Ultraya: Origins

Chapter 29: Humanity

28/05/4013 AD – 18:23 – Earth – Alton – City Streets

"Well, well, well, who knew Hyperzio had such a manipulative way of speaking", Crystrx sighed as she generated and threw a series of crystals at the disorientated A.E.R. squads nearby. The squads activated their shields to prevent themselves from being skewered by the razor-sharp prisms. Two of the sixteen fell dead as a result of not being quick enough in this field.

"Really? How do you think we got here?" Dracolast joked as his back cannons folded upwards and let loose three energy blasts upon the same group. The enemy shields shattered. Olicleaver's arm blade extended and Dracolast raised his chain cannon; the two ripped through the remaining forces. Seeing fourteen enemies defeated in five seconds by three Wyperians inspired the U.A. soldiers even further. Another A.E.R. Medrican approached and the Wyperian officers braced for a second assault, however, a small grenade was fired at the dropship doors before they could slide open. The explosion blew a hole in the side of the vehicle and the Wyperians inside looked stunned. Three more A.E.R. Wyperians were then riddled with bullets and fell from the craft, lifeless. Another grenade hit the cockpit of the ship and it crashed to the ground.

"Clear them out!" came a command from behind. A group of uniformed Humans barged past Dracolast and opened fire upon the downed ship with their automatic rifles. The Wyperian officers turned around to see a middle-aged man with two guards next to him. It was quite the juxtaposition: the two guards were young, clean-shaven, and smartly dressed whereas the man in the centre was old, had grey hair and had a long beard. The most notable features of this man were the harsh burn marks on the left side of his face; the burns had just barely missed his eyes.

"I am Colonel Leran", the older gentleman revealed. "I have to thank you for inspiring my troops".

"Hello, Sir", Olicleaver saluted.

Dracolast glanced across to his friend before copying his actions, "It was no problem, Sir".

"What's this? Wyperians saluting a Human?" Leran laughed.

"Err, well you are several ranks higher?" Olicleaver nervously put his hand down. "Should we not be saluting? Do Wyperians automatically outrank Humans or something?"

"Ha! No, no, no", Leran continued laughing. "It's just that I don't often see that; it seems like Wyperians always think themselves higher than Humans. You two seem to be the exception". One of the A.E.R. soldiers that had survived the recent crash jumped out of the debris with an ignited holo sword. His armour was broken; wires were sticking out at all angles, his visor was cracked, and he was missing a robotic arm. Immediately, Leran's guards sprang into action and downed their enemy in about two shots each.

"Those rifles seem very impressive", Dracolast looked at the sleek Human rifles; a thin but long, black body with a modified under-barrel grenade launcher.

"This is a weapon of my own design: the MLRUG, Mulrug", explained Leran. "Medium-Long Range, Under-barrel Grenade launcher. As someone who has survived countless battles, including one against an Angel unit, I have developed a key strategy for dealing with Wyperians. These weapons may not have the range and fire-rate of your Mulrias, but they are deadly accurate and fire at high velocity. The trick is to kill them quickly and efficiently before Wyperians can activate their shields; we are screwed if we get overwhelmed. We must strike first and not hesitate even for a second!"

"Wait, why does your Human weapon use Wyperian coding?" asked Dracolast.

"THAT was your first question?" Olicleaver sighed.

"Eh, keeps it in line with everything the author has established so far. Why make it even more complicated?" Leran waved off the remark.

"I see... wait what?" Dracolast paused.

"All Wyperians are dead, Sir!" shouted one of the soldiers as they returned from their assigned task.

"Well done", Leran turned to his subordinate before turning back to Dracolast and Olicleaver. "Well we've got this area locked down; I think you would be better off elsewhere. I truly believe we can win this fight, even after the Angel joins the battle here".

"What are you talking about?" Crystrx finally tuned in. "Are you implying that you think General Hyperzio will not defeat Ru-Flare?!"

"Not at all, my dear", Leran smirked. "I'm on about the fact that this is obviously a trap and that your leader really should have seen that".

"What?!" Crystrx's anger flared.

"It is obvious", Leran repeated. "An Angel unit shall be descending soon. Enemy. Fire element".

"But Ru-Flare is in Ailutarya!" Dracolast said.

"But we don't know where Elimiphlaren is..." Olicleaver mumbled, understanding the point Leran was making.

"The fact that Ru-Flare wanted to appear as male suggests that she wanted to make it seem as though Elimiphlaren was in Ailutarya; naturally that means Angel of Fire is en route here instead", Leran concluded before saluting the Wyperian. He glanced over at Crystrx who had her arms crossed; her stance conveyed the mildly annoyed expression that her face was unable to.

"Have a fine evening madam", the Colonel smirked. With that, he travelled to his next destination with his squad.

"Well the Humans are starting to fight back at least", Crystrx grumbled.

"You try fighting Wyperians whilst you are in your Human form!" Dracolast snapped back. "Leran is correct you know; without your get-out-of-jail-free shields, you would be much easier to defeat!"

"What does that mean? The phrase, I mean" asked Crystrx.

"That phrase is based on a Human board game", Dracolast explained. "Normally, you'd have to pay for the bail but-"

"CAN WE FOCUS?!" screamed Olicleaver.

"Well that was out of charac-" Dracolast started.

"SHUT! UP!" Olicleaver insisted. "This fight might be easy for us, but many people; Human AND Wyperian are still struggling to hold back a single group! This is a warzone, and we need to stay alert! Stay here and keep messing around if you want, but I'm going to lend support to the north. I'll report in if I see Elimiphlaren. Later". Olicleaver took off running in the direction he had stated, leaving the bewildered Dracolast and Crystrx standing idle. The two looked up as the sound of Heygrasaults roaring overhead caught their attention; the Ultrayan Alliance was starting to mobilize their ground forces.

"There are Mylialta patrolling the skies and Heygrasaults deploying soldiers and tanks to the ground", Crystrx pointed out.

"I guess we better go and assist then", Dracolast stated. After they both realised that they had just stated the obvious, they looked at each other briefly before also splitting off into separate directions; Crystrx to the west and Dracolast to the east.