Chapter XXIX:
Planetary Annihilation
The outskirts of the city were all quiet. A dead ring around a lively, violent urban center. The lone blast of a pistol rang out in the city streets. A battered, nameless android slumped into a puddle.
A crowd stood near the corpse. Machines among a mostly android collective. Bipeds with exposed teeth and glimmering red eyes. At the front, holding the smoking gun was a female android with dark hair. Black bangs draped over one eye.
One of the men behind her spoke up. "Jackass. I think that was the last of them."
Another chimed in before she could say anything. "You think they were after the angel? Maybe Anemone…"
Jackass smirked with sadistic glee. Her teeth gritted with the firmness of a hungering predator. "Doubt it. She probably doesn't even know about it."
"Then why?"
The pistol was lowered. Jackass relaxed her stance and looked out to the colossal ruins. "I don't think it's a coincidence that these guys were poking around on these exact streets. Someone ratted us out. Anemone's been playing the turtle this whole time. She wouldn't send her goons out unless she had a plan. She knew we were here."
One of the very few machines among this band of dissenting rabble twitched to life. It hopped forward by a single pace and hoisted its crudely formed sword high overhead.
"Retaliation! This insult cannot go without it!"
"Calm down, we'll get 'em back," replied Jackass. "I've got plenty of bombs stashed away back at the outpost. Just need to get past all that quicksand. I also know where they keep their wounded so when we get back, I'll…"
She suddenly fell dead quiet. Movement on the rooftops caught her eye. Her head darted upward. Stood on the edge of a building directly north of them was a tall, lankly figure. A bipedal shadow that resembled the outline of an android but only vaguely.
There it stood, abnormally long arms at its sides, watching them.
"The fuck is that thing?"
"What do you see," came a deep voice from behind.
The trader from her old desert outpost emerged from the crowd. Out of all the people she recruited over the past few weeks, he was still the only truly familiar face among the bunch. She glinted his way.
"We're being watched. On the building just up ahead."
Everyone looked up. She told no lie. One of the machines pointed directly at the stranger. Jackass was quick to see this and slap his metal hand down. "Don't point, you fool! Just act natural."
"It must be an android," the machine explained.
Jackass shook her head. "No. Look at the shape. We don't look like that. And look how tall that guy is. No android I ever met was that tall."
"This reminds me," one of the traitorous resistance fighters announced in a hushed tone. "Before I joined you guys, I overheard a story back at Anemone's camp. It happened right after the storm rolled in. The new arms trader there. He said he saw a ghost outside the camp one day. Near the waterfall. A huge pale guy with long claws and all this tactical gear on."
The description was prescient. Jackass waited for a bolt of lightning or two to illuminate the supposed ghost. They never came. It was impossible to see anything more than a shadowy figure up there. A figure that did not match the form of the typical android and was unlike any machine she had ever encountered.
"Should we check it out," her right-hand man inquired.
The sight of his glowing red goggles drew her attention. Before she could make the call, a disturbing noise filled the air. The sound of a loud, bestial call. It did not match any of the animals known to inhabit this region. It sounded more akin to the screech of some monster.
"What was that," asked a random android.
Jackass searched the rooftops once more. Sure enough, another one of those oddly shaped creatures was spotted on a rooftop directly behind them.
She did not want any part of whatever was going on out here.
"Everyone just fall back for now. We'll continue this search somewhere else."
~O~
Misery haunted 2B like a blood-sucking vampire. A phantasm of a mental tick that siphoned what little energy she had left. Even the thought of ending it all seemed like too much effort. She dragged her heels back to the camp. She took her sweet time returning. The past day was spent alone, meditating on her own torment.
Her arrival was met with a cluster of androids standing out in the rain, waving her down. The place was more lively than before. More people were up and about. Injuries were less obvious. Faces were brighter with optimism and not plagued by physical pain. Had she the will to care, she would have stopped and asked them what was going on.
She made her way to Anemone's office. Not a word was said to anyone along the dreary way. The beds and floors of the maintenance area were surprisingly less populated than before. At the far end of that chamber, she caught sight of Accord, quietly sitting by herself, reading over a tome of a book. 2B opted to deal with her later.
