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Cherry sighed in relief as she rubbed at her back a bit, wincing and muttering about how it always felt sore after she was laying on her stomach so long... "Sorta like doin' it doggy-style over and over." She added, making both Cindy and Marina roll their eyes. Then she coughed and quickly slid her way down off the roof, landing idly on the other side of the strut and smashing the control panel for the shutter door behind her without even a glance, halting the shutter from rising up before it was more than a few centimeters off the ground, calling idly up to the others: "Come on, area's clear."

Marina and Cindy looked nonplussed, but came down anyway, Cindy wincing at the yells from inside... before Cindy scowled as Cherry tossed the rifle away and picked up a fallen assault rifle from an enemy instead, walking down the bridge that was littered with bodies of Super Enforcers and non-replicated giants that had been armed with hooks on their wrists - Cherry couldn't recognize a traditional weapon like a tinsa'ar if her life depended on it - and grenade launchers.

The other two females followed their oldest sister, Marina stooping to snag a belt of grenades from one soldier and one of the heavy explosive weapons, then she broke the barrel of the enormous single-shot gun to make sure there was a grenade in the chamber, before snapping it closed and resting it against her shoulder as she walked forwards, hand loosely gripping the handle. Cindy, on the other hand, snagged an assault rifle... and Cherry simply walked towards the control cabin for the massive generator core, stepping into the cabin and ignoring brain matter on the wall and broken glass from a shattered window.

She tapped at a control terminal, and the monitor flickered before the Ultima logo came up. Cherry stared at this dumbly... then snarled when an alarm went off and a mechanical, but terribly intelligent - and most definitely pissed-off - voice shouted: "Intruder! Alert, alert level one! Patriarch... oh dear Gods, no! Fortify all systems, fortify all systems! Lock down the area! Code 42-White!"

That's a weird-ass code. Cherry frowned a bit, working faster... but the terminal stubbornly refused to do anything, and then the mechanical voice shrieked at her: "You bitch! Like I'll let you get access to the Core!"

"Fuck you." Cherry snarled, then she punched the monitor out, shattering it with one firm strike before glaring out the back window and noting the tracks... before pausing and grinning a bit, holding her other hand out. "Gimme the backpack, Marina."

The female winced a bit, but didn't bother to argue; arguing with Cherry was always useless. As she handed it over, however, Cindy couldn't find it in her not to say at least something: "What the hell are you doing, Cherry? Don't do what I think you mean to do, it's suicide!"

"You're hurtin' my feelings!" Cherry whined, then she winked. "And anyway, it'll be all good. Just wait and see." A pause, then a grin as she strapped the backpack on, then jumped out the glassless rear window and into what looked like dead space, landing instead on a pair of almost invisible black tracks. Her scales turned obsidian as she stood on them, only her blue eyes showing as she winked at them. "Just gotta watch my feet."

A moment later, she was off, using her precog to guide her as she ran smoothly along the pair of tracks leading through the air and towards the metal core, all but invisible in the darkness as she grunted a bit with the effort of maintaining both balance and speed. She leaned forwards a bit, her muscular body flexing as she shot a glance up to determine her distance towards the massive core, before looking down and monitoring her charge forwards.

As expected, however, Ultima - she guessed it was the AI program Zerrex had once mentioned to her to be wary of - started screaming, and a moment later, two cameras flicked up towards her and what looked like a miniature anti-tank turret descended from the roof of a small, recessed square nook that led into the spherical structure. It clicked a few times, and then Cherry swayed to the side, and a shot went past her, her grin widening as she called in a thrilled, dark voice: "I haven't had fun like this in ages!"

She twisted to the other side, then ducked, then dropped and snagged the right rail with her right hand, using her momentum to swing her hard back up between the rails and landing on the left track and charging along it with both arms out, before jumping backwards and catching the narrow rail with both hands and scissoring her legs out: a double shot from the cannon tore a gap in the rail she was currently on, and the next went through her legs.

Again, it began to target her, but the track she was on bent forwards under her weight with the new, ragged gap in the steel, and she kicked forwards at the same time, one leg hitting the other rail before she found herself flying forwards, and she kicked off, then spun her body in midair with a cold grin... and the final bullet from the turret barely scratched over her stomach as she arched her back at the same time... then landed on the other side of the rails and into the small nook in a crouch.

Ultima shrieked in disapproval and shock... and then Cherry straightened and slammed her hand straight up, smashing in the turret with one powerful rising thrust. The machine let out a terrible whine, then fell in pieces around Cherry's head as the female turned towards the security door and grinned cockily to herself, idly brushing a hand over the set of fins on her head. "I'm the shit."

She opened the metal door and stepped through as the rest of the turret fell out of place, barely kissing against the rear of her backpack... before frowning a bit as she stepped into a huge, cubical room. From all four top corners of this room, however, came massive, wrought-iron girders that were shaped like chains, diverging on a central point in the center floor and forming an upside-down pyramid... and sitting gently in this cradle of chains was another sphere of clear metal... and inside this, shifting and twisting, was what looked almost like a miniature sun that split apart, curved around in pieces... then joined once more together into a roiling mass of blue light.

A pause, and she also realized that the sphere was filled not with water, but some other strange liquid that dulled the intensity of the blue light, and bubbles came up from the bottom every now and then... but as she stared at this strange construction, she noted that bubbles also went down from the top of the sphere to the bottom of it. She frowned... then muttered: "Doesn't matter anyway."

"You would think that!" Ultima's voice echoed around the chamber with a snarl, and Cherry glanced to the side, unsurprised to see a computer terminal with a holographic projector... what she was surprised to see, however, was the metal head floating in place in it, glaring at her angrily. "You bitch! You're not authorized! Get out of here, get out!"

"Fuck you." Cherry replied mildly, then she grinned a bit as she produced the warhead from the backpack, and Ultima shrieked in terror and dismay. "Damn, but it must suck not to have hands."

"Don't, don't! You have no idea... the explosion will be enormous!" Ultima screamed at her, as Cherry walked over to the point where the chains all locked into a small metal cylinder in the floor. "All of Paradise will crash to the ground... the damage will be devastating!"

"Ask me if I care." The hermaphroditic female snorted, then she carefully set the warhead down on its side and ignored Ultima's shrieks as she carefully pried the bottom off the warhead, to reveal a small digital screen and a tiny keyboard. She played with this for a few moments... then flicked the lever at the side with her finger as she set it for half-an-hour. Plenty of time for them to escape...

A pause, and then she smiled as the warhead armed, and Ultima let out a squeal of terror before vanishing... and Cherry turned to head back along the one rail that was still functional. They had little time left now to screw around... but she did pause to snap the other rail for whatever cart system that soldiers used to cross... before grinning darkly and running across it, then switching to both tracks... and both of them continuously bent under her weight as Marina and Cindy stared at her, before she made a long leap through the air at the end of the line and through the open window of the cabin.

She landed with a grunt, flipping her body but still landing with little grace, landing on her ass and her hands more than her legs as she winced, tail spasming under her weight. Then she coughed and straightened... and grinned stupidly to the other two, saying cheerfully: "We got about twenty-nine minutes now to get out of here. Or maybe twenty-eight and a half, since my counting really sucks."

Zerrex stopped and turned slowly around in disbelief... but was there relief? Was he actually relieved that his father, the bane of his life... had survived that single strong combo of attacks?

The answer was yes... and a slow grin spread over Zerrex's features as his emerald eyes flashed, white hair swaying in his face as he watched Narrius stand slowly and rub at his head, as green electricity flashed over his body. The Dragokkaren shook his head slowly... then the crimson-scaled reptile looked up into the emerald irises of Zerrex with disgust and said softly: "Well. Now I'll play serious then, Raves... I forgot how much you enjoy your cheap little toys."

