Chapter 90: Major Battle 16: Golden Star Armageddon Final

Kay was surprised.

When he heard the psionic emanations that asked about what was to be done with the copper-colored robotic commander, Kay began traveling to the message's source after he answered it. Such a message had perturbed him not for what was asked, but it was the identity of the sender of the message that startled him. Once he left the maw of the omega worm, Kay began to search the immediate area for the creature he was seeking. It didn't take him long to find it. Standing sixty meters tall, with a symbiote somehow assisting it, the omegazor stood triumphantly over the broken and flattened body of Commander Faddoh. It looked as though its emotions was between being bored and being hungry. Borengry? Maybe.

Kay was apprehensive to talk to this creature again, even when he made the effort to come right up to this beast in order to look at it again under a new light of scrutiny. The beast stared back at him, in what seemed like a mix between halfhearted interest and cautious instinct that could turn into savage aggression. However, Kay had no intention on fighting this beast again. Instead, he directed his mind to connect to Othafurn's mind. He did so as quietly as possible. 'Othafurn, if you don't mind, please explain to me why this omegazor is fighting on our side?'

Othafurn began answering Kay. 'I shared our collective knowledge with the omegazor. Once I have done so, I have asked it to join our side. It then asked why it should join us. I explained how Gollog and his empire would not stop unless they eradicated the entire Swarm, including any organism that is zerg in origin. Upon realizing that it too was a zerg organism, it has decided to join us in our war against Golden Star.'

Kragnon decided to intervene into the conversation. 'I thought we were not supposed to use psionic communication during this time?'

Kay rolled his eyes. 'No, see, that's only if and when we decide to change our plans, should any of our current strategies needs to be altered. Since the energy lances are only striking creep infested areas, or onto overlords that are heavily relaying psionic commands, we just need to remember to speak below a whisper as we psionically talk to each other.'

'Mm.' After a brief pause, Kragnon mentally spoke again. 'Say, now that we have an... uh... an omegazor on our side, what kind of name are we going to give it?'

'A name? Kragnon, you do realize we are in the middle of a war?' Kay reminded Kragnon.

'Actually, the omegazor's mind is fully capable of commanding your brood, Kay. It may have great power, but it lacks experience commanding our minions in a battle.' Othafurn added.

'Don't talk about me as though you're dancing around an issue.' The omegazor growled in annoyance.

Kay sighed. 'Oh, yeah, no, of course you'd be able to communicate psionically too.' Kay said nonchalantly, realizing that the destroyed psionic focuser had more than one affect on the omegazor's mind.

The omegazor leaned down to stare at Kay. "What was that?"

Kay held up his hands at the omegazor. Kay looked sheepish. "Uh... Nothing."

'Alright then, allow me to be the first to offer a name to our new ally.' Kragnon quickly delegated. 'Omegazor creature? How would the name 'Alexandriana' fit you?'

A grumble escaped the newly christened Alexandriana. 'It is... serviceable, I suppose.'

Kay tilted his head as he raised an eyebrow. 'Alexandriana? Kind of a mouthful of a name.'

Kragnon seemed to have huffed. 'It's supposed to be a very powerful girl's name, and it's meant to be a name that is a deity above deities. I took inspiration from the girls names you had given me, mixing Alexandra with Sophia. I thought it would be fitting to give her a name with five syllables, which reflects the immortal nature of the powerful zerg.'

Alexandriana seemed slightly chuffed from Kragnon's explanation, making her slightly swell in praise as though she was complimented. Kay rolled his eyes. 'Well I'm going to call her Alex during our casual conversations.'

A wave of confusion swept over Kragnon. 'You're going to nickname her with a boy's name?'

'In human culture, Alex can be either a boy's name or a girl's name. Alex is also a shortened nickname for Alexander or Alexandra. And besides, nearly every zerg organism is asexual and unisex, with the 'possible' exceptions to the queen breeds and the drones that can morph into the hatcheries that can spawn more zerg.' Kay explained.

Kragnon's mind reeled from the cultural difference he just learned. 'Your human culture is strange.'

Alexandriana growled. 'Quiet. You two whimper like vaph disputing over a hole. We should focus on this war.'

'Quite correct, Alexandriana.' Thyzir interjected. 'Time is of the essence, and Virid is awaiting our signal to launch her forces.'

And it was just then that a blazing line of energy erupted over Alexandriana's left shoulder. She shrilled in pain and lashed out violently at any nearby bastard enemy that dared tanned her scaly and carapaced hide. However, after finding no enemies to assail, she looked upwards and sneered at the distant organisms responsible for the pain brought onto her.

'... Quite.' Thyzir added.

Kay sighed. Thyzir and Alexandriana had a point, and Kay wouldn't want to stall the battle any longer than necessary. Kay looked up at the skies and steeled himself. "Right." He pointed towards the sky rings. "We'll need to morph as many hatcheries, spore cannons and scourge cannons as fast as we can, so that our mutalisks can come into range of their weapons system. If any of the chrysalises on Kiln's surface is destroyed, we can replace them easily enough. We've had twenty years to produce all the resources we could ever need for this push. Virid is keeping her lunar brood just out of range of the sky ring's point-defense turrets and energy lances, but they will move in once we give her the signal." Kay said.

Alexandriana stared at Kay for several seconds before emitting a derisive snort. "There is no need to repeat the plan to me again. I know it well." She then addressed her current wounds by licking them, even when her symbiote had already covered her body with a protective shell.

Kay looked back at Alexandriana and shrugged. "I know. I'm just reminding myself."

"I have a question, however." Alexandriana grumbled. "Couldn't you just create a wormhole and deliver our forces into the sky rings directly?"

Kay sighed. "I thought about doing that, but I also didn't want to unveil all of my strategies and new abilities to Gollog just yet. If I did, I would be giving him a reason to prepare against us if we failed to bring him down here and now. But also, I can't form wormholes as easily as you might think. I found out that I require much more concentration to form a wormhole in areas that doesn't contain any zerg that is connected to our brood. That, and the wormhole is going to be easily detected by their ENO sensor network, and I can only create a single wormhole at a time at the moment. What we need to do is to simultaneously flank the sky rings, box them, and whittle them down until there is nothing left."

