Fantasy Starscourge War

[Dirge]

Few people ever find peace in times of war...

The empires of Machina & Astra have long been at war. The old adage of technology and science eventually clashing with the supernatural and unexplainable a constant fear in the hearts of all...

A fear that came true almost fifty years ago...

In this age one must pick a side. One must make their choice, and one must live with it.


The continent of Chrysalis has long been contested territory between factions. Control of it is on a constant threshold of chaotic instability.

All it takes is one side being just a little more aggressive than the other, for another savage battle for dominance to take hold.
​

Somewhere in a small town cradled under the morning sun's light on Chrysalis, peace was in the air. The surrounding landscape nothing but rolling green grasslands as far as the eye could see. The city itself rather small and out of the way of prying eyes for the most part. The raging war of magic and technology never seemed to bother this isolated settlement, and the people, for the most part, lived rather happily in their bubble of safety. With clear blue skies, a shining sun, and pleasant weather overall, today looked like it was going to be yet another wonderful one. Somewhere on the outskirts of this small, out of the way city, stood a little flat of a house. A house that looked simple and mundane, with brick walls, a small patio and backyard, and a garage. Inside of this home, a young man looking to be in his early twenties paced around on the phone with someone.


"Yeah, sorry but who is this again?" The young man asked, playing dumb as he stuffed a half-eaten sandwich in his mouth. His build was fair and his skin pale, a blend of athleticism and lean muscle expected of a physically fit person that was always undergoing physical activity. His facial features were somewhat sharp and standoffish, like something one would expect of trouble making delinquent, with a subtle, yet noticeable diagonal scar across the corner of his right brow from some violent altercation in the past. His hair a light grey, and fashioned into something of a messy style that was shaved on the sides and tapered at the back with the front of it hanging off his forehead sort of giving him a punkish look. The tall, athletic built male walking around in nothing but a black tank top and slim-fitting pants as he talked over the phone. It seemed like he was getting chewed out by somebody.

"I don't remember subscribing to this erotic channel you're speaking of. I'm pretty sure you have the wrong guy, friend." The man lied fighting a sneer into the phone as he paced. His voice not necessarily deep, but it wasn't high pitched either. "Oh, I gotta go. I'm uh, running out of minutes on this phone. Bye!" He said hanging up his smartphone and eye-rolling. The man moving to the living room to sprawl out on a leather couch and doze off. He really should start using fake numbers and emails when he subscribed to stuff on the internet. This was like the fourth call this week. Lying on his back with a small grunt, the young man would start dozing off. Today looked like it was going to be a chill day.

 

[Ranix Aurus]

The continent of Chrysalis.

The small piece of land was officially under the control of Astra empire. That fact alone was enough to make it an enticing prey for the hungry wolves in the upper ranks of the Machina Technocracy. With the border of the Empire rapidly shrinking under the enemy's incessant barrage, the continent's peaceful days might not last for long.

Seeing that the Empire's defense line was stretched thin at all front, the Machina collectives decided that it was high time to take over Chrysalis. A fleet of vanguards, dedicated to swift capture and establishment of forward base, was deployed in utmost haste. Its first target was the quaint little town at the edge of the continent.

In the vast expanse of the blue sky, white clouds parted as mechanized airships appeared, shedding off their camouflage layers one after another. The numerous hatches on their sides slid open, revealing rows upon rows of unmanned infantry units, spherical, four-legged machines outfitted with anti-personnel automatic gun designed as shock troopers. In their initial form, they were nothing more than balls of iron, raining down from the sky into the unsuspecting crowds below.

Another hatch opened. This time, it was the one connected to the piloted mech's hangar. An explosion followed and, like a cannon, a huge chunk of metallic cube was shot out of the opening.

"Damn it, who give her the authorization to go?"

"F-forgive me, commander! I don't dare to stop her!"

An operator's pitiful yelp could be heard from the flagship, but that was a story for another day...

...Because that metallic cube was freefalling through the sky, reaching its terminal velocity before slamming right into a small flat of a house at the outskirts of the city, blasting off its roof, destroying one side of its wall, and knocking down everything that wasn't fastened to the ground.

