Chapter 29: The Queen of death

-c-c-

Contrary to popular belief, paperwork had failed to be eliminated from the Neo-Arcadian bureaucracy. Surely, the paper used was made of synthetic materials and a large portion of data was processed in digital form, but that didn't stop stacks of paper from accumulating. Hard copies were considered safer, after all.

First guardian Harpuia sighed at the sight of his desk. The guardians only had to take care of a miniscule but crucial portion of the administrative bureaucracy, yet it was enough to drive anyone crazy. The fact that he often had to pick up the slack for two of his fellow guardians didn't help in the least. Fefnir's paperwork would often find its end at the tip of an 'accidental' flamethrower burst, while Fairy's procrastination tendencies would often turn her rarely visited office into an obscured danger zone. Only Phantom pulled his weight, although Harpuia had never seen him actually sitting behind a desk.

The First guardian sighed again. While he loathed to admit it, he would give anything to accompany Fefnir to that fool's errant of a mission in the middle of the desert, even if it was a waste of time and , more importantly, resources. Sage Harpuia realized that he had been doubting his master's orders more and more often and he was not amused. He could already feel the stress of second-guessing himself rolling off his shoulders and knew that something would have to give and fast.

His dubious salvation came in the form of a very nervous yet very determined underling, one he recognized as a promising private from his own Rekku ranks. "Are you busy sir? I have a potential problem to report."

Harpuia held his gaze on the soldier, long enough to give him a chance to retreat. When he failed-barely-to falter, he nodded. "What is the problem?"

"I was in contact with one of the Jin'en soldiers accompanying master Fefnir in the desert, when the signal was suddenly lost. I checked with main control, but nothing else seemed amiss. I believe there is a possible security breach."

The first guardian raised a brow at that, regarding his soldier searchingly. The weaker reploid seemed to wilt under the scrutiny. "And who was the one you where in contact with?" he asked almost casually.

The underling gulped. "M-my girlfriend sir."

Harpuia sighed and rubbed his temples. "So you are telling me you used an unauthorized line to contact another soldier that is currently on a mission. You pirated the TacNet for personal reasons."

"That is the size of it, sir", he replied resigned. "Master Fefnir does not discourage such behavior", he added meekly.

Harpuia glared at him. "While I do", he responded pointedly. Sighing again, he left his office, walking towards the command center and motioning his soldier to follow. "And what is your theory?"

The other reploid regained a bit of his former fervor. "It might be something as simple as a malfunction. In case of a faulty main connection the system is designed to rail in and commandeer the rest of the communication lines and resources. However…"

Harpuia nodded, doubling his walking pace. "However, it could also mean the system is compromised. If an enemy has somehow taken control of Fefnir's TacNet, they would control and filter all official communication. A pirated line, however, one invisible in the normal records, would be disrupted by default and our hypothetical hacker would have no way to know." Turning his head to regard his underling, he let the ghost of a smile touch his lips. "I am impressed by your loyalty and courage. I will ignore your little breach of rules this time. If this is really an emergency, I'll also consider you for promotion. You may return to your duties now."

The soldier tried very hard to hide his elation. "Yes, sir. Thank you sir", he responded before saluting and leaving.

Harpuia increased his gait to a jog. If his suspicions were correct, Fefnir was in trouble and it would be up to him to salvage the day.

-c-c-

Zero stopped walking and regarded his enemies carefully. Apart from the Egyptian-themed reploid, there were another twenty pantheons and ten Jin'en soldiers. Normally, he wouldn't have worried about such odds, but the Anubis reploid felt far stronger than the rest. His sensors and instincts were pressing him to make a fight-or-flight decision.

"What is the plan?" inquired Siri urgently, her worry evident.

The red warrior sighed. "You will stay here, well out of range and you will keep your eyes on the rest of the soldiers. Only I can deal with their leader, but if they make a move to interfere or go for the shuttle, you are to intercept them. If that gold-armored reploid comes close, you are to retreat."

"She is a strong one, isn't she?" responded Bolthor his eyes never leaving their foe.

"Energy levels dangerous. Caution required", agreed Nephar.

Siri blinked, then squinted. "How can you tell it's a she?"

