by Ross Buzzell
“Sir, my name is Konner Lorian. I am aware that you have soldiers in the city.”
The rear admiral nods.
“That we do. The commissioner is a friend of mine, and if he says you’re good people, you must be good people. You have experience with this guy. What is the breakdown?”
Konner turns to the north corner of the plaza, his finger pointing at the street Xero is currently flying down. He can feel the raw power of the man grow stronger as he grows closer. Their time is running out.
“Xero and Disa’ani will be entering through that corner of the plaza. You and your men will not be able to kill Xero with your weapons, and unless you have a larger arsenal, Disa’ani will more than likely just be slowed down but that will give my team enough time to intervene. The down side is, it WILL bring his attention to your men and women, which will put them in grave danger.”
The rear admiral glances over Konner’s shoulder at the building behind him.
“We are soldiers… like you, son, we are used to getting shot at. Just tell us what you need and we will deliver it.”
Konner follows the military leader’s gaze. Peering into the light spectrum, he sees the energy signatures of the men and women inside the building. As he pans around the plaza, he sees that there are hundreds, if not more, soldiers tucked away just out of sight and waiting to strike.
“I can see them. What kind of weapons do they have?”
“We have everything: rifles, grenade launchers even stinger missiles. We have also been authorized limited airstrikes with unmanned aerial vehicles.”
Konner nods. They certainly are well equipped. Konner glances behind him and sees Emma take off from the top of the building.
“I have a friendly in the skies. Do not shoot anyone above an eight -meter ceiling. Your men should only open fire if I start to lose my footing or give you the signal because I will have an individual on the ground helping me, and most importantly, do not open fire with anything that produces heat or radiation because that will only make them stronger.”
The rear admiral nods in agreement. Konner glances back. He can feel Xero’s energy, and it is so close now it is practically breathing down his neck.
“What will your signal be?”
he asks in a matter of fact tone.
“You will know it when you see it. Sir Xero is getting close. I strongly recommend you retreat to your command center before he sees you.”
Without another word to Konner, the rear admiral turns and begins to walk away. He pulls a radio from under the flap of his pristinely pressed uniform jacket and begins to bark orders into it.
“Remove all spent uranium rounds from your weapons, only traditional armor piercing is permitted. Eye in the sky, do not use incendiaries. Tomahawk missiles only. This needs precision and giving these bastards as little to use against us as possible.”
Konner slowly turns as he feels the air around him darken with an invisible poison that oozes from its source like pus from a festering wound. He feels his armor avoiding absorbing it, letting only untainted radiation through. On the far side of the plaza, Konner sees him glide in. Xero. He hovers over Konner and gradually comes to a stop a few dozen meters away. His body is strong and devoid of any scars or mars on his body whatsoever indicating that he has not been injured in the seven hundred years since he was “split.” Wearing only a pair of pants, which are tattered, and the sheath on his back, which houses the enormous blade he used in the fight against Konner that fateful night, the young warrior keeps his mind strong. He can feel the images and emotions of that night trying to trigger themselves in his mind, but he has a more important task at hand and utilizes his training to keep the effects at bay. Konner slowly takes a few steps towards him as Disa’ani enters the plaza behind him and stands off to the side.
“Xero!”
Konner yells out to him.
“You are a soldier; you are used to the terms of combat. Here are mine. Leave Earth AND Boron and I will let you live. If you stay, sure as the suns circle our world, both you and Disa’ani will die today!”
Konner’s voice is deep as the flames of rage lick at his heart. He forces himself to keep cool as to not make a mistake or lose control. Xero drops from the sky. He lands so hard, the concrete cracks under his feet. Dauntingly, he draws his blade, attempting to intimidate Konner before he slams it into the ground. He leaves it behind him as he takes a few steps towards Konner.
“I accept no terms you can offer me; you have no authority here,”
he growls. This causes Konner to let a tiny portion of the rage within him out. He feels his body temperature rise and he can feel his eyes flare and glow as the stored energy within him seeps towards the surface.
“Thanks to YOU, I am the ruling High King of Boron. You are of that world and you are subject to my rule, Xero Lorian… Now STAND DOWN!”
Konner roars, attempting to intimidate the monster before him. Even though he is responsible for the deaths of countless innocents, Konner, at his core, would rather pacify him peacefully over using force, and Xero, being as strong as he is, only responds to strength.
“You know, the day my brother told me your mother was pregnant with you, I knew you would be a thorn in my side. I should have slit your mother’s throat before she even delivered you, but alas, your father was the High King… the opportunity never presented itself.”
Clearly, Xero is playing a psychological game. Konner sees Disa’ani move from behind his master, slowly trying to flank him. Trying to exploit one weakness Konner knows he has, his tunnel vision. Konner clenches his jaw. He can feel his body beginning to heat up even more, but he keeps his head level.