"I forgot how loud a bang you make when you hit the ground." The Drakkaren retorted, and Narrius snarled... before he grinned and cocked his head, and Zerrex's eyes widened as a visible slash on the Dragokkaren's face healed, and several of the long needles still buried in him slowly popped out of place. "What..."

Narrius tapped his arm console lightly, saying in an idle voice: "Oh, I have my toys, too." He snorted, then cracked his neck and stood straight, bruises and cuts alike fading as he said coldly: "Regeneration technology that manipulates the electrical current flowing through my body..." A pause as it halted, then he glanced down and snarled when the computer on his vambrace began to smoke, and he winced as the arcing electricity over his body turned blue for a moment before vanishing. Immediately, he tore the manacle of metal off and tossed it over the edge as it exploded, before he flexed his hand slowly.

"Looks like it's not complete, though." Zerrex said coldly... but he understood what had happened. He'd felt the damage when he'd smashed in Narrius's body, using the Dragokkaren's weight and gravity to his advantage... and he knew that the last strike should have been lethal or at least paralyzing. He'd felt his goddamn spine snap... and he'd been shocked at the fact he'd actually killed Narrius with so little a fight.

Now he saw what had happened, however; he had killed him or at least inflicted a mortal injury... but Narrius's little arm console had detected some abnormality or lack of activity, and had immediately revived him somehow. The Drakkaren snarled at this, then he flexed and glanced over at Blackheart, which was buried halfway through another bridge to the right and slightly lower down... and Zerrex immediately turned and snapped a rope of dark energy up into a girder before jumping off the bridge and swinging over to land on this bridge, but Narrius was fast to follow, leaping to the railing, then boosting easily off this and landing with a loud crunch on the bridge across from Zerrex with a grin. "What's wrong, my son? Running away, are we?"

"You wish." The Drakkaren snarled, the sword buried halfway between them... and then he cocked his head and said darkly: "But it looks like you're the one with the handicap now... we're more than evenly matched. I'm armed, and I can counter that stupid electrical crap you've gotten now... and with my strength restored, it looks like I can kick your ass all around this facility if I want to, since I did just... oh... kill your ass in fairy-tale land."

Narrius's eye twitched... but his grin didn't leave as he straightened slowly from the crouch he'd landed in, shrugging and saying idly: "Well, perhaps you have a point there, Raves... but you're forgetting one thing." A pause, and he held up a hand. "Always think three steps ahead of your opponent."

For a moment there was silence... then Narrius held out a hand and barked a single word that Zerrex had started to believe he wouldn't hear: "Drake!"

Sorry. Drake muttered in his head... and then Zerrex's body writhed with pain, the Drakkaren snarling and falling to his feet as he grabbed his stomach, his body trembling violently... and a moment later, he leaned forwards and vomited a dark mass as black ooze dripped from the scales of his body and chest, forming a slick, oily mass on the ground that immediately slid its way over to Narrius and roiled up along his body to his back to vanish... and Zerrex trembled violently, suddenly feeling weak and lost, his hands trembling, his body aching... and he cursed under his breath before looking up with a snarl towards Narrius's grinning face. "Bastard..."

A moment later, Drake appeared, looking over Narrius's shoulder as the Dragokkaren glanced up at him in distaste and saying mildly: "Sorry, Zerrex. But the Patriarch calls the shots... and there's no way he can die. Now, it might not be as comfortable an existence as living in your body, being stuck in a glass tube... but hey, I'd rather live on then die." A pause and a laugh. "After all, who decides if you were honorable or just scum but the historians? Society decides if you're a god or monster... and I'll much rather be on that deciding side than swallowed up by history written from another viewpoint and discarded."

"Shut up and get to work." Narrius said irritably, and Drake seemed to pale before vanishing, the Dragokkaren reaching up and easily pulling off the front, shattered ceramic and fiberglass plate of his armor, before unzipping his tattered duraflex vest and shrugging the rest of his breastplate off, the heavy-duty armor clanking to the ground before Narrius kicked it idly aside, leaving him standing in only a black tanktop.

Then Narrius produced what looked almost like a horseshoe from the rear pack he wore, and clicked this into place around his neck, saying coldly: "This gives me full synchronization with Drake... without permitting him to actively enter my thoughts or body. A nice little gadget that permits me to harness the powers of the dark nephilim, the strongest of all of them..." A pause, and a tilt of his head, then a slow grin. "Oh my. Drake says that you've always been curious as to just where your father came from... that he told you a version of my life story. Would you like to have a storytime from dear old dad, Raves?"

Zerrex tried to say something, tried to defy the Dragokkaren... but he could only gasp and wretch for breath, his body aching and still feeling so goddamn empty; even though he hadn't relied on the goddamn nephilim's powers more often than necessary, it was still like he was being torn apart from their symbiotic link breaking... all he could do was hold his stomach and wretch, feeling blood pulsing through his veins as Narrius laughed. "I'll take that as a yes... aren't I generous?" A snort as he walked slowly over to Blackheart, glancing at the sword idly and touching the hilt with something like contempt. "It was a time of scum... just... like... you..."

Yes... blood and war, and weapons had just been picked up the first tribes, the first creatures. They called themselves 'Hellbreed' in that old tongue, not Dragokkaren... and they referred to them, the real masters of the jungle, as 'Cubbas,' a name that meant 'little beast.' Like they were either of those things!

They travelled in packs, and ruled the world... killed and hunted more efficiently than any pathetic Hellbreed... had better games, better tournaments, and chose their chieftains for their power, for their ability to rule, not because they could talk in their stupid grunting voices or give the most entertaining stories... that was ridiculous, was worthless.

The first tribes are just beginning to form, and some of them have taken to hunting the Cubbas for sport or to prove their strength. Most of them use strange weapons that are made of dead pieces of the jungle, but that have sprouted a claw on the end... although some others have also created a more terrible weapon that allows them to hide like the cowards they are and send small sticks through the air that impale their people as if the trees themselves had grown great stingers and hurled them with rage for passing into their area of the jungle.

There are other tribes too, though... through this great jungle that spans the entire world, he knows there are other species that are starting to step up on two legs... and many of these species enslave, conquer, or kill their little brothers, the members of their same family who are not as fortunate to evolve like they are. Just like the self-appointed Hellbreed kill the Cubba.

Some of the tribes, however, revere them... just as they should. But many of them also have wings, which they call a divine gift that lets them safely glide through the air above the trees or across the Divides that are otherwise so difficult to cross, requiring the felling of a tree or many a days' journey through the soulless gorges filled with monsters... through what many call Hell. Of course, this was also the birthplace of the Cubba... but they were one of the few species able to break from that Hell, and their lore tells them it is because of their Mistress.

The Queen, the High Priestess... she freed them all, led them out of Hell. A great force of nature and primal chaos, who some call Fortune and others call Fate. She who rules above all, and has led the Cubba to do her bidding, keep her rule secure... but the Hellbreed have started to break away from this ancient teaching. Worse, many of them in her most sacred Cradle of Life have begun to ignore her! To turn away from her teachings, and her beliefs... turning to other weak gods that speak of peace, when the only true peace is to be found in war and chaos and strife!

It infuriates him... but secretly, he doesn't care. All he cares about is the killing; he loves the chaos, the destruction, the rending of flesh from bone and brutally ripping apart those that his Mistress sends him to kill. The infallible Fate, who he has realized is not so infallible after all... so more and more, he, her Conqueror, whose name means 'Tyrant' in Hez'Rannan, has begun to take more than his share in his work, killing and ripping all he comes across. He is the biggest of the Cubba... he is the most brutal. He will kill everyone he comes across, because his hunger knows no bounds... and he will NOT let them treat him as just a stupid, friendly animal, not ever...

Once he may have been that... but that was before he met the Mistress. Before she showed him the path... put her mark on him, cut his half-developed wings from his back - a freak mutation that almost made him an outcast - and brought him safe and sound from the Cradle to Hell, to show him where the Cubba had first existed... and then showed him her temple, the Mother Temple.

