Special thanks to co-author Techjammer. Apologies for the delay, Papa Nurgle paid me a visit and gave me a fever.

PSA:

After many weeks of delay; our Grammar Gestapo, Deadzombie, has ultimately turned to Chaos and is being hunted by the Ordo Malleus as we speak. I am looking for replacement BETA that has excellent grammar to replace him. Do PM me if you're interested. Until then, I'll resume the usual update schedule of a chapter every two weeks, every week if you're lucky.

Thus, there may be more typos and grammatical errors until I can find a replacement BETA.

+ Applications to the Ordo Grammaticus are now open. +

+ Failure to meet quality will be punished by standard beating from the Adeptus Arbites. +

+ Thank you. +

+ 001. M.42 +

+ Plantation #13: Cerasus +

+ Barracks +

No dreams, this would mark the first night since he arrived on this planet where nothing plagued his slumber. Though that was cut short by his ingrained clock, six hours of sleep, since his youth that discipline had never wavered. He cursed under his breath, squeezing his eyes shut in protest for but a moment before trying to get up.

Tried being the key word. The Freeblade found his midsection held firmly in place by the deceptively slender arms of his bedmate. Her legs too held his in a vice crossed around his thighs. Oddly he felt like he being treated as a pillow that could hug back… not that he altogether minded.

He sighed, knowing her strength to be insurmountable. Part of him wondered what made Zero-Two so strong, then again, to wonder as such was beyond him. Such was Marik's purview… that said, he would ever let the Bionic-happy Magos touch her if he didn't have to.

A soft groan at his chest was followed by the pink head burying her face further into his chest. A smiled creeped onto his features, it was cute, so carefree even in the eve of a massive battle. She'd done this before… he realized that yesterday. Even so, did she feel not fear? No hidden anxiety or trepidation?

No, the Communion told no lies. She was calm, battles like this were of no real concern… she was with him, her 'darling'. To her, that was all that mattered. That left a dark question, a question he should have asked long ago. Who was Zero-Two to him?

She is an ally, a comrade, a person he felt that he could trust. More than a friend, a lover, yet an uncertain one. His oath, that was simple… yet there was more. Still, now was not the time. She was stirring.

The girl yawned, slowly rising from his chest and pushing the blanket off and arching over backwards to stretch. "Hm...Morning darling…" she yawned mid sentence.

Casten propped himself up on his elbow, unable to properly sit up with Zero-Two still straddling him. "Good morning, Zero-Two."

She rose and separated from him with a little reluctance. Whist the Knight swung himself off the bed and performed his own stretch, as he did every morning. She stared at him, feeling the Knight's anxiety. For awhile he stared back. It was his first actual battle, his first time with her. No matter how much he had been trained for this moment there would always be that uncertainty.

"Darling." she whispered, rising to her feet and wrapping her arms around his torso in a hug.

Casten stood puzzled for a moment; but still brought his hands around her. "Zero-Two?"

"You're ready." The pinkette said, pressing her ear onto his chest to listen to the Knight's steady, poweful heartbeat.

The comment was so simple, yet her reassurance was very much welcome. She had done this before. Thus, she knew best what to expect of the foe. Though he knew not if he was ready himself; if Zero-Two thought he was ready… then he would trust her.

The Freeblade smiled. "I…" He laid a hand at her back, thinking of how to respond. "...Thank you, Zero-Two."

"...Good morning."

The greeting that was uttered when he walked into the dining room took Casten by surprise. Not least of all due to the fact that it was Ichigo that greeted him. He froze in his tracks, staring at her in shock. Only when Zero-Two pulled him towards the table did he snap from his trance.

Taking a more rushed seat than he would have liked courtesy of his partner, he nodded to Ichigo. "Greetings."

Freeblade and Pistil regarded one another for another moment, as if wondering how to address one another from then they decided settle into their usual pattern of ignoring one another. The parasites blasphemous prayers still brought the bitter taste of bile to his tongue, though his partner's presence did steady his heart.

Then, a thought came to mind. How better to drown own the thoughts of their heresy than recite a prayer of his own? The litany came to his lips as naturally as when he recited it a thousand times before. Folding his hands over his chest in the sign of the Aquila, the Knight began.

"He who sits upon the Throne on Terra, guide us.

Watch us through tides of ignorance,

Through tricks of treachery,

Through sea of doubt and the fog of despair.

We thank Thee for your eternal light,

bringing deliverance to all mankind.

The Emperor protects.

Ave Imperium."

The parasites looked to him with feline curiosity. Zero-Two had heard him pray in private before, and went about as she usually did. Mostly that meant messily pouring honey over the contents of her plate. Casten ate as well, slowly, in stark contrast to the girl beside him that was busy wolfing down her honey coated meal. Yet, he was keenly aware of the glances some of the children.

He sighed, unable to eat in peace with them stealing glances every so often. "What is it?"

Ikuno spoke first, as the girl seemed to be the least put-off by the Imperial Knight. "This… Emperor, who is he?"

"That is, a complicated question." Casten leaned back, trying to come up with an adequate way of describing the glorious Master of Mankind to those who had not an inkling of what he is.

"The God-Emperor is… our Emperor, it is he who we owe our existence to. It is he that pulled humanity out of the Age of Strife." he said simply.

He set his hands together. "We travel the vast expanses of the void through the Warp. A realm separate from the material realm. Think of the void as a vast ocean, constantly in storm and dotted with whirlpools and lightning. The Emperor upon his Golden Throne, also called the Astronomican, is like a lighthouse that serves to guide and protect our ships as we travel the warp."

Ichigo spoke up now. "The Emperor protects… is that what you meant by that?"

Casten stared at her, surprise faded quickly however and he nodded. "In a way. It also means that the Emperor safeguards our souls from corruption."

Corruption... Mitsuru shivered at the utterance of that word. He suddenly found his appetite lost. He'd seen them. Those traitors that Casten spoke of, twisted by the warp's ruinous power and that mutated to that of metal and bone. Just as he was about to swallow his food, the sickening tang of boiling blood and oil assaulted his palate.

"Hng!" He doubled down over his plate, hand pressed over his mouth to stop himself from vomiting.

Ikuno steadied her partner's shoulder. "You okay?"

Her worry was met with only contempt when they boy swatted her hand away. "I'm fine."

Casten ignored the Stamen, oblivious or willfully ignoring his discomfort. "Treason, criminal acts, consorting with Xenos, amongst thousands of other threats within and without. Of which I do not have the training nor the right to educate you. That will come with the arms of the Adeptus Administratum when the time comes." The Knight shook his head.

His rushed explanation came from his need to mind Zero-Two, who seemed to be waiting on him to feed her. The others seemed to accept it, having the Knight fussing about the pinkette was the norm by now. Their close relationship seemed to always trigger the same reactions from the parasites.

Zorome was looking on in puffed up envy, Futoshi and Kokoro copied the pair, Miku giving them a coy smile, and Goro egging Casten on whilst Ichigo, Ikuno and Mitsuru tried to ignore the couple get on with their meal as best they could.

It was becoming routine, that routine and familiarity calmed the atmosphere. That brought them a little peace of mind before being thrust into the crucible of conflict.

+ Later +

The rhythmic ticking of an analog clock mounted on the wall. Crafted of wood and brass, rare materials, as many things in this 'barracks' seemed to have the luxury of being. Its steady clicks was punctuated by a soft gong as each hour passed.

Casten spent the last two hours in Cerasus's library, trying to break his dependence to the translator device wrapped around his neck. Stacks of books littered the Knight's table. Frustration was beginning to set in as he worked. He had come no closer to discerning the language spoken by the locals as two hours prior.

"Emperor's tap dancing tibia…" He groaned, letting the book he had been labouring to learn from fall to the table.

To his eyes, the language was both familiar yet not. In the written form it used and resembled many characters of both High and Low Gothic, yet bearing more in common to what little knowledge he had of the ancient pre-Imperial Terran languages of 'Merican and Nihonese. Yet that was only used in matters of import such as formal documentation or statistics.

"Emperor above…" He groaned. "Why must such confounding languages exist?"

The Freeblade looked down at the pinkette resting peacefully on his lap. She had spent the first half hour searching for picture books and simply grown bored with books filled only with words. The Knight sighed, deciding to take a short rest by idly running his fingers through her silky pink hair.

"Hey, what're you doing?" The familiar voice brought Casten's attention to the Mitsuru, who had just entered.

Casten gestured to the books strewn about the wooden table and allowed himself a sign. "Trying to piece together your primitive language. I'm no scribe or lector, the similarities between our languages only serve to baffle me further."

The parasite chuckled, yet his features bore no joy. Instead, he seemed to be making a pained attempt at smiling; as if his very facial muscles were stiffened. In truth, the Knight didn't think it wouldn't be surprising if that were actually the case.

Mitsuru took a few steps forwards, walking to the window at the far end of the room and taking a seat at the windowsill. "Why?"

The Knight raised an eyebrow at that, an obvious question. "... Because knowing the nuances of your language can only assist in my mission an envoy."

Shaking his head, his gaze turned over his shoulder to the view out of the window. "Why do that now? We could die you know?"

"Danger is no excuse for dereliction of duty." With a soft thump, Casten closed the hardcover book he had left open. The Freeblade's navy blue eyes meeting Mitsuru's pine green. "The possibility of death in battle is a given. If every Imperial citizen ceased their duties at the mere risk of death, then the Imperium of Man would have fallen long ago."

Mitsuru remained silent, staring at the Knight. "How do you think like that? When you might not be alive in a few hours, wouldn't you rather be doing something else?"

He looked down, back onto the girl sleeping on his lap. A ghost of a smile creeped its way onto his features.

"Mitsuru, I'm already where I want to be, doing what I want to do. The safety and future of this Plantation- of this planet, rests on our shoulders. We all have our duties, this is mine." He left his thoughts on Zero-Two unsaid, it was obvious anyways.

The parasite huffed, pushing off his seat on the window and walking over to the Knight's table and opening the book that Casten had been struggling with. "You were reading them in the wrong direction. We read from top to bottom in books like these…"

+ Later +

+ Plantation #13: Elevator D4 +

Casten sighed, staring at the dull metal doors of the elevator doors and rolling his stiff shoulders. He sighed in relief as his tendons popped back into place after so long without moving.

Studies had never been his strength. Not that he disliked it particularly; he was simply never good at sitting for hours at a time like scribes and Lexmechanics would. No, Casten fittingly excelled in combat subjects, tactical and Knight Simulacrums. Though he was taught of courtly matters, Scions of House Zelius largely spurned politics and grand strategy in favour of building a quick wit in battle.

Despite this, he did make great advances in learning the local language due in large part thanks to the Parasite Mitsuru. However, his very soul felt drained from the massive amount he was forced to learn and repeat every phrase the got wrong. The Stamen proved a stern teacher in that way.

The Freeblade cast a sidelong gaze at Zero-Two, clinging onto his arm. The pinkette was practically leaning on him, still rubbing sleep out of her eyes with her free hand. Half asleep, she moaned incoherently at him in protest. He hushed her, tapping at her shoulder to remind her that now was not the time to sleep

She did wake up eventually, though still leaning heavily on his arm as he walked out.

+ Plantation #13: FranXX Garage +

The FranXX garage was far more congested than usual. Brigid's servitors fussed about Ave Rubrum's alcove, mechanical arms lifting his Reaper chainsword off as servo skulls inspected each cable, bolt and weld for stress whilst droning a dozen litanies in the machine language of the Adepts of Mars. The massive motorised blade of Ave Rubrum's Reaper chainsword having been replaced with the bulky Thunderstrike gauntlet and fitted to the Errant's arm.

Casten stood upon the gangway, overseeing the process. Zero-Two looked down at his arm that she was holding, feeling the Knight's arm muscles twitch and spasm slightly with every bolt that was tightened and every weld that fastened the weapon onto the walker's Adamantine skeletal frame.

The Thunderstrike gauntlet was newly forged aboard the Faber Ferracius, much like Ave Rubrum himself. That was generally viewed with suspicion, newly forged weapons tended to be uncertain things. Lacking the tested reputation of some precious master crafted relics of bygone ages. Much like the Knights of ancient house Caelum.

Speaking of the fellow Knights, that was the other reason why he was here; to meet them as well as oversee his armour's refit.

Of that, dread filled every fiber of his being.

