"Three..." Kassidy and I bolt out from behind cover just before another vine shoots up from the ground at precisely the spot we were hiding. I turn to face the Throne hall and yell back to Kassidy, "Don't look back, just keep running!"
"Right!" Another deafening roar from the Tyrannus shakes the city as it spots us. I clutch the new core as I use every bit of energy in me to propel me to the front gate of the Throne Hall of Barrenford. With a sickening crunch the ground cracks beneath my feet with each step, no doubt weakened by the massive 4 ton monster to my right, which is steadily growing in proximity. The concrete begins to fall away as I run, and I hear Kassidy scream from behind me.
Whirling around, I see that she's down, and nursing her ankle. From the looks of it, she's likely broken it. Seeing his prey is now injured, the Tyrannus switches targets from me now to Kassidy, and she most likely has moments to live.
"Kassidy!" I scream, and a strange feeling comes over me. I uncontrollably plunge my fingers into the new core. A shock of unimaginably unbearable white hot pain shoots up my arm and fills my whole body. A voice I've never heard fills my brain, yet sounds as familiar as that of my mother's.
"You got to aim the power kid, I can't do everything for you!" In a flash, I understand, and, with the last few seconds of conscious thought I have left, raise my arm and outstretch one of my fingers. The ethereal lightning funnels through my finger and exits in a blast, breaking the sound barrier with a loud crack! as it shoots out. I fall to my knees as I feel my conscious fading, but not before I witness the cosmic lightning strike the beast in the side.
The shot obliterates its armored skin, revealing its steel alloy bones underneath. The still-beating heart of the Tyrannus is now exposed as it falls to the ground, flattening an entire block of the intersection. Curiously, blood doesn't flow from the monster's wound, it merely appears to coagulate at the source of the perforation.
"That... wasn't enough..." I say through labored breathing, and the beast lets out another ear-splitting roar.
"You did the best you could, but you need to get out, Stanley," The voice says again.
"Not. Yet." I take the core in both hands and use all of the strength I have left to crush it in my hands. Again, the white hot pain shoots through my body, this time the pain increased at least fivefold.
I attempt to stand, but my muscles won't move. So this is how I die. Not too shabby, I've had a pretty alright life so far...
Wait, no, fuck that. I haven't even come close to my ultimate goal. I WILL unify the universe by any means necessary, and I refuse to die before that happens. With a final surge of power, I extend my hand forwards, aiming my palm at the heart between the monster's ribs.
"For the true order of the universe." A concentrated pulse of electricity shoots from my open palm that is about the size of a mortar shell and rockets into the Tyrannus at an unbelievable speed. I watch as the oversized lizard's entire body instantly cooks from the electricity in a matter of milliseconds.
I lay back, and feel myself blacking out in what is becoming a concerningly familiar feeling. The stardust-fueled power seeping through me appears to quell as my eyes flutter closed.
Hours later, I wake up, and am surprised to find that neither I nor Kassidy, who is nearly 20 snaps to my right, are covered in vines or other such flora. In fact, the vines covering the Throne hall and the trees in the immediate area have all appeared to have wilted, no doubt owed to the fact that the new core was crushed in the spot that I'm laying in. However, unfortunately for the rich fools of Stenia, this country cannot be recovered without a working core.
I manage to stumble my way over to Kassidy, who appears to have passed out in shock. I gently shake her awake, and, to my relief, she slowly opens her eyes. "Hey," She smiles, "That was pretty... elegant... seems like you got a knack for it."
"Well, I don't exactly plan to make a habit of fighting these things, let alone anything for that matter..." I look into her emerald eyes and sigh. "But thank you, I appreciate it."
Minutes later, a coalition transport flies overhead. A corpsman introduces himself to us as Lieutenant Grimm and ushers us inside his ship. I direct the man to where the Llamrei is parked and he begins to fly us there.
"Wow," He whistles as we fly over the cooked weapon of war, "Something must've hit that real hard. You got any idea what it was? Coalition can't have that kind of power left unchecked, you understand?"
"Of course," I nod, "A uncivilized abuse of that kind of power would be... catastrophic for an un-unified star system." It's a good thing that power was in good hands.
Lieutenant Grimm sets us down at the Llamrei and he allows us to leave, but not before having me sign about a dozen papers and statements, which essentially were giving my formal acknowledgement that the anti-creation coalition had nothing to do with this incident, nor will they reimburse any persons for harm that might have been caused to them following it. Standard government bullshit, I suppose. Finally, I'm freed of paperwork when the officer leaves to call a higher-up, and I get aboard the Llamrei, which has thankfully been left unscathed by the whole incident, and escape to Eagle I's orbit.