Threads of the Soul

Chapter 509 - 509: A Surprise, but a Welcome one

Below the chaos in the sky and the battle of gods, a collection of scientists, soldiers and civilians crawled out of the ground. They exited through a hidden door beneath the Sphinx, or what was left of it after Neptune's grand arrival.They coughed and heaved from the desperate effort that had caused them to clamber up the hidden tunnel with such speed. Some of them immediately collapsed to the ground and showed servile gratitude to the sand beneath their feet, as if it was their true saviour.

An action that caused Bob, who was currently spreading his possession across the majority of the sand beneath them, to finally understand the human emotion of awkwardness.

However while some of them were being over dramatic or simply showing the joy of being able to live in their own special ways, some of them were focused on the conflict looming high above them.

Some looked on with awe, others with fear and some began to worship those figures once they were done kissing the sand. But one particular woman, a woman only known as Scientist 18, looked in utter confusion as she focused on the colossal knight that had just appeared.

"That's... that's one of my prototypes. Another one of my precious Magi-mechs has been stolen. But... That one's not supposed to be ready yet. It's not even close" She muttered to herself, but it was loud enough to garner the attention of some of those nearby.

"What do you mean not ready?" A man called Guard 12 asked, "Looks pretty ready to me! It's kicking that guy's ass!"

"Maybe... And while that is still great to see. I never got the chance to fix the controls. They are the prototype, not the armour. Whoever is controlling that has to be physically wired into it, like the brain of an active nervous system. Imagine every single sensation in your body, then imagine you feel it all at the same times, one a second every second, with every single sensation turned up to 11.

Every injury the armour receives, the pilot feels it as if it is their own. Worse than their own, in fact.

In short... it's nothing but absolute agony. Hell on earth, was what one of the test pilots said after just a few seconds of using it. It was never meant to be used to this capacity. "

The others nearby gulped nervously and looked towards the knight already imagining the literal torture he was putting himself through just to fight this god-like stranger. Whoever the pilot was, they were either incredibly resilient or just a complete and utter idiot. Perhaps even both, with a dash of bravery to go with it.

***

Neptune's face twisted with impudent rage as he constantly weaved around the persistent slashes of the colossal knight. Runes engraved on the swords flat glowed briefly with one of the many swings and, as Neptune leaned out of the way of it, an arc of solid light launched from the sword's edge.

The crescent slash flew forwards, cleaving deep into the leg of Neptune's borrowed body and carving away half of the leg bone. Blood spewed out immediately, followed by a grunt of pain and irritation from the Sea god.

But even still, all while dodging this annoying new introduction, Neptune kept the majority of his attention on the true danger present. Astra hung in the air, able to properly move without losing control of her body, as she watched this knight hack at the air and cut down the legion of Pegusi defending Neptune.

However even with him out in the open half of the time now, and poorly hidden the rest. Astra made no move to fire. Instead she grit her teeth, as she tried to coax and kite Neptune to the perfect kill zone with more bolts of lightning.

The colossal knight glanced at Astra as she was frozen with indecision, waiting for the ideal time to fire her single devastating blow, and came to a decision of their own. The knight cleaved their blade through the air, swinging it in a wide arc. Only for them to suddenly let go of the blade at the half way mark.

It flew from the knights grip, shooting forwards with its momentum like a javelin, straight towards Neptune, as the runes on the blade glowed brightly and its edge gained a shimmering, solid light.

Neptune leapt to the side, kicking the flat of the sword with his good leg, in a desperate attempt to send the sword flying away from him just for good measure. But an explosion was not the knights tactic.

As their sword bounced uselessly across the sand, the Knight lunged forwards. Following close behind their thrown sword and reaching out, so that Neptune dodged himself right into the outstretched hand of the knight.

They immediately clamped their fingers closed and pressed Neptune to their chest, crushing him into a bear hug against the reinforced chest of the Knightly Magi-mech.

The Sea-god struggled against the crushing hug, his arms trying to wriggle free the best he could. But even with mana pouring into them, he couldn't do anything with them without the right space to move.

"DO IT! FIRE IT NOW! DON'T BOTHER TRYING TO MISS ME, JUST DO IT! KILL HIM!"

The Knight shouted, his voice echoing and tinny, as he turned his body to face Astra before planting his feet into the ground. He tilted himself back, giving her the perfect angle for blasting the both of them into oblivion with one single strike.

As Astra shifted the energy in her palm, rapidly building it up for a devastating strike, the face plate of the knights helmet let out a soft hiss as it tilted open.

Neptune stopped struggling for a moment, looking into the darkness of the helmet before his face twisted with disgusted rage.

"You?!" He sputtered, trying to wriggle himself free even more furiously, but the pilot just squeezed him tighter, even to the point that the metal bent around Neptune.

"The one and only." Alfie replied with a wheeze and a soft chuckle that quickly turned to him hacking up a lungful of blood. Three gaping wounds were still visible on his chest as a trio of crimson rivers gushed from the wounds.

Alfie's face was completely paled, his eyes sunken and black around the edges. Yet even with his teeth stained red from his constant bloody coughing fits, he still grinned like a mania as the beam of annihilating light descended upon them straight from the hands of the Star-child.