HOMEWORLD2: WRATH OF THE GODS
CHAPTER 38: DIVINE WRATH
"Koshiir Ra – God of Protection, The Guardian."
Religious scribes
Onboard the Merciless, Fields of Plaz:
"Admiral, we need you to get off the ship now," the security chief urged, "It's too dangerous to stay any longer."
"Organise all capital ships into formation around the flagship," Ecron ordered, ignoring the concerned officer, "Focus fire on the Progenitor vessels."
"Sir!"
The bridge shook as a series of heavy missiles slammed into the failing hull of the flagship. More consoles blew apart as the electrical feedback overwhelmed the circuit breakers. As the last missile plunged into the ship, the lights on the bridge flickered and dimmed.
"Admiral, we will not allow you to sacrifice yourself like Queen Dosis did," emphasised the security chief, now signalling to his fellow officers, "If you do not wish to leave, then I'm afraid we'll have to remove you by force."
"You dare defy the orders of your commanding officer?" Ecron demanded, "I am in charge here, and as captain of the Merciless I will go down with the ship!"
"Sir, your death will greatly affect the morale of the Taiidan fleet. The Nalthorans are already struggling to battle even with the death of their Queen. For the sake of this battle and the Alliance, we cannot afford to let the Taiidan fleet end up the same way."
Admiral Ecron sighed and turned back to the viewscreen. The view of the battle was already dimming and flickering as feedback damage took its toll on the computers and sensors. His security chief had a point – reduced morale in the fleet could cost them the battle.
"Admiral, I apologise for my actions, but I must now invoke my right as Chief of Security," the chief remarked as his fellow officers walked up to Ecron, "We're taking you off right now."
"Very well, I will comply," Ecron responded, halting the officers and indicating he would leave of his own will. He glanced around at the rest of the bridge, and the few surviving officers that remained saluted the Admiral.
They would stay on, continuing to command the Taiidan fleet in Ecron's place until Merciless could take no more.
Ecron returned the salute with great respect for the brave officers under his command. Then he was quickly rushed off the bridge towards the waiting frigate.
Onboard the Pride of Hiigara, Fields of Plaz:
They were in deep trouble now. So many gashes and breaches dotted the Pride's hull that it was a wonder the whole layer hadn't shattered yet. The monolithic mothership was edging slowly away from the main battle, its main drives barely breathing from taking so many weapons hits. Workers and resource collectors continued to swarm around the Pride, keeping the vessel intact as long as they could.
"Yuno, is there any way we can jump now?" Eefrit asked, hoping for some good news.
"I'm afraid not, there's still at least a dozen Keepers around," Yuno replied distractedly, her mind working overtime to manage both a space battle and emergency repairs, "The fleet's focusing fire on the remaining Keepers now."
"Great, who would've thought they'd be so hard to kill," Eefrit muttered as he gave another order to the Pride's battlecruiser escort.
"Eefrit, I'm picking up a distress beacon from the Kuun Lan," Yuno reported, her voice filled with dismay, "Commander Inya Somtaaw and the rest of the crew is evacuating."
"They've fought exceptionally hard in this battle," Eefrit commented, "Get all nearby ships to assist in the evacuation at once!"
"Don't worry, General Qwaar is leading the Paaura in to pick up the evacuees."
Eefrit watched as the Kuun Lan, now aflame in many areas, was abandoned. It must have received damage so severe that even its Somtaaw crew, renowned for their courage and sometimes suicidal tactics, had decided to evacuate. Frigates leapt out of the hangar module and escape pods shot out from the sides of the ship's hull.
A series of explosions tore through the engine module, causing it to break away from the rest of the ship. The reactor shielding must have failed, and the massive reactor explosion would take place soon.
It was then that Eefrit noticed the Siege Cannon glowing with increasing intensity. His jaws dropped open at the sight – the Somtaaw actually had the time to set it on automatic fire in such a tense situation.
Then the cannon discharged its plasma payload, a final gift from the dying command ship. The sphere of fire plunged into the heart of the enemy fleet, vanishing in a flare of light as it ignited and released its lethal shockwave. Almost simultaneously, the Kuun Lan's reactor went critical and engulfed the rest of the ship in its fiery conflagration. Both Eefrit and Yuno's hologram saluted the last moments of the loyal command ship.
"How the hell do we win this…" Eefrit's voice trailed off as he witnessed the death of another legendary Hiigaran ship.
