Data file R-08: Scarab cannon

  [Scarab cannons are mass-produced anti-personnel turrets that fire an amplified stream of charged bolts. The thunderous roar of a firing scarab cannon is only matched by the ferocious light of the endless bolts, which move so quickly that they appear to be a solid beam. These cannons shred through racazoid armor and allow for rapid breaker hits to their delicate energy cores, so the monarchs, naturally, implemented scarab cannons around every major human settlement after the first racazoid war. Despite scarab cannons requiring “dead” power crystal fragments as a catalyst, contrasted against most power core weapons’ near-limitless source, they have still held the perimeter of the central outposts and the forward Battlelines for years.

  Additionally, these cannons have a mobile variation in the form of a scarab tank. Scarab tanks are blockade busters, and their limited ammo stores are better saved for the instances wherein dense armor must be broken, or enemy fortifications need to be torn to the ground.]

  ***

  Rasil kept his lights dim and his eyes wide as he sped through the jungle. He had brought his hoverboard from back in the day, as a large vehicle would have been child’s play to spot, even at night. Thunder rumbled faintly, and the occasional flash of lightning illuminated the rocks and trees as Rasil realized a storm was coming.

  The absence of a moon on Aljia, and the lack of light aside from the storm, masked his presence against everything except Flameye’s own powers. Rasil was counting on that fact to ensure Flameye would be the only one waiting at the tower. He could hear racazoids deploying nearby, but even the stragglers wouldn’t see him to assist their leader.

  “The duel you always wanted," Rasil sighed to himself as he dropped into a clearing beneath one of the mountain outcroppings. The stronghold ahead gave him momentary pause, as he saw the silhouette of the transmitter rising above him, a monolith that touched the darkening clouds and was visible through a constant purple glow.

  The glow wasn’t just coming from the tower, though. There was, in the distance, at the point where the tower met the roof of the main building, a pair of cold, purple eyes, watching him. Stealth was out of the picture, Rasil realized, and the time had come. Water slowly began to drip from above, and the lightning strikes became more obvious as he leapt from his hoverboard and used his antigravity boots to scale the wall.

  His hand gripped the ledge, and he rolled over it into a ready stance. Flameye was waiting for him, and the fire in the racazoid’s eyes burned so brightly that the rain could hardly shroud it.

  ***

  “That’s more than one bruiser," Alyssa noted, looking down from her perch in the trees.

  Helios resounded, “They almost outnumber the troopers. Smaller force than usual in this area, but we are not getting through without fighting at least nine.” He flapped silently between the spots of light created by the racazoid firebolt rifles, watching for openings. “Alyssa, drop in ten feet to your left.” Alyssa fired off her antigravity boots and slipped down into the gap Helios had indicated. Gears aimed his sniper rifle to cover her, and noted that there were no biters around. Helios continued, “Don’t underestimate Flameye; they might be using biter bombs, in which case, you should keep watching for a bruiser getting ready to throw one.”

  “Understood. Taking aim at the nearest bruiser," Gears replied.

  “Likewise, let’s do this," Alyssa whispered.

  “Alrighty, initiating protocol S-03. All further military orders are void until the conflict has ceased. Now wreck ‘em.”

  Alyssa fired a beam from one of her guns. The turquoise spear of light sliced into a bruiser's head and destroyed both of its eyes before emerging from the opposite side. The bruiser gave a startled shriek and swung its claws blindly, far from reaching Alyssa.

  She spun and fired at the now alert troopers on either side of her blind spot. She killed three, but a fourth rolled away from her strike and aimed its rifle.

  “Nope," she declared, blasting its head off with a charged shot. The beam pierced all the way into another pair of troopers thirty feet out, and with a flick of her wrist, she sliced them apart too.

  “That’s an alarm," Helios identified, translating the racazoid screeches. The troopers definitely knew where they were now, and went berserk, hunting the team through the treetops. Alyssa rolled behind a tree trunk before being hit by any claws, and jumped to a branch above her.

  “Gears, can you throw your voice?” she asked.

  “I get the idea, thanks," Gears answered. He aimed his rifle and launched a burst of delayed-explosive shots. They thumped into the ground, then loudly burst to throw the racazoids off his position, then he joined Alyssa on her perch. “Damage results, Helios?”

  Helios landed just above them, and replied, “We’ve decimated their flanking force, but the first wave is still intact, and so are the bruisers.”

  “Then, we should tear those bruisers down from above,” Alyssa suggested. Still perched in the treetops, she aimed her pistols and began firing at the backs of the bruisers, piercing their armor in various places. “We have to slow these things down, or Rasil’s fight means nothing!”

