“How long are we supposed to do this?” Ali asks with one hand up in Direction formation to focus his black energy at the Pito. He is statuesque in the void of space, his strong body exposed to the elements in the tattered gi he wears that is sleeveless and the legs of the pants are frayed at the ends. He wears a helmet for oxygen and to allow him to speak to the other members of his team, but he is sturdy enough to survive the void otherwise.
“We can’t neutralize the Tara Pito,” the Halfyn Heir screams into the communicator. He is also using Direction formation to blast thick bolts of lightning at the Pito from a distance. Also like Ali, the Heir is sturdy enough to survive the void and wears a simple and armored bodysuit along with the communication helmet. “She can’t neutralize us either, but it’s a matter of seeing who gets tired first. I think that Adofo should stop engaging her so closely.”
Adofo and the Tara Pito engage in a furious battle and they both batter one another. Adofo’s armor is dented and acid damaged, there are pits in his skin that show that his body is sustaining substantial damage. The Tara Pito’s flowing garnets are in tatters and her body is bruised, though it is hard to tell what is damage from Adofo, the clinging black magic that Ali has been casting from his hand, or just the dark corruption that exists on all Pito-corrupted bodies.
“I can do this for as long as you need me to,” Adofo says through his communicator, the connection of which is full of static and interference because it is almost completely destroyed.
Both Ali and the Heir watch in horror as Adofo loses his concentration for a moment when he communicates and it is sufficient for the Pito to rip one of his arms from his body and she uses it to relentlessly attack Adofo. The Heir focuses his lighting and he manages to hit the Pito’s hand that loses its grip on the severed golden arm.
“That is inconvenient,” Adofo says. If he is in pain, he hides it well as he ignores his severed arm floating in space and continues his attack with just one arm. The Heir approaches more closely and continues his lightning attack.
“Pultine, can you hear me?” Ali asks. “This is Ali. Our Pito is covered in black magic. Are we able to neutralize them?”
“Stand by, Ali,” Pultine says through the communicator. “We will make a line-wide announcement very soon. Just hold out for a little longer.”
Ali watches as the battle rages before him and soon, the Pito begins to slow. At first, Ali thinks that Adofo and the Heir are wearing the Pito down, but eventually it becomes clear that the black magic that he’d been casting is somehow different and locking the Pito in place. When it stops completely, the Heir collects Adofo’s arm and they regroup with Ali.
“Should we destroy it?” the Heir asks. “I’m pretty sure that we can now that it is immobile.”
“Yes,” Adofo says with frustration, holding his arm in his hand. He will have to go to a smith to repair it and that will be more painful than having it ripped off. “Destroy it now.”
Before they make a move to destroy it, they hear Pultine over their communicators and she gives the go ahead, but before they can do it, there is another communication telling them to clear the area just as a ball of light begins to swell in the distance. They all watch in wonder as the ball of light consumes a significant span of the dark wall and completely disappears along with the Pito that had been frozen inside.
The Heir and Adofo cheer at the sight. The Heir flies Adofo back to the command ship before returning to the battlefront, leaving Ali floating in space. He has a lot on his mind after Pultine’s message. The display against the Pito was rousing but before ordering everyone to obliterate as much of the Pito as they could, Pultine had said, “I am pained to say that we will have to retreat to regroup so that we can save this existence…” They are all leaving and the Pito and their black wall would resume their fearsome crawl across the universe. He’d come here sure that they all had a chance, but if they were already planning to retreat, that didn’t bode well for the chances of his existence.
Ali allows himself that moment to be insecure, to be scared, but then he flies back to the battlefront, intent on slaying as many of the Pito as he can before the retreat, hopefully to regroup and return. As he flies, the Heir catches up to him and they engage Pito along the line in front of the wall that wasn’t destroyed. Ali casts black magic much more confidently as he and the Heir go to work on the enemy they face. Eventually Ali just punches and casts black magic when he lands a blow and the Heir uses thick lightning bolts to leave the Pito as dust. The more they engage, the faster they work and get lost in the thrill of it.
“Very nicely done,” Ali hears in his mind after he and the Heir vanquish a Pito that looked like the Weris of Wiis. “The power you display is unparalleled.”
Ali doesn’t recognize the voice, but he assumes that it is just another of the many voices in his ear and he agrees with it, he can see himself annihilating the enemy more easily with each passing moment and he appreciates the audience that chimes in his ears.
“What are you doing!?” Ali hears the words loudly and forcefully at his chest like he is punched with incredible force that would have turned a normal man to a splatter of wet matter in an instant, but he soon realizes that he has sustained a blow from the Halfyn Heir, who had been fighting by his side before the voice got so loud in his ear and he must have gotten carried away.
“The mission,” Ali says angrily, floating in space in front of the Heir who floats at a distance. “You aimed to kill me? I thought we were fighting this enemy together?”
“What enemy do you fight, Ali?” the Heir says with a pained look in his eyes. “Don’t you see that you have destroyed an entire force of executioners who also fought with us? What is wrong with you?” the Heir asks as he approaches Ali slowly. When he is close, Ali is surprised by the look of disgust that suddenly grips the Heir’s face. “You have been infected by the taint. You are Pito.”
“I am Une,” Ali says and the word sounds strange in his mouth. It is not the name he intended to say but it is the only name that makes sense. “I fight the enemies of Une who have cut her off…”
“Everyone,” the Heir says into his communicator as he charges lightning at one of the palms of his hand, “Ali has been infected by the Pito. “I do not want to kill a compatriot. What am I to do?”
“You should fight for Une like your compatriot does,” the Heir hears over the communicator. He recognizes the voice as the General and now Commander in Pultine’s stead, Nwa Wa. “All will give themself to the great mother.”
“This can’t be happening,” the Heir hears over the communicator as he watches Ali fly off to aid another Pito corrupted being in battle with the forces from the Fonlands. “This is Tracia. I am taking command. It appears that anyone wielding black magic is vulnerable to infection by Une. We are in full retreat. Everyone back to your ship for decontamination. Pultine, Wazad the Transverse, Mulweri, Lord Cockroach, if you can read me, please reply for immediate exfiltration to decontamination.”
It had been going so well, the Heir thinks as he flies to run interference for the warriors from his side to retreat to the ships.
PRL Serials 