"We'll win it alright," Yuno reassured, "That last siege blast took out more Keepers, we're left with only three to take down now."
The Pride shuddered as it was hit by another rain of mass drivers and plasma bolts, reminding Yuno and Eefrit that they too were not far from a similar fate.
Onboard the Koshiir Ra, Outskirts of Plaz Nebula:
"You know what, Karan Sjet," Kaark spat, "You and the rest of your brethren are really getting on my nerves."
"That's no way to speak to a lady," Kiir retorted, "And for that, we're gonna kick your butt really badly!"
"I will personally watch the entire procedure," Karan noted.
"Well well, still not giving up, then I guess it's time for ALL of you to die!" Kaark roared as he finally cut the communications channel, sparing them all from any more of his complaints and sarcasm.
"He finally decided to shut up," Kiir muttered, "Karan, you'd better stay in the rear and give those repair systems a chance to fix the PCA. Soban, both of us'll move in to take the Qwaar Jet. Got it?"
"Roger that Kiir."
"I'll do as you say," Karan acknowledged, "But please be careful, he's almost fully recovered from the previous attack!"
Sure enough, the wounds inflicted by the Horizon's entrance had nearly healed over completely, leaving only minor craters that were shrinking at a remarkable speed. Kiir knew then that defeating Kaark was going to take much longer than he had expected.
"Looks like we'll have to hit him hard and quickly," Kiir said as he readied himself for their counterattack, "Soban, you ready?"
"Just give the go ahead."
"Then let's go!" Kiir yelled as he pushed the Koshiir Ra's drives to their limits. A storm of plasma erupted forth and pushed the massive vessel towards the corrupt God before them. Horizon followed closely behind, its weapons fully charged and ready to fire.
Qwaar Jet greeted both ships with a salvo of ion beams. The beams were now a blinding white as Kaark pushed the ion warp turrets to operating capacity, causing a dazzling display of light on the Koshiir Ra's protective field.
Kiir saw their chance and quickly pulled up, the Koshiir Ra making way for the Horizon behind it. Soban wasted no time with his orders, and every ounce of Horizon's weaponry pounded into the front of the Qwaar Jet. Kiir's mind was immediately assaulted by a telepathic roar of pain as the Distortion Cannons did their work.
A building glow of blue quickly gave away Kaark's next move. Horizon banked sharply away moments before the Quantum Pulse Cannon fired, the blue shockwave of quantum energy tearing through space.
Even as the Horizon evaded the attack, the ion beam and pulse cannon turrets came online, firing away as the battlecruiser swerved to the side of the Qwaar Jet.
"Nice dodging there, Soban," Kiir complimented as he fired off a few dagger fields at Kaark's ship.
"Thanks Kiir, I suppose we should maintain the pressure on Qwaar Jet?"
"Yup, just keep sustaining fire on any part of the Qwaar Jet you can reach."
Kiir was forced to end the conversation when ion beams raked across the bottom of the ship, causing shockwaves to pulsate through the distortion field. Glancing at the Qwaar Jet, he was delighted to see that his dagger fields had done considerable damage – knocking out one focusing array and disabling a group of ion warp turrets.
Kaark was definitely having trouble dealing with two aggressive targets. One was slow but heavily shielded, while the other was vulnerable but highly mobile.
In an act of desperation, more ion beams flared out from the smouldering hull of the Qwaar Jet in a bid to repel the two attackers. Koshiir Ra was unfazed while Horizon dodged most of the attacks, its own distortion field taking care of the rest.
"Kiir, your plan is working," Karan reported, "Qwaar Jet can't heal in time thanks to the continuous assaults!"
"Good to hear that Karan," Kiir replied, a grin forming on his face, "How's the PCA repairs coming along?"
"I should be able to get it back online within 15 minutes, but it'll take twice the amount of time to recharge. These repairs are only temporary, you know."
"Temporary or not, a PCA on our side would be a good idea. Well, I've got to get back to work!"
Koshiir Ra jumped into hyperspace, returning to realspace right below the Qwaar Jet. The ionic salvo assaulted Koshiir Ra's field, knocking the ship away. But Kiir wasn't worried – it was meant to be a distraction.