  ***

  Rasil braced for the impact, but Flameye’s claw still sent him scraping backward along the platform. He lifted his pistol and parried the next strike, siphoning a piece of Flameye’s energy as Alyssa had shown him, but Flameye’s next swipe came too close, and Rasil flipped away again. His bullets were doing nothing to Flameye’s armor so far, and landing a hit was almost impossible anyway.

  “I‘ve had more than enough of your foolish bravery!” Flameye roared. He teleported and caught Rasil’s arm in one hand, pulling him off-balance. Rasil twisted away and used his antigravity boots to kick out of the grab, barely avoiding being pulled into Flameye’s powerful jaws. “Stop escaping!”

  Flameye took flight and sent energy spiraling through his wings. Rasil remembered the effect, and braced his gun for a siphon. If he could absorb the beam, he could damage Flameye through the regeneration!

  Flameye noticed the defensive stance, but fired anyway, sending a pink antimatter beam blazing down at Rasil. Rasil swung his gun barrel and side-stepped the beam, grazing its edge. The plasma swirled wildly, the time energy untouchable, but the surrounding energies were a valid target. Straining against the force of the beam, he dipped into the energy and siphoned it into his body. A fountain of power launched through his body to charge him as he whispered, “Finally.”

  Rasil let loose the stored energy, only to be shocked when it swerved away, dissipating after only a few feet. “What?!” He almost didn’t notice the next beam launching, but rolled away, and promptly had to flip over three more arcing at his legs.

  Flameye suppressed a laugh, relieved that the energy from his beams was beyond what Rasil could control. “Taste the fire, Rasil!” He fired six more beams, and charged his fire breath.

  Rasil blocked or deflected most of the beams, but one grazed his arm and vaporized a piece of his jacket sleeve. He growled in frustration, considering whether his temper was justified. Another beam came, and Rasil ran toward it, sliding underneath at the final second. Thunder from the storm punctuated the iconic sound of Flameye’s fire breath, and Rasil turned to see the purple fire rolling at him.

  Rasil smirked, running at full speed away from the spray of purple flame. He readied for another siphon and realized his best option. He stomped down, firing the antigravity boots and leaping over the blaze. “I can’t elegantly deflect your attacks,” he resolved, pulling the energy from the fire into his gun, “but I can still tear you apart!”

  Rasil boosted toward Flameye, lifting his gun with both hands, and swinging it in a vertical slash as he fired. Flameye raised a claw to block, but the armor on his arm cracked as the siphoned force amplified Rasil’s blast. Red energy raced in every direction, indiscriminately striking both of them. Enraged, Flameye shrieked, “How?! You cannot direct it!”

  “But I can still strike with it!” Rasil shouted as Flameye observed ripples of blood-red energy flowing through Rasil’s entire body. “Nobody’s perfect, so I’ll do what I can!” He swung again, aiming a breaker hit at Flameye’s ribs. The explosive shockwave shattered the plating and threw them both away from each other. Flameye fell to one knee in pain, only for Rasil to zip forward, smash him in the face with the gun, and siphon more power.

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  “Stop!” the Chimera Wraith bellowed. He levitated upward and rained beams of antimatter down upon Rasil. Rasil antigravity jumped through the onslaught, taking ounces of power from every close call and overcharging his gun beyond anything any human had attempted. “Abandoning control for the hope of breaking your opponent’s defense? Even Icarus didn’t dare to try this. You’ll kill yourself with that much power!”

  Rasil laughed a deep retort, “Time will tell, Flameye.” He leapt back in, eyes brimming with instinctive fury.

  ***

  “Alyssa!” Gears cried out. Alyssa leaned against a boulder, trying to recover after having fired her critical strike.

  “I’m... okay...” she panted, revving her pistols for another volley. “I can keep going.” Gears and Helios weren’t sure if that was true, considering she had just taken down two bruisers alone.

  “Stay back. We can’t win this fight without you," Gears ordered. He aimed his gauntlet, a small rifle attachment mounted on it, and began firing to drive the racazoids away. Most of the bruisers had been destroyed or had retreated, but one remained. It stomped slowly toward them, laughing deeply as Gears’s bullets failed to pierce its armor.

  “Helios. Give me a weak point," Gears whispered. He unholstered his sniper rifle and charged a blast. Helios, meanwhile, flew behind the bruiser and scanned it carefully.

