fall to his hands and knees as red lighting continues to arc, she quickly discovers what's happening and rushes over.

She winces when the black aura burns her hand but gets through it and touches her lover's shoulder.

She said, "It's okay, Kyle. Francesca's dead. So please calm yourself, don't let the Onryo Mode possess you."

Gryphus 1 said, "It's...hard...to do that." He fights with all his might not to hurt Meia under the mode's influence, clenching his fists as he struggles to get the Onryo Mode under control.

Meia smiled, "You have an unbreakable will, dear." She hugs him, this in turn causes the aura to die down and Onryo Mode to deactivate, his skin returns to its normal color, the glowing red vein marks recede and his eyes gain their normal appearance.

Sweat drips to the floor while Gryphus 1 pants from his battle with Francesca, whatever cuts he sustained heal instantly thanks to the Onryo Mode. He reminds himself not to become addicted to its power. If Gryphus 1 did he would lose his humanity in the process, something he didn't want.

Mia gives him a cup of water and he downs it instantly.

Meia's communicator beeped and she answered, "This is Meia."

Kasumi said, "That enemy transport plane is almost at your location. Get out of there now!"

Gryphus 1 stated, "I got a better idea. Meia, your wrist computer should have the ability to hack into the Mason Cannon's mainframe. If the Archangel's network connection was unprotected then the Mason Cannon should have the same thing." Sorting through her wrist computer, Meia discovers her lover was right.

So with Gryphus 1's help, Meia hacks into the Mason Cannon's mainframe. Several minutes pass by until she succeeds in turning the weapons to their side.

Outside, on top of buildings the Mason Cannons target the approaching transport plane and fire, pink beams of energy scream through the sky then hit the enemy airplane. The air frame initially withstands the assault but the beams' overwhelming power quickly overcome the enemy transport's structural limits and begins to break up. The gun turrets follow the transport as it falls to the ground, the giant airplane crashes into the ground and a fireball engulfs it.

Kasumi said, "What was that?"

Meia told her, "Gryphus 1 helped me turn the Mason Cannons on the enemy."

Kasumi ordered, "In any case, get your asses out of there immediately." The three do just that and exit the base, they manage to make out of the vicinity when a thud erupts from the ground causing them to stop and turn around. At first they think it was some underground explosion but the thuds grow louder and more frequent to the point where the actual ground shakes.

Suddenly Hades comes out of the ground, eyes glowing a menacing yellow.

Francesca exclaimed, "Kyle! It's not over yet! There is no escape!"

Gryphus 1 glared at the machine, "Back for more, huh? That's fine by me, it makes me happy knowing I get to defeat you again. This time, however you will die permanently. Come to me, Anubis!" The mechanical lord of the dead arrives and kneels, lowering its hand for Gryphus 1 to get on.

After he does, Anubis stands and bring its hand toward the chest so that Gryphus 1 can enter the cockpit. The canopy seal closes and Anubis draws its sword Reaper unleashing a roar of challenge. Hades responds by drawing its sword staff, igniting one blade.

Round 2...FIGHT!

Hades charges at Anubis sword staff held in both hands and swings it sideways only to have it being parried by Reaper then pushes Hades back, switching to offense Anubis swings its blade in broad strokes prompting the opponent to back up then Reaper is swung in arcs. Anubis next cartwheels bringing all of its weight down on the next attack making Hades hold the sword staff over its head to protect itself. Anubis surprises the challenger by grabbing its leg knocking Hades off balance and swings it through buildings 5 or 6 times before releasing it, the momentum sends Hades flying through the air then crashing into every building in front of it.

The Gisborn sisters board the landing shuttle and exit the battlefield.

Seeing the shuttle leave, Gryphus 1 knows he doesn't have to hold back now.

Anubis grabs Hades' leg and throws it through another building, Hades tries to get up but Anubis pushes it back down using its foot, next it stomps repeatedly on Hades followed by a kick. Hades catches Anubis off guard by tackling it and kicks it through more buildings. Arriving where the opponent crash landed, Hades stares at the motionless Anubis.

Inside the cockpit, Francesca had a smile on her severely burnt face.

Anubis stood up and Gryphus 1 taunted, "Is that your best?" Infuriated by the insult, Francesca growls.