Horizon swept in and fired off its Distortion Cannons again, ripping off another focusing array and puncturing massive craters in Qwaar Jet's organic hull. Kaark was subject to so much pain that this time, his voice ripped across everyone's minds. Kiir recoiled slightly as his telepathic abilities meant that the voice was greatly amplified, but quickly recovered and fired off more dagger fields.
The distortion fields ripped through space and plunged deep into the hull of the Qwaar Jet, causing the organic material to spurt and rip apart. The entire vessel seemed to writhe in agony as its regenerative abilities were overwhelmed by the two-pronged assault.
Then all of the Qwaar Jet's remaining focusing arrays powered up and shimmered a brilliant blue. Moments later, a double quantum pulse exploded from the ship in the direction of Koshiir Ra. Kiir gasped and pushed every ounce of power there was into the distortion field and prayed as the blast hit.
The quantum assault flung the ship away, its distortion field barely holding under the massive attack. As the gyros struggled to compensate, Kiir caught a glimpse of the Qwaar Jet escaping to hyperspace.
"Karan! Kaark's getting away! Pull him back right now!" Kiir yelled, hoping Karan would do so in time.
But it was too late. The Qwaar Jet's quantum wavefront closed behind it and all traces of the ship vanished from sensor view.
Onboard the Pride of Hiigara, Fields of Plaz:
"Eefrit, the Merciless is going critical!" Yuno exclaimed as the sensors told her the bad news.
Eefrit whirled around to see the exact same scene of the Kuun Lan playing out before him – escape pods jettisoning into space, frigates and resource collectors frantically trying to get away…
The hull ruptured as drive plasma poured from within, then the massive Taiidan flagship succumbed in a flash of vermillion.
"By the Gods, Eefrit to Ecron, come in please!"
The Hiigaran admiral waited for a response, but there was none.
"Ecron! Please come in damn it!"
Eefrit, no one wanted for it to happen… Yuno tried to calm him down, but to no avail.
"Sajuuk damn it all! Everyone's dying out here and we still can't stop this hideous plague!" Eefrit exploded as his emotions surged beyond control. Yuno was about to console him again when the sensors started spitting out emergency alerts. A quick check revealed the worst.
"Priority alert, Qwaar Jet is emerging from hyperspace! Fleet, full evasive manoeuvres!" Yuno barked as she saw the yellow quantum wavefront slide back completely before them.
Now the Qwaar Jet hovered in space directly in front of the Pride of Hiigara. It was badly damaged from its previous encounter, but still a very real threat to the outcome of the battle. Yuno braced herself for the inevitable, only to see the Qwaar Jet manoeuvre and move the tip of its main cannon away from the Pride.
"Huh? I don't get it – they had a clear shot at us, why didn't they…"
Sensor scans quickly revealed a worse scenario – ion beams were tearing into the Qwaar Jet's surface, and those ions were coming from the Iron Grip, the battlestation making a desperate stand against the mighty God. Behind it, the Legacy of Kharak tried to flee along with the rest of the carriers and non-combat vessels.
Yuno was speechless, but Eefrit was already up and barking new orders to the fleet.
"Admiral Eefrit to all Hiigaran ships, the Legacy of Kharak is under threat," he bellowed urgently into the channel, beads of cold perspiration sliding down his face, "Cover the Legacy at all costs!"
His order was actually redundant, for Hiigaran ships were already dashing to the scene even before the announcement went out. Iron Grip's Gravity Core was of no use – it had been reconfigured to trap any Neo-Beast fighters trying to attack the non-combat vessels, allowing defensive turrets to track and eliminate the ensnared fighters. Now it looked set to become a costly tactical error.
The ion cannons blazed away, stripping away layers of organic armour from the looming Qwaar Jet. The God took no notice, moving on as though the Iron Grip were some insignificant disturbance in its path. Then the battlestation's emitters came online, a massive repulsor shockwave spiralling outwards and slamming into the Qwaar Jet. This time, the God took notice, for the supercharged repulsor caused parts of the ship's hull to buckle and tear inwards.
Qwaar Jet decided to show the battlestation how ion cannons really worked. Its array of ion warp turrets powered up and showered the Iron Grip in a lethal rain of ionic energy. The battlestation's armour, while tough by galactic standards, was no match for the combined might of several dozen ion beams striking simultaneously. The Iron Grip lit up momentarily as the ion rain enveloped the station in brilliant light, then the damaged portion blew apart. As the light faded away, a good quarter of the station was gone with chunks of debris careening outwards.
