Chapter 3: Escalation
At the peak of dawn, Atlas wakes up earlier than the celebration event for Callan and the arrival of the Zithra family out of his stomach growling. "Meh, it's hard being a normal human, I don't need to eat this often in my own body since my powers keep feeding my hunger and have zero body waste." He says to himself out of pity. Since the cook did not wake up yet, he circles the provision supply room near the armory that he sighted yesterday. Entering quietly, he cracks open a crate cover and grabs something to eat. "Somebody there?" The hearing voice nearby makes him hide from plain sight in quick succession. "Atlas, what are you doing dear hiding like that?" The queen speaks to him directly after a few minutes of searching. She sees a pack of dried fruit that Atlas opens up in his hand as he makes a stone-faced expression. "Oh dear, you're hungry in this early morning? I can make some light food for you if you want, but I have to wake up my husband in the library. Make sure to eat fully before the morning alright?"
"Y-yes your majesty." Atlas answers in embarrassment. She snickers as she leaves. Without further ado, Atlas eats mediocrely of what is filling for him inside the supply room. Wanting to burn the extra calories, he heads to the training area after being fully equipped. He overhears a clicking sound and heads to the entrance. Atlas steps lightly there only to receive a strike from the blind spot. He managed to dodge it in time and lock the striking arm. In a quick reaction, his left hand already holding his dagger; pressing heavily at the striker's neck without spilling any blood. The Sakhalin fox's eyes widen to see the dagger at her throat. "A-atlas, you got me there." She says in fear of the situation and flops her ears back with Atlas eyes looking like a hunter preparing to eat his prey. Realizes it was Lenora, he stands down. "You're up early, Princess." Atlas eases the situation.
She sits down at a nearby bench and takes a breather before answering him. "Yes, I want to improve my close quarter's combat skills. I noticed your room door sounded off and decided to wake up after it." Hearing her determination, Atlas grabs the dummies controller while she was looking his way and set its configuration as he enters the ring. He throws it at Lenora and she catches it. "Start it" He speaks to her. Seeing the configuration, Lenora's hand stuttered. She looks at Atlas again and sees he nods. The noise of the dummies starting up riles him as he already knows the limits of his borrowed body and put his hood on. The eight targets lunge him in sync, he manages to jump beforehand and use one of them as recoil and lands at the pillar wall. He launches from the pillar; a gushing aura is felt as he unsheathes the phantom sword and slashes it into the wind in front of the dummies. It dismembers shortly after and the other dummies try to attack his flank. Atlas throws his dagger at the flanking target and continues fighting.
The sight makes Lenora shudders in fear as Atlas finishes off the remaining targets with a killing gaze locking into each target while being able to stay in sync with the other targets. The loud crashes caught the ears of the royal family. Atlas puts down the hood and looks over to Lenora. He is unwary of their arrival of them and is shocked to see all of them there. "You are extremely skilled than the other people that I have met in my life. You fight like it is your last battle." Aiken clarifies it to him.
"Maybe our daughter is marrying the wrong person after all," Kelsey says to Aiken while Lenora blushes at what her mother has said.
"What's done is done. I will not retract my words from the Zithra. Now I need to return to my room for a shower. If you mind Atlas, teach her some of your sword skills." The king speaks out before departing with the queen. Nixon sticks around after their parents left. He tries to remember Atlas's skills. "What, you want to spar your highness?" Nixon quickly backs out. "Nope, you're way out of my league; especially that sword." He sits down beside Lenora as she stands. "Hoh, a challenger…" Atlas says it is of her will to stand and face him. Nixon grabs the controller and clears the ring. "I will make a full effort in your situational awareness and reaction to this."
Atlas already inside the ring taunts Lenora into entering it. She enters after a short minute. He puts his sword away and cracks his knuckles while she remains silent. "Now now, don't be shy," He says with a half-smile. Lenora makes a feint while swirling her combat-ready sword at Atlas. His sidestep movements continue as Lenora combines her flurry of attacks. The last strike makes Atlas disappears from her sight. He smacks behind her back moderately, which makes her perform a back kick at him but missed. "That could have been fatal if I use my sword. Come on, focus Lenora. Use your sense more sharply. Fight like your life depends on it. It does!" He says while dodging the point of her frustrated swords strikes. The sight of Atlas toying with Lenora makes Nixon finally aware of the weaknesses that Atlas tries to teach. Atlas stops in front of her and she slashes him ferociously. Not moving from the spot, he parried her slash. "Good Lenora. Now I want your eyes and ears only to track me down." She nods at what Atlas says and he moves randomly with his acrobatic movements that are 3 times as fast as hers.
