Hido and his remaining soldiers fought tooth and nail against the advancing Delta robots, their Abi-charged spears flashing with light as they pierced through metal plating and mechanical limbs.
"Get the civilians out!" Hido roared, lunging forward to impale a Delta through its chest. Sparks exploded as it collapsed, twitching on the ground.
Another soldier vaulted over a pile of wreckage, planting his spear into a Delta's optic core. "Go, go, go!"
A soldier bolted towards Hido, Lanni's boyfriend and captain if the Zoner Soldier unit.
Soldier Hina "Captain Hido, enemy combatant spotted headed in our direction?"
Hido with a firm look "Whose the target?"
Hina "An Elder."
Dread ran through the soldiers. Hido stoic as ever threw a punch at the air "Elder or no Elder, we soldiers kneel to noone, will all take her on at once if we have too."
Inspired by Hidos words, the began shouting war chants.
A line of terrified Zoners stumbled through the smog and rubble, guided by soldiers toward the cliffs and narrow alleyways. They were bloody, barefoot, and exhausted, but alive.
For a moment, hope flickered.
Then the air shifted.
The soldiers stopped moving, their instincts screaming. A heavy, suffocating presence pressed down on the battlefield, colder and heavier than even Sephiss' ideology or Fanok's reversal. It felt like authority itself had taken form.
And then She stepped forward.
Clad in flowing onyx robes, Elder Avastmas walked calmly into the fray. Her posture was relaxed. Her eyes glimmered like the gaze of a woman who already knew the outcome.
Where she waked the gray sky followed.
The Delta units stopped firing. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.
Hido planted his spear in the ground, pointing it directly at the elder. "You're an Elder."
Avastmas nodded. "Yes... I am Elder Avastmas.
"Don't think we're afraid to fight you just because of your rank," Hido spat. "We are trained soldiers, and we are ready to die for our people."
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Avastmas smiled faintly. "That is good to hear. Nobody likes bullies. But tell me..." She looked lazily at the spears clutched in their hands "do you truly believe those toys can harm me?"
Hido tightened his grip. "I think mine can."
"Ah... men," Avastmas sighed, shaking his head. "Always overconfident in their abilities."
With a flick of his wrist, a heavy tome materialized in his hand. Its cover was bound in violet leather, its pages breathing with strange, pulsating light.
The soldiers froze. "What... is that?"
"An art?" one asked.
"No," Avastmas said softly. "This is Saquan's Penalty. It is a Philo."
Hido frowned. "Never heard of it."
The soldiers tightened their circle, spears aimed, Abi flaring.
Avastmas glanced at them with an almost parental warmth. "I'll give you one chance. Put your weapons down, kneel before me, and submit..." Her smile curled into something darker. "...and be my femboys. Or suffer the consequences."
Hido chuckled, lowering his spear just a fraction. "If I kneel to you, that'd be cheating. I only kneel to one woman, and that's my sweet Lanni."
Avastmas' eyes glimmered. "Oh... romantic, are we? The fearless captain and the leader of the Zoner Knights."
"Yeah," Hido said proudly. "That's my lady."
"I see. And from what I observe..." Vastmas gestured lazily to the soldiers around him. "...you are a charismatic man. These men follow you."
"I'm their captain. That's to be expected."
Avastmas turned her gaze to the soldiers. "Is this true? Do you follow this man?"
"You better believe it," one of them barked. "He's more of a leader than your treacherous king will ever be."
Vastmas chuckled softly. "Dogs always wish to eat at the table... perhaps we've given you too many crumbs."
Hido sneered. "I'm gonna pretend you didn't just spew that garbage. 'Inferior'? My ass. Hiding behind robots and delusions of superiority. You royals don't know a damn thing about real ingenuity, that comes from being an empathetic human."
"Too much electro in their brains," one soldier muttered. "Damn cyborgs."
Avastmas tilted her head, unbothered. "Saquan..." her whispered, flipping a page. "...Dom."
The air snapped.
Hido raised his spear, turning to his men. "Alright! On my mark, we charge at once. Keep striking until she's down!"
"YES, CAPTAIN!" they shouted, the cry echoing with courage.
Hido roared, "ATTACK!"
The soldiers surged forward as one, a wall of steel and Abi.
Then came the sound.
SCHHHHHKK—
Not the sound of metal against flesh.
But the sound of flesh tearing flesh.
The world went silent.
Hido's breath caught. His body jerked.
He looked down.
Half a dozen spears were jutting through his chest, driven not by Delta robots... but by his own soldiers.
He staggered, choking on blood. "W... what... why?"
Their faces were blank. Their eyes, lifeless. Their hands trembling, but not resisting.
Avastmas stepped forward slowly, serene and smiling. "Because I am Dom Mommy. There is no other."
Hido collapsed to his knees. Blood dripped from his mouth, staining the earth red. He thought of Lanni, her smile, her laugh, the way she called him idiot when he burnt breakfast. And then he thought no more.
The captain of the Zoner soldiers was gone.
Avastmas turned to the men still clutching their blood-soaked spears. "Power moves from one vessel to another. People are fickle things, most have no true core. They drift wherever the dominant wind blows."
She gestured upward. "And I... I am the sky. I am commander. I am chief. It is my philosophy that those who are superior will always lead and dominate. You were inferior, Hido. That is why you were never fit to lead."
She extended a hand to the soldiers, now kneeling, their eyes shining with submissive devotion.
"Shall we?"
"Yes, Mother," they whispered in unison.
And they followed her, spears dripping with the blood of the man they once called captain.
To be continued...