The Qwaar Jet moved on, the battlestation's weapons now silent from the crippling blow it had suffered. Yuno and Eefrit could only watch helplessly as it descended upon the fleeing ships. By now, the Hiigaran fleet had reached firing range and was trying its best to draw the God's attention away, but to no avail.
Another salvo leapt forth from the Qwaar Jet, the beams of white energy charging towards the Legacy. The mothership would have been gutted by the assault had two carriers not plunged in at the last minute. The super capital vessels erupted in balls of fire as the ion beams pierced their armour and shattered them completely from the inside out. Even then, a few ion beams got through, scorching across the hull of the Legacy and damaging the engines.
The Hiigaran fleet was now flinging itself desperately at the Qwaar Jet, doing whatever they could to stop the corrupt God. Frigates and fighters alike plunged themselves into the Qwaar Jet's hull in kamikaze attacks, while battlecruisers and destroyers unloaded their arsenal at the massive ship. Their attempts were in vain, for the Qwaar Jet simply healed itself from whatever wounds they could inflict on it.
"Eefrit, the Qwaar Jet is powering up for another wave! The Legacy cannot withstand an ionic attack of that magnitude!"
"Damnit! The inhibitor fields are still up, there's no way we can jump in or anything…" Eefrit's voice trailed off as the ion warp turrets came online and let loose another salvo. Eefrit winced as he watched the ion beams plunge towards the hapless Legacy…
"Sorry for the delay, people!" Kiir's voice boomed over the communications system as the ion beams slammed and exploded against the Koshiir Ra's invisible barrier.
Eefrit and Yuno heaved a collective sigh of relief.
Onboard the Sajuuk, Fields of Plaz:
"Phased Cannon Array basic repairs in progress – estimated time before completion: two minutes."
The computer's voice echoed through Karan's consciousness as she rallied every repair automaton there was to the main cannon. Sajuuk was a useless piece of junk unless she could get the main cannon back online.
The other way was to meld with the ship as the Great Progenitor Sajuuk once did in the Battle of Karos.
However, the means of doing so still eluded her.
Meanwhile, Kiir Sjet had been maintaining a spirited assault on the Qwaar Jet with the assistance of Captain Soban and the rest of the Hiigaran fleet. The rest of the Alliance had graciously taken up the task of dealing with the rest of the Neo-Beast forces without complaint, and she was grateful for their help. The Hiigaran fleet would do all it could to assist the Alliance, but for now, there were more pressing matters, like trying to fend off the threat of mass extinction.
"Karan! How much more time before the repairs are done?" Kiir asked urgently, "The Grand Core's energy reserves are depleting fast!"
"Just maintain the attack for another minute or so, the repairs are nearly done!" Karan responded, willing the repair process to go faster but to no avail – Sajuuk could allocate no more resources to the job.
"Very well, I'll do what I can. Once you get the PCA up and running, just fire away! Kiir out."
The transmission ended and Karan watched the battle intensify before her eyes. Qwaar Jet was now flinging ion beam after ion beam, and quantum pulse after quantum pulse, at the distortion field around the Koshiir Ra and Legacy. Kiir couldn't do anything to fight back, for maintaining the field against such a vicious assault was pushing Koshiir Ra to its limits. Occasionally, the God would fire off a dozen ion beams at the Horizon, which was now taking damage without the resilient protection of Koshiir Ra's field. Nonetheless, the smoking battlecruiser continued to sweep around the ship, firing off all its weapons in a dazzling array of light and energy.
The Hiigaran fleet was more desperate than it ever was now, with every ship in its disposal now surrounding the Qwaar Jet and firing away. Fighter pilots continued to plunge their ships into the God's hull, exploding their reactors against the pulsating organic armour. Frigates would have done the same, but Eefrit had given stern orders not to do so – their firepower could not be sacrificed.
Slowly but steadily, the combined assault took its toll on the Qwaar Jet. For every wound that healed over, another two were opened in other places. For every severe breach that tried to heal, a fury of attacks would plunge in and inhibit the healing process.
"Basic repairs complete, Phased Cannon Array online, recharge rate reduced by…"
Karan didn't wait for the computer to finish. She aimed the prow of the Sajuuk at the side of the Qwaar Jet and gave the mental order. The vermillion energies built up and travelled along the sides of the ship, converging on the Array itself. Then the Sajuuk recoiled slightly as the beam lanced forward, ripping through the organic hull and armour plates of the evil God. Almost immediately, the lights around her cubicle flickered as Karan squeezed every last bit of power from the Sajuuk's reactors.
