199. The Shared Guilt Between Old Friends
“AH!” A bolt of lightning snapped Rhok’s hand away, forcing him to drop Frain to the ground. She coughed hard, blood gushing out of her lips.
Launching his assault, Zetius swung left and right.
Lightning bolts whipped out, lashing and punishing. Each punch was fueled with immense power.
“Nnngh!” Rhok grunted, alternating between blocking with his arms and side-stepping.
“YAAAAAA!” Zetius screamed, his jaw wide open. His fist coiled back fully for the decisive blow.
“Huh?!” Rhok crossed his gauntlets into a guard.
The crackling lightning surged as Zetius delivered the electric punch.
A shockwave ruptured outwards, hurling Rhok into the air.
His heavy armour crashed into the far wall, leaving a large dent in the hull.
The sound of somebody screaming in the background.
Rhok collapsed to the ground. He groaned in pain while still scrambling to his feet, unyielding.
Zetius surged forward for another punch, his speed inconceivable.
The culmination of his martial practice with Astrid was realised at this moment. Zetius whipped and lashed out with his punches and kicks.
Blow and blow.
Every strike was a decisive, calculating move.
Rhok desperately attempted to retaliate, only to be punished harshly.
He grunted and groaned as one hit landed after another.
Left hook.
Uppercut.
Right jab.
The assault was brutal and relentless.
With a ferocious palm strike from Zetius, the Adamas enchantment shattered into sparks.
“No…” Rhok murmured, his body aching.
Three consecutive attacks connected, stripping away parts of his armour. Metal particles and electrical components flew outwards.
Rhok's upper body was left exposed to the cold air.
“Yaaaaaa!” Zetius’s roar was a physical shockwave, a primal cry of absolute fury. He drew his fist back, and the very air around him began to scream. Raw lightning, a chaotic storm of blue and white energy, erupted from his body, engulfing him completely.
The deck plates beneath his feet groaned and glowed with heat as his sweat instantly vaporised, his entire form becoming a shimmering, incandescent conduit of destruction poised to deliver the final, killing blow.
Rhok flinched, raising his arms, which were dripping with blood.
Everything stopped.
“Ha… ha…” The only sounds were their ragged breathing and racing heartbeats.
Tattered and bloody, Rhok's eyes locked onto Zetius's. He had stopped of his own volition. Somehow, he had resisted the urge to deliver the final blow. But why?!
Rhok collapsed to his knees, his arms resting on his thighs. He was utterly exhausted.
“Wh~why, Zetius?!” Rhok asked, his voice trembling and faltering, almost inaudible.
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“Because… I need to know,” Zetius began, catching his breath.
Rhok cracked a dry laugh, wiping his busted lip with his thumb. “I'm beyond… redemption. Finish me.” He spoke with a serene expression, like a man who had made peace with his death long ago.
His vision swam in and out of focus.
But then he saw Zetius lower his hands. They were as injured as Rhok’s body. It seemed the lightning power exacted a heavy toll.
“No… I saw your doubt,” Zetius mumbled, glancing down his nose. His striking figure cast a long shadow over Rhok's face. “I saw your flaws. Your humanity.”
Rhok’s jaw visibly tightened. The bitterness was palpable in his eyes. He broke eye contact, ashamed. Perhaps guilty.
“You… you don't know… me or what I’ve done.” Rhok rasped.
“Then tell me!” Zetius countered, his tone firm and resolute. “Why the Umbral? To what end?” He confronted the man who was once his friend, his piloting mentor.
“To gather them… and destroy them,” Rhok drawled. His tone carried the weight of the greatest sin. “The Armatus, the battlecruisers, all of it.”
“What?” Zetius snapped, flabbergasted. “What did you say?”
“The Umbral… they will make their advance to destroy the eastern seaboard. Then they will be wiped from history,” Rhok clarified.
