The first thing our heroes saw after landing on the planet Eudora was how many trees there are here. This view makes it bold to say that the entire planet is one big forest. When Ratchet saw this place, he was reminded of his training with the Iron Lords.

"I remember my aunt Efrideet taking me to a similar planet once and leaving me alone for a whole month to learn the art of survival. I had nothing with me except the clothes I was wearing. Heh, it was a very nice camping trip," said Lombax. Clank was slightly surprised by this information and asked if they were any bad memories, to which Ratchet replied that it was quite the opposite.

Despite wanting to reminisce, Lombax grabbed his companion and placed him on his back, and then they started walking. During the landing, Clank managed to detect the signature of the Blarg base. Not wanting to be shot down, the guys decided to park their ship a bit further away so they could sneak into the base.

Walking through the forest, our heroes admired the views along the way. The forest is full of different varieties of trees, giving it a unique look, and in the background you can hear birds chirping, which gives a pleasant and pleasant atmosphere.

Which was quickly interrupted.

"What the…?"

Ratchet felt his leg catch on something. He looked down and saw the line, which immediately broke and began to fly around the area. This took our heroes by surprise and they prepared for anything. After a while, a deathly silence fell over the area. The boys didn't like it, because it could only mean a trap.

A few seconds later, Ratchet began to hear something beeping in the area and red lights began to appear. One, three, ten and more. Lombax quickly realized that the whole area was mined, so he quickly teleported as far away as possible. And rightly so, it was that moment when the bombs exploded.

Far away from the blast site, the guys started looking around for anything or anyone who might have planted the bombs. However, they did not find anyone, but only heard someone's laughter, which sounded like a child playing hide and seek.

"Hmmm…that sounded like Araskes, also known as The Trickster. This is one of the Scorn Barons. According to Vanguard records, she likes to create holographic traps that explode. Those mines and tripwire must have been her doing," said Clank.

Hearing that the Baron was prowling around, Ratchet began to see the world in red. Any logic or plan has been thrown out the window. Only one thing mattered.

Kill the Baron.

"Let's go. She wants to fucking play? Let's have some fun then," said Lombax coolly, who began to walk forward cautiously, watching out for traps.

The tone and vocabulary of his organic companion surprised Clank. But he knew from the story that Ratchet had told him what the Barons had done to him and why the young Lombax were hunting them. Despite being a freshly made bot from the factory, Clank was able to understand the desire for revenge. He was only afraid that his companion might do something terrible in its name.

As they made their way through the forest, the boys encountered groups of the Scorn, who were supported by large and muscular Blarg commandos, bipedal humanoids with orange-red skin and distinctive glowing blue or gold eyes. This combination gave Lombax a slightly tough fights as he took a few shots and was knocked back towards a tree trunk a couple of times, but he managed to defeat his opponents in the end. With each next skirmish, Ratchet's fighting style changed from tactical to more ferocious and bloodthirsty. As soon as he ran out of ammunition in Thorn's magazine, he would take out his knife or Omniwrench and kill without mercy. When the two reached the previously discovered Blarg base, Ratchet's armor was completely covered in purple blood from representatives of both races. All this terrified the silver bot, who had been trying to calm his companion for some time, but in vain.

With the Blarg base in front of him, Ratchet charged inside without hesitation. When he reached the courtyard, he was greeted with a large number of barrels pointed at him, and the Scorn Baroness herself.

"Well, well, well. That's Clyde's brat. I thought Lockdown killed you when he threw you out. I guess he forgot to take off your armor so you'll die in a vacuum of space, but that's not important now. I'll kill you and I'll make your fur a nice addition to my armor, hehe," said The Trickster. Then she looked at her soldiers and pointed to Lombax. "Kill him!"

At that moment, thousands of bullets began to fly towards Ratchet. The boy quickly teleported behind the nearest cover and opened fire from behind it. He quickly noticed that for every enemy defeated, be it Blarg or the Scorn, more undead Eliksni took their place. Seeing this turn of events, Lombax used his Void power and summoned a copy of the Golden Gun, and began shooting again. This time, each bullet instantly killed enemies, creating a small explosion that incinerated those around them.

