The jungle screamed.
Amazonia burned as if the world's soul had awakened suddenly and did so with fury.
The armored beasts and humanoids reinforced with nanotechnology, guided by Godric and Makia, clashed against the rebel soldiers and archangels who had betrayed the Empire. Explosions mixed with roars. It was a symphony of chaos, of steel and blood, of screams crossing the jungle like invisible blades.
And amid all that war storm… judgment descended.
Dravus Noxaurum Blackgold.
Like an incarnate meteor, he leaped from his colossal ship with red cape in the wind and green eyes like the heart of a sick sun. His black armor seemed to pulse. His energy was comparable to nothing that had stepped on Amazonia before.
An incarnate lightning bolt, Dravus ran toward everything that dared stand in his path, pulverizing enemy and allied lines alike. He had no allies. Only objective.
The battle continued. But Godric, knowing that was disaster's core, slipped between the lines. He reached his destination. He raised his weapon. The war hawks.
He fired.
But it wasn't enough.
With a single blow, Dravus knocked him out.
A dry, brutal, almost silent impact. Godric, the Interim Monarch General, fell like a broken statue.
Dravus didn't even stop to look.
There was something more important.
He disappeared for an instant, and when he manifested again, it was right before Sofia.
Without time for her to raise her hands, he knocked her out, took her by her garments with one hand, as if she were an empty garment, and threw her into the sky. A figure's silhouette received her above.
An officer with pink hair, long and straight, blue eyes and command armor.
"Objective secured," he said with a dry, mechanical voice.
And Sofia was taken to the colossal ship.
Makia screamed.
Ian saw the scene and paled. His energy trembled.
"SOFIA!!" Brenda roared, running desperately. Arjun followed her. Eldar, Thorgar, everyone. Like a stampede of broken hearts.
But the platform awaited them with more horror.
Aralim the Throne of golden armor.
He had become a creature with three cyclopean eyes that opened like cosmic maws full of fangs. Upon opening, they began to absorb everything in their path.
"Damn it!" Eldar shouted, sinking his claws into the earth to avoid being dragged. "Brenda, no…!"
Brenda ran with everything, but the pressure was abysmal.
Aralim was taking her.
Above the ship, the silhouette of the pink-haired officer left Sofia on the platform.
And her body… vanished.
Absorbed into the ship as if she had merged with its core.
Dravus's objective was clear.
Sofia.
And no one knew why.
"GIVE HER BACK!" Ian shouted, maddened, his gaze bursting with desperation. "I SAID GIVE ME BACK SOFIA!!"
The officer observed him, without blinking.
"That won't be possible."
Ian frowned, teeth clenched.
Makia, at his side.
"I swear…" Ian growled, with trembling voice. "I swear by everything that remains in this world…
If you don't give me back Sofia…
I'll kill you."
"That won't be possible," the officer repeated.
Ian roared:
"GIVE HER BACK!!!"
…
A few meters away, Godric's body floated unconscious, being dragged by Aralim's eyes.
Thorgar, witness to the scene, paralyzed between two loyalties.
His duty as Monarch Captain of Kraven's squadron?
His loyalty oath?
Or his heart that trembled seeing a friend and companion fall?
His soul chose for him.
"GODRIC NO!" he roared, and without thinking, he leaped to take Godric's body to save him.
Brenda and Eldar kept being dragged, their feet scratching the ground.
"Tactical Weapon! Primary Flow!" Brenda shouted.
And from her arms, emerged cords of living energy, interwoven by nanotechnology. One anchored to the ground. Another to a tree. Anchoring herself, stopping.
"Eldar!" she shouted, and Eldar held onto one of the cords. Both resisting.
But Dravus… didn't move.
The eye's pressure did absolutely nothing to him. His red cape billowed as if it were artificial wind.
And just when Thorgar lifted Godric, still unconscious…
Dravus appeared before him.
"…You won't, traitor," he whispered.
And with a single slash, he severed his head.
The world stopped.
Brenda screamed in panic.
Eldar froze.
Thorgar, Monarch Captain… had been murdered like an insect.
Godric's body fell into the mud. Without containment. Released.
Aralim's absorption swallowed him.
Eldar managed to catch him in the air, but Aralim's eye pulled them forcefully. They couldn't hold on anymore.
And in his mind… only one thought crossed.
"If I don't do it, we're going to die."
Brenda, trapped.
Eldar, suspended.
Ian, maddened.
Sofia, captured.
And before everyone…
Dravus.
The monster the sky should never have spit out.