 

[Dirge]

As he lay halfway dozed off, the obscure, grey-eyed man suddenly opened his eyes with urgency. Something bad was about to happen and he could feel it in his bones. Before he could figure out what however, his acute hearing picked up on the sound of what could only be described as a high pitched whistle. It was coming from above him, and it was falling fast!

Immediately springing from the couch, the young man leapt away in a show of supernatural athleticism right as a massive object caved in his roof. The sound akin to a hundreds pounds bomb that caused the entire house to shiver and quake. Debris flew everywhere, the young man hiding behind an adjacent wall on the opposite side of said house from the impact. The man coughing and waving away dust from agitated and bewildered features.

“That’s one way to collect a debt, I guess...” The man choked with a grunt before peering around the corner through the dust. His grey eyes emitting a low glow as his powers activated only to focus on a large, cube-shaped... Technocracy vessel?

“Oh...” The man muttered to himself. The last thing he wanted to see, was some of those people invading the small town he hid away in.

 

[Ranix Aurus]

Amidst the rising smoke and dust clouds, the cube stirred awake. Thin lines shone across its surface as it began to whirr and grind. One section moved. Another slid away. A few sunk while another rose. The outer layer of the vessel opened up like a sick imitation of a blossoming flower, revealing the gigantic humanoid figure within.

Clad in metallic blue polish, the giant stood at ten feet, with bulky, blocky limbs as big as old-grown trees. It was headless, replaced by an oversized torso with a single red glowing eye at the center which flared up immediately. The outer layers of the cube were pulled close to its skin by thin mechanical arms, forming yet another protective layer over its body.

It was the Assault-class piloted battlesuit commonly utilized by the Machina Technocracy, nicknamed the Cyclops by both sides of the war.

The eye swept over the vicinity, taking in the damage that it had caused through the abrupt entry. It swung its arms up, and from the slots on its body slid out a pair of heavy-duty grenade launchers, one for each arm.

"Where are you?!"

Unexpectedly, a voice called out from the speaker system of the battlesuit. A feminine one.

And she seemed to be... angry?

"You can't fool the heat detection system! Get the fuck out here and fight me, you coward!"

Without waiting for an answer, the battlesuit pulled the triggers and spew out untamed explosions, destroying whatever sorry parts were left of the pitiful shack.

 

[Dirge]

An Assault Class Suit, wonderful...
​

"Those are always a pain to deal with..." The hiding young man sighed to himself while closing his eyes and lowering his head. He didn't think Machina would actually come looking for him in such an obscure little town, but he was usually wrong in his assumptions anyway. Sighing to himself, the man would stand up. His grey hair now turning pitch black and his eye color changing to an ominous, glowing red. Right as the female pilot loaded her weapons and prepared to attack, a large and wicked black with silver edge, two-handed longsword manifested across the man's backside. The blade itself was longer than that of a typical longsword and double-edged, with a small, uneven handguard, and pommel having a small, glowing grey orb fixed into it. This was going to be such a stressful encounter, he really didn't feel like fighting.

The grenades started flying, and the remnants of the shed soon blasted up in violent, untamed explosions. These explosions bright and loud, their force overwhelming as they ravaged the meager remains of the small, flat brick house. When the dust settled, there was no blood or amputated limbs strewn about the charred chaos. It would seem, that the mech pilot's target somehow escaped. Most likely by carving an exit out of the wall and bursting through it right before the explosions reached him. It didn't seem like he was keen on fighting an Assault mech, even if he was possibly capable of dispatching it. Some distance outside of the destroyed building, the young man grit his teeth as he skids to a stop, still barefoot and looking normal again as he looked up at the sky. The fleet of vessels making his day go from bad to worse. With no immediate Astra army to back him up from this random invasion, he looked to be all on his own.

"That's fucking great..." He said sucking his teeth, looking over his shoulder back to the ruins of his house. That mech was going to find him, and he had no cover around. Grunting annoyed, his features changed again and he reforged his sword from nothing and prepared himself. Guess he was fighting after all.

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"Where is it? Where's my prey?!"

The pilot's angry roar blasted out from beneath the veil of chaos. The machine's arms swung around, clearing the dust clouds off her vision. At the same time, the grenade launchers wantonly spewed out molten destruction all over the place, turning her immediate surroundings to charred ashes.