Seeing that the opponent had used their powers, The Trickster used her cloaking generator and started sneaking around. She didn't like being interrupted in her work. And she didn't like it even more when Fikrul was angry because of someone interrupting their work. The woman soon found herself right behind Lombax. Seeing that her opponent was busy, Araskes aimed her rifle at his head.

Fortunately, Clank managed to notice her disguise and informed Ratchet, who immediately teleported to a safer place. This, of course, pissed off the Baroness, who started thinking of another plan of action.

After a few more minutes, the entire base was empty. The only ones on the battlefield were Ratchet and The Trickster. They both looked at each other with an angry look, thinking in their heads how to defeat their opponent. Finally, the woman made the first move. She threw one of her bombs into the air, which exploded and blinded Lombax. This gave her a moment to put her plan into action.

After a few seconds, Ratchet regained his sight and saw that his opponent had disappeared, and Engram cubes appeared in the area. The boy knew, however, that it was a trick and began to carefully look around the area. He walked slowly around the area, looking for any sign of the Baronnes. After a short while, Lombax stood beside Engram and picked it up. The item was purple in color, which usually meant something valuable was inside. Before the boy could check the contents of the Engram, it started flashing red and beeping. Ratchet quickly realized it was a bomb, so he threw it away. However, her blast was too big and hit Lombax, knocking him towards another Engram, which also exploded. All this created a huge chain of explosions that severely damaged the young man.

Aching and tired, Ratchet lay on the ground. His armor was heavily damaged by all these explosions, causing part of his mask to fall off, revealing his scarred face. Despite all this, he wanted to get up, but his hands refused to obey him and he fell to the ground again.

He had really had enough.

Suddenly, he felt someone grab his throat and lift him up. Despite having trouble breathing, Ratchet managed to see that it was The Trickster who was holding him.

"One thing I wonder…How long will it take me to take your fur off before you die? This could be fun, hehe," the woman said.

Ratchet gave her an angry glare, at which she just laughed and taunted him, telling him that his dead father would be disappointed in him. At the mere mention of Clyda, an enraged Lombax let out a wolf-like howl, then summoned a copy of the Void Light knife into his hand and stabbed it into the Baroness's eye. She let go of her prey and screamed in pain. Seeing his opponent busy, Ratchet took out his Omniwrench, then transformed it into a sword and plunged it into the woman's chest, right where the Eliksni usually have hearts.

And so Ratchet ended the life of one of the eight Scorn Barons. His road to revenge and justice has just taken its first major harvest.

"Apart from the fact that it was pretty brutal, I have to say it was a good job. Now we need to find the other Barons. Maybe the base will have some information?" Clank said, pointing to the door leading to the base's main building.

Lombax went there and went inside. He and his companion began searching the computers for the location of their other targets . Their search was fruitful, as they managed to locate the next Baron, Hiraks, also known as the Mindbender. He is conducting some experiments on the Nebula space station and that's where our heroes are going to go.

As the two were about to leave, Ratchet saw out of the corner of his eye that something was moving in the next room. So he went in and saw a group of scientists trembling in fear of Lombax.

"Go away! We didn't do anything to you! We only work with these monsters! This is not illegal!" shouted one of the scientists.

Still blinded by his rage towards the Scorn, Ratchet used his Void powers and summoned something like a Void Light grenade into his hand, then sent it towards the scientists and closed the door behind him. Few people know, but Lightbearers who use Void Light can summon singularity bombs, and that's not a pleasant death.

After leaving the base and returning to the ship, Ratchet set a course for Nebula Station. In the midst of all this, Clank looked at his companion with fear in his eyes and sadness. He was already afraid that his companion might do something terrible.

And apparently he was right.

Alister Azimuth. Once an enforcer in the service of the Emperor himself, now the leader of the group that fights him. He never had it easy in life, despite being the son of the most important military family in the Lombax Empire. Many believed that all he had achieved was because of the connections his family had. What they didn't know was that he had achieved all this by his own work. The sweat and blood that spilled from him caused him to be given the title of the Emperor's Wrath, a person with whom even the most important people in the Empire must be reckoned with. Even now that he is no longer a servant of the Empire, he still holds that title. He has earned it and intends to use it to spread fear in the ranks of his enemies.

The old Lombax was currently in his office reviewing recent mission reports. His scouts and troops encounter fewer Imperial units, which would probably be a good sign for some, but not for him. He knew the Emperor and knew how the Imperial military worked. Something is going on and he doesn't like it very much.

