Chapter 69: The Fight for Family
An unprecedented chaos erupted at the military base in Cavite. What was once a disciplined facility filled with training soldiers and quiet offices had transformed into a devastating battlefield that threatened to level the entire complex.
The air was thick with flying debris and acrid smoke, the ground trembling under the thunderous collision of their powers. The shouts of Indang and General Apyong echoed like a brewing storm, punctuated by the sharp crack of shattering concrete and the roar of explosions.
"Let's begin, child!" Apyong shouted, his voice calm yet reinforced with steely courage.
As he spoke, twenty giant armored hands—massive iron weapons standing nearly ten feet tall—encircled him, ready to deflect or strike at a moment's notice. These hands hovered in the air, moving with the fluid precision of living weapons.
"No, let's end this, old man!" Indang retorted. Her eyes burned with a literal fire of rage, and blue electricity danced across her skin like living serpents. She was no longer the ordinary woman, Adelina; she was now the personification of the Filipino people's collective grief and defiance. Every fiber of her energy radiated a desperate, furious need to protect her family.
Indang struck first. Moving at a speed the eye could barely track—like a blue bolt of lightning—she lunged forward. Her launch left a massive crater in the pavement, sending chunks of earth and dust flying.
Apyong immediately commanded five of his giant hands to intercept her, their movements as solid as iron walls. Each punch Indang landed against the "Iron Arms" caused massive structural damage to the armor. The sound of clashing metal was like rolling thunder, sending shards of steel whistling through the air.
The energy required to sustain the defense made Apyong's wheelchair hum with power. However, the sheer output caused his body to tremble. Sweat poured down his face, his eyes narrowed in intense concentration.
"Incredible... she shows no sign of fatigue. This is beyond a typical Sugo!" Apyong whispered to himself, his voice tinged with a mix of awe and fear. He knew from their previous encounter that she was a formidable opponent, but now, fueled by the attack on her family, Indang was like a lioness prepared to sacrifice everything for her cubs.
Seeing Apyong successfully parry her initial assault, Indang's fury deepened. "Your toys are sturdier than they look, old man. You're starting to get on my nerves."
She spun in mid-air and delivered a devastating kick to one of the iron arms, sending it crashing into a nearby building. The impact caused the structure to shudder, cloaking the area in thick dust and debris. Soldiers nearby fled in terror; they were helpless, as their bullets simply bounced off Indang's skin.
"Don't hide behind these scraps of metal, Apyong! Face me and tell me where those Spanish demons are!" Indang roared, her aura so intense it threatened to shatter the surrounding windows.
"We are not enemies, Indang! If I tell you Don Felidemo's location, it will only bring greater disaster upon the people of Cavite!" Apyong countered, maneuvering his wheelchair rapidly to evade her follow-up strikes.
Indang continued her lightning-fast assault, her movements accompanied by the sonic boom of her speed. Apyong found it nearly impossible to mount a counter-offensive, as she left him no room to breathe.
"Lies! You're just protecting your own skin and your Spanish masters!" Indang screamed.
Deciding to change her tactics, she manifested large magic circles in the air. These blue rings of energy glowed brilliantly above her, producing dozens of orbs that looked like spheres of contained lightning.
She unleashed these energy balls against the iron arms. Upon impact, the sheer heat began to melt the thick metal. She rained down fire upon the building where Apyong was positioned. Slowly, even his most fortified defenses began to buckle under the raw, concentrated energy.
"Surprised? That's right—Spain never taught you about the second level of the Sugo state. You know nothing about true combat."
The building began to crumble, and fires spread to adjacent structures. Soldiers tried to contain the blaze, but the thick smoke made it impossible. Desperate to land a finishing blow, Indang's erratic energy discharge destroyed military vehicles and brought down power poles, leaving wounded soldiers calling for help in the ruins.
Realizing he couldn't stay stationary, the General took flight to gain distance, but Indang pursued him relentlessly. Seeing the widespread destruction, Apyong knew he had to escalate his own power, or more soldiers would die.
"Forgive me, Indang, but I must do this!" Apyong muttered. He commanded all twenty of his iron arms to strike simultaneously.
"Hand of Destruction!"
The shields on the giant hands turned a deep, obsidian black, each possessing the weight to crush anything in its path. Their synchronized punches created massive craters and a series of explosive shockwaves.
Indang met the attack head-on, her body becoming more agile and faster than the weapons themselves. Apyong watched in disbelief as she dodged, parried, and countered, shattering the iron hands one by one.
Meanwhile, Romeo was in transit when he received urgent reports of the chaos at the base. The reports described a woman with superhuman strength and blue energy—the Sugo, Indang.
"What is her goal in attacking the base itself?" Romeo wondered, his heart filled with dread for Apyong. He ordered his men to drive directly into the fray. "Why is she doing this?!"
He called Peter immediately. "Ready the first squad! We're heading to the Cavite base now!"
"Yes, General! Should I call in all units?" Peter asked frantically.
"We don't know the scale yet. Just bring whoever is ready."
Back at the base, the final seven of Apyong's twenty iron arms were finally pulverized. He sat defenseless. The mental strain of controlling so many metallic limbs had pushed his brain to its absolute limit.
"Please, Indang! Don't throw your life away for the sake of anger!" Apyong pleaded, his voice sounding like a worried father.
"I'm not throwing it away! I'm fighting for the people you failed to protect!" Indang replied, her voice like a clap of thunder. She unleashed a massive burst of energy that shattered the remaining iron arms like glass.
