Chapter 3: The Destroyer Cometh

08:45 hours, Antarctica, 3 kilometers from secret Raven outpost "Hell's Grave", inside cockpit of AC Halimaw

"At least those MTs are gone," thought the pilot. "I'm starting to run out of ammo..."

Then, he heard another ping on the radar.

Fate definitely had a strange sense of humor

"Oh well...," he muttered. "As long as it's the final one..."

With that hopeful statement in mind, he set his AC's thrusters to full burn, on a direct course with the most powerful opponent he would ever face.

His survival, however, was never set in stone.

08:47 hours, 5 kilometers from secret Raven outpost "Hell's Grave", inside cockpit of AC Black Dragon

"And here I thought this fool would actually be a challenge," spoke the Emperor, his half-tenor voice ringing clear throughout the cockpit. "Let's see how he likes his AC: rare or extra-crispy."

"Bro," spoke the comm. officer, "we have a problem."

"Now," replied the Emperor, "what would that problem be?"

"It's that AC," answered the comm. officer. "He still hasn't used the missile packs on the back. Maybe this battle was a bad idea..."

"Are you implying that I could actually lose this battle?" asked the Emperor, worried that his brother was losing faith in him.

"No," replied the comm. officer. "I'm just saying that facing him now may be a bad idea. The BDCs could fail, they could explode... We just don't know what could happen..."

"Then we'll just have to have faith, then," replied the Emperor.

Shifting his AC's boosters to full burn, he approached his opponent with such frightening celerity that the very ground surrounding his AC seemed to tremble with extreme trepidation.

08:51 hours, 6 kilometers from secret Raven outpost "Hell's Grave", inside cockpit of AC Halimaw

"I need a primary weapons scan on that AC, now!" ordered the pilot.

Twenty seconds later, a disembodied female voice boomed out of the 2 speakers at the front of the cockpit.

"Enemy AC is armed with several energy weapons," the voice spoke. "Unknown weapons are also detected, but are presumed to be antimatter-based weapons."

"Oh, crap," muttered the pilot. "Guess this battle is going to be harder than I thought..."

All surviving Ravens after the Internecine War were briefed by both sides about what new weapons they could face on the battlefield. They had covered almost everything...except for antimatter weaponry.

Antimatter was basically an AC's worst nightmare. It bypassed all types of shielding, had no defense that could counteract it, and disintegrated anything it touched.

This technology turned out to be developed by the Raven known as"Emperor," who then gave the idea and initial designs to Crest Industries, releasing it as the CR-06BDC, an incredibly powerful, yet unstable, weapon of mass AC destruction.

"I'm going to have to end this quickly, then," he thought. "With all the damage this baby suffered, I can't let even one laser blast hit."

"Enemy is at a distance of 2 kilometers and closing. Charging of antimatter weapon is also detected. Evasive maneuvers must be taken to prevent AC destruction," the AI spoke.

"Then it's time to end this," replied the pilot. "Activate the HYDRA missile pack and the relation missile extensions," he ordered the AI.

Outside the cockpit of AC Halimaw, the opposing AC had already charged the powerful antimatter cannon on its left back mount when it fired... straight on a collision course with the HYDRA missile pack.

Back inside, a monitor started to flash these words.

WARNING. WARNING. ANTIMATTER PROJECTILE INBOUND. EVASIVE ACTION IS MANDATORY.

"Oh, he's fast," spoke the pilot, "but let's see him deal with this. Lock-on established. Commence missile launch sequence."

A single flare then shot out of the AC's HYDRA missile pack, the relation missiles following suit.

And just in time as well, because the white antimatter laser beam was only 200 feet away... before it slammed into the HYDRA missile pack, subjecting the weapon to oblivion, then crashing into a nearby iceberg, resulting in a blinding flash of light emanating from the impact point, swelling bigger and bigger.

"What the hell?" he thought. "There's no way that this technology should--"

His train of thought was soon cut off by the powerful shockwave spreading from the ivory ball before imploding upon itself, vanishing into oblivion along with the iceberg, his missile pack, and his hopes of getting out alive.

Author's Note: Now that this chapter is finished, I better talk about the new weapon introduced in this chapter: antimatter-based weaponry.

Basically, antimatter is, by far, the most dangerous substance on the planet, yet it only comprises less than 1 percent of the universe.

A single droplet of it could power New York for an entire day at full spec.

However, there is a catch: antimatter is extremely unstable. It's even more unstable than most of the synthesized elements on the Periodic Table.

When it comes in contact with normal matter (i.e. air, lava, rocks, plastic, people), it begins annihilation, resulting in a massive release of energy, disintegrating anything unlucky enough to be close to it. The actual diameter of the blast depends on the amount exposed. Case in point: a single gram has the power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

Side effects of being near the blast (if you're lucky enough to not get pressed unto oblivion) include:

Severe concussion and heavy internal bleeding (shockwave effect)

Exposure to radiation (blast effect)

Temporary or permanent blindness (light from the blast)

Methods of producing it are very limited, however.