  He shouted to Gears, “Aim for the right knee. Then, fire through the side of the neck. That’ll destroy the chimera generator. Gears nodded and released his blast, tearing the knee plating apart and forcing it to trip. The next bullet burned through the falling racazoid’s neck before it even hit the ground, and the chimera flow stopped.

  Gears vented his rifle and gently picked up Alyssa. She was half-responsive, still gripping her guns to her chest, though her eyes were closed and her breathing had slowed. Helios led Gears to a safe point and said, “Gears, she’s losing consciousness. She’s used too much of her power.”

  “She drained her own bioelectricity to—”

  “Amplify her shots, yeah.”

  “Dang it. Let’s fall back and mark this position for the scarab cannons. Protocol S-03 is no longer in effect, and we are expected to follow the exact protocol for an injured teammate.”

  “Got it,” Helios whispered.

  ***

  Flameye’s beams were growing faster, and Rasil’s power was rising with every strike. Rasil was acutely aware that Flameye was unprepared for this duel, but had enough chimera left to fight longer than a human could last. “Back down, Flameye," Rasil growled, trying to force an early end to the battle.

  “Why, pray tell, would I do that?” Flameye coughed as he regenerated several pieces of his armor. “You’ve played your best card, and I still stand.” He lifted his foot slightly, then smashed it down into the platform. A howl of wind blasted Rasil and forced him to slide backward, and as he looked around, he saw peals of fire rising around them.

  Flameye was setting the entire area on fire with his power! Rasil sprinted forward, overcharging his gun and aiming to swing it at Flameye. Unfortunately, Flameye was ready and teleported behind him. His claw met metal as Rasil rolled forward and spun to face him. Three beams launched from the wings, and Rasil dodged them while siphoning energy from the edges.

  He tensed and shifted defensively, baiting Flameye. Flameye obliged the offer and struck with a flurry of punches, which Rasil blocked with bolts from his gun. Rasil leapt in with his antigravity boots and brought his gun into a diagonal slash at Flameye’s face. Flameye frantically lifted his hand and remotely activated the chimera tower. The spire of the tower spawned several streams of chimera that dashed to Flameye and latched onto him, adding to his energy. Flameye’s eyes burned brighter as he let the tower multiply his existing chimera.

  “Stop," Flameye spoke, and time froze around the two. The motion was brought to a screeching halt, and Rasil’s bolt had failed to reach Flameye. Slowly, as Rasil remained frozen, the bolt resumed moving toward Flameye and struck the chimera energy around him. Changing color from red to purple, it dissipated, and the energy cascaded back toward Rasil.

  Rasil yelped in surprise as the wave of energy collided with him and flung him about fifty feet back. Flameye was unharmed.

  “Time is such a fickle thing, so destructive, and yet so easily changed," Flameye spat. “If you continue fighting me, you will die by your own hand!”

  Rasil charged his gun and ran closer, firing two more bolts. One missed as Flameye stepped aside, and the other struck his arm. The same energy field stopped time again and repelled the attack! Rasil tried again, and again had to dodge his own attack being reflected at him.

  “That's actually very clever," Rasil admitted honestly, pulling himself to his feet. “How much chimera does it use up?”

  “A considerable deal, normally, but this tower carries two pieces of the Amulet, and allows me to use as much as I want," Flameye boasted. He stepped back and primed his fire breath, both of them figuring out what would come next. Rasil stood silently in response, and held his gun to his side, waiting.

  There was no way to fight Flameye head-on, not with the tower boosting him and giving him that reflection ability. Rasil knew when to admit defeat, but the fight wasn’t over yet. He looked past Flameye, at the spire of the tower, and decided on his plan.

  Flameye released his fire breath, the purple antimatter flames, overcharged by the tower, tearing the roof apart with more force than any of his previous beams combined. He closed his mouth after several seconds, and looked forward to see nothing where Rasil had stood. He then made the mistake of looking up.

  Rasil laughed at the look on Flameye’s face as he fell from above, blasting out Flameye’s eye as he passed him. He hit the ground in a roll, keeping the momentum from antigravity jumping over the fire, and ran toward the chimera tower’s base.

  Flameye turned around and charged the beams with his wings, but stopped when he saw Rasil pointing his gun behind him and firing repeatedly. Flameye lifted his hands and halted the shots, reflecting them away before stopping cold.

  He had just reflected the attack into the chimera tower.

  “Thanks!” Rasil yelled back as he saw the reflected bolts tear into the tower wall, easily breaking the outer armor due to Flameye’s amplification. He stopped before the cracked wall and swung his gun several times, splintering off more metal as he fired repeatedly. The metal groaned, and Rasil could see the vibrations shaking the whole structure under the pressure of his attacks. This was his chance. If he could destroy this tower, he would halt Flameye’s plan!

