Lady unicorn descended into the crater from the royal transport, purple flames carrying her as easily as trained servants, she began her laugh. “Oh, mighty Zora. Maiden of the Dawn. Welcome once more to the darkest hour. My realm of dominion.” Katsi tried leveling her handcrafted device on Lady Unicorn who melted it’s barrel easily. “Hush, smaller Zora. I’ll come for you when I’m done with her.” Alabaster glared at her from the ground as he held his shattered arm. Narrowing her eyes at him she said dismissively, “Your ugly expression disgusts me. Begone.” With a flick of her wrist, flames wrapped around his neck and flinging him many yards away. As he slid across the ground, various bits of tech and equipment fell from his jacket, but she didn’t pay any mind to it. Her arch nemesis was helpless and weak and she couldn’t let this pass. She leaned in close to Zora’s form and chuckled, “The Emperor chose not to play nice with you and your friends today. This is why you should only ever play with me. You see, he doesn’t appreciate the art of evil. He doesn’t enjoy the chase and a worthy challenge. He cares more about results.” She whispered in her ear, “I could bring the cosmos to nothing but ash without an ounce of care as long as it all goes down screaming my name in agony.” Zora began to laugh from the ground, occasional coughs joining in. Lady Unicorn began to laugh as well, seemingly glad that her greatest foe could see the glory of their dance.
“So, you would sacrifice victory for your own satisfaction and ego?” Zora’s voice seemed odd to Lady Unicorn, but she paid it no mind.
“No. Not ego. A lady must have a code to live by. Mine is a simple one. I will bring art back to villainy and all else I do. Beauty and art is the most essential part of life. Everything we do from death to second death is performance art for the sake of the growing crowd that discovers our performance.” She turned away, speechifying as she often did. “And as with all performances worth a damn, the curtain must fall and characters exit the stage as they outlive their usefulness. But your time hasn’t come just yet, Zora. I’m not done with our performance yet.”
“Sasori.”
“Disgusting to sneeze in the middle of my speech. Apologize.” She turned and her foe was gone completely. When Lady Unicorn went to investigate, a heavy chitinous leg collided with her head. She felt her whole body rock with the impact but she held firm, her eyes glowing with purple flames as she lashed out with a tendril of flames at her new foe.
“That’s my name. Zora hasn’t heard a word you said. I was waiting to jump your partner, but I like your style. Let’s paint the battlefield with your brush and see how that goes.”
Alabaster shouted, “Sasori! We need to go! It is only a matter of time before-“
She cut him off, “Run along now, Boy. You are in the way. I have a foe to destroy.”
Lady Unicorn furrowed her brow in debate before processing this new enemy fully. She muttered to herself, “A being more vicious and destructive than Zora, but I will accept this Proktota as an extension of my precious foil.”
Bouncing from claw to claw, Sasori chuckled, “I am no Proktota. I’m an entirely different existence. Save yourself the effort and refer to me as Sasori.” Before Lady Unicorn could blink, Sasori was nearly point blank, her claws at Lady Unicorn’s neck. “And stop trying to plan the show and learn to enjoy the performance.”
There was no fear in the eyes of the villainess. No chill from being so close to death. There was joy. No, rapture! She began to smile broadly, her eyes shining a bright purple. “You and I are about to become the best of enemies.” A wave of purple flames left her forcing Sasori back. Waving her hands, a series of flaming purple rings formed in the air, “How about an obstacle course, Battle Maiden?!”
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As the rings flew out in various patterns, clearly designed for Sasori to navigate it, the insect queen found herself enjoying this life and death conflict, she could taste it in the air. The heat from both the crater and her flames. The bloodlust in the air, and yet also an understanding that failure would not mean death but worse. Pain. Torture. Suffering. Scars of both body and mind. All the things she remembered from The Before. When she went by a different name. It was precious and invigorating to be back in this atmosphere. Truly free.
———
Master Phoenix appeared on Prince Gram’s ship on the bridge with immense effort. As his crimson flames dissipated around him, he fell to the deck in exhaustion. It was then that he heard the condescending voice that gave him chills, “Surviving a trip up the Goddess’ Elevator? You continue to prove my wisdom for retaining a treasonous fool such as yourself. I want to thank you for not being a native as it means I need not inflict tradition upon you the way I have Corva.”
Master Phoenix looked up from the ground into the mocking eyes of Emperor Gram Visto the Third. He fought to his feet and bowed slightly, “I am thankful to be back from my trip. I am sorry it was so exhausting, however.” Turning to Corva who stood at attention next to him, he bowed to her as well which she returned in kind.
“I appreciate your courtesy but not your sarcasm. You survived by a roll of the dice. Don’t diminish the danger of that.” Master Phoenix seemed surprised at what was said but nodded and bowed again. “I’ll be claiming the Folaire Meteor for my own needs. I require your expertise to return to the capital as well. I have great plans moving forward but they will take time.”
“Sir, a naturally occurring gem of that size and with a history like that could pose a massive danger to-“
“That’s why it will be stored at one of the spare foundry worlds in the industrial Star sectors. One out of Nova range. Now if you resist again I’ll base it in a civilian sector to force your compliance. After all, you would never let such a volume die needlessly. Not if you could prevent it.” Emperor Visto III motioned to his bridge crew, “Have you harvested enough ecological impact information and footage of the conflict?” When they confirmed he pressed a single button on his chair and began to speak.
‘I bring to you the dangerous and reckless behavior of your so called revolutionary heroes. The crew of this terroristic weapon don’t care about the cultural damage their behavior causes and have clearly come to claim this massive source of power to make their horrific canon that blew a hole in Hastvarti during their evasion of our capture even more devastating. Make no mistake, their intention is not freedom or liberation. They are villains and renegades like all others who would seek renewal through violence and force instead of through proper bureaucratic channels. While our Empire has long touted the need for strong leaders capable of victories in war, never has the goal been a selfish grasp for personal power and glory. These self described heroes clearly serve no one but themselves with this devastating attack on ancient history and culture. With the cooperation of the Cosmic Patrol, we will be claiming this relic of an ancient land and seeing if this massive power source can be used to benefit the people. No rogue elements will claim any such riches for purely themselves. By the mercy and glory of the throne, I shall see this done.’
As his recorded declaration on all channels finished, a squadron of Cosmic Patrol ships entered atmosphere and tied tethers to the meteor. Moments after that, a series of cosmic patrol frigates began to bombard the Ziegfried. When the distress signal was sent, Alabaster pressed a button, the scattered tech going off like large bright flash grenades. He grabbed Sasori in the confusion, jumped aboard his frigate and personally piloted it at maximum speed into the Ziegfried’s hanger.
Once he was safely in, the Ziegfried shone with orange light before quickly escaping the assault of the Cosmic Patrol fleet.
And just like that, the conflict on that day had ended. Emperor Visto III had stepped onto the field and taken charge and, as always, once he had an unnatural calm overtook the world. The Phoenix Emperor knew the truth. Knew how fragile a mask this was. But there was one thing no one denied. Emperor Visto III had a presentation and presence that no one knew quite how to respond to. And a mind to keep things exactly as he wanted them. Sending Heais here first was a potential mistake.