Kairon was beyond ecstatic. He couldn't believe, he would find the Legendary Rennayan out here, much less capture them. He climbed out of the ice mountain he was trapped under, brushing some off himself, as he walked towards the giant pair of hands.
Suddenly, he stopped, as he felt tremors from his prison. Then watched, as an eruption of fire, melted out an opening through the hands, allowing Tobi to walk out, charred from the smoke.
"I'm not done yet!" He yelled, glaring at Kairon.
"You are making this harder than it needs to be," the prince replied, lunging at him, sword drawn.
Tobi reinforced himself with electricity, matching Kairon's unnatural speed. Then coated his sword with flames, increasing his damage with each strike and cutting Kairon's sword in half on their last exchange.
He jumped back from Tobi, noticing the difference in their abilities, then summoned twenty more golems to cover the distance and think of a plan.
'I can win,' Tobi thought to himself. His stamina was the only thing bothering him.
He was already starting to feel out of breath, taking in air with ragged breathing. A memory momentarily popped into his head, from the mission briefing. Sarah had told them that the children of Atlas use their lifespans to regenerate and fight. So in a battle of attrition, he was at a severe disadvantage.
Far off, he could hear the sounds of soldiers swarming in, dawning on him, that he was out of time. He pondered what he could do, running over all of his options, but only one came to mind. A move, he had attempted many times in private training but could not master, due to his lack of energy.
This was why Osei, taught him how to draw some, from his environment. However, the first time he tried, he accidentally drained too much. Drawing in the entire life force of the surrounding forest and killing thousands of wildlife habitat.
Osei reassured him, telling him, it was natural for different people to have different pools of energy they could pull from. However, the amount drawn is usually proportional to what the creature or entity would allow. Still, it scarred him, seeing dead animals dropping all around him, so he vowed never to draw energy that wasn't his again.
Kairon had a golem bring him an axe from a fallen soldier. "Onwards!" He yelled as he sent all of his golems forward, while a few hundred soldiers, poured in from all sides gunning for Tobi.
Dark Clouds formed, gathering together, then unleashed a flash of lightning, striking down between them, with a bright explosion. Seemingly appearing out of the lightning, Osei landed in front of Tobi, dropping to one knee, and bursting out an electric shockwave rippling throughout the camp. Knocking out many of the soldiers and golems, but avoiding Tobi.
Osei was badly injured, with his left arm, visibly broken, and his body covered in blood. The blue markings flickered, on and off his body. Yet Tobi was still relieved to see him. "Osei!" He called out happily.
Osei responded, not taking his eyes off Kairon. "The mission's not over. We need to finish this." His breathing was ragged.
Kairon was starting to get annoyed."You should have stayed down. Were you hiding him from us, for the past 20 years?" His voice was filled with anger. "After we let you live and sheltered you!" He shouted furiously at the top of his lungs.
Osei glared at him, shaking his head. "Anything is better than living under your rule. The universe would do better with one less of any of you savages!" He said, as he clad himself in electricity and prepared himself. Then charged, breaking sound barriers and cutting down the remaining golems like butter. Almost making it to Kairon, before the metal golem stopped him.
Tobi raised his right hand and dropped it, simultaneously crushing the metal golem, as if an invisible giant hand had formed above it. Osei, noticing his brother's growth and support, didn't hesitate to continue striking at Kairon.
The prince parried as many incoming blows from Osei as he could. Yet blood sprayed out of him regardless, as cuts started appearing all over his body, as a result of the ones that got through.
A golem tried grabbing Osei from his rear, but he flipped his sword backward, stabbing it and crumbling it down with thousands of volts. Then quick-drawed his sword out of it in the same moment to slash Kairon diagonally across his chest and cut off his left arm. Sending the prince flying back paralyzed by electric shocks.
Golems swarmed in, out of nowhere protecting Kairon and aiming for Osei, as he jumped back, breaking them apart. The prince yelled out, as he landed on his back. The pain had finally reached him.