Tonight, he is dining upon a child, served to him on a silver platter from the Mistress's own hand: the others are served by her slaves. She is big and strong, and beautiful, and she is the incarnation of Chaos in the world... but more and more, she seems to serve no purpose. Other gods have risen up to take her place... different kinds of darkness and light. He has also realized she is not Fortune nor Fate, but just a lost, twisted god that shouldn't exist anymore, exiled from her own home... and steadily losing her strength. But all the same, she speaks of needing more sacrifices, virgin this and murderer that, scapegoat here and innocent there. She gives him too many demands... and he hates her for that.

But it's better than his old life in the small pack he'd come from, when he used to romp and play with his brothers and didn't know the pleasure of killing, just the small, now insignificant pleasures of eating berries and hunting down small animals when needed, and letting the Hellbreed touch him because they looked back then like nice people. Because they smelled almost the same, looked almost the same, never seemed hostile. His Mistress has shown him the truth of their species, though... although she herself is almost a Hellbreed, but adorned in cloths of gold and metal. And what normal mortal could build such a massive, magnificent temple?

He likes it here. He loves the blood and the gore and the chaos... and that night, she tells him she has one last job for him before her great concoction is ready, a forbidden spell and magic that will bring her back on par with all these other new gods, new rulers of the elements and air. She rants for a long time, and he ignores her, thinking instead about all the things he could be killing, the chaos he could be bringing to the world... and then she picks him up and he immediately struggles, snarling. He is a warrior! He is not a cuddle toy, he is not her plaything!

But she is strong, and she carries him over to the pot... and he realizes what she wants to do. She wants to throw him in... and he struggles harder... before his jaws latch around her neck, crushing the steel collar she wears, and she screams, and all the slaves watch... and then he tears the collar off before biting into soft flesh and doing what he does best. He tears her throat out, and she drops him, and he hounds her, clawing and biting, until the old witch falls back into her own cauldron.

There is an explosion, and he shies back in terror from the toxic mist that rises into the air, purple smoke roiling and rising up from this pot of power, and he snarls and pants and gasps... it is a horrible smell, but intriguing... and all the slaves are gathering, maybe to taste of it... taste of his power? To take it from him? Never!

He kills them all. He rips them apart, he kills them, eviscerates them, pulls limbs from bodies like wings off flies, roaring, snarling, frothing... and then he greedily bathes himself in that strange potion, drinks it, sloshes through that delightful, terrible smell, but soon all is blackness...

He awakes, and he knows he is different, in the bottom of the cauldron... and he stands... finds it uncomfortable... and then pushes himself up on his rear legs... and realizes he has become something different. He can feel power pulsing through his body... and a cold grin spreads over his features, his crimson eyes burning. Suddenly he understands the glyphs all through the tunnel, and what killing is, and everything else... and he loves it. He bathes in the darkness... and steps into the world that he decides is his and meant only for him, and for that divine chaos he loves so much. He has no goals, no ideals... he only wants to see the pretty fires of burning buildings, explore the different and divine hells the world has to offer, and see chaos manifested... because he is better than everyone else. He is the only semblance or real order in this world, he decides... and when he wanders into the world, he finds that the Cubba shrink from him in terror... but the Hellbreed aren't as smart, have lost their instincts over the years. So he is able to kill and take control of a tribe with little trouble... and from there begins the reign of terror and destruction of the Dragokkaren all call Narrius.

Over the years, he experiments, discovers that the safest position is always that of the advisor, which allows him to puppet a weak ruler but also throw him to the fires as a scapegoat when it becomes necessary. He also discovers that if one is to take up that position of master... one must never fail to exterminate the enemy using the most ruthless tactics available, and to inspire fear and terror. A generous ruler will be remembered, but not obeyed: a cruel king, will be obeyed, but not remembered; only the darkest of tyrants and greatest of emperors are afforded both.

But Narrius doesn't care about leaving his mark in history; in many cases, he carefully erases his existence, or aligns himself with that which borders on the fantastic, so he will become just a minor scribble or smudge in the wildest books of fable. He knows that he will live forever, and that nothing shall be able to kill him... no matter what the silly prophecies of old chiefs say. And anyone else displaying any sort of special ability, anyone even rumored to have a god or witch doctor's power, he kills. The liars and frauds he leaves alone, to inspire doubt in the world instead of belief... he knows what he's doing.

Through all the ages he has lived. He has served as Chief Executioner in the court of the famous 'Lord Death' in Ire's medieval age, when it was still more than ten different countries... he was a Captain of the Templar during a Crusade that ravaged the entire southern half of Ire and 'unified' it into the Country of the Church... just as he helped to destroy that same country as a Commander of the Black Rock Resistance Movement, turning it back into a monarchy for five hundred years. And he was there when that 'justified, glorious monarchy' hung the priests of every cathedral the world over, and when the 'Miracle of Light' occurred and the symbol of the monarchy's power was destroyed by catapults he helped build, and the people beheaded the king and queen for their 'trespasses against the people.'

He was one of the torch-carriers when they lit the Cradle of Life on fire... just as he was one of the settlers from the 'civilized world' when Hez'Ranna again took up his attention. He then switched sides and served as a technician, helping who he thought with disgust as savage Hellbreed to use more advanced weaponry... and started the technological addiction in the Lords of Hez'Ranna and wormed his way into every royal family. And he was the one who killed the parents of a small, impressionable child while still an infant, and carried him out and dropped him in a box in the street, feeding him every so often but otherwise returning home to his own place... and Requiem, of course - so young, so young! - had never thought it odd that Narrius never seemed to change, was always so big... because Requiem saw him with such easily manipulated, fawning admiration, always thinking that they were brothers because of the common scale color, thinking that Narrius loved him as family when their father and mother hadn't... never knowing that Requiem was the only child of the Commander of the Dragokkaren Knights 1st Division... and his mother had been a mechanic and vehicle technician for the military, who had connections into the Royal Family. Requiem had never known this, but he had killed some of his own cousins on that night that Narrius manipulated him into coming with him to take over Hez'Ranna...

And from then on, Zerrex knew the history. He could only stare as Narrius finished, looking down at Zerrex with a contemptible grin, his eyes flashing cruelly... and the Dragokkaren said softly: "I'm invincible, Raves... you can't kill me. Even if you send me to Hell, I'll come back, just like I did before... there will always be someone who wants my power, who will be stupid enough to think they can control me... and no matter what happens, in the end, I shall rule this world and then crush it, just like I want to, for my entertainment, because this world is mine, and no one else's..."

"You arrogant motherfucker..." Zerrex snarled furiously... and now the pain in his body was only fueling him, as he slowly stood, and Narrius looked disgusted but also somewhat surprised, tilting his head back as Zerrex straightened, his emerald eyes burning with fury as he hissed: "It doesn't matter how old you are or how special you are... I'll kill you... I'll kill you for everything you've done... for fucking with me, my mother and Requiem... for thinking that anything in this world actually belongs to you!"

"Try it." Narrius said softly... and then the Dragokkaren rose both of his lithe but chiseled, strong arms as he grinned cruelly. "I have more experience than you can imagine, child of my favorite whore."

This was almost too much for the Drakkaren to bear... and with fury and hate in his eyes for this eternal creature in front of him, this monster who had done nothing but kill and use his time here just to inspire chaos and destruction, he roared with anger and charged forwards, the pain in his body vanishing as need to destroy this abomination, this impurity in the very fabric of time and space filled his being from his core soul... and Narrius only waited with a cold grin, his own hands raised and Drake's energy beginning to boil out down one of his arms, the other crackling with electricity.

And although neither of them knew this, time was ticking down, and there were only twenty minutes left now before Paradise fell.