Despite the severity of the situation, Bolthor smirked. "I have an eye for these things." When Zero actually took the time to regard him critically, he laughed a bit awkwardly. "Also, I have heard about her. She is Anubis Necromancess the Third, Guardian Fefnir's second in command." His tone switched from flippant to grave. "Be careful, Zero. Rumor has it she is very loyal and cunning, if a bit 'touched in the head', if you know what I mean. She is a desert combat specialist, but I have no idea what this means."

Zero accepted the information with a nod. "It means she has a terrain advantage and will probably keep the rest of her troops out of the way, which is convenient. Stick to the plan and see if you can contact the people in the shuttle. Also contact Ciel and Colbor. The sooner we bring the T-net down the better."

After a quick head-hug from Siri, the crimson fighter walked forward alone, eyes on the enemy.

-c-c-

On the other side of the dust bowl, Anubis noticed the red-armored resistance member was approaching alone. She had heard the rumors, of course, and knew Fefnir was excited about the prospect of fighting this one, always a cause for caution and concern. Her general's chosen enemies were usually very dangerous. Turning to her soldiers, she hatched a quick plan of action. "I will meet their leader alone", she declared, daring them to suggest otherwise. "If my theory is correct, this will turn into an all-out, high level duel and you will just be in the way."

"What should we do, ma'am?"

A smile appeared on her jackal face. "As soon as the duel starts, you are to stealthily approach the shuttle. Your orders are the same, kill on sight. If you can engage that Resistance idiot and his metool, do so, but stay away from the red reploid. He is mine."

Trusting her orders would be followed, Anubis floated ahead, her eyes scouring the field for any possible tactical advantage. She and Zero stopped ten meters from each other and regarded their opponent, at first staying silent.

Zero felt uneasy about the coming battle. His initial sensor scans were trying and failing to analyze Anubis' systems and the more in-depth passes were progressing very slowly. His adversary was in even direr situation. During combat, she usually tried her best to divine her enemy's strength and weaknesses, but in this case her scans only revealed a jumble of indecipherable data she couldn't even begin to understand.

Nevertheless, she talked first, aiming to at least intimidate her foe. "I am Anubis Necromancess the Third, queen of death and ruler of the desert. In the name of my master, second guardian Fefnir, I shall retire you."

'I give her an eight out of ten, as far as intros are concerned' chimed the voice in Zero's mind. To his credit, the red hunter gave no outward indication of the intrusion.

'I was beginning to think you had left' he groused. 'No such luck, I guess.'

The other entity chuckled. 'I'm here so that you don't get your ass handed to you too much, kid.'

Zero suppressed a snort, then focused on his opponent. Fortunately, the inward dialogue had barely lasted a second. "You can try", he responded. "I'm here for the reploids in the shuttle and I'm not leaving without them."

The jackal-based reploid nodded in understanding. "So be it then." As soon as she finished her sentence, they both rushed forward, beam saber and shielded staff colliding in the middle. Anubis knew at once her enemy was stronger, so she didn't bother maintaining the block. Floating to her left, she twisted her weapon to the side and attempted to strike Zero with her staff's butt. The red hunter saw it coming and also twisted to the side. Maintaining the initial block, he stepped on her weapon's end and kicked with his other leg, kneeing the Neo-Arcadian right in the face. She yelped in surprise and barely managed to backpedal away, for as soon as Zero touched the ground again, he tried to cut her down to size.

"Not bad", muttered Anubis, frowning a bit. The Jin'en valued close combat a lot and she berated herself for being duped so easily. Still, she thought slyly, her talents lied in other things. Retreating further, she sent her weapon flying towards Zero. As soon as it twirled twice, it seemingly came to life, flying under its own power and homing on the red warrior. Not losing his calm, he expertly parried it twice with one hand while shooting a scattered hail of energy bullets with the buster in his other hand. Anubis let a curse and had to twist and dance very fervently to avoid being hit.

Zero took advantage of her distraction and engaged his EAS, dashing towards her at full speed, hardly visible to the naked eye. Realizing her plight, Anubis recalled her weapon frantically, catching it right as a well-aimed saber jab went to skewer her. They both knew there was no time for her to block the attack, though. Zero felt the tip of his sword as it touched and plunged in her exposed midsection, only protected by a thin elastic armor layer, then gasped in disbelief. The whole area around his sword had turned into sand, not unlike the desert sand around them.

