Chapter 173

　　The battered and nearly broken Atlas floated above the chaotic battlelines. Human defenders were trying to flee while the Vore threw themselves forward. Through it all, Sovereign and Luminous were causing wanton destruction to everything in sight.

　　Argyle was right. It was a chaotic mess.

　　The red sun was beating down on the surface of the Sphere. Its expanded size pushed the boundaries of what the Dyson Sphere could withstand. Swollen and distended, it was only minutes away from detonating.

　　A line of silver light was shining upwards from the Silver Pyramid like a beacon, pulsating in time with the expanding sun`s deformation.

　　Kal suspected the Vore knew something destructive was about to happen, which was why they were swarming the battlelines without even collecting the bodies of the fallen. They were ignoring everything to reach their goal of destroying the Pyramid.

　　Atlas was sluggish and unresponsive. The damage it sustained was affecting its systems. Combined with the lingering infection, Kal believed this would be the final act of the Titan. To his relief, the reactor within Atlas was fully functional, allowing him to draw on the power he needed.

　　Kal had promised Argyle he would give him the time to let his troops retreat to the shuttles that would ferry them to the waiting Starships, and he would fulfill that promise.

　　"Celestial Desolation." Kal ordered Atlas, speaking the command word for the Titan`s unique ability for the final time.

　　Kal felt the pull of the reactor on his Neural Link as it began to spin rapidly. He focused on the battlefield before him. He needed to block the Vore`s advance while allowing the Mobile Suits and ground troops to retreat. It was a thin line, and he didn`t want to impede the retreat.

　　He started carefully, pushing the reactor to form a field of enhanced gravity in a circle out from his location. With cautious precision, he constructed the attack into a wave. The gravitational ripple started weakly, barely increasing the mass of anything around him for miles.

　　The retreating humans barely felt any changes, while on the edges of the battlefield, they gradually became more severe until they reached multiple times the level of normal gravity.

　　"Ten times." Kal whispered, the words helping him to concentrate on directing the attack. Once the ripples reached the Vore, they became crashing gravitational waves that pressed down on them at ten times the standard weight of Terra.

　　Comfortable in the knowledge that it was safe, Kal increased the strength of the attack, all while controlling the area of effect.

　　"One hundred times."

　　The waves of gravity that had pressed down on the Vore became a grinding force. In every direction, the Vore were slowed to a crawl as the weight of their own bodies forced them to crawl forward. Even the mighty Soldier Variants could only sluggishly creep forward, their limbs pushing heavily against the ground of the Sphere.

　　Atlas was at the limits of its power. Its reactor spun rapidly, making a thrumming sound throughout the cockpit around Kal. The strain of maintaining the intensified gravitational field at its maximum size and force meant that he could not afford any distractions.

　　Kal was defenceless as he hovered in the sky as the attack reached hundreds of miles in each direction.

　　But the troops below him were finally relieved. They ran in droves for the waiting shuttles that would carry them into the sky and the protection of the Jump. Kal merely had to hang on long enough to see them to safety.

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　　Argyle`s shuttle settled into the packed storage bay of one of the few remaining Starships to survive Alexander`s mad plan.

　　Despite his misgivings, he had to admit that his brother was right. Sacrificing the Starships to hold off the Vore had worked, and they would be able to squeeze all the survivors into their storage holds.

　　To think humanity had the traitors Prince Alexander and the son of the Traitor Emerick Caledon to thank for their success. Ironically, the Empire owed this great victory to the most unlikely of people.

　　Argyle pushed the errant thoughts away as he walked quickly to the command center. His father and mother were there waiting for them. The Emperor had been overseeing the donation from the Pyramid, but had been amongst the first relocated to the Starships after no more preparations were to be done.

　　Aurelius looked ancient, his body thin, and his skin had an unhealthy pallor. According to a whispered conversation with his mother, Aurelius had stayed alive as long as he had to see the end of the Vore. Now that the final victory was near, his health was failing.

　　Even the advanced technology of the A.I. Collective couldn`t prevent the inevitable.

　　Still, the Emperor observed the red sun for any sudden shifts that could affect the detonation. Nothing would keep him from succeeding. He had worked his entire life to defeat the Vore. He would not fail in the last few minutes.

　　"Father, are we still on schedule?" Argyle asked, stepping up to the Emperor and reviewing the data displayed on the holo. Amelia was standing next to Alexander, their whispers barely heard over the conversations of the technicians and ship`s crew.

　　"We are. Less than five minutes remain, and the initial projections show that the detonation will be significantly bigger than anticipated." Aurelius replied.

　　Waving his hand in the air, he showed an image of the Sphere as it hovered next to the Vore Hive. If the projections were correct, the detonation would take out most of the Hive, leaving only a few remnants.

　　"Good. I`ll oversee the evacuation. Inform me of any changes." Argyle replied, walking over to another corner of the command center.

　　The ship rocked slightly around them. The sun`s instability was causing problems with all of their systems, but Aurelius assured him they could still Jump. Argyle had no choice but to trust in his father.

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　　"Caledon! You will not rob me of this glory!" Patrick shouted, his voice filled with rage and madness. He had fully succumbed to the infection`s madness, and Sovereign itself freely leaked the black liquid from the gaps in its armour.

　　The golden shield that usually surrounded it had turned black and robbed the life of everything within its radius. Vore lay shrivelled and dead, drained of their vitality by Sovereign. It was using the life force to fuel its barrier, allowing it to grow beyond its limits.

　　Sovereign was like a black star absorbing the red sun`s light until nothing could escape.

　　It could see Atlas in the distance, hovering above the silver Pyramid as it used its gravity attack to keep the Vore from back from the human defenders. But to Patrick, the Titan was a challenge to his supremacy, one that needed to be eliminated.

　　Leaping into the air, its black barrier expanded around it as it flew swiftly toward Atlas. Sovereign left a trail of dying Vore in its wake, inadvertently helping the retreating humans escape.

　　On the opposite side of the battlefield, Iris was coldly crushing another Vore beneath a crystal orb. The colourful spheres had all darkened to black as they were coated in the blood of her enemies, but she didn`t care. Iris wrongly assumed the power within Luminous could burn it away, cleansing her of its taint.

　　Like Patrick, Iris was firmly in the grip of the infection. Her beautiful features were twisted with hatred as her eyes wept black tears that left streaks down her cheeks. Even Luminous wasn`t spared. The surface of its armour appeared to be coated in tar as if it had waded into the depths of the black liquid.

　　She was just finishing off another group of Vore and a few remaining Mobile Suits when she felt gravity shift around her. Like a heavy weight settling onto it, the Titan sank into the soft flesh of the Vore it was standing on.

　　"Tsk. Caledon, interfering with your betters once again. The Emperor was weak when he let you live. You will die for your sins, as my parents did." Iris muttered.

　　Luminous took to the skies as it raced toward Atlas.

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　　Kal felt the strain of the Neural Link increase with every moment.

　　Atlas` strength was failing. The accumulation of damage and the ravaging effects of the still lingering infection were making it harder to control. The Titan was at its limits, and so was Kal. He was exhausted, mentally and physically drained.

　　Kal`s sensors began to beep loudly, drawing his attention to two of his former companions approaching rapidly. He couldn`t hold back the Vore and face the two infected Titans at the same time. Atlas was capable of Miracles, but even this was beyond its abilities.

　　"I`m sorry, Atlas. Be free of your burdens." Kal whispered, and he thought he could feel the connection between them strengthen.

　　"Celestial Absolution."