On the other battlefront, Huck was bleeding heavily down the side of his face from a piece of shrapnel that had flown by way too close for comfort - as in, it had missed hitting him directly but still managed to cut a good chunk out of his face. But then again, he got off lucky... most of the time, when a gun exploded, you ended up on fire or dead.

He cursed as he staggered awkwardly back towards his rail cannon, which the mechanics had needed to repair in the middle of combat: needed, because it was the only thing that worked on the goddamn Grim Hearses. He'd blown up two of them... and then the huge gun had overheated and something nasty had clanked inside - his guess was some wires had likely melted from his using it so damn abusively.

Narrius's troops were still coming... they had maybe halved the army, but on the other hand, the Patriarch's army had done massive amounts of damage to the base, destroyed their tower with concentrated rocket fire, taken out the rest of the shield generators, and that little bitch Churchill had fortified Uroboros to 'protect the civilians.' And now enemies were circling around towards the back of the facility, and Huck was somehow sure they'd be carrying explosive charges...

Worse, Paradise was visible... in the very far distance, yes, but it was still visible... and even though a few VTOLs were still circling it, most of the others had obviously been destroyed or fled to Uroboros to refuel and hopefully take off again if they weren't too damaged. Huck knew for fact his pilots were better than the crummy shitty-ass pilots of the VTOL jets on Narrius's side - well, okay, they weren't that bad, but they did still piss him off - but he also knew that numbers usually prevailed overall... unless you had some major badass skills or shit, of course.

The trench had been pretty battered... and even though there were at least no more Titans on the march, enemy tanks and now even Combat Armors were moving forwards, and Huck was too damn aware that they were running out of grenades and rockets. Some of the tanks could only be stalled by the former, as well... and even if they were halted out in the field, the larger Enforcer-32 tanks still posed a major threat: they had an armored wall inside of them that divided the gunners - who aimed the twin heavy machine guns built into either side of the tanks, which were almost the same size as some of the larger military transports - and the gigantic turret on top, which had three of its own deadly weapons.

One was a short range mortar launcher that could fire either frag rounds that exploded on contact or flares that could blind a pilot above or enemy soldiers that were too close: worse, it didn't go out when it hit the ground and continued to spread white, blinding light for many a meter around, often confusing entire groups of soldiers, especially if trapped in the trench.

The second was plainer, but just as lethal: a shielded gatling gun that could be either manually driven by someone on top of the tank, or remotely operated by the tank driver or one of the gunners if the computers inside were functional... but even this devastating weapon didn't compare to the tank's cannon. The Enforcer-32's used what Huck called a 'perforator,' which was little more than a huge, cylindrical iron block with an explosive core on a timer... and this iron block was almost a foot in diameter and up two feet long, flung with incredible force.

It came to about the equivalent of a rail, although the cannons from the tank were far too short a range to be called 'rail guns...' but the iron bars they fired had explosive cores that worked off a timer. After being launched, the timer started... and then the explosive core went off and caused damage to anything and everything around it with giant chunks of shrapnel. Worst, the solidity of the bar and the speed it initially went at permitted it to pass through almost any kind of armor or surface.

Huck had shouted an order to make the Enforcer-32's, or "Land Juggernauts" the primary targets... the smaller tanks they could take out with concentrated gunfire, and the armored transport could be eliminated by 'frisbees' - mines that could be thrown a short distance before they armed themselves with proximity sensors - and shots aimed at the tires.

The Dragokkaren currently had other soldiers frantically digging another trench, as well as short dead-ends so they could get their ammo boxes out of range... and since it looked like the enemy would inevitably be breaking their front defense line, he had other soldiers setting up a little surprise party on the fortified first floor. He'd also rigged the entire top level of the base with explosive charges... at worst, if the enemy forced their way to the gates, they'd hold the base as long as possible before he simply leveled the headquarters and they'd prepare their final standoff under the ground.

Things were growing desperate, though... the Patriarch's troops moved without fear, and their firebombs weren't half as effective as Huck had hoped; worse, they had begun targeting his weaponry, and Huck had reports that their second wave aimed at the back of the Patriarch's forces had been almost entirely eradicated when they had countered with their own sandwich move and used monsters and heavy vehicles to rapidly exterminate the soldiers that hadn't split off to attack the enemy camp, apparently not caring about who or what they killed in the crossfire. Worse, many of the soldiers had reported strange monsters... and now Huck could see these coming forwards into the front line of the enemy, soldiers in glinting black metal armor that bullets seemed to just bounce off of, strange tanks on their backs as they rode huge monstrosities into battle without care, twisted, freakish Dragokkaren without wings that had gnarled limbs all the same length and mutilated faces, hissing and roaring as their shaggy, thick scales deflected all but the strongest of gunfire. And once these monstrous mounts were taken down - usually by a grenade to the face - the riders casually got off the dead hulk or climbed to their feet if they had been thrown, reached back to adjust something on the tanks on their backs, and then pulled out a long, black gun with a hose leading back into their fuel tanks: flamethrower units.

Empty Ones and Angels also staggered over the field... and were often used as shields by enemy soldiers. Many a time, Enforcers using this technique made it at least as far as the mine gardens and explosives fields that Huck had hastily set up... but others even bridged over this and got into the trenches, where they caused all manner of havoc with their kwaibars and other close-combat weaponry.

All Huck could do was pray that Paradise would fall soon... or that this stampede of the Patriarch's freaks and soldiers would finally come to an end. Shit... I'm running out of options here... goddamn, but what are they doing up there...

"What about Daddy?" asked Marina urgently, but Cherry only shook her head a grinned a bit, before rolling her eyes as the youngest female asked insistently: "How do you know he'll be fine? I mean, we're kinda abandoning without him, here!"

"Marina, calm down." Cindy said gently, grasping the younger female's shoulders as they stood in the elevator that was slowly ascending. It hadn't taken long at all to run back through the chaos... but they were well aware of time ticking ever onwards, and Cherry was impatiently tapping her foot against the floor. "He'll be fine... but we have to get out of here..."

Marina looked unconvinced, but she quieted, looking down... and only wished that the others could feel this tremor in her gut that she currently did, before she swallowed slowly and hugged herself quietly. Daddy... be okay...

Zerrex stood with his sword on the other side of the bridge, grinning coldly and looking over his shoulder at Narrius, who stood on the other side with a thin cut over his side, his back to the Drakkaren and snarling in disgust and fury, his arms spread out to either side, the electricity fading from one as the other remained cloaked in Drake's energy, which Zerrex could see boiled up out of a clear metal capsule attached to a small clicking machine strapped against his lower back. Then the Dragokkaren slowly turned around and tilted his head with disgust, saying softly: "You got lucky. And you can't kill me with just luck."

"I've always thought the same, Narrius. But you're forgetting... I already cut you apart in what you called fairy-tale land once... and Drake's not as tough as he seems, either." Zerrex replied coldly, calming himself and turning his anger into energy that filled up that strange gap in his body... and his muscles bulged as he rose Blackheart by his side, his head lowering a bit as he said darkly: "And I'm not going to send you to Hell... Hell's too good for you. When you die, I'll make sure you go to a place that you can never come back from."

"Big words from a failure." Narrius snorted, smiling ruthlessly before he held the hand submerged in Drake's energy behind himself, and the dark energy dripped to the ground before forming a line across the width of the bridge, a string of this still attached to the Dragokkaren's hand as he said softly: "I think a change of scenery is in order."

Then he flicked his wrist upwards, and Zerrex snarled before spinning around half-dropping as he slashed Blackheart outwards as the bridge groaned and began to bend, chopping through his end of the bridge at the same time as Narrius grinned coldly. He lashed a hand up even as the bridge ripped off the few last metal supports and fell through the air into the darkness below, then snapped out a long, spiked vine of black energy towards the reptile.

