Realizing this fight had to be finished as soon as possible, Zara nodded to the others before dashing forward towards the mourning warrior. The other followed closely behind.
In an instant, the remaining Entil warrior vanished from her place, reappearing in a blur of movement right in the middle of the charging Imperators. The world around her seemed to slow, every second stretching out as she moved with incomprehensible speed. The Imperators could perceive her, tracking her blurred figure with razor-sharp senses honed by countless battles, but their bodies couldn't keep up. They were frozen in the air, caught mid-stride as she wove between them like a shadow.
With an effortless, lethal grace, she swung her blade in a wide, sweeping arc. In that heartbeat of slowed time, the edge of her weapon seemed to slice through space itself, flashing with a blinding cyan glow as it bisected each of the Imperators in a single, fluid motion. Her strike was so precise, so unfathomably swift, that their armored bodies barely registered the wound.
Less than a second passed. The Entil warrior was already behind them, her blade lowered as she came to a halt. The Imperators hit the ground, each of them severed cleanly, collapsing in stunned silence. For the first time, the elite warriors of the Federation tasted a rare feeling they hadn't known in a century—an echo of mortality.
Zara steadied herself on her half-formed leg a slop of half formed muscles and tendons, ignoring the pain as she raised her gun with fierce resolve.
She hadn't drawn her firearm in decades; it was a last resort meant only for adversaries that pushed her—and her team—to their very limits. With a grim determination, she aimed at the Entil twin, her plasma rounds searing through the air as she squeezed the trigger.
Each shot exploded on impact, bursts of superheated energy tearing into the spot where the Entil had stood. But the twin was faster than even Zara's plasma rounds, flickering in and out of view, leaving only smoldering craters in her wake as she dodged each blast with near-supernatural agility.
The twin finally halted, a few steps away, watching with calm intensity as the Imperators struggled to rise. Her gaze lingered on their incomplete forms—half-formed legs and torsos regrowing at a sluggish pace. Zara and the others could feel the Entil's eerie, composed aura, her masked face tilted in a way that seemed to mock their efforts, a silent declaration of her superiority.
"Zara! Its an awakened!", Nate screamed, waiting for his body to regenerate before getting off the floor. "With the two of them together their overall magic was weak, but now that one twin is dead the other got her magic enhanced!"
Zara gritted her teeth, this was the second time she had been completely overwhelmed by the power of an Awakened. Even a century of training and genetic engineering could barely keep up with the power of those blessed by the divine realm.
The Imperators reformed themselves as quickly as their bodies allowed, steam and raw energy crackling as muscles knitted back together and bones restructured. They knew what they were facing now: an Awakened whose power had surged with her sister's death, and they felt the weight of the disadvantage. Yet they refused to falter. If they couldn't match her speed alone, they would overwhelm her together.
"Stick close and don't hold back," Zara commanded, her gaze fierce. She fired another round of plasma, deliberately wide, the blast reverberating through the metallic room as it streaked past the Entil's head. The twin shifted her stance in response, her mask tilting toward Zara, eyes gleaming with the recognition of a feint. But it was too late—she had taken the bait.
In an instant, the Imperators charged, each of them closing in from a different angle with blinding speed. Kato lunged, fist clenched, his blow connecting with the Entil's shoulder, denting her armor as she staggered. Ji and Sia moved in a synchronized dance, their strikes tearing into her defenses and keeping her moving.
But each hit seemed only to fuel her speed; she weaved through the attacks, evading one strike, deflecting another, until her motions seemed like a blur of shadows dancing around the Imperators.
The entire room trembled under the intensity of their battle, metallic walls buckling and crumbling as strikes missed and slammed into steel.
Zara, from the periphery, continued to unleash powerful blasts, each one aimed to cut off the Entil's escape routes. The twin's mask caught the light of an explosion, revealing eyes filled with a deadly calm, a confidence that only enraged the Imperators further.
The Entil darted between them, moving as if they were statues, only to reappear in the center of their formation. She threw her hands out in an arc, releasing an energy shockwave that sent all four Imperators crashing back, slamming into walls and leaving craters in the metal.
But they rose, battered yet unyielding, ready to meet her once again.
"She still doesn't have much experience with her magic!", Nate screamed." Get her now!"
