The final battle of this damn war. Our objectives have been met, and it’s time to bring the curtains to a close. A young man, in his early twenties, watched as the army he was supporting attempted to bridge a large chasm. He had been told that this place, the final redoubt of the beastfolk forces, was known as the World’s End chasm, so named because this place was the furthest from the cradle of civilisation. Behind the drawn battle lines was the last city of the beastfolk, Ark City, where the civilians were probably fleeing to a distant land, never to return.
Spears of ice streaked across the sky and battered down upon the beleaguered beastfolk forces, as they continued to hold the line against the invading human forces.
“Hero of another world,” said a voice, “have you come to finish us off?”
The young man turned. The speaker, like him, was hovering in mid-air, with nothing but a small wisp of energy to hold him aloft. His face was veiled by a mask of energies, revealing nothing but a head of black hair. A red cloak fluttered around him, revealing steely glints under the harsh sunlight.
“Maybe,” replied the young man. “Maybe not. But before we get down to business, name yourself.”
“A stickler for courtesy, I see. Very well. I am Paragon Ortega, one of the foremost defenders of Ark City.”
The young man smiled. The euphoria of an upcoming battle flooded his nerves, and something peeled off from his outstretched arm. He examined his arm for a moment, and the smile widened into a grin. At the same time, the chunk of flesh that had peeled off from his body turned into an exact replica of himself.
“You’re…Constellation Gemini.” Ortega exhaled slowly, and a few dozen circles, each inscribed with a complex pattern, spread out like wings from behind him.
“Correct.” The Constellation nodded, his eyes on the man before him. Paragons…they referred to those who stood at the peak of the world, men and women capable of turning entire mountains to dust with a few strikes. It would be nothing short of foolish to turn his eyes away from them…even if Gemini himself had seen one of them killed by his colleagues.
“This attack going on…do you know how many have died from your side alone? Within the opening hour, one-fifth of your forces died from our initial opening moves, and even more are dying as we speak.” Ortega withdrew a sword from nowhere, and pointed it at Gemini. “And yet, your Second Extermination continues on, baying out for the blood of the beastfolk, a genocide in all but name. How do you even sleep at night?”
Gemini’s teeth widened. “I am but an agent of the Human God. Take your doubts to Him...when I send you on your journey. Skill: Twin Stars’ Sorrow.”
A brilliant, flowing cloak weaved around him and his clone, while a glittering sword that could have very well been made of starlight appeared in their right hands. Qi — the formless energy that had been dancing around their bodies earlier — exploded outwards, and for a moment, Gemini could sense the entire battlefield grind to a halt from its sheer volume.
“Do me a favour, and ask the Human God himself when I send you back to his Divine Kingdom.” Paragon Ortega raised the bastard sword in his arms, and vanished from view, re-appearing right in front of Gemini himself, bringing down the blade with full force.
Gemini twisted on the spot, while his clone launched itself backwards, sending out shapeless blasts of energy, each larger than a barn wall. In response, the circles floating around the Paragon’s back winked out one by one, turning into walls of light that shielded their owner. Meanwhile, Ortega’s blade changed its trajectory in a single smooth motion, blasting Gemini backwards with sheer force as his strike landed on the Constellation.
A frown appeared on Gemini’s face as he tried to resist the force that had blown him backwards. Paragon Ortega’s physical strength was clearly a cut above his own, and from the looks of it, he was far stronger than the other beastfolk Paragons that had appeared during the Second Extermination’s early campaign. Granted, the advantage the Constellations had against the experts of the beastfolk had vanished by then, but—
The Constellation dodged upwards as a fiery stream of energy the size of a small house rained from above, punching through where he was a second below. Agonising screams followed a second later, as the attack Gemini had avoided slammed into the fields of battle below.
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Gemini glanced at the dying humans, and tossed the ongoing battle a few kilometres below him to the back of his mind, before charging forwards. A pair of swords smashed against each other, and as the duo locked their blades, Ortega kicked out with his right leg, a vicious blow that would incapacitate if he hit. Gemini mirrored his action, and for the next few seconds, their lower bodies turned into a blur as the two exchanged kicks.
The Constellation’s vision abruptly shook as his opponent created some distance. Smoke was rising up from Ortega’s back, and as the two glared at each other, the Paragon said, “That clone of yours…is truly irritating.”