Anubis smirked ferally at him, then her whole body turned into sand along with her staff and spilled away, vanishing among the desert dunes.

-c-c-

Ciel was pacing inside the command center, her eyes roving from screen to screen as her team of operators worked. After taking control of the Jin'en TacNet, she had exploited it to its limits. It would have been very easy to simply shut down the whole thing, leaving scores of small teams stranded all over the desert. Instead, she and her team were intercepting the calls between Fefnir's divisions and the Neo-Arcadian command, sometimes allowing them to be transmitted intact, other times slightly altering commands, incoming data and coordinates. With masterful manipulation, she had created two strategic models, one being what her enemies expected to see while the other was the true one. She had made sure to stir the Neo-Arcadian teams away from the T-net generator, her own teams and, especially, the shuttle's crash site, where Zero was currently engaged in mortal combat.

Bolthor had just relayed that particular tidbit of information and had reduced her stomach into a chaotic mass of knots. Ciel had only met Anubis a couple of times, but Fefnir had been talking about her as long as she could remember him, always with a note of reluctant fondness.

She knew the Egyptian-themed reploid was dangerous but there was nothing she could do about it. What she could do was keep Fefnir away from the action for as long as possible. Under no circumstances was Zero to fight any of the guardians, even if he could actually win. She didn't believe herself to be strong enough to endure any result of such a fight. Zero was their only hope and a friend that was rapidly becoming more, while the four guardians were like family to her, estranged family, but kin nonetheless.

"This is Colbor team. We just reached the designated point, two clicks from the T-net generator. Bianka is ready to go."

Ciel rushed to her station and responded. "Roger, Colbor. Work with haste but be careful."

She nodded to herself, but before she could resume her pacing, one of the operators called at her frantically. "Dr. Ciel! They know we took over the TacNet."

Ciel only allowed herself a second of panic, then took control of the situation. Glaring at the warnings Neo-Arcadia was trying to send, she blocked them completely, cutting their connections. "How did they sniff us out?" she muttered to herself. "I made sure to keep all lines intact. A pirate line, then. Damn!" shaking her head, she focused on the task at hand as the Neo-Arcadian command became more and more frantic before stopping altogether.

"What should we do, ma'am?" inquired one of her operators.

"Start emulating the NA command completely and open wider holes in their formation. Our people might need safer escape routes. Also keep on the lookout for First guardian Harpuia", she added, causing many gasps. "Even if he doesn't know of this, he will learn about it soon. He is the fastest thing they have readily available and I don't doubt he will tackle this personally. He will first approach Second guardian Fefnir, so we need to lead him away from Neo-Arcadia, making sure Harpuia's path does not cross our teams' locations."

As the activity in the chamber doubled, Ciel bit her lip worriedly. 'Get out of there fast, Zero.'

-c-c-

'Instead of gawking, keep your guard up, squire. That ugly-faced doll could reappear anytime.'

Zero nodded, taking the suggestion at heart. When the sand beneath him started vibrating, he expertly leaped away. A blink later, he stared unbelievingly at the huge pillar of condensed sand that emerged from the dunes. The thing was five times his width and ten times his height, without counting the cruel sharp spikes adorning its top. His right eye twitched as the sand column started moving far faster than what its size would suggest. Hitting it would be akin to colliding with a bus, and while not lethal, it would still be damaging to him. Dashing away, he snarled when more identical pillars emerged around him.

'Don't be caught between two of these things' deadpanned the second entity in his head, prompting him to roll his eyes.

"I'll keep it in mind", he muttered, leaping out of the way of two of the columns as they collided, then exploded back to plain sand. Seeing more approaching, he decided to take a gamble. Leaping in the air, he caught one of the pillars and started climbing it, thankful its surface allowed him to successfully cling. As he expected, all the other pillars rushed at him, reaching his position just as he reached the top spikes. Grasping his triple rod, he placed one end against the pillar, extending it just before the collision. As the sand constructs demolished each other, he soared above them, landing as a veil of sand passed him by.