"Mm." Alexandriana nodded before looking up toward the sky. "Still, I wish to be at the front of the war. I desire a real fight."

Kay nodded with a smirk. "Oh, I know of a certain mecha you'll enjoy tearing apart. Stick around, and maybe it'll show up."

The ground conflict on Kiln's surface was slowly petering. Kiln Keepers, once the most dangerous robotic force that enforced the prison system for the entire planet, was made inefficient by Kay and Virid's brood. And as of right then, the war between Golden Star and zerg will be fought in the skies. Already, several hatcheries, scourge cannons, and spires aplenty were covering the surface of Kiln at an extreme rate. The surface of Kiln would be, in the grandest sense, covered by creep and anti-orbital bio-structures. When the hydralisks began merging together to form into mutalisks, Kay's smile seemed to stretch from ear to ear.

Gadral sighed as he looked down at the brown rectangle in front of him. Before it was served on a plate to him, mai grain had been grounded down into a flour, had some eggs and grounded insects mixed into it, baked with a depression on top, and was then filled with dried fruit that was microwaved in a bowl of water for a few minutes. It was a dish that was the bare minimum of the highest quality food he could have prepared for himself. Those that are higher in Golden Star's military command structure, which included any of the commanders, the general of the four armies, and even Gollog himself, would have access to more decadent foodstuffs to stuff their faces with.

However, he couldn't complain. He knew very well that the remaining civilian population of Golden Star had access to a quality of food that was even less nourishing, and even less appetizing, than what he was allowed to have. The only things that the civilians were allowed to eat were either military rations or whatever that was allowed to be grown in their designated habitation cells. Much of the aristocratic civilians had attempted to 'rent' out many of the habitation cells only to have them renovated. They would be repurposed to fulfill different purposes, such as growing certain types of plant crops and livestock. Growing food within the sky rings' habitation cells would help the civilian population refrain from depending on military rations to sustain them, yet the Kiln Keepers were rather strict about keeping unregistered animals unsupervised within a habitation cell. Even so, smoked vaph meat strips was a better alternative to starving, and Gadral had heard some horror stories involving the consumption of the horridly bitter type of meat. Who in their right mind had the bright idea to smoke the oily meat of a vermin that is known to spread disease and breed like sin anyway?

But at least there was some benefits to living far above the surface of Kiln within one of the sky ring satellite mega structures. One of which that was obvious was being far away from the war between the Zerg Swarm, Golden Star's military and their metal allies. And frankly, in Gadral's opinion, that was probably the biggest benefit to living in the sky ring. He could stomach eating stale bread-bowl soup if it meant he could live in relative peace, and be far away from any death-inducing conflicts for as much as possible.

At least, from his experience of surviving the destruction of a secret facility, for a short while. The zerg were clearly a type of swarm that continues to exceed Golden Star in terms of warfare. To fight against the zerg would be like fighting against a tide of angry, clawed, fanged, and carapaced monsters.

'Raise your arms straight up when it starts.'

Gadral fell out of his seat and yelped, spilling the microwaved fruit in his bread bowl as he did so.

He looked left and right quickly, but he seemed to be alone. In what felt like half a minute, he clutched his head and sighed in exasperation. "Guh... I need to ween myself from the revitalizant." He said to himself.

Gadral got up from the floor and began cleaning the floor of the spilled microwaved fruit sludge, and also picking up the bugmeal bread bowl. Once he had cleaned up and sat himself down to begin eating again, a series of knocks had alerted him that someone is visiting his habitation cell. With a sigh, he left his meal and approached the door that was the only entryway in and out of his habitation cell. However, once Gadral patiently went to the door and opened it, he saw that an iron-suit uniformed gilanian had summoned him. He was incredibly muscled for a gilanian. And tall. He looked down on Gadral with condescending eyes.

Gadral looked up at the beefy Torus Chain guard meekly. "... Um... C-c-can I help you?"

The Torus guard huffed a growl. "We have detected ENO frequencies being directed to this part of the sky ring. I have been dispatched to this location to assess if there is a probable cause of zerg-related activity. May I be allowed in?"

Gadral knew that if he didn't comply, then the guard would be back with a search warrant. He slowly opened the chrome door to allow the guard in. "Ah! Well! Please come inside then! I was just about ready to eat."

"Mm." The buff guard lumbered into Gadral's habitation cell and peered around studiously. After a thorough scan, he huffed, as though he didn't find what he was looking for. "Smells awful fancy. Is that pitcher juice and kalumas fruit?"

"Well eh," Gadral began explaining. "It's actually kalumas fruit that was soaked in pitcher juice before being dried. I just soaked them in water and turned on the microwave appliance to soften them up."

The guard sneered. "Nyergh, 'microwave appliances'. I hate those things."

Gadral's eyebrow was raised upwards. "Uh... Why is that?"

The guard turned to Gadral and huffed. "Them chrome bots are so antsy about us having barbecues in our own cells. After about five minutes a cooking fire starts, they intervene to put out the fire by themselves."

"Why not learn to use the microwave appliances then?" Gadral asked. He wasn't sure why he asked the iron-suited guard that question. He could tell that the guard was bored out of his mind, and the monotony of being a law enforcer aboard a mega structure satellite might have been a tedious and tiresome task in the undertaking. But Gadral also knew that befriending the guard would be significantly better than becoming his enemy.

"Because crime and evil deeds never sleeps. I ain't got time to learn about any nonsense technology when villainy is afoot." The guard brought out a hand-held device. "And speaking of evil, I need you to remain perfectly still. Gonna make sure you ain't no spy, or that there are any leeches in your brain. There's a trained shadow assassin standing by, and she will not hesitate to turn you ten kinds of dead if you start acting weird." The guard warned.

Gadral sighed and nodded. "... Alright. Scan my body and be done with it."

