The first stage of the battle was well underway, and I made sure to hang back as to ensure the gate was defensed as our forces came through. The first few hours was rough since we had ships at varying speeds trying to get through, but it eventually shifted as my craft were the first to get through due to the speed difference, letting the slower ships finally get in and engaged. Once most of the ships entered, I relayed some orders, “Attention gate control, shrink the gate so only a few ships can pass at a time, this is purely for supply lines until the battle wraps up, so conserve energy.” The gate soon began to shrink, though I didn’t hear a reply, “Gate control, contact between us seems to be one way, try to assess the issue while we have a prime chance to do so. Teams on this end will send communications, you receive and try to respond back, if unable to receive on this end, determine the source. I hope to hear good news after the battle.” As I disengaged from the gate, I was stunned that I wasn’t calling this a war. But as I came here, the terms for war and battle changed dramatically. On Earth, something like this could be akin to a war between two nations, but to me, this was merely a small skirmish in an overall war.

  So much has changed to me from now and over fifty years ago, no longer was I sickly, now I was strong and leading the charge in a war that likely truly just begun. I shouted, “Sitrep, is the dreadnaught present?” Alexander replied, “Negative, dreadnaught isn’t here, though we should be on alert in case it makes an appearance.” I replied, “It’s unlikely, intel stated there are other things going on within Providence, assume it’s in battle and crush them before it ends its active engagement!” Duke Bartholomew replied, “Understood, taking down the spaceborne threat before heading planet side.” I looked to the ship that Olivia resided on, likely just watching as we flew off to our respective engagements. For now, remaining on the ship was fine, but she’d likely need to join us at the fortress once we began sieging the planet itself. Though, seeing what we were working with, the space battle was all but won already. From what I can assume, they sent a majority of their forces out, likely due to feeling safe with mercenaries on call. Though, because of that arrogance, we would establish a blockade within the day. However, we couldn’t just bombard the surface, since there were likely prisoners and slaves down there. There was also the risk that we’d lose a lead we could use to further track Providence by unneeded destruction, and that was something we couldn’t miss out on.

  I took to a ship, I needed to guide everyone to the proper set up for the blockade, since there could be other forces on the way, I wanted to wipe out any orbital defenses Providence may have below to perform a defensive measure that put my ships on the outside to better protect the men and woman of the other domains, all so they didn’t suffer like we did. It wasn’t as action packed as fighting on the front lines, but I needed to ensure my methods remained with us, so the burden of it all remained on me and no one else suffered as I did. Ghost, despite not being able to see him, spoke, “This is your first major strike against Providence, don’t lose yourself, Aurelian.” I don’t think he ever said my name before, but I couldn’t lose myself, not while we were on the cusp of our first true victory against the forces that took so much from us. Here and now, we had to win, or our whole plan would come tumbling down.

  ~~~

  I observed our current formation, the last ships flew into position, making this our blockade of their planet. My assumption was correct, they didn’t leave much behind, maybe they sought backup from mercenaries or the Viscount, but their time had come to an end. I began with the ships combining their scanning efforts to get me a complete understanding of the planet, to which Merlin combed through to see if we had anything to fear. After some time, Merlin replied, “We’re safe to drop, no orbital weapons detected.” I breathed a sigh of relief, if they had those, it would’ve upped the tech they had again, but it likely meant they didn’t consider the pirates to be all that important to them. Either way, for now, we were still in the clear, though Merlin didn’t think the same, “The fortress is incredibly reinforced, dropping in will be too dangerous, taking out the other main districts, however, will cut their supplies down and ensure we can run their supplies dry.” I wasn’t sure what Merlin meant, but I wasn’t going to doubt him since we were working with a mixed bag of technology. I asked, “Based on what we see, what sector has the most defenses?”

  Merlin replied, “The factory district, they seem to be working on ships and mechs.” I stood up, no longer being stuck aboard a ship, “Then that’s my target, make sure everyone’s ready to go, because we’ll need to keep our heads on swivels.” Just knowing we held no certainties to the capabilities of Providence meant we always had to keep our heads up, especially since most of my forces are launching this attack right now. As swiftly as I made that choice, I was in Satanael and floating above the factory, turning to face some ships as their mechs were being loaded into entry pods. I had an entry method to protect me from the entry heat, but I didn’t need to slow my decent when I could use it to my advantage. Though, the irony wasn’t lost on me, it was as if I stood alone in this void before the fight. Once I got confirmation we were ready, I spoke, “Everyone, this is the first time since before I was born where a battle has been taken to a planet for any reason. We aren’t the first to consider this, and we won’t be the last, but I swear to you that this is for the greater good of the universe. Our futures, and the futures of those we know and love, are at stake the longer we let this continue. Show these pirates, and by extension, Providence, how much we’ll let them dictate our futures!”

