The Paragon of Eden

Kod didn’t feel remorse as his Shrike chewed through Empire forces. He had spent a lifetime getting used to all the death and destruction that came with his job. With his duty. The fact that he was putting death to the enemy of the UPOA, the Empire of Dawn, weighed nothing in his consciousness. Between each side was a fountain of propaganda, a double-sided blade cutting two skins on either end. Both sides hated each other.

And even though the history of the Empire was far more ancient and rooted in the Angels of Dusk themselves, Kod didn’t care. They were too far removed now anyway.

His monster of a Warback crouched, squatting its avian legs of shining silver. He brought his view down below him, his cockpit adjusting slowly to balance him and keep him from the harsh effects of piloting these dangerous weapons. It was unnecessary now, for all it was automated. He wasn’t fighting. He was just looking.

Before him, Kod saw a room made of white and gold metals. There were as many elements of modern minimalism and baroque details so that it boasted décor while keeping the required aesthetic that comes with a room made for research. For each monitor and glass tube, there was a crucifix and portrait of some unrecognizable figures. Inhabitants lay on the cold, smooth floor, dead. Each of them had killed themselves. They were indeed fanatics, and suicide was their answer to the attack from the Angels they apparently worshipped.

Kod didn’t have a choice.

The Shrike took off, jumping swiftly out through the exposed hole that Kod himself had carved into the building. He flew, his Shrike traveling faster than any known Warback save the Paragon. Its wings mirrored the light of destruction all around him. This mothership, a giant base of research for the Empire of Dawn, was a giant, spiking castle of symmetry, needles of gold jutting out in droves from the creamy white shell that kept the overall shape, more beautiful than any of the ships the UPOA had built, and it had been taking some time to destroy. The fact that Kod was attacking it meant that the Empire was nearly done for. Their defenses were gone, and all that was left were remnants.

He was relaxed in the act of taking lives. The forces that accompanied him openly, UPOA Warbacks and jets, struggled to keep up with him. Even now, they risked their lives in every encounter. Kod was only going after the more dangerous units. He was a valuable resource, and even his Shrike had limited energy.

As he flew among the blurred needles, he saw below him another Warback flying parallel to him. They were of the Empire, and they were definitely up to the challenge. Even though it had been about a week, the Empire of Dawn was fully familiar with their new enemy. In fact, had they advanced only a little more, they would have been able to rival the seven Angels of Dusk with their entire military force.

The Empire Warback curved, going in for a broad strike using a fiery blue blade of energy that extended as it struck.

The Shrike simply swerved out of the way. That wasn’t going to work.

Another Warback came from above, and it nearly impaled the Shrike with its own laser lance. That thing was nearly five times larger than the machine itself.

They were getting smarter, it seemed. These Warbacks were the most powerful Kod had seen so far, and they could certainly take out the Shrike. If they landed a hit. And even then, the fact that there were multiple of them proved they were ready for an Angel. Perhaps it was not so easy to attack a research base. They were putting out their desperate measures, Warbacks that weren’t quite finished yet.

The Shrike kited their movements, gaining distance. The two enemy Warbacks sheathed their huge weapons amazingly fast, pulling out artillery that matched their armor’s design. Now that they weren’t moving as quickly, Kod could see it. They sure did like their constant motif of white and gold filigree. The things he fought were barely recognizable as machines, looking instead like heavenly suits of armor. They were even getting close to the Guardian’s level of detail.

What Kod also saw as the Warbacks hovered in place was an opportunity. They aimed their golden guns, and the Shrike threw chromatic spikes from its wings. They shot toward the Warbacks, faster than the Shrike could have gone itself. They weren’t as fast as the large bullets or lasers that the guns fired, but they wreaked havoc on whatever they touched, melting them with their silver surface.

A third Warback descended in front of the two, projecting a huge barrier of blue energy that came from its arm. The spikes drilled on, but the shield held. The other two Warbacks flew around, forming a pincer attack on the Shrike.

Kod recalled the spikes and evaded, narrowly dodging his enemy’s dual laser slash.

Just then, a huge azure pillar of energy shot toward him. He twisted in the air, but some of his metal feathers were singed by the heat. The Shrike drifted away, no longer on the offensive. Kod glared through his cock pit. They had harmed his family’s heirloom. Sure, it would be repaired, but this was something that had been impossible until now.

