Chapter 3

A lone ship flew over to the lone island of the Icelandic ocean, Ellidaey. Its steadfast pace quickly grew slower as it landed over the swaying grass top of the island’s surface. 

The ramp slowly retracted to allow the Guardian to make her way down. Draped in a navy cloak and her weapon already equipped, a lesson learned from her previous duel, she strolled through the terrain. The admirable view of the Norwegian evergreen halted abruptly as she set her eyes on the tyrant.

The crunch of boots against the tall grass grew louder, provoking Monarch to swiftly turn to his opposition.

“You are honourable…like before.”

His cunning gaze over to her faded as he noticed a weird sense of pity from Athena.

Athena’s eyes were tearing as she was closely examining Monarch through a look of sorrow. Quickly, he realised her stance.

“I see…” He replied. The emotion was indication.

“I suppose I don’t need this.”

He slowly removed his helm. The metal plates below the visor collapsed into each other as the helmet transformed into a smaller, more compact, headwear that allows Monarch to grip.

Revealed, a man with a wavy side swept hair that had strands forming a fringe. His eyes were sunken with a dark aura with a purple glow from his pupils. His face, slightly older from memory, had a neatly trimmed stubble with small scars that were around the right side of his face.

“Did you realise who I was?” He asked, genuinely curious about her discovery.

“I saw a captured footage prior to-“

“Then you are not as smart as I hoped you would be.”

Standing over her from a hilltop, he slowly made his way down. Cuffing his hands behind his back, he formed a speech.

“I thought that after all these years since the duel where I left you to suffer, you would have been wiser with your pursuit of knowledge. I was wrong.”

“Maybe if you were there to guide me, besides becoming a monster.” She retaliated, struggling to fork out the words to do so.

“I…do not blame you or the others for my ascension. It is my choice to be who I need to be.”

“To be Monarch?”

“To be your destroyer.”

Slowly, Athena revealed her blade, glistening in a powerful aura that emitted from her fingertips. She slowly pulled the blade over to her front as she went to her attack stance.

Orion did the same. He wore back his helm as it folded in on his face, consuming Orion as Monarch pulled his weapon that was concealed into the ground. He raised it as the axe end of the konda blade faced Athena’s head.

“You cannot win.” He claimed. He pulled off the robe that covered his body to reveal a metallic overlay. Armour platings dense in layers of metal covered his body.

 He no longer wore a cape, though the only piece of robe he donned was a waistcoat that covered the armour platings on his leg.

Athena did the same. She pulled over the cloak to reveal her set of armour. Particularly similar to Monarch in the overall aesthetic, she went forward with the stance as the two prepared to duel.

Such as before, the Guardian and the King duelled. A duel that carries the scales of the universe. The ultimate story of destiny. A universal dyad of good and evil. A realm of combat between the likes of a student against the might of her teacher.

Athena bombarded him with numerous calculated attacks. She danced swiftly in the symphony of combat as her defence and offence seemed fluid in nature.

Monarch’s stance grows aggressive with every attack. His attacks grow violent, brutal and faster with every calculated blow that Athena retaliated with. 

Even with two drastic forms of attack, they danced in a combatant’s symphony with respectable forms of attack. The battle slowly grew intense as their forms of attack incorporated energy based blows.

Athena’s emotions faded as she became calm in her battle. Her eyes drifted away as her mind connected with her old master. Though it may seem like an infiltration on a psychological level, it became apparent to Monarch that her attempt meant one thing.

To pull Orion back to the light.

Beams of cosmic energy coupled with the aura that they emit through the attack of their blade intensifies the duel that grew outside of the island’s parameters. Quickly, nature responded with a storm that clouds the dyad. The environment grew evermore unpleasant with strong winds to accompany the sheer rivalry.

With such growth from a powerful force, measures were taken.

Athena bounced around on the balls of her feet as she swiftly manoeuvred through the heavy attacks of Monarch. The Supreme Leader continued the bombardment of devastating swings that created a devilish howl with the sharp end slicing through the air. The blades clashed on each other multiple times, though it may seem to be an endless parry. 

A quick opening opened for Athena, showing the flaw in Monarch’s aggressive stance. Even with powerful attacks at an unnatural speed, he lacks consistency in advance, allowing such openings.

The opportunity allowed Athena to pierce through the ripples of purple aura that surrounded Monarch, striking his helm. The blow from the end of her sharp blade was quickly followed by an energy attack coupled by the thrust of her blade, one that propelled Monarch back. 

The Supreme Leader tumbled back as Athena quickly changed to her defensive stance. Appearing more agile and calculative than before, it was apparent that the Battlemaster’s training was superior.

Monarch quickly picked himself up to his feet as he composed his tumble. He looked up to Athena. His right eye broke through the dented crack that Athena inflicted. The visor pulsated slightly before containing a stable glow. Anger boiling within, he began his riposte.

He lunged forward with a fury. He’d land down, ringing out his blade for an aggressive attack.

Soon Athena realised that his onslaught had reached its pinnacle. His blows were mixed with feinting attacks that increased his unpredictability. His attacks, such as it was, grew evermore powerful.

As the duel progressed, she was overwhelmed.

“Know your…”

The axe end of the blade collided with Athena’s abdomen. Though it was a forceful blow, her armour protected her from being severed.

“PLACE!”

The blade rapidly charged itself with Monarch’s cosmic aura. Her late response proved to be her demise.

The charge would combust, causing an aura explosion that launched Athena behind.

She’d collide with a stone boulder, shattering it to cobble as it slowed her launch. She eventually landed on the grass patch. Before she could get up to her feet, Monarch flew down to collide with her.