Zerrex leapt backwards, dodging the vine, then ducking with a snarl when it lashed back and one of Drake's claws ripped from the end of it, trying to snag him: instead, he slashed upwards with Blackheart, before glancing down and leaping backwards off the bridge as Narrius did the same with a scowl, and they crashed on top of a platform that was supported from all four corners by heavy chains; it swayed slowly back and forth through the air, creaking quietly, the off-grey of concrete and tempered metal as dust and motes of broken cement hailed through the air from the bridge that lay upon the platform... and Zerrex slowly walked to the right, mirroring the movements of his father as they stood in the dull light that came from the lamps built into the edge of this hanging, strange platform that attached to nothing and nowhere.

They glared at each other, a good forty feet between them... then speakers squalled from nearby and Ultima's voice shrieked: "Patriarch! Patriarch! A level three explosive warhead has been placed in the Front Core... and the tracks have been destroyed, there's no way to access it in time! Eighteen minutes until detonation, and then Paradise will-"

"More than enough time." Narrius and Zerrex both said coldly, their eyes flashing... and despite the alerts that began to blare, despite the shrieks of Ultima... they both focused only on each other, and then charged forwards, snarling furiously as Zerrex drew back Blackheart and darkness roiled around Narrius's arm.

The Dragokkaren suddenly slammed a hand down into the ground, and spikes of dark energy shot up, Zerrex immediately leaping backwards and away before jumping to the side as a line of dark energy shot out from this deadly collection, and from this snapped upwards a long line of sharp, black-essence blades.

Again, Zerrex charged forwards and slashed Blackheart viciously outwards at Narrius when he stood, and then the Dragokkaren snarled and slapped the blade away, knuckles hitting the flat; immediately, Zerrex gracefully twisted and kicked off the ground in a hard scissors kick that smashed into Narrius's face and sent up a spray of blood as he grunted in shock and pain, before landing and spinning towards the Dragokkaren in a deadly halving cut with the huge sword.

Drake, however, immediately formed his upper body from the nest of spikes and leaned out into the blow, raising his forearms and then snarling in agony when the blade slashed through them, then struck his chest and halted, the dark nephilim wincing and leaning backwards... and Zerrex snarled before ducking as Narrius swung an electrified fist at him, before leaping to the side and jerking Blackheart free in a hard rending motion when Narrius attempted to drop an elbow on him. Drake's upper body exploded in black ooze as the sword rent through it... and Narrius's elbow clanged loudly off the blade, before he simply grabbed the back edge of the sword.

Zerrex was almost yanked off his feet when the huge blade suddenly stopped moving, looking in shock at the bloody hand grasping his sword... before Narrius's other fist slammed into his muzzle and snapped his head to the side: a moment later, the Dragokkaren brought a foot up and struck him with a vicious side kick, causing him to drop his sword and stagger backwards. Immediately, Narrius drew the blade back and hurled it at him... but Zerrex slid to the side and instead twisted, grabbing the sword and throwing himself off his feet to sail backwards with it before landing and forcefully spinning himself, reversing the momentum of the blade and jerking himself back into a ready position as the dark energy retreated back to Narrius.

Zerrex did note, however, that he'd left quite a splatter of black ooze on the floor... and the Drakkaren smiled coldly, saying harshly: "Here's a tip for you... don't waste your energy on big moves, father. Any energy cut from Drake-"

"Shut up!" Narrius roared, his eyes burning with rage and teeth grit in fury, as he snapped his dark-essence-covered arm upwards and another spiked vine whipped forwards: Zerrex ducked this easily, but also backstepped, remembering that Drake's energy could take any form, ignore the laws of physics and gravity, and pretty much anything else... but Narrius only lashed the whip uselessly back at him, not even lengthening it and instead retracting it back into his arm as he snarled: "Don't tell your betters what to do, you ungrateful piece of shit!"

"I wouldn't exactly call you my better." Zerrex responded, then he snarled and charged forwards as Narrius did the same, beginning to bring the sword upwards in a hard rising slash... before suddenly throwing his body into a roll through the air at the side and spinning the blade in other direction, slashing viciously downwards at the end of the quick movement as Narrius's sliding kick missed entirely, and his eyes widened before he snarled furiously, head snapping to the side as Blackheart's huge blade smashed into the front of his skull and ripped a thick, deep gouge through his muzzle and face, cutting even into his crimson eye and spraying white, sick fluid and blood in a great burst, the Dragokkaren immediately grabbing the blade and throwing it backwards as Drake's dark energy lashed around Zerrex's feet and snapped him into the bridge.

Zerrex grunted in pain, then he grinned coldly even as he was dragged over the filthy ground at the sight of Narrius's clutching the broken half of his face... and then Drake's upper body snapped out of the coil of dark energy that was currently binding him, with one arm in a long lance. The Drakkaren, however, snapped his sword upwards and Drake's eyes bulged as the reptile sliced him through the torso, body maintaining form for a bare movement before it dissolved into black ooze... and instead, the whips of black essence that had caught his feet by the ankles and tail dragged him up into the air, then slammed him brutally back down towards the other side of the platform.

Immediately, Zerrex reversed Blackheart and grabbed it in both hands as he stabbed down with a wince... and the sword buried halfway through steel and concrete as his knees painfully whacked against the ground, leaving him bent over the sword with his shoulder pressed against a wrist that was on the handle-side of the black arm of the hilt, panting a bit as he looked over his shoulder and watched Narrius slowly turn towards him, blood running down his face, half of his muzzle in a broken, twisted snarl and the other half looking utterly furious as the dark energy retreated... and the reptile slowly stood before tilting his muzzle upwards and yanking Blackheart from the ground, the blade seeming to shimmer as he called: "What's wrong, Narrius? You losing your touch?"

"I'll kill you..." The Dragokkaren growled coldly, lowering his head... and then he flexed slowly before snapping his head to the side and roaring: "Drake!"

The dark energy dripped away from his arm... and then, slowly, more joined it as Drake came into existence, still mocking Zerrex's form, white-energy hair floating around his face and wearing a pristine black suit, the cuffs of which he slowly adjusted as he said mildly: "This is pretty awkward." A pause, and then a glance at Narrius, who glared at him angrily. "Alright, Lord Patriarch. I understand..."

Then he leaned forwards, the suit vanishing and his shadow lengthening slightly as he grinned coldly over at Zerrex, a long, flexing string of dark energy connecting him to the power-pack on Narrius's back as he said coolly: "Again, sorry. But you do have to die, Zerrex."

"And I'm the one who uses cheap tricks..." Zerrex snorted as he reached for his back kit, unsnapping it from his belt as he held Blackheart to the side with his other hand, the bag dangling in the other. A movement of his thumb, and he popped it open... before nodding and flicking his hair out of his eyes, saying softly after a few moments, yet somehow audible even over the blaring alarms: "Then come."

Immediately, Drake ran forwards... and Zerrex barely looked up, instead snapping the sword forwards in an easy, upwards slash the dragged a long trench through the ground, Drake staggering as his shadow immediately retreated behind him, before Zerrex twisted the blade a moment before it contacted and leaned forwards to bat the dark nephilim backwards, sending him crashing to the ground as Narrius snarled and ran in from the side... and Zerrex grinned coldly before bringing the bag up and leaping forwards, taking a hard punch from Narrius that almost shattered his jaw... but then slamming the bag of needles forwards over the Dragokkaren's head.

Narrius roared in fury and pain, grabbing at his skull even as he brought a foot up and kicked Zerrex backwards, tearing the bag off and then clawing at the dozens of needles stuck in his face and head, even as Drake made another charge in at Zerrex's side: again, the Drakkaren attempted a halving slice... but Drake's body became almost liquid, a thick, sideways-U forming in his chest that the sword passed harmlessly through... before the dark nephilim grunted and stumbled backwards when Zerrex rammed him with his shoulder.