"Mm." The guard brought the device forward. Once he pulled its trigger, it made a slight humming noise, which was proceeded by several bleeping sounds. Its screen seemed to display information regarding the subject it was analyzing. After the device hovered near Gadral's chest and arms, the device was then pointed closely at his head. After pulling back the scanning device and looking at it like someone who was trying to read a difficult language, the guard shook his head. "Alright, you're clean. You can go back to eating."

Gadral sighed in relief.

Flashes of light suddenly blazed their vision. Gadral covered his eyes and grunted, startled by the ruby explosions of luminescence. "Guh?!"

The guard squinted, but he sighed as he slumped his shoulders. "Relax. The flashes only last for about a minute. It's just the sky ring's defense system activating."

A klaxon immediately blared after the guard tried to assure Gadral. [Emergency. This is not a drill. All military personnel of the Torus Chain Division, Crescent Arms Division, and Pyramidal Guard Division must occupy their posts. A large-scale swarm has been detected. Repeating broadcast. Emergency. This is not a drill. All military personnel of the Torus Chain Division, Crescent Arms Division, and Pyramidal Guard Division must occupy their posts. A large-scale swarm has been detected.]

The guard's face blanched as that message was announced. Gadral and the guard stared at each other for a full ten seconds before the guard simply turned away and began sprinting down an incredibly long corridor segment. Several of these corridors mainly consisted of the sky rings' innards, which also comprised of the other sky ring mega structures in their entirety. The only exception to such a design was the mag rail stations, which were gyroscopic joint stations that kept the sky rings from bending from structural stresses, or fall from orbit and burn upon entering into Kiln's atmosphere.

Luckily, Gadral's habitation cell was situated next to a window that looked out into space. Such was a commodity that only the military or the aristocracy could afford. Once he closed his door and bolted to the vacuum-resistant glass, he gazed out. He was startled by the scene he was witnessing.

Zerg.

They were everywhere.

A veritable ocean of mutalisks prevented Gadral from seeing the surface of Kiln, and a host of other flying zerg strains accompanied them. The point-defense turrets near his window flashed with dangerous energy as they shot their harmful projectiles toward the tide of carapace, but seemed to have a lesser effect on them than before. Usually, when the zerg tries to swarm the sky rings, they were blasted apart by the sky rings' defense system. Such attempts often resulted in the charred and exploded bodies of the zerg to return to the surface of Kiln in fireballs afterwards. Even as the energy lance cannons sliced glowing swathes through the ranks of Kay and Virid's Swarm, the damage dealt to the mass of airborne monstrosities seemed to only make a marginal dent to their numbers. It was as though if a single mutalisk was taken down, another would replace its brother. And more zerg just kept coming!

This had left Gadral with more questions than answers. But then he realized that the voice which had spoken to him suddenly seemed familiar. Of course, it happened to be the only telepath he had the pleasure of speaking with in the past. He had completely forgotten about him when he hurriedly evacuated the Pyramidal Guard Division's dark mausoleum facility. He was glad that he had gotten away with what he did, but he also knew that he would have to keep the knowledge of his subterfuge out of earshot of the Golden Star Empire and their citizens. It would be a well kept secret from that day on.

But what had Kay meant by 'Raise your arms straight up when it starts.'? Did he meant now? Was he supposed to wait for a signal? And what was 'it'?

However, with the voices seemingly unable to answer those most burning questions of his, Gadral raised his arms up and kept them there. And thus, he patiently waited for the 'it' that was supposed to come, despite not being able to know its nature under more accurate contexts.

The surface of Kiln was riddled with many things. Robotic junk, carapaced bodies, pools of neon, scorch marks, ruins of cities, and worldwide war. For twenty years did this dance of death play out between zerg and machine, and with swarm and empire. Rotting zerg flesh and metal smoke constantly perfumed the air with a pungent bitterness. Such an odorous smell has been a permanent feature to the war torn planet for such decades, which was especially the case for the most violent of battlefields that was fought between the Kiln Keepers and the zerg. The orbital bombardment of energy lance weapons provided only an inconvenience to the zerg during those years, whilst the Kiln Keepers continued their cold, heartless, unfeeling mission to exterminate their enemies.

But with the inclusion of primal zerg essence, Kay and Virid's swarm would become even stronger than ever.

Once much of the Kiln Keepers had been hunted down, drones and hydralisks came flowing out of the omega strain nydus worms in droves. The drones scattered and later formed into hundreds of millions of hatcheries and scourge cannons. The surface of Kiln was rapidly being populated and covered with drones, bio-structures, and creep in a short period of time. As more hatcheries began forming on the surface of Kiln, the hydralisks fought and merged together into a glorious orgy of evolution, which would later result in the fusion transformation of primal essence-infused mutalisks.

Overlords were easily spawned from the cluster of hatcheries, while the mutalisks were mass-produced by a dizzying population growth of exponential proportions. What was once the the surface of Kiln became a glossy, purplish color that signified the presence of creep. But the creep quickly disappeared as the surface of Kiln was covered in clouds of mutalisk swarms, which then grew to a global storm. The defense system of the sky rings continued to weigh their bombardment weapons upon the zerg, yet the damage they dealt was becoming superficial.

That wasn't the only direction that the Zerg Swarm was coming from. Past the orbit of the sky rings, outside of the cage that the mega structure satellites formed, another swarm of mutalisks were being marshaled into deadly confrontation. The leviathans that were once content with gradually producing resources from the energy of Kiln's sun, and spawning more leviathans with nothing else better to do, each one began mass-spawning mutalisks, scourge, and brood lords aplenty. As they descended onto the sky rings, the light from Kiln's sun would become much darker from the perspective of Golden Star's remaining empire. As darkness descends upon the sky rings, the only light that would cut through the encroaching blackness would be emitted from the sky ring's defense system itself.

The swarm of mutalisks and scourge above Kay's head became such a cacophonous symphony of screeches and flapping wings that it was beginning to feel like high-pitched static. The energy lance bombardments that struck many of the hatcheries were distracted by the inclusion of several leviathans entering the fray, both the natural-spawned leviathans far above Kiln's orbit, and biomass-mutated leviathans being formed below the sky rings themselves. Coupled with yet another swarm forming above the sky rings, Kiln's surface was quickly being darkened by so much zerg flesh. Even with his elevated vision that his zerg biology provided him, Kay could see that the projectiles produced from the sky rings' defense system was sparkling a light source that was made greater than what Kiln's sun could currently provide.