'block!' came the command and blocked he did, stopping Anubis' staff as she materialized behind him and tried to attack.

"You'll need to do better than that", he commented, forcing her back before attacking. Out of balance, she haphazardly blocked the first two slashes of a triple slash, but the last, overhead chop caught her on the shoulder and she barely managed to roll with the hit and keep her arm attached.

As she floated higher to avoid another attack, Zero grinned. "This is not so hard."

He tried to level his buster at her, but gasped as several somethings grabbed his ankles and kept him in place. "What the..?" he tried, staring at what seemed to be mechanical arms emerging from the sand.

'Got a bit too cocky there, kid. The universe is trying to tell you something.'

'I'm pretty sure your name is not 'universe', so shut up', replied the crimson warrior, quite a bit miffed. Before he could use his beam saber to sever the grabbing hands, he cursed, having to block Anubis' incoming levitating staff. It was quite harder doing so while immobile, but he managed with only a glancing hit on his pelvis' side to tell the tale. At the same time, he reached down with his empty hand and started crashing the offending appendages with his bare fingers.

He freed himself just in time. As soon as Anubis retrieved her weapon, a sharp spike of sand erupted from the ground before him and he moved. The spike prickled him on the leg as he leaped away instead of punching a hole through his power core as it was intended to.

Angry at having her victory denied, Anubis waved with her staff and the owners of the hands dug themselves out of the sandy ground. They were humanoid, albeit with no skin whatsoever and all sported damage that should have rendered them immobile.

'Elf War droid grunts', commented the mysterious voice. 'They manufactured billions of these things back in the day. The desert must be choke full of their remains.'

"Using these things is insulting", commented Zero casually. "Are you incapable of fighting me yourself?"

Anubis was only affected for a second. "As I said before, I am the queen of death. Not an empty title, I assure you.", she joked. As the droids approached her opponent, she conjured more sand spikes in an effort to box him in and impale him.

"More like queen of scrap metal", he riposted. Ripping the head of a zombie droid, he used his triple rod to leap above another spike. At the apex of his jump, he hurled the head at Anubis and she reflexively blocked it with her weapon. What she couldn't block was the third level buster charge that followed. The radiant green mass of energy caught her off guard, knocking her off the sky. It also broke her concentration, causing the sand spikes to dissipate and the long-dead droids to collapse to their natural state of scrap metal.

Zero blinked in disbelief. "I forgot I could charge this thing so much", he commented, prompting the voice in his head to chuckle. Seizing the unexpected opportunity, he dashed towards Anubis' prone form just as she was pulling herself together. His slash removed part of her torso armor and left a deep gash on the skin underneath, but before he could finish the attack and cleave her in two, she turned into sand again and vanished.

The ruby hunter let an audible groan as the ground started vibrating. "This will take ages…"

-c-c-

Initially, Bolthor had been watching the fight with awe. Both Zero and Anubis were moving with speed and grace he could barely perceive. Next to him, Siri was bobbing up and down nervously, very worried about the duel's outcome.

Fortunately for them, Nephar had been keeping vigil in their place. "This unit detects an enemy attempt at stealth. This unit's master's enemy's soldiers are moving towards this team's current objective."

Both reploid and elf blinked at that, trying to parse the metool's words, then their heads snapped towards the downed shuttle like tracking turrets. "Think they can blindside us, huh? Well, I don't think so", muttered Bolthor, his face caught between a smirk and a grimace. He might have been itching for action, but the odds were heavily against them, even allowing for Nephar's and his own unusual prowess.

"I can go ahead and try to contact the fugitives", proposed Siri. "Maybe together we will stand a better chance."

Bolthor nodded and as the digital fairy left, he sighed. "I wish I had Bianka along. She would see right through the stealth shield of these guys." At the end of his own sentence his eyes went wide. "Say..." he started, addressing Nephar. "You wouldn't happen to be able to pinpoint the enemies' positions, would you?"

The green mechaniloid sounded almost smug. "This unit's detecting capabilities are far superior to Neo-Arcadia's inferior attempts at stealth. This unit hardly needs to try. Furthermore, this unit can help master Bolthor see them too." At that, Bolthor blinked disorientated for a second, then his eyes went wide. Nephar had established a link and was transmitting him real time data of their opponents' position. Deciding not to look a gift ride chaser at the beam cannon, he retrieved one of the two energy rifles from his back and started moving as fast as he could while crouching towards the downed craft.