Behind her desk in the usual posture sat Anemone. 2B's footsteps drew Anemone's attention away from the damp pages resting between her arms.
"You're back. Good news! The work you did for us is finally starting to pay off. All those parts you gathered for us were a huge help. We're able to get repairs done again. Thank you."
Anemone inhaled sharply, her mood growing grimmer. "Your pod informed me about what happened. Sorry about what happened."
All 2B could muster was a soulless shrug of her shoulders.
"At any rate, you've earned a break. You've done more than enough for us. Take some time for yourself."
With that, Anemone stood up. She grabbed a rifle that was tilted against the wall behind her desk. She checked the chamber, ensuring it was loaded. The sudden act of taking up arms caught 2B's half-hearted interest. "What's going on?"
Anemone glinted her way. "We picked up a transmission near the outskirts of a city. A distress call from one of our own. I sent some people to track Jackass' movements. There have been sightings of her on the move again with a modestly sized contingency of androids as well as a few machines, apparently. They were seen headed out that way so I sent a kill team after her. They never came back and I know that call was from them. At this rate, I believe it best to deal with her myself. I'll bring some 20 men with me. Hold down the fort until…"
"I'll go."
The resistance leader froze in place. She studied 2B with a worried frown. The former YoRHa operative met her concern with a blank glare. Her lips formed neither frown nor smile. Only a neutral look of sheer emptiness.
"Are you sure? You can rest if you want."
"Rest has never been a requirement. I'll go."
"…Then you're free to come along. With you tagging along, I'm sure we can get to the bottom of this and be back in no time, right?"
"…"
Anemone led the way out of the camp. They did not get very far before interruptions started to arise. A lone android came sprinting after them.
"Wait!"
A briefcase-wielding woman bolted from the ruined barriers and raced through water and across cracked asphalt alike to reach them. 2B immediately recognized the bespectacled girl, yet her thoughts were too distant to bother greeting her.
"Hope you don't mind if I tag along."
Anemone was more than a little skeptical. "Actually, I do mind. Who are you and what do you want?"
"Name's Accord."
Anemone's jaw dropped. "You're Accord!? When did you arrive? Why are you here of all places?"
The mysterious android smiled at her. A taunting smirk. "I'm surprised no one told you I was here. I take it communication is not a strong suit of your men."
Anemone's look of astonishment sharpened into a stern glare. "I don't believe we've met in person before but I know you've been to this camp before."
She then glinted at 2B, knowing the YoRHa android was likely left out of the loop. "Ah. 2B. This is Accord. She's responsible for shipping weapons to us as well as the rest of the Resistance network across the globe. If I'm not mistaken, you normally stay in the Kingdom of Night, correct? Only rarely do you visit these parts. Why come here now of all times? In the midst of one of the worst storms in history."
"All true," Accord confirmed, innocently twirling one of her twin tails. "2B and I have already met. And while I do sell weapons, that's more of a side gig. My main job has given me a bit more leisure recently which leads me here. I can't say much about my objective but I will explain what I can later. For now, just keep doing what you're doing. I'm just along for the ride."
Hours of silent maneuvering through vacant streets were endured before Anemone and her group arrived at the spot where the transmission was first made. A cluster of bodies riddled with stab wounds and bullet holes lay at their feet.
Blood mixed with the water that flooded the roads. 2B could see her reflection staring back at her in abject sorrow, surrounded by hellish red liquid. Yet another reminder. No matter what she did, there was no escaping this punishment.
"Everyone fan out," ordered Anemone. "Check up and down these streets. Inside the buildings. See if anyone's alive. Also, check for signs of where Jackass might have run off to. 2B, you're with me. Let's search these bodies for clues. Accord, you stay close."
The group collectively agreed and scattered with weapons at the ready. Everyone was on alert. They watched the shadows and darker corners with extreme suspicion. 2B immediately went to work while Accord merely watched them scour the ground. She would not be allowed to continue flying under the radar for much longer.
"So, Accord," Anemone called out over the roaring rain. "What happened to that arm of yours."
The mysterious android looked down at her bandaged forearm and the grievous wound it concealed. "Oh, this? I got it while fighting off a Death Knight."
