More Kavak Transport landed nearby and gorge out more and more platoons of Droid soldiers. Giant mechs were patrolling the outskirts and floating drones zoomed in and out of the sky.

An explosion to Anji's left told her that the battle at least for now, is not yet over.

A group of Eratix warriors was firing under the cover of a blast wall, but the overwhelming firepower brought by the Brykar soldiers simply disintegrated the cover and killed every one of the revolutionaries.

A huge blackguard, flanked by about a dozen other blackguards approached Anji's group. He first nodded to Alpha Codex 4, then dropped to his knees, along with his entourage, right in front of Anji. "We have secured the spaceport. A few Eratix are still attempting to escape towards the east but 98.6 percent of all their personnel are eradicated."

"Pursue the escapees, General. Don't let anyone escape."

Anji stepped in. "Try and capture some of them alive. We need more information about what the hell happened here. And the k28 personnel.."

"The K28 nationals is being taken care of as of now. But more importantly, Your shuttle is ready and waiting for your boarding. Please come with me, We will take care of the rest."

"What shuttle?"

"The shuttle that will bring you to the superdreadnought up in space. There we can control the environment and guarantee your safety."

"No general," Anji said immediately. "I prefer to stay at the moment."

The general stirred uncomfortably in his kneeling position. It was obvious that he wanted to protest, that he feels that the place is still a battlefield and he could not in good conscience put his god in jeopardy. "But Elder, we can do this without your help. All info will be sent to you as soon-"

"Zip it," Anji said. "The K28 personnel have a lot of heavily injured people in their ranks. Use your shuttle to bring them to the dreadnought or to any other auxiliary ship that will increase their chances of survival."

"I understand and obey elder."

Two Blackguards materialized to her left and they were holding a huge metal case the size of an average person. They presented it in front of Anji who simply raised her eyebrow. "What the hell is that?"

"A compromise," Codex 4 said as he grated his teeth. "After the stunt you pulled, half of your guards are willing to simply haul you in the nearest shuttle and forced you to the dreadnought, then face the consequences tomorrow, when you are already safe. I am also in favor of that. But the other AI's decided to compromise. You wear that Armor or you don't get to walk the battlefield."

"Is that an armor? What kind of armor?" Despite herself, Anji was actually interested. The armor looks like the Iron Man version when he was fighting the Hulk except that it is Black just like the blackguards. It looks so bulky and yet there is a certain sense of safety from it. 

"This is the Customized power armor XT-12B 'Aegis' Armor. It will protect you from Plasma, kinetic and other forms of an energy beam. Also as added protection, it also has a multilayered oscillating shield designed to last for 2 days straight. Two of your blackguard will permanently carry another 2 batteries to extend the life of your shield by another 3-4 days."

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

"Weapons?" Anji asked innocently. Both the general and Codex sighed. "You have access in your right arm a 200 round gauge Armata-7 DeltaGauss Spread, and in your other arm, you can access the retractable Vibro sword for close range situation.

Anji nodded. "A shotgun and a machete, got it."

After trying it out for a few more minutes, Anji got the hang of it. Then to the blackguards' alarm, She easily opened the armor and hopped out. 

Anji walked towards the anxious prince and gawking at all the blackguards around him. He tried to look dignified and brave, but Anji can see his tail was tucked behind his ample butt. He lit up when he saw Anji walking towards him.

"Anji!" he exclaimed. "There are so many Brykars here. I didn't know you guys are here," he said almost accusing. But Anji can see that the presence of so many deadly warriors actually reassured him.

"I'll tell you all about it soon, but first, how about we rejoin your mother?" Anji said. She can see the prince's tail started wagging vigorously. She reentered the power armor and then they exited the shield bubble. Outside, the organized chaos was palpable.  A ring of Blackguards guarded them as they walk, to her mild annoyance.