-c-c-

Morvex was the first to note the cyber-elf, projecting his orange wrist-blade and preparing to skewer her at the first hostile movement. The four reploids had spotted the two approaching teams almost at once, retreating inside the shuttle and readying themselves for the worst.

"Who are you?" demanded the black armored reploid, blade still extended. Unlike many others, he wasn't about to ignore or underestimate the potential threat a cyber-elf represented.

"I'm Siri, from the Resistance. We are currently engaging a Neo-Arcadian detachment outside, but we are a bit outnumbered. I came to see if any of you can fight", replied Siri, doing an extra effort to calm down and talk at a rational, comprehensible speed.

Morvex nodded, actually smiling a bit. "I thought as much", he responded, donning his scary helmet. "I'm the only one armed among us four", he went on, peering at his unwilling companions in disdain. "Give me a general idea of the battle."

Siri nodded. "Our leader is dueling theirs. They are at a standstill and nobody dares to go close. The rest of the enemies are trying to sneak here. Ten Jin'en, twenty Pantheons, half hunters, half guardians. On our side we have a very advanced combat metool unit and a custom combat expert reploid. We have escape units, but we are under a T-net. Another team is dealing with that. The enemy won't get reinforcements but we might."

Morvex frowned at that. "Basically four to thirty, provided you can pull your weight", he pointed, and Siri bit back a retort. There was no time for arguments.

"You'd be surprised", came another voice from the door and Morvex lashed out reflexively. Bolthor retaliated by parrying the beam blade attack with a black-armored hand. The energy resistant metal, combined with his special energy shield prevented any damage.

"This unit calculates our new ally's strength as substantial. This unit's team's success rate has increased by twenty-three percent", commented Nephar raising a couple of brows.

Michael decided to speak. "As Morvex said, the rest of us are unarmed. I'm Michael, by the way, and these two are Bernard and Max."

The gray-armored warrior nodded. "Name's Bolthor and the lil' guy here is Nephar." The sound of a blast followed by sand pelting the shuttle's side muffled the end of his sentence. "Zero's going all out out there."

That certainly caught the others' attention, though they didn't comment. "What's the plan?", asked Max concerned. The enemy was near, after all. "If we need to, I can overload the craft's power core. It's still online."

Bolthor regarded the four reploids, then handed his spare rifle to Michael. "You seem to be the best shot here", he explained, and no one complained. "Nephar, can you hide us while we move?"

"This unit is capable of projecting a chameleon field for a limited time, perhaps twenty-five seconds. This unit's team should escape and overload the core."

Morvex and Bolthor both smirked at that. Their odds kept getting better.

-c-c-

Zero leaped above the new series of spikes the ground spat, trying to form a plan of attack. His peripheral senses had told him that Bolthor and the rest, as well as the Neo-Arcadians, were moving and he was hesitant to leave them on their own against such numbers. The second 'dodge the spikes' session ended when Anubis reconstructed herself, looking angrier than ever. Even though the red warrior had been the one doing the dodging, she looked just as tired as he felt.

'She has a time limit' commented Zero's mental guide. 'She can stay in sand form for sixty seconds every time. Then she needs twice as much to recharge her systems, during which time her powers over sand diminish. She also needs to hold her staff to do her tricks.'

Zero cocked a mental brow. 'You deduced that much so soon?' he demanded incredulously.

'You have lots to learn, squire', mocked the voice.

Sighing, Zero ran towards Anubis before she could float away and buy time with ranged attacks. The jackal-faced reploid blocked the first slash snarling, then twisted her staff and touched the sand with its top end. Zero tried to leap away, but wasn't fast enough. A wide sand blade had formed at the weapon's end, effectively turning it into a halberd. Said blade proved to be as dangerous as any beam weapon, slicing a long albeit swallow cut on Zero's chest and cheek as it spun.

