Maia sidestepped over and over, leaving afterimages as her body glowed with a deep blue aura. She knew she shouldn’t attack. She was already doing more than enough by staying alive. If Alexander’s words could be trusted, his friend had the strength to finish off the Bucko now that they knew his tactics, but her mind and heart were at odds with what they thought must be done.
The slumped bodies of her subordinates remained in her peripheral vision no matter how she danced around the android, yet it was their weight on her conscience that caused her the most strife. Two more Emerald warriors had died on this accursed island. Two more members of her little family.
How long had it been since so many of them had lost their lives on a mission? Resentment bubbled within as she thought about how Venus had commanded their forces to be split up. The only reason she was forced to face the Green Mamba executive with the smaller contingent was because of Lady Venus. It was her fault the warriors died, but her anger was doused as soon as it flashed. Maia understood fate didn’t work so directly after so many years beside her, and Venus would definitely mourn the fallen warriors, Tanya and Erik, more than anybody else. She wore her heart on her sleeve.
No, Maia’s anger was self-directed. Better planning, better tactics, better anything would have changed the outcome. If Maia was better, her warriors would still be alive. Blue wind gathering around her fist, she launched two consecutive jabs before backpedaling.
Her undershirt flapped in the wind, revealing a thin, papercut like slice across her stomach. It bled slightly, dying her white garments red. The Bucko had managed to retaliate again, adding another tally to the growing cuts and bruises along Maia’s body, but the Emerald warrioress laughed.
This was the most negligible wound yet, bleeding only a few droplets before it stopped. She had thought overwhelming the android with speed was a possibility, but this was the first evidence of her hypothesis being true. It wasn’t a solution, not by a long shot. Her mana was draining so swiftly she’d collapse well before inflicting a fatal blow on the Bucko, not to mention her movements were uncontrollable at her current speed, but it was enough. Releasing her pent-up frustrations on the android was enough.
Restarting their dance, Maia kicked her bow towards the Bucko and burst with speed to circle around, pincering him. Swatting the bow away, the android raised his elbow, smashing it unto Maia’s face. He had predicted her movements and delivered a brutal counterattack, but it was not without merit.
Wrapping her leg around his neck, Maia used the momentum from the blow to grapple the android to the ground. Turning to orange particles, the bow traveled through the air back into Maia’s grasp. With a scream, she unloaded a barrage of winged arrows on the Bucko as she put some space between them.
The bird arrows screeched as they linked together forming a chain explosion that raised a cloud of smoke around the Bucko. Beating down the android, Maia’s rage resurfaced, and she dashed back in on him. Leaping into the air, she arced her arm back before slamming it down.
The intensity with which Maia had attacked cracked her emerald gauntlets, and she borrowed from her momentum to stomp on the android and fly away. Maia’s chest heaved up and down as the exhaustion of the battle caught up with her. She had wanted to follow up with more blows- this was the first time Maia had been able to create a true opening. But her mana reserves were already dangerously low. She didn’t dare let it run out entirely, even if she could get a few more hits in.
Turning to watch the wind dome, Maia wondered what the holdup was. Alexander was supposed to brief Thomas as quickly as possible so he could come out and help her. That was the plan anyway, but Maia felt it had been minutes with no change. Devouring the last of the mana recovery cookies Alexander had provided her with, Maia prepared to duel once more.
The cover of the smoke was beginning to thin, and she could now make out the Bucko rubbing his chest. The blue light within his eyes flashed repeatedly, alternating rapidly between red and blue. As he ran his hand over his chest, pieces of his metal frame crumbled away. “What’s wrong, rat? No more mana to hide in your hole?” The Bucko’s eyes steadied in a red light as he shakily got to his feet. He tried to adjust his poncho, but Maia’s attacks had shredded the thing. With a snarl, he ripped it away, letting it join the rest of his outfit in the ground and revealing his body.
The Bucko’s body was in pristine condition. Seamlessly constructed out of a metallic material, there were no pieces to him. It was as if he was a sculpture that had life breathed into it. Indentations and flexures humanized him, but everything was made of the same chrome. The only color was in his eyes. “All this time. All this effort. The lives of your little henchmen, and for what? Just to tear my clothes? Get a single hit in? Well, I hope it was worth it.” Lumbering towards Maia, he made it a point to step on the corpses of the two dead Emerald warriors. Over his left pectoral, bits of the metal had broken off where Maia had slammed on him, and the injury was now steaming, vapor rising out of it and meeting the rain.