"Closer... Come on, get closer..." Kay said aloud to himself as he payed close attention of the distance between his swarm and the sky rings.

Alexandriana hummed to herself as the battle raged above. Her mind probed the minds of the other airborne zerg organisms that were flying towards the sky rings, wincing for every death she felt from their thoughts, and making a snaggled smile when a mutalisk was reconstituted back into action. "What a pretty war. The heavens look like they are glittering."

Kay nodded. "Pretty or not, we need to get the mutalisks into attack range of the sky rings. After they do get in range, we'll turn some of the mutalisks into vipers and start disabling their defense systems." He then turned to Alexandriana. "After that, we'll then board the sky rings and slay every single remaining gilanian still aligned to Gollog and his damnable empire."

Alexandriana lowered her head toward Kay. "And the Gollog? Do we eat him next?"

Kay shrugged his shoulders and sighed. "He claims to be immortal, and uses cloaked projectors to become corporeal to physically interact with his environment."

Alexandriana sneered. "Sounds like the Gollog has no essence. Like the Kiln Keeper machines, but with a personality of a living being."

"More like the personality of an egotistical asshole that wants everything his way." Kay growled as he crossed his arms and gazed up at the ever-darkening sky. "He is so assured of his position as emperor that he even believes himself to be above any consequences he is responsible for. For a lack of a better way to describe how I feel about this irredeemable tyrant, I would gladly flay his hide and watch him bleed in agony until he dies instead of letting him rule his people with a jewelry-encrusted iron fist."

A huff of respect emanated from Alexandriana's snout. "You make it sound like you two had quite the history."

Kay grumbled as he looked down at the ground. "It's a sore subject for me. And now, more than ever, I just want this war to end so we can focus on looking for a way out of this prison system."

"Then we shouldn't wait any longer. Let us kill the Gollog! ... Erm. Or at least try to." A chirrup of sadistic glee responded to Kay's grousing.

Kay looked back up at the sky and smirked. He noticed that the mutalisks were only then getting into attack range. "You've read my mind. Once that mecha thing starts showing itself, I will direct you to it. You might be around half its size, but Gollog has no idea you exist. That'll give us the surprise we need to take him down."

"Mm. So where is this mecha enemy?" Alexandriana asked.

"Don't know, but I imagine it should be coming out to try and stop our swarm. Chances dictate that it'll try to fend off the mutalisk swarm from one of the gyroscopic magnetic rail stations. If that is the case, I'll be bridging a wormhole from here to there, just for you. Sound good?" Kay explained.

Alexandriana bared a toothy smile as she gazed upward, seeing the brief glimpses of lasers and point-defense projectiles fighting against the zerg. "Very."

Gollog was unhappy. All across the screens of several stationed surveillance officers, scenes of mutalisks being shot from the sky was being played over and over again. Panic had stricken into the lesser officers' facial features. A discordant noise of yelling blasted into the eardrums of every gilanian officer that was in the observation deck, ranging mostly from commands being ordered to the officers, whilst there was some shouting that resulted in exclamations and inventive cursing. If it wasn't for Gollog being summoned to survey the actions of his men in the surveillance deck, then the surveillance officers would have truly spiraled into a chaotic insanity. On the other hand, Gollog was thankful that he had the digital company of his general and four commanders, in the form of video communication links. Faddoh seemed to be more confused than normal, but it was probably because of his main body being destroyed by the zerg that attacked his cloaked mobile research facility. However, the same couldn't be said for the officers he was now observing.

"The point-defense turrets are overheating! We are compensating with energy lance fire!" "Kiln Keeper deployment on the surface is reduced to less than one percent! They are resorting to MEM shifting from the sky rings and down to the surface of Kiln! They cannot maintain a foothold!" "ENO sensor system is picking up too much traffic! There are too many sources to translate!" "Sky bat population is exploding beyond expected parameters!" "A spike in ENO fields has been detected! Unknown frequency classification, but it's extremely high intensity!" "Can we get a location to where it's being emitted?" "There is too much interference! I can't track or find it!" "Sky bat formations intercepting point-defense turret fire from planet-side and above-side coordinates simultaneously! There are too many bogies to fight!" "Where the fuck did all these bugs come from?!" "Dread maws located behind sky bat formations! Get the energy lances to target them!" "Cannot comply! All the dread maws are staying outside of their maximum firing range!" "Then just increase their targeting range by thirty percent!" "The energy lance weapons system will have to compensate for the wall of flying zerg, sir! However, if we did, it will then increase the energy lances' energy cost when firing! We'll burn out all of our power before long!" "I want to go home."

Gollog grumbled his unhappiness. "And OF COURSE the zerg adapted and evolved yet again. Why am I not surprised?"

Pallax sighed depressingly. [The zerg truly are a swarming scourge. I feel as though this might be our last battle against them.]

Kralluf growled, looking as though he was on the verge of becoming violent to the closest person next to him. [What the fuck went wrong?! Wasn't your secret doomsday weapon supposed to kill off all the zerg?!]

Gollog dismissively gestured to Kralluf. "Calm yourself, Kralluf. The doomsday weapon worked before my very eyes. It worked on Kay's flesh. This can only mean that there was some other factor that we hadn't accounted for."

[Can't we use that secret weapon again?!] Kralluf shouted.

Gollog sighed. "It took a year in order for a single sky ring to generate enough resources to produce the rotting rainwater of the necrostorm weapon. Even with nine sky rings working together, we don't have enough time to reload and start the necrostorm again."

Kralluf growled. [And what about the Kiln Keepers?! Why aren't they doing what they are programmed to do!?]

Guik's face-mask's letters changed to 'pensive'. [Actually, before I was sent away from Faddoh's cloaked mobile research facility, we came to the conclusion that the Kiln Keepers were beset by an unknown variant of zerg organisms that I have dubbed drakes. The smaller variants are named invader drakes, and the larger ones are obtruder drakes. The orbital capture images suggested that the Kiln Keepers completely ignored the new zerg organisms until the zerg began their coordinated attack strategy.]