Thinking fast, he blocked the blade on the second rotation, grabbing the other end with his free hand. 'Let's try a trick of my own', he thought. The blue gem on his helmet flashed yellow just before his green saber did the same. Repositioning the point of contact, he touched the metallic part of Anubis' spear with his sword, channeling thousands of volts through the weapons. Unfortunately, Anubis smirked a very toothy and jackal-like smirk. On reflex, a strand of sand emerged from the ground beneath her at near supersonic speed, touching her leg and redirecting the power surge downwards.

"I happen to be properly grounded", she joked, even as sparks and mini-lightning danced all over her armor ineffectively. Taking advantage of his disbelief, she yanked her spear from Zero's grip and performed a backflip while still floating. Her kick clipped him on the chin, but he managed to roll with the hit. More importantly, it gave her another opening and she capitalized on it, stabbing at him with all the speed her body could produce.

The sand blade touched the crimson hunter just below his armored vest, pausing to overpower his undersuit's resistance before sinking through his synthetic skin. In desperation, Zero reflexively lashed with his saber, severing two of her fingers and forcing her to retreat lest she lost the whole hand.

As she glared at him, willing her repair systems to stem the flow of energy fluid coming from her new wound, he assessed his own damages. His new torso wound would slow him down a bit, but he had chased her away before she could deal really deliberating injuries.

'I don't think electricity is going to cut it this time', admonished the voice, and Zero rolled his eyes at his advisor's firm grasp of the obvious.

-c-c-

Forge was the ranking Jin'en officer among the ten soldier after Anubis left and so it was his duty to guide the rest. After spending the minimum compulsory time gawking at the unbelievable display of skill and power his officer and the red Resistance reploid showed, he managed to remember his orders.

"Listen up, everyone! As the commander said, we have no place in this battle." That last comment was delivered with grudging regret. Most of Fefnir's army thrived on physical challenge and the prospect of a good fight caused their synthetic blood to boil. "How many camouflage E-nets do we have?"

A quick inventory later, he nodded. "It should be enough. Tight ranks, Pantheons in the back and engage them." E-nets were, in effect, hologram emitters combined with sensor scramblers. Inferior to invisibility generators and chameleon drives, they were a cheap and efficient way to hide large numbers of troops, provided the terrain was favorable. In the desert, the hologram was one of a large, shifting set of dunes. It wouldn't last under close scrutiny, but in said sandy wasteland, where the winds left nothing immobile, it was effective, as long as no advanced sensors were present.

The small army soon reached the shuttle, making sure to walk a wide semi-circle around the raging battle of the leaders. Many of the Jin'en had winced when an enormous buster shot had knocked Anubis off the air, torn between duty and loyalty. If the golden-armored reploid hadn't escaped via her sand form, they would have rushed to help her then and there, mission be damned.

Still under the hologram, Forge regarded the shuttle entrance wearily. The strong sun made sure he couldn't make out anything but vague shadows beyond the doorframe and the whole scene screamed ambush. "You, you and six Pantheons", he ordered indicated two of the other soldiers. "Get in, attack anything that moves and keep your head down. If they are conscious, they are probably waiting for you with raised metal clubs, or something", he advised, almost smiling at the image.

Any trace of mirth vanished twenty seconds later, though, when a gigantic explosion echoed through the desert. A third of the shuttle was consumed by the fireball, spreading pieces of scrap metal all over the dust bowl. The two soldiers and six Pantheons that had entered the craft died at once, most of their bodies vaporizing immediately. The rest of Anubis' unit was blasted away. Four more of the drones were shredded by shrapnel, since Forge had had the presence of mind to put them on the front just in case.

The Neo-Arcadian acting commander leaped on his feet almost at once, regarding his slightly damaged, red armor, then the rest of his unit. The ten drones rose first, followed by the remaining seven Jin'en, all in various states of hurt, but none really disabled. "Form defensive ranks!" he barked. Their camo had been destroyed in the blast, but if his hunch was correct, it hadn't fooled their enemies anyway. As if to confirm that theory, three energy shot came out of the blue, one devastating a drone, the second injuring and knocking out a reploid and the third grazing his helmet.

"Return fire!"

