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CHAPTER 44

"Father!" Pyrrha yelled as Peleus shoved both her and Lex roughly away from him. The redheaded student let out a cry of shock and anger as Carnage charged the Senator, sending the man flying with a swing of his metallic fist. Peleus rolled along the ground, ignoring the pain lancing through his body to avoid the Lord's attempt to crush his head beneath a giant black foot. The Senator responded with by using his Semblance to create a shower of sharp icy fragments, throwing them against the Lord's skull-like face. Carnage reeled back slightly as his eye sockets were suddenly covered by Peleus' attack.

"Pyrrha! Take Lex and Cinder and run!" Peleus yelled. "I'll try to-"

"I won't leave you!" Pyrrha screamed, calling her weapon to her with her own Semblance. Both father and daughter froze in horror as the Lord cracked the ice covering his mask.

"Nobody will be leaving," Carnage rumbled. "Lord Agony requires that we tie up as many loose ends as possible before the Order departs from this world." Pyrrha flinched as the Lord' gaze fell upon her. "Hmm. Your daughter, Senator? I hope she will provide more of a challenge than her mother di-"

"Monster!" Pyrrha's expression contorted into one of utter rage, and the redheaded girl charged the Lord. Carnage attempted to swat the student away, but Pyrrha ducked under the swing by pushing his arm upwards with her Semblance, and lashed forward with her spear. In a flurry of blows, Pyrrha rapidly switched her weapon between its three forms. A pair of stabs left deep gashes in the Lord's black plating, followed by a series of lightning-fast swings, and punctuated by the weapon's entire magazine being emptied into Carnage's metallic head. Pyrrha continued her assault as the Lord simply stood calmly.

"Pyrrha, No! His armor is too thick!" Peleus said. "Get away from him!" The Senator's daughter stumbled as Carnage stomped his right foot into the ground hard enough to leave a small crater in the cement around them. Pyrrha raised her shield as Carnage followed through with a viscous swing of his arm, sending the girl skidding across the pavement. Quickly, Pyrrha rolled to her feet, discarding her shield, which had been reduced to a twisted and dented sheet of metal in a single blow. "Are you alright?"

"That armor is Polymetal," Pyrrha muttered heatedly, "the same material the EDC uses..."

"I thought that stuff wasn't magnetic," Cinder commented as she rifled through her bag.

"I can slightly manipulate the impurities in the metal," Pyrrha answered. "It might be enough for us to win." Ciner and Peleus nodded solemnly.

"If that-" Carnage's sentence was brought to a halt as a billowing blast of lightning and fire enveloped him. The Lord staggered to the side, looking for the source of the attack. Cinder stood off to the side of the group, a pair of large Dust crystals gripped tightly in her good hand. Carnage huffed, shaking a thin layer of soot off his body. Cinder's attack seemed to have scorched a good deal of paint off the Lord's armor. "If that's the best you can manage, you may as well lay down and die."

"If you think we're just going to surrender," Cinder winced as the broken bones in her right arm ground against each other, "then you're in for a big surprise." The dark-haired woman's eyes glowed with energy as she used her Semblance to harness the power in the Dust crystals.

"Right," Pyrrha affirmed, stepping in front of Peleus and Lex. "It doesn't matter what it takes, we'll find a way to defeat-" Carnage began to chuckle, breaking into a full laugh. It was an unnatural, grating sound, similar to that of a failing engine. Peleus was once again reminded that their opponent was barely Human.

"You all clearly do not understand your position," Carnage stated mirthfully. "You are all going to die here." Peleus suddenly became aware of more movement coming from the collapsed radio tower. Large Behemoth Shades were pulling themselves from the rubble, encircling the group of four. Cinder painfully jogged over to the others. She, Peleus, and Pyrrha stood with their backs facing each other, with Lex protected between them. The giant Shades growled and snarled, slowly closing in with heavy shuddering steps.

"Cinder," Peleus pleaded, "take Lex and run, please. We can hold them for a little while-"

"I don't think leaving you and your daughter to die and getting run down by these things is the best plan," Cinder countered, her eyes darting between the closest Behemoths.

"I hope you have a better course of action, then," Pyrrha commented softly, gripping her spear in two hands. The student flinched as a small hand pressed itself softly against her back. Lex was placing a reassuring hand on her, an unshakable smile on her face. "Lex?"

"It'll be okay," Lex grinned. "I can help beat up the bad guys."