More and more Kavak transports are landing all around them and dislodging more and more troops. But this time, most of them are wearing brown armor. They are almost identically to the blackguards except for the color. She asked the general about the difference.

"They are army personnel. powered by a computer matrix capable of self-learning but they are not self-aware AIs. They serve as your regular troops in the Brykar unity. Right now in peace time, AI command controls just under 2 billion of them all over Brykar territory and mostly used for garrison duty. But in a time of war, we can reactivate another 6 billion for any and all purposes."

Anji tried to understand the movement of the soldier droids all around her. Another shield cover was setup about 50 meters away from her and she'd been told that this is where the K28 personnel is being kept and treated. That is also where they are going. A few of the droid soldiers though are wearing a different armor color, and it intrigues her.

"And the gray ones, what are they?"

"They are the army special forces."

"Special forces?" Anji said, surprised. "I thought the blackguards are the special forces."

It was Alpha Codex 4 who answered her. "Every branch of the Brykar Military has their own special forces group. The army have the regular brown and the elite gray, the space navy has the blue marines as the grunts while the AIs known as the phantoms serve as special electronic warfare specialist. Then there is the military intelligence. The white battle droids are used for standard security for most government installation while the AIs known simply as the ghosts are the ones used for, err, ... wetworks operations."

Codex 4 looked back at his brethren following him and Anji. "Then there is the blackguards. A separate entity from the rest of the vast military machine. For years we have lost our mandate. And as such, the organization lived in limbo. Mother uses us as a form of elite reinforcement for the other branches. We help the marines board special ships, and we serve as escape route protection for the ghost. And the army? Well, we are normally the spearhead of any invasion and the blocking force if we have to retreat. You see, we are known before as protector of the gods. We protect the humans. It's what define us, It's who we are. But then... they left us. And we have no one to protect."

Anji stared at him. "And what am I? chop liver?" She said, thumping the codex in the chest with her armor. Alpha Codex 4 staggered from the blow but he didn't mind. "I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere. So stop moping and help me with my plans."

If the codex had an actual mouth, he would have smiled. "I understand and obey," He said quietly.

"Now go to the infirmary and let them check that arms of yours."

"After you are safely in the superdreadnought, my elder," He said. "But not before."

Anji could do nothing but to shake her head. "Stubborn little..."

A group of brown battle droids is huddle together in one place and it grabbed Anji's attention. In the middle of it all was a brown droid with a white cross at the back of his armor. Anji realized that the droid was a medic and he is administering help to someone. Anji hurried over, thinking that it was a heavily wounded K28 doggy. But he was surprised to see a young injured Eratix instead.

Blood oozes out of his mouth and a huge chunk of his stomach and pelvis was missing. His intestine is open and blood is leaking out of him. Anji stared at the medic who shook his head. "Too much blood loss and the contents of his intestine is mixing with what's left, poisoning his insides. He'll be dead in a few more minutes. All I can do is take away his pain."

Without a word, Anji again left her armor and knelt near the bloody Eratix and grabbed the small injectable that she assumed is the painkiller. The other droids around her flinched when she stepped out of the armor to get a closer look at the Eratix. This is the same people who earlier almost killed all of them, Anji thought, but despite that, Anji cannot build any lasting anger inside of her for this people. 

The young boy's breathing became heavy and far between. Then his eyes, who awhile ago Anji thought is unable to see anymore, suddenly focused on her.

"Mau humani esli esdat anioay..."

Anji stared at him for a moment, then administer the painkiller. The Eratix relaxed... and died silently.

Anji closed the boy's dead eyes. Prince Bentong sniffed silently in one corner. Then Anji turned to her blackguards. "What did he just say to me?" Anji asked but no one answered her. She looked around but no one responded to her. 

"What did he say?!" She shouted.

The prince looked around him, but no one wanted to answer the beautiful maid, so he shrugged and told her.

 "It's an old prayer," The pup said. "It means: 'May the humans bless me, for I live and die in their name."