Far away from the area where the 2 enemy leaders were making their 'duel', Novus' companions watched their battle silently through the live video feed provided by the single drone that remained inside the impassable, dome-shaped structure.
"I told you, sister, she's too strong. Our creator is going to die against that woman if he continues to fight her."
"... Yeah, Speranza's right... I think we should help him now..."
The circumstances and the chances of victory had become quite apparent to them, and it was clear that Novus was definitely going to lose this duel with his supposed older sister in the long-run: despite this, he was still, for some reason, still trying to push through with a sturdy resolve.
When was he going to initiate that 'ultimate plan' of his? After all, he did mention that he was going to do some sort of convincing on her...
"... Sister, I think we should take away the barrier now."Speranza suggested, who was obviously incredibly concerned by this point." We have to help him. One way or another, that crazy woman who's supposed to be our creator's relative, will end up plunging that spear into his body eventually."
"... No. Let him have his fun." Whitlea cut her off. "The battle's already finally coming to a close anyway."
"... I beg your pardon?"
"W-Whitlea..."
Despite the 2 of them having already lost their confidence of his victory, Whitlea still believed that he was going to win and persevere through this one and obtain a win- she had seen the entirety of the plan he laid out after all, and with how detailed and articulated he made it out to be, Whitlea remained certain that Novus was definitely going to win, even when all the odds seemed to be against him.
"... Ah... O-oh crap... He got hit..."
"S-sister! I told you this'd happen! Our creator got stabbed by that wench! We need to go in there NOW!"
However, some of the worst outcomes they expected have already begun to happen: the princess finally managed to pierce him by hurling her spear into Novus' body, easily piercing through his shoulder as it pinned him to the ground, rendering him completely helpless.
Despite having sustained a grievous injury however, Whitlea didn't even budge for a moment, even though she too felt her heart jump the moment she saw him getting that severe injury: her faith in his victory was so strong, that it seemed to be more delusional than anything else... Or so did it appear to both Thurien and Speranza.
"I am going in there this instant! Both of you, come with me, NOW!"
"Yeah, don't worry... I'm going in there too..."
Whitlea would quickly interject them, while the purple color of her irises appeared to grow with a splendid shine: simultaneously, both Speranza's and Thurien's movements would become heavily restricted, as a faint, purple aura thinly enveloped their restrained bodies.
"S-SISTER! W-what the hell are you doing?! Our creator is going to die in there! Don't tell me that you.."
"W-whitlea, this is insane! She's going to kill him if we don't do something! Let us go, NOW!"
"Would you 2 calm down for a bit?" Whitlea replied in a calm manner, as if the entire situation wasn't even bothering her at all: at the same time, she would also point her index finger to a specific area of the video feed they were observing, emphasizing about something important that they've failed to notice.
"He's already won, you idiots." she spoke of it nonchalantly. "Interrupting them will only make him look stupid in front of her..."
Of course, it wouldn't take long for both Speranza and Thurien to become shocked- their minds instantly became confused as their thoughts fell into a deep state of befuddlement: they were completely unable to believe that Novus had just won despite having been impaled so dangerously by that crazy bastard he was fighting.
"... W-what do you mean, sister? You aren't joking... Right?"
"..."
"Obviously, I'm not. Do you actually think I don't care about him to the same extent that you 2 do?" she scoffed lightly. "You see, if you were to just focus your eyes over there..."
________________________________________
The duel hadn't even taken 5 minutes, yet it was already about to reach its final conclusion.
"Damn, that hurts..."
A searing, dreadful pain coursed throughout his body, as the silverine spear remained firmly planted into his shoulder: to his further horror however, he could see that the mad princess, who had now descended onto the ground as well, was slowly walking towards his helplessly pinned body.
SLAMM!!!
As she finally came close to him, her cold eyes stared deeply into the eye slits of Novus' power armor, as she firmly planted her left boot onto his chest by delivering a powerful stomp that left an immediate dent on his metal plates.
"O-ow... You fuck..."
"..."
No words came out of her mouth, but the icy look on her face made it obvious that she wanted to be done with him as quickly as possible. Aldyth's hands would then slowly move towards his neck, as she was going to finish him off by strangling him like the little, scheming weasel he was- even though his neck was still completely protected by the armor, it would have been easy for Aldyth to simply squeeze through the enveloping steel alloy and suffocate his throat until he'd finally die.
"... Haha... Shit..."
"..."
When was it going to work? It was the only reason why he chose to directly fight her in the first place. While Novus knew that its effects would take a while before it would finally activate, he began to curse at how agonizingly long it was taking...
... Fortunately, before she could finally place her hands and begin choking the life out of his throat, she could feel something powerful rising up within her body, a feeling that she had never felt and had supposedly become resistant to after countless years...
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"!!!"
"... It finally worked..."
She fell back-first onto the ground, as her body couldn't help but slowly become weaker due to a reason she couldn't understand. Her nerves wouldn't even respond to her commands, as both her legs and arms refused to budge while she remained there, completely motionless and unable to move.