Faddoh rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. [I would have loved to know what happened. But sadly, I am not an omniscient computer personality.]

Ralkan grumbled. [If it's not one thing, then it'll definitely be another thing. Gods damn it.]

Gollog turned to sneer at the screen that displayed Ralkan's face. "Cease your complaining. Your job is to safeguard the gilanian population." Gollog then turned to Pallax. "General Pallax, since it is your role to carry out my commands to the fullest extent, it will be deemed necessary to exercise certain protocols for when our positions have been compromised. I need you to carry out my emergency plan in case our sky rings are to fall. Do I make myself clear?"

Pallax nodded. [Yes my lord. However, I only have one request.]

Gollog passively gestured for Pallax to continue. "Proceed."

[Since the sky rings were made to be our last and final defense against the zerg menace, we are only now coming to the assumption that our defenses won't last long. If the inevitable order to proceed with your emergency plan is put into effect, then I must request for you to give my weapon back to me.] Pallax said.

Gollog paused. He almost seemed startled and puzzled by Pallax's request. "... Then this would mean...?"

Pallax nodded. [Since you are making a full retreat to the last vestibule of safety, my lord, I see no point in serving your interests any further. All I request is to defend your throne as you make your escape, and for you to grant me my final wish to face my foes in the ways of combat that I follow. Can you allow me this final request?]

Gollog paused for several seconds more as he contemplated Pallax's request. He seemed both perplexed and surprised that his own general would choose such an action. After spending some time thinking over Pallax's request, Gollog sighed. "... I don't see why I shouldn't deny you this. You have been a very faithful general, Pallax. I shall honor your request."

Faddoh blinked his green eyes. [Oh. ... Oh! This means that... Oh.] Faddoh's expression then became incredibly graven.

Guik's face-mask's letters changed to 'surprised'. [General Pallax, would you like the upgrades to my shadow cutters as well?]

Pallax shook his head. [No. I just need the primary components from each of you. That includes your sword and knife, my emperor.]

A pained sigh escaped Gollog's lungs. "I never would have thought this day would come. Couldn't you come with us?"

Pallax shook his head again. [I'm afraid not. Living in retreat is not my way, and I would rather die on my feet than live an eternity in stagnant boredom.]

Hesitantly, Gollog nodded and straightened his posture. "Very well. All of us shall reconvene at Mag Rail Station One, in my royal hall."

Ralkan grumbled. [So... Your private quarters' hall? We understand, sir.]

Gollog growled. He hated it that his commanders and general keeps calling his royal hall as his 'private quarters'. However, Gollog's living area still functioned as a private quarters anyway, and couldn't fault their political correctness. He then gestured to all of his commanders and general. "Continue with your duties. If at any point my throne becomes under attack, or if you are unable to fend for yourselves at your current positions, retreat to my throne room and I shall follow. Pallax."

There was a brief pause between Gollog and Pallax's video screen. Pallax nodded. [I understand, my emperor. But this is my choice.]

"... Understood. End communication links." Gollog said, finalizing the conversation between himself and his most highly ranked officers of his empire.

"OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK CLOUD LICKERS INBOUND! WHERE THE FUCK DID THEY COME FROM?!" "The sky bats are... are transforming into them!" "WHEN THE FUCK DID THEY EVER DO THAT?!" "STOP FUCKING YELLING!"

And again, Gollog grumbled. "I need a gods-damn vacation."

After such a long flight, the three types of mutalisks, the ones that were born from the leviathans, the ones that were the resultant fusion of two hydralisks, and the ones that were naturally spawned from a hatchery, were finally close enough to the sky rings to enter combat range. The gilanian military had failed to realize that the mutalisks quickly produced a cocoon around their bodies when they sustained enough damage from the point-defense turrets or energy lance weapons. Before too long, their cocoons erupted to reveal a healthy mutalisk, which would proceed to the blazing red firefight. It was because of their second wind they were able to amass so many of their numbers, and at the same time continually increase the population of their ever-increasing swarms.

The mutalisks were given a somewhat simple command to follow. Only proceed to attack the sky rings when their reconstitution ability is ready to revive them. Simplicity in of itself. However, recovering mutalisks that were struck with an energy lance, which had a lethal projectile that burned a line through the ranks of the flying zerg, didn't get their second chance to attack and swarm the sky rings. Their shifting carapace helped most of them survive, but not by much. However, not all was lost.

There were mutalisks that were specifically chosen to morph into vipers, and it was those vipers that had certain abilities that were necessary for the next phase of battle. Behind the dying and re-dying of the mutalisk line, the vipers hovered closer and closer to the blazing lights of war and wanton evaporation of zerg flesh. However, the vipers had their abilities, and they displayed said abilities quite vigorously on the turrets and lances that speared and riddled the zerg's airborne ranks. Blinding and disabling clouds began to form on and around the turrets and lances, which then granted the mutalisks the window of opportunity they needed. Even when the vipers fed on any nearby mutalisks to keep their energy up enough to cast another hindering green cloud, the mutalisks were still set on the task of targeting the sky rings' weapon defense systems.

When the disabling clouds were set, the mutalisks went to work removing the point-defense turrets and energy lance emplacements with great rapidity. Soon enough, entire sections of each sky ring was stripped of their defenses, despite the speedy rotation of the rings that threaded through the heavily defended mag rail stations. However, even the mag rail stations were quite defended against the return of the leviathans. Enormous behemoths and ginormous leviathans warp-hopped right on top of the mag rail stations and began unleashing swarms of brood lords and scourge.