Three gold and white Warbacks flew into view before him, regrouping and keeping their own defensive position. Kod shouldn’t have flown away. They had a much better synergy with their weapons.

The Shrike was at a standstill. Both sides of the fight waited for the other to attack, and one was built for defending while the other was built for attacking. Kod needed to play the part or else the fight would not continue.

The Shrike dove, riding the wind of the DA until he closed in on his enemies. The shield wielding Warback followed his movements, going in for a block. The Shrike fainted, catching the other Warback in its attempt and getting in behind it. The Warback with the sword was ready to unleash a strike, but it had bet on the wrong outcome. The Shrike quickly sent out its chromatic feathers, throwing the enemy machine far away. Kod couldn’t kill it because he had to brace for the stab of the huge lance.

As another laser slammed down on him, he made a maneuver to dodge both and come away unscathed.

Unfortunately, the shielded Warback placed his barrier before him, making its bright apparatus concave to trap him with its network. The Shrike specialized in mobility, and using the shield to counter his movements was smart. Now, all that was needed was for a second laser to hit Kod and kill him.

Kod dodged the laser, but he moved right into the swipe of the recovered sword Warback.

A thin, glowing wire caught the energy blade in its path. It pulled back, and with one move, the Warback was decapitated with its own weapon. The Shrike responded, flying around and raining blade after blade onto the Warback with the lance.

The shield came again, and Kod anticipated this. What he didn’t anticipate was a faint, and so the shield retracted just as his spikes stopped flowing, revealing a laser blaster that was primed and ready to fire.

In the same instant, another Warback entered the scene, flying with the glowing wire in its hands. It had a conical headpiece, and it trailed its decorative cloth in the wind, unharmed. The Oracle specialized in making predictions and communicating them to its pilot, Veena. So, when the blaster was unveiled, the Oracle dove in and dragged the gun off course, opening the shield Warback up for an attack.

The Shrike dove, and the lancer boosted with its giant weapon in front of it. The two of them headed straight for each other, both doomed to the other’s blades.

The Shrike dodged, spinning and twisting in the air around the blue spire of the lance, coming down and ripping the other Warback apart in the same motion. After that, the Shrike was ready to kill the final Warback.

The shield sprung up in the last second, and just as the Shrike landed its blow in vain, the Oracle spun the wire and dragged the Shrike out of the path of another huge laser strike, coming from the mothership below. That last laser pillar took the shield out and then incinerated the Warback hiding behind it.

Kod had come close to dying. Had Veena not been there for him, he might not have lived to see the end of the battle.

“It’s good that everything decided to fall apart at this stage in history,” he said.

“And not earlier?” Veena responded.

“I don’t know. We haven’t lost anything to anyone outside of our own forces yet. I don’t like to think about it, but that’s the way it is.”

“Neem…”

“We can morn once we pull through this last stretch.”

“Just what Hanin would have said.”

“I think we all turn a little into him when we get serious.”

The two of them hovered, watching the last of the fight commence below. Warbacks fought Warbacks, and debris flew and spun in every direction. Explosions began triggering all around the gigantic structure, turning the golden spikes into melting drops of metal, turning the whole work of art into a congregated pile of junk, and soon, all the forces were evacuating the area. In due time, the whole base erupted in a massive fire. Everything burned and melted, falling into itself as the atmosphere began to glow.

Another Warback flew toward Veena and Kod. It was Sen’s Dragon, a mass of flesh and bones. It was easily the most monstrous Warback in the Angels’ possession, and it was by far the most destructive. Save the Paragon. Out of small holes around the fiber-wrought exterior, surrounded by blackened spikes and teeth, spurts of flames escaped in echoes of what the Dragon had just unleashed on the thing behind it.

“It’s done,” Sen said. “We can withdraw now.”

And he meant they needed to leave that instant. All of the UPOA’s forces escaped the DA bubble just as it ignited, leaving the science and expansion of the Empire to vanish with it. The defeat of the entire faction was close at bay. The Angels had made the UPOA unstoppable. While the Genesis Crystals had been stolen by Hau, Void energy was still out of the question. To prevent that, the last measure the Angels resorted to had been to provide direct assistance for the UPOA’s campaign.

It was a good choice to make. Had the Empire of Dawn become any more powerful, the Angels of Dusk would have slowly begun disappearing into history, and the discovery of Void energy would become rampant anyway.