His body, however, became black goo, his energy crawling over Zerrex and solidifying, barring him in place as Zerrex found himself face-to-face with the grinning dark nephilim... before a hard fist punched him in the side, and Zerrex grunted in pain, trying to twist free as the dark nephilim landed a barrage of hard blows against his body and shot thin, narrow spikes into his form from the liquidine cluster that was clinging against him... before Narrius charged forwards and punched the Drakkaren so hard his sword flew from his hands and he coughed blood, sailing through the air and crashing onto his back, ribs shattered from the hard, single punch. He grunted, bouncing once... then barely managed to twist to catch the side of the platform a moment before he plummeted off.

He hung there from one hand with a snarl of pain and the rest of his body limp as Narrius laughed loudly, shouting angrily: "Even with all your tricks and bullshit, you can't do shit! You're worthless, useless... all the powers you have in that little weakling, imperfect body, and you can't do anything!"

Zerrex's snarl turned furious as reached his other hand up to haul himself back onto the platform... before staring as he saw Drake, one of his arms a massive axe blade, his shadow snaking out to seize his wrists and hold him in place. His eyes widened... then he grunted and snapped his head to the side when Drake tried to cut into him, the dark nephilim snorting as he missed before the other arm formed into an executioner's axe and that swung down as well, this time aimed at his back.

Immediately, Zerrex swung himself forwards and up, pressing the front of his body against the bottom of the platform with a grunt and a snarl... and Drake cursed as the axe-blade missed again, before this axe-arm lengthened and formed a joint in the center. The lower half pulled back... and Zerrex immediately swung himself backwards, twisting his palms against the platform as he tore on the shackles of dark energy around his wrists and went immediately into a handstand, kneeing Drake in the face and causing him to revert to his normal body, dark essence vanishing as he staggered backwards.

Zerrex grinned... then snarled when Narrius snagged one of his feet, yanked him into the air above his head, and smashed him face-first into the ground on the other side of the Dragokkaren with enough force that the Drakkaren bounced with a cry of pain before he was sent flying through the air by a hard punt from the huge crimson reptile. He crashed into the side of the bridge and fell to the ground, slumping and panting hard as Narrius looked at him with disgust. "Little pissant. I'm going to rip you to shreds."

"Sir! Sir, please!" Ultima's voice squealed, the AI program panicking like a civilian that had been thrown into a major, real firefight between soldiers. The Dragokkaren looked up in the general direction of the nearest speaker with distaste, as Ultima stammered: "Sir, there's... there's only eight minutes left... time is getting shorter and shorter!"

"Then drop this platform down to the level five bridge." Narrius said disgustedly, glancing down and checking his belt for the vials, before looking up at the slumped body of his son with contempt and disgust. "Let the maggot die in the explosion his little whores have caused. Once the Apple of Eden is launched, this Paradise doesn't matter anyway... prep the evacuation pod by the launch site as well, I want to watch the fireworks when this goes down and check on how my army is fairing against the rebel headquarters..."

"Sir!" Ultima squeaked, sounding terribly relieved as Drake walked over to Narrius, his suit reforming. The dark nephilim idly polished his claws against his sleeve, before looking down at them in boredom as Narrius walked towards a yellow line at one end of the platform, the chains clinking and the cement-and-metal lift vibrating as it slowly rose through the air... and a minute later, locked into place between two narrow walkways, one of these ending at a strut and the other a sealed shutter.

Narrius and Drake both began to head towards this door... and then both paused, the Dragokkaren looking over his shoulder and turning slowly, narrowing his crimson eyes as Zerrex picked his sword up with a grunt of effort, then straightened and rose the blade gamely once more, rasping: "Don't run away before the job's done... Narrius... or the job's gonna finish you..."

The red-scaled Dragokkaren made a disgusted face, then immediately began to walk forwards, snarling angrily. "Drake, grab him... he's too weak to do anything anymore."

Zerrex panted hard, knowing it was true... and he watched as the dark nephilim walked forwards with a cruel grin, a few feet ahead of Narrius, the Drakkaren panting as his eyes flicked to the huge reptile behind him... and then the reptile suddenly let out a roar and stabbed straight down with the huge sword, and Drake screamed, his back straightening as the reptile stabbed into his shadow, and Narrius started in surprise, hands going out to the side as Zerrex reversed his grip on the massive sword, dragging it up and then giving a hard, parallel slash at waist level, turning with the cut as chunks of concrete flew and Drake looked horrified as he once more was chopped clean in half, this time exploding into a sickening mess of black ooze... and then the lizard yelled wordlessly as he halted the cut and stabbed the sword forwards and through Narrius's chest.

The Dragokkaren shuddered, grasping at the sword that went up through his gut and stuck a quarter of the way out his back, the huge Dragokkaren leaned forwards, looming even in death as his son glared furiously up into his eyes... and then he snarled in a ragged, furious voice into those horrified crimson eyes: "Never let down your guard..."

A moment later, Zerrex turned and drew the sword sharply out, turning his back to the Dragokkaren and closing his eyes, the huge blade held loosely in one hand, head bowed... and Narrius touched the wound in his abdomen almost curiously before his eyes glazed, his knees buckled, and he collapsed silently to the side, into Drake's black goop.

The Drakkaren let out a soft breath, then he looked up silently as he smiled weakly, the massive sword hanging from his hand, and he murmured: "It's... it's finally over."

Yes... it was. And the alarms were music to his ears, Ultima's screams of terror vanishing into a curt female voice that announced that a bomb had been planted, and there were five minutes to detonation... and Zerrex slowly began to walk towards the strut, knowing there was no way in hell he could make it out in time, but figuring he might as well try... despite how tired and sore he was... his daughters would want him to try.

But something was wrong... and he heard a sick gurgling, a strange bubbling behind him, before he frowned and turned slowly around to see Drake's energy rolling over Narrius's dead body, fusing with it, and the Drakkaren snarled, raising his sword, his eyes wide with shock as blue electricity raced over the corpse, shocked it, almost seemed to be attacking the black gunk that was steadily consuming the red, leaving a layer of almost-liquid over the scales... before the electricity turned black, and Narrius's eyes slid closed, his muzzle twisting from a gape to a snarl as his teeth grit together...

A hand reached out and slammed into the ground with enough force to crack the cement... and Narrius gagged, choked... then opened his mouth in a long, terribly-hungry groan... before his head snapped up, eyes opening as he roared, froth and drool flying from his maw as his body humped up, his limbs snapped under him, and he jerked his head upwards in another loud, deep, baying snarl, and Zerrex staggered backwards from the sheer force of hatred coming from this terrible monstrosity.

Narrius crawled to all fours, then slowly rose up on his legs, as his arms became bulkier, thicker, his fingers sharpened into claws, and his body lost whatever litheness it had once had, becoming ugly, corrupt, and warped. And both eyes mirrored this, turning into deadly, baleful crimson lights, shining out of his skull like horrible ruby lamps, with no white, no iris, no pupil... only red hate and murderous intent.

The dark creature staggered once, then dropped to all fours and barked, flexing, dark strings of energy writhing off its body... and then actual flames rose up from the Dragokkaren, and Zerrex stared as bits of burning clothing and other accessories rolled off his body, electricity sparking off one arm for a moment before there was only darkness again, and the ashes of tattered clothing and a few blackened metal tubes that were crushed under the feet of Narrius as he trembled violently and shifted his stance. At least that takes care of Godsmite... Zerrex thought, snarling and readying himself... but he thought he had something far worse on hand now.

This wasn't Drake. Drake was an asshole, and a traitor, and just a jerk in general... but his eloquence and Victorian sensibilities weren't fake. Zerrex had never gotten that impression... and so one of the few nice things he could say about the bastard was that he had class and style. This was Narrius... this was the face behind that mask he'd worn all these years... and now that this side of him had come out, brought back into existence by Drake... Zerrex had no clue what would happen, or what he could even do, with that volatile dark energy writhing over his form and body, and the sheer size of the giant - only sixteen feet, but now bulked up and monstrous...