“Unveiling a revelation like that only works if I did not already know we were blood. My only question is why would you try to destroy the human race? All of the war, the disease, the destruction, and the eons of failure, it can all be traced back to you, can’t it?”
Xero turns his back to Konner and walks back to his blade; Konner keeps his communication open so that his team can hear every word they are speaking to each other. Xero’s fingers wrap themselves around the bone handle of the blade filled with notches and he pulls it from the ground with ease.
“Well, not directly… I had a bit of help from a Titan and a snake. I guess it is just what I do. Unfortunately, every time I tried to make this world fall, some pure-hearted noblest would always get in my way… Until, that is, the Dark Seclusion ripped the weakness from my body, turning me into an immortal perfect weapon.”
He is filibustering, trying to buy time for the flank, but Disa’ani is still just out of range for his team to attack. Konner decides to keep Xero talking.
“You are not immortal, Xero, and today, unless you leave and never return to this world… or our own, then you will experience the same death that you have so monstrously dealt to this world since its creation.”
Xero looks into the sky. His eyes are off Konner for a brief moment, allowing the warrior to glance at Disa’ani. He is getting closer, just a few more steps now. He quickly puts his gaze back on Xero, whose hands are held high into the air.
“How? I have Disa’ani to fight by my side. And you, you have no one; your team has abandoned you, except for that human who can defy gravity. Do you really think she has the power of will to fuse with either of us?”
Konner smirks. Disa’ani is in position.
“Maybe not…”
Konner glances towards the top of the skyscraper near them, the one his team is perched on.
“But every once in a while, a miracle drops right out of the sky.”
Disa’ani’s impatience gets the better of him, something that has been greatly exacerbated by the corruption process.
“You know, Konner. I really enjoyed killing your father… I want you to know before you die, I’m going to kill your girlfriend too.”
Konner glances over at Disa’ani. His brow furrows; he has already said almost that exact thing to him before. This makes him
wonder for a brief moment if corruption clouds the mind or warps it.
“That only carries weight if you have not said it before, Disa’ani… she is more likely to shoot you in the face than you hurt her again.”
Disa’ani makes two of his spears float from his back and aims at Konner as he roars.
“I WILL CRUSH THEM!!!”
His rage is ill-placed. He seems more confused than threatening, which causes Konner to chuckle and shake his head.
“Actually, Disa’ani, traitors get crushed first… you know why they say that?”
“And why is that?”
It is far too easy; Konner sets Disa’ani up perfectly, and he cannot help but take full advantage. He smirks and points to the sky.
“That is why!”
Disa’ani looks up and his eyes widen in fear. Only then does Konner actually show his hand by turning his eyes upward to the man glistening in the sunlight, his body silver with translucent golden uneven circles scattered throughout his form. Before Disa’ani can react, he is only able to get out one word.
“Oh…”
Doug slams into Disa’ani so hard that both men disappear into the ground in the blink of an eye. Both of Disa’ani’s spears fall to the floor. Konner hears a roar emanating from his right side; undoubtedly, it is Xero charging him. In the blink of an eye, Xero is on top of him, swinging his blade down at the prince. Konner is faster; he balls up a fist and throws a punch that can crumple a hardened bunker like a tin can right into Xero’s face. The force causes Konner to slide backwards slightly and Xero staggers and turns, caught off guard by the blow. With his back to Konner, the soldier throws his hands out and focuses the heated rage that has built up inside of him into his palms, unleashing a blast of blue solar light into Xero’s back, which knocks him forward.
“No damage done, no radiation absorption either. He no longer has innate Boronian abilities,”
echoes the electronic voice in his head, the one that has been whispering to him since he has arrived on Earth, feeding him information here and there to help fill in any gaps his studies have failed to cover.
“Unless it is life or death information, computer, I am going to need silence for this battle.”
Without another word, the computer goes mute. Xero catches himself. Blue plasma drips from his body as smoke dances off of his back before disappearing into the air. The scent of singed flesh is absent, something that would have been so pungent that it would turn stomachs at this point. Xero slowly turns to face Konner, baring his teeth like a rabid animal. His hand is so tight around his blade that his knuckles are white. If he can no longer absorb radiation, this gives Konner another, formerly unseen, advantage. From behind gritted teeth, Xero points his blade at Konner.
“You say you’re High King; you wear its colors and yet decline your family seal… you call yourself a Lorian?”
Konner clenches his left fist. His shield sparks to life with a violent surge of energy that sends off a massive arch of plasma into the ground, accompanied by a crackle of thunder.