One would think that when thinking of an inevitable confrontation with a warlord bio-titan, one would be more concerned about being flattened into non-existence. No, facing a Knight of House Caelum, the boastful, glorious ancient rival of Zelius.

At the other end of the garage stood the bone-white Questors of House Caelum, past the FranXX of Squad #13. They had no alcoves of their own, simply standing as Adamantine statues painted in bone white heraldry being worked over by a small army of Sacristans, Servitors and other staff that went through the rituals of checking and double checking the suits for battle.

They paused stared at the pair. Some tried to hide it, but Casten noticed their lingering gaze, paces slowed or stopped to regard them as they passed. First… there was curiosity, anxiety, unease. Then their gazes locked onto Zero-Two, and there was scorn.

He noticed the scowls, even if the girl at his side didn't understand the chants and curses spat in her direction. Her horns, he realized, though small and insignificant to him, were ugly reminders of the invaders that devastated Avalus. Their disgust permeated through even the masks of the tech-priests that swore allegiance with Caelum. The black memory of Avalus's fall still fresh, and his partner was just unfortunate enough to remind them of the daemons that they took their pound of flesh from.

Casten ignored them as she did, it was not the time nor place for petty disputes. Let them mutter their curses and insults, the crucible of war that was to come would vindicate her.

He approached a figure clad in ornate carapace armour, not unlike his own. Immediately, the Freeblade knew that this was the man he was supposed to meet.

Baron Nathaniel Caelum and his cadre cut an impressive figure, his aged body nearing his first century, did not detract the strength that radiated out of the man. Tall, handsome, wizened and always clad in ornate armour embezzled in the sword-sigil of his house and golden Aquilas, a figure of loyalty as great as any servant of the Imperium, men flock to his banner, and his knights follow fervently in the defense of his house, his home, and the Emperor.

His feet have never felt heavier, boots thumping as loudly against the metal flooring as his heart pounded within his chest.

House Caelum, however, held a very important place history to Casten. Every member of House Zelius knew, for they have been taught that since his early youth. That both their houses had a long-standing rivalry for as long as they could remember, stretching even as far back as the dawn of the Imperium. This rivalry had been put to the test, time and time again.

Now all but been invalidated with the practical extinction of House Zelius.

Nathaniel noticed his approach; and with a simple gesture his cadre and barrage of reports was silenced. The tech-priests and his assembled men follow him in silence fully turning towards his person. His arms folded behind his back and his head held high.

Ceremoniously, Casten gave a curt bow before the Baron, though as a Freeblade, he did not hold obligation to pay such respects, this was not the time to let past rivalries be kindled. Not whilst they had a duty looming.

"Hail, Baron" Casten nodded, hands folded in the sign of the Aquila.

Silence permeated for a good while to allow the sincerity to pass as per ceremony.

"Hail, Freeblade" Nathaniel's voice was aged like the finest wine, but was firm like a foundation to a mighty fortress; gravely, but with immense character.

"As you were." In crisp uniformity, his cadre and the Tech-Priests went about their business, making final preparations.

The wizened old Baron didn't even spare the Abhuman hanging onto the Freeblade's arm a glance. Icy blue eye and unfeeling bionic lense fixed on the younger man.

The flurry of noise and chatter, flitted around them, neither speaking a word, and only the sound of everything else surround them speaking for them. Casten realized that while neither spoke House Caelum spoke for him, long since gone back to their tasks, though some still stole glances at the exchange between their Baron and the Freeblade Knight.

Every bolt being tightened, every digit being pressed, every shell loaded, and the chatter of background noises all resounded throughout the chamber, that while House Zelius now has nothing save a single survivor. House Caelum still lives. He knows it, the Baron knows it, and it is agonizing all the same.

"Ten-thousand years…" The Baron finally spoke, whether satisfied with his show of dignity or simply finally finding what to speak Casten will never know, and Casten all but felt like leaving, but he must remain strong, any show of weakness before the Baron would bring shame upon himself and his house.

"Ten-thousand long years of history between our houses, Scion of Zelius" Nathaniel turned his attention to the side, and held onto the rails of the gangplank that overlooked the hangar.

"Yes" The succinct reply was all Casten could say.

Nathaniel bobbed his head, satisfied.

"When my House dreamt of one day showing house Zelius their place -being beneath us- we were blinded, too arrogant to believe that our long-standing rivalry would continue not because of our enemies, but by our superiority in battle."

Nathaniel looked back towards the Freeblade and gestured to his side, to take a spot next to him.

"Ironically, we succeeded; in a way. We outlived your house." A twinkle in his bionic eye sparkled in amusement at the Freeblade's expense.

Casten would not deny him that. That smirk slowly morphed into a scowl that darkened his visage. "Yet… House Caelum feels cheated, Freeblade."

Trepidation assaulted Casten, as he looked at the angry scowl that marred his handsome, but aged features. He saw the history in those eyes, grandfather Aidan often spoke of Nathaniel and their many duels and spats throughout the century. While the old man rambled as if he hated the head of House Caelum, his grandson saw respect and familiarity in those eyes.

Nathaniel rose once more, his image seeming to grow even when it was not so "So I ask this of you Freeblade, will you let this rivalry end so ignobly?"

Casten was at a loss for words, what should he say? How should he respond?

"Our house's rivalry has ended when I was made the last of Zelius, Baron." He swallowed a lump that was stuck in his throat "Our rivalry is moot, I am a Freeblade now. House Zelius… its history, rivalries, glories, oaths of fealty, and all those entail… they're gone now. Ash, just as Avalus is."

Nathaniel was quiet at that, too quiet.

A loud clang echoed throughout the chamber, as Casten fought the urge the jump as he had the pleasure of seeing the Baron slamming his hand down upon the railing, denting around the clenched metal fist.

"Tch! A damn shame" Nathaniel clicked his tongue, swiftly turning and went back to his servants.

Casten stood still, staring at the retreating Baron's back. Yet there was nothing he could do. The past was the past and like all things. The ancient rivalry had come to an end, their future was here now, for better or for worse.

The Knight felt as though a weight was lifted off his shoulders when the man left. He released an exasperated sigh, visibly deflating as his posture slouched over. Zero-Two tilted over him, pink hair following gravity whilst the stared at her partner.

The pinkette grinned, pulling him forwards. 'Let's go somewhere darling!"

The Freeblade gasped, struggling to stay on his feet as she practically dragged him out of the garage. They left under the disapproving eyes of House Caelum and their whispered curses under their breaths.

People often do different things before the dawn of battle to prepare themselves before the coming storm. Mental preparation often made the difference between victory and defeat. That held true no matter how long or far humanity has been separated from their brethren.

From Brigid's attentive ministrations of every armour plate, bolt and panel of Ave Rubrum, Marik's fervent observations of the Klaxosaur hoard from Low-orbit satellites or Ichigo cleansing herself in the warm bath of their barracks. Each had their own way to deal with what was to come.

For the Freeblade and his companion, their way was to watch the tangerine sunset over the orange, cracked earth outside. Enjoying the cooling breeze and each other's presence. Peace and quiet, Zero-Two knew, through their Communion, that Casten loved the serenity. Through him, she found herself loving the beauty of it too.

Then the klaxons blared their ominous warning, the time of reckoning was upon all the defenders.

+ Later +

+ Outside Plantations #13: Cerasus and #26: Chrysanthemum +

An eerie silence settled over the desert, only the howling wind broke the quiet every now and then. Searchlights from the linked cities broke the inky blackness of the night, scanning for any Klaxosaurs that have broken ahead from the hoard as scouts for their vanguard. So far, there was little sign of that. If the foe was capable of any kind of strategem, it seemed that it was to reserve their strength for the initial strike to break the Imperial and local defenders.

Speaking of the Planetary Defence Forces, as the Baron had taken to calling the Parasite forces. Casten caught his first sight of what he assumed to be 'standard' FranXX. They still looked like well developed maidens yet lacked the unique colours and designs of Squad #13's units; all bearing the same overall design of black and white bodies with reflective amber visors over their faceplate.

Ave Rubrum's glowing ruby optics glared out at the approaching cloud of dust. The foe were slow but their advance was a constant grind, gathering strength from nearby hives. Dry desert earth felt cool beneath his metal feet and the breeze was nice, small blessings were never to be taken for granted. He whispered a prayer of thanks to the Emperor; for he would not have to fight in the churning sand or a knee-deep in swampy muck that would drag him down. In this earthen wasteland, he could dispatch the enemies of mankind with prejudice.

Yet… he was held back, forced to stay as the rearguard to kill the wounded remains of whatever managed to get through the screen of Knight and FranXX battle lines. Scraps.

Casten never considered himself to be eager for glory, but still… "Where is the worth of a helpless kill?" He thought aloud.

Ave Rubrum expressed Casten's huff as a dull mechanical rumble. Though he was remiss to give the Xenos filth so much credit; to underestimate the foe was death. The Warlord-sized Klaxosaur Gutenberg-class as the locals called it. There was equal part threat and thrill in challenging that quarry… if he even got the chance.

Meanwhile the members of Squad #13 gasped their own incredulous exclamation of shock at the sight of it.

Ave Rubrum raised his Thunderstrike gauntlet, staring at the metallic hand and flexing the five massive digits experimentally. For his first time using the weapon outside of a simulacrum, it felt… natural, like his normal hand. The Freeblade didn't activate its power field, not wanting to cause the weapon undue stress and potentially anger Ave Rubrum's Anima.

A small, white hand suddenly moved onto the machanical hand's palm. Ave Rubrum followed the white limb to the FranXX that stood beside him, now holding his 'hand'. The sensation of touch, strangely enough, was not of Ave Rubrum's cold Adamantine armour to whatever Strelizia was made of. It felt like Zero-Two's hand against his human skin, soft and warm.

Large metal fingers capable of crushing armoured vehicles closed slowly around Strelizia's hand. Taking care not to crush her hand by accident.

"The foe comes! Show them Imperial fury!" The Baron's warning filtered through the vox channel. "Vengeance for Avalus! Glory to Caelum! Purge the Xenos!"

With a mighty warcry that followed their Baron's, the Imperial walkers surged forwards. Forming a rough diagonal line with their ranged weapons pointed towards the tidal wave of Klaxosaurs. "Purge the Xenos!"

Before the members of Squad #26 could radio that they were in position, a thunderous barrage of fire blossomed from the Imperial gun-line. The deep-steady bark of rapid fire Battle Cannons from the two Questoris Paladins were soon joined by the scream of a trio of Krak Stormspear missile pods releasing their deadly payload, hissing lances of heat from Thermal Spears and Meltaguns of the six Knight Armiger footmen as the distance closed.

A brilliant ensemble of sound and light highlighted the distant silhouettes of the Knights. Their targeting augers registered hits or compensated for misses in the clouds of dust kicked up by the oncoming horde. They circled slowly at first, firing at the Klaxosaurs from a distance and making full use of the range armaments that the PDF FranXX lacked.

Keeping to one side of the moving hoard, delivering punishing Imperial firepower whilst the FranXX of Squad #26 got into position on the other flank. Frustrating though it was, they needed to take extra time to aim. Augeries taking extra time to lock onto the points of greatest magma energy; where the cores were most likely to be and ensuring a kill. Yet the biometallic skin often denied them a first-shot kill, needing multiple weapons to fully perforate the Xeno skin before managing to deliver internal shots to vulnerable soft bioluminescent flesh beneath.

But staying back and whittling down the enemies was not the way of Knights. Especially those in the heraldry of House Caelum.

"Stormspear Krak missiles spent, my Baron." One of the Paladins, Reynauld, voxed

His companion, Dismas, soon reported. "Same here, I'm dry. Looks like I'm still the better shot Reynauld!" He laughed.

His companion gave his fellow Paladin an annoyed grunt. Though Baron Nathaniel broke the exchange before they went into another one of their bickering sessions.

"Milords!" One of their Armigers called, Armen, a servant of theirs from back on Avalus. "They're auger signatures are changing!"

Within seconds what they Knights saw as large Mohorovic-class Klaxosaurs seemed to fall to pieces. Where the Knights had assumed to have shot and killed Mohorovic-class prey, fell only small Conrad-class corpses amidst what turned out to be mounds of enemies stacked on top of each other, tricking the Imperial augers and sensoriums to register them as their larger cousins.