  Flameye was less than pleased with this turn of events, and dashed toward Rasil. Rasil smirked and backflipped, dodging over Flameye’s claw and aiming his gun. He fired at Flameye’s back with a fully charged breaker hit, the shockwave pushing Flameye into the weakened wall, while he leapt far away from any retaliating strikes.

  “I will not lose to you again!” Flameye screamed with a voice that echoed in Rasil’s mind. His wings burst into flames, and he opened his mouth wide, channeling all of his remaining chimera. He roared, “BURN!” and fired three beams from each of his wings, blasting his fire breath straight at Rasil as well.

  Rasil knelt low to the ground, and used his boots to dash along the ground, dodging the sweeping beams and passing just beside the fire breath. He held his gun to the stream of fire and siphoned the power. He felt the ferocious energy flow through him, like a river of light that ended at the barrel of his gun.

  Rasil’s sliding motion sped up as he kicked behind him with the boots and flew even faster toward his opponent. He had enough power now, and he was ready. Knowing no one was watching, he threw away the thought of embarrassment at shouting the name of his new attack, opting to say it for Flameye’s sake.

  He held his left arm horizontally in front of him...

  He placed his right arm on top of his left, bracing it forward...

  He launched himself into the air about twenty feet from Flameye...

  He unleashed his critical strike, shouting, “[Shrapnel Frenzy]!” His gun let loose a volley of rapid bolts that unpredictably struck everything in front of him. Each bolt rippled with unstable energy and exploded in violent shockwaves as he blasted Flameye and the tower. The energy of the bullets coursed around Rasil’s body, each vent of exhaust channeling back into the gun in a feedback loop.

  As Rasil strained to keep his right arm straight against the recoil and concussive shockwaves, he screamed and rotated his body with his boots, pointing the stream of attacks up toward the spire and shredding the armored walls of the tower apart. He then watched as the structure creaked and rumbled, the chimera draining out as the internal pipes were shattered.

  Flameye was still stunned from being hit with the [Shrapnel Frenzy] and only recovered his senses in time to see the chimera tower beginning to yield and collapse. He growled. Trying to teleport, he found there was no longer enough chimera remaining to do so. A piece of debris struck his leg and crushed it, pinning him beneath the shadow of the falling tower spire. He looked up with his remaining eye and shattered face.

  Rasil was smiling, his arm hanging limply at his side, and looking down at Flameye as he himself fell from above. “Until next time, Chimera Wraith," he said just loud enough for Flameye to hear.

  “RASIL!” Flameye cried out in seething rage as he was buried beneath his creation.

  ***

  That night, the racazoids attacking the city walls ran out of chimera, and were easily gunned down by the defenses. Some of them had run, actually, taking the opportunity for a tactical retreat. Their leader was another story, pummeled and crushed after fighting to the bitter end. Without the chimera tower, Flameye was depleted, and it seemed he would take a considerable amount of time to regenerate.

  Or not...

  “What in Icarus’s name do you mean?!” Rasil shouted his question. He was back in the lab, following the medical inspections, and was very frustrated about Gears’s commitment to destroying every last trace of optimism.

  “I mean, we only have days, at best, before Flameye returns," Gears stated with a deep frown. His casual attitude and tolerance for Rasil’s antics were clearly displaced by the battle. “The good news is that what you saw tonight is likely the power level he’ll remain at for now, assuming he doesn’t get another shard or a larger boost of chimera.”

  “That is good news," Rasil forfeited. “How’s Alyssa?” He gestured to her sleeping figure on one of the cots.

  “Perfectly fine, Rasil. Although...”

  “Yes?”

  “As your lieutenant, I would like your permission to employ her as a permanent squad member. Helios and I would appreciate the help, and the company.”

  Rasil glanced over, mildly surprised, at Helios, who was sitting protectively beside Alyssa’s face. He momentarily watched as Helios booped her on the nose, then curled up and powered down, still blocking anyone from reaching her. Gears and Rasil gazed at each other silently for a moment.

  “Assuming she’s willing, by all means," Rasil replied. “I’ll help with the paperwork. You get her equipment fixed. Helios, if you can hear me in your sleep state, keep guarding her.”

  Helios twitched his beak in a quick nod. Gears sat back at his repair station and got to work. Rasil slipped the amulet shard from his pocket to look at it as he left the room.

  He smiled triumphantly.

  “One victory and one draw. Just you wait, Flameye. I’ll only get better from here.”