In the end, there was no sign of casualty. Not a single blemish in her heat detection sensor.

"...Bastard!"

Her prey had the gall to run away!

"Ingwe! What are you doing down there?!" Her internal communication line flared up, sending an irate complaint down her auditory sense.

"Good timing," she replied promptly, her casual tone a blatant ignorance of the commander's annoyance. "I'll need you to locate a target for me. Shouldn't have gotten too far."

"Target? Which target? Who is it? Is it an immediate threat?"

"I dunno," she guffawed. "I just saw a life signal far away from town. Strong humans are usually loners, right?"

...The commander facepalmed.

Nevertheless, they did send him the location of every heat signals caught in the detector.

"Aaaalright, here I come, you rascal!"

With a deafening roar, the mech charged out of the burning rubbles, rushing straight at the hapless young man.

 

[Dirge]

And just like that, as expected, the Remnant saw his quarry. The ten-foot-tall mech rushing him with evident malice and harmful intent. While assault mechs were bottom tier in terms of Machina's ranking scale, they still were a bit of a hassle to deal with. As red eyes watched the incoming enemy, the young man spun his sword through the fingers of his right hand and primed it over his shoulder after getting into a slight crouch. No point running away now, nothing left to do but fight.

A primordial glow would flare in his ominous eyes, and a blackish-red tinge of energy would hum off the body of his blade as cryptic, archaic letters appeared across the broadside. There was a pause, and then the young Remnant lashed out with his blade. A high-pitched, scream of energy firing off in a large and savage arc towards the opposition that would grow larger and larger with every passing second. This vaguely shaped mass of energy carving a deep gash along the ground as it blasted forward to overtake and overwhelm the enemy with an absurd amount of cutting power.

"Fuck off!" The Remnant barked as he fired it!​

 

[Ranix Aurus]

Ooh!

"Now that's more like it!"

The pilot yelled, perhaps, even with a bit of ecstasy, as the battlesuit's optical system took in the sharp spike of energy barreling down at her. The best course of action was to dodge it. The second best was to eject the pilot chamber of the battlesuit and evacuate, leaving the fleet to take care of this mysterious Remnant.

And yet, she stood tall, the mech's leg spreading out to further support the machine's weight.

It threw the emptied grenade launchers away. Instead, a two-handed sword, as tall as its own body, popped out from a slot on its side. It held the sword horizontally, the blade pulled behind, as it lowered its stance. Cables connected the machine to the sword's hilt, and with each second, streams of pulsing energy was pumped through without pause.

The surface of the blade cracked. Reddish glow shone through the slits, covering the blade in a thin layer of light.

"EAT THIS!"

The battlesuit swung the sword with all its might right at the incoming arc of energy.

Screeching noise was followed by an ear-splitting cacophony of conflicting energies smashing and crashing and slicing and pummeling at each other.

In the end, neither sides relented. It was the fabric of reality itself that gave up first.

A deafening blast pushed the mech away from the resulting explosion. Its blade flew off its breaking limbs, spinning wildly in the air before stabbing the ground.

"...Fuck, what was THAT?!?"

The pilot roared as she forced the now-armless mech, which eye was beginning to dim, to stand up once more.

 

[Dirge]

Watching the flashy display of black tinted red contesting the red of the enemy's defenses, the Remnant watched with silent nonchalance. When his attack won out, and subsequently rewarded him by taking the arms off the mech, he couldn't help but smirk. His two-handed sword raising to rest across his right shoulder as he stood there barefoot and barely dressed. The heat of the lingering energy from his attack leaving a nice distorted haze trail from him to the enemy.

"You know, I could make a really corny disarming joke right now. I hope you realize that..." He yelled out fighting a laugh. It could have been anything from saying they were disarmed in more ways than one to they seemed to need a hand or two getting back their weapon. He wanted to say it, he wanted to say it so badly. But thankfully, he was a bit dissuaded from making obvious and terrible jokes today. The woman lucked out. His hair and eyes would revert back to their usual grey coloration, and the young man's sword would vanish as he waved and turned his back on the enemy.

"Maybe next time send more than one mech after me and you'll fare better," He said no longer seeing the woman pilot as a threat. He was just about to leave like that?

