The battlefield above Terria had already descended into chaos, the void full of drifting wreckage, shattered LEX units and the burning remains of the warships that had tried to contain the monster in their midst. The once-orderly formations had dissolved into scattered clusters of survivors struggling just to stay alive in the storm of plasma and debris. At the center of it all were three machines that moved like forces of nature: the Hound, blazing orange and crowned with burning horns, with the long living whip of its tail behind it; the Phantom, Leonora's violet machine, darting through space with deadly grace in spite of the overwhelming pressure; and the battered, unyielding NOIR, barely holding itself together and still refusing to fall.
The Hound moved first. Larsen twisted the massive machine forward and lunged straight at the Phantom, and the tail snapped out ahead of it like a living spear, cracking through the void with terrifying speed.
Leonora reacted at once. "Got you—!" The Phantom crossed its plasma blades in front of its torso just as the tail struck. The impact detonated with a violence that sent a shockwave rippling through the debris, sparks and plasma fragments exploding outward. Even with the block, the force drove the Phantom backward several hundred meters while its thrusters screamed and Leonora fought to steady it. "Damn it—!"
The Hound gave her no time. The instant she was off balance, Larsen drove forward again with the Trident already swinging down in a brutal arc at the Phantom's chest, its three spearheads screaming through space. Leonora saw it coming. She was a fraction too slow. If the Trident landed, the Phantom's armor would split open and its core would be exposed.
And then something dark tore across the battlefield like a shadow. NOIR. Youri forced the damaged machine forward with everything it had left while the ACX-01 cortex howled in protest and its battered thrusters flared violently far beyond their safe limits. The crimson blade ignited once more. Just as the Trident came crashing down, NOIR caught it. The red blade slammed into the shaft in mid-swing in a blinding burst of energy. The force drove the Hound back several meters while Youri fought to hold his ground in his shaking cockpit, with sparks bursting across NOIR's ruined armor and alarms screaming through the control panel. He ignored all of them and opened the comm. "Leonora! Are you okay?"
The Phantom steadied slowly nearby with its thrusters flickering, and Leonora took a long breath before she answered. "I'm fine." There was frustration in her voice. "But this thing is baffling. How is he keeping up with both of us like this?"
Youri stared at the Hound through his tactical display. It floated calmly across the battlefield with the Trident still blazing in its hands and its tail coiling slowly behind it like a patient predator. His eyes narrowed. "I think it's the Trident."
Leonora glanced at the weapon. "That thing?"
"Yeah." He kept scanning the energy readings. "Only the God Units are supposed to have technology that manipulates plasma on that scale. But somehow the Hound is doing it too."
Leonora frowned. "Good thing it's not actually a God Unit, then," she muttered. "It has to run out of power eventually."
Youri nodded slowly. "Yeah. That's a given."
But before either of them could move, something changed. At the top of the Hound's head, between the burning horns, small darts of orange light began to appear — like sparks at first, then gathering together, more and more of them converging into a concentrated sphere of blazing energy. Youri saw the readings spike, and his eyes went wide. "Wait—"
Leonora saw it too. "Oh no—!" The Phantom surged forward. "Watch out!" And she slammed into NOIR and shoved the crippled machine sideways.
The sphere detonated. A colossal beam of blazing orange plasma burst from between the Hound's horns and carved through space like the wrath of a star. Everything in its path simply vanished. LEX units were swallowed in an instant. Terrian warships evaporated as the beam tore straight through their hulls. Explosions filled the battlefield as it stretched on for kilometers across the orbit and left a glowing scar through the debris. A few seconds later the shockwave hit. Youri felt the whole cockpit shake violently as it slammed into NOIR. Everything went white. For a moment there was nothing but silence.
Then, slowly, his vision came back. He blinked. The cockpit lights were flickering weakly, and NOIR was spinning slowly through space with its systems barely functioning. "Leonora—" He turned his head. The Phantom was drifting beside him, and it was barely recognizable. One arm was gone entirely. Both legs had been shredded by the blast. Great sections of its armor had been torn away to expose its damaged internal systems. It hung there motionless, its one remaining arm wrapped weakly around NOIR's shoulder, as though she had tried to hold on to him even as the beam struck.
Youri's heart skipped, and he slammed the comm open. "Leonora!" There was no answer. "Leonora!" Nothing.
Panic surged through him. He pulled up the lifeline window on his control panel. The small medical display flickered, and a heartbeat appeared. Her vital signs were still active. He let out a sharp breath. "Thank God…" She was alive. Only unconscious.
He opened a fleet channel at once. "One of you get here now!"
A damaged Terrian cruiser answered. "On approach!" It eased its way carefully through the debris to the drifting Phantom and reached out with its recovery arms to take hold of the shattered Orbiton gently. As it began to pull her away, Youri watched in silence. "Take her to Central Command," he said quietly. "Immediately."
"Understood." And the ship turned and began to withdraw from the battle.
Only two machines remained. Youri slowly turned his eyes back to the Hound, which floated across the void with its horns still burning and its Trident blazing like a weapon forged in hell, while inside its cockpit Larsen watched the battlefield with calm excitement — until he noticed something. NOIR's energy signature had begun to change.
Inside the ruined cockpit, Youri sat perfectly still. His breathing slowed. His eyes focused, and that look came back into his face — the same look he had worn the first time he climbed into Altopereh. The moment when everything else fell away and combat became pure instinct. Flow State. Not the drug this time. Something older that the drug had only ever imitated.
He pushed the ACX-01 cortex past its limit, and the machine answered at once. Red light burst from every vent and joint in NOIR's body as the cortex unleashed everything it had left, and the battered Orbiton ignited in a violent crimson aura, its armor plates trembling, its thrusters flaring, the void itself seeming to ripple around it. Youri tightened his grip on the controls. The Reaper had made his decision. One more soul. That was all it would take.
Across the battlefield, the Hound slowly raised its Trident again, and Larsen grinned. Finally. No fleet. No Phantom. No interruptions. Only two predators. The battlefield had fallen silent, and now there was nothing at all left between them.