Tired of seeing these reports, Alister put them on his desk and sat back in his chair. He began to think about his past. He missed traveling around the universe, fighting the enemies of the Empire or dangerous beasts. Tears welled up in his eyes just thinking about it. He then opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a photo. There were a lot of people on it. All his companions he encountered in his adventures. But his eyes focused on a pair of Lombaxes. A man and a woman. The man's fur was yellow with brown stripes and green eyes. His attire was custom Combat Engineer armor covered with a winter jacket. The woman has brown fur and yellow stripes, a bushy tail, and blue eyes. Her clothes were plain yellow pilot suit. They both held a small child in their hands. A baby boy.

Alister couldn't control his tears at the sight of them.

"Forgive me Kaden. Forgive me Alicia. I failed you. I didn't protect your son," he said.

For the next few minutes, the man stared at the photo and sobbed. He missed his friends very much. Sometimes he had nightmares in which he listened to them blame him for everything that happened. About their death, the death of their child, or the harm the Lombax suffered because of his rebellion against the Emperor.

After a while someone knocked on Alister's door. He quickly pulled himself together and put on his helmet, not wanting anyone to see him with traces of tears. After all, he must maintain the mask of a strong leader in front of his subordinates. The man opened the door to his office and saw an Alliance soldier standing on the other side, saluting at the sight of their leader.

"Sir! We have received a message from your apprentice. She is returning from her journey and apparently has someone on board who wants to see you," said the soldier.

"I see. Tell her to land in hangar number 10. And get the snipers ready in case our guests have bad intentions." Alister ordered.

"Yes sir!"

After these words, the soldier moved in their direction, leaving Alister alone. During his time as a member of the Empire's Praetorians,he always admired ordinary soldiers. They faced all kinds of adversities and never gave up and fought to the last drop of blood. He respected and admired it. Not wanting to waste any more time, the leader of the Alliance went to Hangar 10.

During his wandering, the man found himself next to Rivet's room. The girl had been discharged from the hospital some time ago and moved to the main building at Jill's request. Many people were surprised by this decision, but when they found out that the girl is Jill's daughter, they immediately understood why she was here. Hearing laughter coming from behind the door, Alister decided to check what was going on. So he knocked a couple of times and when he was given permission to enter, he opened the door. He saw Rivet lying on the bed and Jill sitting next to her. They both looked at the man and barely kept their laughter in check.

"Do I have something on my face?" he asked innocently.

The two ladies looked at each other, then burst out laughing.

The sight made Alister smile beneath his helmet. Not many people know, but he always liked to see his, currently ex-wife, laugh. Same with Rayla, or Rivet as she preferred to be called. The man remembers how he and Jill were trying for a child. The day the girl was born was the most wonderful day of their lives. He is glad that Jill and Rivet are slowly starting to bond with each other. Although he would also like to be a part of a teenager's life, he decided that he was not worthy. He failed as a father, and Rayla should have a better father figure.

After a while, both females stopped laughing and asked what they owed the visit of the Alliance leader. He replied that he was just going to greet his student and on the way he wanted to check how the teenager was doing. The first information greatly pleased the leader of the Clan Ordo and she decided that she would also be happy to welcome Alister's apprentice. She also felt that her daughter should also meet the girl, given their close age.

And so the three of them went to the hangar.

After a while, a black colored ship, which resembles a bird, flew inside and landed. A ramp opened at the bottom of the ship, and an armored woman stepped out. Her entire armor was made to provide a lot of protection, and it showed. Shoulders, gloves or shin guards, it's all heavily armed. Her helmet resembled the one Jill wears, with a T-shaped visor. The whole thing is black with white stripes.

The apprentice walked over to Alistair and knelt before him on one knee.

"Master Wrath. I, your humble ward, have returned from my pilgrimage. I visited important places for our order and managed to capture some prisoners during my journey," said the girl. Then she snapped her fingers, and four people stepped out of the ship. When Rivet looked at them, she saw that two of them were representatives of the Militia and the other two were representatives of the IMC. Each of them has handcuffs on their hands and feet and a collar around their neck. When the prisoners were close, the apprentice stood up and with a wave her hand, making prisoners kneel down. "Kneel before Lord Wrath. You should be honored to even look at him, you worthless meatbags."