  As I heard cheers as the ships began to launch our ground forces, I wondered why I was giving speeches that were so… similar to each other. After a moment, and as moved two of my hands to pass me the shield I had in R&D for heat shielding, I knew I did it to motivate myself. I didn’t have a future, yet all I could do was influence the futures of others as I was unable to move on from the past. As the flames of planetary entry wrapped around the shield, I couldn’t feel the motivation I tried to give myself, almost as if this wasn’t what I sought at all. After a few button pushes, I was ready to use a ground based modification since I couldn’t maneuver as I wished under gravity without it. My comms flared to life, squads managed to reach the planet, and there weren’t any casualties yet. I needed to make sure people in my area were ready though, and once I no longer needed the shield, I let it go, “Attention factory teams, watch the skies and avoid friendly fire, I’ll be airborne.” I watched as the shadow of Satanael’s wings form on the shield as it dropped, and as my thrusters, those of mana, ignited as I felt the lift catch under my wings.

  Six arms, a pair of wings, I never made a mech like this before, but I always wanted to experiment whenever I had free time… though this was purely accidental when it came to this. Drawing my rifle, I began to scour the battlefield for high priority targets, ships under repairs, defensive weapons, ammo and fuel stockpiles, anything was fair game in this battle. Someone radioed me, “Viscount, we marked a stockpile, but the enemy is guarding it fiercely, we need assistance!” This gave me an idea, I loaded a shot and blasted the stockpile, the secondary explosions rocking the area and likely wiping out most of the enemy forces. I called out, “Factory forces, since I have the most mobility, mark anything that’s assisting the enemy defense or a possible target, I’ll crush them from above so you can focus on eliminated the enemy forces. If you’re held down, let me know, I’ll divert my attention to back you up.” I didn’t even need a vocal response, as my screen began to light up with targets designated for destruction, I was going to be pretty busy, and I was ready to take them down. As I shot for high priority targets, I took down any defenses that tried to shoot me down, along with any enemy forces seemingly giving any of the men a hard time.

  Smoke rose from the destroyed stockpiles and weapons, I replied, “I left the resource depots standing, call in recovery teams and secure them, they’ll serve us better than these pirates!” I heard Joan call out, “I need some teams on me! We’ll secure the resource depots and claim their supplies! Call in fuel ships as well, we’ll take their fuel as well!” I could hear others speak up about the ingenuity, some of the ammunition stockpiles were shifted to recovery since their ammunition matched the Duke’s forces, along with some of the ones from Alexander’s forces. I sifted my targets, depots would be left for plundering, but I was certainly taking down every defense I could take to make it as clean as possible for those going to raid the depots. After I took out a cluster of defenses, flares shot up and lit the skies, “Enemies advancing where the flares were shot up! Make a defensive line, just as planned!” We weren’t fools, the enemy was bound to make assaults to prevent their losses from increasing, especially if their food and supplies were being targeted. Joan spoke up, “Sir, back up the others! If we take down more enemies here, it’ll be less later when we charge the fortress!” I replied, “Understood, just call me if you need me.”

  As I flew over, I realized I may not have worked out the kinks in the design, as the thrusters were showing signs of overheating. I sighed, “Better let them rest, I’ll need these later.” Once I was above the forming front line, I swapped to my sword and dropped down onto an enemy mech, the sword going through the head straight to the ground. As I rose, I could hear intercepted enemy comms, “It’s… it’s a demon! No, a devil!” Shots began to fly at me, though using my wings as shields, the bullets only scratched the paint. I charged the line before me, imbuing mana into my sword as it began to spew forth a torrent of powerful flames. One slash, the few mechs charging me were destroyed, another slash, the ones behind them were destroyed, a third, their lines were burning as flames licked their mechs as if they were fuel to continue burning. As the front line began to work out in our favor, I asked, “Merlin, what are the stats we’re seeing here?” Merlin replied, “Tier three at best, maybe they don’t see these pirates as worthy enough to receive their best technology.” I sighed, “Maybe we can push the fortress in a few days, once we secure these regions first.”