"What?" Peleus said. "Lex, no. You aren't possibly strong enough to-" The Senator froze mid-sentence. Carnage visibly flinched as a wave of violet energy pulsed off of the little girl. Cinder and Pyrrha turned their heads as Lex's eyes shifted to a vivid purple, and embers of the same color began to drift in the air around her. A pair of tiny flaming wings sprouted from the girl's back.

"Don't worry, Mr. Peleus!" Lex smiled. "I may not be as strong as Daddy, but I can fight!"

"What?" Carnage growled. "The Terror brat!?" Lex suddenly slammed both of her hands into the ground, instantly sending cracks spreading out around her friends, with the exception of a small circle where they were standing. The Lord and Shades visibly tensed as the spiderweb of small fissures passed underneath their feet. For several moments there was silence. "Hmph. Was that all? I expected more from an Inheritor of-" The ground around them suddenly exploded in a violent display of violet flames and debris. Carnage found himself thrown back. The Behemoths roared and flailed as the tiny Bloodline's fire ate away at them. A large crater stood around Lex and her friends. The surrounding area seemed unnaturally clear, as Lex's blast had even moved large sections of the wreckage from the radio tower.

"D-don't th-think that... because... I'm... a kid..." Lex wobbled on her feet. Cinder dropped both of her Dust crystals and kept the small Bloodline's face from colliding with the ground. Carnage was a good distance away, with one immediately noticeable difference. Lex's blast had stripped away a section of the armor on the Lord's chest, exposing a complex network of electronics and servos underneath. Peleus quickly caught sight of further damage spread across their enemy's body.

"Good job, Lex," Cinder whispered, a small smile spreading across her face.

"Excellent work, indeed," Peleus said, creating a shield and spear for himself using his semblance. He quickly made Pyrrha a replacement for her own missing shield. "Cinder, watch over Lex. She didn't give up and did her part, it's time for us to do ours."

"Lord Agony," a Knight saluted smartly upon entering the Senate Building's auditorium, "The resistance forces are rapidly approaching our position. The Shades and Acolytes that have engaged them have managed to slow them, but they continue to gain ground."

"What is the status of the ships?" Agony responded.

"Sir, they have been fully loaded with all our necessary equipment, supplies, and personnel," the Knight answered quickly. "But... my Lord... what about-" The Order soldier flinched as Agony placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Get yourself aboard your assigned vessel. The time to leave is rapidly approaching, and I would hate to see a loyal warrior left behind in this world." Agony's face was smiling, but the Knight could feel the deeper warning he was being issued. "Do not worry yourself with the feeble force approaching... they will be dealt with."

"Y-yes, of course, my Lord. I will depart immediately," the Knight saluted again and hastily exited the room, his footsteps growing more and more distant. Agony turned back to his work of putting the final touches on the large spire that would serve as the conduit for the Order to return to their own world. The High Lord clicked the last few pieces he needed into place, pressing a button to have the machine run a self-diagnostic before he operated it in full. As the device ran its checks, Agony closed his eyes and listened to the sounds drifting into the auditorium through the hole in the roof. Early tests of the device had proven successful, allowing Agony to send a handful of coded messages through a small portal. He could only hope that Ion had received the commands and followed them.

Agony had to admit that it had been some time since he had last had the opportunity to step foot on the field of battle himself. Most of the time, he was too engrossed in commanding the troops or with his own projects to bother with fighting in person. He wondered whether he had gotten rustier since last he had engaged in combat. He looked at a small screen attached to the gateway spire. Thirty-two percent complete.

Idly, the High Lord allowed his thoughts to drift to the other Bloodlines that had come with him to this world. Out of all of them, the only one whose loyalty he had no doubts over was Carnage. After all, Agony had built him his new body when the Savage Bloodline had been reduced to a paraplegic pile of flesh and organs. Carnage owed Agony his life, and he knew it.

The other three... well, Agony would see whether or not they were still worth keeping in their ranks. Golem was perhaps the most useful of the trio. The Bloodline of Earth displayed nearly unmatched prowess in combat, but was held back by his foolish code of "honor". Agony, a man who had long-since abandoned his ethics, found the younger man's obsession with chivalry a mix of annoying and fascinating.

Europa had her uses as well, but Agony had slowly begun to doubt her devotion to the Order's cause. She was often sloppy in her actions, accomplishing the larger goal, but entirely ignoring important secondary objectives on missions. Because of this, her main boon to the Order was her ability to fight other Bloodlines. If she could not even accomplish that anymore, then Agony had no more use for her.