Individually the Conrads resembled small, upside down pyramids with four needle-like legs that skittered and scampered towards the the Knights with near suicidal abandon. Forming a rushing tsunami of black biomental and glowing blue energy.

Reynauld's yell carried over the constant din of weapons-fire. "The Xenos tricked the Augeries, Klaxosaurs numbers are now at over three hundred Conrad-class!"

"Focus!" The Baron called out, pointing his Questoris Warden's Thunderstrike gauntlet's finger towards the Klaxosaurs. "If the Xenos show no respect for Imperial firepower, then they will for our zeal!"

The century-old man's battlecry erupted from his Warden's vox speakers with volcanic volume. "DEUS IMPERATUS VULT! CHARGE!"

Like a wide sweeping line of galloping cavalry, the formation of Knights wheeled around towards the horde. A stomping wall of Adamantium and massive weapons backed by crusading Imperial zealotry tore forwards in the desert night.

Through their monitors, the FranXX watched the vanguard force of Knights with morbid wonder. Terrific shouts for death to the Klaxosaurs roared like thunder over the din of their combined firepower. Various status updates from the Knights through garbled communications came through.

From shouts of warnings to their brethren, long strings of speech the Imperials called 'battle litanies' that the translator programs recently installed within their FranXX's cockpits couldn't fully discern. Though the parasites knew what the gist of that those litanies entailed through scattered expletives, curses and other forms of colourful language.

"Do they have to yell?" Argentea winced, the volume making her Pistil's ears ring.

Ave Rubrum's burning ruby optics didn't look away from the battle, he seemed in a trance. "Those litanies serve to inspire oneself and those around them to fight ever more fervently, display greater feats of faith and honour."

Zorome's voice came next. "Why do you do it then? Not like you have anyone to inspire."

This time the Imperial super heavy walker did turn his head to regard the pink FranXX. But even worse than him gaze was Strelizia's amber gaze. Ave Rubrum's armoured faceplate was expressionless, capable of only an intimidating glowing glare from within his visor. The look Strelizia cast was worse; a baleful gaze full of animalistic ferocity.

"Zero-Two, it's fine." Ave Rubrum addressed her. "I'm a big boy, I can handle this much. He's wrong anyways, Emperor as my witness… I have you."

This seemed to be enough for the white and red FranXX. She relented; albeit reluctantly, he was telling the truth about her. Yet… Zero-Two 's heart ached with Casten's. Through their Communion she felt his sorrow at Zorome's words. Not because he felt that Zorome had spoken out of spite, but because of how true it was.

Ave Rubrum's Anima only amplified his pilot's emotions. The solitude, a longing for being with his kin in battle for the glory of the Emperor and the Imperium of man. An outcast amongst Knights… just like her. He understood now;that longing he felt before, it was suffocating. But it was bearable, Strelizia and Zero-Two are with him… that is more than enough.

Hachi's voice broke their musings. "Squad #26, your mission is to support the Imperial lines while they do the bulk of the fighting. Squad #13, Zero-Nine-Zero will have overall field command of our FranXX units. Strelizia and Zero-Two…"

The commander fell silent, as if unsure what to say to the two. Casten was the rational dutiful foil to Zero-Two's reckless abandon. Yet he would be putty to her whims should the Pistil desire something of her Knight; battle included. Ave Rubrum and Strelizia were equal parts double edged sword and powerful trump card in their arsenal.

A gasp broke Squad #26's radio discipline. "Look at them!"

Their leader turned the head of his FranXX unit to see what his squadmates were gasping at, the Imperials. The parasites had never seen such aggression, almost an abandon to caution as their Ion shields flashed, from every attack attempted by the Klaxosaurs. Then they laughed, running their weapons through the offending monsters.

Unlike FranXX, they didn't attempt skirt around and wrap Magma-conductor cables. Nor did any Imperial walkers try to break away to draw away a part of the horde with superior speed and maneuverability like FranXX would. Simply hacking, sawing, crushing, shooting, melting, stomping, ramming… anything they could do to kill as many as possible.

"They're enjoying themselves," she said once again. "Laughing even."

It was a certainly becoming quite a spectacle in Zero-Nine-Zero's eyes. His time as a pilot has instilled a cool confidence whenever fights with the Klaxosaurs are involved. Quick, efficient, and precise, put them all together with unified cohesion, and they have survived through thick and thin.

The Imperials however were another matter entirely. He had been trained to use the mobility of the Franxx's units, allowing them to slip out of any tight spots and hit hard; then disengage and maneuver to chase and intercept and engage other Klaxosaurs.

The Imperials, in stark contrast were almost...barbaric. They rampaged right into enemy lines serving as a buffer for the incoming wave headed their way, their rage seeped through their roars, as if the enemies very existence is an affront to them. Experience has adapted them to maintain cool heads even in the heat of combat, the Knights however revel in their heated violence; their missiles spoke their hatred, their cannons delivered their fury, and their close-combat weapons channeled their zeal.

It painted a grim sense of visual poetry to watch their fellow human beings fight with such vitriol. A shower of blue gore amidst the chaotic melee.

He had to focus, there was a mission for his squad. "Squad #26 moving in to engage!"

Unlike the thundering stomps of the Imperial Superheavies, the FranXX formation turned. Skimming over the dry earth and sand on their thrusters with almost ethereal grace towards the mass of enemies.

Like a river, the Klaxosaurs flowed through and around the Imperial's defensive line stampeding around their impeded brethren with little to no regard as to friend or foe. The flood pushed into the embroiled Imperial battle line; towards one of the Armigers Warglaives that had its Reaper Chain-Cleaver lodged into one of the Klaxosaurs in an attempt to rip its way to the foul creature's core.

Quickly he became the first casualty as blue xeno blood sprayed into his optical lenses. He stumbled, trying to clear his vision. Yet the klaxosaurs would not relent, ramming their wounded comrade from behind and into the stuck Armiger. With a pained groan of protesting metal and whine of strained servos, the Warglaive topped over under their combined weight. Disappearing under a swarm of black biomechanical monsters; claws digging into his Adamantine armour. the Armiger Warglaive's severed Thermal spear arm sent flying over the carnage below.

The Knight's blood curdling screams echoed through the vox, sending chills up the spines of Squad #13's inexperienced shock and fear interrupted by Baron Nathaniel's voice cutting through the doomed pilot's death cries.

"Knights! Focus Ion shields towards Redrick, reactor breach!"

They obeyed not a moment too soon. As immediately after, a miniature star flashed into existence when the Klaxosaurs breached the Deuterium fuel tanks for the Armiger's plasma reactor. A wave of white-hot energy washed over the Ion shields of House Caelum's walkers, painting the night a brilliant canvas of bright white, blue and gold when charged particle shields struggled to disperse the energy of a small supernova.

Blinded by the spectacle, the parasites and the Freeblade winced and squeezed their eyes against the stinging light. As it died down, the aftermath was not unexpected; yet no less devastating.

Where the downed Imperial Knight once was, now left only a pool of molten metal and scattered pieces of twisted, blackened wreckage of both the Imperial machine and the Xenos that assailed it. It seemed the horde of Klasosaurs too were bewildered by the massive hole in their number, where so many had simply been melted to nothing, not even their cores remained.

"Atea!?" Questor Paladin Dismas called out to his faithful footwoman. .

Another one of the Armigers Warglaives, Atea, happened to be closer to the blast. Her warmachine lay on its back, billowing inky black smoke from every joint and vent. The result of catastrophic thermal overload from its own Ion shield failing and the plasma detonation. Casten saw the flatline on her vitals monitron. If Emperor willed it, the power systems was merely burnt out and she was alive to be recovered later. If not, the woman was now little more than ash and dust.

"By the Emperor! Get back in formation! Do not bring shame to House Caelum!" The Baron's voxcaster boomed,

Wasting no time to mourn their losses, the Imperials began to move to reform their battle line. Yet the Klaxosaurs were faster than the lumbering walkers. Already many of the faster Mohorovic and Conrad-class had sprinted past the disorientated humans. The Imperials didn't have the speed to turn and chase whilst dealing with the more heavily armoured ones that still rushed their front.

Thankfully Squad #26 raced to the opposition, intercepting the Klaxosaurs that broke through, and like clockwork danced to the rhythm of the battlefield.

Stragglers that made their way towards the Plantations; right into the path of the oncoming FranXX of Squad #26. The first kills by the parasites were taken out with surgical precision, entangled in the magma powered cables and dealt the killing blow by their teammate, blue blood exploding marked the first tally for the Plantation's longtime defenders since the battle began.

For the first time, the FranXX employed a limited ranged weapon. Each of Squad #26's FranXX units had a Magma-energy lance that they employed to keep the Xenos at bay. Their lance's enlarged magma blades firing with a cable similar to Strelizia's, albeit with a cord for the sole purpose of lasso than harpooning.

Circling like sharks, Squad #26 split into two groups. Three to focusing on the larger Mohorovic classes that had broken through and two to kill the scattered Conrads. Whether they were scattered or bunched up together, the Klaxosaurs were systematically exterminated by the efficiency of Squad #26's coordinated attacks.

"Squad #13, engage the four that got past us! Don't overextend and watch your positioning!" Zero-Nine-Zero ordered.

Ave Rubrum raised his Thermal cannon, starting its blessed fusion reactor until a familiar voice transmitted through the vox, Nana's. "No. Ave Rubrum hold your fire."

He paused for a moment unsure if he heard her right, Ave-Rubrum's head tilting down as he answered. "Nana, by the Emperor's immortal shadow! if this is some jest-"

"They need experience fighting as a team and you won't help them by killing all the Klaxosaurs before they can even get to them. I'm asking you and Strelizia to stand down for now."

"..." Ave Rubrum reluctantly lowered his arm, the weapon's very machine spirit groaning and whining in protest at its wielder not using it on the Xeno.

Like it or not Casten knew Nana spoke truth. The children were lacked any form of unit cohesion. They needed discipline; and sheltering them would do his cause and mankind no good. Whilst Casten would let them have their experience…his personal glory would have to suffer for a time; and his soul smoldered with the embers of righteous fury whilst it did.

Zero-Two eyed her darling's metal visor through Strelizia's amber eyes, placing a slender white hand over her breast as if to steady her metal heart. The FranXX's grip tightened over Ave Rubrum's giant Adamantine fist, drawing his glowing gaze to her.

When their simulacrum eyes met. There were no words. Only a passing of reassurance through their Communion.

Genista's cannon fired a magma shell, missing the charging Klaxosaur by a mile when it skipped aside. Grunting in frustration, Futoshi hammered the trigger twice more. Both shots missing completely as its skittering legs carried the Klaxosaur ever closer.

"Hold still!" He hissed, snapping off another shot that the monster again simply sidestepped.

"Calm down, watch its legs." Casten's deep voice transmitted through the vox, he sounded calm amidst a full battle. "Do not aim where it is; drive it to where you want it to be."

Genista's eyes widened at the sound of the Imperial Knight's voice. Though she had no time to question him; only follow. Futoshi stared down the target reticle on Genista's monitor, Kokoro raising Genista's cannon once more. Almost immediately the Klaxosaur's needle-like legs shifted in anticipation of another shot.

"Now!" Genista yelled, flicking the barrel sideways and landing the shot directly into the Klaxosaur.

Looking over to the motionless Ave Rubrum looking on in the distance, Genista nodded her thanks. Ave Rubrum nodded back. Casten didn't really think that warranted thanks. He was merely regurgitating what lessons he had learned in the past.

"Behind you!"

Chlorophytum's warning was followed by the FranXX herself stabbing down into a Klaxosaur that had gotten close to Genista.

It dodged the magma blades, skittering away as she pursued. Argentea joined the hunt, trying to get behind their prey. Problem being neither bothered to tell the other that they were going after the same target. When both machines lunged for the kill; they ended up doing little more than crashing into each other when the Xeno dodged once again.

"What the heck are you doing!?" Mitsuru yelled.

"Me!?" The other Stamen countered. "You're the one that put too much into that attack!"

The two downed machines continued to bicker, both too distracted to notice that Genista had come under attack. Pinned from both sides by a pair of the Conrads. A third rushed up, midsection splitting into a wide mouth with the FranXX's head aimed squarely it's the blue maw. Genista's panicked yelp went unheard by Argentea and Chlorophytum, still trying to regain their balance.