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"Ingwe! Cease your fighting! We've already secured the area! Return to the ship at once!"

The communication line flared up in her damaged battlesuit. The commander was a bit concerned that an unknown entity had caused their assault-class battlesuit to send a downed signal, but nothing that a barrage of cannons and mechs couldn't solve.

The pilot, however, wasn't listening.

She was grinning from ear to ear.

"Hold up! I'm not done with you yet!" She yelled. The ground shook as she brought the battlesuit back to life and sent it ramming at the young man, intending to use its weight as a last-ditch effort of attacking.

 

[Dirge]

As he walked away, the nameless Remnant glanced up at the sky again. It was at that moment, that he remembered the mecha he'd just damaged was the least of his problems. He had to get out of here. He figured that if he ran away on foot, given his unnatural speed, he could clear the city rather fast especially considering he was on the outskirts to begin with. The only problem with that was he'd be out in the open still. Wide and open terrain like this was the bane of his existence now. He'd have to steal a vehicle or something if he really wanted to escape without exhausting himself before he could even get that far.

All of his inner ramblings were interrupted when he heard a grating noise coming from behind him. The Machina native yelling out to him also grabbing his attention when he looked over his shoulder to see the mecha suit literally stampeding towards him. His eyes widened, and a confused yet shocked expression overtook his features. Was this chick crazy? Did she really plan to hit him with a mech suit like some crude brute? The sheer astonishment that gripped him faded away seconds later, replaced by subtle annoyance and a stoic visage as his hair and eyes changed to black and red respectively again. A flick of the fingers reforging the wicked greatsword in his grasp again.

Without a word, the Remnant rushed towards the mecha suit charging him. His red eyes discharging sinister energy as he picked up speed and became more and more of a blur to the naked eye. About fifteen meters away from impact, the young man would then lunge forward at the mech with his sword primed to stab into the eye section of the torso like a javelin. The momentum and kinetic energy of his body amplified by the supernatural speed and strength he possessed. It was like a car smashing into a brick wall at high speeds almost.

 

[Ranix Aurus]

The Cyclop's eye finally lost its light when the tip of the blade pierced right through at breakneck speed, enough to slid through like hot knife through butter. Crackling noise spread throughout the battlesuit as the damage finally rendered it immobile. Broken, mangled, and beginning to crack down into pieces from the sheer force.

As the suit fell apart , its back split open. Hot air gushed out of the opening. A cylindrical section, a bit bigger than the size of an adult human, sprung up and ejected its inhabitant.

"That's right! That's more like it! Fight me more!"

A silhouette leaped into the air, casting a shadow over the ground.

Long strands of crimson-red hair danced with the wind. Clad in skin-tight black bodysuit with cables still connecting her to the hulking machinery, a tan-skinned woman with jet black eyes flashed a crazed smirk at the Astra native below.

She lifted her arm.

The gigantic greatsword in the distance shed off its outer layer. At the same time, a glittering flash flew out of its inside before ending up in the woman's grasp. It was a single-edged sword as long as her slender body, with blade as thick as both of her arms combined.

The surface of the blade cracked open, just like it did with the bigger version. The energy coursing through it, however, seemed to be magnitudes stronger. Brighter. Flaring up insanely like the might of the very sun itself.

"Round two! Come on!"

As she barreled down toward the young man, she swung the sword, unleashing all the pent-up energy at once.

 

[Dirge]

As he ripped his sword from the metallic flesh of the mecha, the Remnant sucked his teeth when he saw he missed his mark. The ejecting woman that continued to goad and taunt him somewhat surprising, but otherwise only drawing annoyance from him. The Remnant then jumped away from the crumbling ruin of a mech suit and landed with a backward skid. This was time-consuming, he didn't have time to be dealing with this crazy, sadistic red-headed woman unable to realize when to stop. What the hell was her deal anyway!?

It was only when he saw her pull a sword on him that looked much like a smaller version of the one the robot used, that the man squinted in disbelief. The crackling energy within the blade vaguely mirroring arcane aether like that of his own sword except it now looked far more powerful than anything before. Was this chic serious? She really wanted to fight a Remnant like this? He had so many questions, but he didn't bother to ask or really care to either. Wasn't much time to think anyway as she was already lunging at him and swinging her sword in some violently destructive attack.