Then there was Enigma... A surge of complex emotions boiled around in the High Lord's chest. In single combat, she could easily outclass even Golem with her access to multiple Secondary Abilities. She was so close to being perfect, but still had the irritating tendencies of lesser Humans that Agony had failed to stomp out. She was wavering, becoming more aware, acting more like... Eve... The Lord grit his teeth at the thought of his first "daughter". If Enigma fell down the same path, he would not allow the EDC and Guardians to claim a third one of his creations for their side. A loud beep jarred the Bloodline of Pain from his thoughts. The diagnostic was complete.

With the flip of a large switch, Agony activated the spire. The device sparked and arced electricity into the stands of the Senate auditorium, lighting small flammable debris on fire. A pillar of glowing white energy shot through the hole in the roof and into the sky. A massive sphere of distorted space burst to life high above the Kingdom of Mistral, revealing a bubble of black space and stars. For a moment, Agony's radio crackled.

"Lord Agony," the voice of Ion stated. "It is good to see your signal again."

"It is a pleasure to know my device is working properly," Agony replied. "Prepare to escort our allies through the gateway."

"I will instruct my fleet to hold this side. Do you require assistance at your location?" Agony listened to the nearing sounds of the resistance.

"As a matter of fact, Ion," the High Lord picked up his heavy mace and helmet from where they lay leaned against a small crate. "I believe I do."

Alex, Dimitri, and their group ground to a sudden halt as the massive spherical portal split open in the sky. They had just reached the outer perimeter of the Senate building after spending the whole day fighting their way through the streets of the city. The resistance troops were barely holding together, losing countless lives as their forces slowly fell victim to exhaustion.

Their attention was drawn to the main entrance of the government building as the door was idly blown off its hinges. Agony slowly stepped out into the sunlight, fully enclosed in his black armor. Dozens of weapons were leveled at the Lord as he calmly took several casual paces forward. A splinter of resistance forces yelled their battle-cries and charged, many of the other Mistral residents followed, eager to achieve victory. Alex shouted an urgent warning after them, but the cry fell on deaf ears.

Agony made a single clean swipe of his mace through the air, leaving a thin trail of blood-red energy in its path. The swing emitted a blast of light and energy, instantly vaporizing the nearest people that had rushed forward. Agony took another several steps towards the resistance forces and the EDC, causing many people to turn and run from the apparent monster in their midst. The High Lord's gaze fell on Alex and Dimitri.

"What's this?" Agony inquired. "Greene and Averin, was it? Back from the grave, are you?"

"Agony..." Alex muttered, raising his rifle at the Bloodline. A small series of steady clicks and clacks informed the soldier that his closest friends were still at his side, but Alex's heart sank when he realized that only Luna, Ruby, Marcia, Dimitri, Firo, and Blake were still standing with him.

"I find myself wondering how you managed to survive," Agony pondered out loud. "I am fairly certain that explosives of that magnitude would-" The Lord's shoulder snapped back as a bullet tore through his heart. Alex looked to the side to see the barrel of Crescent Rose smoking. Ruby's eyes were filled with a mixture of horror and rage. Agony had clearly reminded her of the footage she had seen from Alex's helmet. That, combined with the multitude of deaths she had just witnessed

"Ruby!" Alex shouted, trying to shake the girl from her trance-like murderous state, "snap out of it!"

"Huh, wha-?" Ruby muttered. "Alex? What happened?"

"You made a valiant effort," Agony answered, resuming his original stance. "However, you will find that simply shooting me in the chest will prove insufficient." As if to outline his statement, Ruby's bullet was spat of the hole it had made in the Lord's armor. "Well, seeing how easy it was to scatter your allies, I believe that dealing with you will not be a challenge. Perhaps I won't even be required to use my bloodline."

"D, Marcia! Get the others out of here-" Alex began to shout an order when Agony rushed forward, smashing his mace into the blond soldier's left arm. Ruby and Luna's eyes widened as they heard bones snap like toothpicks from the strike. Alex was sent flying into the nearest wall, where he left a sizable dent in the stone building.

"Alex!" the cloaked girl yelled frantically. Both Luna and Ruby unloaded their weapons at the Lord, who continued to treat the bullet wounds appearing on his body as if their were routine injections. The others joined in with their own weapons, mercilessly peppering Agony with a steady stream of fire. Luna's weapon was struck from her grasp, reduced to a chuck of twisted metal. Agony's mace swung back around, striking the azure-haired woman in her mid-section. "Luna!"