Just as it was about to close its jaws on her. An echoing blast and a flash of white blinded her. Kokoro could feel feel a wave of heat wash over Genista's metal skin even as her eyes were squeezed shut by the white light. When she opened them; she found the Conrad that was about to crush her completely missing its top half. Left only as molten mass of black biometal and oozing blue blood.

The bisected legs swayed in the air before toppling over. Genista looked to Ave Rubrum, his Thermal Cannon's barrel still smoking. She was about to yell for him to get the other two Conrads off her when she Delphinium suddenly rushed into the scene. Twisting in the air before driving het two magma blades into one of them.

The other Klaxosaur let of and made a break for the Plantations. Seeing as though it now stood no chance.

Helping her teammate up; Delphinium jerked her head towards the fleeing Conrad. "Zorome, bait them without getting too close. You have the speed."

"You don't have to tell me!" He yelled back, Argentea already taking off after her target.

She looked to Chlorophytum next. "You stay close to Genista and keep them away from her while she supports us at range."

Zero-Nine-Zero's FranXX stabbed into the core of a downed Conrad. The field was cleared for now. The first wave made all but been taken care of on their end. Their lines and formed up with the remaining Imperial Knights. They plodded up to the FranXX all battered and damaged. Much more so than the FranXX.

For the first time, Squad #26 met the Imperial superheavies up close. They were stark opposites of the FranXX units. Heavy, plodding steps instead of thruster-assisted strides, massive, strong armour, shields, cannons and melee weapons made to inflict terrible damage head on instead of flanking.

The things they both parties had in common was the same coat of blue blood that marred their paintwork and their exhaustion. That was enough for them.

"Well met... Children." Baron Nathaniel's booming vox-speaker greeted them.

The members of the FranXX squad flinched at the volume. Are all Imperials Knights this loud?

"Y-yeah, thanks?" Zero-Nine-Zero replied.

"That… was a... sporting run!" Dismas breathlessly interjected, amusement tinging his tone.

The loud boom of Reynauld's Battle Cannon and a wet crunch punctuated him finishing off the last of the Conrads. "Hah! I still killed more."

Left speechless at the exchange, the parasites looked to each other. The Imperials were treating this as a sport. A competition almost. The complete opposite of their usual unfeeling efficiency. The Imperials fight with fanatical passion and fervent and deafening praises to their 'God-Emperor' with promises of victory, martyrdom and glory.

"Focus!" The Baron's voice boomed once more, snapping them back into focus. "The second wave of Xenos filth comes. How able are we?"

One of the Armiger-Warglaives stepped forwards. "We have lost Redrick and Atea. The rest of us are at thirty percent Melta fuel."

"Ammunition low here as well Baron." Dismas's reaper chainsword motioned in a gesture to Reynauld, who's armoured head nodded in confirmation.

The old man frowned within his cockpit three of their five Armigers remained. That wasn't good. "Armigers, spare what fuel you think you can from your Plasma reactors to your Melta weapons. Paladins, fire sparingly and only at the ones we know you can kill in as few shots as possible."

His Knight armour turned to face the FranXX of Squad #26. "What of you lot?"

Zero-Nine-Zero glanced at the holographic display gauges and radioed his reply; tone hushed and downtrodden. "Magma energy cells for our spears are still good; but all of us are running on quarter fuel."

Simulacrum eyes shifted over to their a lake of blue and metallic black in the distance. A giant horned black cube like a mountain island at its center. Slowly, the faux alien landmass moved towards them.

"Make ready. They come again."

The Baron considered their situation. Not enough ammunition to whittle down the Xenos. Not enough fuel to last much longer. House Caelum had taken casualties and damage to their armoured suits; he felt his own right arm strain and ache. Raising the Thunderstrike Gauntlet; he saw dirty orange sparks erupt from the servo-joints from under the battered and dented plating. The power field crackling and flickering every so often.

He looked back to Casten and the Abhuman standing off in the distance. Both of their cockpits were open. Perhaps thinking that the battle would conclude before they even got to engage. He was about to shatter that illusion, a moment of laxity brings a lifetime of heresy.

"Freeblade!" Nathaniel voxed.

Following Zero-Two, who was the first the leave her machine's cradle to stretch. Casten too disconnected from Ave Rubrum, seeing as though the battle seemed to be moving ever further away from their second line. Disappointing, for them both.

"Freeblade!" He hissed when the shrill screech of vox-corruption from the Baron's shouting blasted from his helmet's vox.

"Receiving Baron," He replied, biting back the urge to remind the century-old veteran that he wasn't deaf.

Uncaring of his earlier volume, Baron Nathaniel continued gruffly. " We have not won the day yet boy, don your armour and be prepared. For if we fail to stop the bio-titan in the next attack. Your rabble have to engage. The God-Emperor abhors failure."

"I know that full well Baron," Casten grumbled.

He looked to his partner, standing upon the open faceplate of Strelizia. She stared back for a moment before giving him a wide grin. Casten found himself smiling back. Her eagerness was infectious. Spreading in his chest even as she skipped into her own cockpit with a flourish of her long pink hair.

"One chance." Zero-Nine-Zero's words through the vox seemed to echo in the mind of all the defenders.

The human line stood in a mixed formation. Spread out along a line, Knight Armigers of house Caelum flanking their liege lords taking the core. The FranXX standing behind the line of Imperial might. Each FranXX unit's thrusters purring in preparation to move the moment the Klaxosaur tide broke against adamantine Imperial bastion.

"We have one chance," the parasite continued, "we have enough fuel and magma energy for one more attack with our cables. Then we have to withdraw and Squad #13 will take our place."

One of the Armigers scoffed. "The Freeblade and his Abhuman lover too. Weak willed boy, nothing compared to us-"

The Armiger fell silent when Nathaniel's green Sensorium eyes glared directly at him. "You will be silent."

The Armiger walker visibly flinched at the admonishment. Struck into shock by his Baron; the century-old man continued. "Abhuman lover or not. He is your better, the trueborn of a noble house and worthy of piloting a Questoris-Errant."

The Parasites stood silent at the exchange. They saw the members of Squad #13 moving along their flanks, serving as a picket force to the smaller Klaxosaurs away. Their multicoloured machines contrasting heavily yet drawing no attention from the hoard at the moment.

For not it was simply a matter of counting the moments. A nervous, heavy air filling their lungs.

One of the FranXX pilots, a girl, spoke up to the Knight she was sheltering behind. "We'll be counting on you to give us some breathing room."

Reynauld's raised his Reaper chainsword across his armour's chest and lowered his head, almost in a praying motion. "By the Emperor and the memory of Avalus. You shall have it. But will your weapons work on the Xeno Bio-Titan?"

The question was left unanswered. The ground shook and rumbled; a wave of blue and black drew close. At first a dull throbbing; then a thunderous stampede. Knees joints bent down, thrusters whirred, weapon barrels pointed forwards, Magma lances flashed, and melee chain weapons hung low.

Baron Nathaniel's order bellowed through hs vox-speaker far above the volume of the rumble of stampeding alien feet. "For the Imperium! CLEANSE! PURGE! KILL!"

"KILL!" The other Knights echoed.

The thunder of titanic adamantium feet split the cracked earth with each stride. The two Questoris-Paladins fired shots from their Battle Cannons every few steps, trying to conserve ammo until their targeting Augers could guarantee killshots. The Armigers fired bursts of agitated molecules into the mass, melting away globules of black metal and burning their hated enemy's blue innards.

Human and Xeno lines met in a rampant collision of gold and blue as Ion shields flashed at the opposition. Ranged weapons held back for Reaper chainswords to cut swaths of across the Klaxosaurs. The Baron's Thunderstrike Gauntlet, damaged as it was, still crushing them into a ball within the massive fist. Klaxosaurs found their brethren turned into impromptu cannon balls sent smashing through their lines; their packed horde offered no chance at avoidance.

Roars of hate and fury, chants of prayers, litanies, filled the air fueling their fervor.

The FranXX following directly behind the Knights found themselves struggling. Not because the Imperial machines were fast. But because of their chaotic and often brutal way of fighting sent eviscerated Klaxosaur limbs and bodies flying or crushed underfoot. To the comparatively delicate FranXX that usually avoided getting hit at all; these turned into hazards.

Between weaving around the carnage Squad #26 still wreaked their own toll. Mainly helping the much smaller Imperial Armiger walkers. Magma-energy lances flashed and stabbed between the bulldozing lines of the Imperial Knights. They struck with precision, ensuring that each strike was a kill and finishing the maimed and crippled whose cores weren't destroyed.

Around the inert but still advancing Gutenberg; the Imperials formed a rough perimeter around the giant, keeping the smaller strains from reaching Squad #26 that started to circle it. One by one, they slid home fresh clips of magma energy home on their lances.

Keeping track of his squadmates, Zero-Nine-Zero waited till they were all in position before…

"Fire!"

Five reels of glowing amber cables shot from the lances, wrapping around the Gutenberg a few times. A burst of Magma-energy arced through them, screaming through it and turning the night darkness into a noon glow with the monster as the sun. Monster slowed, rumbling to a stop. The blue glow dimmed from the beast.

"It's working! Again!"

Their leader's order was met with another discharge of energy. This time they held their triggers down, pouring more of their fuel reserves into their weapons. The chinks in its armour grew.

As the energy petered out, the creature suddenly let loose a deafening metallic screech.

Squad #13 had only just managed to link up with the split up Knights of House Caelum. They ripped into the remaining Conrads with ruthless efficiency. Every machine now stained in blue ichor that dribbled down their chassis. Some of them were about to give mutual congratulations when that shrill sound filled the air.

"What's that sound!?" Goro hissed, covering his ears.

Through Delphinium, Ichigo started on at the unfolding events. "Wait... look!"

All eyes, local and Imperial stopped to stare at it. Like a horrifying puzzle coming undone. A monster emerged from the harmless black box. A pair of massive arms ending in block-like hooves connected to a broad, oversized torso. Black metal splintered and cracked to form a headless face topped in the same massive curved horns. Its expression fixed as an agonized wail set upon the creature's neon blue innards.

"Emperor damned xeno!" Dismas cursed, his fury mingling with the rising fear of the monsters transformation.

The creature smashed down onto the ground, sending an earthquake that was followed by a rising cloud of dust that engulfed them.

+ Plantation#13: Cerasus +
+ OCC +

The A.P.E staff twisted their faces into scowls and barely controlled panic. Amidst the flurry of reports and messages delivered to and fro of the status and proximity of the Klaxosaurs and their own units, two figures stood in eerie calm. The red robed scions of Mars stared at the monitor. Brigid and Marik's eyes and bionic lenses fixed on the sight.

"This is bad..." Hachi whispered.

"On the contrary." Magos Biologis Marik countered, drawing the commander's attention.

"This is a fascinating direction in the quest for knowledge. A Xeno sub-species that disguises itself as an inert and harmless target to lull prey into a false sense of security."

Brigid nodded servos hissing as metal fingers pinched her chin and her arm crossed under her bust. "Xenos study is hardly my expertise. However it seems unlikely such a creature evolved naturally."

Nana's alarmed gaze fixed on the two Tech-Priests. "This is hardly the time-!"

A sudden electronic beep from the large monitor cut her off. Nana glanced at map tracking the relative position of their forces. She noticed a pair of dots on the map rapidly closing to the Gutenberg.

Her eyes widened. "Those two-!"

+ Meanwhile +

Zero-Nine-Zero pulled hard on his joysticks, his FranXX skidding to a stop a just ahead of one of the Gutenberg's limbs. His squad followed his lead, two splitting off to the other side of the behemoth to get at its other flank. Their thrusters strained against the harsh use, fuel gauges going ignored. They needed to stop it.

"One more time!" He ordered his squad, each raising their weapons once more to fire their Magma cables.

Their blades, however, dug into thick armour just as it was raising the appendage, embedding themselves into the monster instead of wrapping around properly. They cried out in alarm as their cables became tethers, tossing them like leaves in the wind. When the fist came down, it sent the FranXX crashing into the unforgiving ground in sprays of debris.

"Guh..." Zero-Nine-Zero groaned.

He stood his FranXX unit up from being half-buried into the dirt. Wincing in pain, the squad leader glanced at his gauges. Severe structural damage to the frame, joints jarred, numerous sensors misaligned. A visible crack on her visor marred his display screen. At least she could move, albeit sluggishly.

