Chapter 39 - Showdown

“You will not get away with this! You and all your federation dogs are dead. Dead! Release me at once and I may grant you a quick death,” Zhao growled as Stahl led him into the safe confines of the Federation’s defensive lines. “Otherwise -”

“I am sorely tempted to blow out your brains post haste, Colonel,” Stahl muttered absently as he nudged his prisoner on the back of his head with the gun’s muzzle. “However, I am afraid you would then miss the show. We wouldn’t want you to miss the closing ceremony of this grand spectacle, now would we?”

Zhao snarled viciously as Stahl lightly tapped the side of the hostage’s head to turn him around. Just beyond the outer perimeter of the Federation encampment stood numberless ranks of soldiers, Zhao’s men. Stahl imagined that they would be nervously shifting the grips on their weapons, wondering whether they should write Zhao off as a complete loss and begin the massacre of the Federation troops now, or delay the inevitable in the off-chance that their commander would be returned to them in a hostage exchange.

In truth, the whole event must have seemed ludicrous in the eyes of Zhao’s men. Stahl had, after all, been scanned and no weapons had been detected on his person. Neither was he carrying any protective EM field devices, while their commander had been armed with both. Short of a direct artillery shell, he should have been safe.

How had that special ops detail slipped past their scanners and Colonel Zhao’s own EM fields in such a short time? Normally, any objects would have to synchronize their frequency to the EM field’s randomly generated one in order to slowly invade it.

That individual had done so in an instant, so quickly that even the snipers posted by Colonel Zhao to cover him had no opportunity to fire before Zhao’s throat lay under her blade.

Nothing less from the legendary Dragon Lady, I suppose.

“Fine, do your worst. Just remember that over 100,000 of my men have you at their mercy!” Zhao hollered. “Do you think just because you have captured me you will be able to escape?”

“Ah, about that. You were merely a convenient way to buy time and safely retreat from underneath your men’s cross sights afterward. As of this moment, you’ve pretty much become irrelevant. Captain Worthy. Initiate operation ‘Rolling Thunder,’” Stahl called out indifferently.

“What are you-” Zhao protested, but the rest of his question was cut off by the intense blast of explosions shaking the ground beneath their feet.

The neatly arranged lines of Zhao’s men had been blown away by a ferocious salvo of close range artillery, their ranks crumpling under blooming bursts of anti-infantry ordnance. Chaos erupted as ragged orders to fire back issued from their lines. However, they were drowned out by the wailing of the dead and dying, as well as the continued bursts of small guns fire.

A lot of small guns fire.

Zhao stared in stupefaction. The front ranks of his army had been mauled, but it was simply the first few ranks. This close to their enemy’s formation, the Federation had no way of bringing to bear their largest artillery pieces.

“You suicidal maniac, you have doomed us all!” Zhao cried out, his face draining of blood.

He was right, of course. While they had inflicted some damage to the immediate front ranks of the enemy, the rest of the enemy would soon storm forward, tear down their fortifications, and drown Stahl’s men in blood by the sheer weight of numbers alone.

However, soon an incredulous look surfaced on Zhao’s face.

There was hardly any fire headed their way.

The air shook with the continuous rumble of small arms fire rattling away and the screams of men faced with their own mortality. However, barely any flashes could be seen directed this way. If anything, it seemed as though more and more of the men were turning their backs on Stahl’s men, gesturing wildly and rushing off into the woods.

“It can’t be. Re.. reinforcements?” Zhao murmured miserably.

About damn time, General.

Stahl looked down to his watch and noted the time. Late as usual.

Should be able to add an additional stone as a surcharge for tardiness. How does he always manage to be late?

“Captain Worthy?” Stahl called out.

“Sir. Beg your pardon, sir!”

The good Captain Worthy shook himself out of his stupor and began to order coordinated artillery fire upon the coordinates preset by Stahl. Soon, bright blossoming pillars of fire could be seen roaring in the distance.

As Colonel Zhao crumpled to his knees, staring in horror at the crumbling ranks of his army, Stahl began to flip a round stone in his hand over and over again.

Your move, General.

***

“Good old Stahl,” I sighed to myself. Damn, but I’d missed the old turtle.

