Wind screamed across the broken towers of Heavenhold, a floating ruin suspended in orbit by forgotten quantum hymns. The city swayed with celestial decay — columns made of crystal bones, streets paved in memory-stone, and sky-whales circling overhead like mourning songs.
RAID-13 landed with a sonic quake, Sovereign Red shedding its atmospheric wings with molten grace. Talis and Veyra dropped beside him — one wide-eyed, the other already scanning threats.
"Welcome to the Sky Choir," Talis whispered. "Dead gods above, dying angels below."
RAID's voice echoed through the plaza. "Sounds like my kind of opera. Let's burn the stage."
Ambush from the Choir Blades
They didn't make it ten steps before the Celestials came.
Gilded war-forms with halos made of serrated glass. Spear-wielding enforcers of the Divine Concord, an empire that ruled this dimension before it collapsed. Now, they hunted anomalies to appease their sleeping lords.
The leader floated in, radiant wings of data-threads blazing.
"RAID-13. The anomaly that sings in war. You will not blaspheme here."
RAID smirked. "Blasphemy? Please. I'm the choir solo."
He activated Sovereign Red's Celestial Buster Frame — a glowing second form forged for high-orbit combat. Wings spread. Blades extended. The fight began.
Combat in the Skies
Talis provided ground support, hacking floating towers to bend gravity in their favor. Veyra deployed stolen Concord tech, creating chaos-field bubbles midair. The battlefield twisted like a kaleidoscope.
RAID unleashed carnage:
Mech-to-mech midair ballet with plasma daggers.
Dodging orbiting debris as spears of faith rained down.
Countering divine hymns with distortion cannons.
The Celestial Captain clashed blades with RAID high above the storm. "You desecrate holy ground."
RAID pressed his forehead to the enemy's.
"I am the storm that breaks the psalms."
Then he shoved the captain into a collapsing spire of crystal.
The Eye of the Song
In the heart of Heavenhold was the Canticle Core, a pulsating relic of divine AI left behind by the gods. It sang code — literally. One wrong line and you'd rewrite your DNA.
Talis warned, "This place can erase us."
RAID responded, "Then we hit mute before it solos."
Inside, they encountered Amaryth, the fallen Archvoice — a mech-goddess corrupted by eternity, locked in endless musical recursion. Her voice could crack stars.
She turned her gaze on RAID.
"Sing with me. Die with me."
RAID cracked his knuckles. "Sorry, I only duet with destruction."
What followed was a mind-bending boss fight:
Floating platforms.
Waves of sound-based attacks.
Switching mech frames mid-fight to counter frequencies.
Veyra and Talis alternating between support and sabotage.
In the climax, RAID synced Sovereign Red to Amaryth's frequency — then overloaded it.
The Archvoice screamed and disintegrated in a pulse of refracted light.
A New Throne
RAID stood at the Canticle Core. The city trembled. It wanted a new master.
Talis stepped forward. "You gonna take it?"
RAID stared at the golden command matrix. "I didn't come here to kneel."
He reprogrammed the Core — not to rule, but to broadcast rebellion across the multiverse.
Veyra smiled. "That's dangerously poetic."
He turned. "I'm full of surprises. And explosives."
As the Sky Choir crumbled behind them, the next waypoint blinked into the sky: a molten rift labeled "Exile Eden."
RAID rolled his shoulders.
"Next verse."