Chapter 17

She was reaching up on land and Wille raised a hand.

[Stop]

She stumbled on the water but only by a second and slipped on the sand shaking as she swiped her sword twice to test if it was sharp enough to cut through the air.

He stepped back [ I am not your enemy ]

"Tell it to the devil!" She raised it and Darcy crouched under her with a staff stopping her short, her teeth clenched and the assassin tossed her away

Poised to act, she threw her sword up in a quick, smooth arc. "I am only here for one thing," She said focused on her target

Darcy swivelled her leg under her but she did a forward flip and aimed to cut him. She growled when Wille was nowhere to be found and glanced at the dog hiding under the palm leaves.

His eyes rolled up while she approached him and Darcy flew from above him kicking her fiercely,

She punched her from several angles, teleporting through pockets of space and the woman dodged when she gave a final uppercut missing by a millisecond not detecting the blow to her gut at the next.

Darcy lurched back holding her gut and disappeared then she punched her again when she appeared in the face.

She stumbled and tasted blood in her mouth,

"Why are you set on killing him?"

"That's none of your concern, Androsian" She sliced the leaves like a machete and wound around the trees.

"I am not Androsian! And by fighting for no just cause, I'm sure you've proven yourself to be one...a stygian" She added.

The woman screamed turning on her heel to swing her sword at Darcy who arched to avoid it from mincing her stomach.

Hopping down safely

"I am not and never will be," She said darkly and moved on.

"Wrong choice of words" Darcy snickered floating along.

She swung the sword into her case and stood tall. Her blue suit gleamed with specialized robotic parts as though they were patched together. the ends meeting in black sketches that outlined her body shape. Under the helmet, her pale lips thinned.

"I seek for my sons and that murderer has the information"

She walked over Pooch "Pardon me" She said pushing through the leaves into the jungle searching, he was very distant from where she stood, from the map on her visor.

"And do not stand in my way, I know you're just a juvenile in a cloak"

Darcy winced after that statement and after being defeated.

"No! You must be Estella, I know where they are" Darcy said taking a windfall of her curiosity. The small world they lived in.

She lifted a hand out to her and Estella's head lowered to it, not at the least surprised but unwilling and she turned grim. "What is that?"

"A handshake, it's very traditional" She smiled.

Regardless, Estella ignored it, grunting as she sliced the vines.

"You have to swear you won't kill him," She said trying to get her attention.

Wille stepped out of the bushes.

[ She won't. Even so, I have nothing to lose ]

"Wille" Darcy criticized his bleak statement.

Estella grimaced at the sight of him, she had the impulse to ask, kill him and be done with it.

"And I will have something to gain,"

[ I can feel your rage, Estella, but my intentions are good ]

She sloped when Pooch walloped her face and she turned her head, fascinated by his fur, her visor scanned it and she singled out a golden strand of hair.

"You do know him"

"I was trying to tell you!!!" Darcy rubbed a palm down her face.

"Tell me where they are," She asked Pooch and Darcy grimaced at Wille, she trusted he had the same sentiment.

He only whimpered and prodded her.

[ The animal is of no use to you and I presume you have come with the mindset that Lord Zandax is all-powerful and cannot be stopped? ]

[ He believes only the strong can survive and we are weak ] She thought back to him to Darcy's puzzlement when she didn't hear a word from them.

"And does Sirius believe that too?" He asked with a genuine tone in his voice.

Her head lowered thoughtfully then looked up again.

"Sirius is lost, I cannot trust his motives any longer," She said audibly.

"And after what he did to Nova, I take it that he has terrible judgement and I will not let him get to Astro.

I truly wish it had been me whom he tossed out into space like that but everything happens for the best, doesn't it?" Estella glanced at Darcy and she giggled sheepishly until Estella turned to him.

"The Infernals are truly unpredictable, did you, Wille zur Macht of Pathos, presume that we simple-minded people would see them coming?"

"Not even by an asteroid's launch, but there is much hope for earth" He looked up at the birds. "Indeed earth's resistance is not futile"

She straightened "He is headed for earth and I wish to take them as far away as possible"

She said deliberately, delving more into the current situation_If I do, Astro will live but I cannot say otherwise for Nova. He has invested so much confidence in Sirius and with what she was keeping from him, he might never be the same.

"Sirius knows us well enough. We have to leave" She let out and Darcy softened.

...

Planet Inferno

Maybe, just maybe, he could get the core to work the way he saw fit, he coughed from lack of moisture in the lab and proceeded to finish it, he was running out of time, he swallowed and stepped back when the core powered on.

The lab had other enormous metal parts that he used his anti-gravity powers to lift aside, all the resources from the other planets were leftover on the east end on the white metal floor.

The bugs that looked like fleshy doughnuts with a mouth cavity showing sharp teeth and eyes on each side and purple tentacles rolled away as a tunnel on the blood-red wall spiralled open and Lord Zandax wafted to him on a mobius chair. A mobile floating chair.

His eyes narrowed at Sirius as he stopped working and stood up in a black metallic suit and his hands clenched.

"T'allen is no longer here" His dark voice had a coarse texture.

Sirius looked up through the visors at him.

"You will be appointed the next general" He concluded.

Sirius protested "But Lord Zandax...I have no military experience!"

"...and will see to it that the core is inveterate" He crossed his fingers.

He coughed from a dry throat and looked up "I wish to serve you but not as a warrior," He touched his chest while Zandax wafted closer to him.

"Are you disregarding my order, Sirius? Do not forget who spared your life"

Sirius shuddered.

"The earth is mine and there's not one being that can stop me," His eyes glowed.