Diah’s head whipped toward the others, unsure of what to do. They had the advantage from a numbers standpoint, but Diah knew numbers alone didn’t mean anything without a good understanding of the enemy to back it up. They had no idea what the two Kunar’s abilities were, let alone the obvious problem of Rhug’s size. They were in a battle they were doomed to lose. She could tell that Imi was trying her best to analyze the situation, but the look on her face meant she must have reached the same conclusion. Kirrik and Zaius both seemed frozen in place by Areshia’s sudden appearance.
‘Zaius, I understand,’ Diah thought. ‘I saw how she treated him firsthand. What did she do to Kirrik to get the same reaction?’
Before she could ponder the question further, Rhug rushed forward into the group with big, silver eyes that radiated malice. Diah felt a hand grab her by the neck of her top and yank her backwards, the force slightly lifting her off of her feet. Zaius had changed spots with her, standing next to Kirrik as Rhug clotheslined them both with his extended, meaty arms. The three carried with the momentum and crashed through a wall directly ahead.
Rhessian laughed and jumped from the walkway toward Imi, rolling like a ball as he hit the ground. Imi fired four shots at him but couldn’t land a single one, the blasts kicking up puffs of dirt with muted thunks. The Kunar leapt over a small barricade toward the exposed lower floor of the factory chambers and snagged a chain in mid-air. Imi ran forward and jumped over the same barricade, disappearing from view.
Diah looked up and waited for Areshia to make her move. The arrogant Ixr looked over her sharp-tipped neon orange nails instead. Diah hesitated and wondered if it was some sort of trick.
“I’m not wasting my energy just to come down there, princess,” Areshia announced. “You’ll meet me up here.”
“And why would I do that?” Diah snapped.
“Because killing you is the best kind of revenge I can get on Zaius for destroying so much of my hard work,” She replied in annoyance. “But if you don’t feel like fighting, I’ll gladly ignore you and skip straight to ripping out your little boy toy’s lungs myself.”
Diah felt an intense heat rise off the back of her neck. Her heart started to pound hard against her chest, a mixture of anger and adrenaline. She summoned her Kanushin into five long purple daggers and launched them into the wall as a makeshift set of stairs. She jumped from one to another until she landed on the walkway just a few steps from Areshia. Her daggers dissipated and the Kanutic particles whipped upward to reassemble into a single rapier in her right hand. Diah swept it across the floor in show, leaving behind a thin scorch mark emblazoned into the walkway. She placed her left foot behind her right and braced herself for the fight.
“Oh, that’s so cute,” Areshia mocked. White Kanutic energy fluctuated around her body and swarmed into two sharpened blades that ran the length of her forearm and extended into talon-like tips past her hands. She let out another devilish giggle. “Let’s make this quick, princess. I have better places to be.”
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The hard stone and metal of the factory’s wall cracked against Zaius’s shoulder as sheer force smashed him through. He flew back, slamming his elbow and head against hard ground before tumbling along the floor. His vision blurred into two spinning worlds. Kirrik coughed just a few feet away.
“Rhug destroy pests,” the ridiculously large Kunar grunted as he smashed his fists together. The resulting wave of force caused a slight dust cloud to form.
Zaius looked around at their surroundings. They have been thrown into a giant gray dome with eight pillars placed evenly against the walls throughout. A large slit ran along the ceiling, most likely some sort of opening for ships to arrive through. The floor below him was a hard, white circle with markings embedded throughout. He realized it was a landing pad for a surprisingly empty docking bay.
‘Is this where they shipped out the Zanathum?’ He questioned. ‘Where did it all go?’
An armored boot came into view, aimed directly for Zaius’s stomach. As he braced for the devastating impact, a red chain whipped around Rhug’s foot and pulled him off-balance. The Kunar howled in frustration.
“You have to get your head in the game!” Kirrik yelled at Zaius, Kanutic chain rippling back to his hand.
Zaius popped himself up and took a breath, channeling his Kanushin into the gauntlets. Kirrik was right. Rhug seemed ready to rip them apart. Zaius reared his arm back and pushed all of his energy into his right hand. The gauntlet hissed and clicked as it absorbed it and pressurized. All he needed was one hit with everything he could give.
Zaius sprinted toward Rhug and jumped, thrusting his punch forward. The latter held out his hand and absorbed the punch in his palm with an explosive crack. Lightning shot out in every direction as Zaius’ Kanushin shattered into a cascading wave of green.
‘There’s no way,’ Zaius panicked as Rhug’s free hand swatted him away a second later. The hard sting sent shockwaves across every muscle of his body. He flew into a nearby pillar and felt his body crash against it. He fell, winded and limp, to the ground.