With the General's defenses gone, Indang saw her opening. She lunged, her fist cocked back to end the fight. "Let's finish this!"
But just as her fist was about to connect, a new iron arm erupted from the ground to block her. This arm was different—it wasn't armored, but made of pure gold, radiating energy as bright as the sun.
Indang jumped back to regain her footing. "You still have strength left, old man? Why won't you just give up?"
Apyong was gasping for air, his hands shaking. "I can't keep this up much longer," he thought. He looked at Indang and spoke aloud: "I won't tell you where he is, not because I'm a traitor, but to protect Cavite from Spanish retaliation! If you kill him, thousands of Filipinos will die in payment for your crime!"
"Liar! You're just trying to scare me into stopping!" Indang screamed, her energy still flaring like an unquenchable fire.
Apyong sighed, looking at the devastation—the ruins, the smoke, and the cries of the wounded. "Indang! Stop this, while there is still a chance!"
Indang didn't listen. She prepared for another strike. But suddenly, Apyong released a final, massive surge of aura. Twenty more metal arms emerged, but Indang tore through them with ease, destroying each one with a single blow.
"My attacks are useless against her," Apyong realized. Just then, his golden arm burst through a wall and managed to grab Indang. He slammed her into a building, causing a massive explosion of dust.
Apyong hoped that would stop her, but the floor of the building exploded outward. Indang emerged, having shattered the Golden Hand—the General's strongest weapon. The gold had been melted and crushed by her pure energy.
"Did you really think that would catch me? Do you underestimate me that much?" Indang asked. She explained that through her "Spirit Bound" state, she didn't even need specific abilities—she could use her energy as a raw weapon. She punched the air, and the resulting force sent Apyong and his wheelchair tumbling across the ground.
Indang walked toward him, mocking his weakness. "Looks like you used everything you had on that last move, old man."
Apyong's wheelchair self-righted, helping him back into his seat. He looked at her with profound sadness. "You're right. I know I've lost this fight." He admitted his limitations—he wasn't a hand-to-hand warrior. If his metal arms failed, he had nothing left.
"Then surrender and tell me where that animal Felidemo is!" Indang demanded.
Apyong raised his right hand in surrender. "Fine. You win. But I won't give you what you want, even if you kill me."
Indang prepared to strike, but before she could, a swarm of balisong (butterfly knives) flew between them, forming a giant, metallic peacock tail that shielded Apyong.
Indang felt a presence behind her. Before she could react, an arm wrapped around her neck, tripped her, and slammed her into the concrete with enough force to leave a crater.
It was Romeo, now in his Sugo form of Batangas. His body was wreathed in energy, his eyes cold and serious. Indang kicked him away and stood up, stunned. "How did I not sense him? My protection didn't even register a threat."
Romeo's balisong swirled around her like a flock of birds. "Tch, another dog of Spain," Indang spat.
"General Apyong told me the weakness of your ability," Romeo said firmly. "I don't think it will work on me anymore."
"You think you can fight me while hiding behind knives?" Indang challenged.
"Is that what you think?" Romeo released a massive aura. Thousands of balisong coalesced into a Giant Knight—a twenty-foot-tall figure of blade-armored steel that cast a shadow over the entire base.
Indang hesitated. Her "buff" was about to run out, and her power would be limited within three minutes.
"Enough, Indang. It's over," Apyong said tiredly.
"I can kill you both in two minutes if I want!" Indang yelled, though her confidence was wavering.
"I believe you could," Apyong said gently. "But I also know you won't. Not because you can't, but because you aren't a bad person."
Indang stomped her foot. "Your sweet words won't work! I have a purpose—to protect my family and my town! If you won't do it, I will!"
Apyong closed his eyes and apologized again. He admitted that as Governor-General, he felt helpless. "We tried to arrest him, but the central government ordered his release. If I refuse, they will replace me with a Spaniard who will be far more cruel to Cavite."
He pointed to Romeo. "The General of Batangas also tried to pursue the case. Like you, he wants Felidemo punished. But it isn't simple."
Romeo's energy faded as his anger cooled. "You're from Kawit. You know the evil the Spaniards have done there. I don't have a personal vendetta like you do, but as a general, I want the law upheld. But violence isn't the only answer here."
"You're generals and you're this useless?" Indang mocked. "If you can't jail one Spaniard, who can you help? I'll do it myself to bring peace back to Kawit."
Apyong explained the terrifying reality: "The Filipinos are safe because I protect them. The moment you kill a high-ranking Spaniard, the Viceroy will declare Kawit a terrorist zone and send the army to kill everyone—guilty or innocent."
Romeo added, "The Viceroy is a madman. He's done it in Pampanga and Manila. He executes innocent Filipinos just to draw out rebels. If you kill Felidemo, he will round up the people of Kawit and hang them as bait to find you."
Indang's eyes filled with tears. "You want me to stay quiet while my family is in danger? You all turned a blind eye when my family died years ago. I became an orphan because of people like you. I won't let it happen again!"
She jumped onto a rooftop, looking down at Romeo. "Don't stop us. We just want to live."
Romeo couldn't find the words to stop her. He felt a profound pity; he knew she was right, yet he was powerless against the political machine of the Spanish crown. Indang leaped away into the distance.
Apyong looked at the ground. "There are things that require great courage to sacrifice, and unfortunately, the people of Kawit are among them."
Romeo scoffed in disappointment. "Is this really all we can do for them?"
"We have no choice," Apyong said sadly. "We cannot protect everyone."
End of Chapter