"What's wrong, my son?" jeered the monster, and Zerrex started, horrified, the voice like grating steel, gravel and tin being crushed together in a compactor, like death speaking from the grave of a loved one. Taunting, horrible... and then it slowly sneered, an unmistakable, arrogant expression the Drakkaren absolutely hated; it was an ugly, disgusting face. "Scared? Terrified? Run child, run so I can hunt you... so I can chase you down... so we can play predator and prey..."

The dark creature slavered, shaking its head back and forth, muscles tensing as it paced, and Zerrex - fearless in most cases, mostly because he'd always felt he was too stupid to let fear get to him - felt the urge to turn and run, to try and evade this beast... but he remembered his daughters... that his family was counting on him... and that only he could stand against Narrius, only he alone could do this... because it was his duty, it was his job, and he had to clean up this terrible family as best he could...

He snarled instead, tensing and leaning forwards as he shouted: "Never! I won't, Narrius, and nor will I let you live, or let your plans prevail... you'll die here, even if I have to die with you!"

"Darkness, born of darkness, to stand against the darkness? There's no such thing as prophecies! I'll kill you!" Narrius roared furiously, then he howled, and the very walls of Paradise reverberated with it, the entire fortress seeming to shake before he sprinted forwards, his eyes locking on Zerrex, and the Drakkaren didn't realize he was shouting even as he charged towards the beast on numb legs, not even feeling the pain anymore, somehow distant in his coldness from his body and focused only on destroying this abomination made of science and myth.

Zerrex slammed his sword upwards, cutting a deep gouge in the ground with the arcing slash and flinging up bits of rock... but Narrius was faster, dropping to all fours and flinging himself to the side before pouncing forwards again, and Zerrex barely managed to get the flat of the huge blade between them, feeling the darkness surrounding the monster almost coming alive, snarling as he was knocked onto his back and Narrius shoved down on the sword, jaws clacking as he bit at his throat and face like a feral beast.

The Drakkaren slid his head back and forth, the presence of the abomination this close like fire, smelling his hair burning and feeling intense heat on his scales before he managed bring up both feet and slam them into Narrius's stomach, and the Dragokkaren was knocked onto his back with an animal whine and hiss, his limbs spasming before he rolled up to all fours, snarling furiously. Zerrex, meanwhile, quickly climbed to his feet, deciding against doing anything showy and raising his sword as his emerald eyes burned, the two slowly circling... before a rumble went through the facility, the lights flickering as a tremendous explosion came from somewhere to the far front, past the rows of struts and bridges, light flashing and a great blast sounding as Narrius roared and Zerrex grinned coldly.

The floating fortress buckled and rocked in midair, the ground trembling as Narrius skittered against the platform as it swayed back and forth on its chains, some of the supports snapping as Ultima screamed in agony and then began to fizz out, static and alarms filling the air as lights flickered dim and then too bright, and Narrius looked back and forth, his mouth frothing and foaming... and Zerrex ran forwards with a snarl, raising the sword and then slashing viciously downwards.

Narrius dodged back, the tip of the huge blade just managing to cut through his shoulder... and Zerrex saw the energy turn red for a moment before flickering back to that obsidian liquid, and Narrius pounced towards him. Immediately, Zerrex slashed the sword back up, grunting and falling to his knees at the same time when the floating fortress rocked again, but Narrius howled in agony and was sent skidding on his back towards the edge of the platform, which suddenly swayed violently to one side as one of the chains snapped.

Zerrex's eyes widened, and he snarled before charging towards the nearest strut, leaping off the platform as the shattered chunk of bridge on the platform slid forwards, put too much weight on the side Narrius was clawing to hold onto... and then the other chain broke and the platform fell. The dark monster, however, hurled itself onto the falling bridge... charged up the ramp it made even as it fell through the air... and leapt high off, roaring furiously as Zerrex smashed through the door of the strut and ran through the small room, the monstrous Dragokkaren crashing through the cement wall and then howling in fury as Paradise rumbled again, and then something else exploded deep within.

The Drakkaren ran out onto another bridge, then he grunted and fell back against a railing when something clanked, then a pipe that was deep below in the black clockwork machinery exploded, sending up a gout of fire as the Drakkaren threw himself off the bridge, shooting a look back at Narrius as he leapt into the space he'd been a moment before. Then he landed on a support bar before kicking off as Paradise began to tilt, stabbing Blackheart into a thick support bar as he flew through the air and twisting himself to the side as he yanked the sword free, landing on another bar slightly higher up before he ran down this, feet skidding as he found himself tilting to the left at the same time.

Narrius, meanwhile, had leapt onto the top of another strut, smashed his way through the gap, and now leapt onto a support pillar, long claws digging into this as he scrabbled at it like a tree trunk, slowly sliding down the metal and leaving long gouges before he threw himself to the side, landing on a bridge just as Zerrex kicked off his own support, snagged a chain, and landed on the same.

Immediately, they both charged at each other, and again Zerrex won the contest, smashing Narrius in the face with a strike that should have been lethal but just sent the monster skidding backwards with a howl of pain, the dark essence flashing red for a moment before he snarled and leapt forwards again... but Zerrex turned, leapt and kicked off the wall of the strut next to him, flying over the edge of the bridge and snagging a loose chain with his bare hand, swinging on this to another long metal support and kicking off to land on a horribly-slanted bridge. He skidded down this for a few moments like a ramp... and then Narrius smashed through the bottom of the bridge at the lower end, and Zerrex's eyes widened before he turned and charged quickly up the rapidly-steepening surface and towards the open vault-door that led into some narrow room beyond as explosions tore through the bottom of Paradise, sending up chunks of metal and gigantic black gears.

Narrius charged after him... then Zerrex kicked hard off the head of the monster when it leapt upwards, knocking it back with a howl and landing in a small room as Paradise's booster system gave out and the last of the generators exploded, the magnetic propulsion discs cracking as electricity shot up and down them, Narrius howling in agony and fury as he fell into another strut and was hammered by shrapnel... before he was hurled upwards by another explosion.

Paradise trembled violently as the other half of it began to fall, lessening the tilt that had almost peaked at ninety degrees, the few emergency systems throughout the building trying desperately to stop the machine from hitting the ground and overloading themselves, sending up massive explosions that could be seen even from the VTOL that Cherry was driving away from Paradise and towards Uroboros with a snarl... and then another terrible crackle went through the ship, another explosion ringing the entire surface as inside, Zerrex grunted and almost fell over... and Narrius burst through the concrete wall behind him above the door with a howl and roar of fury, smashing into the wall opposite and cracking it, before he dived again at Zerrex.

The Drakkaren was tackled backwards, screaming in agony as the darkness ate at his body, burned him, and brought back every bad memory he had - and there were a lot of them - before Narrius bit down hard on his shoulder, and he shrieked again, dropping Blackheart as monster and warrior skidded across the floor... and then Zerrex finally kicked Narrius hard enough to shatter the concrete wall... and reveal a room beyond that had a massive, open glass dome on the wall, filled with sensor equipment and shattered gear... and then the last of Paradise's emergency systems gave out and the flying fortress began to plummet in earnest, the floor once more tilting violently, sending the Drakkaren skidding backwards.

He snagged Blackheart by the handle as he rolled to his feet on the wall, the tilt already almost forty-five degrees... and then Narrrius leapt at him, roaring... and Zerrex leapt up, yelling himself, his eyes wide with agony, his body covered in blood and black burn marks... and Narrius collided with his knee, shattering it and smashing in his shin, jaws sealing on his knee and the monster ripping his head to the side to send up a bloody mess and tearing the Drakkaren's kneecap off, sending the chunk of bone flying through the air... before Zerrex slammed his sword onto the mixed red-and-black, boiling mass of the monster's back.