-c-c-

Both Zero and Anubis halted their battle when the explosion reached them, their heads snapping towards its source just in time to see the flying Jin'en reaching the ground. Anubis' face was filled with horror while the scarlet warrior grabbed his chance and took the offensive. Dozens of slashes, cuts and jabs, all aimed at weak spots and blind spots came at her and she found to her growing dread, her blocks were turning more and more haphazard. Her opponent had apparently learned her style and was exploiting every weakness with impunity.

To compensate, the jackal-faced reploid was forced to create a second sand blade on the butt end of her staff. The result was awkward and a bit unwieldy, but forced Zero to fight a bit more cautiously. Anubis smiled grimly. It would be just enough for her to retreat back to the safety of her sand form. Her unique matter converters were almost charged and she would get a minute of respite below her beloved desert.

Unfortunately, fate-and Zero- had other plans. Her converters charged completely just as a very vicious jab slipped through her guard. Hardly registering more than the actuality of the hit, she turned her midsection area that was about to be hit to sand, preparing to change the rest of her body immediately afterwards. A sharp pain and scores of error messages stopped her on her tracks, forcing her to touch the ground and backpedal.

The first thing she noticed was Zero's forehead gem. Instead of blue or yellow it was glowing a fiery orange. Similarly, his sword seemed to be on fire. The main blade was still as focused and sharp as ever, despite being orange. Around it, however, there was a field of dancing flames, superheated air, she concluded in wonder.

Reaching her abdomen, that should have been turned to sand, she encountered a smooth and still scorching hot surface.

"When heated enough, sand turns into glass, after all", offered the crimson hunter, almost apologetic.

Panicking, Anubis turned into sand again, but not before Zero could land another hit, this time on her leg. Two pieces of raw glass were left behind and he knew that if he could last another full minute, he would have to face a severely weakened enemy.

-c-c-

Bolthor winced as another bolt of energy washed over his armor. His shields were still holding, but he would need to be more careful to survive the skirmish. He fired another shot with his rifle, disabling an X-droid he had already damaged before, then threw the weapon to the ground. A Jin'en trooper was upon him with thoughts of melee, if his extended energy claws were any indication.

Bolthor dodged to the side, missing the three tiny blades protruding from his opponent's knuckles, then retaliated with an energy-coated fist. A drone would have been sent flying, but the reploid in question was one of Fefnir's elite. He grunted, braced himself and slid backward a couple steps, but otherwise remained standing. His cocky smirk was wiped from his face when the gray-armored and slightly larger reploid caught both his wrists, making sure to keep the claws out of reach, parted them, opening his guard, and kneed him viciously, cracking the lower part of his chest armor.

Close by, Morvex was having problems of his own. Lacking ranged weapons, he had forced tight quarters as soon as he could. A couple shots had hit him, but his black, medieval-style armor had held. After soundly vivisecting a Pantheon hunter, he had engaged two of the enemy reploids, each wielding a teal beam saber. His own orange wristblades were spinning erratically, trying hard to keep both of them at bay, but he was gradually losing ground and he knew it.

At same time, Michael was trying his best to remain hidden and steady his aim. Since the beginning of the battle, he had retreated to a safe distance, covering his two unarmed friends while trying to snipe everything and everyone hostile. The rifle was not really meant for sharp-shooting, but he was doing okay. He had already reduced two pantheon heads into bloodied shrapnel and another Jin'en was on the ground with holes though his leg and abdomen. He had to take cover, however, when said downed soldier and another Pantheon hunter spotted him and retaliated with energy and fire. Without any armor, a single shot would probably disable him or worse.

Siri had been busy as well. The four remaining Pantheons had registered her as an enemy, two coming at her with their clubs while the other two tried to shoot her down. The normally docile cyber-elf narrowed her eyes at them, reminding herself they were nothing more than glorified mechaniloids rather than sentient beings. A shot grazed her tiny body, but she ignored the elven equivalent of pain. Her iridescent aura flared as she vanished inside the head of the first drone, disabling the poorly shielded automaton with ease. Soon afterwards, all that remained were four drone husks and one tired and panting digital pixie. "I will never again be accused of being a burden to Zero", she muttered to herself resolutely.

Forge was not having a good day. Being bested by another reploid was something that happened, but fighting and losing to a single metool was humiliating.