Three mag rail stations were specifically targeted by the zerg. Many of the other mag rail stations maintained around two or three sky rings at a time, while there were six mag rail stations in total that catered to four rings each. Due to the geometry of the sky rings and how the mag rail stations were purposed to keep the rings from falling into orbit and burn during atmospheric entry, it was reasonable to assume that the mag rail stations were the zerg Swarm's next target. A flurry of red blasts and scarlet lines shot out from the mag rail stations, which revealed the presence of a heavier assortment of point-defense and energy lance weapons. But the zerg continued to grow in their numbers, and the vipers still continued to display their usefulness. Disabling clouds of a blinding green later collided with the mag rail stations' hull and weapons systems. The many hollow tentacles of the leviathans began to rope down and around both the sky rings and the mag rail stations. With great effort, the rotation of the sky rings were brought to a slower speed, which would enable the leviathans to begin delivering boarding parties into the sky rings and within the mag rail stations.

And the boarding parties were a terrible and horrifying sight to behold.

These boarding parties consisted mostly of teams of zerglings, some changelisks disguised as either zerglings or gilanian officers, roaches, hydralisks, igniters, ravasaurs, aberrations, swarm queens, infestors and swarm hosts. The various long corridors that once contained panicked citizens loyal to Gollog and a policing force of Taurus Chain guards, were filled with panicked citizens and resisting guards. Both were being hunted down and pinned to the ground. The changelisks that joined with the boarding parties gave the citizens a final choice to leave their empire. Some were executed by the sharp claws, slicing teeth, piercing spines and corrosive acids when they chose against leaving their empire, or had resisted through more physical methods. Some were less fortunate, as the pointed barb of an infestor's neural parasite penetrated their skulls violently, which then forced them to change their alignment to better fit the zerg swarm. However, the very few citizens of Golden Star that decided to disband from their corrupt government were given a zergling to ride on, which would then be delivered into the 'relatively' safe bowels of the leviathans. Oddly enough, it was only within the fifth sky ring that contained the majority of the Golden Star gilanian population. The other rings contained Kiln Keepers being mass produced in their attempt to produce their units faster than the zerg. Sadly, they were no longer able to do so.

Gadral felt his hands numbing even when the door to his habitation cell was ripped from its hinges in a violent display of strength. His face paled to a ghostly expression when he saw the face of a hydralisk. At it slithered through his door frame, the serpentine creature tilted its head at the gilanian displaying his docile gesture at it.

"... Uh... So um... Is uh... Is it starting now?" Gadral asked in a sheepish tone.

After a brief pause, the hydralisk answered Gadral in the form of a chuffle. Two more zerg organisms entered into Gadral's habitation cell, this time being a zergling, and another zergling that changed into a gilanian wearing what could only be described as a formal suit that matched the coloration of zerg carapace and flesh. He then smiled at Gadral. "I see that you listened to our master's directions well."

"... You're one of Kay's monsters?" Gadral asked with incredulity, despite having just seen the zergling changing into the changelisk right before his eyes.

The changelisk nodded. "Indeed I am. A changelisk that you can call Mr. Shifter, to be precise. However, I'm afraid that we must skip our current pleasantries. There is a plan afoot, and we mustn't procrastinate at this current time. You need to find a way off of the sky rings, and fast."

"And how am I supposed to do that?" Gadral asked.

A sly smirk played across the gilanian-disguised changelisk. "First, you can put your arms down. And secondly, you'll need to get on this creature's back." The changelisk said as he pointed at the meter-and-a-half-tall zergling.

Gadral was relieved that he could have his blood flowing into his hands again, but at the same time he was not very keen on mounting a monster that can slice a gilanian in half and eat their face after. "Uhh..."

The disguised changelisk didn't hesitate as it simply picked up Gadral from his armpits and gingerly placed him on the zergling's back. "No more procrastination! The time to leave this place is now! Giddy-up!" After administering a slap on the zergling's hindquarters, it began to speed forward, with gadral screaming frantically as he tried to hang on to his new carapaced steed.

Despite Gadral's vocal complaint about riding on a dangerous animal, he would later be joined with several other gilanians that had renounced their servitude to their despotic emperor. The task of emptying the sky rings' burdened citizens would be difficult for the zerg, but there was a reason for such a diversion. Kay figured that the surviving gilanian refugee population would certainly suffer in the generations to come. So, in order for Baroness Tak's citizenry to survive, and to prevent her people from resorting to inbreeding, they would have to be coupled with individuals that were healthy and genetically compatible. Combining the gilanians that renounced their empiric servitude into Tak's population would certainly help their reproduction.

Through the eyes of the many zerg that Kay can perceive through, he could tell that not many of the gilanians aboard the sky ring mega structures were keen with abandoning Gollog's empire, or leaving the comfort of their habitation cells.

Alexandriana was perplexed by Kay's clinging humanity. "Why are we abducting gilanians?"

"We are not abducting them. We're giving them a choice to leave their tyrannical style of government." Kay answered.

"It would be easier to kill them. Or eat them." Alexandriana mumbled.

"Even so, Baroness Tak doesn't have very many people to govern over. At the very least, I'm hoping to prevent her refugees from making eleven-toed hatchlings in their futures."

She groaned in annoyance. "Why go through the effort to help her then? I can sense in our shared hivemind connection that you dislike her."

Kay shrugged. "True, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't let them suffer because of our actions." Kay then turned to Alexandriana. "Besides. If we can't find our own way out of here, then it would be a very sad existence to continue living on Kiln without any neighbors to play with." Kay paused for a few seconds before looking back up at the sky rings. "... And speaking of neighbors, I think I found someone for you to play with."

Alexandriana's face turned into what might have looked like a puzzled expression. When she focused on Kay's field of awareness, she noticed then that there was a gigantic metal biped that was swatting away legions of mutalisks and slaying any leviathans that dared fight it or had gotten too close. Her expression turned into a bloodthirsty grin. "Oh... A big toy. I want to break it."

Kay hummed to himself. "I know that giant robot from anywhere. Sadly, it does not share its appearance with a certain tyrant I regrettably know. But if that huge fucker is protecting that one mag rail station in particular, I would assume that something important is in it." Kay turned to Alexandriana with a broad grin. "Gather a bunch of ravasaurs, igniters, creeper hosts and tyrannozors, Alex. You're going to play a game I like to call 'Smash Gollog's Things.'"

A growl of excitement answered Kay, which told Kay all he needed to know how eager Alexandriana was.