“Those things…those sigils behind you are equally irritating as well,” Gemini replied. “Tit for tat, I daresay.”
In the next moment, the two slammed into each other again. Sparks flew as the two struck out at each other madly. The circles behind Ortega continued to vanish as they turned into walls of energy that intercepted whatever attacks Gemini’s clone was throwing out. For now, Gemini could tell that the two were locked in a stalemate, although he couldn’t say the same for the situation on the ground. The ground shuddered, shaking from a massive explosion, and Gemini turned his attention towards it on reflex.
A spike of pain ran through his torso as Ortega lashed out with his left leg. As Gemini reeled backwards, the Paragon vanished on the spot, reappearing a second later beside Gemini’s clone. Thunder rumbled as the Paragon plunged his sword into the surprised clone, and a small smile appeared on the real body’s face as the impaled clone blew up. Waves of energy battered at Ortega, engulfing him a second later.
Exhausted, Gemini relaxed for a moment, and surveyed the ongoing battle. He had his own mission — a goal distinctly different from that of the mortal powers of Orb.
He was joined a moment later by a panting Paragon Ortega, who had made it out of his clone’s final attack. From the looks of it, the Paragon’s lower body was currently not functional, but Gemini himself was not in tip-top shape either.
But it was quite possible that Paragon Ortega didn’t know that. What most people knew about the Constellations, heroes summoned from another world, were their invincibility, given that none of their ranks had fallen in battle. It would take little effort on his part to fool all but the most sceptical of Orb’s Paragons that he was uninjured — an impression helped by the invulnerable legends of yore from over a hundred thousand years ago.
Another explosion rocked the battlefield on the ground, sending thousands of humans plunging to their deaths as the final bridge below them gave way. The entire war had revolved around the beastfolk trying to destroy the bridges laid out by the human forces, and from the look of it, they had succeeded.
It was probably a battle that would go down in history. The few glances he’d managed to spare earlier on had revealed how the beastfolk were handling humanity’s invasion on their last bits of territory — the chokepoints that bridges created were natural strongpoints that the beastfolk had held through a sophisticated tactic of rotating forces, while their engineers worked to destroy whatever bridges that had been created by the humans.
Gemini’s eyes shifted to an azure, translucent panel — something only he could see — and whatever desire he had left to fight drained out of his body. The war was over, as dictated by the true lords of this world, and he just had to make it clear to the person in front of him. As Ortega approached, Gemini said, “Give up, Paragon. I won’t pursue if you leave now.”
“And let you murderers rampage in the Ark? Kill off every single non-combatant?”
Gemini shrugged. “It’s a small price for survival.”
Ortega spat, sending some blackened blood flying. “My child’s also in that Ark. And even if he isn’t, the families of my friends are still in there.”
“It seems that we are irreconcilable.”
“Yes.” Ortega smiled grimly. “But let me make a counteroffer. Have the humans retreat now, and I promise that we will not come in pursuit. The evacuation is nearly over, and the Coalition’s Congress has no desire to stay in the Southern Continent anymore.”
Gemini grinned. “Even if this occurs?”
A hue of green spread over the blue sky. The air felt more liquid, more viscous.
“A spatial lockdown?” Ortega’s eyes widened slightly. “How?”
“Capricorn’s work, naturally. Extra-special proficiencies, if you will, granted by one of the great gods that summoned us. After all, we cannot afford to let the children of Paragons grow in an unrestricted environment like the Wildlands.” Gemini folded his arms. “Does your offer still stand now?”
Ortega gritted his teeth. “You do know that our forces still maintain a qualitative advantage right now, no?”
“Of course. But the men we’ve dispatched thus far are people we wanted to get rid of in the first place.” Gemini replied. “Our elite forces are still pristine, untouched.”
“You were treating these people as expendable?” The Paragon clenched his fist, but beyond that, nothing else. It was evident that Ortega couldn’t afford to take the risk that Gemini wasn’t telling the truth. Gemini stifled a smile in its infancy, and nodded.
“Naturally. The beastfolk are masters of combat, and making use of that trait to weed out the useless forces is but natural.” Gemini shrugged. “At any rate, you don’t have much of a choice. Nor do I want a pyrrhic victory.”
“…Fine.”
“A ceasefire, then. We’ll work out the finer details later.”
Ortega glared at Gemini once more, and then left. Bugles called out, and as one, both armies retreated, leaving nothing but bodies for the crows to pick at.