“At least I am not a traitorous shell of the man I once was!”
he retorts. Konner shoves himself off the ground, leaping at Xero. Before the giant has a chance to react, Konner slams his shield into Xero’s gut, sending the monster staggering even further past his landing point. Konner dashes at Xero again, this time grabbing a piece of the rubble Xero created. The giant thrusts his sword at Konner, who sees the attack coming from a mile away. Xero might be fast, and he might be strong, but he is enormous, which means his attacks are easier to see coming. Konner pushes off the ground and flips through the air as the weapon misses him by inches. Soaring over Xero’s head, Konner uses the momentum of the flip to slam the piece of concrete into the back of Xero’s skull. Konner lands on his feet behind the monster but feels the air shift behind him. Xero is turning to attack. In the blink of an eye, Konner spins to face his enemy and hurls the rock at Xero with enough force to snap his head back as it shatters against his face like glass.
Xero rolls with the attack; he takes a step back and uses the backward momentum to his advantage. Altering his footing, Xero changes sword hands, spins his body, and uses the momentum of the spin to throw his massive blade directly at Konner. Konner “overclocks” his mind and time slows down as the heaping hunk of sharpened metal soars towards him. Konner rights himself, getting to his feet and sliding to the side of the sword that is not sharp just as the blade begins to pass him. Konner fires up another micro star in his hand, and with a powerful downward thrust of his hand, Konner hits the end of the blade, transferring the micro-star into the blade’s tip. He strikes it so hard that it turns ninety degrees and embeds itself straight into the ground, pulled even further down by the small bit of gravity the prince has placed at the tip.
Disarming, Xero turns this fight into hand-to-hand combat. Both men were brought up with the same training, both serve in the Cryptea, and both trained themselves, and pushing themselves to their absolute limits negates any true battle experience they would have over one another. Konner has yet another advantage; he can overclock his brain, slowing his perception of time down and speeding up his own movements. Xero is still on his back foot from the rotation Konner dashes at Xero and swipes his leg out from under him. Xero becomes airborne. Forming a shield around his fist, Konner slams it into Xero’s chest so hard that the impact with the ground creates a small crater and the resulting shockwave causes nearby statues with glass on them to shatter.
Konner slows back down, as maintaining that kind of exertion is exhausting. He can hold it much, much longer, but this battle is a marathon, not a sprint. Xero throws a knee up at Konner, a move he predicts due to training and running this scenario through his mind. He shoves Xero’s leg down. The would-be tyrant uses the momentum to pull himself back up, but the prince is right there to deliver a blow to his chest, sending him back to the ground. Konner holds Xero down, blocking his attempts to punch and knee him, only to respond with a powerful slam of his fist into Xero’s face, neck, and chest forcing him back to the ground. Xero eventually opens his hand and holds it up. Konner grabs it and twists it to the side, forcing Xero’s body to arch away from him due to the torque. Konner wrenches his arm to the side, attempting to snap it, but nothing; he exerts even more strength on the arm. Even for the most durable Boronian, the amount of force Konner places on Xero’s arm should not only break it but rip it clean from his body, and ultimately, nothing. Xero begins to laugh.
“Do you think the spell that created me would allow for anything to break that I don’t snap myself?”
With that, Konner hears a whistling shooting through the air. He looks up to see the hilt of Xero’s blade, but it is too late. His head snaps back as shock reverberates through his head with enough force that it would have knocked a lesser man out. Konner releases Xero, but the words “that I didn’t snap myself” echo in his mind. Emma’s voice quickly takes its place.
“I have eyes on Disa’ani. Danger close, Konner. He’s at your six and no sign of Doug.”
Konner glances over his shoulder as Xero grabs his blade and begins to stand. He sees Disa’ani draw back his spear before Disa’ani, in pallasite form, tackles him to the ground, hard.
“Never mind; the quarterback has been sacked!”
she calls out. This is about the time his computer would tell him what a quarterback is had it not been on mute. Konner turns his focus back to Xero, who has drawn back his blade and is bringing it down, as hard as he can, towards Konner’s head. Without thinking, Konner puts his shield up between him and his foe just as the weapon is about to make contact. The force from the blow causes Xero’s blade to bounce back behind his head, pulling Xero backwards a step or two. The force impacted on Konner reverberates through his very bones. A sharp sensation of pins and needles encompasses his body from the force of the attack and the ground below him cracks as well. The resulting blast from the impact of the two godlike warriors shatters the glass on the bottom two s
tories of the surrounding buildings.
“Power levels at eighty-two percent.”
His bracer calls out inside his head as to not alert his enemy to something he can exploit.
Chapter: 22
Rematch
Doug watches intently as Konner confronts Xero, his heart racing and adrenaline pumping, not from fear but excitement and nerves. He is going to get an opportunity to help save the world. Growing up, that was all he would hear from his mother, how her grandfather helped save the world; not once but twice, as he fought in both world wars, and how her father had done the same before getting into properties. They had asked him numerous times why he didn’t join, why he didn’t want to leave his mark on the world and if he was honest with himself, it was not for lack of courage or that the military isn’t for him, but he never joined because they kept trying to force him to. He wanted to be his own man and now he would be able to not save the world from a tyrant or a dictator, but from extinction.