Chapter 7: The Palace Gates

As magic disappeared from the city. The once glowing thunder towers of the palace became silent. The marble became a dark granite like it was preparing for the darkness to come. In the panic, some mages decided to flee the city alongside the refugees. Believing that them being unable to use magic again was due to the Goddess punishing them in some way. Either because the Children of the Sky actually came to punish the nonbelievers, or because the Goddess desired to punish them for failing to defend the city. James wasn’t sure which explanation was true.

The sun was setting. James always preferred to fight in the dark, as he believed his mech gave him an advantage over his current foes. He also believed night was the most soothing time of the day. It would give him moments where he could get some rest and recount his entire day, be glad that he survived for one more mission. While that day would not give him the satisfaction, the best he could do was substitute it with total victory over the foe.

At the foot of the palace, away from the destruction. James regrouped with what remained of his platoon. Only 7 were alive, James included. Besides Hawk, their rigs suffered intense battle damage. Some had their arms missing, chunks were blown off, and one even had their nuclear reactor exposed. The only thing Hawk had for battle damage was that the paint on his mech was ruined and that there were a few arrows stuck to his back.

“The mages in the city will not pose a threat to us.” James relayed to his team. “However, the palace will be defended by their elite guard. Expect giants and other opposing forces.”

“How will we get in, and how long do we have before the Sphere is deactivated?” Hawk asked.

“We have 30 minutes before the Sphere overloads. When it does, every mage will have their powers again.” James pointed to his two high-explosive grenades still connected to his left leg. “I will breach the gate. Hawk will lead the charge and burn down any nearby threats before getting into a defensive position and combat the palace’s defenders. Expect heavy resistance.”

Hawk chuckled as everyone got behind him and into position. “Alright, sir. What speed should we go at?”

“Peddle to the metal.”

“Acknowledged,” Hawk smirked as the platoon’s code word for ‘run fast without regard’ was uttered. He lowered his mechanical knees, and before anyone could say anything, he sprang into action and bolted to the palace with a team of mechs sprinting behind him. The ground beneath their mechanical feet shattered as they ran at 70 km/h. 7 large machines of metal heading straight to the palace gates with unwavering determination.

The guards at the gates sounded the alarms. But before they could do anything, James flicked the safety pin and his grenade and chucked it at the gate, blasting it open. As the defenders scrambled, Hawk launched himself in front of the group to spray the entire area with thermite. “Fear me! For I am Death!” Hawk cackled as he incinerated the enemies of humanity

Before James and his other mech comrades reached the inner walls of the palace, a giant aimed its crossbow at Hawk and fired. The log glided through the air at frightening speeds as it crashed into Hawk’s side. The right arm crumbled into itself while the entire chassis morphed around the bolt, which caused Hawk’s mech to shoot to the other end of the courtyard.

There was no denying it. James could tell he had died the second the bolt made contact. Nothing could survive the impact. His friend, his second in command. A man who looked invincible died before him, just like that.

More giants emerged to engage with the remaining mechs in the city, while the average soldier ran to safety to make room for two colossal warriors to fight it out. Being the same height as the LV311 mechs, every giant wore black and blue plated armour, each plate decorated with murals of past battles and historic victories experienced by the Kingdom of Luaria. Though even if their armour looked heavy, they moved with such grace and agility. They were the elite guard of the palace, a rare race within the realm that dedicated their service to the king.

But from the markings of one of the giants, the one that killed Hawk. James could tell they were a senior, someone who commanded the others. “You are mine!” He mumbled to himself, his heart burned with rage.

“Fine, you want to play it that way!” James spat as he charged towards the giant that killed his friend. Knocking or hitting the other giants out of the way so he could focus on their leader. “I will beat you so badly, your ancestors will recoil in pain!”

The giant raised its mace after it dropped its crossbow to engage James alone. A duel of leaders. It swung its mace, but James blocked it with his right arm, creating an opening. When he took it, the giant jumped to the side and batted the back of James’ mech and cracked open the capsule protecting the nuclear reactor. The giant raised his mace to strike again, but James ducked in time to push him away to create distance.

“Don’t make me laugh, demon.” The giant spoke in a gruff voice. “You won’t survive this battle.”

“I came here to win, not to survive!” James rebutted as he charged at the giant in a boxing stance. The giant swiped at James, but weaved to one side and left, hooked the giant at where their liver should be. The giant wheezed at the impact, but he didn’t allow himself to falter. As James readied himself to swing again, the giant regained its composure and blocked James’ second strike with his mace.

With a swift blow of the elbow, the giant knocked James’ mech off his feet. “Win? Tell me, does your kind value your lives so lowly?” The giant mocked and slammed its mace at the side of James' left knee. Causing the left knee of the mech to dislodge and forcing James into an unfavourable position. Attempting to finish the pilot off, the giant thrusts his mace at James. However, James caught the mace with his left hand.

“Tell me, is your kind too cowardly to fight a war?!” James shoved the mace out of the way before he forced his right leg to have his mech leap towards the giant so he could grab him and pin him to the ground. He pulled the giant close so he could be face to face with the leader of the elite guard. After subconsciously locking his mech’s limbs in place to prevent them from escaping, James reached for his shotgun revolver and aimed it at the giant’s eyes. “Make sure to tell me when I meet you in hell!”

With a loud bang, the shotgun slug went through the giant’s helm and turned his brain to mush. The fight was finally over.

When the giant’s corpse went limp, James put his shotgun away and took control of the mech again to push the corpse off him. He rested his head, looking down to take in a few breaths before getting his mind ready to face whatever would be thrown his way. He tried to put pressure on his mech’s left leg, but the knee buckled.

He turned to his comrades to notice they were all struggling. Being overwhelmed by the giants as they swarmed their positions and butchering them one by one. Taking pleasure in ripping the pilot out of their rig and tearing them apart limb from limb. Even the ones who were still fighting were going to die. James knew he couldn’t save his team.

However, he knew he had no chance of saving what was left of his platoon. He could keep going with the mission. James turned around to reach for the emergency controls of the mech and deactivated his mech’s nuclear reactor safety features. Causing it to go critical and go into meltdown while he loosened the sleeves to allow himself to escape.

But before jumping out with his knife, shotgun, and belt. He grabbed his remaining grenade and tossed it at his squad and the giants attacking them.

The grenade went off; the explosion killed anything too close to it. Friend, foe, it didn’t matter. But as it detonated, it caused everyone not caught in the blast to stop and wonder what happened. During the confusion and the abrupt end to the violence, James jumped out of his mech and sprinted to the other end of the compound and as far from his mech as possible. Even if his left side screamed in agony and begged him to stop. However, James knew that stopping wasn’t an option.

The ground shook and rumbled. Every window and glass in the palace shattered as James’ mech exploded into a ball of nuclear fire. Even at a safe distance, the shockwave slammed against James’ back and knocked him hard to the ground.

He gritted his teeth, trying his very best to fight the unbearable pain. James let out a pained cough as he tried to get up. His mouth was full of his own blood, and he struggled to spit it out. However, despite his best efforts. All he could do was collapse and black out from exhaustion.