  I heard someone shout over comes, “Come on Death Walkers! Let’s show these pirates the fury of the dead!” Enemy comms had someone shout, “What the hell! These guys just won’t stop, do they not fear death!?” I wasn’t sure what to fell, since I had men who didn’t fear death and just ran at the enemy like a raging bull, but their tech wouldn’t let them die easily. Though, I wasn’t about to let them up and die, “Death Walkers, while I don’t agree with the unofficial group, you are not to throw away your lives here. This is merely the start, so don’t let these weaklings be the ones to grant your death wish.” I managed to get a response, “Copy, sir, we’ll do our best.” While this was seemingly easier than we expected, I knew this wouldn’t last long as we moved up the Providence command chain, as not only would their defenses and mechs get stronger, but their leadership would be stronger and harder to break. These pirates… well, they were the weakest leadership one could get, since they only sought easy kills for easy money. I sighed again, while I would’ve struck this place eventually, since they were pirates terrorizing people, I don’t feel anything as I take more lives. Ten years really changed me, and I can’t even tell how I feel about the changes either.

  ~~~

  As the days dragged on, Anubis knew she was on the losing side, and she knew the reason. She threw things off of a table she was eating at, “That foolish Reaper! He played with his food, and now I’m going to die because his target came back with a vengeance!” With a swift kick, the table was smashed in the middle, splinters of wood flying everywhere. A calm, male voice spoke, “Seems like you’re in a real predicament, lady Anubis.” Anubis took out a pistol, aiming towards where the voice was, “Who’s there?” A thing stepped out of the shadows, their usual suit and had, yet a face that couldn’t be seen, spoke, “Calm down Anubis, I’m here to give you an out, or at least a means to try and take down the one your comrade failed to kill for one reason or another.” The thing sat on the edge of the destroyed table, their smile visible as Anubis kept her gun on him, “How would you do that?” The thing replied, “Simple! I grant you my power, you go out and kill him, though I can’t exactly make you win if you don’t have the skill to back it up.” Anubis shouted, “I can win no problem! I’m one of the commanders of Death’s Hand, if I lose here, I have no right to be one of their commanders!” The thing smiled, “Then we have a deal.”

  The thing extended his hand, to which Anubis took it, and her veins began to turn a sickening black as it went from her hand and expanded throughout her whole body. Anubis, surprised, said, “I feel invincible! That brat won’t know what hit him once I get aboard my mech!” A pirate broke open the door, “Commander Anubis, the enemy is at our doorstep, we either fight or die.” They didn’t seem to notice the thing, nor the changes to Anubis, though Anubis didn’t seem to care, “I’m coming, locate that Flameheart brat, I’m going to kill him and his precious devil!” As she marched out of the room, the smirk on the thing vanished, “What a fool, this whole planet would need to unite to crush this force, but everything’s going according to plan.” The thing flew through a few walls and ended up in a room littered with technology, one of the items in the room was a nearly destroyed machine, one that looked like a spider, “Your time has come little one, imbue the vessel with your knowledge and spark their rage. All you need to do is hold out just a little bit longer.” The thing smirked a devilish smirk, a small laugh emanating from their throat, “Come, bathe in your rage, lose yourself and slay the sacrificial lamb that is Goldtooth! Hahaha!” As it laughed, it vanished, the small spider like machine struggled to remain functional.

  ~~~

  Despite the power we held, the fortress was a beast in its own right, as we fired rockets into the walls and gates, they fired back with turrets and artillery. While we were strong, taking rockets for any reason was not in our best interests, even for Satanael. Merlin was taking the fortress and analyzing its weaknesses, but that would take time since we were still engaging in other places on the planet. Our strongest forces were here to prevent any from leaving this massive fortress, but it was strange that none of them tried to come out and fight us yet. Merlin spoke, surprised, “Mana signatures rising, seems like there are those with bio-engines inside.” I clicked my tongue, while these pirates were weak, I assumed these were Death’s Hand, “Focus up! Death’s Hand are well armed!” It didn’t take them long to open the gates, which some of Duke Bartholomew’s men ran forward, “We can finally end these pirates, charge! Let them fear the name of Duke Bartholomew!” Though, the mechs that walked out let out an eerie feeling, like I know this feeling, yet it was the first time I felt this sort of feeling. Joan shouted, “Get back you idiots! Those aren’t normal mechs!” It was too late for them, the mechs that came out charged the Duke’s men and they were cut down in an instant.

