Antumbra - A Lost Cause

Lightest Part of a Shadow - Chapter Seventy Four

Penumbra's hands crushed the life out of Arva as the building energy between the two suits began to arc across their armour. The reaction had begun, and the segments of Antumbra's shoulders were fully opened as the swirl of light poured out into the mix. It was like they were being engulfed in a tornado, with them safely within the eye. Arva could feel it, the energy rising to its climax, and the terrifying heat that blistered her skin just from what little amount entered the cracks in her cockpit hatch. Yet she felt something else, something assuring, something on top of her hands. She raised her arms as if they were being supported by Oleg and Katalin, and grabbed hold of Penumbra's. Arva clenched her jaw and groaned as she poured her strength, trying to break his iron grasp on her. He refused to relent, so she kept pulling, gripping with such force that the metal of Penumbra's arms began to buckle inwards. Marcus reacted with visible shock as Penumbra's head darted back and forth between its arms as his hands were pried off of her throat. Arva's groans turned to roars of exertion as she pulled Penumbra's arms away, flung them out to the sides, then raised her foot to kick him back. Marcus stumbled away, the link between their energy fields severed, and the suits began to return to normal.

"How..." Marcus uttered in disbelief, "how!?"

"This is it," Arva whispered to her machine, "there's nothing beyond this if we lose..." Arva felt her friends, present and departed, weighing on her heart, but they weren't a burden. They were pillars for her to stand on, a light at the end of the tunnel, and she could feel Antumbra draw on that strength, and so she did as well.

"That machine needs to be destroyed if we're going to survive," she told Antumbra. "So give me your strength. Give me everything you have, and when you have nothing left-" Antumbra's body seemed to moan as the suit's power output increased.

"Give me more."

The ground exploded beneath Antumbra's feet as it bolted forwards with speed even Penumbra couldn't react to. Arva slammed her fist into its face with such force that the air blew away from the pressure, the armour on her hand and forearm exploding off. Antumbra was pushing itself so hard it was at risk of falling apart, but in return the strike not only shattered half of Penumbra's head, but sent the suit flying. She didn't wait for Marcus to hit the ground before chasing after him, hitting him again. Again, and again, each strike so fast and violent it wasn't until the ninth hit that Penumbra even made contact with anything but her fists as it clattered across the Habitat's deck. Arva held up her hands, they trembled with anticipation even as most of the plating had been stripped away to the skeletal inner structure.

"Not good enough." Arva wiped her mouth, frothing from the competing fatigue and adrenaline. "Not good enough!"

She grabbed Penumbra by the legs, dragging it across the ground and tossing it away like a limp doll. Marcus recovered, barely managing to land on his feet, but not fast enough to block the next blow. The severed arm of Elia's suit collided with Penumbra head-on, and Arva used the distraction to drive her knee into his midsection. She heard what sounded like a spitting noise over his suit's loudspeaker, and followed up by bringing her elbows down onto his back. She would've finished him off then and there with a stomp of her foot had he not rolled away, recovering quickly and bounding up the side of a small structure. He pounced from the top, diving feet-first past her as he grabbed Antumbra's head, slamming it into the ground. Arva didn't feel a thing, and was almost immediately back on her feet. Marcus struck her with a lightning-fast punch, but she didn't even bother dodging, instead taking the hit but using the opening to grab his arm. She dug her hand into his bicep, both machines tearing at the point of contact. He tried to push her away, but her grip was firm, and he deployed the cannons on his chest. They fired, the resulting explosion pushing the two machines away, but in the separation Antumbra all but degloved Penumbra's arm of its plating. The fighting grew more violent, more devastating, the landscape as well as the opponents being torn apart as the two suits were gradually reducing each other to scrap.