Sync mode could only be ignited by a pilot willing to sacrifice their very life force to do it. The ancient records of the God Orbitons described it not as a technique but as a death pact — a state that only three pilots in all of recorded history had ever activated, and not one of them had lived long afterward. The cost was simply too high. Sync mode demanded everything: body, mind and spirit, and years of a pilot's life burned away in a single moment of unleashed divinity. But Youri was different. Because of his unique body and his altered DNA, sync mode did not drain the life out of him. It unlocked him. For him it was a weapon, an edge he drew only when a situation had become an absolute catastrophe.
As Altopereh hurtled toward the ground with the earth rushing up at the cockpit glass, Youri closed his eyes and triggered the sequence. Every panel went dark at once, and the lights flickered out one by one until the cockpit was black. Then he heard the voice, a sardonic whisper inside his skull. Hey, moron. This is going to cost you.
Youri let out one long, steady breath and smiled faintly. "Yeah, yeah. I know."
The cockpit ignited blood red. Altopereh hit the ground and rebounded off it like a fired projectile, tearing up into the sky at a speed no Terrian instrument could even measure, with a crimson trail snapping out behind it. High above the clouds it stopped dead and looked down at the battlefield, where dozens of Terrian ships and Orbitons were scattered below it like toys across a metal floor. Perciosa and Sirius spotted its glowing silhouette at once. Before either of them could react, it vanished in a ripple of distorted space and reappeared directly in front of one of the Terrian cruisers with its blade drawn. The ship split cleanly in half. Seconds later, three of its escort Orbitons detonated in silent flashes, swallowed by the aftershock of sync mode.
"Eat that, you fossil!" Anemone screamed, launching Perciosa forward and unleashing a concentrated plasma slash, a scorching arc bright enough to stain the clouds purple. Altopereh did not dodge it. It simply caught it. Its massive hand closed around the energy. The plasma trembled and hissed in its grip until the Vanisher crushed it like brittle glass. Before the broken fragments had even scattered, it blasted forward and nearly rammed Perciosa head-on. Anemone barely got her wings up in time. The impact hurled her backward into a jagged ridge of black rock that shattered around her cockpit.
Sirius seized the opening at once. Maximilian raised his arm and fired a burst of missiles that streaked across the sky like burning comets. As they closed in, he activated Sirius's second ability and pulled two colossal meteor fragments down out of orbit. They fell at terminal velocity, the atmosphere screaming around them, and smashed into Altopereh, cratering the ground and throwing up enough dust to blot out the sky. Maximilian grinned. "Let's see you crawl out of that."
He did not have to wait long. The meteors shattered from the inside. Chunks of molten rock blasted outward, and Altopereh stood untouched in the middle of them, glowing with the impossible radiance of sync mode. Its wing thrusters ignited, carrying it higher still. From there it fired a volley of micro-singularity rounds — tiny pockets of collapsed space flung like bullets, swirling erratically, warping the air, dragging light itself along with them as they streaked toward Sirius. Maximilian threw up his shield on instinct. "Damn — these things hit hard!" Every impact shook through his cockpit and into his bones. While he held off the barrage, Altopereh dove back toward the surface. By the time it landed, eight more Orbitons were already falling behind it in burning pieces.
Panic rippled through the Terrian forces. Mikhail saw it, Emilia saw it, everyone saw it. This was no longer a battle. It was an extermination.
"Brother," Emilia breathed, pale, "we have to pull back into orbit. If that monster isn't stopped, we won't have a fleet left."
Mikhail clenched his jaw. But he nodded. "God damn it. All ships, retreat to orbit! Regroup and wait for further orders!"
Ship after ship began to pull back toward the upper atmosphere, and Maximilian watched them go. Cowards, he thought, unable to help himself. "Running for their lives—"
He turned back, and froze. Altopereh was standing directly in front of Sirius with one hand wrapped around Sirius's head, and particles of condensed energy were spiraling in its other fist, gathering for a point-blank plasma shot. Maximilian's breath caught in his throat — but Perciosa was faster. Anemone burst out of the rubble with her wings fully spread, screaming, "Motherfucker — you'll pay for that!" Her claws struck Altopereh's wrist and knocked its aim aside just as the plasma discharged. The shot tore past Sirius's head by a few meters and carved a glowing scar across the ground.
Now the three God Orbitons faced each other in a rough triangle — Perciosa to the right, Sirius to the left, and Altopereh in the middle.
"Ane," Maximilian growled over the comm, "he's in sync mode. I'm sure of it!"
"Does he have a death wish?" she spat.
Far across the battlefield, the Tartarusios was trying to escape, and dozens of enemy ships came down out of orbit to meet her. The thirty ships at the start had been bait; the real blockade was only now descending around them like the bars of a cage. "Shit!" Oscar slammed his hand against the panel. "We're trapped!" They had no choice but to fight. The Titans deployed, their engines roaring and the ground trembling as they marched toward the battle.
Above them, the gods were clashing. Perciosa unleashed her gamma feathers, feathers of pure energy that turned into homing missiles as they launched in wave after wave. They spiraled around Altopereh and tracked every dodge with fluid precision while the Vanisher danced between them, sync mode sharpening every twitch and every turn.
"Ane, hold him off!" Maximilian shouted. "I'm going to charge the blast beam from orbit!"
"Good! Pulverize the bastard!"
Sirius climbed into the clouds as if it were retreating. When Altopereh fired more singularity rounds after it, the impacts only helped to throw it clear, and Maximilian slipped away and broke through the atmosphere. Perciosa stayed behind. The duel that followed shook the sky. Altopereh's plasma blade met Perciosa's wing edge again and again. Every collision scattered shards of condensed light while shockwaves rolled across the clouds and the clangor rang out like bells being shattered. Anemone was laughing. "This is fun! Come on, old man — show me what you've got!"
Youri did not answer her. Instead, Altopereh shot backward without warning, lifted its hands and clapped them together. A long, humming lance of plasma crackling with purple fire took shape between them. Then, for the first time, his voice came over the channel. "I'll show you what I've got."
"Oh? Finally talking!" Anemone grinned. "Then get ready to die!"
She lunged at him with her claws extended, her wings spread wide and loaded with gamma feathers. Her claws met his lance in an explosion of sparks as she boxed him in between her attacks. "I've got you now!" she roared. The gamma feathers detonated all at once in a blinding explosion that swallowed the sky. When Perciosa shot out of the smoke, Anemone brushed off her shoulder. "That should at least shake him."
The smoke cleared. Altopereh was gone.
Up in orbit, Sirius was seconds away from finishing its charge when Maximilian's radar started screaming. "Ane — Ane, where did he go? I can't find him!"
Before he could finish the sentence, Altopereh materialized behind him, silent as a ghost. The blow came instantly. Altopereh locked its fists together and brought them down in one brutal swing that smashed Sirius out of orbit like a meteor. Maximilian felt his lungs crush against his ribs as every alarm in the cockpit blared and the inertia warnings flashed red. He screamed and poured every ounce of strength he had into Sirius's inertia dampers — just enough to slow himself before he hit. Sirius crashed into the surface and carved a trench miles long across it.
Altopereh came down slowly after him and hung in the air over both of them, Perciosa on one side and Sirius struggling to rise on the other. When Youri spoke again, his voice was calm, cold and final.
"Alright, kids. Playtime is over."