The energy would fly towards him right as he clad his own blade in his own aetherial energy as well. The densely packed, shapeless mass of power clinging to his sword and amplifying its capabilities when he swung at the energy. Contact was made, and the Remnant managed to keep the projectile mass at bay with his sword and prevent it from tearing into him. Though the force was much greater than what he had bothered to put into his defense, and when he found himself slowly being pushed back and overwhelmed, he sucked his teeth. Did she even need that robot?

"Why is it always some psycho trying to kill me? Are all you Machinans insane???" He yelled out in rhetoric before a heavy grunt and a surge of strength allowed him to parry away the projectile mass to the side with some effort. A savage swathe of chaos erupting behind him from the destructive energy while he panted a bit heavily. That was more stamina than he cared to use. He couldn't make that mistake anymore. He couldn't really keep using his Dark aspect much longer either. He needed to conserve as much energy as he could.

Deciding to take initiative and eliminate the threat as quickly as possible, the Remnant growled annoyed and lunged at the crimson-haired woman again. A savage barrage of aggressive slashes from his sword chaining together at a speed and strength much higher than one would have expected of a two-handed weapon. He sacrificed defense for a reckless and aggressive offense, hoping to straight-up overwhelm the woman and break through her defenses and deal a finishing blow through nothing more than persistence and attrition.

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"Whoa!"

She was taken aback when the young man had managed to parry her blow. The optical implant in her eyes showed her the flow of aetherial energy coursing through his blade, swirling in an eerie, life-like manner.

Nice, nice, she had bagged a bigshot this time!

"Hahaha! Good! Good! You're clearly not a nobody! Entertain me more!"

Orange lines spread over her bodysuit. At the same time, with the flick of a finger, the humongous blade split in two: a bigger sword on her right hand, and a smaller sword on her left hand.

Against the swift barrage of slashes from her adversary, far beyond what a normal human could achieve, she skillfully swung the two blades, deflecting the attack with one while countering with another, exchanging blows like a form of deadly waltz.

At the moment when their blades struck each other in a loud clang, whirling noise came from above.

Dozens of metallic spheres were shot from the airships, as well as four cubes similar to the one that the woman had ridden earlier, aimed at the two's general area.

"What the FUCK?!?" The woman broke off her attack as she hollered in disbelief.

They decided to interfere now? When things are getting good?

MADNESS!

 

[Dirge]

Clearly this woman was way more skilled than the Remnant had anticipated. She wasn't a typical grunt, that was for sure seeing as how she wasn't carved in half the moment they engaged. Her swordplay was on par with his, if not superior due to how she skillfully wielded two blades to defend and counter against his one. Their little scrap was short and intense, it felt like they'd been fighting hours with how aggressive and stamina draining the young man's offense was. Before they could decide a winner however, the falling masses from the sky forced the Remnant to break away from the engagement and take off running towards the city. A shock wave left in his wake as he took off with the speed of a tempest given the distraction.

There was no way in hell he was about to deal with more than the crimson-haired psycho. He was trying to flee!​

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"Sudden surge of Aetherial energy detected! High probability of Remnants confirmed!"

That was all the commander needed to sent the entire fleet's firepower down. The operation this time was supposed to be clandestine. A Remnant would mess everything up. Before the worst could happen, it would be best to take down the unknown threat as soon as possible.

Regrettably, they weren't outfitted for a battle against higher-ranked Remnants, but perhaps overwhelming brute force would do. With that in mind, he authorized a few more assault-class battlesuits to be dropped down on the city with the express purpose of ratting out the fleeing Remnant.

On the ground, the quaint little town was filled with columns of smoke. The spider-like, spherical unmanned vessels were patrolling the street with their bent four legs, clanking and clanging as they swept their 'eye', the pinkish glow that shone above their ocular sensor, around, trying to find any survivors who wanted to waste their life away mounting hopeless attack with their puny arcane strength.

After all, against militia rabbles, automatic guns were more than enough.