Outside of a cylindrical room that was made of several layers of special-crafted paneled glass, a giant robot was zipping through space at incredible speeds, unleashing bright scarlet fury upon any zerg organism that dared got near the mag rail station. The energy output of its attacks was staggering, while its defensive shield completely absorbed any physical attack. It was quick to react to any viper, leviathan or brood queen that tried to get close to itself, using deathly aggression to prevent them from getting any nearer. It seemed to know that the vipers' disabling clouds would slow it down and make it cease its attacks. It also appeared to understand that the leviathans could lock it in place with their bio-stasis. And it showed experience in avoiding the brood queens' ability to launch ensnaring webs and destructive broodlings that would have spawned from its own body and destroy it from the inside-out. It danced from one target to the next in a twister of grace and destruction that ended the lives of many zerg that tried to target it or Mag Rail Station One.

Gollog, Pallax, Ralkan, Kralluf, Faddoh and Guik watched the ensuing battle that surrounded them. It was such an awesome battle to witness. It just seemed to escalate further and further. It was that hard to look away from.

Kralluf sighed depressingly. "I really want to be out there." He turned to Gollog. "Why am I not out there? I could be piloting your super cyborg mech suit in your stead."

Gollog sighed. "No. If this war escalates even further, I need you here by my side for the final plan. The super cyborg mech suit shall run on autopilot for the moment. This will help spare us from making any decisions that would have costed us a highly ranked officer."

Kralluf growled and gestured to the war outside of the windows. "... This isn't escalated enough?! With all due respect, my lord, but... but this is completely asinine! I should be fighting these monsters to my very last breath!"

Gollog turned to Kralluf with a stern stare. "If you tried to fight them with your bare hands, Kralluf, I would be losing an expert battlefield strategist. Losing you to the Zerg Swarm would cost us greatly."

Kralluf clenched his fists, but he didn't say anything else.

Guik walked up to Kralluf and patted him on the shoulder, while her face-mask's letters changed to 'apathy'. "Let go of your angst, Kralluf. You're a cybernetic warrior, but your duty will always come to our emperor first."

Kralluf slowly looked at Guik, relaxed his fists and shrugged her hand off his shoulder. "Yeah..."

Ralkan interjected between Kralluf and Guik. "So uh... Gollog? What would this emergency plan entail? I mean what are we supposed to do when it happens?"

Gollog shook his head. "I cannot tell you what the emergency plan is. I have told General Pallax of the plan, and he took the necessary steps to ensure that the final plan proceeds without any further complications. Afterwards, he erased his memory so that the ENO field sensitive zerg monsters don't catch wind of this plan."

Faddoh nodded. "That is quite a safety measure. With so many steps involved, I doubt that the zerg will be able to counter it effectively."

Ralkan sighed. "Considering that this is, you know, THE ZERG we are dealing with here, I believe that any complex plan is going to fall apart from the seems when they decide to intervene." He looked up at the huge robot that was blasting the zerg into smouldering carcasses and puffs of evaporate atoms. "Guh... I think I would have preferred to have a knife cut through my throat than live another minute of this."

"Ralkan." Faddoh said to Ralkan in an admonishing way. "Speak in a happier tone. We don't need to suffer from your depression."

Ralkan took in a breath and sighed again. "... I hope that this plan that Gollog cooked up is going to be a good one."

Faddoh smiled. "That's better. ... I think."

Pallax grunted. "If you commanders are done snogging, just remember that each one of you still has a piece of technology to give to me."

Ralkan sighed yet again. "... Oh well. At least I'll be leaving my favorite knife with you."

[Warning. High level ENO field spike detected in Mag Rail Station One. Contacting Kiln Keeper forces. Warning. All Kiln Keeper units are deployed. Standby until Kiln Keeper units are available.] Said an artificial voice through the intercom system, most likely the artificial intelligence of the fifth sky ring known as Skrico.

Gollog grumbled. "Skrico, analyze and relay. What is its source?"

[Command detected. ENO field pattern, unknown. Zerg organism identified as 'Bug-man Beast-master' is within Mag Rail Station One.]

Ralkan began to panic. "Oh no... Now we have to deal with a breach! We're losing vital oxygen! Skrico, find where the hull has been exposed to the external elements and close off those sections!"

[Command detected. Unable to comply. No breach has been detected.]

Everyone was silent for a few seconds. Faddoh's face contorted into a confused expression. "... Huwhat?!"

Ralkan was just as puzzled. "How... did he get in here if he didn't go through the hull?"

"Ever heard of wormholes?"

Every gilanian within that cylindrical room turned to see who had interrupted them. Much to their dismay, they quickly discovered that Kay had invited himself to their little get-together. Ralkan hid behind Kralluf, while Kralluf brandished his hammer axe. Faddoh and Guik sided with each other as they too brandished their weapons. Pallax and Gollog, however, were completely calm. "Kay." Gollog said, spitting out that single syllable with all the anger he could muster, yet Kay could tell that it was laced with tiredness.

"Wormholes?" Faddoh asked aloud, but his question was left unanswered.

Kay raised his hand and waved at the six gilanians. Despite the friendly gesture, the highest commanding officers of the Golden Star Empire knew that Kay wouldn't be very friendly when the fighting began. However, Kay felt their minds, and he knew that something was up. Kay stopped when he was ten meters away from the four commanders, which stood in Kay's way to protect their general and emperor. Kay studied the six gilanians for a few seconds before he spoke again. "You know, if you guys surrendered to me right now, I can make this easier for everyone involved."

"Bite your gods-damned tongue, festering demon." Kralluf growled threateningly. "We would never choose to become your pawns!"

Gollog motioned to Kralluf. "Stand down, Kralluf." He then began walking toward Kay, taking each step with a calm stride. When Kay and Gollog was only a meter apart, he stood still and began to stare at Kay with contempt and calm rage. This lasted for several seconds before a sigh escaped his lungs. "Look at us, Kay. Bitter enemies of our own making. For twenty years did this war escalate between us, but it is only now that this war had grown far beyond our control. Very much so with my empire's condition. It is obvious to me now that you, Kay, have now gained the upper hand."