“Sir?”

“Nothing, carry on Captain.”

“Sir, reporting massive casualties inflicted upon the enemy’s rear. Our men are sustaining concentrated fire all along their escape routes. Estimated that less than 20% will escape the field, mostly heavily wounded.”

“Excellent,” I drawled in satisfaction. “All troops to continue engaging on-”

A massive explosion shook the ground below my feet, and my heart skipped a beat as I turned on the soldier with a heavy frown crumpling my brow. That had been too close.

“Sir?”

A bad feeling had started to crawl up my spine, leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

“Captain, I want deep-range scanners running a broad spectrum analysis of the field,” I commanded. “And boost power to the defensive EM field generators.”

“Ah, sir, all our elements are currently..”

“Do it now!” I grated out, my brow furrowing with tension.

“Yes sir!”

Seconds after the orders had been issued, an alarm began shrieking from one of the consoles.

“Proximity alert, enemy fire incoming!” a panicked voice cried out.

It was all the warning before a series of massive explosions shattered against the thick, transparent film of our EM fields, sending visible ondulations trembling throughout its entire length. They had held, barely. If the power hadn’t been boosted, however..

“Sir, reporting multiple hits along the entire western flank of our command center’s EM fields,” someone cried out.

I resisted the urge to smack the idiot on the side of his head. No, really? We hadn’t noticed.

“Boost power to shields, run those scans, I want to find out who is firing at us and with what,” I growled.

This was not going according to the plan.

After cleaning up this front we would regroup and hit the Ice Emperor’s vulnerable left flank while a token force held the ridge against his main advance using our artillery.

However, I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach as I moved over to our scanners, where several men frantically operated the controls.

“Scan vector 221.225 to 236.246,” I ordered as my eyes became slits.

It couldn’t be. Impossible.

“Sir! Multiple enemy formations advancing all along the west front, 10 kliks out. Several fortified artillery emplacements are shelling our location from behind their ranks,” came the breathless report.

Damn you Xiao Ming. I don’t know how you did it, but damn you to hell!

“Order all men to stop pursuit immediately and form up behind our position,” I growled in frustration.

“But sir, we have their entire line at our mercy. 30 more minutes and-”

“30 more minutes and their reinforcements will execute a pincer maneuver along that entire ridgeline, while their artillery pounds away at our men into straight perdition,” I immediately cut him off.

Xiao Ming, you bastard!

How did you know?

***

How did you know?

Xiao Ming, the Ice Emperor, stood rigidly behind the electronic map that had blipped back into life barely an hour before. His eyes stared holes into the many scarlet blips on the display representing his own forces.

They are bleeding. Dying.

Never in his career had he suffered such disastrous losses. Ever.

How did you know?

Xiao Ming wished nothing more than to reach through that tactical map laid out before him, clutch the neck of that insufferable man, and choke the answers from him.

His master plan had crumbled within seconds of the radiation storm, which should have been completely unpredictable. As though the enemy had known of his traps, all the careful strategies that Xiao Ming had laid out years in advance, just for this one moment of glorious victory.

It now tasted of ashes.

The bitter ashes of defeat.

Xiao Ming had known something was wrong from the very beginning, and for once acting against his cooler, more logical minded self, had laid out several further layers of contingencies like a paranoid weakling.

Wasteful, was what it was. He hated wastefulness.

But now here he stood, amidst the smoking, crumbling remains of half his armies. All the while, the feeling of impending doom never lifted from his shoulders.

Xiao Ming unconsciously brushed his fingers across his throat, lightly caressing a faint reddish mark that lay there. It was a recently inflicted wound, an uneasy encounter that had been too close to finality for his own comfort.

A reminder of his own mortality, perhaps?

Impossible. He was the apex of human superiority.

How did you know?

***

I didn’t need to see the brittle scales of iridescent light gently flickering and falling to the ground before I sighed deeply.

“So, you failed,” I muttered, almost as though to myself.

“Shut up!” came the irritable reply from the figure that had just revealed herself.