"Collision trajectory calculated", chirped Nephar and were one to pay attention, one would notice he sounded amused. Forge could only groan as once again the metool launched itself at him, knocking him back and right on another Jin'en that was trying to return to his feet. The green mechaniloid followed at once, its cup rising to reveal a crude mouth that resembled a bear trap. Clamping on Forge's leg and ignoring his scream of pain, it extended a cannon from its top and fired a blast at the second reploid, breaking his helmet and knocking him down for a third time. The recoil of the blast forced it backwards, its jaws ripping off leg armor, skin and artificial muscle in the process. Forge screamed again as Nephar, always relentless, spat out the leg pieces and leaped again, this time clamping on the Neo-Arcadian's shoulder. "Animated chew toy detected."

-c-c-

Zero's eyes went wide as the ground trembled more than ever before. 'The jackal chick seems to be desperate', quipped his inner voice.

The ruby warrior leaped in the air, then gawked again as a sea of sand spikes filled his field of vision. The red warrior gulped as there was no free surface to land. Thinking fast, he twisted upside-down while falling, grabbing two spikes with his hands from bellow their tips and remaining very still. The rest of the spikes around him started shifting in an effort to impale him. Cursing foully, he started dancing on his hands, grabbing the new spikes as they came for him and keeping his body out of harm's reach. Unfortunately, he was grazed many times, his armor holding together but weakening substantially. When he was staked through the leg, very painfully, he decided he had had enough. Still dodging, he charged his saber, bringing it down on a smash that filled the area before him with flames. When they subsided, they left behind a glass plain with half-melted and mostly harmless jags. He hopped on it, looking very carefully were he stepped.

From below, Anubis was trying to form new spikes of sand. The newly-created glassy surface, however was too hard for them to penetrate. To make matters worse, Zero charged his saber again and again, extending his safe area.

Before she could conjure a counter-strategy, her time was up. The burning sensation forced her to return to solid form lest her sand grains lose cohesion and become mixed with plain sand, something that would kill her instantly. Zero was waiting for her and greeted her with a third level buster shot, this one baring the fire element. She had managed to form back completely, but the extreme heat still melted her armor's edges and damaged the subsystems underneath.

Desperately, she formed a large wrecking sand ball on the top of her staff, floated as high as she could, and brought it down on the crimson hunter. Zero dodged her morning star impression, but none of them could dodge the ensuing glass shard blast. Both of them fell to the ground, their bodies sporting entire networks of lacerations.

Zero recovered first, ignoring the fact a large portion of his blood was apparently outside his body and firing another charged shot from a kneeling position. Anubis was slower to rise, blocking the blast with her staff while still prone. She groaned in agony as her fingers welded themselves on the weapon. Her energy almost spent, she commanded a single zombie drone to emerge from the broken glass and engulf Zero in a bear hug. She them created a single, glass shard-filled sand spike to impale him through the head.

Zero gritted his teeth and shook off his captor savagely, delivering a last fiery saber smash, overwhelming the spike and encasing the still-prone Anubis in another sheet of hot glass. She tried to move, to attack again, but she might as well had been trapped in titanium for all the strength she had left.

The scarlet fighter contemplated finishing her off, then shrugged. Turning his back to her semi-conscious form he dashed towards Bolthor and the others, intend to help them with their fight.

"Zero!", came Ciel's urgent voice from his comm. "First guardian Harpuia has entered the area. Get out of there fast!"

Inside her glass coffin, an immobilized and very damaged Anubis wept silently. She had let down her general and the mental anguish was worse than the physical pain.

-c-c-

AND I have been reborn from my ashes like always. The end of winter always wakes the megaman fan inside me. It's been a while and I have been distracted by other stories, but I haven't abandoned this one yet.

A quick skim through the new stories made me feel the megaman fandome is a bit anemic these days. Capcom should really publish a real game instead of silly retro attempts coughmm9cough. Like an X9 or a ZX3. They are both to be based on cliffhangers...

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this one. It's been some time and I'm paranoid about writing something that contradicts a previous chapter. The whole glass thing is not really realistic, but it was the only way to excuse Anubis' weird fire weakness. I really enjoyed writing Nephar. I was partly inspired by Glitcher's 'fowl play' flash video.

Until the next time, do read, do enjoy and do review.