 

[Dirge]

The deeper into the city he got, the direr the situation looked to the Remnant. Everywhere he looked there was chaos whether it was simple citizens being gunned down or buildings being shot up. Astra's brief withdrawal from the small city to reallocate its military forces turned out to have the worst possible timing. It was unheard of for an attack like this to happen in such a small window of time and opportunity. And now here the nameless Remnant was, stuck in the middle of a sea of hostile forces. He really was running out of options. He needed something fast to get away with, or he'd be captured.

After escaping the prying eyes of a few droids that he'd run into, the Remnant eventually found himself ducking off into a crumbling ruin of a building. His hair and eyes back to their default grey hues and he'd slump over on his ass in the dark corner of the abandoned building. This didn't look like something he could just walk out of. He should have left a few days ago like he initially had intended. Shit...

"Left my damned phone in the house when it got blown up too. I can't even call Zeke," He grunted exasperate. Gunshots rapid-firing outside quickly causing him to shut up and hide away again. If he recalled correctly, there was a teleportation device hidden away in a nearby government building not too far from here. It was used to transport political figures across great distances for convenience and couldn't be used by anyone from Machina without a Remnant due to their lack of arcane energy. If he could get to it somehow, he could escape rather swiftly. Though odds are it was probably destroyed anyway and he was banking on false hope. But it was the only realistic option he had.

Scoffing, he decided to go for it. The Remnant getting up and keeping a low profile as he inched his way to the edge of the exit doors and peeked outside to get a view of his chaotic surroundings. The transporter was about a mile or two away. If he dashed straight for it he could probably reach it in a minute or so at full speed, but then he'd have an entire army on his ass. He had to be slow and stealthy. Here's to hoping that psycho bitch didn't find him again if he kept his powers to barely detectable levels.

Another peek outside, and the barefoot Remnant made his move and tried to rush to a nearby alley.​

 

[Ranix Aurus]

The government building was the first to be hit by the initial attack. Only half of it was left standing, while a higher concentration of Spiders lurked outside, sweeping the streets for signs of insurgents.

Meanwhile, the deployed battlesuits were closing in on their target. After losing the aether reading, they spread out to form a circular enclosure across the city, closing their net with each passing seconds. The pilots were antsy, ready to pull the trigger if even a little sign was caught within their detection network.

The moment appeared unprecedented.

A Spider was taking a quick look at the nearby alley, just by sheer chance. Also by sheer chance, the simple machine took hold of a blurred figure rushing out like their life depended on it. As its artificial intelligence brought it to do, it quickly mounted its automatic gun while blaring out the emotionless pre-recorded warning message.

"Attention, civilians. Resistance is futile. Surrender or perish."

 

[Dirge]

Of course, right as he finally had a somewhat decent plan and was hopeful it would follow through, he gets spotted. He sometimes wondered if life itself treated his existence as just as much of a joke as he did personally. If it did, all of this shit would make far more sense than he cared to admit. If it didn't well, he was just fucked and had to deal with it. Either way, in the next few seconds there were about to be machine guns fixated on him, and he had pretty much run all out of options.

Stopping right in front of the machine and not even bothering to try to run anymore, the young Remnant held up a finger as if asking for a second of pause. What came next was something not exactly expected of someone about to be shot like a rabid dog in the street.

"Hypothetically speaking, if I were to slide you a twenty-dollar bill, would you be willing to pretend you didn't see me? I'm positive your boss wouldn't know if you didn't tell em..." He offered, pulling out the said twenty-dollar bill with his other hand from his pocket and holding it up in the air. He obviously didn't expect this to work, but he had to lighten the severity of his situation somehow. "If you give me a ride out of here I'll even throw in an extra ten bucks, cause I'm a good guy." He added with an exasperated chuckle.

Oh man, he was about to get lit the fuck up.​

 

[Ranix Aurus]

The Spider... clearly had no concept of what a "dollar bill" was. Instead, it deciphered the young man's long-winded speech as follows.

"Refusal to comply. Proceeding with extermination."

The automatic gun mounted under its spherical body spewed lead. At the same time, the little machine flared up warning signs throughout the network, luring nearby Spiders to the vicinity as well.