The impact of his boots landing on Athena’s abdomen caused a repercussion on the ground that ultimately shattered the island’s surface. It was quickly followed by a combustion of cosmic aura. A clash between the defence Athena’s blue hue towards the devious attack of Monarch’s purple darkness.

“DIE!”

He’d slam his blade down. Quickly expecting such an attack, Athena swerved away. The blow would be diverted to the already diminished ground, causing further damage.

Quickly, the island shattered into mounts that pulled itself apart. Athena was forced to grab ahold of an erratic curvature of the side of the mounts. She held on tight as she began panting uncontrollably.

She began grabbing her abdomen as she rested her heels on the curvatures. Her eyes widened at the sight of the ocean engulfing the hollow grounds that parted below. She quickly toggled her comms at the sight of fear.

“Plan B! Green for Plan B!” She yelled.

Across the horizon over the murky clouds, a voyage emerged flying straight to the battleground. Followed by its swift charge were other flagships and squadrons of jets that embarked for war.

Athena climbed up to the peak of the mount to witness the wings of heroes slowly reach her. She quickly was greeted by a cosmic blow to her chest, sending her away.

Monarch bursted through the mount she resided on, destroying it completely as he launched her back. 

She quickly flew to another mount. The impact sank her deep into the side, causing her to be stuck.

Her eyes slowly turned over to Monarch, who towered over her from another mount.

He turned over to the angelic scenery.

“You were wiser! You knew you could never win against me!”

Athena quickly attempted to climb out of her encavement.

“For I am, the Monarch!” He’d point his blade towards the incoming enemy.

Quickly to his stance, a disturbing siren wailed from the dark skies that opposed the charge. The Colossal, hiding in the darkness of the clouds, emerged from the misty skies as it began raining a tempest of missiles over to the armada of the Allegiance.

The flagships began tanking the obstructive damage. Several jets were unfortunately hit by the bombardment as they protected the Voyage striding through the chaos and straight to the remains of Ellidaey.

As the Voyage began to approach a stable mount, the Head Operators were deployed.

Ryan quickly activated his suit as he flew straight for the sky. Kal stood at the high ground for overwatch of the battle. Neka flew straight to another mount with Destoria hanging by his arm. Ava remained by the lowered lamp as she provided air support with precision arrows coupled with a variety of attachments.

The other squadron of jets began forming a blockade to protect the Voyage from accomplishing the mission.

However, the Colossal began unloading starfighters in the masses. Countless jets soared down to breach the blockade. A ship, slightly larger in scale, manages to break through the shield to deploy the Dominion Regents.

A massive battle over the island formed.

Monarch leaped in for an attack to Athena, only to be launched aside by a charged cosmic thrust from Neka’s blade. 

Ryan sweeped to pull Athena out from the wreckage, only to be tossed aside by Arasmus’ churning cleavers.

In such a desperate measure, Athena jumped over to another mount, where she assisted Destoria in combating Syron. The two, though individually inferior to the Deceiver’s combats, gave him trouble to sustain attacks from such a duo.

Kal’s revolvers, primed with a far more devastating ammunition, pierced through Koto’s armour, causing him to be hesitant in his charge towards him on the high ground. With the help of Ava, they remained to be overwatch to provide additional firepower to those lacking in battle.

Neka juggled the combat between the suppression of Monarch to prevent him from acquiring a proper attack stance and defending himself against the annoying counterattacks of Azalea. 

The mounts followed the momentum of the waves below, rising up and down as the battleground remained forevermore changing.

The combatants repeatedly changed opponents. Even in such a multitude of circumstances, the Head Operators were consistent in ensuring Monarch remains discombobulated. The plan, seemingly not in favour to the Head Operators, sufficed in ensuring Monarch could never attack. They knew how he would attack. 

In keeping the devil at bay, they fended off the demons that followed.

Their charade inevitably ended. Before Ava could continue laying suppressive fire over Monarch, a beam would slice through the Voyage’s thrusters.

A blood-red beam that glowed in a cosmic pulse emerged from the fingertips of Arasmus. His advance to attempt to incinerate the ship completely halted as Ryan swooped in, destroying the top of the mount where Arasmus stood using his weaponry.

The sudden pause of suppression gave Monarch the means to revive himself into the field of battle.

Alas, he strikes back.

Neka evaded Azalea’s attacks. He hurriedly knocked her back with a cosmic blast to attend to Monarch. Before he was able to suppress further, a blast would knock him back.

The Supreme Leader revolted back with an enormous cosmic field that formed around him. An aura that seemed to grow without end. He hovered up above the mounts as he unleashed fury through his power.

He’d blast beams of his cosmic aura towards them. The beam pinned down the Battlemaster and the Guardian whilst his aura shielded himself from the attacks of the others.

“Enemy reinforcements are arriving.” Koto, seemingly injured from bullet wounds, pointed to the sky as he alerted the other Regents.

The ray of light that shined through the sky behind the flagships of the Allegiance revealed more starships that came in fleets. The Colossal was heavily outnumbered in this instance of the battle.

“Monarch is foolish to develop such an attraction!” Azalea screamed over. She climbed over the side of the mount as the Regents regrouped. They noticed a window of opportunity slowly closing.

“It would seem he has a way of covering our retreat.” Syron pointed out the devastating events that appeared before them.

With Monarch claiming dominance over the battlefield against the arrayed Head Operators, the leader of the Regents commanded…

“Pull our forces to retreat! We’re done here.” 

Indefinitely so, the jets would be in formation for a swift retreat back to the Colossal. The lackadaisical stance of the GLF went unnoticed as Monarch turned over to the Colossal, seeing it slowly be engulfed in the darkness of the heavy clouds.

“COWARDS!”