Kay tilted his head. "... Are you going somewhere with this?"

Gollog growled in displeasure. "I am. You see, Kay, after fighting this war for twenty years, I have finally decided to concede."

Kay's expression became flat. "... I think you lost me."

Gollog threw his hands up in frustration. "Fine! Let me spell it out for you! You! Won! There is no chance that I can reclaim my lost empire now, nor ever! I am only here so that I can confess to you my inability to squash your monsters like the giant insects they are! After all the time I had spent fighting you and the beasts you commanded, you STILL act like a bumpkin with no tact nor sense of diplomacy! By the gods do you get on my nerves! When I have learned of your existence for the first time, I had no idea that you would be so grating to someone of my disposition! If I had known that your zerg would have caused so much trouble against my empire, I would have been more aggressive in my strategies!" Gollog took a calming breath before he continued, though his anger was still barely contained. "But no. You and your beasts have proven time and again that the zerg cannot be beaten by any conventional or unconventional method available to us. And it is because of that reason that I will retreat from my own empire and leave it to you. You can do what you want with it. The survivors of my empire shall make their exodus to safety, whereas my military forces shall hinder you no longer."

Kay paused for several seconds. "... Kay?"

Gollog hissed through his teeth. "... What is it, Kay? No other witless comeback? No insult about me or my empire? I was half expecting for you to reply with sarcasm and your usual tripe."

Kay shook his head. "Actually, this is perfect for me. Now I can concentrate on finding a way out of this prison system. With your empire no longer distracting me, I can finally look for an exit."

Gollog stared at Kay for a few seconds before scoffing. "You honestly think you can still leave this prison system? I can't believe I am admitting defeat to a fool like you if you still think that anyone can leave the prison system."

Kay shook his head. "So long as there is one fool to believe in hope, then there will always be hope. Considering that the fool you are talking to has fucked your empire to death, you don't really have any evidence to support your argument."

"... Mm." Gollog paused before huffing in acknowledgement. He then turned to face the commanders and general behind him. "My general Pallax. I believe you have something to prepare for."

"Of course, my emperor." Pallax then turned to the commanders next to him. "Alright then. Give them to me."

With heavy sighs, each commander took out their weapons and dislodged several devices from them, only to give their devices to Pallax seconds later. Kay's eyebrows was raised when he noticed that Gollog's commanders were dismantling their own weapons just so they would give their components to their general. "Uh... What's going on?"

Pallax steeled his expression as he acquired the devices from his commanders' weapons. "Let me abridge this story to you, Kay. I have made a promise to my emperor long ago. I would stand by his side and carry out his orders so long as he has control over the lands and waters of Kiln. Now that even the sky rings and the mag rail stations are being destroyed, I have deemed that my services to him are no longer required. As such, I have requested one final chance to protect my lord's throne. I wish to duel with you in single combat."

Kay was surprised. "... Really now? What makes you think I'm going to give you a fair duel to the death?"

"Because, despite my emperor's misgivings about your personality, I know that you are honorable man." Pallax turned to look at Kay with a straight face. "This shall be the last time I will serve Gollog."

Gollog walked toward his commanders. "Skrico, send commanders Ralkan, Faddoh, Kralluf and Guik to the Sovereign Crypt. Execute emergency plan."

[Commands detected.] Flashes of blue and white static light enveloped the four commanders, which then made them vanish from Kay's senses.

Kay blinked his eyes. He didn't understand what had happened. "What did you just do, Gollog?"

Gollog turned to face Kay while he crossed his arms behind his back. "I ensured that my most trusted servants have been transported to the Sovereign Crypt safely. They would never have to be hunted by the zerg ever again."

Kay stared at Gollog for a few seconds before nodding. "I see... And the rest of your people? I notice that the same shift effect is not enveloping them."

"My people? You meant the peasantry?" Gollog shook his head. "No no no, I only MEM shifted those that I have personally made my immortal servants. If I also included the peasants into my final plan, then there would simply be too many mouths to feed. We would run out of sustainable rations in a short while. Prolonged usage of the manifestation altars would have caused unwanted side effects over the course of centuries."

Kay scowled at Gollog. "So you would just leave your own people to their own fates? Just so you can find a safe place to relax as you abandon them when you have no other foothold to scamper back to? Gollog, not only are you a tyrant that bullies people into following your laws, but you are also a coward with no sympathy for another living being."

Gollog's lips tightened, but then relaxed into a smile. He then gestured to Pallax. "My dear general. You may proceed. I shall bear witness to your duel." He then threw his sword and knife toward Pallax.

After catching Gollog's favored weapons, Pallax bowed before his emperor. "Thank you, my lord." He then began walking toward Kay until he was a meter away. He then sat down and gently placed Gollog's sword and knife down, and began attaching the commanders' devices to Gollog's weapons.

Kay stared at Pallax. "... Um... You know, when you're supposed to duel with someone, you're supposed to have your weapon good and ready?"

Pallax shook his head and smirked, yet he continued shuffling the devices onto Gollog's weapons. "You wouldn't understand what tradition I am practicing. I am inciting the ancient battle traditions of the salt marsh warriors. You see, when an argument cannot be settled with words, the salt marsh tribal warriors would instead assemble and craft their weapons in front of each other, which is both ceremonial and is their statement that tells their opponent what weapons they intend to duel with. When both duelists are finished crafting their weapons, they would begin their duel. I know that you already come with your own naturally evolved weapons, but I would be using my own. I politely ask that you permit me to make this weapon."

Kay raised his eyebrow. "... Hmm... You know what? I feel as though this might be a bad idea, but I'm going to let this play out. Go ahead and tinker with your toys." Kay looked up at Gollog and hardened his expression. "At least some of us have the decency to be polite, instead of being an entitled, spoiled, selfish dictator."

Gollog glared at Kay. "And I want you to chug a whole gallon of pesticide and die."

"And... Done." Pallax stood up and brandished... some kind of strange-looking weapon.

A/N: Tune in next time on A Swarm Unleashed!

Also, been having fun with the Spyro Reignited Trilogy. :3