"A what?"
Her smirk widened.
Everything then fell quiet. It was as if the whole world and time itself all came to a sudden stop. The rain, after an unknowable time of nonstop harassment and raging, ceased. The last drops hit Anemone on the forehead. It took her a few moments to realize what just happened. She and 2B both looked skyward, utterly mystified while Accord's eyes remained forward. A confident smile forever plastered to her flawlessly symmetrical face.
Anemone's jaw threatened to hit the pavement. "What the…? It stopped raining!?"
Accord's lips parted. "And it looks like we're already out of time."
"Out of time," 2B quizzically chimed in. Each word was still riddled with sorrow and loss.
"Time waits for no one. You should know that better than any of us. Right, 2B?"
2B almost took offense to that. There was only one thing she could be referring to. How did this woman know? 2B stepped closer. Her fingers balled into fists. Before she could muster a response, however, a man's voice called out to Anemone. He sprinted to her with a hand raised high over his head.
"We found something!"
The Resistance leader turned to him in surprise. "That was fast. What is it?"
He pointed to the path just north of their position. Merely a walk across the road away. "Tracks, ma'am. A trail in the mud. Lots of tracks. Most of them were left by boots."
"Which direction were they headed?"
"North. The tracks look fresh. I can only guess it's Jackass and her cronies."
Anemone folded her arms and contemplated the details she was given. It took but an instant to reach a conclusion. "Did you see anything else or is that it?"
"Yeah," proclaimed the soldier. "I noticed movement by the…"
A beam of white light shot straight through the man's chest from behind. It burst forth from his body, cutting his last sentence short. Blood evacuated through his nostrils and escaped his lips. Crimson tears dripped down his cheeks. He let out one final gasp before collapsing to the ground like an iron rag doll.
Anemone practically leaped away. "What!?"
The commotion drew 2B's attention. She peered down at a body lying lifeless at Anemone's feet. A massive, cleanly cut hole was left in his chest. It must have been roughly half a foot in diameter. Whatever it was, it cut through him, vaporizing anything in its way.
Anemone dove for cover, shouting at 2B to do the same. She instead stood in place and searched for the source of the projectile. In the alleyway directly behind the now-dead android, she saw it.
A creature that was neither machine nor android stood in the road several yards away. Long arms dangled at its vaguely masculine form. A lanky body posted atop a pair of long legs. The beast was pale as though it were a statue made entirely of salt. She was reminded of Amos but this creature looked nothing like him in form. Only in color and skin texture were they alike.
A set of four wings akin to that of a dragonfly clung to its back. They occasionally twitched and fluttered but the abomination never took flight. Its feet remained firmly planted on the ground.
There was something horrific about the way it was shaped as well as the deathly face that resembled a human in the most uncomfortable of ways.
"Alert," Pod 042 announced. "Unknown assailant located. Recommendation: regroup with…"
042's tactical chatter was cut short. The monster turned its white eyes on 2B. It lifted its right arm where a peculiar wand was held and aimed it directly at her. The branching wand glowed with an essence as solid white as the weapon itself.
On instinct, she acted. 2B drew her sword and charged the adversary. It fired off a charged blast from its wand. A blast that very nearly removed half of her skull. 2B cleared the distance in the blink of an eye and thrust her weapon forward The tip of her sword sliced clean through the beast's head and came out the other side.
To her abject horror, it did not go down. It did not so much as budge. The monster moved its freehand with alarming speed, landing a punch across her face that sent her stumbling to the ground. It pointed the wand at her once more, charging another pale bolt.
Shadows shifted behind the beast. Feet splashed in puddles. Whoever was behind it was approaching fast. A fellow android that had come to her aid. He leaped from behind and locked the beast into a chokehold with a chunk of rebar that served as the only weapon he could muster.
His attempts to asphyxiate the creature or drag it to the ground were all for naught. 2B watched with a growing, undeniable sense of dread as the monster reached around with its freehand. Before the man could react. Before he could realize his fate, the pale entity drove its dagger-length claws straight into his skull.
Blood sprayed in all directions. He released one last gargled cry for help before collapsing to the ground. His face was practically caved in. It all happened in a flash. Even the likes of 2B could barely process what happened.