"That's sensorimotor disruption for you. I scattered it in the air before we fought, and of course, I myself am immune to it..." he mentioned, as Novus then rose from the ground, coughing up a bit of blood inside his helmet as he stared into her eyes. "It's basically a powerful nanite poison that disrupts brain activity by basically messing with your nerves... Ah, who am I kidding, you probably don't understand me at all..."
"..."
The once-cold eyes on Aldyth's face instantly shifted into that of pure hatred, and now she was staring at him as if she was about to drill a hole through his thick skull- it even made Novus somewhat unsettled, though it wouldn't completely render him unable to move like her.
"... Ahh... Shit... that attack you just did... It, really hurts, you know.." he then moved his right, uninjured arm, placing his hand on his torn, mangled left shoulder that held the silverine spear in place. "Anyway... I heard from Thurien that your spear slows down wounds from healing.... I guess I won't be able to have a normal arm for a while..."
"... Alright then... Here goes nothing... FFUCCCKKKK!!! THAT HURTS!!!"
Novus tore out his arm, as well as a huge chunk of his left shoulder without hesitation, screaming in pain as he ripped all of it off in one go, scattering his blood and pieces of his flesh as he then threw his useless, left limb away, which also managed to fully remove the spear from his body. Seeing this, Aldyth's eyes widened in confusion at the brutal, self-imposed pain he had just caused on himself: this man, she thought... He truly was such a crazy bastard...
"... Ah... Let's see if it'll work..."
It was a shocking sight to behold: clusters of small, black particles emerged from his bleeding, open wound, quickly stopping his bleeding as they sealed the crimson-stained opening and began forming a structure that seemed to resemble bones...
It would take a few seconds, though Aldyth found herself in a profound state of complete disbelief, as the metallic matrix that formed on the place that was once one of his limbs slowly grew in size and developed more parts: eventually though, the entire structure would develop into a black shape that was a near-exact replica of the arm he had just ripped off. It even managed to replace the huge chunks of his missing shoulder without a hitch.
"Well... At least it worked... Anyway..." he said, as his new, yet temporary limb of metal moved and twisted its synthetic fingers to see if it could move normally: eventually, he would have it replaced by Thurien for a truly biological one, though now wasn't the time for such things. "We have a lot to talk about, y'know? We know each other more than you think, after all..."
Aldyth immediately furrowed her eyebrows in confusion: this prick, what did he mean when he said that they 'knew each other'? As far as she could tell, she had never known someone who was like him, and even if she did, her lonesome self wouldn't have even befriended such a trickster in the first place.
"Hard to believe? I guess it's fair... If you do, then... Let's just get straight to the point, shall we?" he uttered quickly, as he then placed both of his hands on the sides of his metal helmet. "See for yourself..."
"You crazy-ass, older sister of mine..."
"???"
The moment he took off his helmet, a wave of forgotten, suppressed emotions began flooding into her heart in an instant...
...
...
This couldn't be... How was this possible?
That face, the moment he took that metal coffin of a mask off of his head, her thoughts ran rampant as her past memories came rushing back into her heart.
Those green-iris eyes and red hair that closely resembled her own, as well as that small, black mole at the edge of his left cheek...
Even though he had grown older after so much time had passed after his disappearance, she could immediately tell who this man in front of her truly was- she cared about him so much, so much so, that the very appearance and features of his face, no matter how old he'd grown, would never be able to truly leave the archives of her memories.
Her little brother... That little rascal who'd always be the annoying, yet adorable runt whenever she was around: he was the only one among her twisted family who she truly cared for. Ever since that day when he suddenly vanished without a trace after being banished by their cruel father, Aldyth's sanity had steadily began to spiral into that of madness, as the loss of her little brother would eventually be one of the key reasons as to how she ended up becoming the cold individual she was today.
But now... Right at this very moment... Everything felt as if they weren't even real before her very eyes...
Her little brother was alive... Not only that, but he was right in front of her right now, and he had also ended up becoming the 'leader' of the enemy force she was currently meant to fight right now...
Was this even real? Was she already dead? Or perhaps... Is this man simply pretending to be that precious sibling she had lost all those years ago?
Well, there was one way to find out if he truly was her brother: all the members of the Neugomian royal family had a black, diamond-shaped birthmark somewhere on their chests, a reliable symbol that they'd used for countless years in order to find out if one had royal blood in them.
The reason for its reliability was solely because of the fact that it had been a magick casted by the first Neugomian emperor upon his own bloodline, a powerful spell that had affected their very genetics and couldn't be replicated by even the most talented of mages: he wanted his descendants to continue his legacy after all, and having a mark that could distinguish the true members of the royal lineage would ultimately prove useful in the countless centuries that would eventually pass...
"..."
