Each had their own hurdle to overcome. To Alec, who led the troops on the ground, his hurdle was to overcome the impossible odds stacked against him. To the girls fighting inside the super structure, their hurdle was to conquer the abominations Omega conjured. And lastly was the Commander who had to definitively end the monster before him.
Rossiya and Tashkent fired a steady stream of projectiles at Avrora. It did not surprise them that their target nimbly dodged and avoided the attacks with minimal effort. To them, Alekto was every bit as, perhaps even faster than the original.
Alekto rose to the sky and fired a barrage at the two. In response, Tashkent and Rossiya strafed left and right. As she descended, the pair attacked her with a barrage from two sides, hitting Alekto and covering her in a cloud of smoke.
Though the pair scored a hit, they knew this was nowhere enough to clinch the victory. Their doubts were confirmed when Alekto hit the ground and charged at Tashkent. It made sense to choose her over Rossiya, as the latter's heavy cannons made for a difficult fight in close quarters.
Rossiya saw her advancing but remained hesitant to fire. After all, she risked hitting Tashkent if she missed.
Tashkent meanwhile fired at Alekto but the target strafed left and right with blinding speeds. She held her arms up in preparation but that did little to stop the force behind Alekto's attack. The punch hit Tashkent right where both arms crossed and the force made her lower her guard. Alekto tried to attack again but Tashkent's rigging shot forward. The jaws opened up wide ready to clamp down on her and forced Alekto to leap back. While in the air, she fired at Tashkent multiple times and each one scored a direct hit.
When Alekto hit the ground, she stepped back to avoid the strike coming from Rossiya. The latter reacted to the dodge then turned around and pointed her guns at the target. Alekto saw this and used her speed to move away before Rossiya could fire.
That little lull gave Rossiya the time she needed to reach Tashkent. She paused to examine the injuries. A few bruises and some scratches, but nothing more. She bent down to pick her up and saw Tashkent stirring.
"Watch out," cried Tashkent and Rossiya turned around just as Alekto's kick crashed into her side and sent her staggering a little. Alekto charged with a right fist and Rossiya held both arms up to block. The strike shook Rossiya's body but Alekto was not done. She leapt up, then spun in the air to deliver a downward kick that landed right on Rossiya's shoulder. The battleship fell under the power of that attack allowing Alekto to crash her knee into Rossiya's face before leaping back and firing at her.
"Rossiya," shouted Tashkent, coming to help her up.
Rossiya groaned a little and shook her head. They had to change their tactics and fast.
"Tashkent," she whispered so only the one near her could hear "I'll try to give you an opening. When you see it don't hesitate to strike."
Tashkent nodded in agreement and Rossiya went charging forward. Alekto fired a steady barrage at her attacker, but Rossiya held her arms up to block the attack. Rather than dodge and strafe, Rossiya simply took the attacks head on. Alekto moved back to increase the distance but it did not help in the long run. Rossiya reached Alekto and fired a point-blank barrage from her cannons, all of which hit the target.
Rossiya spent no time on recovery and instead reached into the smoke to grab her opponent. She felt something and yanked it out and was treated to Alekto's slightly dazed face. Rossiya wasted little time and struck the face with her punch. The move did damage Alekto, but it also knocked her out of her daze. She rammed her head into Rossiya's causing the pair to stagger but it also freed her from Rossiya's iron grip.
Alekto was about to leap back when she felt something hold her in place. She glanced down and saw Tashkent's rigging clutching her feet. This made it easy for Rossiya to punch her in the face again then fire a few rounds from her cannons.
Rossiya moved back a little and waited for Alekto's next move. She remained fully focused on what was before her but even that was not enough. Suddenly, Rossiya felt the wind leaving her body as Alekto was suddenly before her with a punch aimed squarely at the gut. Rossiya stumbled forward and into a high kick from Alekto that sent her flying back.
Tashkent saw this and charged to attack, but Alekto was hovering before her in seconds. Tashkent tried raising her hands up to block but Alekto was quicker and kicked her in the chest. Tashkent flew a good distance before skidding on the ground and coming to a stop.
