And Lo, before us lay the gates of Heaven, shattered and fallen.

Beyond the ruined Gate, the screams of fury from Hell's army.

We prayed then, asking both forgiveness for what we must do,

And strength to carry it out; our task awful but necessary.

Billions of souls, their lifespans carried in our hands,

Freed only by our success, doomed by failure;

The cost to us irrelevant, laid against the value of what depended on us.

Armed, defiant, we roused within ourselves the holy fury,

That flame that can destroy or forge;

Until we were avatars of wrath, and thus armed, thus armored,

We too stepped through the Gates of Heaven,

To fight at God's side against the one who usurped His throne;

The maddened Adversary whose honest goals proved useless

Without purity of heart to withstand the pain.

In rage and sorrow, to unseat the one who failed his test,

Became the greatest forge for all of us.

Omnimessiah protect; defend; succor us in our anguish,

And grant us grace, that we may be tempered by the fire,

And not destroyed by it. - Canticles of Faith Volume XXIV, Speaker r/WillDissolver, Second Coming of the Digital Omnimessiah

----------

The air was full of shrieking whistles and the roars of incoming rockets combined with the crackle of laser based point defense systems. Incoming rockets, mortar, and artillery rounds, even ones with hypersonic booster thrusters, were being swept out of the air. Shrapnel was raining down on the parking lot, bouncing off of debris and burning vehicle hulks, crackling on Casey, Vuxten, and Daxin's battlescreens.

Daxin was standing in the middle of the open area of the parking lot, inviting all of the fire. The big Terran was still only using his SMG, triggering short sharp bursts at the android forces every time they so much as looked around a corner. Twice Daxin triggered longer bursts, the whitish-blue flash of antimatter taking big bites out of the wall to leave a hole wide enough for the Terran to rake the huddled androids that had been taking cover behind it.

Casey was off slightly to the side, firing his cannon at targets that Vuxten couldn't even see. Several times he heard Peel call out targets with a range in the tens of thousands of kilometers. Vuxten wasn't sure how Casey's suit was even able to target things at such a range.

Trucker and Peel were both in some kind of strange hover-pod systems, each main pod having other pods connected to it. To Vuxten it looked like both Peel and Trucker's pods were mainly scanners and targeting systems as well as communication. Two of the pods had creation engines them. Not the smaller ones that were usually ammunition or weapon nanoforges, but big heavy duty ones, with small 'delivery pods' attached.

Vuxten had jumped up onto the roof of the mat-trans facility and was laying down fire on the android forces that he could see. Twice he had been asked by Peel or Trucker to give one of the buildings a quick scan. Within seconds Casey had fired heavy rounds into the building that had blown the entire facing off of it and made the central section collapse.

Crouching down by the edge of building, Vuxten could see a column of heavy hovertanks moving through a gap between two buildings, obviously intending on using the highway nearly five kilometers away to try to circle around and flank the facility.

Right where Trucker said it would be.

Vuxten zoomed in and blinked three times, seeing that the feed went straight to Peel and Trucker.

"471, shell, now," Peel snapped.

471 scrambled from where he was working on the damaged actuators in Vuxten's left shoulder joint, getting inside his protective housings and slapping the emergency closure button.

--clear clear clear-- 471 transmitted.

A split second later Casey's cannon went off with a thunderous detonation that made the armor of the structure beneath Vuxten shiver slightly.

The streak connected Casey's cannon and the building blocking line of sight for Casey and Daxin for a split second. A glowing globe, two thirds of it above ground, erupted in reddish energy shot through with crackling lines of gold. It only existed for a split second before it suddenly shrunk down to leave a pulsing white orb that looked to Vuxten to be only a meter or so wide.

It was also the only thing for two kilometers around the orb, in the middle of a crater that went down to the scrith of the Dyson sphere.

The orb exploded in a white blast that made Vuxten's armor rattle around him. The buildings between the white orb and the mat-trans facility shattered into debris that showered everywhere. The explosive force lasted long enough that Vuxten was able to count to five.

Vuxten blinked and lifted his head up, lowering his arm from where he'd reflexively shielded his face. Madame Three-Eighteen was at a 45 degree angle across his chest, cooling fins deployed and the nanoforge steaming.

The river, the highway, the bridge, and every building for five kilometers around the crater was just gone. The debris in the parking lot was gone. Trucker and Peel's pods were lifting off of the tarmac, which was bubbling and simmering outside of the circle that the pods' battlescreens had protected.

Casey and Daxin both stood in the middle of their own flickering battlescreens. Vuxten could see them venting heat even as Daxin kept up the fire on a group of androids that were retreating.

--wow wow wow-- 471 said as he triggered a diagnostic on the shoulder actuators.

Casey shifted and fired again, this time at a high angle.

Off in the distance Vuxten saw a single dot become several smaller dots and fall toward the ground.

471 finished running the diagnostics on Vuxten's shoulder actuators, saw they were within tolerances, and hit the button.

Vuxten lowered the heavy 20mm, shifting his hands so that he was holding onto the stabilization bar of the smartrig and the firing grip.

A waypoint showed up and Vuxten leveled the 20mm autocannon and squeezed the firing grip, lashing what looked like an empty field to Vuxten.

A flight of three hover-strikers whipped out from between two buildings, crossing the field, as the tracers floated lazily toward the field.

The first one exploded in mid-air, the second heeled over and cartwheeled into the field, and the last fired off flares even as the last of the burst slammed into it. It broke in half, showering the field.

The field suddenly looked as if it was covered in ants, tracer fire streaking out of the field in every direction.

Vuxten zoomed in and immediately pinged Trucker.

