Intersection I - Chapter 13

Addis-Abeba

His powerful armor was mostly destroyed, some part downright melted. “Warning. Total body failure in 186 seconds.” Said the automated voice of his on-board AI. Just another few seconds! His Halo shone one last time, dodging the innumerable rays of hellfire the Duke launched at him. His helmet was hit. Everything went black as his powersuit failed. A shock, the one of his body crashing on the ground, and light flooding again in his helmet, the backup systems barely able to take over. At last… He tought, seeing the last light of his life coming to end him. He close his blinded eyes, accepting the peaceful offer. On the silent battlefield, a bell rang... No… not a bell. A powerful shield had appeared between him and the duke. The cavalry is here. He smiled.

***

“Aliel secured. Halo Power output: 100%. All system prepped for battle.” “Launch Orichalcum World-rampart Protocole.” Said saraqael, her voice filled with cold anger. “World-rampart Protocole initiated.” Answered the metallic voice of Orichalcum’s AI.

***

The little girl stood there, amidst the wreckage. She didn’t know where her father had go, she was alone and scarred. A tiny figure was flying in the sky, battling a gigantic monster. Time seemed to stretch as the figure, the angel was beaten by the monster. One last beam and it came crashing down, just a few meters from her. The demon looked toward them, first at the defeated angel, next at the little girl. Once again she felt tears flowing from her cheeks, the fear suffisient to make her snap out of her shock. She ran toward the angel with the faint hope he would protect her. Dots appeared on the skin of the monster, thousands of them. She couldn’t close her eyes, even knowing that death was coming. It fired.

“BOOM!” A gigantic shield had landed, deflecting all the beams with a powerfull shockwave that went to the sky. Like a rampart, it stood in the middle of the city, dividing it in two: One side for the demon, the other for everyone else. One second later, the owner of the shield appeared, a humongous metal angel with enormous wings and a colossal Halo over its head, shining as if competing with the sun, and winning. It slowed down as solid light burst out of its shoulders, then took the shield back. An energy shockwave ran through it, and it started opening, enlarging, millions of metallic disks bound by a purple light, a light nearly alive…

A strange vessel had emerged from the giant angel, she realized just now, already upon her and the wounded angel at her side. She went even closer to him and, when the vessel took the angel, she was taken too.

***

“Again!” “...no, little one. You’ve learned everything you could from this. We will proceed to the next step.” “No, I want to fight scorpions again!” She said, caught in her killing momentum. Four frozen corpses litered the ground around her, remains of her four battles against the scorpions. She was smilling, the smile of a madwoman. “You want more battle? Good!” This time the voice wasn’t a whisper, but a scream, the wind raging around her. One, two… four, no, six scorpions appeared at the same time. “I dislike doing that, but I think you need to learn pain, little monster!”

***

“Time seems to have slowed down in the Endless battlefield, it’s synchronyzed with the real world again.” Said another Adept to Elijah. “We need to do an emergency dive now! Call the Counselor and all the adept, we’ll need everyone to stabilize the portal while I dive in!” She started incanting right away, helping lighten the load on the spellcasting adepts, waiting for renforcement to show. The first Adept arrived only a few seconds later, and with the time passing, more and more presented themselve, until all thirteen of this Cell’s Adepts were present. At last, the only healthy Couselor she had entered to room, panic in his eyes, but under control. “What’s going on?” “An anomaly in the spatial field is collapsing the portal.” Answered Elijah, switching place with the counselor. “I’ll dive in it, keep it open at all cost.” The Counselor noded, already occupied with the stabilization of the portal. The Cell Master took a knife from one of the numerous pouch she seemed to have on her, cutting her left hand open. “This is the rope I’ll use to come back, hold it firmly.” She said to the man behind her, Pierre. “As you order, Cell Master.” What would I give for him to be this formal all the time. Pierre was always extremely obedient and efficient during crisis. She started pulling her own blood, forming a red rope that extended from her hand to the young man. She looked at the red dome and stepped in.

***

Stop it, Eldrie! Screamed her grimoire, but she couldn’t care less. She had been cut and stabbed several time and, even if she could tell that all her wounds were light, the pain she felt was real. “Make it stop, please!” She begged, barely dodging another assault, feeling another cut being added on her back. “I’m not sure you’ve learned the lesson, little monster!” Answered the wind, angry. She moved to spellcast another freezing hands spell but was interupted by the claw of a scorpion, forcing her to dodge again. However, the appenadge drew her blood, wounding the back of her right hand. Light flooded out of it and, with the half-completed spell between her fingers, she struck the ground. A gentle wave traveled through the sand, freezing everything, stopping the scorpions in their momentum and turning them into sculptures of ice. From her hand, light kept spilling out, red like blood. Emotions filled her head, foreign emotions, foreign memories. Fuck, Eldrie, stop boosting her capacities now! Clac! In her head, she saw herself ten meters high, commanding troops. Clac! Now she was in her bed, against her wife. They were kissing pationately. Clac! Now she was training with her best friend, trading blows on the crushed sand. Clac! With her father, at a familly dinner. Clac! Condemned for a crime. Clac! Pain. Clac! Anguish. Clac! Sadness. Clac! Clac! Clac! Eldrie! But it was already too late. The sand exploded.

***

Awake again, he was monitoring the battle between the Wild Duke and Saraqael through the systems of his suit, all the while the embarqued surgery system was doing its work. She can’t fight at full power, there’s too much civilians on site. He thought furiously. We can’t destroy more than this monster already would, that wouldn’t make any difference! Seven thousands years old. He was old, but even so, even after all the loss he endured, all the thing he sacrified, he couldn’t stop caring. No. Because he lost so much, he cared so much. “Loükorsh. Please, do something.” He whispered.” Just beside him, the automated system had recognized another patient and started curing her, a little girl, lost...

***

“Warning! Interdimensional rift opening!” Said the AI with its metallic voice. As if this fight wasn’t already difficult enough! Saraqael was more frustrated than she was angry. If only she could unleash what her Clarion could really do, this puny Duke would have been crushed already. But there was too much civilians, too much lives on the line. Aliel would never forgive me if I don’t do everything I can to save them. She had, so far, greatly limited the damage the Duke could have done. In this regard, Aliel hadn’t made a poor choice: Saraqael’s Clarion was the best in term of defense and zone interdiction. The World-rampart dealt with nearly all the attack of the demon, and even the few that could reach her mekka couldn’t do anything to its shell. However, that was all. She couldn’t move aggressively, lest she destroyed everything around her, not only her opponant. “Take the sky.” Her Clarion answered her call by giving her trust with its wings, but… “Clunk!” “Fuck, we’re already taken by the rift.” Indeed, one of her mekka’s feet was already passing thourgh the portal, dragging them. But the Duke’s also engulfed… “Counter-order. Full trust down, we’ll use rampart to push the Duke in.” “Understood.”