Guardian(Part IV): Revelation

Chapter 3: Gabriel

The LWM pulled itself to its feet, then its head looked directly at me. I raised my sword and shield before it as its head opened to unleash a deafening roar in my face. I knew of the 821 LWMs. They were built by the military of Illondas, not Chardan, and they were capable of destruction unlike other War Machines. I knew that the rebels had access to such weapons, but I never imagined that they would bring one to Valedon. They must have seriously wanted Lord Thatch dead. It didn't matter to me, though. The War Machine needed to be destroyed before it killed more people. The flaps of its two pods opened, and storm missiles began to fire from them. I formed an aura dome to protect myself against the dozen explosions that erupted from the ground around me. None of the missiles were able to break through my aura dome, and once they stopped firing, I charged at its damaged leg. It jumped backward with its thruster pads right as I swung my Ilentia sword at the hole in its armor. I ignited my lightwings and flew after the machine to catch up to it, and saw its machine guns pointing towards me. They fired, and I held my shield in front of myself to deflect them as they came at me faster and faster. I could feel them crashing against my lightshield, and put my head behind it, until the guns stopped firing. I looked down to see the flaps of the War Machine's head open up, and its energy cannon beginning to charge, set to the storm enchantment.

"Shit," I cursed. The LWM's head blasted a wide storm beam my way, and I warped out of its way, only to see it trying to track me through the air. I flew over the top of the War Machine, but its head still tracked me while it was firing its storm beam. Once it stopped firing, I flew towards its head while it was recharging the energy cannon. Before I could get close, though, it turned and swung the blade of one of its pods at me. It came at me too fast for me to fly away, so I raised my lightshield to protect against it as best I can, but I was knocked out of the air, and crashed into the ground, sliding across the street.

"Damn it," I growled. I healed my wounds, just in time to see one of the LWM's feet hovering over me. I formed an aura dome to defend from it, and felt the foot of the War Machine smash against it, turning it blue with a single stomp. It would shatter with a second one, so I faded it to attack again. My blood froze with what I saw next, though. The LWM's energy cannon was charging again, and fired. I frantically raised my shield, but didn't feel anything touch it. Instead, I heard it fire, but I ended up seeing the machine from the top of a roof, and felt an aura of light next to me. It was given off by a young man with pale skin, and a serpent's eyes. He was one of the Special Forces of Chardan, and the animal etched into his forehead is what gave him his name. "The Fox".

"Did you just...?"

"Yes," the Fox answered.

"Thank you," I said.

"A War Machine?" the Fox observed. "Here?"

"It's the rebels'," I enlightened.

"Wow," the Fox whispered. "Come on!"

He jumped down from the roof and rushed at the LWM with his ninjato as fast as he could. I flew into the air to draw the War Machine's attention away from the Fox. Its head was pointed towards me, and the flaps in the pods opened to prepare missiles to fire. It fired frost missiles my way, and I flew in every direction possible to avoid them. I flew around the freezing projectiles and rolled in the air to throw them off. I managed to avoid every one of the frost missiles, then landed on the ground, in front of the War Machine. It raised one of its pods to swing its blade at me, and I parried the attack with my shield as it came down. I couldn't see the Fox anywhere, but I still felt his aura nearby. He hadn't left me to fight the War Machine alone, but I was still fighting it alone.

"Where are you?" I whispered. I couldn't wait for whatever plan he had. I focused on the breach in its armor that Connor caused with his aura blade. Either that, or I had to disable its machine guns to give me a chance to attack its energy cannon. I wouldn't be the one doing that, though. I saw the Fox jump down from another rooftop and land on the War Machine's back. He sliced the machine guns from both sides of its head faster than I could even see it happen, then warped back to me. After losing its guns, it jumped backward, then it fired storm missiles at us. I was about to fly into the air to draw them away from the Fox, but the Fox began to charge towards the LWM. I couldn't believe what I saw next. When the missiles locked onto him and turned towards him, he jumped into the air, stepping on one and launched himself upward, jumping across the missiles as they passed him. Once he got to one of the pods protruding out of the side of the War Machine's body, he launched himself into the air with an aura blast from both of his feet, and as he came down, he swung his sword at where the pod met the body, slicing it clean off. When the Fox landed on the ground, he bent his left arm, then drew his sword across the inside of his elbow before sheathing it. I had heard of the capabilities of the Special Forces when I was a child, but to see one of their members in combat was a privilege. The Fox was faster and stronger than anyone I had ever met before.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"Yeah," the Fox answered. "How did the rebels get their hands on one of these?"

"Well, I thought we had an answer a year ago, but now they're probably getting them from someone else," I guessed. "Listen. A Shadow is here, and she's taken Lord Thatch. His two children are after them now, but they may not catch up in time. How fast can you run?"

"As fast as I need to," the Fox promised. "What's your name, Ser Knight?"

"It's Gabriel," I introduced. "Come on."

"Gabriel?" the Fox whispered, then he shook his head, saying, "Later."

He took off down the street, out of my sight in less than a second, and I flew into the air with my lightwings. I flew straight upward first, to find the Shadow that took Lord Thatch. I managed to find Captains Brown and Faye rushing down a street that was barely within my line of sight, and further down that street, I saw Sierra, with Lord Thatch unconscious over her shoulder. She looked like she was taking him to the ruins of the airport, where aircraft used to be used to take people and cargo on long-distance flights. Someone must have been waiting to pick her up from there with a ride prepared.

"Fox," I warned, through my radio. "She's heading for the airport. I'll meet you over there."

"Got it," the Fox acknowledged. I flew in the direction of the airport, in hopes of cutting off Sierra, but I didn't get very far. Something shattered my aura shield, and I felt an agonizing jolt throughout my body before I fell from the sky, smashing through the roof of a building. I coughed blood, then healed myself as I rose to my feet. When I went outside the house I fell through, that same War Machine was waiting for me, staring down at me with its energy cannon. It still worked! I couldn't go any further without destroying it. I needed to destroy it before it killed more people, but I was fighting it alone, now.