Chapter 25: The Way Home
"What's wrong?" Aikka asked Kratos, at the look in his eyes.
"Eva…you should have stayed away." He turned to face them. "The Gate is open." He said, "I am of the Knight Stone. The Stone is a double edged sword. I am here…to kill you now, Eva."
"What?" She shouted, taking a step back towards the Arrow.
He drew his sword on her, "Time to die." He said calmly, charging for Eva.
Aikka pushed Eva out of the way, "Run! I'll hold him back!" He said, taking up his sword and charging at Kratos.
"Aikka, no!" She shouted, "He's stronger than you!"
Kratos cut through Aikka's blade in one slash and then kicked him aside. He turned and walked after Eva, "Come on." He said, "It's time for you to die."
She ran into the cockpit of the Arrow and took to the air. She looked down on him, "Kratos, you don't have to do this!" She shouted, "You were our comrade, our friend! That doesn't have to change!"
"It does." He replied, looking up at her. Lightning crackled in his fist, "Because the Gate is open, and my duty to protect you ended with the death of Kross. Now…my new order is to kill you.
"That is the Knight Stone. That is the double edged sword it presents."
Aikka crawled up to Kratos from behind. He gripped the shattered hilt of his sword, jagged remains still gripping to it of his blade.
He plunged it at Kratos's back, wounding the powerful alien.
Kratos stumbled forward and span around, elbowing Aikka across the face. He stumbled back as Kratos tore the weapon free of his back.
Kratos kicked Aikka back and lifted his still intact sword high.
"Time to die, King." Kratos hissed. His pale blue and white clothes started to turn to dark red and black. The tails that hung down, already ragged, regenerated slightly. They kept the ragged look, but in a more malicious way.
Kratos's blue eyes turned crimson. His sword's golden hilt became dull gray. His hair became a darker shade of red, close to black.
His way of speaking, finally, changed. His tone became darker, and his calm way of speaking was gradually going.
"No!" Eva shouted, training her cannons on Kratos.
All around them, flames erupted from the planet being struck from orbit.
"If you try anything, I'll kill you too, Kratos!" She shouted.
"Kill me? Me?" He laughed, "You little brat, you couldn't kill me!"
Aikka looked at Kratos. He was looking over his shoulder at the Arrow.
Aikka tore an arrow free of his quiver and rammed it into Kratos's chest.
Kratos looked down, "You wouldn't be fast enough." He hissed.
"Try me then." Aikka panted, holding tight to his arrow.
"What spell would take me down? What do you have that could possibly defeat me?" Kratos questioned with malice.
"Renduro Wexlero Zyborna!" Aikka shouted.
A magical ring came from the charm of the arrow and sprouted on Kratos's chest. He yelled out as pain rippled through his body.
Aikka reared back his leg and kicked Kratos. The warrior fell back.
Aikka got up and ran forward, "Eva! We have to go!"
"You're not going to kill him?" Eva asked as she touched the Arrow down.
"No. He's a valiant warrior. I can't kill him, even if he is our enemy." Aikka told her, crawling into the back of the Arrow.
She took off towards where the others were, "Salzor is attacking the planet. What do we do now?"
"We get off the planet." Aikka replied. He looked down at his own people, fighting alongside the Crogs against the few remaining soldiers who were left behind.
"I don't know if we can save them." She said.
"Just go." Aikka said, "We have to get the five of us off this planet." He looked to Eva, "What about your father and friends?"
"Gone I hope." She replied.
"Where is Eva?" Don Wei shouted as he moved through the Galahad. "Stan, Koji, Rick!"
They all came out and towards him, "We haven't seen her." Koji admitted.
"She must be on another ship." Stan said.
"I contacted other ships." Rick said, "No one knows where she is. Or Alistair Wilde, or Aikka, or his company."
"What does that mean?" Don demanded.
"They're probably still on the planet." Rick told him.
Skaythe smashed into the war room of the Earth control room in the White House and surrounding buildings.
"Here it is." He growled.
The other ambassadors entered, their rear covered by Shikth and Fiorn. The others were in the middle, with fighters like Wolv in the center for protection.
Skaythe had plowed through all Earth security forces to reach this location. He was unstoppable.
Just like the demon he appeared like.
What was he? Was he an alien…or was he truly a demon?
He walked towards the controls, "Fiorn, Wolv. Your people are more advanced than most of the ambassadors peoples here. Figure it out."
Wolv walked up and started to work. "It's encrypted. It's deep, but I can hack it."
Skaythe walked towards the door as more security came. He slammed the remains of the door back on, and then, threw it forward, taking out everyone in the hallway.
"That buys you time." Skaythe hissed.
"Got it." Wolv hissed, "It was easy to hack in the end." He triggered the systems, locking down the facility.
"They know we have the weapon?" Skaythe asked. Wolv nodded, "Good. Be ready to give our demands to them."
"What are our demands?" Wolv asked.
"The security of our planets. Free passage off this planet, and a competent Cabinet that isn't full of traitorous men like Nereus."
"Understood." Wolv said, simply waiting.
As they returned, Alistair was up, but his arm was in a sling, and he had a rough cloth tied over his head to stop some bleeding.
"I managed to get this." Alistair said, hobbling over to a ship.
It was an oval in shape. It had two gun turrets on each side, and the cockpit at the front nose. It was about forty five feet in length, twenty five in width.
"We have to leave the Arrow behind." Alistair said. He looked around, "Where's Kratos?"
"He's a traitor." Aikka replied, "He's some sort of alien that changes sides as his mission is complete…or something like that. When he was done killing Kratos, he turned on Eva. It's a result of the Knight Stone apparently."
"So we leave him behind." Alistair said, "Good." He climbed into the ship.
G'dar came next with Canaan and Luna. Eva came in, helping to hold up Aikka as they entered.
"Who's piloting?" Luna asked.
"I'm too injured." Alistair said, "Eva, you'll have to."
She nodded and climbed into the pilot seat in the cockpit, "Ok. I'll do my best. I've never piloted a ship like this."
"It's easy." Alistair assured her, "Now, we have to go, now!"
They could see Kratos moving in on them, lightning crackling around his fist.
"He said the "Gate was open"." Eva said, "Any ideas what that means?"
"None." Aikka said.
"Nope." Alistair said, going to a turret.
Luna shook her head, "Never heard of it." Canaan said.
"Ok then." Eva said, "We don't know what it means. That's not good."
"Take off!" Alistair shouted, taking aim, but unable to get the full range of motions while on the ground.
"Right!" She started up the ship, taking it up a few feet.
Alistair turned, "Die!" He opened fire.
Kratos let his lightning loose, blasting through the fire and towards the combat.
Eva dodged the ship to the side and took off into space as the rest of the buildings around them were laid waste to by Salzor's relentless attacks.
The ship was taken up, dodging lightning blast after lightning blast.
They looked down, seeing the spot Kratos was standing on being blown to pieces. Kratos was gone, they were sure of that.
"There's the Freedom." Alistair said, pointing ahead.
"Let's dock in one of their hangers." Eva said, "Then we can fly back with them."
"Incoming ship, identify yourself." A voice came. The image was slowly coming up.
"Rick!" Eva shouted, "It's us! Me, Aikka, Luna, Canaan and…"
"Alistair Wilde?" He asked.
"Yeah." She replied, "How did you know?"
"I figured it out when we found the list of missing officers and saw him, especially since he was Jordan's brother; I figured he'd be with you." Rick replied, "Now come to the Galahad."
"I'll be right there." Eva replied, heading towards the Galahad.
They were heading home.