Ravens of Eternity

150 The Flow of Blood, Pt Both Eva and Severas dismantled the terrorist gondola crews, and sent all six of them plummeting to the ground one after the other. Each one smashed into the ground with a heavy, wet CRUNCH as they landed on numerous Chosen. Even armored, their bodies were no match against tons of titanium, and were easily crushed and mangled from the impact.

And all it took was the first one to send them into a frenzied panic. The utter destruction of their barricade combined with the falling gondola caused most of them to lose their wits.

Seeing the deaths of their friends, and the shock of the attack caused many of them to simply run. Mass panic had set in, and more than half of them ran towards the prisoner compound, where they could find safety in numbers.

Little did they know that their numbers had been reduced to a few hundred there as well. All that they were doing now was delaying the inevitable.

Their reinforced blockade was so easily cracked open and shaken up. It was a terrifying and awe-inspiring sight for the Security Forces and the Justicar alongside them. They couldn’t help but watch as both Justicar and Human rained down their version of punishment onto the hapless terrorists below them.

Eva rode the last gondola down, and leapt off just before it struck the ground with a wet, sickening CRUNCH.

She landed down on the street amidst fleeing terrorists, crouched low and blade to the side. Some of those who were running stopped when they saw her. They simply couldn’t believe their eyes, and were frozen in shock.

She slowly drew herself up and looked all around her. Surrounded by Taloren’s Chosen. Or at least the remnants of their barricade force. Most kept running.

Only the Chosen few remained.

.....

“R-ra’ventrii!” exclaimed one of them.

“Ah, my arena fanclub,” she said. “Should’ve figured you’d be here. What’s left of you, anyway.”

“You destroyed our lives!” screamed another. “Our entire ledgers!”

“I’ll admit I did you wrong. But you’re responsible for your own lives and your own ledgers. It’s your own damned fault for losing what you lost. I didn’t force you to hate me, or to bet against me.”

As she spoke, she activated the secondary function on her beltknife through her DI. In a flash, it split straight down the middle lengthways. She separated the two pieces with a light twist and pulled them away from each other.

“You all did that on your own,” Eva continued. “You chose to hate, you chose to lose, you chose to attack, you chose to die.”

And now that she had a blade in each of her hands, she shifted her feet until she was in her Cyclone Stance. One blade was up high, and the other low.

Fear washed over the crowd when Eva leapt towards the closest Drogar, and cut his head off before he had time to react.

She spun into a dance and eviscerated another even as the first one’s head struck the ground. His belly and armor split open and a steaming pile of his guts came spilling out after.

With deft precision, Eva ducked down just as one of them took a swing at her. She circled inwards and slashed him across his knees, and cut through both. He stumbled to the ground and fell as his dismembered lower legs crumpled under him.

As she rose in a furious spiral, she sliced open yet another Drogar from hip to chest.

One of the Chosen raised his rifle with shaky arms and fired at Eva as she cut through his compatriots, but missed. His nerves were too broken to hold steady, and her movements were too fast for him to track.

Panic set within him the moment she turned her attention towards him and advanced with a wide spinning flank. He fired shot after shot after shot as quickly as he could, but she was always one step ahead of his rifle.

He missed every single one, and by the time she reached him, it was far too late to run.

Eva sliced his weapon in two shortly before she sliced his head clean off his shoulders. Before his body could fall down, she kicked it at another terrorist that was aiming his rifle at her.

It crashed into him with great force and was flung back a number of meters and landed in a bloody heap.

Eva preternaturally parried an incoming attack from behind her, then spun back to counterattack. She cut into her next opponent’s chest, then swung around and slashed across his neck.

He frantically clutched at his throat, which quickly gushed out a river of blood. And while his guard was completely down, Eva drove her blade through his chest, pierced his heart, and out his back.

She found that now that her blade was half as thin as it was when combined, cutting through metal and bone had become an absolute breeze. Each slice and thrust felt effortless for her to do, no doubt a product of Alevos’ careful attention to her blade’s edge geometry.

Basically, her blades were razor sharp and cut open her enemies as though they were made of paper.

She spun in wide arcs and wove between the Chosen all around her. Those who experienced her Cyclone Stance lost many of their limbs, if not the remainder of their lives. Wherever she moved, she only left death in her wake.

And as she allowed her trait to guide her body to move – to kill, her mind thought about Severas’ words. About how these people were little more than a cancer, waiting to be cut out so the rest of society could thrive.

They had destroyed things and hurt people. Many times they even killed them.

Not only was their murderous behavior all over the Imperial ‘Casts, but Severas and Doleth had become inundated with their violence. She knew that the Justicars had long since reached the limits of their patience.

And here they all were, gathered by the hundreds, if not thousands. They were ready to commit their most violent act yet, against people who had nothing to do with them at all.