Blood trickled across his forehead and down his left cheek, followed by the searing pain of a fresh cut. He looked up, unable to move, as Kirrik pulled his pistol and fired round after round. Each one bounced off of Rhug like grains of sand against a boulder. Kirrik whipped his chain toward Rhug again, wrapping it around his arm. Zaius tried to stop him but the words couldn’t form in his throat. Rhug laughed, a low grumble that sounded like a ship’s engine turning over, and yanked his arm back. The force lifted
Kirrik off of his feet and Rhug used the momentum to swing him into the wall. Kirrik let out a yelp of pain and his Kanutic chain broke apart.
Rhug stomped over to Zaius, eyeing his prey. Zaius tried to move, but his body had given out. Sweat stung his eyes and his mind felt woozy. Rhug grabbed the back of his jacket, hoisted him up and shook him violently. Zaius braced himself as best as he could, but Rhug’s strength was unparalleled. The beast of a fighter let out another laugh and pulled Zaius close to his face.
“Crush good,” Rhug mocked. “Tiny, worthless human. Will splat in hand.”
Kirrik poked his head out from behind Rhug’s shoulder, his blonde hair disheveled and covered with grime. “Do you really think I’m a one-trick pony? Sorry about this, Z!”
Before Zaius could react, Kirrik formed two crimson Kanutic disks across his hands and slammed them against Rhug’s head. The blow emitted a high-pitch frequency that screeched through the air like a choir of banshees. Zaius felt his eardrums pop and his stomach churn as he and Rhug dropped to the ground, gripping their heads. A devastating pain ricocheted through Zaius’ brain and he slumped over onto the ground. His body refused to give any more.
Rhug shook his head and stood, wobbling. Kirrik jumped back in surprise and dissolved the disks. The two had thrown everything they could at Rhug, and it still wasn’t enough. Zaius thought about Diah and Imi, hopeful that they were faring better.
“My turn,” Rhug roared.
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Diah clashed her blade against Areshia’s, sparks of white and purple lighting up the dark of the upper walkway. Each blow hit a little harder as the two women put their all into every swing and swipe. Diah connected, her rapier sizzling against Areshia’s left arm blade. The Ixr swung at Diah, aiming for a cut across the stomach, but she pulled back just enough for the blade to graze her. It was a vicious dance between a battle of wills. Areshia slung her arms in a downward motion in an attempt to catch Diah off-guard, but the Chyl slid out from under the move as Areshia sliced into the walkway’s railing.
“You and your little boy toy just couldn’t take your licks!” Areshia screamed at Diah as she swung her bladed arms at her again. Diah took five steps back and parried the last blow. “I lost two of my top men and now the whole galaxy is in my business. I have people banging at my door to take my whole kingdom, and it’s all your fault!”
“You’re a parasite, Areshia,” Diah yelled back. “You hide behind your gang and your money, but you don’t know what it’s like to be knocked to rock bottom. Let me show you!”
Diah hooked her rapier under Areshia’s right arm blade and rotated it to the side, then swung her right foot through the opening and square into Areshia’s jaw. It connected with a sickening thwack. Areshia’s head snapped back and she stumbled around dazed, but Diah knew she had to keep on the offensive. She charged, blade steadied. Areshia dodged, slipped along the side of the rail and landed a punch into Diah’s side as she passed by. A spike of pain radiated up through Diah’s rib cage.
“You have to be faster than that, Your Highness,” Areshia spat as she kicked Diah squarely in the back. She let out another giggle. “I could’ve sliced you up real well just now, but I figured I’d make you suffer a little more first.”
Diah turned and attempted two stabs that Areshia easily knocked away.
“You’re one to talk about rock bottom,” Areshia remarked. She swung wildly at Diah, her apparent frustration building with every sentence. “You know why I have to suffer? Why I have to resort to building an empire of my own? Because your people take everything from me, from the other Ixr. They always have. You Chyl have control over it all: trade, politics, Quintels. I got nothing but scraps from my father, scraps that I turned into a meal that has everyone eating out of the palm of my hand!”
Diah parried Areshia’s increasingly haphazard blows. The Ixr couldn’t hold back anymore, a psychotic grin plastered on her face and her eyes manic. Her laugh grew wild once again. Beneath them, one of the factory’s supply trains began to rumble past.
‘She’s lost it,’ Diah thought as she dodged another slash. ‘I can use this, though.’
“Do you think that makes you special, Areshia?” Diah goaded. “Do you really think that you aren’t just another crime boss that’ll be wiped from existence the day someone decides to take you out?"
Areshia dashed forward and sliced Diah in the side, much to her surprise. The razor-like cut took the breath from her for a moment and allowed Areshia to move in further. She slammed her shoulder into Diah’s chest and pushed her back.
“And what about you, sparkles?” Areshia cackled as their Kanutic weapons crossed. “Are those marks on your face even real, or did mommy make them for you?”
