When the roar of the explosion subsided, along with the clatter of metal shards and rock fragments on the metal platform beneath Brant's feet, he uncovered his eyes. Immediately, he choked on a cloud of black smoke. Struggling to ignore the oppressive fumes, he attempted batting them away while creeping closer to where Aaron had been.

He frowned when the smoke cleared like a curtain opening. Dove floated to Aaron's prostrate form on the other side, and by the position of his hand, it appeared he too had attempted swatting away the cloud, albeit with far greater success.

Brant ignored the god and took in the sight of his smoking comrade. Aaron lay on his back, a massive hole torn in the colossus suit's breastplate. The rocket launcher on his left wrist hissed as dark vapor ascended into the air.

"Alas, thou may now witness the consequences of folly, and of proving to be wicked in my sight." Dove remarked, alighting on the platform with white robes trailing elegantly behind him.

One of Brant's shields morphed into a spear, and he held it out to stop Dove's progress. "Listen, you devil, if you even touch him, I swear..."

"Thou swear what? Verily, last night, thou seemed not to mind my touching your friends, nay, not at all. What then—"

The god quit speaking with a grunt when Aaron leapt up again. One graceful move found the armored man solid footing as he threw a mighty punch at Dove's face. He sprawled out onto the platform and lay stunned for a minute before floating up again.

"Thou must realize, I have only been toying with thee." Dove growled at the armored man.

Aaron's helmet bobbed up and down. "Same." Then he looked skyward. "Armory, BP replace!"

Dove sped forward to strike with his olive branch at Aaron's exposed body before the module could arrive. But it crashed down halfway through his flight and pinned him to the ground. The pod split apart a moment later and a green plate leapt to Aaron's chest. A few seconds and some mechanical whirring later, his armor had been repaired.

The hollow halves of the pod flew aside when Dove re-emerged. He levitated two boulders and sent them spinning into Aaron. One punch each sent the stones back to the ground, and he finished with an extra for the god himself.

Dove flew backward, gasping. When he spotted Baird running up behind him, he twirled to evade his glowing blade, pushing another gust down to trip him.

"Armory," Aaron called again, "Test piece CM7B9!"

Brant, Baird, and Dove all furrowed their brows and paused fighting for a moment. A pair of smaller pods plummeted from above, and when they split open, several plates leapt up at Aaron's wrists. More and more the gauntlets grew until he possessed metal fists the size of boulders.

Aaron spun and threw another punch at Dove, so powerful that he shot back into one of the pillars and then ricocheted into another. Before the god could rise from the ground, Aaron charged over and hit him again. Brant and Baird hurried over as well.

Dove darted between Aaron's legs once he raised his fist again. Baird leapt to catch the god, but only succeeded in ripping a corner from his robe.

Brant leapt over the rubble cluttering the platform, eyes fixed on Dove. He found himself more irritated than shocked when a wind swept him off his feet. The god rocketed down with his artifact poised for a heavy blow.

Brant blocked the branch with his shield and moved his spear in to stab. Dove glared. Gripping the weapon in his hand, he wrested it from Brant's grasp, smirking when it crumbled into a pile of dust. With a furrowed brow, Brant blocked several more attacks.

Aaron raced over and slapped Dove aside. Brant took the opportunity to clamber out of the rubble and prepare himself for another confrontation. While Aaron called up to the Armory again, Brant reengaged Dove, now with a mace in his hand.

Again and again the weapons clashed, metal against supernatural wood. Brant's heart leapt for joy when he bashed Dove's artifact out his hand. He swung the spiked head of his mace into his back, and with a tug, he tore chunks of flesh out afterward. He raised his arm for a second swing.

Dove's olive branch returned to his outstretched fingers. Before Brant could lower his raised arms, the artifact whacked into his ribs. Roaring in agony, he dropped to the ground and clutched the spot. The welt burned and pulsated that heat through his veins to scorch the rest of his body. When the boiling blood reached his head, he felt as if his brain would explode from his forehead.

A temptation to claw at the swelling skin crept over Brant, but with dogged willpower, he resisted. He watched helplessly as Dove raised the branch over his head to strike again. But just in time, Baird leapt in with a kick to the sorcerer's hip. They exchanged inconsequential blows that allowed Aaron time to jog over.

Brant groaned and tried to rise from his place on the ground, but his body heat only rose more with the exertion. Sweat dripped down from his forehead and stung his eyes. He exhaled a pained breath and let his head down again.

Brant watched as Aaron pummeled Dove with heavy punches. The god darted off once he had enough of the abuse, and Aaron pointed his wrist at his fleeing form. A white orb raced out from the launcher, and once Aaron snapped his fingers, a wide sheet like a spiderweb stretched out, tethering itself to a pair of pillars for support.

Dove found himself entangled in the sticky sheet. All the winds he could muster failed to free him. Baird charged at the trapped god, sword poised for a deadly blow.

Just before Baird reached him, Dove wiggled his wrist slightly, altering the blade's course just enough to make it connect with his arm instead of his head. He still cried out when his skin tore open and sparks leapt onto his skin, but to his delight and Brant's dismay, the sword had also ripped a hole in the sheet.