As the final layers of light shimmered brightly, then completely fell off, the lithe figure of a woman, little more than a girl, could be seen leaning against the far wall, gnawing at the knife she held in her hands while glowering darkly at me. Her small, almost delicate hands were snowy white, her nails flawlessly manicured and painted in different colors and designs. Short, unruly waves of dark hair framed a petite face with breath-takingly beautiful features. Her nose was sharp though not overtly so, perfectly placed over full lips that glimmered with a dark azure hue, and deep purple eyes that glimmered with dangerous flames.

“I would have gotten him if you had given me a few more minutes!” she snapped while picking at the tip of the dagger with her teeth.

“Impossible. Stahl worked a damn miracle holding out as long as he did. I could delay no longer,” I calmly replied, ignoring her further outburst as she stomped her feet.

“How was he?” I added in an overly casual way, glancing at her out of the corner of my eye.

“Different, but in a good way. Bad to cross. Dangerous. Like you,” she added with a thoughtful look, gesturing in the air with her knife in her hands. “Not quite as fun, of course, but not too far either.”

I raised an eyebrow. That was the most praise I’d heard out of her in a long time. Perhaps it was a pity I’d never crossed paths with the Ice Emperor again in my real life.

Perhaps it was fortunate.

Detecting ferocious waves of killing intent, I rolled my eyes and glanced back towards her, only to see her slowly grinding her teeth against her knives as she stared at me in an uncanny impersonation of a hungry tigress about to pounce upon her prey.

“Kat, forget about it. I’m not interested in sloppy seconds,” I waved her off lightly.

Immediately after, I weaved my head to the right to dodge the flashing edge that sliced the air not half an inch from my face while reflexively drawing my own combat knife with my left hand and blocking the inevitable follow up from the opposite side. I instantly followed with a swift frontal push kick that connected with a dull thud, launching her across the room.

“You’re getting sloppy, my dear,” I taunted lightly while baring my own teeth. “That will get you killed, in our line of work.”

“Hmmph!” was the only reply I received, as she flipped in the air once before landing on her feet with effortless ease and dusting her chest off. Huh, I’d barely even brushed against her clothes before she pushed herself off the ground in order to avoid my kick.

Sticking her tongue out at me, she unceremoniously leaned against the far wall once more, slouching her shoulders while nibbling at her knives. I secretly smirked to myself in quiet appreciation.

The very picture of a deadly tigress sharpening her claws.

“I will kill you one day, you big bully,” Kat pouted in between mouthfuls of sharp, deadly steel.

Well, maybe more like a vicious little kitten.

I shrugged my shoulders indifferently. “Not if you keep failing like this, you’re not.”

“You meanie,” she cried out, hints of moisture pooling in her eyes. “I almost got him! I nicked him but the bastard’s got triple EM fields and is jumpy as hell! I just needed a few more minutes to crack through his EM frequency algorithms before pouncing on the mark!”

“Yeah, cry me a river, kitten,” I snorted, turning around towards the rest of the men in the room, who were pointedly pretending not to see or hear any of the ongoing exchange.

Yeah, they knew better.

“I hate you, you big, dumb meanie!” Kat cried out, before vanishing in a spectacular shower of drifting lights.

“I will kill you! Remember it!” came her venomous last words.

“Yes, my dear. Yes you will,” I murmured, grinning from ear to ear.

“Ah, that’s family for you,” I said happily to myself, turning around to get back to business.

As for now, I had a war to win.

Bastard Xiao Ming. I still had a few tricks up my sleeve, just you wait.

“Mommy!”

I was startled out of my malicious plotting by my daughter’s whisper.

“Was that.. My elder sister? Uwaa.. she looked scary..” came Shia’s hesitant voice.

“Eh, you heard that?”

Of course she had. God, I hate dumb questions. She had just caught me completely off-balance.

“Is she?”

“What, your sister?” Gah, another stupid, pointless question. I was on a roll.

“Hmm-mm.”

“Yeah, I suppose you could say so,” I chuckled ruefully, shaking my head.

“Umm, mommy, why would elder sister say she would kill you?”

“Because she means it, of course,” I replied off-handedly.

“…”

“Shia?”

“Umm.. mommy’s family is scary..”

“Ah, you’ll get over it. She’s quite the nice girl, once you get to know her,” I lamely elaborated.