"H-hold on, what the he-"
The nano-poison that temporarily disabled her movements had already slightly weakened by this point, giving her some free leeway of movement as she finally managed to get up from the ground and speed towards him with a frightening agility...
...
...
This was bad: how did she suddenly manage to get up? The effects should have taken her at least 10 minutes before she'd finally be able to move again... Yet how did she manage to restore her movements in less than 2?
This woman was a monster... Even after being brought down by a powerful, yet nonlethal poison, her body refused to fully relent as it quickly managed to recover at great speeds that would put even the strongest of people to shame...
THUD!!!
Aldyth pushed him onto the ground and pinned him there haplessly using her weight, as she then stared into his eyes while giving a single expression that clearly meant, 'Don't move'... It was a wordless thought that even Novus could understand immediately despite no words being uttered from her mouth.
"W-what the hell are you do-"
She then nonchalantly ripped off the chest section of his armor with a single grip-and-pull using her hands, as she then scanned his entire chest for any signs of the birthmark she had sought to find: while the armor would be able to regenerate from something as simple as this as long as it hadn't ran out of power yet, the very position he was in right now felt incredibly awkward due to the fact that, this woman who was supposed be his 'older sister', was currently pinning him down like this in a really uncomfortable manner... It really made him uneasy just by thinking about it...
"..."
And there it was- the special birthmark was indeed on him, and it was located near his navel specifically. Immediately, she then stood up and released him from his hold, and tears began to stream down from the mad princess' face as she finally began to accept that the man before her truly was her long-lost little brother indeed.
"... What the hell were you just doing, you crazy woman?" Novus scolded her as he too began to stand up and face Aldyth's figure.
"..."
A tight, warm embrace was her response to his question, as she quickly moved towards him and wrapped her arms around his body. At long last, she had finally found her precious little brother again, and this time, she wasn't going to allow him to disappear so suddenly again...
Never again, she thought, never again...
"... I'm sorry for nearly killing you... I'm such a horrible sister, aren't I?"
Or so she would have uttered had she been able to speak: nevertheless though, Aldyth would continue to hug him as more tears fell down from her eyes, never letting him go even once for the next, long moments that would pass by...
...
... However...
...
"... Annndd... You just fell asleep... Who could've known that even a monstrosity like you actually has limits..."
Aldyth suddenly lost consciousness as she firmly kept hugging him without halting: it seemed that she had strained herself when she temporarily managed to fully resist the effects of the poison in order to confirm if he truly was her brother.
Fortunately though, despite possessing such a monstrous physical strength, Aldyth's body was surprisingly light and easy to carry, as even though her unconscious self was resting itself against Novus' body, he didn't have that much difficulty in preventing her from falling to the ground.
"... Sweet dreams, you pitiful lunatic..." Novus spoke in a hushed tone as he began carrying her unconscious body using his arms. "Now then... For the last and final step of our plan..."
________________________________________
"Make sure that she remains asleep in there, alright?"
Thurien gave a little chuckle as she responded quite eagerly. "Of course~ I wouldn't want her to suddenly wake up and nearly kill me again, ahahaha..."
Aldyth's sleeping body had been placed inside a massive, glass pod that was filled to the brim with soothing, life-preserving fluids, which would keep her asleep indefinitely while several of the automata began transporting her back to the castle using one of Thurien's gateways.
Alas, it was time... Novus and his 3 subordinates were finally about to conclude their plan with its final steps...
How strange though, it seemed... there were no soldiers present on the walls anymore, and it was as if they had chosen to retreat after witnessing the princess' 'defeat'. All the better for him then, Novus thought to himself: the lesser the resistance the imperials would put up, the better it would be for them.
Beside him were his 2 combat maids, Whitlea and Speranza, with Thurien currently not present as she was busy with facilitating Aldyth's transportation, while Novus' massive army of mechanical constructs marched behind him and followed suit- to their front was one of the massive gates that led into the capital, and all that was left for them to do was to break through this last barrier, and everything they had planned for would finally become theirs to take...
"Whitlea..." Novus ordered without any sort of hesitation. "Hurry up and pry that door open, please."
"Of course, dear." she'd smile as she simultaneously raised one of her arms. "Time to open u-... Wait..."
The massive, iron gate in front of them would suddenly open, making the 4 of them immediately tense up as they quickly began to prepare for whatever last form of resistance that was about to come outside of the gate. Contrary to what they expected however, something else would come out of the tall barrier of metal... A welcoming collective of presences who were all too happy to let then in without question.
"Welcome, oh saviour of ours. We warmly greet your arrival with open arms..." what would reveal themselves as the doors of the gate fully gave way was the saintess and her knights, who warmly greeted their arrival with a welcoming smile, as the knights knelt before Novus' armored figure in an incredible display of respect and chivalry.
"There's no need to worry about the remaining enemies by the way, as we've already dealt with them a while ago..." The saintess assured as she lightly bowed her head. "Please, come in with your companions... Many of our people want to see you right now, you see..."
"But first..."