Up in space the Nirvana and allies continue to put up stubborn resistance against the Harvesters but the battle was slowly turning against them.

The Nirvana fires a salvo of homing lasers at the enemy but more kept coming.

Bart said, "Man, how many of them are there?" A Dread pilot gets shot down by cube-types and her squad mates seek to avenge but they share her fate.

Grimm asked, "Kasumi, where are the reinforcements?"

Kasumi answered, "I'm doing my best, Grimm. None of the nearby planets are responding to me at the moment. Just hold on a bit longer."

Edge gritted her teeth, "For fuck's sake, Kasumi we won't last that long at this rate!" Mobius 1 doesn't take any hits during his dogfight with the MiG-29 Fulcrums.

Avoiding a missile he swings the Falken around and retaliates with missiles of his own. Chasing after the lead Fulcrum's wingmen, Mobius 1 switches to the Tactical Laser. The nose of the Falken opens up and he fires a pink laser beam shoots out and cuts the Fulcrums down like they're nothing.

Gryphus 2 barrel rolls enemy fire and uses the F-22's M61A2 Vulcan Gatling cannon. Lethal 20mm bullets fly out of the barrels and rips enemy cube-types apart, the Raptor's radar sends out a warning that more enemy reinforcements are inbound. Looking to his 9 o'clock he glares at the approaching F-35s, however they don't last long against Gryphus 2's piloting which made him believe these F-35s barely came out of actual production.

Crux and Vandread Dita protect the Nirvana from enemy attack.

Back with Hades and Anubis, Francesca's machine wasn't faring well against Anubis.

'I underestimated Kyle's desire to kill me.' She thought.

Anubis blocks a strike aimed at its waist and kicks Hades square in the chest catapulting it backwards, it quickly gives chase then lands a punch that knocked pieces of metal off Hades' face. Getting up Hades fires its shoulder cannon but Anubis brings its wings forward to shield itself, the beam of energy bounces off and flies off in some random direction. The dark gray mechanical god of the dead pulls its wings back to shift the left arm into its cannon form, the barrel glows a crimson red as energy begins collecting inside. Charge complete, Anubis fires its cannon and the force of the beam pushes Hades back until it crashes into a skyscraper and the top of it lands on top of Hades. Anubis' gun arm changes into its normal appearance. The skyscraper explodes and Hades emerges from the rubble, gaping holes lined its body.

A snarl escapes Francesca's lips while Gryphus 1 took joy in punishing her for all of her sins.

Suddenly Hades somehow begins charging the atmosphere and turns the lightning red. Thousands volts of electricity flash and gets absorbed by Hades' shoulder cannon.

Francesca grinned, "Let's see if you can survive this." Anubis lets out a challenging roar and Hades takes to the sky before doing a strafing run.

Anubis sidesteps thus allowing the beam to pass by it harmlessly. It spots the opponent coming around for another pass and this time Anubis stands its ground and allows the beam to make contact, however instead of damaging it the energy gets absorbed by the wings. A plan forms in Gryphus 1's mind.

He allows Hades to come at him and Anubis grabs Hades' feet and stops it. Undeterred, Hades continues firing and Anubis keeps absorbing the energy until its wings glow an eerie dark red.

Francesca's eyes widened, "What?"

Gryphus 1 smiled coldly, "Payback's a bitch, ain't it?" Anubis fires an amplified Ray of Damnation at point-blank range, moments later Hades explodes in a massive fireball. Pieces of debris rain down as Anubis roars in victory.

Taking to the skies, Anubis shifts into Fenrir and heads for space to rejoin the Nirvana and its allies to repel the Harvesters.

A/N: Chapter 10 done.

Tianlong Squadron won their fight against the PAK-FA multi-role/air superiority fighters.

Archangel fought valiantly against Calamity but her weaponry couldn't take it out so it did kamikaze on Calamity, taking both out.

Mia and Meia defeated Megumi and Satoshi.

Lastly Kyle defeated Francesca, slaying one personal demon in the process. Just to point this out, some of the abilities that Kyle had in this chapter such as regenerative ability, able to see in the dark without the aid of his helmet, etcetera are only possible when the Onryo Mode's in level two. The drawback is that it makes him violent and a little sadistic in battle.

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Stay tuned for chapter 11.

Vader 23A