  Everyone remained silent as the mechs, all armed with some form of an axe, their armor had an emblem of a skull in a skeleton’s hand. One of the new forces shouted, “We are the executioners of Death’s Hand! We challenge your strongest men, the devil with six arms, and the Flameheart brat! Come face us like real knights!” While this seemed akin to a trap, as Joan marched out with some of her knights, and those of the Death Walkers, and no attacks flew to take them out. I decided to walk out, and Alexander seemed to join me, despite the difference in tech on his mech. The executioners looked around, the same one asking, “I don’t see your brat of a Viscount around, where are they? Is he too scared to fight us?” I sighed, approaching and opening my cockpit, “You’ve been looking at him the whole time, now, where’s your boss?” As my cockpit closed, I noticed a beastly looking mech walk out, one akin to the Egyptian god Anubis. Their weapon seemed to be a flail, one that was far more powerful than the average flail as mana coursed through it. I didn’t need to know that this was Anubis, “You must be Anubis, no one else has such a… diverse unit.”

  A woman’s voice greeted my ears, “You bet, but while these people fight, it’ll be you and me, brat. I’m going to finish what Reaper started, the damned fool.” Hearing her say that name sparked a rage within me, she was a part of the group that assaulted my home, killed Lily, and decimated my people with indiscriminate attacks. It was as if the rage I had against them never died, but grew within me over the years like a stockpile of munitions, and now that it had been lit ablaze, it was bursting forth like a powder keg, “Fine, just know you won’t make it out of here alive.” As I went to move, I was stopped momentarily by Alexander, “Don’t lose yourself Aurelian, I know you’re enraged with them, but don’t let that feeling take over. Focus, breathe, and be rational.” Looking into the eyes of the knightly mech, I did my best to quell the rage, but if I didn’t do something soon, I’d lose it. He let me go, the battle taking priority as the gates closed behind Anubis, our battle seemingly keeping everyone in observation distance silent.

  I pushed a few buttons, and as Anubis turned to face me, my arms were merging into the main two arms, bulking them up and increasing their overall combat capability. I could tell confusion overtook them for a moment, but she handled the flail as she aimed at me, “Boys, start the fight, I’ll be done in a moment to back you up!” I heard Alexander shout, “Take them down! Don’t let our efforts be in vain!” As they let out their war cries, the sound of metal on metal crashing out as their battle began, Anubis charged me, “Show me a good time, Flameheart! With this new power I was given, I won’t be beaten so easily!” As her flail came down, I decided to see how strong she claimed to be, as I lifted my arm to take the hit. The flail crashed into my arm, the armor groaned before parts of it broke away, the mana increasing the striking power more than I expected. If it I didn’t use my arm to block that, I would’ve lost something critical. Anubis chuckled, “You’re weak! You can’t even block a basic strike properly!” As she brought the flail back down, I jammed my sword into the flail, stopping her attack in its tracks, “Don’t take curiosity as a sign of weakness.” I attempted to disarm her mech, but her hand didn’t budge, forcing me to remove my sword from her flail.

  Merlin spoke, “Scan and test complete, enemy mechs are tier three, Anubis’ mech is tier four, we have the advantage.” I replied, “She likely has more combat experience compared to me, not to mention that odd feeling I have, figure out if anything’s different about her.” I moved to strike, a faint with my sword from above while my left hand was ready to tear her mech apart. Though, despite what was mentioned, her mech moved with speed and precision as the flail blocked my strike as her free hand grabbed my own, locking me in place. When I tried to pull away with minimal mana use, I couldn’t let go, “Hm, abnormal strength for a mech, I wonder the cause.” Somehow, this curiosity had drained some of my bloodlust. Though in this situation, curiosity and caution took over as the bloodlust understood the need to survive another day. With an extra jolt of mana, I pulled back, Merlin speaking, “I believe a foreign entity is affecting the mech, though with current technological limitations, I cannot confirm if it’s divine, demonic, or a living being outside of the previously mentioned.” This laid confusion on me, such cases were rare, and I understood that something, or someone, had a vested interest in the battle currently ongoing.

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  I sighed, “Does fate hate me? One thing after another with it.” Much like other worlds of fantasy, this universe has beings of light and darkness. Gods to devils, angels to demons, the capacities of each were vastly different, along with the domains they control, though I’ve never had the chance to know if they were real or had their eyes on me. I knew of some players who held the respect of both sides of the playing field, but for me, I was just too weak or insignificant for either side to care. Watching Anubis eye me, trying to find a weakness, I snapped back into doing the same. Somehow, despite the various openings I could detect, none of them actually seemed open, likely meaning Anubis was under some form of body altering mana flow. I decided to ask, “Merlin, could I use mana to affect my body, increasing my reaction time?” Merlin replied, “I’d advise against it, using such mana over a long period of time may cause issues, I can tell by her actions that her abilities have been heightened to an unholy degree. Her body might be breaking down, but since she’s being powered by something foreign, she likely has no clue it’s happening. Just fight to the best of your ability, she’ll faulter eventually.”