A shadow in moving across the ground drew Zero-Nine-Zero's attention upwards. There, above the cloud of dust, the Gutenberg's massive metal stump of a foot came down, intent on crushing the impudent insect.

White hot panic was followed by the Parasite pulling back on his control sticks to activate her thrusters. He was met with silence, following an angry beep from his cockpit. A red message flashed across his HUD.

"No… fuel?" Zero-Nine-Zero's voice dropped to a murmur when he read out the machine's alert.

It was a mistake; he had spent the last of his magma-energy on the blast from his boosters. Using the last of his reserves and and leaving him none to retreat with. He looked up at the sole of the foot was descending, casting his FranXX into a shadow that promised death. He squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the crushing impact and his cockpit to cave in to crush his partner with him within a mangled coffin of metal.

"RRAAARRGGHH!" A vox-corrupted roar filled the air around him, followed what sounded like the crack of a thunderbolt.

The brief pain followed by the silence didn't come. He dared peek to find that he is in fact very much alive and not the afterlife, seeing that his unconscious partner still there; both of them still in the cockpit and very much alive.

Just ahead of his unit, the looming form of Baron Nathaniel's Knight Gallant stood hunched down before his FranXX. The Gutenberg's descending had been simply… bashed aside by the Imperial Thunderstrike Gauntlet. The monster looked down; it seemed almost astonished by the Knight deflecting its blow and opening a bleeding crater into its hooved fist.

The Baron would not be able to stop another blow. That last punch had finally done in the already damaged weapon. Now the servo-driven digits of the blessed weapon now refused to respond entirely. He lifted the appendage, every joint seemed to sparked a shower of dirty orange and hydraulic fluid streamed from the knuckles.

"Ngh!" Nathaniel grunted.

He looked to his arm, feeling the effects if Psycho-Stigmata from the damage on his human arm. Rather than the metal limb. The Baron saw his own bleeding knuckles transposed onto his armour. Green simulacrum optics stared up at the monster.

"T-thanks." The parasite managed.

They were not out of the woods yet, however. The Gutenberg let loose an earth-shaking roar of anger, rearing up to once again attempt to crush them.

"Do not thank me yet! Move!"

He hissed and spun back, hooking Zero-Nine-Zero's FranXX under his arm. The Knight leaned its considerable weight forwards, pitting its armoured weight to become momentum and speed. The FranXX, her fuel source depleted, hung from the knight's chansword casing as a lifeless ragdoll.

Zero-Nine-Zero and his partner were just barely able to move the FranXX's head to look around enough to see that ponderous Imperial walker had just managed to evade the stomp. A rolling wall of dust and sand rushing up from behind and enveloping their vision.

For a moment, everything was dark. He knew that the Baron was still moving from the shaking and swaying of his unit but the dust occluded everything in black and tan streak where searchlight beams from the plantations struck. As well as the neon blue glow of the Guntenberg's 'face'.

"House Caelum! Pull back!" Baron Nathaniel yelled over the vox.

Thankfully, the FranXX's communication system was tied to the non-magma based emergency power system and life support. "W-wait! The Gutenberg-!"

"Be silent. The Freeblade and the second line of your PDF machines will hold the line until our return." Nathaniel left no room for argument.

Zero-Nine-Zero held his tongue. Part of him was in awe at the prospect of an adult fighting alongside him. During the battle; he had kept his mind on the mission. But these Imperials, minus Casten, were adults that the other parasites and himself had only been distant to. Now that one was commanding him; it was difficult for him to even speak up.

The sound of a second set of plodding steps other than the Baron's machine brought his attention upwards. As the footsteps grew louder, a figure broke past the wall of dust and sand. Running at full tilt, Ave Rubrum's bulk tore past directly towards to Gutenberg. In the night sky above, a streak of Magma energy lanced overhead. Strelizia's pristine red and white form following her partner's.

Casten gave a mental command to his vox, filtering out the jumble of warnings, reports, and other vox-messages from the other units save those sent to him specifically. He needed to concentrate on the sacred rites of operation for Ave Rubrum. Not even mentioning the as yet unaccustomed sensations he received from his Communion with Strelizia.

Ave Rubrum let loose two further shots from his Thermal Cannon, searing white-hot bolts of agitated molecules crashing into the Gutenberg's upper body, eliciting roars of pain from the creature. The Freeblade kept his fire, releasing shot after shot into the rough upper body section of the Xeno beast. Each impact left a crater of glowing, molten metal upon it, clearly, it could feel pain, good.

The beast, having enough of the little Knight blowing searing craters into its steely flesh, turned towards him and bellowed in rage. Lacking a proper head and eyes, yet for some reason in the Freeblades' gut; he could tell it able to see him. It's ram of an upper body turned towards the irksome Knight. Predictable.

Instead of dodging or trying to get out of the shadow of the descending blow, the Knight stood in place, looking up. Casten grinned inside Ave Rubrum's cockpit.

"Now!"

As soon as the vox message was yelled, a streak of glowing orange shot past through the air. Sinking into the monster's glowing blue flesh, in the opening that joined its 'face' to the rest of the body's black armour. Strelizia's magma energy lance. She stood on the ground below, holding the umbilical cable that attached her to her lance. A grin flashed to life on her sharp features.

For a moment the beast seemed to groan in confusion. A flash of amber and spontaneous ejection of Magma energy into the area exploded outwards. It reared back from shock or the force. A pained groan escaping it when it used its stumps for hands to steady itself.

Ave Rubrum made haste, he curled his armour's fist, and ran up to the Xeno's limb rearing the back mid-stride. He willed the force weapon's field to its highest possible output. A storm of crackling energy burst to life around the mechanical lim of the disruptor field. Humming with power, the ionized fist trailed sparks and ozone with the Knight's path.

"FALL!" The Freeblade yelled.

Upon reaching the base of the xeno's limb, momentum in the charge turned to energy. For the briefest moment an ethereal storm flashed to life at that small point in the desert, followed immediately after by the crack of thunder. The Thunderstrike Gauntlet functioned just as the namesake of the weapon suggested.

The limb buckled and bent. Metal groaned and shrieked in protest; the impact of the power weapon leaving a massive indent in the limb, the entire thing had become bent over inwards like a metal bar having been deformed by a sledgehammer. On the other side, an explosion of blue ichor suddenly painted the dried earth when the creature's ruptured fluid within ruptured its metallic skin.

The creature roared in agony once more, it swayed, unable to keep its massive bulk steady. Like a suspension bridge that had its cables cut, the Klaxosaur swayed in the air for a few long moment before it fell backwards from its own weight.

"Look out!" Ichigo's voice came over the vox channel.

The entire battlefield shook from the impact. Splintering some parts of the already fractured landscape. Yet more dust filled the air.

"Darling!" Zero-Two's voice filtered over the din of battle.

She reached out through their Communion. Pushing for Ave Rubrum to climb onto the beast. Even as the Gutenberg was recovering; the Imperial superheavy had already reached the monster's face. Thunderstrike Gauntlet raised high into the air.

A thousand whispers echoed into his mind at once. Ave Rubrum's blessed machine spirit bombarding him with information, warnings on how the surface he stood on was uneven and moving, how his position was off, how his angle of attack was constantly shifting. Even the status of his weapon as the disruptor field activated.

The fist came down in another brief storm of energy flashed in the night once more. Energies crackling sent down upon the Klaxosaur's chest smashed another crater into it, forcing it back down in wave of crackling energies. Again and again, Just as the monster tried to get up; another blow fell from the Thunderstrike. Though it kept it down, in the rest of endurance, Casten didn't like his odds.

"Zero-Two!" The Freeblade Knight cocked his mechanical fist back once more.

Up above, the FranXX hovering in the air grinned, drawing he magma lance back. "Die!"

With a blast from her thrusters, Strelizia dived down lance first. She seemed to drill into the Klaxosaur's body, disappearing into it with a gush of blue alien blood. The creature writhed in agony; the FranXX stabbing and tearing through its entrails. Yet where she was tormenting it from within, her partner kept it down from without.

Even with their efforts, the beast was regenerating just as fast as they could damage it. Ave Rubrum remained focused, landing blow after blow into its abominable face. Strelizia's path ripping through the Gutenberg was punctuated by fountains of its blood exploding outwards from within.

Grunting in frustration, Casten could feel the strain from expending power to the gauntlet's disruptor field and the repeated blows wearing him and his machine down. Fighting to keep his vision from blurring to keep focused on his Communion with Zero-Two, the operation of Ave Rubrum, and the intricate operation of the unfamiliar power weapon that was now his arm.

He didn't notice the Gutenberg's arm raising until a sudden impact ram into his side.

At first a shock came through the frame that translated to his person, a flare of being hit like he imagined what an Ork Roc would be if it rammed right into person. This was followed by a ringing in his ears, numbness to every sensation, followed by weightlessness and nausea.

His world was uppened, before he realized he was actually flying.

Three hundred tonnes of Imperial walker sailed violently through the air.

The Imperial Knight landed with all the grace of a screaming Valkyrie with its wings shredded by heretic anti-air cannons. The momentum from the Bio-Titan swatting him aside sent him tearing through with enough force to dig a trench several meters long through the rough ground.

Pain blossomed throughout his entire left side, worse he could not feel anything through the left hemisphere of his body, such was the gravity of the enormous blow. Psycho-Stigmata wracked his body, feeling Ave Rubrum's damage as his own pain.

"Darling!" Strelizia cried in alarm, bursting out amidst a cascade of the Bio-Titan's blood from her exit.

She put an arm around the Imperial machine's back, helping Ave Rubrum up with some effort as it it shuddered with an intimidating creaks, until they kill the xeno, they cannot inspect the full damage to Ave Rubrum's frame. Their Communion was an empathetic connection by nature, so she couldn't feel his Psycho-Stigmata. However, Zero-Two knew her darling could feel the pain in relation to the damage just like how she could feel Strelizia's. His posture alone was off as his right side was distributing weight to counterbalance the damage done to the left.

"I'm alright." He said, thankfully the Ion shield had spared Ave Rubrum from the worst of the damage. If it didnt he was certain that his soul was about to make a fast travel to the Emperor on Terra. "Did you find the core?"

No sooner had he said that, a shadow loomed overhead. Glowing red optics and amber eyes stared up at the rising Klaxosaur. It turned once it had risen to its full height. Blue gaze falling hungrily upon the Plantations full of its sustenance.

"Tch!" She hissed. "It's core's buried deep. Can't get through just with one blow."

Looking up at the Warlord-sized Bio-Titan, the Knight looked back down at his Thunderstrike Gauntlet. He flexed the servo fingers before clamping them into a fist and activating the disruptor field once again. It flashed to life instantly, the machine spirit within registered superficial damage but otherwise fully functional.

Though the Xeno was likewise unharmed.

Ave Rubrum nodded. "I assumed as much. No matter, Emperor be our witness, we'll make that Xenos Titan fall."

She grinned. She loved that about her darling. She heard no fear in his voice; unlike the weakling parasites. "Let's go darling!"

The Gutenberg drew ever closer to the Plantations, Making a beeline to the massive pipe connecting the two plantations its wounds long regenerated, with the core intact, no amount of damage would keep the beast down.

From above, Strelizia weaved through sporadic fire from the Conrads below and stabbed into its headless face, tearing gauges into its metal flesh. From below, Ave Rubrum ran along the ground. Though woefully clunky compared to any FranXX; was more than fast enough to keep pace with the colossal creature. He fired his Thermal Cannon, targeting auguries focused his fire at the freshly opened wounds from his partner's sweeping strikes but flash .

Its roar trembled the air like thunder. It stared down at the Imperial Knight, raising a colossal arm across the front of its body. Ave Rubrum's Anima flashed Casten a warning message across his vision in angry red runes of the incoming attack. The Freeblade adjusted his course in the last moment, leaning his weight to the side and pulling Ave Rubrum's limbs back.

Forced to lean back, Casten felt the rush of air so massive from the passing fist that the air pressure alone would have killed a man thrice over, dragging across his vision, sparks dancing in the air as the friction from Freeblade's adamantine visor grinded against the Xeno's metallic hide. Casten felt the heat across his own cheek burn at the friction. He ignored the minor pain, pushing his weight forwards once more whilst the Gutenberg was pulling its arm back.

