When the world around us snaps back to reality, we're back inside the throne room in Arkaim. It's empty, but I instantly expand my Chaos senses to find that the entire castle is swarming with people that shouldn't be here. The Maid Corps were ordered to get to their positions for the shield array and cover the city in light barriers. Even if some of them were still lingering since their posts are closer to the castle, there shouldn't be that many.
"The castle has already been invaded." I state in a matter of fact tone. Then I turn to my girls, who each spring into action without a word. They already know their roles, so I don't need to tell them. It's basically a repetition of what we just did in Kairaki. The only difference is that we won't have to face somebody like Oinos again.
"You're back early. Do you want dinner, a bath..." Senka's voice echoes in my mind, and I feel relieved that she can still crack jokes in this situation. It must mean that it's not as bad as I thought it would be. "... or a war on your doorsteps, again?"
"As always, you know how to make my heart beat faster." With these thoughts, I follow my girls out into the corridor, where I split up from them and head for the nearest window. Before anything else, I need to get a clear picture of the situation. "Give me a report on the moonfall."
"Is that what we're calling it now?" With the sass almost tangible, Senka asks in an unamused tone. Meanwhile, I see that an upside-down city similar to the one over Kairaki is looming over Arkaim. Countless flying demons are zooming through the sky while fighting variously-shaped devils in the air. The streets are filled with battle as well, but I'm confident that my people won't lose so easily.
Unlike during the Siege of Arkaim, the capital of the Dominion is now inhabited by soldiers and warrior families. I had the vast majority of the civilians move to the surrounding four fortress cities because I anticipated an all-out attack from the remaining Old Humans in the future.
"Whatever you did, it caused the moon to accelerate. We have just under four hours." Growing serious, the doll girl gives her verdict. So Oinos' explosion more than doubled the speed of the moon, huh? I'm sure that must have caused Alverost additional headache, aside from the fact that his most beloved creation whom he told to call him father is dead.
"And where will it land?" The massive floating city above us is hiding the moon, but I'm sure it's already pretty huge.
"Northwest of the Dominion, somewhere west of the Ogely mountains." Senka's voice sounds grim as she delivers the result of the astrology lab's calculations.
That's within a thousand kilometers from here, which means that even with a margin of error of fifty percent, the moon will still directly hit Arkaim with its massive diameter of over three thousand kilometers.
"ALVEROST!" I amplify my voice and roar into the sky. The sound causes flying demons and devils alike to scatter in disorientation. I'm not sure the Old Human is even in the floating city, but he surely has microphones installed to hear what's going on around this place.
Suddenly, a massive holographic screen appears in the sky, just as it did over Zohigal. The person shown on it is a boy with green eyes and blond hair - Alverost in his true form. His eyes are bloodshot, and it looks like he cried until only recently. There's a mad determination in his gaze that suggests he's willing to do anything to get what he wants now.
"You!" His voice sounds bitter as he glares at me through the screen. I never expected that he could make such an expression. To me, the Old Humans who stood with Zenlith were all the same kind of brats that had never been educated about compassion and limits. So what would he be sad about? "What kind of trick did you use? How did you defeat Oinos?"
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"The power of friendship." I shrug while replying in a mocking tone. I hold some respect for Oinos for fighting me head-on without ever taking any underhanded actions. His creator deserves none of that.
"Don't mess with me!" Alverost yells through his screen. His hair is disheveled as if he pulled at it when he learned of Oinos' death. It seems that he's at his wit's end as well now. "I'm going to put you in a test tube!"
At these words, something large separates from the upside-down city and comes toward me. It's humanoid but has a slightly blocky shape and is white with red and blue highlights. A pair of red wings with glowing red trails of jet exhaust gives it a somewhat celestial appearance, but I recognize what this one is based on. It's a giant robot.
"That's the worst one in the G*ndam series!" I shout at the approaching mecha before growing to match it. But I choose the inarguably superior variant that has a blue torso with a golden highlight across the center of the chest. Pumping my fists, I fly up to meet Alverost, whose expression on the screen in the sky only grows angrier.
Of course, my choice was a close combat mecha into one counted among those that possess the most firepower while maintaining a normal-sized frame. I know that it can also fight in melee range, but if he knows his stuff, he should understand not to get into fisticuffs with me.
Thus, I'll have to make up for the difference with fighting spirit. Alverost's mecha suddenly stops and opens its wings fully before deploying its long-range beam cannon. As the red jets emerging from the boosters on the wings grow in size and intensity, a massive red beam of crackling energy shoots toward me.
The city and castle are behind me, so I can't just dodge. Instead, I create a light barrier around my right palm and catch the beam while plunging forward.
"What are you-?!" Alverost sounds both angry and surprised as I push through his devastating energy beam. He draws back his cannon and grabs the handle of the gigantic sword on his back. It's about as long as his mecha is tall. Where the edge should be is a notch, which fills with a purple beam blade.
"That's what I'm talking about!" I grow two handles in my palms and summon two giant spirit spears on them in place of beam sabers. It's clear that Alverost has lost his cool, as he charges forward with the wing-like jet expulsion trailing behind him in an afterimage.
Our blades meet and expel each other, but I spin around myself and slash at my opponent's head. He dodges by ducking below it and attempts to tackle me with the blade attached to his shoulder. Twisting my body sideways, I grab the handle on the underside of the shoulder blade and rip it out of its mounting before activating its beam dagger function.
He really replicated it to a tee.
With a swing of his two-handed blade, he tries to force me back. But I block the attack with one arm and stab the dagger into his shoulder joint. That's when he delivers a kick to my chest to push me away before activating his jet boosters to take his distance once again. It seems he has realized that he's at a disadvantage when fighting against me in close quarters.
"You're not getting away!" I open the circular boosters on my back and chase after Alverost's mecha. He spins around in midair and raises his beam cannon. "Too slow!"
Cutting off the front of the barrel, I render his long-ranged weapon useless. But due to the momentum of my swing, he has the time to bring down his two-handed sword. I raise my arm and let it scrape along the armguard before drawing back my other hand for a punch aimed at my opponent's chest area, right where the cockpit should be located.
"No, you don't!" Alverost drops his two-handed sword and quickly draws the shoulder dagger, aiming to stab it down into where my cockpit would be if I were an actual mecha.
"This farce ends here." I catch his wrist and deliver a straight with all my power. My fist breaks Alverost's chest armor and embeds itself into his cockpit. Then I channel plasma into that hand before letting the energy explode outward in pure heat.
As the inferior mecha is disintegrated by the plasma, and I look up at the screen in the sky. Alverost is still glaring down at me with incredulous anger. I knew from the start that he wouldn't be coming down here himself. Not even Zenlith did that, even though he should have been very sure of his abilities. So somebody who prides himself on his brains rather than brawn wouldn't risk his life in a straight fight.
"First, your toy. Next, your bigger toy." I point past the screen and gesture at the floating city.