Ravens of Eternity

223 The Patriarch Falls, Pt The destroyer adjusted its course and turned its port side at both frigates. Her C-ranked cannons adjusted their aim, and peppered Darius’ frigate with a barrage of shells. Though they were hardly damaged by it, their advance was greatly slowed.

His frigate was also pushed down towards the ground, thanks to the unending cannonade.

At the same time, the weapon atop the destroyer adjusted its arm and aimed the weapon right at Mia’s frigate. The AuralWave Disruptor didn’t have any barrels like standard guns. Instead it had two crystalline forks that were held together with a flexible omnitronium frame.

They looked like they were cut out of huge slabs of orange-tinted diamond, and its faceted surface deflected light brilliantly with multiple angles.

As its aim was fixed on the frigate, the two prongs on the fork began to vibrate with incredible speed. A loud HUM filled the air as the entire fork blurred with supersonic energy. The hum reached a fever pitch, at which point there was a CRACK as the prongs stilled.

An invisible wave of force blasted out from the disruptor, and caused space to warp along its path. The energy struck the frigate, but didn’t rend anything – instead, it passed right through the hull itself, and echoed all over the interior.

It ‘blasted out’ through the frigate’s front and rear, though a small amount of residual force passed through the ship, and “struck” the ground below. The sheer force of the soundwave caused the silicate crystals to ripple outwards from the point of impact. It was as though the planet’s surface was a viscous liquid, if only for a few moments.

The inside of the frigate was reduced to utter chaos. The ship itself vibrated uncontrollably and violently, as though it was being forced apart from the inside.

Waves of sonic energy reverberated up and down the ship’s rooms and passageways, amplified by the titanium carbide structure surrounding it. Prophets clutched at their heads and fell to the ground as their ears bled from the oscillating pressure. More than that, their bodies shook violently.

.....

Their sense of balance was completely wiped out throughout the attack, and was replaced with an oppressive, pounding migraine. Many fell to the floor and clutched at their heads uselessly.

Every single person stationed aboard the ship was stunned into submission, their screams and cries for help went unheard as the Disruptor’s waves crashed into them over and over.

Some actually vomited blood from the overwhelming nausea they were stricken with.

The sonic attack eventually ebbed as the seconds ticked away. And as the waves of sound diminished, the Prophets regained their senses.

Many found blood coming out of their mouths, eyes, ears, and noses.

But before they could fully recuperate, they heard multiple impacts across the top of their hull. It sounded as though cannon shells had wrenched their way through the armor and landed inside. Each impact caused the whole ship to shudder and shake. However, not a single explosion accompanied them.

Fear immediately spread through the Prophets on the lower decks when they heard the sound of gunfire.

Up above on the very top decks, S-ranked Boarding Torpedos had punched through the frigate’s thick hide and past its reinforced structure. They embedded themselves into the ground of the topmost deck securely with heavy THUDS.

Then, each one opened up like deadly flowers and revealed the Federation Shock Troopers in Heavy Power Armor inside. They jumped out of their harnesses and leapt down to the ground and caused the deck’s floor to shake violently.

Every single one fired their belt-fed B-ranked Federal Tactics Group Heavy Autoguns at every Prophet in sight, and cut them down without saying a single word. Shell casings from their weapons littered the floor as they shot round after round at everything around them.

Any Prophets who fired back at them were quickly shredded by their gunfire, and reduced to little more than chunks of bloody meat. Their blood spread all around and joined the empty casings that surrounded.

When the dust settled, every Prophet around the Troopers was dead. Or worse. Some gasped for breath as their twisted corpses struggled to stay alive.

Not that the Troopers even cared. The dull red glow of their optics simply glossed over the dying Prophets as they swept across the battlefield.

Once they had confirmed that there weren’t any threats in sight, the Troopers formed up into squads of four. The squads then stomped further down the passageways and tore into every Prophet they came across with unrelenting streams of ammunition.

It hardly mattered if the Prophets fought back, ran away, or were surrendering. All they were ordered to do was annihilate every single one of them with prejudice.

It was a task they were all too happy to fulfill.

~

On the other side of Central Command, T-Rex swung a left uppercut aimed at Callie’s ribs, and immediately followed up with a baton swing to her face. But she sidestepped and leaned back and evaded him expertly.

While the two danced, Max aimed his rifle at her, but the two moved too fast for him. He tracked them as they moved across the floor, but he never once got a clear shot. Both T-Rex and Callie were too intertwined for him to take the shot.

The risk of hitting his friend and ally was just too great.

Instead he ran straight towards Callie and raised his rifle’s stock. And though he attempted to jam it into the side of her head, he only found air. She evaded him as easily as she evaded T-Rex.