Narrius howled and was sent crashing back into the abyss of machinery and destruction in a crumpled mass, turning into a glowing red beacon that was consumed by explosions... and Zerrex forced himself to run despite the agony in an uphill race as Paradise fell, through the tactics room, leaping over the table in the middle of the carpeted expanse and then kicking off the end of it to smash through the glass dome, arms covering his face as he flew into the air and then fell onto the outside of Paradise... and then he forced himself once more to his feet as Paradise crashed into the ground, facing the sky, Blackheart in one hand by his side and the other above him in the air as he threw himself high, then spinning around as the monstrous form of his father ripped through the dome behind him, all dark energy and death, blood leaking from every part of his body and his eyes pure white, dark essence streaming off his now-unsolid form like smoke... and Zerrex swung Blackheart down a final time, crushing in the skull of the beast and Drake's energy dissolving, now only a feral, brutal-looking, naked Dragokkaren staring up at him in horror... and then he fell, fell, fell, plummeted through the shattered glass dome and into the explosion that was rising through Paradise's guts, massive shockwaves and blasts all over the floating fortress unifying into one enormous explosion as Narrius's corpse dropped into that Hell...

And Zerrex looked skywards, reaching his hand up again towards the beautiful, blue skies above and the harmless clouds, the shining sun and made a weak, idle wish... a moment before all of Paradise exploded in a massive ¬nuclear blast.

Inside, every scientist, experiment, and soldier was obliterated instantly...and outside, the Black Rogues screamed and tried to flee the explosive shockwave that ripped through the desert, crunched in the front of Rebel Headquarters... and then was followed up by the explosion that tore the tower from the base, killed all of the former Patriarch's army of monsters and replications, and tossed also the rebels around like dust in the wind, showing no mercy to anyone as the building half-collapsed. Huck, too, fell victim, thrown through the air, his skull crushed in against the wall of the fortress, much of the old facility collapsing in on itself... but the resilient armor and skeleton of the building staying firm against even the worst of the explosion, as after the great blast and shock came a wave of dust and settling, sparkling particles. Beautiful and deadly... trapped radiation that had halted even the Apple of Eden's deadly nuclear rail; the flying fortress, after all, had been armed with cold nuke technology... and those had gone off with the rest of the explosives, increasing the blast's power... but the chemicals inside them sealing the deadly radiation from spreading.

Cherry shrieked, and both Cindy and Marina screamed at the wave of turbulence that hit their already overloaded VTOL, the jet's engines kicking off and the plane immediately beginning to spin violently down towards the desert... and Cherry snarled before hammering the controls and then grabbing the gearstick, twisting it violently as the spin increased before jerking hard up at the last moment, and the plane shot forwards as the wings straightened out, one of them tearing off from the force of the winds as they flew just above the jungle of the Cradle of Life, before falling, smashing through the last of the trees, and hitting the main road, skidding in a rapid circle around the end, jostled and suffering minor injuries... but otherwise saved.

Albatross, Mahihko, and the surviving snipers and strike force had taken the transports out of the area earlier... and had immediately holed up when Paradise had begun to fall in a cavern that they'd been passing on the long route back towards Uroboros: and lucky for them, as they sat secure, deep in the ground, the stone roof overtop them rumbling and dirt falling from it as trees, their transport, and rocks flew through the air above, thrown by the powerful blast, and Mahihko whined loudly, ears laying back and clinging to Albatross as the Dragokkaren snarled and looked at the smoke-and-fire-ripped sky with hope and terror: had Paradise fallen? And what had been the cost?

Even Uroboros, so damn far away, was hit by the trembling earth and witnessed that massive explosion in the distance... Churchill swallowing thickly and leaning forwards, pale and on the verge of fainting, horrified and amazed, as six of his elites stood around him on the high wall that surrounded the city, and the GA immediately snapped off rigid salutes as Churchill dropped his head and whispered: "I'm not cut out for this job..."

Minutes passed as that furious explosion roiled in the air with thick smoke, fire, and death that spread for miles in diameter around the enormous blast... and then as it began to fade, tattered and torn apart by sharp winds, a single light shone high above the other figures... and Zerrex looked silently upwards, a bubble of translucence around him, his arms limp at his sides and a pair of white, yet bloody angel wings spread from his back, feathers of white energy floating down and vanishing into sparkling motes, his head lowered and his white hair flickering around his face as the wounds from where they'd torn from his back bled sluggishly... and then he rose his head, looking sorrowfully up at the sky and murmuring softly: "You'll never let me die, will you..."

Slowly, so slowly, he settled down to the ground, amidst blackened wreckage and on charcoal and dead sand, and he glanced slowly back and forth over this horror, then towards the distance, where he could see trees burning: the Cradle of Life was burning, those sacred trees of the jungle being consumed by a wildfire that might claim all of Hez'Ranna and would certainly destroy a good portion of its natural marvel. But he didn't care... it was the circle of things... and he had been forced to once more circumvent that circle with this strange power... but when he looked down at his hand... he thought he saw a flicker of movement, and he glanced up as the energy faded from around him but the wings stayed, and he whispered: "No... it's not... whatever force up there wants to torture me, is it..."

Celestial... Requiem... Tinman... Mercury... Cynterra... Mahihko... Cherry... Cindy... Marina... he had so many people who had given their all to him, given their lives to him... their energy, their souls. And as he glanced over himself slowly, he could remember all the nephilim he'd taken in... and how Felicity had always told him he was so different for being able to knock away her telekinesis, like he was harnessing his own unseen energies... and he murmured quietly as he looked down at his scarred hand: "Is this that energy, boosted to the umpteenth level?"

"You..." whispered a ragged voice... and Zerrex looked up with surprise as Drake slowly formed in front of him... but he was dripping with black energy like blood, panting harshly as he looked at him wonderingly, before murmuring: "Energy... pure light energy. But you're... a monster... a creature of darkness..."

"The deeper the darkness, the brighter the light that hides within, is what my mother always used to tell me..." Zerrex said softly... then he glanced up at Drake with a bit of a smile. And my daughter... and my... my friends...

A strange, alien word for him, that he still wasn't yet used to... before Drake laughed faintly and asked, as he shoved a large plate of metal out of his way to pass into the small clearing that was free of debris: "Then what about those fugly things on your back? That was in your head... not reality..."

Zerrex glanced at these... then he smiled and looked back at Drake as he flapped them once... and winced as he rolled his head upwards, closing his eyes as they slowly vanished into his back, half-furling before they simply disappeared, but left thin, twin scars of white from where they'd came as his bleeding stopped. A pause, and he returned his emerald gaze to the dark nephilim, as his dark essence continued to rot and fall away. "I am half-Dragokkaren, and they have wings... I guess I just built on that."

Drake nodded, then he smiled faintly as he stepped forwards again, before grunting and almost falling as he clutched at his stomach, saying quickly: "Please, Zerrex... I need a body... I'm rotting, I'm dying... I... I can't stay out in this open air for much longer without being symbiotically linked with someone... show me mercy, I was under orders and... I'm so much stronger now that I've taken Narrius's energy, let me show you that darkness, that power, and I have so much to tell you and share with you..."

Zerrex looked at him quietly, then closed his eyes, struggling with himself, before he said the hardest words he'd ever needed to in his life: "Some things... are better left not known. Curiosity or not." He finished... and it was like a weight had been lifted off him, despite the agony wrenching at every part of his being... before he smiled faintly and met Drake's eyes. "But I will show you mercy."

Drake brightened... and then Zerrex drew the sword back, and the dark creature screamed and rose his arms before Zerrex brought the sword down in a vicious diagonal slash, the dark creature staggering backwards as his jaws opened in a gape that was too wide, his features lengthening and melting, his body flailing as it turned grey before exploding into a thousand black motes that flew backwards as a terrible scream echoed through the air... and Zerrex winced, snarling and jerking back before standing still and alone in the wreckage of what had once been called Paradise.