His lifespan slowly sapped away, as his injuries closed up. Making metallic sounds as nano-tech climbed over each other shaping a new arm for him. He started to realize that he was using too much of his lifespan for this fight. Kairon sat up looking at the brothers. He could tell they were at their limit as well. One more push and it would all be over.
Tobi ignored everything going on around him and focused. He could feel the energy of every soldier, especially the ones dying. He clenched his teeth, hating himself and was beginning to feel sick, yet he continued regardless. Pulling energy from any living creature in his vicinity, as shimmering electric currents began surging their way towards him. Picking up a light breeze and heatwave surrounding him.
Rings of fire, crushed the ground as seismic cracks appeared with him as the epicenter. Dark clouds gathered as thunder bellowed through them, with a light chill settling over the camp.
The soldiers closest to death, died peacefully, then turned into husks, while others fell unconscious, some unable to see another morning. He ignored the dropping soldiers and placed his hands to his right side covering them in dirt, while frosting them over, leaving a small distance between them, as a concentrated small ball of fire, began rotating.
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He continued, adding more flames and condensed it further and further, untill it burned like a miniature sun, then flowed thousands of volts into it, holding the charge. Osei and Kairon stopped, noticing the build-up of energy from Tobi.
"Wait... what are you doing?!" Kairon called out.
Tobi smirked. "Everything I've got... I'll put it into this!" He said, fighting for his life, trying to hold together the raging ball of energy in his hands.
Osei knew something big was coming. He had never seen his brother execute this technique, properly before. He jumped back far enough, wary of what was about to unfold.
Placing all of his hopes, Tobi thrust his hands in front of him. Facing the condensed attack, towards Kairon. "Ignite: Static Cannon!"
The ball of energy in front of his palms, cracked open, revealing a beam of fire and electricity intertwining and shrouded in cloud rings, as it ate up the ground, aiming for Kairon.
The recoil was too much, but Tobi held his ground sinking slowly, as the ground below his feet gave way. His eyes flickered from brown to blue for just a moment, as purplish-orange marks flashed over his body, along with a few streaks of hair glowing silver.
Kairon instinctively raised dozens of metal and dirt walls in front of him, trying to block the beam, but to no avail, as it burned through his walls reaching him with ease. His life flashed before his eyes, as he yelled out his final words. "Impossible I am the Prince of-!" Only to be enveloped by electric fire, blasting right past him and incinerating his body.
His tent went up in flames as the beam struck, causing a deafening explosion. Tobi, dropped to the floor with an explosive headache, accompanied by a seizure. While frost formed on random parts of his body, simultaneously and along with third-degree burns. Side effects from overusing his abilities.
Osei was aware of this and grabbed, a painkiller, that Sarah had prepared in his belt. Then proceeded to stab Tobi in the arm, with the syringe. Plunging the contents within him.
Tobi started to calm down, but he was out cold. His body stopped shaking, but third-degree burns still remained on his skin.
Osei ran over, checking the destroyed structure, to see if the prince survived. However there was no trace of him. Relieved, Osei yelled out a cry of victory.
Hours following the Battle of Caspion...
Caspion's cleanup went smoothly. Sarah had the remaining fifty androids, put down the monsters, and secured the prisoners.
She recorded over six hundred thousand casualties from the camp, but freed the rest of their chains and allowed them to stay at Beyond HQ after rehabilitation. Among them was a man named, Ganitas. The short, bald, Monrosion that had helped Osei escape.
Tobi slept for two days. When he woke up, he noticed a tray to his right with a plate of food. Bread, an omelet, apple juice, and cookies. His favorite chocolate chip cookies. 'I guess we won,' he thought as he took a bite of the cookie first.
Osei barged into the room. "We did it!" He shouted excitedly. It was the happiest Tobi had seen him.
"Yeah bro, we did." He replied smiling and locking their hands, as they celebrated.
Osei grinned, "That's one of the children of Atlas down, 199 of them left, to go."
Sarah walked into the room with the most ecstatic expression on her face. "Congrats guys, on completing our first mission! Honestly, y'all did great out there, I had one of the androids tail you guys. We've got the whole thing on video!" She said, feeling jittery.