Alister looked at his ward, then at the prisoners. He saw that some of them had traces of electric shock on them, suggesting that they were resisting. However, seeing that they had been properly incapacitated, the man waved his hand, non-verbally ordering his soldiers to take the prisoners to the cells. After they were taken away, the young girl again knelt before her master.

"You did well, Anna. Your training shows progress," Alister said. Then he extended his hand to his student. "Rise up."

Anna got up from the ground and bowed to her master.

"Thank you, my Lord, but that's not all I wanted to show you. There is someone on my ship who would like to speak with you."

At that moment, another woman came down the ramp, and next to her was a humanoid monster of unknown race with a sword on its back and white skin. Everyone who looked at her felt a huge, dark aura. They felt that this person was no joke and could kill most of them in a split second.

Alister, as soon as he saw this person, did not hide his rage, which he showed by emitting a red aura around his own body. He knew this woman. And he wasn't happy to be here.

"Lady Nox. Your visit is…unexpected." The man said.

Lady Nox is a woman many people in the Lombax Empire know about. Cold, sophisticated, manipulative, cruel. From the very beginning of her career, the woman has been fond of using lightning magic and its variations. Anyone who stood in her way ended up either a piece of charred corpses or a soulless minion. Her clothes only added to her reputation. A black jumpsuit with spikes on the shoulders, a hood covering a mask with a visor, and gloves and greaves full of spikes, also on the tips of the fingers.

"Lord Wrath. How nice to see you again, my dear. How's your health? I hope you eat well, hmm?" the woman said.

"My health is in very good condition. Thank you for your concern," said Alister. Then he looked at the woman's companion. "I see that Khem Val is still traveling with you. Does he still devour the souls of your enemies?"

Said creature growled at the leader of the Alliance, who responded with a massive dose of his aura that made Khem fall to his knees and struggle to breathe. Lady Nox looked at all this and began to laugh and clap.

"What a show! Magnificent! I can see that after all these years you still have a fire in you, Alister!" said the woman. Then she focused her gaze on her host. "As much as I would love to see a fight between the two of you, there are important and more important things. I'd like to discuss a few things with you, mainly the nature of our cooperation against the Emperor. Interested?"

Alister was indeed surprised by the proposal. Cooperation? With a member of the Dark Council? The people who rule the entire Empire when the Emperor meditates every few years? To the man it smelled like a trick, and it probably is, but knowing how powerful Nox is he decided it would be good to play along and see where it led. So he went with the woman to his office, leaving his apprentice alone with Jill and Rivet.

"Whew. You don't even know how hard it was to fly with that whore. I thought my head would explode from her dark magic. Not to mention that i had to act "properly" around her fucking ass." Anna said. She then removed her helmet, revealing her Lombax heritage with black fur and blue stripes. Next she looked at the matriarch of the Clan Ordo. "It's good to see you again, Jill."

The woman immediately ran to the eighteen-year-old and hugged her tightly.

"Nice to see you too, Anna. I missed you so much," Jill said. She then waved her hand at Rivet to come closer, which she did. The woman then placed her hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Remember how I told you I had a daughter? It's her. Anna, meet Rayla, also known as Rivet. Rayla, meet Anna, the apprentice of Lord Wrath."

The two girls looked at each other and greeted each other with a smile on their faces. They immediately felt that they would be good friends. Jill was glad to see that, because she knew that Anna was an introvert, but she liked to make friends, and Rivet needed friends. But that didn't make the worry in the back of her mind go away. Why?

Because in their base there are two very powerful users of Space Magic. And that can lead to quite a cataclysm.

Bonus:

Void Powers and Void Light are different.

Void powers came from The Void, a chaotic dimension, where time, space and every physic are just throw out of the window. Summoning dead specters or swarm of tentacles are just a percent of powers that users can do.

Void Light is the element of cosmic distortion; the pull of gravity and the promise of entropy. That the vacuum of space and the gravitational forces that shape it show that emptiness is not nothingness. To use Void is to draw power from both the immeasurably small and the unfathomably massive, and with it bend the very fabric of space-time. So creating small black holes is in menu. So you use physics and its properties to kill your enemies.