Chapter 104: The Shield of Sacrifice
The metallic floor of the hangar rang with the frantic rhythm of a life-and-death struggle. But it was a one-sided slaughter. Mina's body, piloted by the malevolent consciousness of Ren's "brother," moved with a terrifying, fluid grace. Every strike was aimed at a vital point—the throat, the heart, the femoral artery. And yet, Ren Vority did not strike back.
Ren was a blur of defensive movement. He parried a thrust with his forearm, his blue Vane energy forming a thin, shimmering buckler against his skin. He stepped back, pivoting on his heel to avoid a spinning kick that would have shattered his ribs.
"What's the matter, Ina?" the Parasite hissed through Mina's lips, its voice a sickening duet of feminine and masculine tones. "Where is the Butcher of Sector 7? Where is the Army Officer who led men into the abyss? Are you so weakened by this girl's heartbeat that you can't even lift a hand against me?"
Ren's chest heaved. His left hand, still freshly bandaged and pulsating with pain, was useless for offense. His new eye, however, was alive. The blue tint of his vision was flooded with data. He could see the stress fractures forming in Mina's shin bones from the Parasite's unnatural force. He could see her muscle fibers fraying.
He's burning her out, Ren thought, his teeth gritted so hard they felt like they might crack. If this goes on for another ten minutes, her body will collapse even if I don't touch her.
"I'm not fighting you," Ren growled, ducking under a horizontal slash of the combat knife. The blade whistled over his head, slicing through a thick hydraulic cable hanging from the ceiling. Sparks showered over them, illuminating the hangar in jagged bursts of white light. "I'm fighting for her. You're a coward for hiding behind a girl's face."
The Parasite laughed, a sound like grinding glass. "Cowardice is a luxury of the living. I am a survivor, brother. And I will survive in your skin once I've broken this one!"
The entity lunged again. This time, it didn't use the knife. It channeled a dark, corrupted form of Vane energy through Mina's palms—a sickly purple flame that Ren had never seen before. It was a power from the Real World, adapted into this magical reality.
Ren crossed his arms, taking the full force of the blast. The impact sent him flying backward, his boots skidding across the floor until he slammed into the massive, unyielding foot of the Red Knightmare Frame. The metal groaned under the force of his weight.
Ren coughed, a splatter of blood hitting the floor. He didn't stay down. He used the machine's leg to haul himself up.
"Ren... please..."
The voice was faint. It was Mina. For a fleeting second, the purple glow in her eyes flickered, replaced by the warm, tearful brown of the girl who had broken him out of prison.
"Mina! Stay with me!" Ren shouted, his voice echoing through the vast hangar.
"She can't hear you!" the Parasite roared, the purple light surging back with a vengeance. "She is a spectator in her own funeral!"
The possessed girl began to run—not toward Ren, but toward the workbench. She grabbed a handful of high-frequency throwing spikes, weapons designed to pierce Knightmare armor. With a flick of her wrist, she sent three of them whistling toward Ren's head.
Ren tilted his head, the first spike grazing his ear. He swatted the second one out of the air with his good hand, the metal burning his palm. The third spike found its mark, sinking deep into Ren's shoulder. He didn't scream. He simply breathed through the pain, his focus never wavering from her eyes.
I have to disrupt the link, Ren analyzed, his new eye scanning the purple aura surrounding Mina. The Parasite is anchored to her nervous system. If I can create a Vane pulse high enough to short-circuit her nerves without stopping her heart, I might be able to flush him out.
But the risk was astronomical. One mistake, and he would kill the only person who had stood by him.
The Global Shadows: The First Strike
While the two brothers fought their silent war in the bunker, the world reached its breaking point.
On the border of the Onyx Reach, the first battalion of Knightmare Frames received the signal. The "Landspinners" on their heels ignited, sending the fifteen-foot machines screaming across the frozen plains at sixty miles per hour. They didn't wait for a declaration of war. They simply began to tear through the border fortifications of the neutral zones, their heavy autocannons turning stone and flesh into dust.
"The King is dead!" the Onyx pilots shouted over their comm-links. "Justice for the Reach!"
In the Iron Archipelago, the fleet had reached the mid-sea transition point. Their amphibious Knightmare Frames were lowered into the water, their waterproof seals holding firm as they began their underwater approach to the Onyx coastal refineries.
The two giants were colliding, and the shockwaves were beginning to reach Athelgard.
The Bunker: The Infinite Fight
Ren dodged another flurry of strikes, his movements becoming slower, more labored. The blood from his shoulder was soaking into his flight suit.
The Parasite saw the weakness. It smiled Mina's smile, but with a cruelty that made Ren's skin crawl.
"You're getting tired, Ina. The 'Butcher' is running out of meat."
The entity dropped the knife and stood still for a moment. It began to chant in a language that didn't exist in Athelgard—a series of harsh, guttural syllables from their shared past in the Real World. The air around Mina began to vibrate. The purple Vane energy intensified, forming a swirling vortex that started to pull in the loose debris of the hangar.
Ren felt the pressure in his ears. He knew what was coming. A soul-strike. An attack designed to rip the consciousness out of the target so the Parasite could leap into the vacancy.
"I told you," Ren said, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous growl. He stepped away from the Knightmare Frame, standing in the center of the hangar. He let his own blue Vane energy bleed out of his body, not as a shield, but as a cloud. "I am an Army Officer. And an officer never leaves a comrade behind."
Ren didn't raise his fists. He opened his arms wide, leaving his chest completely exposed to the Parasite's killing blow.
"Come on then!" Ren challenged, his new eye glowing with a blinding sapphire light. "If you want my body, come and take it. But you have to go through the Butcher first!"
The Parasite screamed, a sound of pure, unadulterated greed and hatred. It gathered all of its corrupted energy into a single point in Mina's right hand and lunged forward, aimed directly at Ren's heart.
Ren didn't move. He waited until the last possible millisecond. As Mina's hand made contact with his chest, Ren grabbed her wrist and her waist, pulling her into a tight, desperate embrace.
"Now, Mina!" Ren whispered into her ear. "Fight him now!"
A massive explosion of blue and purple light erupted from the point of contact, throwing both of them across the hangar floor. The shockwave shattered the glass of the workbench and sent the heavy suitcases flying.
Ren tumbled across the cold metal, his body smoking from the magical feedback. He tried to look up, but his vision was swimming in red and blue static. A few feet away, Mina lay motionless, her body twitching as the two energies fought for control of her soul.
The fight wasn't over. It was just getting started.
The Parasite began to crawl out of Mina's throat—a shadow-like mist that looked like a distorted version of Ren. It was halfway between the girl and the man, a bridge of dark energy connecting them.
"You... fool..." the shadow hissed. "You've only... opened the door..."
Ren reached out with a trembling hand, grabbing the leg of the Red Knightmare Frame, trying to pull himself toward the unconscious girl.
Outside, the first sirens of the city began to wail. The war had begun, the Parasite was emerging, and Ren Vority was running out of time.