Vehemently staring at Maia, he noticed her gaze lingering on his chest and laughed. “This? I don’t even feel this.” Piercing his hand into the wound, lightning crackled through it as the metallic skin joined together around his hand. As he tore his hand out of his chest, the wound continued to seal, erasing any prior hint of it. “Not even a scratch.”
Gritting her teeth, Maia remained silent. The android had the upper hand here. If she also allowed him to get in her mind, the battle would be lost immediately. Channeling her orange color, Maia reformed her emerald gauntlets and slammed her fists together to psyche herself up.
The two opponents faced each other. Their determination was palpable, and the tension was accentuated with the increasing intensity of the rain. Large clouds filled with natural lightning and thunder had gradually formed over the rainforest, maintaining the low ambient light even as the rising of the sun called for the end of the night.
In the distance, a thunderbolt streaked across the sky, showering the rainforest with light. Maia lowered her stance as she readied herself, and the Bucko’s body surged with lightning in return. One second… two seconds… on the third second, thunder rumbled through the forest, announcing the start of their next round of combat.
Maia fought recklessly, entirely willing to endure some pain in order to inflict more damage on the Bucko. He, on the other hand, was a lot more methodical. Despite the burning red of his eyes, he no longer sought to encroach on Maia’s every opening, beginning to pick up on her feints. Thus, the two opponents clashed in a sea of blue wind and lightning. Round after round, punches, kicks, elbows, knees, everything was on the table.
Sinking into the rhythm of the battle, Maia unleashed her animalistic instincts. Just as the Bucko had analyzed her fighting patterns, Maia began accumulating muscle memory with every bump and welt on her body. Her speed was nigh uncontrollable; it had to be if she wanted to keep her life. But reflexes were beginning to bridge that gap. From stray hits, Maia evolved to string together combos, toppling the android to the ground.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Maia felt the limits in her body lessening as she channeled more and more blue color into her muscles. With another burst of speed, she ran straight into the Bucko’s electrical discharge, but her speed allowed her to deftly dodge. Pounding down a series of jabs on the android’s back, Maia uppercut him before roundhouse kicking him away, her speed so fast both attacks seemed to land at once.
This was the fastest speed she had ever attained, and as her leg connected with the Bucko’s face, she felt more metal crumble away. Smiling, Maia stared at the clouds. Even if she wanted to, her mana and her body had both reached their endpoint. She was defenseless, and by the sounds of snapping branches and rolling stones, the Bucko was already getting back on his feet. This, though… this was enough. Closing her eyes, she felt her connection to the wind dome disappear meaning it, too, would dissolve.
I hope Alexander can survive. But he should. Chosen ones don’t die so easily. Still smiling, Maia passed out.
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Watching Thomas’ spear impale the android, Alexander was surprised by how much damage Maia had managed to inflict. A large chunk of metal was missing on the Bucko’s neck and the steam it let loose was vast, magnitudes more than the prior chest injury.
Thomas didn’t let that affect him, though. Using his full might, he buried the android in a rain of hail before shield smashing him to the ground again. The Bucko tried strike back, but Thomas was expertly freezing the rain around him and keeping no water close by. Any electrical attacks made by the android traveled away from Thomas, attracted to the rain everywhere else.
But the Bucko was rapidly adapting. Switching away from his lightning based attacks, he began to anticipate Thomas’ spear throws and shield bashes, gradually gaining ground on him. The desire within his eyes was evident: he wanted close combat.
The circle in his eyes halfway done, the android was able to land his first hit on Thomas. It wasn’t anything dangerous. In fact, it was nothing more than a graze, but Thomas knew any more time and the situation would escalate. Unfortunately for the Bucko, neither of the boys planned to allot more energy to the android.
Out of nowhere, Alexander began to sprint, calling out to Thomas at the top of his lungs. “DO IT!”
Expecting another spear throw, the Bucko lunged sideways, but he was met by a rising wave from the water that had pooled in the ground. As soon as it made contact, the water froze over, stopping the android in midair.
“Stairs, stairs, stairs!” Alexander yelled, and Thomas reacted, forming another staircase out of ice blocks. Increasing his speed, Alexander ran up the stairs, dragging Bison’s mace behind him. Upon reaching the top of the steps, Alexander jumped, holding the mace over his head as he fell towards the frozen Bucko.
Realizing Alexander’s intentions, Thomas drew the ice back, revealing the Bucko’s head and gathered yellow water on the surface of the mace.