  It was easier said than done, Anubis’ flail was unbelievably swift, not to mention powerful. While I could work with the speed as long as I returned to my six armed state, one mishap would likely destroy the arm on the defense, even if I were to inject mana into defensive or speed measures. Checking the engines, they were pushing higher than normal functions, but they weren’t in damaging states yet. I couldn’t remain on the defensive, if I did, I risked dying before I could do anything I swore I’d do. Gripping the controls, I rejected being on the defensive anymore, we were finally on the offensive for the first time in a decade, I wasn’t going to sit back and hope for something to happen, because that wasn’t life. Merlin spoke, “Engines are activating, I’m not sure what caused it, but I welcome it.” Mana engines were… different to other engines. Due to mana being something humans can control; the engines strive to work with the one piloting the mech. Much like the human factor, mana responds to emotional responses more than other impulses, which means my engines have finally gotten to a proper functionality. I wasn’t going to waste any more time, everyone around me was putting in their best effort, so why wasn’t I doing the same thing?

  The engines roared, I adjusted the valves to ensure I didn’t break the flow of mana and injected more into Satanael. Anubis seemed surprised, “Your mana is increasing, what are you doing in there?” I replied, adjusting my wings to have the thrusters out, “Not remaining on the defensive anymore.” I shot at her, a surprised yelp came from her as I crashed into her before smashing her mech into the wall, the wall unable to handle the sudden impact and breaking under the force. I disengaged the arms and returned to my six armed state as I began to wail on her, fist after fist of mana crashed into her mech, some of her allies came to back her up out of what I assumed was shocked confusion. I diverted two arms, shot the hands to two of the mechs, and destroyed them with a pulse, “If you know what’s good for you, stay back, because I don’t need all six arms to beat your boss!” Once I said that, a blast of mana erupted from Anubis’ mech, “I won’t let some brat bring me down!” Anubis’ mech began to groan as its mana usage began to skyrocket, her voice clearly showing her anger, “Couldn’t protect anything but yourself, someone like you should’ve been killed long ago!” Her flail came down to me, but I was sick of her already, three of my arms reached up and grabbed her flail, groaning under the strain, “You have no right to make that claim, not when your people are the reason so many people lost loved ones irreplaceable to them.”

  I pulled her flail, and her by extension, and smashed three of my fists into her body, “So you can shut your mouth about who has a right to live or die, you filthy murderer!” As I released the flail, letting her fly back until she rolled to a stop, she rose, laughing, “Ha! Reaper was right about one thing, people like you are truly hypocritical. You blame others for what they couldn’t do, then throw a tantrum when they can’t change anything.” For the first time since Lily’s death, I laughed, it wasn’t one where you found something funny, no, I was truly losing it to Anubis’ words, “You’re a fool. “Can’t change anything” you say? Well, I can’t say this is a tantrum, especially since you’re losing.” I ignored her, aiming for some of her allies that seemed to be awaiting her command to strike, destroying them with a series of pulses and strikes to their cockpit, “So why don’t we wrap this up? I have some words I’d like to speak with to the pirate leader here.” It didn’t take long for some of her mercs that were within range to back away, their IFFs turning to neutral. Some didn’t and tried to charge me, but the rest went down easily, one of the mercs spoke to me, “Hey, Flameheart, we surrender. We’ve been under contract to be here, but if you can kill Anubis, the contract states we can get out of here. We won’t help, but we won’t hinder either.”

  Either they wised up now or ages ago, but that meant I didn’t have to waste time anymore on the weaklings, Anubis shouted, “Cowards! The lot of you!” The same person shouted back, “We joined up since we had no other options! We expected the stories we heard to be true, not the wholesale slaughter of innocent people! We’re done with you, Anubis!” Seems like Death’s Hand had internal strife, it helped since I knew the ones we were fighting actively were likely the last ones on the planet. I said, “Leave, drop your weapons when you do, we’ll return them once the planet is secure.” I watched as they did, “Understood, we’ll open the gate too, make it quick.” Anubis went to try and kill some of her deserters, but I made sure to grip each of her mech’s limbs with an arm, making sure she didn’t get far, “I believe your target is me, not them.” I pulled her back, smashing her into an intact part of the wall, each of my clawed hands ready to strike. Anubis shouted, “Hey! Give me more power! This brat is what holds them together, so give me the power to kill him!” I wondered what she was doing, but suddenly, her mech had a sudden burst of mana, more than what her mech would reasonably produce, even running at max potential.