Her eyes locked into his movements; her ears flick as hearing his footsteps. She is fully focused on her awareness now as Atlas stops again this time at her back. She responded quicker than before, making Atlas didn't smack her back again while his left hand was already prepared for it. "You are finally aware of your surroundings more Lenora. Keep improving what I have taught you today." Atlas says it to her while sitting on the bench. "Thank you, Atlas." She says in return with a smile of satisfaction and goes to cool off in her room. Nixon nods at him and goes somewhere.
As of midday approaches, the celebration of Callan runs smoothly on the open field behind the palace. A speech from his father is heard from afar as Atlas sits on one of the far dining tables enjoying some wine. The royal family insisted that he joined their table but Atlas disagrees to prevent prying envy eyes. An assault craft arrives out of nowhere with gunships escorting it. As Atlas responded to the situation, a long-range shot exploded at the podium that blasted it into smithereens making participants run chaotically. "Father!" Callan screamed after seeing his dead father. Atlas runs at his side. "Callan, go back to our ship and assemble the crew." Callan is still in a state of shock as the royal family takes shelter inside the palace. "Kill the royal family, leave none alive!" A voice rang from the arrival of a warship. Atlas furiously shakes him including a few slaps. "Commander! Snap out of it!" Atlas yelled. "It's no use Atlas, the Draconians are here. It's over…" Hearing that from Callan, Atlas throws him with his full might to where they parked their skimmer nearby; making him roll into the air while bracing for the ground. "Get your ass back at the battleship and wait there Callan, don't you dare break down!"
After being thrown by Atlas; his yelling makes Callan snaps back into reality and blast off on his own, back to his ship. A few more assault craft landed and the soldiers inside it gunned down anyone they see. "Well fuck me; aren't I lucky." He speaks loudly at the approaching soldiers from behind him. They fire at Atlas as he closes his eyes wishing for a miracle. The sword absorbed the whole energy that is fired at him as he takes a glimpse of the situation. It surprises the soldiers as Atlas runs toward them. He fired a quick shot of burst laser rounds from his hidden bracers and hit the whole squad while continuing running. "The hell is the palace sentries?" Atlas looks around while dashing only seeing the fallen guards as no other remains standing with the gunship chewing down the remaining sentries, he suddenly remembers the royal family is still inside of the palace. Quickly he enters the palace as he is chased by more of the enemy coming from the assault craft making them fight in an enclosed space where he is advantageous.
Another assault craft with golden markings crashes into the palace throne room. The royal family is in there, only guarded by two palace sentries. As the smoke clears, the entrance is guarded by the enemy, and a human pop into view. "What is the meaning of this Zithra? I taught you are going to marry my daughter? Why attack us?" The king speaks out of confusion.
"I am, but first with the blood to seal it." Gunshots rang inside the throne room. As the sound of gunshot dissipates, Nixon is enraged at seeing the blood-filled floor of his parents as he tries to strike him down with his sword. Zithra managed to parry it and shoots the two sentries dead that tries to attack him. "Lenora, go…to Atlas…" Hearing her father and mother's last breath she makes a dart to the exit. "Oh no, you don't." A near miss shot is hit by her brother covering her as he throws a flash grenade at the exit. "Go, Lena!" Her brother screamed her nickname only to be beheaded by a soldier striking him from the side. The flash grenade exploded and all were blinded by the light for a few seconds. "Go after her. I'll wait here." He gives the order while kicking the king's dead body.
Atlas uses the sword to put him out of a pinch. It slashes through the palace walls as it hits one of the assault craft. "That was unexpected," Atlas speaks aloud while taking cover. He sees Lenora running towards him while being gunned down by a gunship at the open walkway, she manages to dodge the incoming bullets thanks to Atlas training her reflexes. Seeing her in trouble, Atlas swings his sword hard as the wave cuts the gunship outside of the palace. She crashes in front of him, He quickly pulls her back to her feet. "Lenora, where is your family?" He asked before seeing her face full of tears. "They have died Atlas…I am only what remains of my family…They were killed by Zithra." She was able to say it to him even if it hurts her to accept it as she grasps atlas's left hand tightly. Atlas can see where he is with the sword's power; perform a solidus strike from afar. It hits Zithra's torso without him knowing, dismembering him into two as the palace finally crumble. Atlas pulls her hand and ran off to the skimmer. The remaining enemy is confused about what happened as they searched the collapsed place, this makes the both of them able to run away in time.