The operator gritting his teeth came across as a mechanical ratchet from Ave Rubrum's head. Drawing his fist back once more and activating the Thunderstrike Gauntlet's disruptor field. The subsequent punch landed on the exposed lower body sent a ripple of violent energy lancing through the monster. The impact did slow the Klaxosaur, forcing it down sideways. Though this time it managed to use its other arm to stop itself from falling over completely.

No matter. In a flash of white, Strelizia shot into the Gutenberg. She disappeared into the Gutenberg's side with a blast from her engines and an explosion of blue blood.

Ave Rubrum looked on at the Bio-Titan as the FranXX tore into it from within. From their communion, Casten could tell. She was moving in serpentine inside its body, triggering explosions at random intervals. The beast contorted and spasmed with each internal attack, groaning in pain if these Xenos even register such things as pain. Zero-Two was running out of patience, he could feel her frustration in the search for the Gutenberg's core even as she broke out of the beast before it's regeneration trapped her inside.

Casten saw her escape, relieved, but her assault was for naught, the monster immediately repairing the damage; the core was still intact. Frustration hissing through his teeth, raising Ave Rubrum's Thermal Cannon once more. Without scoring the killing blow; the most they could do was slow the Gutenberg down.

+ Plantation #13 :Cerasus +

+ OCC+

"Gutenberg-class at seven kilometers and closing!" A woman called, monitoring the events from her sensorium station.

A man at his own station was next to report. "Squad #26 fuel depleted! No casualties! Imperial Knights with them have lost two Armigers! They report that they can't engage!"

"Squad #13 is heavily engaged! No casualties! But they can't assist Ave Rubrum and Strelizia!" Yet another staff member reported.

Nana felt a headache coming on, both from trying to process the barrage of information from the A.P.E staff and the pressure from their dire situation. She tore her eyes from the large screen to look at Hachi. The Plantation's commander was still standing with his arms crossed, the barest hint of a scowl on his normally impassive features.

Her gaze then landed on the two red-robed individuals standing beside each other. If Hachi was hard to read, these two were just as robotic as they looked. Magos Biologis Marik was entirely hidden under his cloak. The tall figure's only discernible facial features being the shifting bionic lenses that served as his eyes.

The other Tech-Priest, or was she called a Sacristan? She was just as emotive; even her mostly human face did not to shift in response to the unfolding events. Brigid's metal arms were still folded behind her back. Unconcerned as her compatriot of the oncoming Bio-Titan that spelled imminent death.

"I've witnessed your static defenses before. Can they not be activated?" The Sacristan suddenly asked.

"No." Hachi's firm voice answered. "The damage from the Mohorovic attack tore most of the cannons off their mounts and damaged the rest.."

Marik interjected then. "That was three days ago." His vox-augmented voice made clear the astonishment and disappointment in his words.

Hachi didn't answer, simply staring at the Magos.

"You should have Servitors in your work crews. Mechanicus crews would have had them replaced and repaired approximately..." Marik took a moment to think; as a Magos biologis the field was not in his realm of expertise. "...twenty six point four hours ago."

"Five kilometers! Gutenberg is about to enter critical point!" The sensorium woman called once more, cutting off the whatever response Hachi was about to give.

Nana clicked her tongue. Was this the end? Regardless, she had to follow A.P.E regulation. "Order a full evacuation! Abandon sections North 1 through 7 evacuate to the western transports!"

"Belay that." Brigid's cool metallic voice forced her to pause in shock. The first time someone had questioned her orders directly.

The caretaker glared the Sacristan. "Excuse me?"

Seeming to ignore her, the blonde scion of Mars activated her vox-link. What came from the woman next was nothing any outside the Cult Mechanicus could understand without their implants. A string of electronic screeching beeps and chirps escaped her grill-like mouthpiece. Some of the A.P.E staff members even glanced in her direction.

This was Lingua Technis. The sacred binary language of the Omnissiah's faithful.

"What was that?" Hachi asked.

Ignoring her once more, Brigid issued yet another demand. Or rather, a flat out order. "Tell your PDF squads to clear the a three kilometer distance from the Bio-Titan."

Nana scowled. "Why exactly?"

"We are executing Strategem Infernis." Brigid's reply revealed nothing helpful.

"We're detecting a small unknown signal! Five hundred meters! Putting on screen now!" The sensorium operator spoke again, ignorant of the mounting tension.

The pict screen shifted. A small window opened in the corner transposed over the main tactical map. At first, nothing. Only the empty desert and the Gutenberg's slowly approaching silhouette battling in the distant background. Suddenly, the cracked earth rumbled, cracks spider webbing across its surface.

A metallic construct broke from the barren landscape. A barrel-like body of rust red and marked on each side with the cog and skull of the Adeptus Mechanicum. It was lined with four caterpillar tracks in and X-shape. The most prominent part of the construct was the head of it. Tipped in various circular drills and roller clustered around a central conical drill all supported by an array of still-smoking Melta-cutters and Phase shield generators.

After a moment of silence, one of four hatches in the thing's hull hissed open. A number of figures in robes of gunmetal grey and lined in rust red climbed out. Bearing the domed helmets and prominent bionic augments of the Skitarii.

"What. Is. That?" Nana grit her teeth, pointing towards the image.

The two women glared at one another. Nana looked to be ready to tear out the Sacristan's throat. Brigid seem to be prepared to use her blessed augments to end the annoyance she felt was Nana. No doubt frustrated that the local was daring to heckle her like a child yet made no plans of her own in the event of potential disaster. Sensing this, Marik spoke to break the tension.

His artificially deep electronic voice broke the stalemate. "Skitarii Alpha, G-1-D, of squad Gamma is reporting that we are ready with all charges set."

"Charges?" Nana asked Marik, the Magos simply gestured to Brigid.

Brigid stared at her compatriot. He could very well have spoken in Lingua Technis between them. She relented. There was no point in keeping silent about the nature of their strategem. Infernis was too far along at this point to stop anyways.

"Our contingency. Our Logic engines calculated that the Warlord-sized Bio-Titan would break through both lines with a 78.2 percent probability." Brigid's explanation earned a shocked stare from Nana.

Nevertheless, the Sacristan continued. "It would usually take a varied force of one Baronial court to take town an enemy god-machine of the smallest Warhound scout Titan class, let alone a Warlord. Whilst this enemy is fortunately lacking in firepower compared to one of ours; its size alone would warrant at least two full Baronial courts of five Imperial Knights. Those we cannot spare."

"But our parasites-" Nana was silenced by a raised hand from Brigid.

"We are not discounting your PDF forces. We simply are not aware of their full capabilities beyond what little I have seen. Thus were treated the situation as if it were one of our own forge-cities under assault from a single large force with our own forces unable to halt it."

Nana pinched her chin, calmed down now that Brigid had explained her reasoning. It made sense, she was monitoring the Imperials as much as they were gauging A.P.E. Which would explain why the Knights of House Caelum seemed to know and come up with a pattern of attack that supported the FranXX of Squad #26 without prior experience. Someone, Casten probably, had briefed the Knights of Caelum of their way of fighting.

"So," she raised her gaze to face the two tech-priests. "Why the charges?"

Marik shrugged. "What any defender under imminent assault would do. We set a trap."

Hachi and Nana looked to each other in stunned shock as the realization hit them. Immediately, the pair began barking orders to the A.P.E staff. "Order all units back! Maintain three kilometer minimum safe distance from the Gutenberg!"

Brigid, unfazed by the panic unfolding thoughout the OCC, issued a mental command to activate her vox implant. "Sir Casten. Retreat to minimal safe distance. Strategem Infernis is now underway."

+ Outside Plantation #13 and #26 +

The Freeblade's heavy steps echoed behind the jetwash of his partner's wake. He kept his attention on the red circle that radiated from a point on the topographic map in the corner of his visual display.

"All units, fall back to minimum safe distance indicated upon your maps. My Sacristan has sent a data packet to your machines. Make haste." Casten voxed, willing Ave Rubrum to his command.

Zoromo's voice filtered over the vox. "Hey! What do you-"

He knew some of the parasites, Zorome in particular, would object or question him. He closed the vox-channel; the Freeblade hadn't the time to explain himself or argue with them.

"Zero-Two. Pull back."

Casten's voice brought the pinkette out of her focus. Strelizia hovered in place, dripping in blue ichor as she raised a brow, confused at such turn of events, but followed her darlings' lead regardless.

One by one, both forces turned about, Imperial forces and Franxx retreated outside of the designated zone for whatever was planned. The last Armiger was confirmed to exit the radius.

"We're clear, commence stratagem." Casten voxed his Sacristan, not bothering to deactivate his external vox speaker.

The cacophony of adamantine footpads with silenced weapons spoke like an omen to an awaiting prelude. He turned about to face the direction of the Xenos Bio-Titan, watching for what was to come,hunkering and kneeling his already hunched profile even lower.

Zero-Two landed next to the kneeling following his odd behavior thus, decided to ask what were they doing running away from the battle he had been so eager for. "Darling?"

"Zero-Two," the knight did not meet her gaze, instead the glowing crimson lenses moved on his enemy. "Brace!"

The first came like a muted roaring wave, hunched down, the Imperial Walker wavered, but held steady by his wide frame, Strelitzia upon her heeled feet practically fell unceremoniously on her bottom when the first detonation rocked the landscape. Ave Rubrum reached back and held her in his massive mechanical palm, stopping her from being blown away.

"Wh-Whats happening?!" Miku's distortion through the comms was evident by the trembling of the ground beneath their feet, all the Franxx present, with the exception of Genista, kneeled or were similarly floored like Zero-Two, as the ground beneath betrayed their footing, none more evidently so than the Gutenberg itself.

The first cascade in a ten part detonation sequence rumbled the battlefield, as if the planet itself was moaning in agony from its wounds, the Guttenberg's own size and weight began its own undoing, when its feet began to sink. Its legs gradually being swallowed as the land began to weaken and crack like an egg.

The second was the beginning of its death knell, when another explosion muted like the first, but no less devastating rumbled with a muzzled roar the planet splintering shattering from the glassing of the first superheated explosion, whether by the grace of the Emperor, or superior calculus of the Admech's design, the Guttenberg's looming form began to slowly topple like a mighty timber chopped down from its stump.

From the Knights of House Caelum that had retreated earlier to resupply war horns blared and their servants of menials, Sacristans, and Adepts cheered. Shouts in the Emperor and Omnissiah's name were sang and rung, as they watched the awe inspiring sight of the colosi being brought to its back like all Xenos should be. Their cries thundered even in the ensuing sandstorm caused by the backwash of its fall.

The Gutenberg was in all intents and purpose, stuck in a crater. Such a situation while humiliating in the eyes of mortals, meant very little the what which lacked any sense of pride or sentience, as it used its boneless appendages and attempted to rise from its entrapment.

Sadly for the xeno, it had eight more gifts of the Omnissiah to bless upon his enemy.

Where the trap, fulfilled its design to immobilize, the last eight was more straightforward in that it meant to make sure that the xeno knew exactly what it was in for.

A third explosion in its ring of fire, blasted the melta charges, into its fiery embrace, the heat suffocating, choking anyone without a breather in the immediate vicinity. Then another, and another, and another…

With every sequence, it was an awe inspiring sight, where with every explosion blue matter began to mix into the infernal spire in a hue of purple. It was a series of combustion, that towered even the Gutenberg itself, it scorched the land, and could been seen far and wide where night turned intermittently to day with every blast. The klaxosaur screeching its xeno namesake with every detonation as it receives the burning kiss of the Emperor's fury with force and flame. Until finally the tenth explosion brought it all to a silent halt.

For the FranXX and the Plantation, it was a sight that cemented how the Imperials waged their wars; unforgiving, no mercy, nothing is too much. For the Imperials, it was a job well done, but they are far from finished.

"Is-it over?" Kokoro spoke over the comms, wondering if it was finally over with that much ordinance used in that death trap.

Zorome couldn't agree more with Kokoro's line of thought. "Yeah, that was nuts it must be dead by now!"

"It's not dead." Ave Rubrum's external vox announced loudly and clear even through the crackling ash and residual heat in the air.. "My augers still detect movement from within. The Xenos is trying to heal. We shall not let it so."

The walker rose to his feet. "Begin stage two."