Tobi smiled at her, he had acknowledged her as a great ally. "Ayy that's great! We'll check it out later. Honestly, we couldn't have done this without you, Sarah. Thanks for everything!" Osei nodded in agreement.
Sarah looked at both of them. "You're welcome! As long as the Earth is safe." She replied.
Tobi's expression momentarily switched to worry. "What happened with the Aratris?"
She gave him a reassuring smile. "It sustained a heavy amount of damage, but it got us back to HQ and we're maintaining it now. I'm also recycling and rebuilding our broken androids, and theirs, with plans to build millions more." She took a deep breath, pausing, before continuing. "The next step is simple. Both of you will continue your training. I will gather funds, build more spaceships and soldiers..."
She trailed off, as she directed one of the androids to refill Tobi's cookies. He had finished the plate, leaving everything else. "I will also look for more gadgets and tech that can help us in our war against them..."
Tobi glanced at his brother, just taking in, that he had just started a war.
Sarah continued. "Both of you will have many hardships along the way, that's why it's important for us to not be alone out there. Which brings me to my next point... If you guys could please follow me to the R&D Department." She turned, walking out of the room, and beckoning them to come with her.
The buildings were so far apart, so Sarah drove them down the large hallway on a cart, one of which she had filled the headquarters with. Tobi sat in passenger, awestruck as he glanced around the new areas and departments being built. Osei tagged along, sitting in the backseat. A lot had changed and things were starting to look more complete.
They reached a new area, they hadn't been to before. A large room filled with chemistry equipment in one corner and a bunch of monitors and wires in the other. Tobi immediately deduced that it had to be her lab. In the middle of the room, were five giant tubes, that contained five sleek, armoured bodysuits. All black and blue, with Beyond's logo etched on the arms. Nanites rippled, in intervals through them.
"Woah, what are those?!" Tobi exclaimed, unable to hold in his excitement.
Sarah smiled, expecting that question. "I've thought about it, from the moment I came to be, how come we can't replicate your power? Won't the Earth be safer, if we had more people who could protect it?" She walked towards one of the suits and placed her right hand on the glass. "Using samples of your cells. I created these prototypes." She glanced back innocently at him. "Sorry about that by the way."
Tobi nodded, he had given her permission, to do whatever was needed. "All good, how does that help us out?"
She continued. "Each of these suits will be able to lend a human that..." She pointed at herself. "I will pick... One of the four elements. We'll call them the Nova Division." She revealed, shocking the brothers.
However, she kept on going, as they got closer, to have a better look. "Also, I have been thinking of pulling some islands together and establishing a republic, with refugees... Maybe it'll help aliens in the future, have an easier time immigrating to Earth. Knowing the rest of the world, they may not accept them so kindly right away."
Tobi was impressed, by how far she had thought. "Damn Sarah, you've outdone yourself. You've put a lot of thought into this, haven't you?
She smiled, content with his words. "Of course. I set up an android dedicated to running simulations, 24/7... By the way, Kairon planned on transporting the Earth back to his territory, once he conquered it." She added.
Tobi had never heard, of such a thing. "Wait what!" The thought of Earth moving from the Solar System had never crossed his mind.
Osei shook his head. "Planet movers, called Vollan Transporters. The Cerian Empire used these machines to hijack planets and ambush them... They were often used among themselves too, between the siblings."
Tobi was perplexed. "That's crazy. How can we stop this?"
Sarah spoke up, realizing something else she needed to tell them. "I've been thinking of rewiring the ones we confiscated, as an escape measure for Earth."
Tobi smiled, trying to imagine what next she had planned. "That's brilliant Sarah. Alright then, keep it up. I'll get back to training." The brothers turned, heading for the exit, but before leaving, Tobi had one more question for Sarah. "By the way, what are you going to call your country?"
She looked him deep in his eyes, giving him a gleeful expression. "The Republic of Rennaya."
Eight months later...
The solar system was at peace undisturbed. Earth rotated slowly in axis, unaware of a fleet of four spaceships, almost invisible, descending towards America.