A second android charged the target, running past 2B to lend aid, but it was far too late. Seeing what became of his comrade, the second android opted to keep at range. Having the luxury of being armed with a rifle, he unloaded every round in his magazine at the creature. The android failed to realize that he was not at all at a safe firing distance.
With a single swipe of its claws connected to those notably long arms, the android's life was extinguished in an instant. The man's head was severed in two. Only his lower jaw remained attached to what was left of his neck. The corpse dropped instantly.
Bullets. Swords. Nothing was working. Lost in a frantic haze, 2B forced herself back onto her feet. She slashed the monster at every angle, nimbly dodging any counterattacks that came her way. The other Resistance members began swarming the area, returning at rapid speed from their previously scattered search formation.
They aimed whatever weapons they had at the enemy but no one dared fire a shot with 2B constantly circling their target.
Soon enough, 2B's luck ran out. The creature reached out and grabbed hold of her hands while they greedily clenched Virtuous Contract. She tried desperately to tear herself away from the crushing grip but she simply was not strong enough. When it came to strength, and even speed, this unknown aberration surpassed her by a horrifying margin.
It aimed the wand at her. The salt-infused rod drew in ghostly energy the likes of which was completely alien to 2B. She closed her eyes. Unable to escape, she braced for the inevitable.
A robotic voice from afar rang out in her ears.
"Target locked."
A blast of golden energy tore through the monster's head causing it to erupt into a cloud of swirling salt. 2B let out a gasp. Her eyes shot open and she stumbled back when the monster suddenly weakened its grip. She watched as the thing slumped over. Salt poured from its body until it was reduced to nothing more than a wet pile at her feet.
2B caught sight of her savior. Pod 042 floated above Anemone's head. His turret oozed gray smoke.
"Target neutralized. Pod 042 to Unit 2B. Status report."
No moment of respite was given. A scream from behind prompted 2B to twirl around. Yet another Resistance fighter darted from around the corner at the other end of the alley. He started toward her in a full sprint. The look on his face was one of pure terror.
Out of nowhere, a white bolt sliced shot through the concrete wall on his right and straight through his head, practically erasing it from existence. He managed to walk a few more steps, blood spewing from his neck before he finally fell over.
"Dammit," Anemone exclaimed. "Another one!? …Retreat! Everyone fall back!"
That single command was not met with a single hint of criticism. Everyone turned in collective unison and ran back the way they came. She and 2B were not far behind.
As 2B closed the distance to the front of the frantic crowd of retreating androids, another blast of energy rippled through the air. It whizzed past her, producing an enigmatic crackling noise as it went. It was angled, indicating that it was fired from a rooftop. The bolt struck the android in front of her, severing his foot from the rest of his leg with a single blast.
Others began dying around her. They dropped like flies while those bolts kept flying. Anything they touched was vaporized. 2B kept running all the same.
She dared not stop.
"Shit! Where the hell is Accord!?"
Anemone kept up the pace of a full sprint. She glinted about wildly, checking the crowd around her for any sign of the quirky android but saw no trace of her among the survivors.
"I think they got her," one of the Resistance members shouted back just before having his own head blown off by an oncoming projectile.
Another unfortunate soul charged ahead of Anemone to get away from that bizarre white magic. She was immediately plucked from the street by one of those humanoid abominations. It swooped down like a hawk and carried the helpless android off toward the gray skies.
Her screams were swiftly drowned out by the other cries and panicked shouting.
Anemone moved on without hesitation. Those wings were not for show. They were functional. It was hard to tell how many of those creatures were pursuing them at this point. They snarled and howled like wild animals. The revelation that they possessed the skill of flight made it nigh on impossible to keep count of them.
The group gradually cleared more distance from their pale pursuers. At least, that was what Anemone assumed. She looked skyward only to find several of them flying directly above them, circling like carrion birds at the sight of their next meal.
Three of them touched down on the road beyond the vacant lot they sought so desperately to escape. They took aim with their wands. Ghostly faces looked on with twisted looks of vindictive rage as though they had some sort of personal score to settle with each of their robotic opponents. They opened fire without a shred of mercy.