And from what Severas and the Admiral had told her, it was because someone had told them to.

They were here because someone wanted them to be here. They wanted them to commit an incredible amount of violence. Whether it was simply to make a statement or to make a profit didn’t matter.

These people were being used for someone else’s gain.

Whoever these people were, truly were devious. They riled them up, bled their ledgers dry, and laid the blame on someone else.

Eva only understood the reality of it all because she was one of those people. She too riled them up and bled them dry. Though, she realized she was only scraping up what was left. Whatever wealth their clans originally held had long since been gone.

Sure, she had her guilt for doing what she did to these people.

But they allowed their ignorance to be controlled by hate rather than curiosity. They allowed violence to take over their minds, rather than community. It seemed misplaced vengeance was more powerful than mutual understanding. At least, for these people.

And perhaps Severas was right – they probably deserved to die so others could have better lives. Did that justify the Justicar’s retribution? Did it justify her own? Eva wasn’t sure if it did.

But that was the only option she had in front of her, so she took it. Regretfully.

Power coursed through her systems as she slew the anti-humans around her, and bathed in their blood as she danced.

~

Colviss spun her blade with a defensive flourish around her as she danced with exacting precision. It created an impenetrable wall of metal as she moved around her opponent.

Doleth swung out her blade and searched for any opening she could find, but was easily parried at every turn. She was breathing hard, and her armor bore a few cuts and scratches from Colviss’ blade.

Her opponent, on the other hand, was hardly worse for wear and her armor was untouched.

“You’re no Justicar,” said Doleth. “No way could you have been. You wouldn’t have broken our laws for such an obvious farce!”

Colviss laughed oddly, then launched forward and performed a lateral slash with great force. Doleth parried it easily, but was thrown back a little and put off balance. And as she stepped back to keep from falling, Colviss pressed her advantage and flung one powerful strike after another.

“What would you know about the Justicars, hm?” said Colviss. “We’re all tools of the Empire, of the Emperor. His words were Law, and we followed them to the letter.”

She continued her barrage of attacks on Doleth, who was thrown back violently with each one she parried. It was clear that she was way out of her league. With each blow she absorbed, her footwork became worse, and her parries became sloppier.

Simply defending against Colviss was exhausting her!

“If he demanded death,” continued the Reborn, “we provided it. That was our duty.”

Doleth harrumphed as she gathered herself together, pooled her energy, then lashed out with a furious counter dance. With powerful spins and excellent footwork, she drove towards Colviss and slashed at her over and over.

Her anger was evident in her voice as she pressed Colviss with her Whirlwind Strike.

“And the Emperor commanded you to attack a bunch of helpless prisoners, did he?” yelled Doleth. “Seems to me you’re here because some ocean scum paid you to be here.”

She poured every ounce of energy she had into this attack, but missed strike after strike as Colviss evaded and parried her way out of danger. The Reborn moved with ease as the Justicar’s movements became worse and worse.

Colviss chuckled as she danced in and out of Doleth’s reach.

“The Emperor’s dead,” she said. “And he’s never coming back.”

Her hand shot out like a bullet, grabbed Doleth by her sword hand, and stopped her solid. Doleth attempted to pull herself away, to break free of Colviss’ grip. But it was pointless. She felt as powerless as a child in that exact moment.

Colviss pulled the Justicar up off her feet, then drove her blade straight through her stomach.

Doleth cried out in agony as the Reborn pushed it through slowly, centimeter by centimeter. When she reached the hilt, she drew it out, equally as slowly and as painfully.

Then she let go, and the Justicar dropped to the ground in pain. Her blade fell down next to her with a CLANG.

Blood pooled around her as pain swept through her body.

“All that’s left is the Empire,” continued Colviss. “And it’s no longer ruled by anyone or anything but Coin. There’s no word, and no law, just profit. It’s clear in every line of the current Imperial Codex. So if coin is the new law of the land, then I’ll become its executor. Even if it kills me.”

Colviss drew her blade high over Doleth, ready to bring it down and cleave her head right off. But just before she could move a millimeter, a small but strong voice came out from behind her.

“Leave my friend alone,” she said.

The Reborn jerked her head towards the voice, and turned around completely when she saw the small, feeble looking human. The girl was almost half her own height.

Doleth glanced up while in excruciating pain, her voice was pained and feeble.

“Raijin,” she muttered. “Run!”

But Miko didn’t run. Instead, she took a few steps towards Colviss. Unarmed and unarmored. She was wearing her robes, and held her glowing baton in her hand.

And of course, floating by her side was one of the many antigrav shields, but it wasn’t large or oval. Instead it was about a half meter in diameter, like a buckler. Very much unlike the others, it had a shield face, and it wasn’t held. It floated in the air next to her.

Colviss chuckled at Miko.

“Or what, little human child?” she said.

“Or I will annihilate you,” Miko replied flatly.