Legion

by Devin Cain

  "He’s outside," Gremory answered and put her hand on my shoulder. "He’s been using useless junk to gather mass on Entraxila’s moon. All he needs is you now."

  "Devil, can you get me through?"

  "Already done. He’s waiting for you down there together with McGregor."

  "Good. Time to put a stop to these invasions."

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  True to his word, Gabriel waited for us on the moon next to McGregor who stood at his full height and tinkering with the tower. Gremory ended up going with me, not wanting to let me out of her sight again. To an extent, it made me feel good, but I had no idea what might happen any moment now and didn’t want her in the crosshairs. My wings had repaired and regrown, so this time it was me who had flown her down to the moon’s surface.

  "Admiral. It’s good to see you," Gabriel said as he floated up to me offering his hand.

  "Gabriel, I see you got quite the-- whatever it is behind you. Is that the jammer?"

  He nodded, turning back to his creation.

  "We’ll need to fill it once a month, which means you’ll need to be here, otherwise it’ll stop working. At least until McGregor finds a better solution. He’s interfaced with the tower and mostly just standing around doing nothing."

  "I’m not doing nothing, young Angel. I’m trying to understand the technology behind this contraption," the Mechanoid said, turning his head to me. "Admiral, I’d offer my hand, but I’m busy right now."

  "Who knows what the future will bring, Gabriel. All I do know is that we need a while to lick our wounds and repair what has been damaged. We need to start colonizing and creating. And as for your hand, no worries, McGregor. You just keep doing whatever it is you’re doing."

  "Very well, Admiral."

  "Gabriel, tell me, are there any more ways to get here other than a direct warp?"

  "Only if they take the very long way and fly all the way through the system, but we’ll have sensors and defensive measures other things in place to warn us and possibly stop them. What we want to do is to cover the world with camouflage so that it looks barren and dead. And before you ask, yes, it’s possible but highly taxing. We’ll need eight obelisks even larger than this one imbued by mine and your powers in unison. I’ll have to do it every few days, and therefore will most likely be of no use to you in any other capacity."

  "How about displacing the planet along with all our forces somewhere else? Would that be possible?"

  Gabriel’s eyebrows rose as he rubbed his chin.

  "I have no idea, Admiral. We might look into it, but for now, this is all we have."

  "Right. So you’re either in an offensive or defensive role?" He nodded slowly.

  "Exactly. And may I add that I’m not even surprised that the God of Chaos chose you," Gabriel replied and knelt, his head bowed low. Gremory stirred beside me and took a step back.

  "You’re not talking about-- the all creative force behind the Chaos Theory, are you?" she asked, her voice wavering. Gabriel looked up at her past my shoulder and nodded. I couldn’t see her, but I heard and felt her drop to her knees behind me. "What have you done?" she whispered.

  "I did what no one else was ready to do. I took on whatever sins we may commit to myself. Now I have a clean conscience, and I can do what needs to be done for our people, for you and me. Anyway, enough of this. Gabriel, what do you need me to do?"

  "I don’t know. You’ve changed. I have no idea how much power we dare extract in this situation. How about we step up and try it out?"

  "And you’re sure that no ships will be able to warp in just like that?"

  Gabriel nodded his head and bowed slightly.

  "Admiral, I’ve set them up before, this isn’t the first time. In fact, this will be the nineteenth time."

  "But not with me."

  "True, we used to do it with—my brothers or sister. Whatever happens, we’ll manage it somehow, I’m sure of it."

  "I’m glad you’re full of confidence," I replied motioning for him to go ahead.

  Gremory and I followed him, but she remained silent, brooding over something I couldn’t quite comprehend. Sure, I heard her whisper, but what was done was done, there was no going back now. At least I could try and create a paradise for the people living here. None of my girls or friends will live long enough to see the final outcome anyway. I sighed and shook my head slightly.