“Crumble from within?” Zetius questioned, incredulous. He pieced it together. “You planned to sabotage the Umbral Dunkelheit from the start. Gathering the remaining factions, overthrowing their government, destabilising the nations under Dunkelheit influence… then destroying their largest Armatus production facility.”
Zetius’s stomach churned, his knees weakened. Cold sweat formed on his pale face.
“Ah… Seems you have figured it out on your own. Zetius, you are always perceptive, intelligent even. No doubt you were his brightest student. I can see it now,” Rhok spoke, studying his expression.
“The grand finale. A massive explosion that marks the end of the Umbral. The Dunkelheit empire will never recover from that.” Rhok delivered the final puzzle piece.
Zetius' expression darkened. “If this was your plan all along… Why did you never tell me?” Somehow, Zetius felt even more betrayed.
“Because this was my mission alone… My crime against my mechaniis, my people. A necessity to end these wars for good,” Rhok glanced out the open hangar door. The merged battlecruisers, Alpha and Charlie, were gradually losing altitude and were destined to crash into the ground. “Funny, how those battlecruisers share the same fate as I do.” Rhok thought to himself.
“But that plan failed… because of you and your stubbornness,” Rhok pointed with a shivering finger.
Limbing forward, Frain approached Zetius's side, her hand reaching out to pat gently on his shoulder.
“Zetius…” Frain said, concerned.
“I'm alright,” he sniffed and exhaled.
“Then your mission ends here, Rhok,” Zetius announced firmly. “There’s nothing more you can do. But I needed to tell you this. I regret putting you in those machines. If I had been more mindful of your mental strain, I could have prevented this,” Zetius confessed, his words brimmed with valour and honesty.
Those were not the words Rhok expected to hear from his long-time rival.
It took him back to that time in Hasenwald.
The quiet, peaceful carrot farm was still etched in his mind.
But more importantly, Rhok remembered the thin, slender man who had saved his life. The man who inspired him to do good. A man so gentle in nature, but never hesitated to battle for his family and friends. That was the only friend he could call a friend — Jack Squire.
Rhok's lips parted in surprise. He had never expected such profound remorse from Zetius.
“Is that Jack speaking?” Rhok forced a light smile.
“He is me. We are one,” Zetius responded. “This is over. Face your crimes and perhaps you may get to live. No more piloting, no more fighting!” he commanded, his voice absolute.
Rhok nodded vigorously, admitting his defeat. He was dead tired of all the fighting. All those endless battles came to an end in a way that he couldn’t have anticipated.
Zetius turned to Rhok, his hand extended in invitation. “Let’s bring you back. I'll see to it that your trial is just,” he reassured.
“Yes…” Rhok clipped, his own battered hand hovering over Zetius’s. The immense weight he had carried for so long seemed to lift from his shoulders, and the hard, bitter lines of his face finally softened. A tired, almost forgotten expression touched his lips. It was a genuine smile, the first in an eternity, a faint echo of the man he had been before the war had consumed him.
In the blink of an eye, a dark figure drifted behind them with deadly silence.
The figure twisted, pivoting on one leg and lashing out with the other in a powerful kick.
A loud, meaty thud echoed as blood splashed across Zetius’s wide eyes.
Zetius froze.
Rhok’s head was severed from his body.
“NOOOOOOOOO!” Zetius erupted in a flash of light, tackling the assassin to the floor.
The commotion broke out.
“WHY?! WHO ARE YOU?!” Zetius screamed, lifting his fist to strike.
The weight of his body pinned the assassin to the ground, lightning arcing erratically from his form.
The hooded figure tilted her head, revealing a scornful expression.
His brain registered her face right away, but his heart told him that this wasn't the woman he loved.
Her golden eyes, once full of life, were now dulled with deep-seated hatred.
Lupus stared into his eyes, as if she were searching for something.
“Lupus…” Zetius choked, his tone laced with pain and sorrow.
This was not the reunion he had longed for. Not with blood and death.