 

[Dirge]

"Refusal to comply. Proceeding with extermination."
​

"Please don't..." The Remnant barely managed to get those words out before his hair and eyes suddenly turned white and amber respectively. The molten led slamming into an arcane barrier of white sigils that interconnected into a vague half-sphere of energy forming in front of him as he crossed his arms over his face. A small scowl etching across his visage when he saw the robot start sending out danger signals to its allies. As if things couldn't get any fucking worse! He knew it, he should have offered the machine a free oil change or something as compensation, rookie move on his part. This barrier wasn't going to hold up for long, not against multiple high-velocity rounds from the many guns that would soon come upon him.

"Kindly fuck OFF!" He barked out before a crater left behind became the only evidence that he ever stood in that spot. The man now high in the air from his supernatural jump, and turning upside down at the zenith of it while keeping his eyes on his target. His hair would go from pure white to an even balance of white and black. The eye on the black side of his hair turning red as well while the other remained amber. He rarely used both spectrums of his duality at the same time, but desperation was evident. In his left hand, a three-chambered gun resembling a revolver that was chrome silver with angelic markings manifested and in his right, that familiar black and silver greatsword.

Taking aim when he was directly over the machine with his gun, the Remnant grit his teeth and pulled the trigger. The barrel sparked white with energy that was far more controlled and accurate than anything he'd used before. Three aetherial rounds raining down on the target which would upon impact, violently explode like a grenade in a display of white-hot fire and destruction. Seconds after that, the man's appearance would completely shift to the dark aspect. With his hair now fully black and both of his eyes an ominous red. Yeah, he couldn't keep that form up for more than one attack or so. It felt like his soul was going to rip itself apart from the contradicting powers.

 

[Ranix Aurus]

Explosions blanketed the immediate vicinity, partly from the aetherial surge from the young man's power, partly from the destroyed Spider overloading it power source and perishing in a fiery bang.

A small price to pay for the glory of the Technocracy.

"We have located the target!"

Strong wind blew past as ten Cyclops leaped one after another across the rooftops before violently landing on the ground, sending earthquakes all over the city. Their glowing red eye shone their light at the same time, focusing on the black-haired young man in the middle of the encirclement. On their feet, numerous Spiders had arrived as well, further tightening the net.

"Communication channel opened."

A Spider crawled forward, carrying an older man's voice.

"I didn't expect to see you here, mercenary..." The commander spoke through the machine. "No wonder it takes us so long to catch up with a single Remnant. It turns out to be you. Advent. You don't know me, but I know you. The Technocracy knows you. Too well, even."

He gritted his teeth, although the young man wouldn't be able to see it. The soldiers might not know about him, but as an official, that name would sent chill down his spines. Intelligence department had identified this particular Remnant as a highly dangerous individual. One that had to be eliminated on the spot given the chance.

"...Kill him."

There was no need to take prisoner. Whatever information that they could get from him wasn't worth the destruction that he had wrecked in past battles.

"Affirmative."

The Spiders readied their guns, while the Cyclops pointed the muzzles of their oversized heavy-duty rifles at the young man.

As if in sync, they opened fire at the same time.

 

[Dirge]

Landing in a crouch, Advent would take a deep breath and briefly grab at his chest with his free hand. He had planned to use both spectrums in his escape, but he only got out one attack. It was somewhat depressing, and he wasted more energy trying that then he cared to admit. As he stood up, his joking and casual demeanor would fade when he found himself surrounded by Machinan machinery. The man's eerie glowing red eyes darting across every enemy encircling him with a jaded glare. He really was in a bad spot, and he didn't really expect to get out of this alive at this rate.

"I didn't expect to see you here, mercenary..."

Advent lofted a brow, who the hell was that? What did he mean by that?

"No wonder it takes us so long to catch up with a single Remnant. It turns out to be you. Advent. You don't know me, but I know you. The Technocracy knows you. Too well, even."

"They know about me?" Advent thought to himself, the man's posture tense and on guard as he kept his grip on his sword slung over his shoulder.

"...Kill him."
​

"Like hell you will!" Advent screamed as the guns took aim and prepared to fire. The Remnant raising his sword in a reversed grip above him with a savage surge of reddish-black energy spiraling about his person. At that moment, all of his dark aspected energy swelled up within him and transferred to his blade. The wicked-looking greatsword so overcharged with a sinister aura that the very space around it seemed to distort and waver like heat. They say in your last moments of life, you see how far some people are willing to go to live. What Advent was about to do, was a testament to how dangerous he was when his back was against the wall.