Lenora remains silent at Atlas's back as he speeds up to the besieged floating dock. He dodges the oncoming bombardment to the city area below as they burn the whole place down. Arrived there, he crashes the skimmer lightly and quickly pulls her into the battleship. Still, in control of the situation, He speaks to the com button near one of the entrances. "Callan, move this ship!" hearing the finally-awaited voice of Atlas. Callan orders the captain to ascend the ship.
With the roaring engine at full throttle, the mooring point of the ship breaks and it punched through the ceiling of the damaged floating dock. The ship darted upwards breaking orbit at high speed away from the ship orbit bombarding the planet. Lenora rolls over at Atlas of a sudden ascend as he catches her. He looks into her eyes, the look of an empty soul mirrors back at him as a nearby medic goes to them. "Take Princess Lenora," Atlas orders the medic as they carry her. He stands up and goes directly to the bridge that is linked to the command room. Entering the room, he sees the station is not fully manned. "Atlas, your orders?" Callan waits for Atlas's answer.
"What do you mean orders? You are the commander?" Atlas pointed out at Callan who covers his face with his beret.
"Estcallian have fallen Atlas, I hold no rank now." He says to Atlas while sitting on the ground while the other bridge crews sulk over the loss of their nation.
"Hyperdrive fuel?" Atlas asked but Callan did not respond of not knowing. The captain that has recovered instead shows what they have in their inventory on a digital tablet. "Captain Camilla at your service Atlas." She introduces herself to Atlas. Atlas quickly display it to the command monitor for all of them to see it. Atlas started thinking logically about travel length and asked the captain "Captain, how long does a full tank hyperdrive can push us to?"
"Only 15 systems. We can't go very far without a refuel." Camilla explains.
"The same as their ships, right?" Atlas make a quick note.
"Yes, sir. Some of them can travel at least 20 systems." She answers simply.
Seeing a familiar cluster arrangement of systems, he hesitated to mark it. He finally made the decision and marks the system that they will go to. This surprises the bridge crew, commander, and captain. "Atlas, that place is riddled with Electro storms, Dark matter is engulfing the whole area and no one would go there in the first place," Callan speaks his opinion to him.
"Trust me on this one, as you did beforehand." Atlas looks at him. Callan hunkers down remembering what happens at the palace. If it is not for him, he already is dead by now. Callan smiles half-heartedly as he looks upwards at Atlas.
"All right Commander Atlas, I will serve as your XO." Callan saluted at him. The captain nods in acceptance. "Sir, who did you brought back with you just now?" Camilla asked Atlas. "Lenora…She is the only one who survives…" Atlas answers heavily. All of them think that the whole royal family perished at the palace. Some good news eases the pain of the fallen nation. Without reading the mood, the captain slaps the truth on the bridge crew. "Our ship now only has 303 crews including us, out of before the total of 1000 crews we are greatly under crewed. We only managed to save 420 citizens."
"Where is the princess sir?" She continues her sentence.
"She is resting in her given room. She is shell-shocked by the situation. Callan, are you alright?" Out of worry, Atlas asked him.
"I will be alright Atlas. You are the only hope that is left of this ship and its crew. As long as you lead us, we will make it through. First of all, why are we going there?" Atlas takes a long pause before answering him. It was his empire that they are going to.
"I will answer that in a few days. Right now, we need to get out of this still hostile system using the old conventional way." He speaks of the idea. The captain knows what he is thinking and shuts down all of the communication devices and lets the ship glide out of the system from the enemy radar range quietly. The blue planet now turns dark in color from afar after the bombardment.
Many of the crew already accepted their fate to die after the fallen of their country. Atlas on the other hand; stays sane of the situation. He keeps his focus on sorting all of the inventory including beverages, medical supplies, equipment, and weaponry. The sudden punch on the container is done by him, remembering the betrayal that once hit him before. "Fuck, why did not I foresee this happening again!? That bastard of an uncle!" He swears his uncle's name as the memory flashes back. The princess sulks in her darkroom at the window while looking out into the space while mourning the loss of her family and the sudden betrayal of the one that she is to marry by siding with the Draconians.