"What do we do," a frantic voice cried out over the shrieks of the dying.
Anemone gritted her teeth. "Fight back! Push forward! We can take three of them!"
There were only three adversaries compared to Anemone's sizable, albeit rapidly dwindling, formation of troops. At first, it seemed like an easy task to overwhelm the demons. However, as her soldiers started firing upon their targets, she was reminded of a mortifying fact. Their weapons were useless. No matter how much lead was pumped into their salty bodies, the ghostly figures stood firm. Unflinching as they, one by one, killed the androids in their way.
Pod 042 floated to the front of the group. He released another focused laser that caused the monster on the right to evaporate into a cloud of swirling dust. The salt-infused aberration standing next to its fallen "comrade" suddenly sprinted straight at the group. It lowered the wand and readied its claws.
It was so fast. So impossibly fast.
No one could keep up.
The thing lunged at the last second, narrowly dodging another blast from 042. It plunged its claws straight into the face of the android standing to Anemone's right. Blood splattered across her cheeks.
Another grunt tried to shoot the thing down yet he was already too close for comfort. The beast shrugged off the constant barrage of bullets and turned to him. With a single punch, it knocked the body of steel and titanium flat on his back in a pool of salt water and blood. The monster then brought its foot down over the pleading android's head, crushing his skull as if it were made of cardboard.
His left eyeball was launched out of its socket from the ever-increasing pressure. Blood and gray matter exploded from the once-solid confines of metallic bone.
Before the fay-like warrior could inflict any more casualties. Pod 042 mowed it down. The creature collapsed into a pile of grainy powder. Anemone did not need to be shown thrice how to deal with these nigh-invincible enemies. They had at least one weakness and a critical one at that.
There was but one combatant left in their way.
"Everyone scatter and draw its fire," Anemone yelled out. "Distract that thing and protect the pod! He's the only one who can kill them!"
While many of the few that remained of Anemone's team chose to all but ignore her order out of simple fear, one woman ran forward and to the side, focusing her fire on the last adversary.
Her attempt amounted to nothing as no one else joined her. Immune to seemingly all physical attacks, the creature shrugged off the minor annoyance she inflected and fired a bolt into her gut, nearly splitting her torso into two halves. The apparition then aimed its wand at 042. There was no time to move.
A bolt rippled across the battlefield and hit 042 at a low angle, completely vaporizing his right arm. 2B whipped around, seeing what was left of his metal claws falling to the ground. The pod still floated there in the air above her. He slanted rightward and let out a sound she had never heard him produce before. An unnerving, digitized whimper.
With a swift motion of his remaining limb, he summoned a row of golden spikes that fired out of the ground. One by one, they rose from the earth until they reached the target, impaling the body of salt and reducing it to mere powder.
"Alert," he frantically spoke. His tone was far less automated. He sounded as though he were experiencing genuine pain, or perhaps it was mortal fear. "Critical damage sustained. Requesting repairs be made as soon as possible."
Anemone turned to see for herself what had happened. The sight of his missing arm set her off. She cast aside all composure.
A simple order was given yet it was not followed. Their only current means of fighting back was almost lost as a consequence. Needless to say, Anemone became utterly enraged. In retaliation, she twirled around and pulled her pistol. She used it as an impromptu set of brass knuckles and knocked the woman cowering behind her off her feet.
"When I tell you to do something, YOU FUCKING DO IT! The next person to disobey my orders is gonna get left behind! Understood!?"
She got a look at the men she had left. Of the troops she brought along, only four remained. Nearly twenty freshly repaired comrades of hers and almost all of them were slain in a matter of minutes by a ghostly force she had yet to so much as learn the name of. Wiped out by only a small handful of those things.
She did her best to hide her demoralization. She looked down to the ten or so mutilated bodies lying at her feet. There would be no chance to repair any of them.
"…We need a change of strategy."
None of those beasts were currently around. Anemone seized the moment of respite. She started brainstorming more effective means of dispatching these horrifically strong enemies.
The silence was cut short by a scream from among the group.
"What the fuck is that!? What is it!?"