The black and silver sword stabbed deep into the ground, mere milliseconds before sparks flashed from machine gun barrels. A black and red wave of violent and destructive energy that rapidly expanded in an all-encompassing dome of chaos spanning out with Advent at its epicenter. This energy was dense, incredibly so, and the aether that made it up unstable and ruinous. Whatever it touched was incinerated, not by heat, but by corruption and decay. This burst of energy was the entirety of Advent's dark aspect power released in one explosive blast that stretched out for an entire city block. It was all he could do on such short notice, and he planned to destroy all of the machines that surrounded him in one go. Once the attack subsided, Advent's hair and eyes would return to their typical grey coloration, and the young man would fall on a knee and use his sword as a crutch for the few seconds it stayed until it faded away with his powers.

He prayed that the attack had bought him some time. And even if by some miraculous chance it didn't destroy all of the machines in the vicinity. He hoped it hindered them enough to make them useless, at least for a time.

He had to get up and keep moving...​

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"Retreat!"

The warning came a tad too late. The black and red dome splashed through reality in a violent wave, decaying everything that it touched. The Spiders were the first to go. And then, the buildings. Finally, the Cyclops who were a beat slower to react fell on their feet, turned into piles of ash in the blink of an eye.

Unfortunately, at least four Cyclops remained. Seeing that the dangerous energy had subsided, they resumed their pursuit, scrambling back into position alongside a fresh batch of Spiders coming from every direction across the city. From the fleet above, more and more metallic cubes rained down from the sky, eager to finish the fearsome Remnant once and for all.

But then...

A Cyclops darted through the sky, exhausting the entirety of its propulsion engine as it cruised from one rooftop to another. It blasted through the rest of the squads, landing right in front of the weakened Remnant.

The hatch on the back split open, and the pilot popping out of it was...

"Yo. Missed me?"

...None other than the crazy red-haired psycho lady from before.

She gave a quick glance over their surroundings. The force of the Machina fleet grew closer with each passing seconds. Turning back to him, she offered him a hand, beckoning him to come closer.

"Come."

She showed him a mischievous grin.

"Let's get out of this noisy place."

 

[Dirge]

Advent burst out into labored laughter when he saw that four cyborgs survived. This laughter grew even grimmer when he saw even more reinforcements arrive in preparation for surrounding him. What a day this turned out to be. All he wanted to do was sleep the day away in the comfort of his rented house and relax from the war. He thought this small town would have been perfect for a temporary escape. Yet here he was, working on half his usual amount of energy and on death's doorstep.

"I'm not... dying... bastards..." Advent choked out, grunting as he forced himself to stand up. His hair would turn white again, and his eyes would flash amber and emit that all too familiar glow. He still had some fight in him, and he'd fight until the last breath if he fucking had to. That chrome, three-barreled revolver forged itself in his left hand as he popped his neck and exhaled. "I'm not dying to some shitty ass, low tier mechs. Fuck you..." He coughed preparing for his final stand.

Before anything could happen though, a mech dropped down before him, much to his confusion. Before he could even raise his gun and shoot however after processing what the fuck just happened, his amber-hued eyes took in the sight of that psycho woman from earlier. Oh great, now he had to deal with her too...

"Yo. Missed me?"

Advent raised a brow. What?
​

"Not really, no..." He replied, about to just point his gun at her and pull the trigger before her hand extended out to him, and she offered that they get away. The sheer disbelief that just washed over him was so pungent and evident that it looked like he was suffering an internal aneurysm. What? Did she just offer him a way out? What the fuck? Did she really believe he was that stupid to just believe that the woman who just tried killing him not too long ago would now offer to help him escape? Was she bi-polar or something? He didn't trust that smile she had. All his instincts were screaming just shoot her and die with some dignity against the horde coming his way. Yet, he reached for her hand without fully realizing it. The potential for escape from here overriding his disbelief and distrust at that moment.

At least in hindsight, once he got away all he would have to deal with is her. Provided this wasn't just a trap to take him to her leader...

But at this point he was probably going to die either way. So did it honestly matter if he extended his life a few minutes by going with her?


​