  I didn’t care, she was close to loss, all I needed was an opening. I spread my arms and charged her, Anubis charging me with a maniacal laugh, likely overwhelmed by the mana she was being imbued with. I fired the four external hand, each aiming for a different section of her armor, she managed to deflect them, even breaking one with her flail, but that left my other two hands open to draw my sword and slam it into the chest of her mech, flames bursting from it as the interior was torched by blue flames. I didn’t wait to see if she died, as I used my remaining hands to tear her arms off, effectively ending the fight whether she died or not. Her mech stumbled a bit before collapsing, the lights of the mech flickered as the mana slowly died out, her voice entered my ears, “Unbelievable, even with that much power, I still failed to beat you.” I looked to the entrance, Alexander was leading the charge on the fortress, we’d have the outside by the day’s end, which means we’d move inside soon. I looked back to Anubis, “Borrowed power only makes you dependent, I’m not sure who or what gave it to you, but that was your downfall.” After a strained cough from Anubis, she said, “Hey, brat… kill me… I might survive this… and these burns hurt like hell.”

  At this point, I knew making someone suffer wasn’t what I sought, even if they were my enemy. I brought my sword to her cockpit, her voice seemed relieved, “Good… I can head into our God’s embrace.” As I stabbed her, I wondered what God she was referring too, since the universe was vast, there were many beings people believed to be divine. If I wasn’t mistaken, the old era had several holy wars over which God or pantheon were the true paths, but I never got too deep into those issues. From the group, I realized Olivia had gathered enough willpower to come in and towards me, she asked, “Aurelian… are you ok?” I looked to Anubis, then to her, then down to my own hands, “I… I don’t know.” It felt like I was stuck in an emotionless rut, maybe even a form of depression, these bursts of emotions did little to alleviate the way I felt, and I could only wonder if I was doing anything to make it better. I began to move to the fortress, “I’m going in, we’re close, then we can go home.” She called out to me, but I just activated my thrusters and shot for the closest group of pirates. I didn’t want to stop, not yet, not when I was so close to finishing this.

  ~~~

  “Breaching!” A soldier shouted as an explosive blew a door to bits, with my sword drawn, I entered the room and began cutting down every pirate who tried to fight back, it didn’t take long before the room was cleared. This was my third or fourth room since we began clearing the fortress, with external enemies either surrendering or no factor, we were clearing the last of the pirate resistance. Though the room seemed strange, it held a lot of technology, a large chunk of them seemed to be recording devices. As we went through the room, ensuring we weren’t missing anything, my eyes caught a glimpse of a particular little machine, one of my spider bots. I walked over to it, and to my surprise, it was somehow still functional thanks to the pirates jerry rigging it to their power supply. The bot seemed to reach out with a pack of data, and I knew then and there it was one of the bots that went with mom and dad when they left. With a sad couple of beeps, it powered down for good, nothing could bring it back now. I looked to the pack and connected it to my personal device, the only thing it had was a video. Mom and dad were on their knees, a man, obviously a pirate, was smirking as they twirled a blade as if it were a baton.

  Dad said, “Goldtooth, I’m not surprised, you were getting a little eager recently.” The man, his golden teeth flashing, chuckled, “Yes, it’s me Flameheart, though it seems our long standing game of cat and mouse finally comes to an end. Though, we have a… proposal.” With a snap of his fingers, an image of my destroyed mech appeared on a screen my spider bot had just enough of a view to see. Goldtooth said, “We have a little choice for you, you both can sacrifice your son to save your own lives, or you both die for the sake of your son. Make the choice, Count Flameheart.” Dad said, quickly, “Take our lives, spare our son.” Mom spoke the same, “I agree, he deserves to live, take our lives instead of his.” Goldtooth chuckled, “Wow, I’m touched, I never expected that from nobles.” Without a moment wasted, he cut their heads off, my rage began to burn. Goldtooth looked to the spider bot, his expression morphing to anger, “Bring that with us, don’t let anything it saw get out, their little brat doesn’t need to know what really happened.” The video ended, and I knew what I wanted in that moment. I asked, “Merlin, where’s Goldtooth.” Merlin spoke, “Sir, I don’t believe it would be best for you to-.” I cut him off, “I don’t care what you believe, where is Goldtooth!?”