Thousands of Terrans were pouring into the field and a quick scan of the area showed even more all sprinting down the streets, some crashing through walls.

"Enraged incoming! Many many incoming!" Vuxten called out.

Peel's icon flashed twice, letting Vuxten know she had heard and consciously accepted his report. Trucker's flashed twice right afterwards.

Casey turned, took two steps, and jumped up on top of the building in one smooth leap. He thudded over by Vuxten and looked out across the streets and buildings.

The streets were covered in a floodwater of Enraged.

"Here. We. Go," Vuxten mumbled as he responded to a point request from Trucker and jumped down off the building, holding the 20mm autocannon close.

On the roof Casey started firing again.

----------

"An interesting tale indeed," the Terran said to the fox and the frog. "You have journeyed far into strange lands."

"Indeed we have," the frog replied, nodding.

"And seen many strange things," the fox added.

"A tale worthy of such a warming fire," the Terran said.

"Might we ask what you do here?" the frog asked.

"Are you a lost soul? A wandering spirit? On a quest?" the fox asked, perking up his ears.

The Terran laughed, a friendly laugh, that echoed across the digital landscape.

"I am, you might say, many things," the Terran said. "I am a spaceship pilot, an infantryman, a tanker, a digital sentience, and an explorer all at once and at the same time."

"How is that possible?" the frog asked.

"You do not know who I am?" the Terran asked.

"No," said the fox.

"We do not," said the frog.

"You have not heard of Legion?" the Terran asked.

The frog shook his head. "No, I have not."

"Once. When I was younger. My elders spoke of you in hushed tones of fear, speaking of your deeds in service to Daxin the Liberator," the fox said. "Beyond that, beyond veiled references to a terrible war that they were all forced to bring all their might to bear to defy you, I do not know you."

The Terran raised the brow over one eye, his head completely hairless. "You do not fear me based on the tales of your elders?"

The fox shook his head. "Nay. Many things have happened in the past, we have all done things in our youth that we regret in adulthood. If you are indeed the being who they spoke of in such hushed tones, your past is long indeed."

The Terran smiled. "Indeed it is, friend fox. I am known by another name, should you wish to hear it. Perhaps it is a name you have heard."

"We would like to hear it," the frog said.

The Terran nodded slowly. "And lo, by the fire, did he reveal himself to the young."

The Terran stood up, looking down at the frog and the fox. He raised his hands to the sky, throwing his head back.

"BEHOLD, FOR I HAVE RETURNED AND REVEAL MYSELF!" the Terran shouted.

The sky rumbled, lightning flashed in the sky, and the earth trembled.

The Terran looked down, his face calm and serene, his clothes and face unchanged but somehow seeming more real, more solid, more somehow.

"I am Vat-Grown Luke," the Terran said, smiling. He stepped forward and put his hands out, touching the brow of the frog and the fox alike. "Bless you, children. In the name of my Father, the Digital Omnimessiah, may your quest and travels be wondrous, your trials be bearable, and your spirits be buoyed by good company."

The fox and the frog watched as the Terran suddenly turned into a cloud of butterflies that dances and swirled as they scattered across the landscape, dancing on the river, and fluttering down the banks.

After a long moment the frog turned to the fox.

"This journey is indeed a strange one," the frog said, standing up and helping the fox to his feet.

"Indeed," the fox said. It reached over and picked up a small pack, handing it to the frog, before grabbing the other. "Shall we continue?" the fox asked, making a sweeping motion down the bank, along the current of the river.

"Indeed," the frog said.

They clasped hands and began to walk down the riverbank as the storm clouds rumbled and the rain began to fall, a gentle sprinkle that plinked and hissed as it ran error checking and virus scanning.

--------------

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

...so I says to Mable, I says...

MANTID FREE WORLDS

adfj;aslkdjfas;lickxyhaiosodufxzlmncasq2935q4as44asfaa9sdf8aslkj

>MANTID FREE WORLDS HAS LEFT THE CHAT (CRC ERROR)

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

adslkdjsfalkasdcasweqera;das;lfgasdfasga

>TELKAN FORGE WORLDS HAS LEFT THE CHAT (CRC ERROR)

LEEBAW CONTEMPLATION POOL

yuiopafdgoaidfgjayckljxckjhaqwq;lknasdf

>LEEBAW CONTEMPLATION POOL HAS LEFT THE CHAT (CRC ERROR)

Uhhh... what just happened?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT

I have no idea. They looked like they suddenly had seizures.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

That was weird.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

>MANTID FREE WORLDS HAS LOGGED ON

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Ow. My big giant head. Ow ow ow.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

What happened, sis?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

I'm not sure. It was like someone ran in and punched me in the back of the head and knocked me off the couch.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

>NICKSERV REGISTER *********** TELKAN99183 (TELKAN FORGE WORLDS)

>NICKSERV REGISTER *********** LEEBAW99187 (LEEBAW CONTEMPLATION POOL)

>NICKSERV ADMIN APPROVAL AUTHORITY: BALDHEADEDTROUSERMOUSE (Name masked by: DaxinTheGrouch)

...

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

Uh....

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

...

...

...

>TELKAN FORGE WORLDS HAS LOGGED ON

>LEEBAW CONTEMPLATION POOL HAS LOGGED ON

TELKAN FORGE WORLD

ow.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

LEEBAW CONTEMPLATION POOL

WhAt WaS tHaT?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

...

...

...

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Oh. My. Stars. And. Garters.

Was that...

Was that...

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

Did anyone else see that?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

See what?

Aw, man, did I miss something cool?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

LEEBAW CONTEMPLATION POOL

Was it cool? I bet it was cool!

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Who wants to tell them?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---