+ Mechanicus Outpost +
+ Nu-Kappa #023 +

Datasmith D-33 stared out at the distant Bio-Titan as it fell into a pathetically simple trap. The half-constructed outpost behind him along with his cohort of three Thanatar siege-automata. The blessed war machines of the Omnissiah. Twenty foot tall hulking constructs that had accompanied him in service to the Legio Cybernetica for over two centuries of war.

They stood as statues bristling with the implements of war. Each three fingered mechanical fist housed a Graviton ram. Their right gauntlets mounted with a twin-linked Mauler Bolt-Cannon. Their most powerful weapon, however, was built directly into their frames. A weapon that took so much space that the sensorium dome that served as the robot's head had to be mounted off centre to the Thanatar's chest, the Hellex Plasma mortar.

His was not the only cohort of the Legio Cybernetica dispatched, there were two others; all with Thanatars. Nine of the robots in total. He was the most senior of the three present Datasmiths; thus they deferred to him in command via their maniple interface.

"Second stage commence." The signal came in from the Freeblade's Sacristan. The very one they were told to assist.

To those unblessed by the Omnissiah, the message would be nothing more than an electronic burst of information in the binary code of Lingua Technis. Including their target coordinates and firing pattern. Direct impact plasma rather than airburst; unsurprising given the Xenos Bio-Titan.

D-33 willed the multiple mechadendrite tendrils from under his gunmetal grey cloak. Each bionic appendage tipped in a small pincer that gingerly held a doctrina wafer the automata needed to execute a new order. Slotting them into the hidden port under their heavily armoured chestplates. A string of binary droned from the datasmith's vocalizer; the incantation of the rites of activation.

The motionless statues moved then, spurred forth by the commands encoded within the doctrina wafers. They stomped into a perfect line with lockstep uniformity. All nine lowered themselves to a knee. Metal fingers braced against the ground as the servo motors attached to the Hellex Plasma mortars whirred and clicked; adjusting for every calculable factor in their firing solution. Wind speed, and direction, gravity, planetary rotation, humidity, every factor passing their processor within the blink of an eye.

Like flowers in bloom, the muzzle of each the mortar split into five metallic petals. Blue glow from the charging ball of plasma within their magnetic fields bathing the night in a ghostly glow. D-33 folded his arms behind his back as the robots within each cohort reported their charge percentage.

"Nu-02 charged." One of the datasmiths sent their message.

"Nu-03 charged." The other followed.

"Nu-01 charged." D-33 raised his mechanical hand towards their target. "All cohorts, fire."

+ Outside Plantation #13 and #26 +

Delphinium's white and light blue livery was coated in dust as she stood up, dirt cascading off her frame. "Ngh...Everyone alright!?" Ichigo asked.

She felt stiff. So intense was the display of Imperial ordinance; what she initially thought was sand, was actually a mix of ash and glass crystals seeping into Delphinium's exposed joints and bearings; she could move but, the sounds they were making at the slightest twitch did not bring comfort for her or Goro. All around her, the other FranXX of her squad were rising from being semi-buried as well.

Squad #13, had only barely gotten out of the blast radius. Ichigo ordered them to follow Casten's warning. He wasn't the type to turn from a fight without a good reason; she knew that much. The result was that they were caught up in the resulting shockwave and rain of dust and debris, though at least out of immediate danger.

"We're okay…" Miku murmured, shaking the white sandy ash marring the white and pink of Argentea..

"Same here." Mitsuru answered with Chlorophytum.

"What was that!? My ears are still ringing!" Zorome fumed, voice tinged with irritation.

Goro shrugged. "Mines. Probably what Casten was telling us to stay away from."

Noticing one of the squadmates hadn't responded, Ichigo turned to Genista. She seemed have been staring in the direction Klaxosaur the moment she had gotten up.

"Hey," Ichigo moved Delphinium to her friend's side. "You okay?"

Her magenta gaze unmoving, Genista raised a pointed finger. "I-its still alive!"

Ichigo's eyes widened as she looked toward the distant crater.. The Gutenberg was a mangled shell of its former self. Blue blood gushed from its ripped innards, turning the crater into a small lake of blue ichor its mass completely decimated into an unrecognizable mulch, one horn completely disintegrated with a portion of its headless features, while the other was barely in one piece with fragments still scattered among the flames of its purgation, its body pockmarked with micro-craters, and some of sections still in the process of burning where even its own blood was serving as fuel, halting its regenerative ability. Miraculously by its xeno design, it was still functional, raising a still yet burning fist into the air its mass groaning in protest, far too weakened to do anything meaningful.

"Wait…" Goro said. "What's that?"

Their eyes drew upwards; towards a neon blue glow in the sky. At first they resembled shooting stars. The problem being that shooting stars do not grow larger, nor do they move in a graceful arc with directed purpose. The orbs cast long shadows in their blue light as they fell towards the downed Klaxosaur.

Squad #13 watched in muted silence, following the glowing orbs' slow, arching path until they started to land into the crater. Like teardrops of searing heat; the balls of plasma exploded into miniature supernovas. In and around the crater, rock melted, sand blasted into glass. The Gutenberg's groans became wails of sheer agony as metallic black hide became molten slag and blue blood boiled under a constant barrage of artificial stars.

The children in all their lives have never seen shooting stars much less meteor showers unlike the voidborne Imperials, for them the beauty of looking up into the night sky was forever tainted with the knowledge that there are unseen horrors lurking beyond the material realm.

In their ignorance, there was a haunting beauty to see the stars they see in the sky weaponized to such brilliance effect, whatever form of defiance the Gutenberg attempted or even thought was reduced to nothing, as if the very heavens themselves are throwing their spite on the Klaxosaur with all their fervor.

Then the ground shook around the parasites. They looked behind them to find the marching Knights of House Caelum sallying out once more, leaving behind the servo-automata, Sacristan, and servitor that had been labouring to reload and refuel their masters' weapons. They didn't even acknowledge the presence of Squad #13. Some rudely shoving past, aside or around them. Squad #26 was amongst the ranks of the Questoris' and Armigers, seemingly following for lack of a better course of action.

"Praise be to the Emperor lads!" Baron Nathaniel's voice boomed across every vox-channel. "All units advance and fire!"

His Thunderstrike Gauntlet, though still damaged, still sparked with life; the Stormspear rocket pod upon the Knight Warden's carapace fired its payload. Flanking their Baron the other Imperial walkers blasted out their own punishment. They no longer needed to see what they were firing at. No auger or sensorium array that they had could penetrate the residual smoke and heat of the plasma bombardment anyways. However, that didn't matter so long as they knew where their target was.

Once more Battle Cannon, Thermal Spear, Meltagun, and Stormspear rocket pods fired at once. Drowning the night with sporadic light and deafening noise. Only this time the FranXX of Squad #26 were amongst them. Firing bursts from their comparatively diminutive autocannon-like weapons as well.

The Freeblade's Thermal Cannon blasted out as well. Agitated molecules hitting some target he could not see, however, Ave Rubrum's Anima whispered into Casten's mind. Each one registered as a hit upon a surface inside. Thus he kept firing, trusting in the machine spirit of his suit's whispers.

Strelizia followed her darling, as the muzzle flash of Ave Rubrum's continuous fire lit both of them aglow with each shot. She was, to the surprise of her peers, relaxed beatific even; her lance drawn over her shoulders in a carefree saunter. Like a maiden warrior on an evening patrol in a time long forgotten.

"Cease fire men!" The Barons command cut through the barrage. "There it is, our prize is within reach!"

By the time Squad #13 and Squad #26 reached the mouth of the crater to join near the Freeblade, it was an unbelievable sight to behold. It was like looking into the mouth of an active volcano, the giant Klaxosaur was reduced in both form and mass as it looks close to being a carcass, in the distance they could see the core pulsating. It was huge compared to the Mohorovic cores, but its light has dimmed significantly, is was a good sign for the best possible outcome that they could have wanted. It was exhausted. And it was dying.

"Intercepting the core my baron!" One of the knights next to him took the first step into the lip of the crater. Before roughly being grabbed and shoved back by the Baron's Gauntlet and tripping himself down by the slope.

"Have you no sense of chivalric honour lad!?" He turned his attention to Strelizia and the Freeblade next to her with a flourish expertly performed as if he were in actual person.

Nathaniel's coldness to the Freeblade and Abhuman had disappeared. Melted away like snow in the searing crucible of war. Battle lust, excitement and honour had taken root and an unspoken respect between warriors settled between them.

As if at a ballroom and giving a stagely bow to welcome a newly arrived couple to dance. "I do believe the honour should be reserved to the lady of the hour, wouldn't you say so Freeblade?"

Strelizia let loose a quiet chortle even through the crackling embers. The more she spent with these Imperials and her darling, the more they seem to grow on her.

They reveled in their fury, their spirits roaring in defiance, these were not the brain dead weaklings of APE. They rage and sorrow from the bottom of their hearts, yet they have a strength and passion that she has never seen growing up with the Plantations.

She's not naive as to think the Imperium darling belongs not to have their own secrets; but after being subjected to lies among more lies throughout her life it is strangely liberating to be among these people. People that wore their emotion on their armour in honest zeal and passion.

The Freeblade was flummoxed and caught off-guard before quickly recovering and returning the bow by folding his Thunderstrike against Ave Rubrum's torso, imitating the Baron to let Strelitzia through. "My thanks, Baron. I did make her a promise."

Within the secured confines of his control throne and communion, Casten could not help the rosy color that crossed his cheeks when Strelizia, ergo Zero-Two chortled loudy, her attempt at muffling her laughter futile.

Strelitzia returned with a curtsy to the century-old Baron, a strange theatrical move for a warmachine to perform. Yet performed so gracefully that none could really protest. "A reward for my darling for keeping his promise!"

Strelitzia leaned close to Ave Rubrum's cranium and gave an innocent peck on the Questoris' visor. Where she would assume his lips would be. Of course, both machines lacked those human features; even Strelizia's face was a mere projection onto an angled faceplate.

The effect, however, was immediate all the same, as his fluster was reflected not in the shade his face as the visor did not allow it, but by how the lenses were acting up in the shutters of his simulacrum eyes. Contracting and expanding, the glow in Ave Rubrum's lenses dimming and brightening sporadically before he forcefully reigned control of his armour.

The Knights of Caelum present hollered and laughed that both in praise and jest that the man was the blushing bride! Their ten thousand year rivalry with Zelius forgotten in good nature.

The parasites of both squads fell silent. Speechless at the exchange that seemed so unnatural to them given the circumstance. To the Imperials. This, in a way, was their exchange of celebration in combat.

Zero-Two was satisfied on putting her darling on the spot, and with a burst of thrust, she soared heavenward into the skies once more. Her heart singing, and wings grow and luminecst brightly, as she dove toward the core.

To all below. It looked as though she was a Saint of the Emperor clad in steel, aloft on wings of golden light from Strelizia. Streaking downwards to deliver merciless justice upon the Xenos.

Her lance stabbed into the core, no resistance and no fuss. With all the mess that came afterwards, the Gutenberg exploded in a shower of blue, from whatever places that mercifully survived, or regenerated, but with how much it lost, it was a short lived shower, as the knights from House Caelum hissed at the strange blue fluid painting their livery. The shower eventually reached the others present, and the domes of both Plantations.

Casten ignored the shower; as he has had the privilege of getting used to the Klaxosaurs queer form of demise. Perhaps part of him knew, as a Freeblade, his livery meant little to him. The young man could only smile in his cockpit as he saw Strelitzia waving in the distance. Her smile ever infectious even through the FranXX's simulated features. Ave Rubrum trudged to her, following his desire to be by her side.

Dawning light reflected off the two warmachines. Their forms highlighted and casting a long shadow over the battlefield.

Nathaniel watched lost in a sea of nostalgia and sadness as he witnessed the purity of such love radiating between the two. His heart ached for the love he lost, he gave her life so that he may live, may his son and the love of his life be forever with the Emperor…

"Do you mean to trust the abhuman, my Baron?" His aid in the armiger next to him, asking in an almost accusatory tone of his stance of such a union. "Her aid was welcome, if unprecedented, for certain. However, are her loyalties not with them?"

Nathaniel let it hang with his silence, to soak in the image of Ave Rubrum being smothered by the smaller Strelitzia "Nay, If the Freeblade has anything to say about it, she will make a fine servant of the Emperor."