Alekto shifted her attention between the two to ensure she was ready whenever one of them recovered. She saw Rossiya slowly rise to her feet and went to attack her. Her progress was impeded when several explosions ahead stopped her advance. She turned and saw Tashkent was also up and firing at her.
Alekto now changed targets and charged to Tashkent, easily strafing the enemy's attacks. When she was close, she fired at Tashkent, causing her to go on the defence. Alekto took this chance to move behind Tashkent and hit her in the back with an arm-bar. Tashkent felt pain surge through her body as she came forward but Alekto was not letting up. She appeared before her and kneed her in the gut, forcing the air out of Tashkent's lungs. Before she could hit the ground though, Alekto grabbed Tashkent by her hair and proceeded to punch her in the face.
Rossiya was still woozy from the attack and could not make out what was going on ahead of her. She shook her head a little and her vision cleared. She saw Alekto beating the life out of Tashkent and was about to attack but froze.
Once again, she realized if she attacked now, she would hit Tashkent. However, if she didn't attack then Tashkent was certainly going to die. If she tried to reach the two, she was sure that Alekto will kill Tashkent before then.
"Damn it," she hissed under her breath and decided to take a chance. She pointed her guns squarely at Alekto and fired a single shot. The attack sailed through the air at incredible speeds and managed to hit Alekto on the side of the face. The force of the attack caused her to drop Tashkent and divert her attention.
Rossiya knew what was coming and prepared herself. As Alekto came to her, she reached behind her and grabbed her sceptre. She held it up just as Alekto struck. The force of her attack shattered the sceptre but it did protect Rossiya from the initial attack. This was the chance Rossiya wanted and was not looking to waste it.
Rossiya lunged forward and grabbed Alekto's neck with both hands then pinned her to the ground. The problem with someone as fast as Avrora is the difficulty associated with trying to land an attack on her. She was either too fast or reacted too fast to anything they threw at her.
Hence, Rossiya decided the only option left was to pin her movements. As she kneeled over Alekto, she tightened her grip on her opponent's neck. Alekto felt the weight on her intensify and swung her arms out wildly. Every punch connected with Rossiya but the battleship did not let up. Even though she was bleeding from the nose and the mouth, Rossiya continued tightening her grip on the enemy.
Alekto's body railed and struggled to break free. Rossiya knew what was coming and used her rigging to destroy Alekto's before she used them to attack her. An attack from so close injured both of them but Rossiya won when it came to endurance.
Alekto intensified her assault as she punched and kicked Rossiya. The latter could feel her consciousness fade as she tried to complete the task.
Then, she heard a sudden 'crack' come from below and just like that… the fight was over. The attacking Alekto suddenly fell limp, her hands hitting the ground with a soft thud. Rossiya did not let go though, for fear this was a trick. It was only when she felt no resistance come from the neck did she finally accept that it was over.
A bloodied and beaten Rossiya rose to her feet and stumbled a little from the sudden blood rush. She saw Tashkent was still lying on the ground and staggered over to her.
"Tashkent," said Rossiya, dropping to her knees and shaking the destroyer "Tashkent, it's over. Wake up."
But, there was no response. For a second, Rossiya feared that she was indeed too late. But those fears were quelled when she saw Tashkent cough out some blood and slowly open her eyes.
"Rossiya?" she called out weakly.
"I'm here," she said.
"Where's… where's Avrora?"
"Dead," she replied and turned to stare at the corpse "and this time, let's hope she stays that way."
"That was…" said Tashkent in-between a few coughs "that was the toughest fight I've ever been in."
"No arguments there," said Rossiya, sighing "I just hope that the others have it easy compared to us."
Unfortunately, as you will soon find out, this fight would be the easiest one compared to the rest.
(AN: first of all I want to sincerely apologize for not making an update or an announcement and just going silent for like two weeks. I went on a Xmas vacation and that's why there were no updates. I have NOT abandoned this story.
Next, the coming chapters will be difficult to finish and update like how I did in the past few months so I ask for your patience in that.
Lastly, Happy New Year to all of you. Thank you very much for supporting me in these past three projects and I hope you like the conclusion to the story.)