  After a moment of silence, he replied, “I’ll give you directions.” As he spoke, I was sprinting through the halls so I could reach him faster. From what I knew, there were hostiles littering the path towards him, but I didn’t care. Anyone who stood in my way to reaching him was dying, swords, guns, even their fists didn’t stop me as all I could see is red as I charged for the place Goldtooth was hiding in his cowardice. Once I hit the room, I realized it was reinforced more than the other rooms, Joan rushed up to me with worry, “Sir, please don’t do that again, you could’ve gotten hurt!” I shouted, not caring about my own safety at the moment, “That bastard killed my parents! He forced them to choose either their lives or mine, then cut their heads off without remorse! I’m killing him, here and now!” As I looked for a means to break the door down, Joan grabbed my arm, “Sir, it’s not safe here, we need to fall back!” I shouted back, “Until Goldtooth is cold on the floor, I won’t be leaving!” I knew they wouldn’t clear my request until they cleared the other rooms, so I imbued fire mana into my sword, making enough heat to put it through the door, cutting my own entrance into his hideaway.

  The room seemed decorated with spoils of his terror, and this rather chubby man cried out, “How did you even cut through it!? Those doors could take more than normal breaching charges!” I charged forward, grabbed him, then threw him into the wall. I shouted, “You killed my parents! You killed so many innocent people!” As I approached, Goldtooth said, “I’ll give you money, power, hell, I’ll even try to get you an in with Providence, just don’t kill me!” The flames on my sword broke from the contained state I had it in, “I don’t want anything material, as for Providence, their days are numbered!” I walked right up to him, a man cowering as his useless life is about to be snuffed from the universe, “You enjoy and prosper off the death of others, yet you cower for your own. You’re truly a waste of space.” I pulled my blade up and began to bring it down on him, but before I could, my blade was stopped as steam covered my vision, my eyes covered by hands as a voice shouted, “Please, Aurelian, don’t give in!” I tried to push back, “He killed my parents! He didn’t give them or the many others he’s killed a chance, so why should I!?” Another, different voice spoke back, “Then take him to be tried, let justice take its course, don’t take a life out of anger, Aurelian!”

  The more I tired to fight it, the more I heard that little voice in my head telling me to drop my sword. The first voice spoke again, “I don’t like this version of you, and I know Lily wouldn’t like it either. So please, Aurelian, just drop your sword!” It was those words that broke me, I felt my grip on my sword release as tears welled up in my eyes, what was I becoming that I was so willing to cut someone down when they were surrendering? I fell to my knees, and after some shuffling with my eyes covered, my eyes were soon seeing Alexander and Olivia, Goldtooth was gone from my sight. Olivia said, “Look at me, nothing else, it’ll be alright.” She pulled me close, rubbing the back of my head as I just began to wail. I never sat down and accepted truly understood my own feelings, my fixation on revenge had took control of everything, and Anubis was right, I was akin to a child throwing a tantrum. I had no overall plan for anything, just to go in and wipe them out. While everything changed, nothing truly did, and I was just throwing everything away all over again, but it was to be by my own hands, and not by a means I couldn’t control.

  It took time, but I managed to recover, something within me felt… lighter. I wasn’t any better by any means, though I was grateful for the both of them for giving me the time to recollect myself. When I went to get up, Olivia held firm, “It’s ok, just a little longer, alright?” I sighed, but I wasn’t annoyed, I patted her back, “I’m ok now, honest. As much as I want to kill the bastard, I can hold off as long as I can’t see him or talk about him. You can let me go now; I won’t go far.” After she released me enough to look at me, she sighed, “Alright, but Duke Bartholomew said to not engage in to much fighting anymore, you could’ve been killed in your anger.” I nodded, “I understand, I was foolish.” Alexander said, “Not foolish, more like not in your right mind. Believe me, I’ve seen what people do when all they see is red, just take it easy for a while, yeah?” I nodded, “I will.” Before I could say anymore, Joan entered the room with enough speed to knock the reinforced door out of the wall if it were still there, “Lord Aurelian!” She seemed panicked, so I called out to her, “I’m here Joan, I’m fine.”

  To my surprise, she ran over to me and hugged me, “You idiot! You scared the life out of me when you barged in here!” She looked me over, continuing to speak, “Once you broke in, the pirates tried to get in, but you likely didn’t know since you weren’t paying attention. If it weren’t for Olivia and Alexander, I fear what could’ve happened to not only us, but you.” I recalled the fact that Olivia was against killing, looking to her, I asked, “Did you…” She shook her head, “I didn’t have the will to kill someone, but I couldn’t do nothing while you were losing it.” I felt horrible, but more than that, Joan whispered into my ear, “More than that, what about all of us who’ve been waiting to fight for our home? What about everyone waiting to hear the news that you’ve returned to us? Even Merlin would be crushed if something happened to you. Your life isn’t just your own anymore, it’s connected to everyone in and connected to your domain.” She leaned back, her concern was evident, “Please, think before you act, we can’t lose you.” I know she likely wanted to add “again” to the sentence, but she knew I wasn’t ready to explain the fact I was reborn.