"Alert, Phased Cannon Array output reaching dangerous levels, initiating safety interrupt…"
"Override safety protocols!" Karan's mind screamed as she powered down every last nonessential system to get more power. The computer obliged and the lance of light grew in diameter, becoming brighter as it gained more power.
Finally, Sajuuk and Qwaar Jet were linked by a lance of energy so blindingly white it would have seared off the corneas of anyone trying to gaze directly at it. The beam was now so powerful that it burned all the way through and emerged from the other side in an explosion of light. Even Karan could scarcely believe her eyes.
The white beam began to waver as the Phased Cannon Array reached its limit, flickering and thinning as the Sajuuk's main gun gave out. The light finally dissipated completely, dimming the battlefield to its original state.
Sajuuk's prow was now blackened and aflame, completely overloaded from the stunt Karan had pulled.
"Phased Cannon Array critically damaged, basic repairs in progress. Estimated time to completion: Indeterminate."
Karan sighed in disappointment, but she had done a great deal of damage in that one blast. Qwaar Jet was now badly gutted and bleeding muck in space. Its ionic assaults became infrequent and weaker, and quantum pulses were no longer fired.
"Accursed… woman…" Kaark muttered in agony over a transmission to Karan.
"You deserve it, Kaark," Karan replied in a frosty voice, watching Kiir power up a distortion field for a last assault.
The dagger field flew forward and smashed through the Qwaar Jet, shattering the remnants of its badly damaged superstructure. The entire ship split into five chunks, spiralling away from each other and spewing massive quantities of organic mush. Karan blocked Kaark's scream from her mind as it echoed through space.
Then the Sajuuk shuddered violently as the full wrath of the Neo-Beast forces were inflicted upon its shields. Wasting no time, Karan set a course and leaped into hyperspace. As the ship emerged beside the Koshiir Ra, tense transmissions started coming in.
"Karan Sjet, the Neo-Beast forces have broken through!" The T-MAT reported, "They are ignoring our fire! Bewarned, Sajuuk-Khar!"
"Fleet, engage the Neo-Beast," Karan ordered, her crystal clear voice reverberating through the Hiigaran Navy, "Leave nothing alive."
Explosions ripped through the battlefield as the Hiigaran Navy responded, raining their mightiest weapons down on the advancing Neo-Beast fleet. Strangely enough, their shots were ignored as well. Keepers and capital ships were vaporised by the attack, but the Neo-Beast continued to push on. Despite their rapidly dwindling numbers, the Neo-Beast did not fight back.
"Karan! Look where they're headed!" Kiir warned, "They're going straight for the Qwaar Jet's wreckage!"
"Don't tell me Kaark's going to revive again!" Karan exclaimed in sheer disbelief.
Kiir didn't reply, for he quickly projected a distortion field around the five pieces of the Qwaar Jet. He would not allow the insane thing to be resurrected again, not after what they had all gone through.
The Neo-Beast fleet paused, contemplating the field for a few moments. Then they went straight for the Legacy of Kharak, firing everything they had at the Hiigaran mothership. Kiir did what they expected him to do – he diverted field power to protect the Legacy, causing the field around the Qwaar Jet to weaken.
Then the Neo-Beast fleet proceeded to pummel all their attacks into a single point on the Qwaar Jet field, sending waves of disruption through the weakened field. Kiir realised what they were doing and tried to recalibrate, but the field breached and opened a temporary hole.
That was all the Neo-Beast needed.
The field quickly closed, demolishing the ships that threw themselves against it. But a number had already gotten through. The capital ships charged forward, the chunks of the Qwaar Jet powering up their thrusters and moving towards its meal…
The next moment, ion beams exploded outwards, slamming into the spherical distortion field. Kiir struggled to contain it, and failed miserably, the field exploding outwards and dissipating under the attack.
Kaark and Qwaar Jet had revived again.
"I'm sorry Karan, I did my best, but there wasn't enough power left…" Kiir explained apologetically.
"It's alright Kiir, even the Gods wouldn't have the power to sustain such a long battle," Karan replied softly. "She too could not believe that all their efforts had come to nought."
"It takes much more than that to bring me down you know," Kaark laughed haughtily over the channels, "You have done everything in your power and failed miserably."
