Chapter 48

His motion burned its way through distance and time, his sword and mace clashing with scores and at the same time sending scores falling dead, he seared his way through the enemy's ranks, that wall of halos and flames heralding him from behind burnt down the battleships, stellar tankers and battlecarpets of the foe. It was a surge of flames and steel and the barrage of armour and clanging shields rose to the peaks of skies of this asteroid, but he was beyond the limits of the present time. The vision of the atmosphere burnt its way through his armour, unveiling his face it revealed those burning eyes.

Vision retracted as his swinging sword clanged, clashing with another foe, swirling around, he struck his opponent with his mace on the chest, sending him flying like a pebble int the air and crashing like a meteorite upon the earth. Bolting through the distance, his fluttering scarlet cape embroidered with the emblem of a six horned bull, cascaded like a waterfall of flames from his shoulders as his blades cut through the ranks of the enemy's forces. This was how he lived, his way of life - the life of a rebel.

Nerg's shoulders were still firm even though he had been battling for the past three hours according to this asteroids timeframe and he was anxious to bring this to an end in a few moments from now. Charging like a fanged wall of blades, Nerg charged Into the assaulting ranks of soldiers and stellar tankers ahead of him, lifting his arm, a burning shield erected itself from his wrist, deflecting the fiery halos coming from those fierce cannons. His blade and mace flared, flaring of radioactive and condensed flames, he was ready to take down the enemy. That thunderous thud rose from behind him, a quaking frenzy that made the earth beneath their feet tremble, Nerg's motion became sonic and like a parallax, the fibres of the atmosphere contracted as he took a soaring leap from the ground. At that very instant, that brewing storm of dust rose from ground and when the fabrics of the atmosphere relaxed, that army of six horned and charging bulls barged into the ranks of the enemy from beneath Nerg's soaring being. Landing on the cannon of a stellar tanker he unleashed a halo upon it from his mace, it exploded beneath him, consuming Nerg within its mountainous flames.

His armoured feet dig into the sandy earth as he found a clearing, charging at a group of enemy soldiers, Nerg's sword blazed ready for combat. But it seemed Nerg had something else in mind or something else took over his being and mind. Sidestepping, he swirled to the left, missing the burning horns of a charging bull from behind him, that gored its way through the ranks of the enemy. It seemed there wasn't any clearing as this was now a field of chaos, a sea of blades, armour, shields and horns. The battle was at its climax, about to come to an abrupt fall, a turbulent fall.

Nerg's blade and mace clanged with steel and cut through armour as he swirled and swung like a whirlwind, taking down this sea of soldiers as they came at him in endless waves. But he was undeterred, ever ready to face them. Leaping into the air he placed his sword and mace back into their scabbards. Hands empty, he clung onto his shoulder, tapping the wrist band with his right hand. That miniature cannon projected itself from his armour. Still hanging high in the air, Nerg unleashed that wave of halos upon those beneath him, it fell like an avalanche, spreading across the ranks of assailing soldiers. Falling into this sea of flames, Nerg enacted a shield from his wrist and sailing with his feet, he tore through these fluttering garments of fire.

His steaming form tore out from that burning wall, charging at the enemy's soldiers, Nerg slithered his way through the hail of beams and halos they had aimed at him. Swirling around, he struck like lightning, his blade slashed and gored through steel and his mace sending countless enemies crashing to the ground, the day was finally theirs.

Striding majestically, his mace resting in his left shoulder held in place by his left hand, shield flaring and sword steaming held within the grip of his right, Nerg stopped at the edge of that cliff, staring at their prize.

That burning sea of saffron and scarlet frequencies rose high and those drills dug deep into their depths, excavating what was known as crude Canthor, a valuable mineral used in powering battleships. It was one of the most valuable fuels of their realm and an entire asteroid containing this precious mineral was all his. He and his army of rebels would be extremely rich once they start selling both the crude and refined forms of the mineral to other rebel groups.

*** *** ***

"The battle ended in our favour."

"And it will continue that way as long as we play our cards perfectly", Nerg replied his comrade, Vantir who was sitting at the other end of the banquet table within this hall as they feasted on the food before them.

"I can't believe Norga fell under the control of foreign invaders", Vantir said before taking a sip from his glass of wine.

"I can't either", Nerg replied, "it could be they are very powerful beings we have not seen."

"How sure are you ? Do you think that they can withstand the might of the Phertonia Coalition ?" Vantir questioned, "And to remind you, Norga is a vassal at the outskirts of the Lortavix empire which is also part of the Phertonia Coalition, so I would expect them to get crushed soon."

"Don't think lowly of the underdogs", Neg lectured, "they are rebels like us, rebels against the higher orders of our age, they might be able to send this cosmic plain shaking under their might in no time", Nerg said downing his glass of wine at one go, filling it again he continued, "and I would love to watch it happen", he said, "I would love to see Phertonia and the other socalled coalitions, leagues, orders and confederacies shivering beneath their confederal blankets."

"We could even gain from all this chaos", Vantir noted, "if they succeed"

"Yes we will", Nerg replied, "We can even give them a helping hand - I'll think about it. If the leader of the foreign invaders is a generous one, we could even be able to gain access to his realms."

"We need Barrier Spears to transit realms", Vantir reminded, "and we don't have the technology to develope the drills that can bore the galactic cores."

"Yes we don't", Nerg affirmed, "but it seems our foreign friends have what we need, didn't you hear that they had their recharge within the galaxies of our cosmic plains - on their own", he reminded.

"So you've already made your mind about approaching the leader of the invading forces ?" Vantir inquired.

"From what we've heard", Nerg explained, "he is no ordinary rebel - he isn't even one - so we have to approach him with caution. But before that, let's watch and see what happens. Let's find out what he wants and how much destruction he's willing to vent to get his prize."

"We know them by their swords", said Vantir.

"And their flames", Nerg completed.