The Imperators surged forward with a wild, unrestrained fury, abandoning their usual disciplined precision. This was not the calculated force of elite soldiers but something primal—anger unleashed after countless battles, an all-consuming drive to tear down the enemy who had pushed them to the edge.
Kato led the charge, his eyes blazing with an intensity that even the psychoindoctrination couldn't subdue. With a roar, he lunged at the Entil, smashing her into the wall with a force that rattled the entire chamber. The impact fractured her mask, a jagged crack splitting it down the middle. Bits of the ceramic-like armor shattered, exposing part of her face. Cyan blood seeped from her brow, trickling down to reveal high, sharp cheekbones and eyes that gleamed with barely contained rage—a hauntingly alien beauty, strangely delicate and yet hardened by battle.
For the first time, her calm facade wavered, a glimmer of panic flickering in her eyes. This was no longer a one-sided slaughter; the Imperators, with sheer tenacity, had shaken her.
Zara and Ji took advantage of her momentary lapse, attacking from both sides.
Zara swung her weapon with brutal force, carving deep gouges in the Entil's shoulder armor, while Ji lashed out with precise, furious strikes that punctured her defenses.
Sia's ferocity knew no bounds—she lunged, biting down on the Entil's arm with a savage intensity, teeth piercing through her armor, as if she were more beast than soldier.
The Entil staggered under their onslaught, her composure shattered. She raised her arms defensively, attempting to deflect their blows, but every strike brought her closer to the edge, every wound eroded her aura of invincibility.
She snarled, backing up as Kato delivered another bone-crushing blow that splintered her armor further. For the first time, her eyes showed true fear as she realized this group of unyielding warriors might actually bring about her end.
The Entil warrior's breathing was ragged, her once-graceful movements now frantic, animalistic. She had fought like one cornered, sweeping through the Imperators in a last desperate flurry, she targeted the one that did the most damage to her.
At an unfathomable speed that destroyed the armor around her legs, her blade cleaving through Kato with such brutal force that it shattered his skull, leaving a splattered mess. His headless body collapsed heavily to the floor, a horrifying silence hanging over the Imperators as they stared,stunned by the brutality of what they had just witnessed.
The Entil caught her breath, barely holding her balance as she prepared to face the others, a flicker of savage satisfaction in her eyes. The Imperators' hesitation told her everything—they understood, at last, that even they were not invincible. And in their shock, she saw a momentary triumph, a glint of fear that made her believe she might actually survive.
But then, just as she began her charge, her momentum halted—an arm shot through her chest from behind. She gasped, her eyes widening in disbelief as she looked down at the blood-soaked arm protruding from her torso, viscera spilling out around it.
She couldn't fathom what had happened, couldn't comprehend the shock that ran through her entire body as she sputtered blood. The arm, brutal and unwavering, wrenched itself free, tearing flesh and organs in its wake.
The warrior's skin paled as life slowly drained from her eyes. The alien crumpled to the ground, lifeless, her eyes fixed in eternal shock and pain.
Behind her stood Sahaad. He was completely unarmored, his bare body covered in a viscous, wet substance that clung to him like a second skin, remnants of the brutal regeneration process he had just endured. His eyes glinted with a cold, unyielding focus, reborn from the mere remnant of his severed head.
His arm was destroyed from brutally tearing through her armor, but his breathing was steady.
The Imperators watched in stunned silence as Sahaad, reborn and relentless, stood tall over the fallen Entil. The fear they had felt moments before evaporated.
"Are you guys okay?", Sahaad asked with concern, his voice was soft and weak as his vocal chords were fixing themselves.
They all nod in silence and slowly move, the fear in their joints now gone.
"We're alright sir.", Sia spoke, "What took you so long to recover?"
"My body was destroyed during the scuffle. I had to regenerate from just a head", Sahaad answered. " It's good everyone is okay, but Kato…".
They gathered around Kato's fallen form, his body still and headless, a sight that felt foreign and unsettling even to them. They'd fought countless battles together, always knowing that regeneration was their safeguard, their defiance against mortality. But Kato…his mind, the spark that anchored his spirit to his body, was gone. Without a brain, there was no regeneration, no return.
Sahaad knelt beside Kato's lifeless body, his expression a mask of stoic sorrow. "Our strength…is our curse, too," he murmured, almost to himself. "We push forward, thinking we're untouchable. But we aren't."