With a snap, Thomas increased the pressure on the mace, exponentially changing its weight and causing Alexander to rocket down. His muscles bulged as he strained to hold up the weapon, the strength gifted to him by the white flame the only reason he was able to maintain its course.
Locking eyes with the Bucko, Alexander felt the next second was much longer than usual. The android’s eyes were back to a soft blue. They were analytical. No doubt searching for a way out of this mess, but Alexander thought he saw something else in them: regret.
He didn’t know if it was possible; maybe he was just projecting. After all, it was just an android. At least Alexander hoped androids didn’t feel emotions the same way he did, because uncertainty and regret were overflowing in his mind. This was a life. Maybe not owned by the greatest person, or robot, or whatever it was, but a life, nonetheless. And Alexander, a supposed healer, was now intentionally snuffing it away.
The first of many, realistically. He didn’t think he could get away with ending a planetary war peacefully, but this one out of all the future ones would probably haunt him the most. Was it worth it? Was he right to have followed Nidra’s commands? Alexander wrestled with the morality of his actions, but time waits for no one.
The mace still fell, and with it, the Bucko’s head. It had been easier than Alexander expected. The sacrifices of the Emerald warriors were heavy, irreplaceable even, but the actual killing of the Bucko was easy. Alexander felt there might be some resistance when he attacked. Surely ending something as sacred as life itself couldn’t be so easy, but it was. The mace ripped through everything like it was a knife on bread.
Buried in the ground within the small crater the mace had formed, the broken pieces of the Bucko’s head lay scattered. As soon as he was decapitated, the rest of the metallic body slumped. Without its head, the neck slumped motionless, and even the luster on the metallic body faded.
But Alexander was still drowning his emotions. Letting go of the mace’s hilt, he collapsed to his knees, tears streaming his eyes combining with the falling rain. He attacked to end the battle. Maia was down for the count, and there were so many injured Emerald warriors. Even Thomas may have lost his life if Alexander didn’t interfere, but who gave him the right to do this. Maybe… maybe restraining would have been better.
Trapped in the burden of his actions, Alexander didn’t notice Thomas approach even when the latter stopped the rain from falling around them. Waiting a few seconds, Thomas spoke candidly. “Part of being a prince is learning to measure risk. Would you kill one person to save 2? What if it were 1,000 to save a whole city? The royal teachers asked me those questions since I was young. I always chose the larger number, but it wasn’t until I turned twelve that I realized the actual difficulty those prompts posed.”
Pausing to massage his left hand, Thomas’ eyes misted. “My father took me to the battlefield, to watch as the soldiers, our soldiers, laid their lives down to protect Mesto. I puked from the stench, then again from the sights, and one last time later that day as I remembered everything. I begged my father not to take me back, but he was stern. Said it was important for a prince to understand the weight of responsibility leadership imposed. The next day we returned to the battlefield, and I killed an enemy warrior. My father guided me through the whole thing; he stood next to me as my knife plunged into the enemy soldier. And later that night, he cried with me as we mourned our fallen warriors and the pain associated with taking a life. It took me years to accept that sometimes killing is necessary, and even more time after that, to doing it myself.”
Alexander’s voice was tired and trembling. He made no effort to wipe the tears that were now dripping on to his clothing as he spoke. “But what gives us the right, Thomas? Life is precious, sacred. It’s what I’ve learned my whole life. My oath was to protect its sanctity. How am I supposed to be okay with this sin?”
“You won’t. Not ever. At least I hope you won’t.” Thomas spoke soothingly, making sure his every word was well thought out. “My father told me a good king kills if it is necessary, but he never takes life for granted. Only a tyrant is okay with death.”
“Then how do I move forward if all you’re telling me is this was wrong?!”
“You focus on the why, the who. Why have we done all this? Who are we doing it for? The burden of death lightens when you have a clear purpose for it.” Extending his hand to the kneeling Alexander, Thomas waited to help his friend up. “The Puma and the Eagle tribe, Dr. Hernandez, everyone you remember fondly in Fausto, and the rest of the planets. For you especially, the reasons are endless. Don’t focus on the death. Remember them, mourn them if you feel it is right, but do not let it weigh you down. We do this for a reason. You did this for the people.”
Alexander placed both hands over his legs as he thought it over. His tears still flowed and his heart still ached, but slowly, he focused on the people of Kedra, the Puma and the Eagle tribe. Their men were still fighting, dying to reclaim their land.
This would do; Alexander would help. Help until his body gave out and then some. This would be how he eased the sorrow in his soul. Taking Thomas’ hand, he rose, a new determined look in his eyes.