Act XXXIV

Megiddo.

A valley—actually a hill—located at the head of Carmel Ridge and overlooking Jezreel Valley to the west.

Known as Tel Megiddo to the Jews and Tell al-Musteselim to the Arabs, the place was a by-word for the End.

The world's last battleground, Armageddon.

Within the confines of the Iron Maiden II, Maria squirmed uneasily in the embrace of her tovares' arms. Despite her bold words in the confessional some days back, doubt was beginning to creep in.

"Are we there yet?"

"Negative. We have just begun approaching the Via Maris." Tres removed the visor-like glasses and gently wiped off any dust he might have seen on the lens with his stole.

"I see."

Without looking at her, he continued cleaning the glasses. "Sister Maria, if you begin to have doubts about your duty, I will prevent you from ever setting foot on Tel Megiddo."

That cleared away any doubts she had in a hurry. "Y-yes."

Hours later, the Iron Maiden II touched down lightly upon the ground. As soon the ramp was down, the entire AX Dept. ran down the ramp and across the dusty, rock-strewn terrain towards the Inquisitorial Fleet.

Deus turned to them just as they approached the ships, an elated expression on his face.

"Ready to kick some ass, bro!?"

"Does not compute, Deus Iqus."

"It never computes—hmm?" The other cyborg leaned in to look at him closely. "Something…Something's different about you…"

At that moment, Petros' shout interrupted them. "Assume positions!"

Maria's clothes and hair stirred wildly as the Iron Maiden II ascended abruptly into the air, stirring small dust devils beneath her. After a few minutes, she herself launched into the air.

"You realize you run some risk of being targeted by the enemy's drones, correct?"

Deus chuckled, ruffling Sue's hair. "Of course we do. Still, we are too persistent to die."

"Are you prepared Deus?" Tres walked towards them, his gaze flicking from Sue to Deus.

"Positive."

In the air, Maria and Abel were using the floating drones as jumping stones to reach the ship. The only reason the drones had not attacked was because they had been programmed to destroy machines and not humans and/or living beings.

Maria quickly beat Abel to the flagship, where they could see Cain standing on it, already powered up at eighty percent. "Ah, so the chosen Virgin has decided to join in our fight."

"You've lost the moment you met me, Cain." Her snake blade extended to a claymore's length.

Soon the sky pulsed with red, blue and silver lightning.

End Act XXXIV

A/N: Sorry for the long wait! I was really struggling to put a good fight scene and it seems I failed! Oh well, I'll try to put a good ending for this fic since I'm thinking this is the second-to-last chapter. –V-ko