Everyone turned to see what fresh horror had emerged from the depths of the ruins. A male android collapsed to the ground in a desperate attempt to retreat. He kept pointing toward an alleyway. Anemone looked up to see what disturbed him so. When she finally saw it, her stomach turned.
An abomination in every sense of the word. It stood roughly twelve feet tall. The upper half of a pale, humanoid beast. The figure was slightly more feminine in shape than the winged creatures they dealt with previously. The lower half of this newfound challenger resembled the body of an enormous spider. Eight legs supporting a massive abdomen.
It gargled out a blood-curdling roar and extended clawed, human-like hands towards what was about to be its helpless adversaries.
Anemone was on the verge of giving the order to retreat again. There was no conceivable way they could take on such a creature. Were it a normal enemy, 2B would have likely already been on top of it regardless of the monster's height. However, even the seasoned B-type YoRHa veteran appeared to be searching for a way out rather than a weak spot.
Shadows darted on the rooftops behind the arachnid chimera. A glowing red blade shined in the bleak darkness, held in the hands of a stranger shrouded in darkness. A pillar of scarlet fire suddenly erupted from the ground in between the monster and its would-be prey. The expansive magic forced the abomination to leap further back.
Their mysterious savior dodged out of the thing's way and around the pillar that continuously blazed skyward. The red light sparkled against a pair of glasses. Her face was illuminated by the magical glow.
"RUN," Accord shouted. "They've got the entire city surrounded! The invasion's started! You have to fall back!"
"…Invasion," Anemone muttered beneath labored breaths.
2B was the first to act. She sprinted forward, pulling 042 into her arms, and carried him back toward the city center.
"Everyone meet back at the camp," cried Anemone. "Recruit any stray machines or fellow androids along the way! We have to form a proper defense!"
Those few lucky enough to have not been slaughtered took after 2B. Accord was never far behind. She ran with surprising speed, glowing sword and over-sized briefcase in hand. Anemone raced through the streets with them, rightfully fearing what would happen were she to stand around and wait in one spot for too long.
A loud whistling overhead pulled Anemone's attention skyward. She never stopped running, but she did want to see what was causing that horrid sound. An enormous sphere of white energy was launched into the air and barreled high overhead, straight toward a building just down the road. It collided with the walls. Soon after, another identical sphere was launched in that same path and hit the building at a slightly lower angle. The entire structure collapsed.
More and more of those waves of energy soared high in the air, bombarding the city and flattening entire blocks. Farther above, Anemone caught sight of shimmering white specs all slowly converging on the city. She squinted to get a better look at them. Their wings fluttered against the backdrop of the black skies. There must have been thousands of them.
"The hell are these guys? Where are they all coming from?"
Among the screams and demonic howls came a steady rumbling. Initially, Anemone assumed it to be part of the world-rending bombardment that threatened to flatten the entire city given time. Proof of the contrary would soon descend from the clouds.
Someone cried out and pointed to the sky as they ran. "Look! Up there!"
Fearing the absolute worst all while having no idea what to expect, Anemone wasted no time searching the heavens for what struck so much terror into her subordinate. In an instant, the rain that previously stopped for the first time in what felt like an eternity came crashing back down from the heavens with a vigor and intensity yet to be seen.
Twirling clouds descended upon the city.
Tornadoes.
All those funnel clouds that hovered over the city were finally starting to form proper twisters. On all sides, tornadoes touched ground as if they were a synchronized element of the invasion. They tore through city blocks and shattered every pane of glass in their path. There were so many twisters. She had no hope of counting them all. She kept running, silently hoping not to be sucked up by one of them.
White beams were suddenly launched at them from all sides. A clear indication that their pursuers had caught up. Anemone's vision tunneled. She watched as 2B darted for cover down a separate alleyway but chose to keep running forward. She dodged to the best of her meager ability, knowing that one hit would be more than enough to utterly erase her from the face of the earth.
In the end, she could do nothing but flee. There was no hope of fighting these pale soldiers.
Not now.
Perhaps not ever.
~O~
Beneath a tower constructed out of rusted metal beams into an abstract shape, the Dragon laid in wait. A spire as old as the city around it. She rested on the ground. A cluster of tall Legionnaires stood guard around her. More of them were posted on the rooftops in the surrounding area.