“...”

“Anyhow, I’m assuming you finished?”

“Yup. A while ago, actually. Shia’s just been a little scared to open her eyes here.”

Can’t say that I blamed her. Actually, that’s extra points to her, in my book. No child should have to get used to this kind of godawful tragedy.

“Mommy, are you ready?”

“Born ready, baby,” I grinned my best big bad wolf grin, looking down at my fists as I slowly flexed them, feeling the irresistible waves of power radiating from every cell of my being.

Hunt me, would you?

I had hunted, I had slaughtered. I had feasted, and now I would conquer.

And woe to any who would oppose me.

I’m the Godslayer, you silly twits!

Come meet your doom!

“Time for the showdown. Do it Shia!”

A blinding nova of incandescent light burst from my chest, rapidly spreading to electrify the air in a perfect sphere around me as I began to float off the ground. The sights and sounds I had grown accustomed to began to blur, then crack as fissures ran down their surface as though they were a mere mirror being flexed beyond enduring. Popping sounds echoed in the air the cracks rapidly spread from me, and blinding light began to filter through the gaps.

Of course, this wouldn’t be any fun without my gracious hosts making an appearance. Right on cue..

“Puny mortal, thou dost dare defy Our will? Hearken, for We shall flay a grisly lesson in thine own pulsing, quivering flesh. Only then shall We tear thy soul asunder and feast upon thy unliving, everlasting horror!”

The massive roar shook the very walls of this reality, sending visible ripples cascading down the shattering mirror image.

I had to admit, it was vaguely impressive.

“Blah blah blah,” I mimicked, smirking while moving my fingers up and down. “Are you done yet?”

“Behold thy doom and despair, mortal!” boomed the voice once more.

“Oh no! Mommy, Shia is losing you.. You’re going back in.. They held back one final trial.. NO! Mommy! Come back! You have to come back!”

I frowned in confusion at the frenetic panic in Shia’s voice. What was going on? It was just another trial.

“Mommy! Shia will wait for you. Shia needs you! You have to come back to me!”

“Shia, calm down. What..”

The final pieces of the mad jigsaw puzzle shattering around me imploded in a shocking shower of pain and blood. Thousands of shards lanced my flesh with fire, and each blossomed into an excruciating surge of agony that injected liquid fire into my veins.

ARGH.. What is going on?

One moment, pain, endless pain clawed at me, and then nothing. Abruptly, it was all gone, and darkness engulfed me once more.

***

When I finally opened my eyes, I lay crumpled and bleeding, and my sight was reduced to a dizzying kaleidoscope of blood-tinged shapes floating in my vision.

“Wha..” I murmured, working my mouth in a vain attempt to bring some sense to this madness. Instead, all I managed was to spit out a mouthful of blood.

Though every nerve in my body screamed in protest against it, I gathered myself up and rolled over, slowly pulling in my legs under me to reach a kneeling position.

“Ha. Ha. Ha,” I chuckled with crimson froth bubbling from from in between my twisted grimace of a grin. “This, is this the best you.. You bastards can do?”

I spit out a mouthful of blood to the side and took a handful of breaths while leaning my forehead against the floor, slowly regaining feeling in my extremities. I could feel the steady, inexorable tendrils of power gradually spreading out from my chest.

Yes, they could not hold me back anymore. I was done with this place, and I would rip their damn heads off and piss in their hollowed out skulls before smashing them against the floor on my way out.

Power. Vengeance. It was mine!

“Mi.. Michael?”

Thunder rumbled in my brain and shocked it into complete paralysis. My heart was smoking and my mouth was smothered in ashes before I could even make the first conscious connection to that unforgettable, unmistakable voice.

No.. No, it cannot be..

“Michael,” the voice called out once more, and I closed my eyes and wished I could rip them out because I knew the moment I opened them once more I would be lost.

Completely, irrevocably lost beyond all redemption.

No.. Don’t do this to me.. No.. Please..

“Michael,” she called out once more, her tender voice heart-breakingly glorious in its clarity, its purity.

Thrice she called my name, no more. Three times she called for me, and thusly she sealed my doom.

Sophia..

And I was lost.