A shadow appeared beyond the battlefield and grew larger with every passing second. What looked at first like a distant distortion soon revealed itself as something far more massive — the darkness rippling like water disturbed by a falling stone, until out of that distortion a colossal warship forced its way into real space. It came slowly, its enormous hull swallowing the faint light of the sun, its long predatory body layered with armor plates broken by recessed weapon arrays and seams of dim crimson energy, dwarfing the Orbitons nearby. It stopped directly behind the Hound.
Inside the Hound's cockpit, Larsen's sensors flickered as the ship finished its arrival. A new signal opened on his comm, and a relaxed voice came through. "Hey, Larsen. Looks like you're in a bit of a pickle. Want some help?"
Larsen's lips curled slightly as he recognized it. "Dellor." He leaned back a little in his seat, watching the two Terrian Orbitons across the void. "I'm just getting started."
Dellor laughed. "Alright, alright. But don't forget who you're dealing with. You've got the Reaper and the Phantom in front of you. Whatever you do, don't underestimate them."
Inside the cockpit, Larsen slowly licked his lips, and a spark of excitement lit in his eyes. "Oh," he said quietly. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this."
A brief pause. "Fair enough. Then let's make it interesting."
A great launch bay opened beneath the warship's central hull, and a mechanical arm reached out holding a huge rectangular container nearly the size of the Hound itself. "Sending the Trident," Dellor said. "You should be able to link with it."
The container was released and drifted across the void toward the Hound, tumbling slowly. As it came closer its armored casing split apart into panels that folded outward like the petals of a metal flower. Inside it, a weapon woke. Three enormous spearheads unfolded from a central shaft, each blade longer than the Hound's whole arm, and its surface glowed with deep orange circuitry that pulsed like molten veins. It wasn't simply a lance. It was something far more monstrous.
Larsen guided the Hound forward. The machine reached out and closed its hands around the shaft, and everything changed. The Trident ignited. Blazing orange plasma erupted across it, crawled down the shaft and spread up the Hound's arms like wildfire through dry grass, surging straight into the machine's core. The Valis core answered instantly, its energy spiking beyond anything ever recorded. The transformation began. Bright orange plasma raced over the Hound's armor in violent arcs while new structures formed out of condensed energy: two great plasma horns burst from the top of its head like curved blades of fire, and a long plasma tail grew from the base of its spine to coil behind it almost to its knees, like the tail of a predator about to strike. The Trident's three spearheads fused with the Hound's output and blazed so fiercely that the vacuum around them warped. The whole machine radiated terrifying power as the synchronization completed.
Diablo Mode activated.
Larsen let out a slow breath as the power flooded through him. His sensors screamed warnings. His smile only widened.
"Alright, Larsen," Dellor said, amused. "Looks like you're all set. It's time for our part now. So have fun." The great warship turned slowly away from the battlefield. Space rippled again, and it vanished back into the distortion.
But Leonora had already moved. The Phantom exploded forward at breakneck speed, its thrusters burning white as she raced after the retreating ship. "If that ship gets away—"
Youri saw it before she could finish. "Leonora!"
Too late. She had already committed. Just as she reached the place where the warship had vanished, space warped behind her. The Hound was there, in her blind spot, with the Trident already moving and its three blazing spearheads aimed straight at the Phantom's core. Her sensors screamed. She spun the machine around, and she knew it was too late.
And then space erupted in crimson. Inside NOIR, Youri forced the ACX-01 cortex past its limits. Energy surged violently through the machine, and NOIR's whole frame ignited in deep red as every thruster fired at once and launched it forward like a meteor, trailing a crimson vector so bright that it could be seen even from Central Command's distant observation decks. In a blink, NOIR had crossed the entire battlefield and appeared between the Phantom and the Hound.
The clash was instantaneous. NOIR's crimson blade slammed into the blazing Trident with an impact like a star exploding. Shockwaves rippled outward and scattered molten plasma across the void, and the Phantom was blown backward by the blast while Youri held the Hound locked in place. The two machines hung face to face. Trident against blade. Red against orange. Inside the Hound, Larsen's grin widened. Now the real fight had begun.
The Hound moved first. Its plasma tail lashed out like a living whip. Youri barely saw it coming before it wrapped around NOIR's arm, wrenched the machine sideways and slammed it into the wreckage of the destroyed transport. Fragments of metal exploded outward as NOIR crashed through them. Youri recovered at once and burst forward again. The Hound was waiting. The Trident spun through Larsen's hands like a storm, its three plasma blades carving wide arcs through space, every one of them capable of tearing an Orbiton apart. Youri dodged the first swing. The second cut across NOIR's shoulder armor and sent glowing fragments spinning away. Then the tail struck again, from below this time, wrapping around NOIR's leg and hurling it upward.
But before Larsen could follow, the Phantom came back, plunging down from above like a falling comet with her twin plasma blades blazing brighter than ever as she slashed at the Hound's exposed flank. Larsen twisted the Trident sideways. Its blades met hers in a violent burst of plasma. He spun the weapon again to drive her back before unleashing a devastating counter — a massive surge of plasma down the length of the shaft that tore through space like a burning river and carved a glowing scar across the debris field as Leonora barely escaped it.
And while Larsen was focused on the Phantom, NOIR came back. Youri surged out of the fading plasma cloud with the ACX-01 cortex screaming as he pushed it even harder. The crimson blade burned brighter, and he swung with everything the machine had. The strike landed, carving a deep, glowing wound across the Hound's torso plating, and for the first time, Larsen's machine staggered.
But the pilot only laughed. The tail snapped forward again, whipped across NOIR's chest, coiled around its torso and dragged it straight toward the Trident. Larsen thrust the weapon forward with its three burning blades racing for NOIR's core. Then the Phantom slammed into the Hound from the side and broke the attack an instant before the killing blow could land.
The battlefield erupted into chaos. Three machines. Three blazing energy signatures — red, orange and violet. The void above Terria had become a storm of plasma, fire and impossible speed. And the battle had only just begun.