Ji clenched his fists, his usual fire muted as he looked down at his fallen comrade. "The Entil didn't just take one of us. They took a brother."
The room fell into a somber silence, each of them processing the weight of their loss. Kato had been one of the fiercest among them, always the first to charge, the last to retreat. His strength had been the bulwark behind so many victories. But now, his final act had been a silent, unwavering stand against the inevitable.
Zara placed a hand over Kato's heart, her voice barely a whisper. "He'll be remembered in every battle we fight. Every life we take. He's part of us now."
Sahaad's voice was firm, yet held a note of reverence. "Zara, Nate, Sia—take Kato's body back to the ship. Make sure it's done with the honor he deserves. Ji and I will handle the main engine."
Zara and Nate nodded, a somber determination in their eyes. They gently lifted Kato's body, his lifeless form heavy not just with weight but with the gravity of loss. Their silent promise was clear: Kato would be given the respect and remembrance he'd earned in a lifetime of battle.
Turning to Ji, Sahaad gave a resolute nod. "Let's finish this."
The two of them made their way to the main engine room, the walls humming with the latent power of the massive alien vessel. As they entered, they were confronted by intricate machinery unlike anything Federation tech had produced—glowing organic conduits and white, vein-like wiring threaded through the walls, pulsing with a steady rhythm.
Ji glanced over at Sahaad, his usual brash confidence tempered by the weight of their mission. "After this…we make them pay for Kato."
Sahaad's gaze was steely, his voice a quiet vow. "We will. Every one of them."
They set to work, planting the explosive charges around the critical systems. Each placement was methodical, each step a tribute to their fallen brother's memory. As they set the final charge, the hum of the engine fluctuated—a sign that they were close to crippling the ship entirely.
"We've got thirty seconds to clear out," Sahaad said, activating the timer.
They sprinted back toward the exit, each second stretching out as if time itself held its breath. Just as they crossed the threshold, a powerful explosion rocked the engine room, sending a shockwave through the ship. Sahaad and Ji managed to leap clear of the blast radius, the metallic floor beneath them shaking violently as the entire vessel began to destabilize.
"We did it," Ji said breathlessly, glancing back as the organic structure of the ship began to disintegrate. "This is for you, Kato."
Sahaad and Ji sprinted to where they had landed in the ship, ignoring the panicking Entil soldiers and civilians.
Suddenly a great suction force dragged them out of the vessel into deep space.
Sahaad and Ji tumbled through the vacuum, the stars spinning around them. The gaping hole in the alien vessel's hull receded as they hurtled toward the awaiting Federation ship, where Zara and Nate waited, their faces pressed to the observation window.
Thanks to their genetic makeup, Sahaad could survive a few minutes in the open vacuum without any protective gear. A feature he was glad for now that his naked body was being bombarded with cosmic radiation and freezing temperatures.
With instinct honed over decades of battle, the ship's crew activated the grav-pull mechanism, drawing Sahaad and Ji safely into the docking bay.
As the two landed in a crouch, catching their breath, Zara and Nate approached, grim and silent. Between them, laid with utmost care, was Kato's body, a stark reminder of the cost they'd paid for victory. Sia was busy directing the pilot of the ship on where to go from here.
Together, they turned to the observation window. Outside, the Entil ship drifted helplessly, its core visibly destabilizing. The once-mighty vessel, adorned in its revered iconography, had lost all control. As it lost altitude, panels and conduits ripped free, spiraling into space, leaving trails of glowing debris that shimmered like a dying star.
Nate clenched his fist, his jaw tight. "All that's left is the void."
Zara nodded, her expression a mask of resolute anger mixed with deep sorrow. "They may have taken Kato, but we took their strength and their lifeline."
Ji placed a hand on Sahaad's shoulder. "Kato would've wanted us to be here together…to witness this. To know he didn't fall for nothing."
Sahaad's gaze stayed locked on the crippled Entil ship, his eyes flickering with a rare emotion—grief, tinged with a fierce resolve. "No, he didn't. And we'll make sure they all know it."
The Entil vessel's core gave one last, violent shudder, then detonated in a silent, blinding flash. As pieces of the once-mighty ship disintegrated, scattering into the vast emptiness, the Imperators stood united, a silent vow on their lips.
The mission was over. Kato was gone, but his memory would fuel them. And this was only the beginning of their war against the Entil.