  I nodded, “You’re right, all of you… I guess I never really understood that.” How much had I ignored or outright failed to listen to? Was I really trying, or was I making excuses to do things my own way? Either way, I couldn’t make this work if I remain here, I needed to let the soldiers do their job. I said, “Joan, bring all prisoners with us, they’ll be tried as well. I’ll put out the call for whoever runs the domain overall back home.” Joan saluted, “Sir.” With that, I began to walk out with Olivia and Alexander. We were cautious until we reached safety, though I knew I had to make changes. I couldn’t go and kill every person connected to Providence, that would dry up every lead quicker than a desert evaporating water. If anything, the tech crews were going to comb through everything to make sure we don’t miss any leads. Outside of that, its interrogating prisoners and seeing where to go from there. It left us nobles to rest, especially me since I nearly lost it completely going after Goldtooth. With this, we took out a pawn, but this was the equivalent to a game of chess where it took both the king and queen to take a pawn. We needed to bolster our ranks, this blow could mean anything to them, and I can’t wait for them to respond.

  ~~~

  A man sat in their office, working on their usual daily paperwork. After a moment, a cloaked individual appeared behind them, but they weren’t there to harm man. The individual spoke, “Goldtooth has been captured, seems like he bit off more than he could chew.” The man replied, “No, it wasn’t that he bit off more than he could chew, it was that he angered a sleeping giant. We have our ways on others, but to him, we have nothing that can stop him.” The man put the paperwork down, “Is there anything else I need to know?” The individual replied, “Our spies have been found out, it seems the information we received were false reports and traps.” The man scoffed, “I told them to be more weary of their situation, now he’s going to shine the light on me to see if I break.” The man tapped his fingers on the table, then said, “Try and save as many as you can, leave those who are awaiting the final plan, and ensure the others can complete their orders.” The individual bowed, “Yes sir, may you attain the position you rightfully deserve.” The individual vanished, and the man seemed angered by the situation.

  With a few buttons, an image was projected before him, “Goldtooth failed, everything’s going fine, but I may require assistance. Can you send me Anubis from Death’s Hand?” A response came quickly, “Anubis is dead, the little kindling got her.” The man was clearly surprised, “Reaper, don’t joke about this, she wasn’t the best, but she wasn’t weak either.” Reaper replied, “Look, I’m surprised as well, but that’s the truth. She was burned pretty bad, kindling put her out of her misery though, at least she didn’t suffer too much.” The man slammed his fist, “Does this mean Providence needs to worry? At this rate, what was the point in paying you and Goldtooth to get me this far?” Reaper replied, “Calm down, you’re getting someone to back you up. At this point, I’m regretting the deal I made to let the kindling live, but I can’t go back against it now.” I asked, “Can I request the dreadnaught?” Reaper replied, “No, we’ve been booked for a while now, it’d be quite a while before we can return. Also, don’t ask to be prioritized, we have people paying more than you can ever hope to pay.” The man sighed, “Tell me you can at least send someone competent, if Anubis died to him, I doubt anyone third rate can take him.”

  Reaper replied, “Calm down, we’ll be sending you Thanatos, if he doesn’t win, I’ll come and deal with him myself.” This was surprising to the man, but he seemed all for it, “Good, I hope it doesn’t come to that, but the insurance is perfect for me.” Reaper spoke, “Good, I’ll pass the information up the chain of command, they won’t be happy to hear we lost a regional control point.” The man added, “Don’t forget to disguise the ships, he isn’t a fool.” Reaper replied, “Roger that boss man, don’t lose to the kindling now.” With that, the man sighed, “Good grief, if only father wasn’t such a fool, then I’d be where I belonged long before now. Instead, I have to do this abhorrently roundabout method.” As he stood up, pushing the paperwork aside, he straightened up what seemed to be dress clothes. After putting a smile on, he exited and made his way to a ballroom. When he entered, those in attendance cheered, he wasn’t going to stop having his fun when he was so far ahead. Before he got close to anyone, he spoke, “Come, little brother, let’s see you struggle before you fall.”