  "Please stand over here, Admiral," Gabriel said and pointed at a spot opposite him as McGregor uncoupled from the pillar. I followed his instructions and stood there, then put up my hands as he suggested. He took them firmly and started chanting.

  Now, I wasn’t a person who was easily caught off guard, but when I felt power course through my hands and into him, I flinched. Luckily, he held me steadily on my feet.

  My palms and wrists started hurting crazily as light radiated from them. Gabriel cried out and stepped back, but still held on to me. His screams echoed in my mind, amplified by our touch and transfer of power. The bubble Khepri created around me popped, but I could breathe as easily as I had back on Earth. Then, newfound power coursed through my body and threatened to escape into Gabriel.

  "Admiral!" Gabriel cried out. "What are you-- doing?"

  The obelisk behind us lit up like a beacon, radiating extreme power. It almost blew me off my feet when the wave struck. Thanks to the nudge, I managed to let go of Gabriel who dropped next to me, breathing heavily.

  "Can you take him up there?" I asked Gremory as she helped the Angel up to his feet. She nodded but shied away from me when I tried to touch her shoulder.

  "I will, but you need to get your shit together and then follow us up. I’m afraid you might do something to either destroy the ship or us in the state you’re in."

  I nodded knowingly. She was right. If I didn’t get control over my powers, things could go sideways very easily. But how did you expect someone to get such power under control? I hadn’t mastered using Devil or Khepri yet, then the Nephilim powers appeared, and now the Chaos Gods blessing.

  I looked back up at the Obelisk as Gremory carried Gabriel off into the dark void of space and sighed. Sudden darkness, a pang of guilt, and a wish to belong washed over me as I was left standing next to McGregor. Did I even want to go back? If I could easily kill those who I had so desperately tried to protect? And what was with those damn entities that kept messing with my life? Didn’t they have anything better to do?

  I placed my hand on the Obelisk’s smooth wall and breathed steadily, focusing on the flow of power, focusing on its form and purpose. A wavelength appeared before me in the shape of lines, millions of thin, colorful lines that overlapped each other in millions of places. And there it was, a single one of them highlighted by a bright glow. I tapped into the flow and stood there, trying to figure out what it was.

  "What the hell?" I cursed as the line started moving. It wasn’t me, and neither was it Gabriel. I could feel an outside interference, but I didn’t know who or what it was. Something felt off as I lost control over the line’s movement, I could feel it, a malicious intent seeping from the very fabric of space. I needed to ask Gabriel what it was, but they were already halfway up to the ship.

  The answer came before I could even ask my Mechanoid ally if he had any idea what was going on as a massive, shimmering portal appeared somewhere in between the moon and the planet. To my surprise, a familiarly looking ship appeared on the other side, followed by an armada of support ships of all kinds.

  It took our fleet only seconds to respond and come to life at the appearance of the enemy. It pained me that it had come to this, as I had no love lost for killing my own species, but they really didn’t seem to plan and leave us alone.

  Enormous domed shields sprung up from the Tanks along with Leviathan’s shields who moved in from above while Devil took up a position right behind the middle Tank, with the dreadnought right beside him. The two Cerberi rushed to take up positions next to Devil, while the remainder of our allied fleet spread out eve
nly behind the other tanks. Just how long would it have taken us to execute such a maneuver if we needed to do everything by hand?

  "You need to get up here!" Gremory’s voice rang out. It was combined with Devil’s own voice, which made it a strange mixture of sexy and ugly.

  "No, something’s up with this Obelisk. I need to figure out what it is. Ask Gabriel if anyone else knew about them."

  "Will do, but he’s out of it. We have a fight on our hands no matter what, and this time it’s with the home fleet."

  I groaned, annoyed by the constant meddling of others, be they human or alien. But it couldn’t be helped as they were here already. Then, a second portal sprang up to the first’s left, and a third to its right.

  "Shit, those are the three top Earthern legions," I cursed. Still, there was so much debris in space that they would have a hard time navigating and firing at my fleet without spreading themselves too thinly. No, if they spread out too far it would cause the Tanks to become sitting ducks. From what I could see, the shields were directed purely toward the front, and not to the sides.