For once, Karan couldn't help but agree with Kaark. They had done everything they could, thrown everything they had at the Qwaar Jet, and still…
"The Three Gods were not made equal."
Karan was startled by the sudden voice. It was unmistakable.
"Koshiir Ra!"
But there was no response.
Onboard the Koshiir Ra, Fields of Plaz:
He was fatigued. Never before had he controlled a ship and all its functions for such a long battle.
And now…
"Looks like the Two Gods are nothing much, so I suppose it wouldn't matter if I couldn't unite the Three," Kaark spoke, "So it's time to end it all!"
The Qwaar Jet's focusing arrays glowed and focused their energies into a single point. A small distortion field came into existence, and within it, a tiny point of black grew from nothingness.
Kiir knew immediately what it was.
The could flee now if they wanted to, but it wouldn't matter. Kaark would muster more Neo-Beast ships and pursue, hunting them down one by one.
It was then that he picked up an energy spike from the Sajuuk. The Three Cores were synchronising and emitting a tremendous amount of energy. He couldn't believe what the sensors were telling him.
"Karan! What's going on? I'm picking up an anomalous energy spike from the Three Cores!"
Karan didn't respond, but the energy spike continued to soar beyond dangerous levels.
Kiir sighed and closed his eyes, focusing his thoughts on Karan. Within moments, he made the leap from Koshiir Ra to Sajuuk, quickly accessing whatever cameras there were in Karan's command room.
The images flickered on, revealing Karan suspended in her cubicle with cables trailing from her head. Her eyes were closed in fierce concentration.
A mighty force caught hold of Kiir, who squirmed feebly in its grasp. With a sudden gust of energy, he found himself back in the Koshiir Ra. Kiir quickly recovered from the surprise and tried to get back, only to find himself locked out from the Sajuuk.
"Karan! What in Kharak's name are you doing?" Kiir yelled indignantly into the channel.
"Kiir, this is our last hope," Karan spoke, her words slow and fatigued, "This is all I can offer now."
"What do you mean?"
"I leave everything in your hands now…" Karan murmured as she slipped into unconsciousness from the strain.
Koshiir Ra's systems were suddenly awash with power. Pure quantum energy flooded through the field generators and a mighty distortion field sprang up around the ship. To Kiir's surprise, all that energy was coming from the Sajuuk's Three Cores alone. However, there wasn't much time left – the energy was already starting to fade as quickly as it had come.
He had only one shot at this.
"Farewell, puny Hiigarans," Kaark spoke as the quantum singularity shot forward, heading straight for the Koshiir Ra and the rest of the Alliance ships behind it.
Kiir watched the black hole approach them, and took a deep breath. With tremendous effort, he focused all of the Koshiir Ra's field strength into a localised field. At the same moment, the black hole connected with the field.
Gravitational fury swept across the battlefield as the singularity reached out, trying to drag all matter within reach into its infinity of nothingness. Strike craft lost control and spiralled towards the black hole while capital ships struggled to maintain position. All would have been lost had the distortion field not wrapped itself around the singularity in a neat and tidy sphere. The fingers of gravity were cut off and the battlefield returned to normality.
With one last mighty effort, Kiir flung the distortion field back at the Qwaar Jet, which was now halfway through its hyperspace entry. The quantum wavefront closed just as the distortion field opened up, releasing the black hole as it expanded to wrap around the original position of the Qwaar Jet. Almost immediately, the quantum wavefront reopened and unceremoniously dumped the Qwaar Jet back in realspace.
Kiir smiled tiredly as he heard Kaark scream in unimaginable agony, his ship and self being torn apart and compressed beyond measure by the sheer gravitational forces. The singularity continued to pull, ripping the Qwaar Jet into more pieces than Kiir could count. One by one, the shredded metal and organic metal plummeted into the heart of the black hole, vanishing into oblivion.
And then, only the black hole remained.
Qwaar Jet was gone.
The singularity, having just gulped down a ship of considerable mass, continued to pluck away at the distortion field holding it in place. Kiir fought back, holding the field together. It was all he could do to stop the black hole from getting out to devour them all.
After what seemed an eternity, the black hole finally shrunk, the fabric of space time healing over the point of darkness. A ripple in the fabric of realspace was all that remained.
Kiir let go, mentally drained from the encounter. The distortion field faded, as did his consciousness.