Oh, look at that. We have reached Chapter 50 (!) of this story. Hoooly dip, that is a lot of chapters. I guess it is safe to say we are probably over half point of this story. Still plenty left to tell.


Chaos is the Prize Chapter 50

"If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck."

-John Steinbeck

"Every son quotes his father, in words and in deeds."

-Terri Guillemets

The lock of the weapon storage fell onto the floor in broken pieces, and in the next moment, Azuhrius was already in. He quickly scanned the small space lined with Atlesian infantry weaponry before he moved to allow the others in.

"Stock up, girls," Ceruleon said as he stepped in after Azuhrius, followed by Kaltrina and the rest of the Hydra Operatives.

"2 minutes!" Azuhrius said as he walked past a row of pulse carbines lined against the wall, and as soon as he moved past them, Kimidori started loading the weapons into her large bag. Vi was busy filling her bags with ammo and clips, and Kaltrina broke into a small locker containing attachments and maintenance tools. He stopped before a shelf holding multiple pulse pistols.

"There are no explosives here," Ceruleon said as he looked around. It was understandable, it was a small armory for guns, not for explosives.

"We will make do what we brought with us," Azuhrius replied. He reached out, grabbed one of the pistols, and observed it in his grip. He grabbed one of the already loaded magazines and slid it into the weapon, after which he made a practicing gesture to aim against the wall. He slipped the weapon into his belt and grabbed some more magazines. "One minute!"

"From what I have gathered most of the Atlesian forces are far from us. The Devourers have bought us time nicely," Ceruleon said as he took a new pistol and ammo for himself as well.

"In chess, pawns move first for a reason," Azuhrius replied. He stepped out of the storage vault to where Seryy was on guard and pulled out his scroll, opening the camera picture he had taken from a layout map of the station. Seryy glanced at him as Azuhrius motioned towards the corridor. He could picture well where the Atlesian counter-offensive would be coming. "We are going for the D stairs in 30 seconds. Scout the way and wait for us there."

Seryy nodded and jumped up from where she had been leaning against the wall by their Atlesian prisoner and vanished quickly through the door of the chamber. Azuhrius moved to where she had been and lowered himself by the Atlesian who had been guarding the vault when they had arrived and provided some useful info after that. They could not leave him behind.

"There will be consequences for you and whoever you are serving, White Fang or whoever. This is an act of war against the Kingdom of Atlas!" the man said from where he had been tied to the wall. Azuhrius looked at him after he concluded the corridor outside was safe since nobody was shooting at Seryy.

"War," Azuhrius said. "Is simply Remnant's hygiene..." Then he pulled out his newly acquired pistol and shot the man.


Orchid could have laughed at his good luck when the Atlesian android squad found the White Fang group. The machines had systematically descended from the upper level and started searching the area. As soon as they spotted the White Fang held room, the air was filled with sounds of gunfire.

The White Fang had good positions and were able to prevent the killer machines from advancing. They were, however, getting ready to retreat in the opposite direction from the Atlesian forces, Orchid could still make that out despite the noise caused by the firefight. Strangely, the loud noises made it easier for him to pick out the movements and yells of the White Fang thugs, not less.

"Battle. What a beautiful music it makes..." Orchid was moving the moment he figured out the way the parasol girl would take. The White Fang force was splitting up, one half was keeping the drones back while the other secured a way out and moved ahead. The parasol girl was with the moving group, Orchid could hear the sounds made by her heels. He was in ready and waiting in an interception position when the White fang group moved through an intersection.

Orchid lunged, and the head of the lead Faunus was cleanly sliced off in the middle of a sprint. Chaos descended as the White Fang scum reacted to the enemy suddenly in their midst. Orchid killed another white and black-uniformed grunt but had to parry when a Faunus Aura user sliced at him with a vicious looking buzzsaw weapon. The Atlesian drones were moving to flank as well, starting to fire when they could, adding to the madness. Orchid took a hit to the head from a random shot of a pulse weapon, causing him to lose his focus for a split second. He lost his way in the combat and just kept slicing anything within his reach, cutting down White Fang members who were trying to avoid him and simultaneously return fire against the androids.

Where was the parasol girl? Orchid could smell her presence even in the thick of combat but he could not get his eyes on. His Aura was straining against blows that kept glancing him in the thick of the mad fight.

Suddenly he could hear the very familiar roar, and next, he realized Grollo was suddenly in the fight as well. Orchid had no idea where the Wolf had come but the bloody work of his axe sure came handy in tying up lesser prey on his way.

Where are you? Orchid kept desperately looking around, but he could not get his eyes on the parasol girl. The White Fang were realizing their situation and were pushing away from the fight where they were getting hammered, slipping away. Orchid could not let them escape with her.

"Who the hell uses an umbrella as a weapon?!" He suddenly heard Grollo bark, and Orchid's eyes instantly looked in the direction of the voice. He just managed to catch a glimpse of Grollo missing a wide swing with his axe and the parasol girl vaulting over the Wolf and skipping away along the corridor.