  "Any suggestions?" I asked.

  "Maybe," Khepri replied. In truth, I wasn’t expecting her to be the one offering suggestions in this situation, but I’d take anything I could. "I think we need to make the first move, otherwise we’re done for. I know Earth ships, and they are no pushovers. The Gebradim might have sturdier vessels, but Humans focus more on weaponry."

  "I know, so what do you suggest?"

  "Attune yourself to the Obelisk and make the energy weapon an extension of yourself. Then you strike them down while they’re still in Earth’s home system."

  "Wait, first things first. Devil, give me a line to Kris. Urgently!" I snapped and looked up toward his prow.

  "Admiral? You need to—"

  "Captain, I need you to focus fire on the capital ships. Forget about anything else, do you understand?"

  "I understand, but we need you! I need—"

  "Captain, are you fit for duty?"

  She remained silent for a long moment before she took in a deep breath.

  "I am, Admiral. We’ll focus fire on the capitals. Anything else?"

  "No. Make sure I have somewhere to return to once I’m done here."

  The line broke off as a sense of urgency washed over me. A deathly silence filled my mind, like white noise or static. It wasn’t unpleasant, but then the cold of space hit me like a freight train. Breathing became almost unbearable, forcing me to stumble. I barely caught myself on the obelisk as renewed power threatened to explode from inside.

  "Admiral? Is everything—"

  "Yeah, McGregor, it is. Help me stand upright, please."

  His massive mechanical arms got hold of me, steadying my monstrous body as I tried to make contact with the obelisk.

  The same image appeared again, endless colored lines and one single, glowing line. I reached out with my mind, trying to grab it, to change it, to delete it. Nothing happened. I focused harder and poured more energy into it. Again nothing. One last time, I pushed with all of my power against the grid when I felt an unfamiliar energy washing over me. I looked down and noticed a sort of cable sticking out of my side that ran back to McGregor. Suddenly, every single line lit up and floated. I switched them around, intertwined them, and changed their colors on a whim.

  "What the hell am I even doing?" I cursed unsure of what was going on. Could I end up making the situation even worse than it already was?

  "It can’t get worse, Admiral," McGregor said. "I’m trying to help you understand what to do from what I’ve understood so far. Believe in me, believe in us as we don’t have much time."

  Rockets and laser fire drew my attention as the Red Legion’s mothership passed through the portal and unloaded a full salvo of missiles against the middle tank. Next was Legion Germanica’s capital ship crossing to their right. It released a planet busting beam from its bow that struck the right tank. One of the domes disappeared momentarily, while a second shimmered and barely held. Secondary explosions rocked the ship and blew the aft part up, but strangely, the power came back on moments later along with a new dome.

  I sighed in relief. This could have gone very bad very quickly, but they must have thought about such situations and have backup generators in place. Then as if answering the challenge, my side unleashed hell on the capital ship, tearing its bow to shreds.

  I turned back to the obelisk and pressed both hands against it’s slick, smooth texture, pouring all of my energy into it. The construction groaned and spread like a blossoming flower of metal and plexisteel, radiating energy from every inch of its body. It grew again, attracting the closest floating debris in space like a gigantic space-magnet, then even more and further out.

  My body shuddered as I sustained the backlash of something I didn’t understand. What was I doing? It felt like the right thing to do, no matter what the end result was going to be. Whatever, I thought, if the brain didn’t have an answer for me, then the heart could lead this time.

  A new image appeared before my eyes, very similar to the one with the parasite skills, but this time there were three roots to choose from. One looked like a glaring eye of God, while the second looked like an antenna. The third option looked like a massive missile installation. I had no idea what to choose from without any guidance, but my eyes kept moving back to the angry eye of God. I loved the interface provided to me for the obelisk, but the lack of information was annoying.