"D!" Alex yelled, suddenly reappearing and jumping on Agony's back. "Get out of here!" The blond soldier pulled his combat knife from its sheath and plunged in into the Lord's neck. With a sigh of annoyance, Agony pulled Alex off his back and slammed the soldier into the pavement. The Lord followed through by smashing his mace into the EDC trooper's right knee. Alex let out a cry of pain as bone suddenly jutted out from the wound.

"Al!" Marcia screamed, firing her rifle at Agony. Large pieces of armor were torn off the Lord, but he continued to appear unfazed as the wounds slowly continued to heal. Agony swung his mace around once more, shattering Marcia's shoulder with the swing. Ruby's hands shook, missing one of her shots as Agony moved on to club Firo and Dimitri to the ground. Only the cloaked student and Blake were left standing. Blake's Gambol Shroud visibly wavered in the black-haired girl's grasp as she stood next to Ruby.

"This is tiring," Agony sighed. "I imagined I would be able to experience the thrill of battle from all of you, but it seems that I was incorrect."

"You bastard," Dimitri snarled from the ground, "you're going to pay for-" the Russian's sentence was drowned out as an Order transport descended from the sky. The aircraft stopped to hover and drop two more figures in black armor onto the ground.

"No," Marcia muttered as she recognized the newcomers. "Nonono..."

"Reporting as requested, Lord Agony," Ion grinned. "Enmity and I will happily mop up the stragglers if you wish to return to the fleet-" Both the Lords and Ruby's group covered their ears as a loud tearing noise erupted above them.

"Oh, shit," Enmity commented emotionlessly. Agony's head whipped up towards the sky as a second giant hole ripped open in the skies above Mistral. The High Lord's helmet suddenly filled with radio chatter as the Order fleet broke into a panic. A pair of EDC Dragonfly dropships burst through the new hole. The small craft weren't alone. Agony felt a twinge of fear grip his heart as not one, not two, but three EDC dreadnaughts emerged from the portal, each accompanied by their own contingents of smaller craft.

One of the dropships veered toward the Senate building, wildly firing its gun at the trio of Lords, who all moved for cover from the twenty millimeter cannon. The Dragonfly came to a stop above Alex and the others, kicking up dust and debris. Yet another duo of Humans disembarked the craft, one in the white armor of a Guardian, wearing a tattered cloak, and another enclosed in bulky armor bearing the colors of a Lord.

"Miss Evans," the new Lord said, "are you alright?"

"I'll live," Marcia coughed.

"That will do. You will want to take your friends away from here. We will handle this," the black-armored figure nodded. Ruby could tell that is was a man's voice. She also noticed that the other trio of Lords were visibly shaking at this one's presence. Her gaze fell on the Guardian, and suddenly, Ruby recognized him.

"Esprit," the cloaked Guardian said softly, "I think there's something a bit more pressing than talking." Blake saw Ion gulp.

"I suppose you may be correct, my Reaper friend," the ex-High Lord of the Order drew his greatsword from his back, allowing the large blade to smash into the ground at his side. "I believe we have some cockroaches to crush."

Pyrrha panted beside her father, leveling her spear once again at Carnage. The giant metal Lord was faring poorly without his armor to protect his internal components, coupled with the fact that Pyrrha could slightly alter his motions. However, the fact that he felt no physical pain had allowed him to keep both members of the Nikos family at bay. The stand-off between the pair of redheads at the Lord was interrupted by the sound of engines being pushed to their limit. A dropship sped overhead, dropping a dark-gray speck in the sky above them.

The small speck grew larger and larger, eventually big enough that Pyrrha could make out a humanoid shape. The figure adjusted its trajectory, aiming for Carnage. The Lord snarled, trying to edge out of the person's flight path.

The figure slammed into the ground, leaving a deep crater on impact. Carnage jumped back to avoid being struck, but a clawed dark-gray gauntlet erupted from the dust of the impact, sending the metal Lord flying as if he were a tennis ball.

The being that stepped out from the crater was something Pyrrha could only describe at first as bone-chilling. Lidless eyes containing single floating, glowing green irises scanned the area. A monstrous helmet sat atop the figure's shoulders, rimmed with razor sharp teeth. To Pyrrha's shock, Lex suddenly rushed by her and hugged the terrifying figure's leg.

"Uncle Rei!"

A/N:I was hoping this one would be better, but something feels kinda off to me.

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REVIEW REPLIES

Hirshja: This chapter should have answered your question. Thanks for leaving a review!

Skaana: So, yeah, how much to you think it's going to cost to rebuild Mistral?