"Hands off, I saw her first!" Orchid yelled as he scurried after the parasol.


The number of killer tin cans they had encountered had been steadily rising as of late. In the last encounter, Sangur had probably lost more Aura then during rest of the attack combined. The Atlesians were starting to wear him down.

"Those… fucking pulse guns… hit really damn hard in overwatch…" Flavius panted.

"Fucking 7th edition…" Sangur snarled. Damn he hated Atlesians, but damn he liked killing them. "Global info networks... Unmanned drones... Fookin laser sights!" Sangur cursed the enemy's technological gimmicks as he stomped on a head of a broken war automaton. "A good old chainaxe never loses reception..."

Sangur could hear more androids coming. He was already standing in the middle of a scrapyard with Flavius, and his axes were hungry for more.

"I think they are coming to kill us," Sangur said as he tried to locate where the noises were coming from. His Nails were singing, filling his head with pain and the glory of battle, but he used this little moment of pause to gather himself.

"So it sounds like," Flavius panted. His Aura was probably in worse condition than Sangur's. His black sword had also suffered some damage. He would probably need another weapon soon if he lived through this day. "Any last words?"

"Blood for the Blood God," Sangur said with a twitching mouth.

Flavius chuckled. "Ha, classic."

Sangur heard the distinctive sound of android legs against a metal floor and turned to look at a corridor starting from his right. He tightened his grip and started moving towards the incoming sounds. He could have waited behind the corridor for the metal heads, but he did not. He rounded the corner, saw his enemy, and charged.

The red mist and the heat of the Nails took him again. He lost track of Flavius as both of them were drawn into different directions by calls of battle, and he pushed onwards alone.

The blue flashes of pulse fire rained against him and ground his Aura, but did little to slow him down. Sangur reached the Atlesian battle machines and started dismantling them one chainaxe strike at a time. His strength was unmatched and lust for violence insatiable. The blessings of the Blood God flowed in his veins, strained in his muscles and hammered in his skull. He was unstoppable.

"8th edition, fuck yeah!"


Lieutenant Colonel Schwarz had finally started to think the Atlesians were starting to turn the situation around. The androids were mobilizing quickly, and after they had managed to form containing strong points above and below the middle floors, they had started the counter-offensive. The counterattack against the invaders had been looking promising, even if there were somewhat heavy android casualties. All in all, it had been looking like the situation was developing into a better direction.

That was when the lights of the command center flickered drastically before going out completely. The computer screens switched to their integrated reserve power batteries seamlessly, and red emergency lighting came to be after a couple of seconds, powered by dust crystals behind the lamps.

"What happened?" Schwarz barked. "Report!"

"Analyzing, just a second sir," an officer replied from his station as he read system messages. "It seems there has been a localized power failure on this floor. Some systems, primarily lighting and computer power, are offline and are working on reserve power where possible. Systems like ventilation, coms and door mechanism are still online. The fault is in hardware, there has been a disruption in the power cablings of this floor."

"Intentional sabotage then?" Schwarz asked.

"Mostly likely sir. The problem is so localized it suggests cutting of powerlines in the superstructure."

"Can we reroute the power?" Schwarz inquired as he wondered how the enemy had managed to cause such a disruption in the higher levels, well above the containment strong points. Floor sweeps after the loss of Beta squad had reported no signs of the enemy, other than the… mutilated remains of said squad. The lack of contact had led him to assume the enemy had retreated to the lower floors. Now he feared the enemy had somehow been hiding in the superstructure.

"Yes sir, already charting alternate power routings. The floors above will suffer from some power failure but this floor and command center will regain full power. I estimate 7 to 10 minutes before that happens."

"Good, keep working on that," Schwarz replied. Those minutes were too long for his taste. Such a local power failure had not been in the theoretical defense plans for Aegis station. After this situation had been resolved fully, Schwarz would personally make sure such a scenario was introduced and drilled. And it would not be the only thing needing looking into when it came to the defenses of aerial stations.

"Alert the squads guarding the command center and get them inside. Request additional reinforcements for the command floor. Tell Captain Oceanos to organize an android sweep of the superstructure three floors above and below."

His orders were confirmed and he took a glance at the door of the command center as it was opened so that the situation update could be conveyed to the Fire Warriors guarding just outside. The Fire Warriors entered the command center. There was no way for them to see in the darkness outside, so it was best to take them inside. The helmets used by the Fire Warriors could be attached with night vision equipment, but night vision did not help in the absolute darkness of a lightless station interior. The corridor outside did not have reserve lighting like the command center, and so Schwarz saw only pure blackness. He did not fear the dark, but the stress of the situation made the sight somewhat unnerving, and he ordered the doors shut again as soon as the Fire Warriors had entered the command center.


Orchid's sword reached forward in the most artistic slash he could perform, but the parasol brushed Malovelance's tip aside with an equally graceful parry. Orchid let out a short cry of laughter as he spun around to strike again.

He lashed out again. She dodged. He moved on with a bold thrust. She parried with her parasol. She counter-attacked with a measuring strike. He deflected without showing weakness.