  "Whatever. I might as well try it out then," I whispered and chose the image. The Obelisk thinned out and grew at least twenty times in length. Its outer layer turned to a pitch-black, and gun-metal grey colored tower. Bright blue runes and lines appeared all along its body, moving from the base toward the top.

  I unfurled my wings and shot up toward the eye. It was damn unnerving as it floated right above the construct. Energy flowed into the round ball as it turned upward, right at Germanica’s capital ship. A loud humming noise reverberated in its near vicinity as the obelisk lit up at the bottom and streaked up. Immense power radiated from the moon and me, then all converged in one point. A massive ray of blueish energy struck the ship’s stern, slicing the capital ship cleanly through.

  Main and secondary explosions rocked the ship, venting all kinds of gasses and liquids along with dead bodies, ship compartments, equipment and anything not welded down to the remainder of its hull. The second beam of light released along its length, quartering the ship.

  Numerous missiles left the tubes of Germanica’s support vessels. Hundreds of homing projectiles streaked my way. There was no way in hell I was going to let them destroy this beauty. I changed my left arm to the gun form and released a slug. The round left a trail of blazing flame behind that died out almost immediately, but it served to attract the missiles. The first missile detonated harmlessly against the round, catching the others in the blast and caused a chain reaction. Two managed to get through and detonated against my wings, mangling them badly. The load was far stronger than I thought previously.

  "You have become evil incarnate, Cain!" a voice boomed in my mind. I looked up and snarled at the newcomer. It was Mikhail.

  "Says the Angel who turned a blind eye to his own lord! I’m his child every much as you are!" I provoked. But he wouldn’t take the bait, not yet. He was far too composed for any jabs I could throw his way.

  From behind his back, he produced a shimmering blade not much longer than his whole arm. But it was already familiar to me, especially the way it radiated.

  "You’re not! You’re an abomination, a monster, and a despicable creature not deserving life!"

  "And you think you’re any better than me? Don’t make me laugh! You toy with people like they’re ants, then discard them as if they’re nothing more than trash!"

  "At least I don’t steal other men’s women!" Mikhail growled. I couldn’t help but smirk and get mad at the same time.

  "You threw her away like a rag, Mikhail! Don’t you dare speak about stea
ling anyone!" I snapped back at the wicked angel. He narrowed his eyes on mine and floated toward me. Even though we were in the dead of space, I could feel the brilliance radiating from his weapon. Something was off though as if the weapon had a limitation when out in the dead of space. It didn’t feel nearly as powerful as down on Earth.

  "And I’ll do the same to her again when I’m done with the two of you," he said with a grin. "I have no idea how you came across a Mechanoid, but don’t even think for a moment he’s going to get you out of this mess!"

  Oh god, how he annoyed me, that grin and that fake smile of his, along with the grandeur in his words and even movements.

  "Right. Whatever you say, Mikhail," I growled and released a railgun round right at his face.

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  The projectile strafed his left cheek, ripping out a chunk of skin and muscle. Mikhail growled and darted to his right to evade the aftershock. He summoned a shield from nowhere and lunged at me, his sword held high to strike. I lunged to the side and raked his sword arm with my right claw, then kicked him in the back. Looking down at my tapper, I still had seventeen seconds before I could shoot another one. It was useless in a close-quarters fight, so I turned it into a second claw.

  McGregor’s blades sang, striking against Mikhail’s blade and shield. The Angel lunged out of reach as a beam of energy flew right after him and detonated against his chest. He cried out and darted right at the Mechanoid, slamming the shield right into his head. His massive mechanical body crashed right against the obelisk.

  I couldn’t help but check Mikhail out with the time McGregor afforded me, and then checked out my own changes. He was way ahead of me in power, that much was clear, but I still wanted to know.

  Mikhail: Head: ????

  Chest: 19,922

  Arms: 8,228

  Legs: ????

  Cain

  Head: 2,700

  Chest: 7,000

  Arms: 3,100