Something in Diah snapped. She wasn’t sure what it was, exactly. Maybe it was the pressure of her whole situation, or the adrenaline surging through her veins. Maybe it was that she was tired of everyone finding a way to bring her mother in things, even halfway across the galaxy. It honestly didn’t matter, in her mind, because the fire had been flamed. She let out a screech of anger and recklessly ran in to land one last blow.
Areshia sidestepped and ran her left blade across Diah’s arm, cutting it deep, but the Chyl didn’t stop. Despite the immense pain, Diah pushed through and rotated on the ball of her foot to swing her leg out, delivering a booted foot into Areshia’s cheekbone. As Areshia spun from the impact, Diah swiped up and slashed her diagonally across the face. A cut for a cut.
Areshia, furious and bleeding profusely, wrapped both hands around Diah’s throat and used her full force to slam her into the railing. Both of their Kanushins turned into a puff of particles. Diah choked and kicked as Areshia dug her nails deeper into Diah’s skin. Areshia screamed in uninhibited fury at Diah’s face.
“Do you know who I am?” Areshia shrieked. “I am the Queen of the Underside, and you should have stayed locked in your tower!”
Diah felt the life being throttled out of her as Areshia slammed her repeatedly into the rail. As every blow brought her mind closer to black, she felt the fire inside burn even hotter. There was no way that she was going to let Areshia win. She had enough of being told who and what she was.
“You forgot one thing,” Diah barely managed to squeak out.
“And what’s that?”
Diah reached up and wrapped her hand in Areshia’s electric blue hair, yanking her head down as hard as she could into her own.
“I. Am. Not. A. Princess!” Diah growled, headbutting Areshia between each word. She let go and Areshia took a couple of steps back. Diah’s vision tunneled and she felt a horrible pain blasting through her skull. She reared her foot back and delivered one last kick into Areshia’s chest, sending her over the walkway’s edge and down onto the supply train. Areshia smashed against the roof of the train, rolling off and toward a machine full of gnashing gears at the factory’s bottom.
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Kirrik felt his eye begin to swell from Rhug’s latest blow. No matter how much or how hard he or Zaius hit Rhug, it didn’t seem to have an effect. His pistol and both forms of his Kanushin had done little more than make the Kunar angrier. Zaius was pressed against one of the many pillars in the dome, breathing heavily. Kirrik could tell Zaius’ body had given out on him and there wasn’t much more they could do to survive. They needed an escape. A light went off in his mind. Kirrik summoned his Kanutic chain and launched it at Rhug, who laughed as it flew past.
“Eye not working?” He taunted Kirrik.
Kirrik stood, broken and beaten, with his hair knocked loose and his jacket slightly torn. He yanked on the chain, pulling it tight, then tugged as hard as he could. The pillar behind Rhug began to crack.
“He wasn’t aiming for you,” Zaius clarified. His charged gauntlet was pointed toward the pillar he rested up against. Kirrik was elated that Zaius had caught on to his plan. It was dumb and reckless, but it was all they could do. Kirrik tugged once again while Zaius released a blast of concussive energy. Both pillars broke and the ceiling above started to collapse.
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Imi punched Rhessian for the sixth time, her fist passing through his mask once again. Another copy. She surveyed the chamber around them. What had originally started as fourteen copies had now been whittled down to eight. Imi scanned each for some semblance of individuality, but they were all identical down to every detail.
Rhessian leapt around from pipe to pipe, his copies mirroring his movements. “You’re fascinating, you know that?”
“Spare me the compliments,” Imi bristled. She shot at two more clones, bolts cutting through. They exploded into smoke. Six left, and she still had no idea which one was real.
“I mean it,” Rhessian continued. “I know exactly what you are. Your movements give it away. I wonder, though. When I dismantle you piece-by-piece, do you bleed like everyone else?”
Imi fired more rounds as Rhessian and his multitude of copies continued their hopping. She took aim at one, her finger squeezed gently against the trigger. She had him right where she wanted him. Imi threw her elbow back and smacked Rhessian to the ground. The copies mimicked his movement above.
“How did you know?” Rhessian questioned.
Imi pointed her pistol point-blank at the Kunar’s mask. “You’re not as smart as you think you are.”
Rhessian let out a snicker.
“Neither are you.”
The Rhessian at Imi’s feet fizzled into more smoke as she sensed movement behind her. She whipped around to face the real version of the Kunar madman as he appeared from the shadows of the pipelines above. A sphere of pulsating purple bounced off of the wall and collided with Imi, absorbing her into its goo-like interior. She fought and pulled, thin webs of ick falling away as she tried to break free. It was no use. For every move that she made, the goo grew harder to maneuver in. It started to solidify like an alienish concrete around her.
“Have fun!” Rhessian waved as Imi plunged into a black, ethereal void.
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