Dove summoned a boulder to his service, crashing through the tattered hole and enlarging it enough that one side gave way. Baird leapt aside to avoid the bouncing ball of rock before lunging in with a stab. A whirling wind snatched him up, using his blade to slice the remainder of the sheet apart.

Dove was now free. Aside from a few patches clinging to his back, his movements had been entirely emancipated. He advanced on Baird with a series of swings of the branch that the swordsman deftly fended off. Sparks erupted on each collision of the weapons, several of which peppered Dove's face.

Baird batted the branch away, and with the new opening, he stabbed squarely into the left side of Dove's chest. Convulsing from the electric shock, he collapsed to his knees with blood spewing from the wound.

Brant panicked, wishing he could raise his hoarse voice to warn Baird. Dove was indeed losing blood, and lots of it, but the injury wasn't nearly as deadly as Baird must've thought. During the enhancement process of their training for divinity, Dove had requested his heart to be moved to the other side of his chest, in order to confuse his foes. And so he was doing even now.

At Dove's beckoning, a trio of rocks raced for Baird's head. He cried out and stumbled back, giving the god just enough time to rejuvenate himself with a brush of wind. Then he swept Baird off his feet, swirled him high into the sky, and dropped him down with hardened eyes. A loud crunch resounded upon the swordman's landing. He wailed pitiably. Brant put a hand to his heart at the sight of his broken legs, unnaturally bent in places no joint had previously existed.

********************

Wendy kicked yet another Alcontean in the jaw before rocketing into the sky. With crossed arms, she surveyed the battle beneath her. The Innutukian ranks had mostly been cleansed of the Alcontean presence, thanks in large part to the scorching sweeps of Hannah's laser gun and Keira's sniper fire from spots so inconspicuous even Wendy couldn't see, despite her bird's eye view.

Trackenkaken was beginning to call his men to order below. The Innutukians shuffled into position, finally creating the triangular formation the general had requested some time ago. Hannah and the other Kemarian insurgents departed from their midst and headed off for a new objective.

Scanning her eyes over the other armies, Wendy observed the rambunctious Odegoan Confederates, who rushed at the Alcontean hordes beyond. Many fell, but those who successfully breached their formations wrecked havoc, spraying shotgun fire and flamethrower blazes without discrimination. The Forbachean troops also took a more personal approach to combatting their innumerable foes, several of them riding horses and firing rifles as they sped by.

Danlash's forces used the Innutukian corleggions to protect their advance before darting around them when they reached the enemy. All the deaths on Wendy's side pained her, but when her light-haired countrymen fell before her eyes, it somehow hurt all the worse.

The Ferangian Resistance caught her eye next, with their violent and unconventional methods. One division of their men ran straight at the enemy, without any weapons but the bombs strapped to their bodies. Even if the Alconteans shot them down before they reached their target, the resulting explosion often consumed a good number anyway. Reckless and suicidal warfare, really, Wendy thought, But at least they're on our side.

Ryder Ford and his Underground Agents of Unterstat had few men on the battlefield itself, but far more of their influence could be felt in the sky, where dogfights raged. Raven-ships swooped and swerved, slightly less maneuverable than the zippy Alcontean jets, but more heavily armored and equipped.

Danlash also claimed a far greater air presence than they did on the ground. Their ace pilots wove right through the ever-changing maze of the infested sky, gunning Alcontean fighters down with a proficiency that made Wendy proud.

Jasmidian's insurgents mostly accompanied the Kemarians, bolstering their numbers and forming a symbiotic relationship that assisted both. They edged to the far side of the battlefield, evidently to flank the enemy and further decimate them.

Finally, Wendy cast a glance at the bustling camp itself, which thankfully hadn't been touched by anything but a few crashed planes. Antapeño's men mostly lingered back in the encampment, but the long-range weaponry they had installed proved immensely beneficial, thinning the Alcontean forces even where terrain rendered progress difficult.

Wendy squinted at a line of civilian vehicles speeding in from the west. Pickup trucks, beat-up sedans, SUVs, they all bounced along the unkept road leading up to the camp. The Danlashian swooped down to investigate.

A brown pickup at the front of the line braked upon seeing Wendy ahead of them. The driver stepped out of the car with hands raised, showing himself to be a Kemarian man.

"Who are you?" Wendy asked, fitting an arrow to her bowstring just in case.

"We're from the border towns of Kemaria." the man explained, "We understand Alconte's fall is underway? And we'd like to assist."

Wendy removed her helmet and gave the man a smile. She beckoned them into the encampment. "Make yourselves bloody useful. They'll fall today, alright."

While the cars continued on, the Danlashian propelled herself into the sky, and after making a quick stop to refill her quiver, she raced to the front lines to make herself useful as well. 

******************** 

A/N: This sure has been an intense battle so far, hasn't it? If you've enjoyed, don't forget to vote and comment. 😁 

I honestly don't have much on my mind to put in this note, and I have places to be soon when writing this, so I'll just leave a random question and leave: What's your favorite type of shoe to wear? 

(For me, it'd be boots. There can be so many different types, and usually they feel oddly empowering. I dunno, it must be the fact I usually get waterproof, so I can walk down Washington's rain-drenched streets without any worries at all. 😆) 

Well, have an awesome day, and I hope to see you next week for the LAST TWO CHAPTERS! 😱 I don't know how I feel about that, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there...not that long from now.