He swung more and more at her, even while T-Rex did, but hardly ever connected. Max felt utterly useless in the fight, even while he swung at the synth. She was certainly far more terrifying than any giant frog he would ever encounter.

But he didn’t stop. Even if he did little damage, he knew every little bit counted. He knew that if he could just rattle her a little bit, it would open up her defenses.

And that’s all either of them needed.

Both T-Rex and Max swung eagerly at Callie, both eager to unbalance her. Each of them swung their fists and snapped kicks at her from all sides. And although she weathered their attacks with sheer determination, they gradually wore away at her.

Every little strike here and there weakened her slightly, more and more.

After evading T-Rex’s left-right combo, Callie was completely open from one side. Max took the advantage and kicked her right in her abdomen. Though it felt like he was kicking a stone statue, she still groaned from the hit.

More than that, her footwork stumbled just enough. And that opening was all T-Rex needed.

He came in fast with a baton swing into the side of her stomach, followed up by a left jab into her face. He pulled his baton back, then swung downwards and struck her right on the top of her head. At the same time, Max struck the middle of her back with his rifle stock, then kicked at the back of her knees to unbalance her.

Callie was knocked around by the two – their continuous assault pushed her around and kept her off-balance. More than that, they began to wear away at her, and their hits began to hurt more and more.

If she allowed them to continue, there was no doubt she would get beaten down.

But Father was watching. And there was no way she would ever show weakness, especially in front of him. That would only lead to a terrible punishment.

She raised her arms and hammer up to keep her body protected, to minimize the damage her body received. But this was exactly what T-Rex was waiting for.

He reached out, held her hammer just under its head, and bound it up in his grip. He hooked into the other end using his baton and his arm, and made sure it was completely secure in his hold.

He shook both ends securely, then reared back and headbutted Callie right on her forehead, with as much force as he could muster. She reeled back in pain, but recovered far quicker than he wanted.

Her eyes widened with anger, then headbutted T-Rex right back. He was immediately dazed by the strike, and he felt his grip loosen. Before he could recover, she headbutted him a second time, this time stronger than the first.

Her blow was powerful enough that he was driven to his knees. His thoughts became fuzzy as he fought to retain his consciousness, and his mind swam as it fought to regain control.

Callie yanked the hammer out of his grip, then clocked Max in the head with its handle.

He stumbled back and fell painfully to the ground. Blood gushed out of his broken nose as he fumbled around on the floor.

Callie stood between the two fallen men, hammer in her hands, a grin of superiority plastered on her face.

Freya and Father were also deep in their own dance, but the difference between their abilities was much harder to see. She slashed at him like a torrent and sliced him over and over with ceaseless fervor.

His forearms were covered with dozens of cuts at every angle, with some of them incredibly deep. And where his skin peeled back, blood and muscle and bone could be seen with ease. And though he was wracked with pain, he still managed to counter attack many of her strikes.

He took a hit with his left forearm yet again, then jabbed straight at her with his right fist. When she evaded, he swung heavily with his left and baited her into ducking.

Which she did – she crouched down as she spun around and slashed laterally at his abdomen. But instead of blocking her blade with his right arm, he instead grabbed her wrist and stopped her blade.

He pulled her inward, then backhanded her cheek with a heavy THWAK.

The force of his strike bit into her skin, and stunned her momentarily. And as she stepped back to recover, she switched the grip on her blade, then shoved it edge-first into the inside of his right forearm.

Then Freya stepped forward, pushed the blade up and towards Father. Hard. This scraped his skin and muscle right off his bone.

The pain was indescribable, and Father screamed in utter agony. He let go of her wrist, and cradled his own instinctively as he backed away.

At the same time, Freya planted a foot on his face and launched off it with force. She landed a half dozen meters away, breaths hot and heavy. Father stumbled back, his breaths also hard. His face was etched with blinding pain, and the hate in his eyes was clear.

The two of them stared each other down, and it became obvious to both of them that this fight wasn’t going to be an easy one to win.

Freya noticed that Father’s wounds closed up slower than before, but also that they sped up more and more as time went on. In other words, his body could only heal so much at any given time.

She grinned as she realized she had a way to potentially end him. All she had to do was cause massive damage, fast. More than he could heal.

Freya raised her blade at the man, her eyes filled with anger.

“You ready to die, old man?” she asked. “Because, in my opinion, it’s long since overdue.”

He grinned in response as he calculated his own moves against her. To him, she had just come into her power. She was still fresh to it, and didn’t know all of its intricacies. And he could easily use what he knew to his advantage.

He beckoned her towards him with a gesture of his hands. At the same time, his wounds healed up fully. All that was left of their existence was the blood that had seeped into his cut-up shirt.

“Let’s see what you’re capable of,” he responded. “Though I’m afraid you’re going to be rather disappointed with the outcome.”