Amos emerged from an alleyway. The task of finding her was made easy now that he had a psychic link to follow.
His coming was signaled by the idle bellowing of his newly obtained instrument. Upon seeing her, he lowered the saxophone. She lazily lifted her head off the concrete. Tusk-like horns trained on him. He looked about to his fellow Legions. They vacantly stared back. Mindless drones that differed in both appearance and even behavior from what he was used to.
There was no need for instruction. Amos knew instinctively what to do when in the presence of his new leader. Those blazing red eyes explained more than enough on their own. He knelt and bowed his head. The very same gesture he displayed to the Prince anytime he appeared.
"Rise," the Dragon ordered sternly. Amos did not need to be asked twice. "You did excellent work out there. I saw it all through your eyes."
The Dragon briefly paused to collect her thoughts. "Ever since I was roused from that forced slumber, I wondered why exactly Caim would bother with you and your little friends. I saw your memories yet they gave me no answers. Caim was never one to take on bodyguards. They would merely get in the way of his bloodletting. Yet here you stand. Hand-picked by my better half. In Midgard, he never stopped to look twice at anyone yet he saw something in you. I understand now the why of the matter."
If Amos still had a skin complexion and a circulatory system, he may very well have blushed at that.
"You may have had help," the Dragon continued. "Indeed, that ginger girl wields the blackest magic I've ever witnessed. It does not take away from the performance you gave. You faced down, not some measly grotesquerie, but a true Watcher and you forced it to retreat. It's no wonder you survived so long on your own. And if you were good enough to run with Caim, you're more than worthy to be my right hand."
Several lumbering outlines emerged from the shadows. Winged Legionnaires. Four of them. They carried long blades comprised of White Maso. The shambled over and bowed before him. What exactly were they doing? He looked to the Dragon for answers.
Reading his mind, she shifted to the side and motioned her wing toward an elongated pit that appeared to have been dug out of the concrete. Amos approached and looked inside. Small piles of dead machines as well as the occasional android sparsely populated the trench.
A mass grave. It encapsulated the Dragon's plan for him better than mere words. Still eager to explain, or perhaps simply of want to vent her unyielding rage, the Dragon spoke on. Each word seethed with infernal hate.
"It was here. Above this old tower where it happened. The humans of this world took him from me. Blew us clean out of the sky with foul weaponry. From what I've gathered, they're no longer around, are they?"
Amos turned to face her and firmly shook his head. He took no small amount of pride in confirming the extinction of his greatest enemies.
Her hate came to a literal boil. Smoke plumed from her skeletal nostrils. "But their creations still live. A world populated by little homunculi who are withering away in a world slowly turning to sand. The same metal apes that kept me locked away for thousands of years. Someone has to pay for this crime! Your mission is simple. I shall only state it once."
Amos already knew what was to be done. He gave her his undivided attention all the same. A gesture done out of both equal parts fear and respect.
As she spoke, he heard a trace of sorrow that she attempted to fight back and subdue. An undertone of overwhelming grief beneath an ocean of vindictive hatred.
"Kill them all. Snuff out every last heartbeat. The goal is total extermination! We start with this city. It's already been surrounded. The invasion starts… now!"
In that very instant, explosion after explosion erupted all around Amos. He looked to the sky in time to see what must have been hundreds of white fireballs soaring overhead. Wherever they landed, destruction followed. The entire city lit up in an instant. Screams mixed with hateful howls.
Thousands of Legions emerged from dark alleyways and atop abandoned buildings. They charged forth, converging on the city center with flawless coordination. Amos' once quiet mind filled once more with the familiar cacophony of a hivemind's tactical chatter.
"Gather whatever you require," the Dragon ordered. "That white-haired lad helped save me. As a reward, I will spare only him and his little harem. Go to them. Rally them. If they wish to live then they shall either join or stay themselves from our path. Now, go! Caim will be avenged this day. A world washed in blood will be my final offering to his restless soul."
The Dragon attempted and failed, to calm herself. "And let not that infantile abomination escape! Let it be known that on this day, ownership of the Legion has officially changed hands. No longer will you be a weapon of the Watchers. Henceforth, you answer only to me!"