So it went on and on, two duelists locked into a violent yet graceful struggle for dominance, both of them evaluating each other's skill and style even as the pace of the confrontation grew slowly in intensity. Neither of them was going for decisive strikes, instead, they carefully scouted their respective prowess even as they warmed up for the moments yet to be reached.

Yes, this was it. This was what Orchid had waited for. The night he had confronted her by the highway had left him thirsting for more, and now he was drinking in every sensation with an insatiable craving.

"I missed you," he said with a pleased tone. "You left so suddenly last time. You gave me a taste and left me wanting for more. Oh, how I have waited for this."

She was giving her all, there was no way she could have stood against Orchid's mastery of the blade if she had not, but there was a feeling Orchid could read from her face and body language. She had gotten into this fight unexpectedly, she had been doing something else, something important. Orchid read her like a book and could sense her wish to leave this fight.

"Why do you want to leave?" Orchid asked with a slightly hurt voice. "Forget about the White Fang animals and whatever you came here for. They don't matter. This matters. Our fight matters, we matter Please stop being so unwilling and give yourself to me!"

Orchid executed a complicated attack, and his sword missed her ever so slightly. She was so small that she could move inside his reach for shortest of moments to dodge, and so she did so as she flipped herself over Orchid's shoulder, her hair just managing to brush against his cheek. Orchid's mind radiated, and he turned around to unleash a series of wide slashes that chased after her and pushed her to back away.

With a flare and twist of her parasol, she slipped away, landing in a most elegant pose and turned to look at him over the distance that had opened up between them. Orchid pushed his shoulders back and rolled them, tilting his head as he beheld her across the corridor in this moment of pause in a beautiful play. He had just started to move to engage her again when gunshots suddenly echoed in the corridor.

The parasol girl twisted around in a reactionary move, sending herself into a series of evasive moves as bullets rained around her, catching her sometimes and chipping her Aura. She jumped and rolled away before she fled behind a corner.

"NO!" Orchid screamed as he rushed after her. He passed the corner and found her standing there, waiting in a static pose. He knew exactly what would happen even before his sword slashed and broke the illusion into a million pieces of crystal. Orchid screamed in rage as he swept his gaze around in a futile effort to catch a glimpse of her. He was left standing alone by the disintegrating mirror pieces until he head steps behind the corner he had just rounded.

Mizudori came into view, brandishing the autogun that had interrupted Orchid and the parasol girl interrupted their glorious duel. Orchid glared at the Hydra Network operative from the corner of his eye as his posture slackened with disappointment and sadness.

Mizudori scanned the corridor with her gun before turning to Orchid. "I just got a message from Azuhrius. He told that we should seize all aggression and head for the docking deck for escape. We should get going."

Orchid stretched his head backward and looked at the ceiling with denied eyes. "You… you drove her away…" he said with a whine.

"What?" Mizudori asked. "That does not matter. We are to start retreating towards the docking level. We have to hurry, the Atlesian counterattack has already reached this floor."

Orchid did not look at her. "You know…" Orchid said. "I thought I would rip out your tongue…" He turned. "But you can keep the tongue… and let out noise..."

The silvery blade of Malevolence was the last thing Mizudori's eyes saw or came into contact with.


As soon as the power had been rerouted, sergeant Tali had received orders from the Lieutenant Colonel to open the doors of the command center and return to guard outside. The lights had been brought back on, but as the doors opened, only thing Tali saw beyond was the same pitch black corridor he had seen ten minutes ago. The command' center lights were on, but the rest of the floor seemed as dark as before.

"What is going on? I thought the power was back!" Tali asked as he glanced over his shoulder. The command center crew had noticed it and were busy trying to figure out why the lights were still off while the system reported full power. The answer was given when Tali's squad moved forward in the light spared by the open door of the command center.

"Those bastards," one of his Fire Warriors let out as they moved forward and looked at the ceiling. "They broke the lights while the power was off…"

Tali checked what he could in the sparse lighting and confirmed it. He checked the other lights on the ceiling nearby to be sure. All of them were broken. They had been smashed in completely, destroyed so that they could not perform their function. Whoever had caused the power brake had used the small window when power was out to plunge the whole floor into total darkness.

"Motherfuckers…" A soldier cursed behind Tali. They had reached the first interaction of corridors where the light from the command room just barely reached. On left, right and forward, only pure darkness could be seen.

Tali's head started to crawl with dread. The enemy had completely shut down their ability to operate on the floor until they could get a light source from somewhere. Even the androids could not operate in complete darkness. Some other squad would have to bring flares or something from the strorrage floors. Until that happened, Tali had to keep the command center in guarded and on lockdown.

"I can't see anything," one of his men said as he peered into the blackness of the right corridor. "Total darkness. We would not see anything even if they were looking at us from right there."

"We are..." the darkness replied just before Talis' head was cut off by sharp talons.


Night Lords Night Lords, whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when they come for you~

For the record, I am not in favor of the 8th edition, Sangur just likes that the current Berzerker rules are fucking scary.

Leave a review if you feel like it and have a nice day.