+ Some hours later +

The air was thick in the aftermath of another battle well fought. The first rays of the system's sunlight cleansed their spirits, their hearts renewed in the faith and dream of mankind manifesting its destiny as the sole ruler of the galaxy as the Emperor demands.

The knights assembled in rough formations, their armor containing new tales to tell with every scorch, gauge, and cracks marred their carapace. Stories that would continue to be told and added to the banners of House Caelum so long as they continue to fight. The same could not be said for the two that lie beneath the hastily made tombstone; a single boulder where carved into the stone by fingers of still working Gauntlets now lie the weapons or remains of their fallen. For the loyal Sir Redrick's Armiger, only the Warglaive's half-molten chain cleaver remained. Whereas though Atea's armour was still salvageable; it's Anima would never be the same after this death. Redrick's weapon, now his grave marker, will face towards the sky where the Emperor's light will shine upon him evermore.

A heavy air settled over the Imperials as the Baron looked towards the grave for two of his own, his fellow Questor Imperialis standing around him. After his piece grief had settled within his chest, he turned his three hundred ton machine to his court, the Freeblade and his paramour.

All awaited for his word, even if the Freeblade did not answer to him, they are all knights regardless of house. All are loyal to the throne and the Immortal Emperor on Terra who sits upon it in his rulership their Imperium.

The sun's rays reached the point where it began illuminating the battered carapaces of the Imperial war machines, the sun gave a backdrop to the Baron's knight his shadow eclipsing his fellow Knights making him seem towering despite their similar patterns.

He cleared his throat, and without needing to see his fellows from within their armour; they listened.

"They may die, in the Emperor's name. We all may well die upon this world, but when we die-" he raised the volume of his vox and bellowed at the top of his lungs. "WE DIE IN SERVICE TO THE EMPEROR OF MANKIND!"

His bellow echoed in the horns and shouts from his knights, the energy so powerful it shook the ground and rumbled through the Plantation's shielding plates. Their zeal restored, their fury as mighty as the stars themselves, their fervor of their ancestors flowed through their body, in the machines, and if perhaps if they rage hard enough the Emperor himself would see them favorably all the way from Holy Terra!

Casten shared his sentiment reveling in House Caelum and their Baron's spirit, he was everything his grandfather said he was about Nathaniel Caelum rivals they be, his charisma is not to be in doubt. He was not shouting in celebration. Such was not the way of House Zelius; to him there was joy, but also the future trials in mind. However, he did reach up with his open Thunderstrike Gauntlet as if trying reach the skies themselves so that the Emperor can see him and their deeds.

Taking a deep breath, he noticed that Strelitzia did join in their moment of merry. He took the expression displayed in Strelizia's virtual features through Ave Rubrum's optics and noticed that she seemed distant. Sad. She noticed his worry, and shook her head to smile at the larger machine. Before Casten could voice his worry, a thought sent through their communion silenced it, their feelings conveyed more than the words needed as she put a hand on the elbow that joined to his Thermal-Cannon.

The cheers died down eventually, and all were satisfied to commit the memories of the fallen, it was time head back and await more battles that were to come. The knights and armiggers headed back to the Plantations, their backs facing the grave behind them.

The Baron was the last to go, but he was not alone as he stood before the curious pair. It was an interesting sight to Nathaniel's eyes.

"It is not needed to be said, but I will anyway. I expect to hear great things from you two should we meet again. Let us not be found wanting." Nathaniel said with appreciation, before he too marched back to the Plantation.

When the two were alone, to appreciate the first rays of the sun shining higher in the sky, Zero-Two spoke as the sun's' rays shined upon the couple.

"Ne, darling…" she started

"Yes…?" He returned through the vox receiver.

"Would your Emperor accept something like me?" She questioned him, sending a myriad of emotions she was sending through the empathic link of their communion. He could sense that in her sadness, there were surprisingly laced with envy in her inner thoughts.

Casten shook his head, a blend of amusement and relief, but not quite either of them.

"There are worse things out there Zero-Two, that are much, much worse than a few horns on your head." He answered with sardonic certainty.

The other forms of sanctioned Abhumans came to mind. Ogryns, as muscle bound, simple minded, and malformed as they were; still could crush a normal human with a wave of their massive hand. Ratlings: hairy footed sharpshooters with a tendency to steal. Psykers could be both a benefit and massive risk to any Imperial force. With a shake of Ave Rubrum's metal cranium, Casten snapped back into focus.

"But yes. Yes, the Emperor would. He has accepted far worse." Nodding with confidence, for the Emperor loves all of mankind.

"I'm glad" Zero-Two mused, wondering on how such a being could command such followers like her darling.

+ Plantation #13: Cerasus +
+ FranXX Garage +

The culling was done now, the remainder of the Conrad stragglers that were wounded that tried to flee became the prey; chased down by the faster moving FranXX squads. Like sharks with the scent of blood in the water. Triumphant, the defenders strode back to their home Plantations.

Home, and returning the FranxXX into their familiar alcove cages, the Parasites scrambled toward each other on the gantry overlooking their war machines, hugging, and cheering of their success. It wasn't until Goro noticed something was off as there was a party quite absent from their bays. The Imperials, and of course, including Ave Rubrum, along with Strelitzia, the only FranXX not within the others of her kind.

Everyone started to notice their fellow squad member's concerns as their celebration seemed awfully quiet, compared to the overbearing presence the Imperials exuded before the fight.

They waited, until five minutes have passed, they were beginning to get the idea that something was amiss.

Ichigo was the first to break before everyone started to question in circles about what the Imperials were doing. She went towards the first person within her periphery that was affiliated with their interstellar guests, there was not shortage of Imperial personnel and they don't exactly have subtlety in mind.

Sparsed around the cargo hold that served as the temporary bays for the Knights a number of Skitarii tech-guards in gunmetal robes grey and red inlay stood. Weapon staves and arc pistols held ready. Skull faced brass masks serving only to make them appear such as inhuman machines. Though that was perhaps the goal. They were grim as they were tall, their thick helmets depriving any sense that there might have been an actual person making them feel more machine than man.

Ichigo swore that they don't even look like they were actually breathing even as she gathered the courage to approach one. "E-excuse me, but where is everyone?"

At once. Every Skitarii's green lenses fell upon her, shocking her into silence. One of them, one with a horizontal brass crest in the shape of a quarter of a cog, spoke. "Query: who do you, refer to as 'everyone'?"

Ichigo sucked in a breath, holding back a frustrated moan that the more she seems to be around the Imperials, the more alien they seem to be despite their shared humanity. All the while hiding the fact that she was genuinely intimidated by their machine-men. She found herself swallowing when standing before the looming form of the Skitarii.

"The rest of you? The Imperials... Casten?"

The Skittari Alpha's gaze seemed to glaze over and the sound of soft muted clicking could be heard. The sound of a logic engine tied to manifold that linked him to his fellows throughout the Plantation. Not that the pistil knew that. To her, the corpse-like machine man was simply staring at her with unsettling green lenses.

After some more tense unease, the Alpha seemed to have found his answer. Addressing her with a slight uptilt in his helm to face the parasite fully. "Sigma- Seven and Delta-Nine report that the Knights of House Caelum are departing for outpost Nu-Kappa #23. Pistil Zero-Two and Freeblade Zelius are returning...now."

Almost as if read from a script heads tilted towards the massive doors as opened with a hydraulic hiss. The metal deck plates shook with the steps of the two Machines that strode through. Ave Rubrum's weighty stomps next to Strelizia's confident stride.

Both bore damage, nicks, scratches and streaks of blue blood still marring their colours. Yet they seemed to burst with pride. No wonder, they carried the day. The Skitarii moved to form their metallic digits into the interlocked teeth of the Cog Mechanicus in salute. Ave Rubrum nodded down at them before settling into his own larger alcove within the garage.

Sacristan Brigid had walked in at some point; unnoticed by the parasites. Followed by her retinue of work servitors towards the Imperial walker. Overhead, a pair of servo skulls floated, droning the Litany of Deactivation in both High Gothic and binary cant of Lingua Technis to soothe the combative machine spirit of the Questoris Errant.

Strelizia's cockpit hissed open first. Zero-Two emerged, unharmed, skipping onto the semicircular gangway extending around her FranXX's neck. Casten's hatch opened, the Throne Mechanicum raising out of the cockpit with a heavy hiss of pressurized air. He sat motionless for a moment before the data plugs that connected his MIU implant withdrew from his skull along with the umbilical cables.

He suffered more than his partner. Swaying slightly and doubling over on his seat. Twisting off his helmet before with a hand held on his forehead to soothe the recurring migraine from the separation from ancient mechanism. This would be a constant, he was told by Magos Biologis Marik, an effect of Ave Rubrum's Anima wishing his pilot remain and fight more.

Zero-Two went to him. As she always did. Helping the Knight stand up on his unsteady feet until the worst of the migraine passed.

"Hey! Good work out there!" Goro called, a smile on his face.

He was the first to step forwards, waving his arm above his head. Of all the parasites, Goro was the closest to the usually distant Imperial Knight and their relationship was mutual. Casten bowed slightly towards and waved back slowly.

Goro was joined in greeting by the other parasites, Ichigo, Ikuno, and Misturu were more restrained in their greeting of him, as Casten knew they would be. Even the members of Squad #26 welcomed him. Though theirs was more subdued than that of Squad #13. A few smiles and small waves sent their way as the pair descended on the lifting platform that carried pilots to their machines and back.

Zero-Two held his gauntleted hand, gaze impassive at the sight. Their Communion was stronger when connected to their war machines, however, Casten could still feel a ripple of mixed emotions from the pinkette. A complex swirl of callous dismissal, spite, and even contempt. He looked at her for a moment before letting it go for now. How she regarded the others was not for him to dictate.

The Freeblade and his partner finally met the gathered parasites midway at the FranXX. "Well fought." Casten nodded. "All of you."

He saw pride in each of Squad #13. Though Squad #26 took the praise in stride; though it seemed they weren't used to it coming from a person that isn't from A.P.E. Casten wasn't surprised by that fact.

"You too." Zero-Nine-Zero returned, extending a hand.

Instead of taking the hand, the Knight instead grabbed the leader of Squad #26's forearm. It was a handshake; though more in use by Knights. He felt that Zero-Nine-Zero earned that much. Upon letting go, he looked upon the simple pict monitor upon his wrist. Around it was worn a chrono, what some would call a wristwatch, realizing that his time was short. A silent exchange between the two passed. Both acutely aware that they might never see each other again. Such was the nature of war.

Casten pulled an arm forwards and grasped the Stamen's forearm, instead of shaking his hand."Fare thee well, and may the God-Emperor's light shine upon you and bring victory in the battles to come."

The Stamen offered an awkward smile, unsure how to respond. "You too, I guess. Don't die out there."

Casten was already walking away with Zero-Two. "In this galaxy, that is an impossible promise."

+ Later +

+ Plantation #13: Cerasus +
+ Barracks +

The climate simulacrum control officers met his request with puzzlement at first. They quickly conceded at the behest of the imposing presence of Magos Biologis Marik. Though the good Magos didn't help him out of any for of kindness. Even now the Freeblade spotted the telltale red lenses of the Magos Biologis' observation servo skull peek from between the trees. It was an excuse, granted, one made with good intentions. He had requested to watch them to study their behaviour.

Wearing her usual red uniform, Zero-Two smiled, raising her hands high into the projected sky. It was noon, yet the dark clouds were projected upon the simulacrum ecological dome made it seem more like evening. A flash of lightning arced through the artificial clouds, followed by rumbling thunder, and finally, rain. Falling from the skies in large drops that fell onto her skin and soaked her hair and clothing. The Pistil kicked at puddles that formed on the ground, jumping into them to splash cold water all around, giggling in a fit of childish glee.

Casten watched from behind her, his casual attire too getting wet. The Freeblade found himself smiling at the innocence of his partner. She had really never seen rain before; if her wonderment and awe at the spectacle was any indication. He didn't mind the wet. For him it was warmth enough to feel her happiness through their empathetic bond.

A cold splash of water broke him from his musings. Meeting him was Zero-Two's large teal eyes, features set in a mischievous, toothy grin on her features even as her long pink hair matted onto her face and obscured one of her eyes. She spun on her heel, locks of her pink hair whipping water all around.

Some might find it unbecoming of a noble Questor Imperialis to be playing in the rain like a child. He smiled. To him, however, it was an oath fulfilled.